It was bittersweet saying goodbye to Thailand.
First, I wanted to say that I could’ve done better updating people back home and I definitely could’ve done better to help myself process all that’s happened if I wrote things down more or wrote more blogs. Truth is, I struggle with that. I’m really trying to work on it. I want to share all the Lord is doing but I never want to miss out on a moment. Learning to find a healthy balance in that.
With all that being said…
Thailand.
Thailand was one of the top countries I’ve always wanted to go to. I knew I’d get there one day, I just always had a feeling. I never knew how or when or what my reason for going was. I can say I’m glad it was this, I’m glad it was now and I’m glad it was with the people I was with. I don’t know why I’ve always wanted to go there. Maybe it was the culture, maybe the part of the world it’s in, maybe because the Lord just really wanted to get me there. Couldn’t honestly tell you, but I’m glad I ended up there. I’m glad I lived 2 months of my life there. Normal life doing normal life things. I didn’t expect it to be as home feeling as it is. It never really felt like I was on a mission trip, it always felt like normal life that happens to be in a different country. And that’s what it was.
I don’t think my mind has fully processed what Thailand really was for me. It was so many things. I think I could go on for a really long time of what it was. I have a hard time summing things up because I don’t think some things deserve to be crammed into a group of words that could never really describe it even if they tried. That was Thailand for me. But here are some that I crammed together that poured out of my heart when I sat down and thought about it.
I’m also aware some of what I summed up won’t make sense to some people, maybe not even anyone. This is what it was for me and that’s how I wanted to explain it as.
Chiang Mai.
It was a noisy city that was loud with kindness, music across the street, cars that never stopped, laughter and screaming because let’s be honest, quiet hours were never really a thing. It was going to pantip 5 times a day either because you needed a dipped cone or someone did. Or because there was never a day that went by that we didn’t go to big c. It was always trying to find a buddy to go with you or two after 7. It was street food most nights because that’s all 50 baht could get you. It was wishing you had more than 50 baht. It was really wanting to get bella goose before ministry and getting it anyways because why not. It was bella goose. It was cashew chicken without the rice because they ran out. It was balling out and getting the peanut butter or the nutella, or both. It was buying market pants that ripped the next week while you were painting, then getting someone who couldn’t sew to sew them up for you. It was those same market pants dying your whole team’s clothes pink in the wash. It was too many mango smoothies. It was Jesse getting lost 3 times a day. It was making jokes about how much Jesse wandered off. It was hoping for french toast just to find out it’s oatmeal. It was blaming Cal every time. It was mama’s oatmeal for breakfast with more brown sugar than oats. It was watermelon and pineapple for breakfast. It was waiting in line to wash your dishes. It was waiting for the bathroom. It was waiting on the roof for the showers. It was learning love is patient. It was running to the showers after ministry because you had manual labor all day but so did the 17 other people who just got home. It was calling it home. It was laundry days at super wash. It was lugging an air porter down the street just to do it. It was going to 7/11 all the time. It was hi chews, but only the strawberry ones. It was worshipping on the roof at night. It was singing raise a hallelujah every time. It was singing good grace almost as much. It was no air conditioning, except for the occasional session in the common room. It was sitting in the stairwell because it was always cooler out there and wifi was better. It was Aaron playing the guitar and singing in the stairwell. It was hanging in the kitchen a lot, especially when there were bed bugs and the common room was off limits. It was month one debrief, soaking up the air conditioning. It was dancing in the rain and jumping in the pool at eco. It was playing sardines at night. It was going to that 7/11 way more than the ones closer to Zion. It was Zion hostel. It was manual labor and kids ministry. It was going to the sunday night market on sunday and the regular market every other day of the week. It was songthaews. It was butchering the spelling of that for the whole first week. It was using grab more than we needed to. It was nutella roti. It was tea, every single kind of it. It was forgetting to take our sheets off the beds on thursdays. It was going to shadow every weekend. It was waking up 3 minutes before devotion and running down to it. It was adventures all the time. It was acting like brothers and sisters. It was being that. It was saying goodbyes. It was Hanna’s 21st birthday party. It was jam sessions on the way to ministry. It was sunrises and sunsets. It was going to the atms too much. It was thrifting. It was mango sticky rice. It was fried rice. It was just a lot of rice. It was only knowing how to say hi and thank you in Thai. It was dance parties just about anywhere. It was where full send started. It was wishing curfew didn’t exist because there was so much to do. It was doing so much but leaving still wishing to do more. It was a hard goodbye. It was a place with memories I smile about now but I’ll cry about one day. It was a place the Lord moved. It’s a place the Lord IS moving. It was a place I’m thankful to have called home for a little bit.
It was too many things to put into words. Maybe one day I’ll be able to sum it up, but for now I’ll leave it as this.
It was home.
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We’ve been in Malaysia for almost 2 weeks now. We’re here for a month and then we’ll be heading to India. I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop applying for my visa for India. We don’t have much access to wifi here where we’re staying but I’m trying to post some blogs I’ve written. We get access about once a week. I’d love to update on Malaysia and the ministry we’re doing here and that is on the way! I plan on getting on a regular schedule with posting blogs. Thank you for all of the support. I appreciate it all!
If anyone has any questions or wants to reach out, I’m always available (when I have wifi haha)!! You can comment on this post or email me! My email is @[email protected]!
