For those of you wondering where I was for the month of April I thought, since it’s May, I should probably answer that question. I got the joy of spending my time with 20 of the squad ladies in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chiang Mai is located in the North and I had not been there before. I really enjoyed the new town and getting to be with ALL the ladies there.
We stayed in an amazing place called “The Lighthouse” guesthouse…I will write more about them in another blog. We were in town during SongKran; a water festival that was originally a day of cleansing by the Buddhist monks. As the years passed the original meaning of the day began to fall to the wayside. The festival is now, in Chiang Mai at least, a 5 day experience of people walking around completely soaked carrying buckets with which they fish water from the moat to throw at passers by OR a Super Soaker water gun. It is 5 days of water, alcohol, and parties in the streets. I have never experienced anything as crazy as those days in Chiang Mai.
Due to a change in Thai law, when we passed overland from Cambodia we only got a 15 day visa when it used to be a 30 day. SO, we had to make a border run. This allowed us to take a day and head north, through the city of Chiang Rai and cross the border into Myanmar. Although we didn’t spend a lot of time over the border it was fun to see what part of the country looked like and see some of the fun sights along the way.
My ministry for the month was the racers. I was hoping to get the opportunity to go out with them when they did bar ministry but it never worked out for me to go. SO, I took a day to have a “date” with each of the girls and really enjoyed it all. These ladies are amazing. I got to help them process every night as they came home from the bars having seen some vulgar thing or met someone new with a hard story. I got to give hugs, encourage, and challenge each of them. I love being able to do that kind of ministry. I think if I just got to hang out in a coffee house everyday with people; sharing my life and hearing about theirs; life would be hard pressed to be any better!
So, in a nutshell, that was my April. We had some ups and downs; some bumps in the road…but we came out the other end responsible for more, because we know more AND better equipped to serve the world around us. God is good in ALL things!
