Right now I sit in an internet café in Bangkok, Thailand. I have now traveled back to Bangkok 4 times where we are blessed with a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base that lets us stay at their house. It is conveniently located near the internet, a market with cheap but excellent fresh fruit smoothies, cheap fresh fruit stands and of course a 7/11 (there are surprisingly tons of 7/11’s in Thailand…who knew?)
So this last week we had the opportunity to spend some down time on the island of Koh Samet. At the end of every month we take a few days to debrief and process the month of ministry and prepare ourselves physically, spiritually, and mentally for the next month. Somehow we were able to get discount lodging in the bungalows on the island and the woman who owns the place blessed us in many other ways. (Like the time she served us all sweet sticky rice with mango…my favorite Thai dessert…for free!)
Even though I would take a fresh water lake or stream any day 
over the salty ocean, I did enjoy the opportunity to walk up and down the beach looking for seashells, watching the sun rise and set over the sea, and taking morning, afternoon, and sometimes even night swims with the fishies!
My team also took a boat tour on April 29 to celebrate both Emily and Chris’s birthdays. We got to stop and snorkel in two 
different spots to see the coral and fish. I have never been snorkeling before so I thought that was cool. Then we got to try our hand at fishing in the deep blue sea. Our “poles” were made of plastic drinking bottles with fishing line tied and wrapped around them. Natalie was the only successful one who caught 3 little fish. The boat crew cooked them up and served them to us…I thought they were quite tasty! The last thing we did on the tour was stop at the fish farm where we saw tiger sharks and sea turtles along with lots of other kinds of fish. Overall it was well worth the 400 Baht (about 12 USD), especially since it included lunch and soft drinks.
We left the island yesterday and made yet another border run, this time to Cambodia. It was a little annoying to have to go through that just for a couple more days, but our visas expired yesterday and we don’t leave for the Philippines until tomorrow. My next post will be from the capital city, Manila where we will be staying for the next 3 weeks!
