Yesterday was the 100th day of the World Race! Hard to believe it was already 100 days ago that we left the States and flew to El Salvador. It has been a wild and crazy ride but I have loved it! I have laughed and cried and sweat A LOT. I have ministered to everyone from children to prostitutes. I have learned to use a squatty potty and take bucket showers and eat plenty of mystery meat. I have been to the beach and mountains and waterfalls and volcanoes. I am still learning to live with 42 other people and am getting better at falling asleep with my eye mask and earplugs regardless of what's going on around me. I grew to love my first team as family, and I am already building deep, Godly friendships with the women on my new team.
Team ARISE, minus Helena
For the first time consistently in my life I am spending alone time with the Lord every single day, in prayer and in the Word, and through that God has done so much in my heart. I have learned that my identity is found in Christ alone, that I crave Christian community and I desire to grow in boldness in my faith. As much as the World Race is about making a difference in the lives of the people we meet, and I truly hope I have impacted people, I'm realizing that the World Race is just as much about God wanting to do a new work in me. I am learning valuable lessons about grace and forgiveness and patience. I am walking in His joy and peace and trying more and more everyday to become the woman of God He has called me to be.
Thank you so much to all of my supporters for making this journey possible! I am so grateful for your gifts and hope the Lord continues to bless you for your sacrifice.
So to celebrate the 100th day, 19 of us took off yesterday for a day of adventure.
Thailand is known for elephants so the first part of our tour was to go on an elephant ride. We fed them bananas and they repaid us by spraying us with water.
After a delicious traditional Thai lunch of pork, rice, vegetables, fried egg and fresh pineapple, we stopped by a local market in one of the villages to buy some handmade goods. Then we escaped the heat by jumping into a swimming hole at the bottom of a waterfall.
The last part of our tour was supposed to be bamboo rafting, but the weather changed our plans. As we were getting out of the water, storm clouds rolled in and during the drive to the rafting launch, we had to pull over to wait out the storm. It just appeard to be raining hard, but once we started driving again we realized how bad the brief storm had been. Now I'm from tornado alley, but this might have been the worst storm damage I've ever seen, or at least ever drove through immediately afterward. Cars flipped over, roofs blown off houses, flooded streets and down trees and power lines everywhere. We drove over trees, or had to get out and move them, did some off-roading, and more than once I thought the rushing water was going to sweep us off the road.
At this point we all assumed they were just taking us home, but to our surprise they actually pulled down the muddy road to the rafting place. For 20 hilarious minutes they actually debated whether or not they were going to let us raft, while we nervously tried to decide whether we should go if they were crazy enough to say we could. It was still raining, the river was moving faster and there were presumably trees down everywhere. Eventually they decided it was too unsafe (duh) and we headed home disappointed. All in all it was an awesome day though! I feel like every single day we have been in Thailand so far I have had to pinch myself and ask "Is this really my life?" I am going to be so sad to leave Chiang Mai in 10 days. I have enjoyed our ministry so much and can't wait to share more about that with you all in a future blog.
