Strap in tight, because we’re getting a little creative with this blog! Most of you have been reading our blogs for over a year now, so we decided to mix it up a bit to keep things interesting. Instead of writing out a long blog post to explain how our month was in Thailand–we want to share it with you using these 10 photos!
Hope these pics give you an accurate picture of what our past several weeks were like.
Photo #1: Coke & Coffee
Last year when we came to Thailand, Kaydan accidentally came across what is now one of his favorite drinks: Coke with coffee. Now we know what you’re thinking. Eww. Gross. Barf. BUT, it’s honestly pretty good. We highly recommend giving it a try if you’re ever passing through Thailand. Also, this is not the first picture because it’s the most important, but because chronologically, it’s the first picture we have in Thailand. Literally as soon as we landed in Bangkok, this was our first stop before even leaving the airport!
Photo #2 – The Hostel
Continuing on our chronological photo journey, this second photo provides perspective on where we lived during our time in Bangkok. Ironically, you can’t actually see our hostel in this picture. But, do you see the furthest building on the left side of the river? The one with the little pointy things on top? Right at the base of that thing, behind the trees, is where our hostel was neatly nestled into the colorful row of buildings. Our squad was split up into two 22-bed dorm rooms. It was kind of like a sleepover. Lots of fun, not much privacy, and a little overwhelming at times.
Photos 3 & 4 – New Friends
Speaking of our hostel, one of the great things about staying there was making friends with the people on staff, and consistently being able to spend time building relationships with them. It’s not often that they get a group of our size, especially for as many days as we stayed!
The guy in this second picture is Thoy. Over our time at the hostel, we really got to form a great friendship with him. During our time in Bangkok, Thoy taught us about Thai customs and the Thai New Year that was happening called Song Khran Festival (it’s this crazy water festival that lasts multiple days, and no matter where you go in the streets, people douse you with water buckets and shoot water guns at you. Nobody is off limits for Song Khran!) On Easter Sunday, we got an opportunity to share with Thoy about the hope we have in Jesus, and why the resurrection is such an important event for us.
Photo #5 – Easter Sunday
One of the awesome blessings God gave us this month was the LifePoint Church in Bangkok. Get this: not only did we find a local church that spoke English and was made up of both Americans and Thai people, but most of the church staff were people from Tennessee!! What are the odds? The head pastor was a Thai guy that grew up in Memphis. It’s crazy how small the world is, and how much we enjoyed the opportunity to feel at home as we worshipped on Easter Sunday.
Photos 6 & 7 – Our Squad
This year as Squad Leaders has looked much different than last year in terms of ministry. Most of our ministry happens internally within the squad, which came in the form of squad sessions this month. We got to spend time pouring into our squad, teaching them from the Word and encouraging them as they went out to be the hands and feet of Jesus on the streets of Bangkok. These two pictures were snagged during one of our “all squad” sessions.
Photo #8 – More Friends!
Robert and his wife, Christmas, owned a family restaurant with very inexpensive (but very tasty) Thai food! Needless to say, we frequently ran into them and got to build a relationship with them. Robert is from California, but lives in Thailand now that he and Christmas are married.
Photo #9 – An Old Friend
It just so happened that one of Kaydan’s friends, Jesse, was traveling through Bangkok while we were there. They hadn’t seen one another since their time in the Navy together in Greece, about 4 years ago! Being able to meet with Jesse and catch up on life was such a special opportunity.
Photo #10 – Saying Goodbye to Thailand
This was the very last picture we took from the train window as we crossed the border into Malaysia. We are so thankful for all that God did in us and in our squad this past month. He is continually faithful to us and never fails. Traveling the world and sharing the Gospel with the nations has proven to be such an incredible, unforgettable journey. Thank you so much for reading the blog, engaging with us via emails and social media. We love you guys and thank God for your support.
With Love,
Kaydan & Katherine
