We arrived in Thailand and immediately after landing said goodbye to the women. This month is the month all the men on the World Race wait for – manistry month. It’s a month usually full of intense relationship building, testosterone, sweat, stupid decisions, and sometimes blood. I was super excited to spend time with the other 14 men of God on the squad for the entire month.
After leaving the airport, we headed for the bus station and bought tickets for an overnight bus to Phuket. It’s a 12-hour bus ride, but the nice part is that you can sleep through most of it. We showed up at the bus terminal in Phuket only 14 hours later. Our hosts, Mark and Amanda, took us to where we’d be staying. It was New Years Eve so they let us get settled in and told us the day and night was ours. We made the best of it.
We took the bus in to Phuket town (for a whopping thirty-three cents US) and walked around. We were given free food, and lots of it, in respect of the holiday. Someone even gave one of our guys a tall glass of whiskey on the house. We walked through the city and found great things.
They really love New Years here but unfortunately it’s all about the partying. We wanted to find somewhere nice where we could talk, pray, and hopefully enjoy some fireworks. One of us noticed a tall hotel and suggested we see if we could get on top of it. We walked towards it and realized it was an apartment building. We walked up and realized it was a secured entrance that was opened by a card or something. As we were walking up, someone was coming out and let us in.
We rode the elevator up to the 16th floor, found the nearest stairwell, and continued climbing up. We walked out onto the roof and saw that it was well cared for. There was grass and little paths and workout equipment of sorts. There was no body else on the roof! We hung out there for a couple hours before midnight just soaking in the majestic views of Phuket. Just before midnight, the fireworks started going off. They surrounded us. Some of them were so close we were getting hit with little rocks and paper from the blast. We saw lanterns being lit and flown. It was intense. We were all amazed at how God had loved us and allowed this to happen for us.
After the fireworks calmed down, we got in a circle and prayed the New Year in. We talked about what we wanted to learn this month, what we wanted to get from the 14 other men of God we’d be spending quality time with. It was one of the best New Years Eves I have ever had. It was incredibly awesome and I wish I could do something like it every year from now on.
