MONTH TWO: Thailand Stories

The whole squad (20 ppl) reunited in Bangkok to debrief the previous two weeks in Cambodia. This time served as a Selah moment for me: to stop and gratefully consider all the Lord was doing in our team, in Cambodia, and in me – while gently re orienting all of myself around The One With Whom I Am. I read Habakkuk over the 3 days, and was beautifully reminded to rejoice in the God of my salvation, whether or not I see Him move. Go read it plz, s l o w l y. Bangkok was also our first taste of local authentic Thai food, criiiiiikey it’s a good time. Also my squad is the most beautiful collection of humans – so so thankful for time together.

Team Deep gapped it up to Pai the day after debrief (a 16ish hr bus), to seclude ourselves/really seek the Lord before jumping into Thai ministry. Pai is kinda like Takaka NZ – on steroids. The most chill, eco friendly, organic mountain town. Intense is a word I would use to describe our time there… High highs and low lows. We spent an evening in the local park worshipping/praying over Pai – powerful unity, ebbing and flowing with each other SO WELL. The next day, some tension blew uuupp in our team & people were hurt and angry. A kick in the guts after the sweet unity of the night before. This became a pattern in Pai – dope times of unity, then some tense breakdown in the team. Personally, the Lord used this time to up my prayers and fight for unity – when none of my mediating or de-escalation tools were affecting change. That looked like early mornings by the river, on my knees in our room, or praying nonstop as we walked around. Things beautifully started to shift, empathy grew, and grace abounded. What a thing to step into, praying and giving my team solely to Jesus and trusting the work He is doing in them, in His time! 

My fav week! We stayed at the BEST hostel, not fancy, tidy, or even clean lol (livin that $4/night World Race budget!) – but the atmosphere was the most beautiful and everyone there was keen to korero (chat). We each made some beautiful friendships with other travellers and spent our evenings all together at the night markets, a jazz bar, and just walking around. I had the best spiritual conversations with a friend from Germany, and really felt the Holy Spirit listening and speaking through me. 

For Lindsay’s birthday we went to see the elephants, which turned out to be so much fun! Our tour guides were the best ever, becoming instant friends. One opened up to me about his whole life story and I was able to listen & speak some hope and life.

We met the sweetest, most passionate Thai lady one day when filling our water, she became a real person of peace for us! A few fun visits later, we found out she tutors english for local school kids, and were able to bless her and help tutor. She reminded me a lot of my own Mum, the same exuberant hospitality and joy in life! So SO thankful for this sweet encounter, and how Unscripted it all was – from meeting her seemingly by chance when going about our days. We were interruptible to the One the Lord place in front of us and it led to the best relationship! Time with her (and her cooking!) was just so good.

Another overnight looooong bus ride landed us in Rayong, in Thailand’s southeast. We felt the Lord call us there but had no real idea why. No affordable accomodation could be booked online, so we turned up to a coffee shop with all our gear, prayed, and set out on foot to find somewhere to stay in this busy, non-touristic city. Exhausted and hungry, team Deep experienced some thick tension & anger as we tried to listen to God and make a decision! We thankfully ended up (in one piece!) at a secluded beach to pitch our tents for a few nights. Discernment as a team of humans naturally has its challenges, but the beauty of life in a team is seeing the fullness of each other and choosing to love regardless! Knowing that grace gets to abound even more in another’s weaknesses. Some describe the World Race as 11 months of laying self down – while hard, what a beautiful thing for us all to walk through.

The BEACH! I can’t even describe how alive I felt there! Hours swimming in the ocean, hours on the pier looking over the ocean, knowing NZ was just over there (ish lol), hours in honest conversation with team mates, hours worshipping my God, King of the Pacific (after three months travelling massive continents). God knew exactly what we needed individually and as a team – this beach haven was the most healing and unifying time.

We spent the night at a bus stop in Bangkok en route to Phuket from Rayong, and it was honestly one of my highlights from the whole month! I had a ridiculous amount of energy and couldn’t sleep lol, so naturally I made a friend at 2am. She spoke zero english and I spoke like 5 Thai words but oh my heart it was the best! She shared her food (still unsure what I ate but was yum as) and we hung out for a few hours. While frustrated that I couldn’t speak Thai, (and never in country long enough to learn the language!!!) the Lord showed me the beauty of simple human to human interactions. The image of Christ in me greets the image of Christ in you. Yes there are times to speak boldly and share the hope of Jesus – but there are also times to just affirm another’s humanity in simple ways. He is in both!

Phuket overall was a dope time of bonding more as a team, debriefing how we all interacted with Thailand and met the Lord. Our hostel too provided some rad spiritual conversations with other travellers.