I know I already shared one blog this week but I really feel that this needs to be shared as it happens.
Yes, I have a bucket list and it is always growing and shrinking. Sometimes things are added as they happen. This one however has been on my bucket list for as long as I could remember. The only difference is we didn’t fly here.
Bucket list item: Go to the airport and buy the cheapest flight available to wherever in the world it is and go with only your wallet.
So the twist is we took a bus and there are 6 of us (Hannah, Lindsay, Kate, Ronny, Hunter, and myself).
Here is how this all started. We were in Chiang Mai and from day one I was ready to leave. It was a place full of struggle and lessons being learned on every corner for me. I was ready to leave but my team was making awesome connections every where they went. So, we ended up staying for a week and I had the privilege of watching my team flourish. It was great but still full of tension (a favorite word of the World Race community) for me.
I began praying that God would give us a new direction for where he wanted us. I kept feeling led to search south (cause that was the direction we needed to start heading to Malaysia anyway) and east but also a place that is not normally talked about. I looked through at least 20 different towns reading about them and just asking God if this was the location. FINALLY, I came across Rayong. It is south east of Bangkok, on the coast (praise Him for beaches), and full of locals. So I shared it with the team and they were all game to go.
On Saturday, Hannah and I went to buy bus tickets. They only sold tickets to Pattaya and we could not leave until Monday night. Okay, we decided to go for it.
Here we are Tuesday morning arriving in Pattaya at 6:20am. I jump out and find us tickets to Rayong. They were $2.40 per ticket and the bus was leaving at 6:30am. Perfect! We jumped at the opportunity. When we arrive we are actually on the outskirts of Rayong. Here is the thing **we have NO IDEA where we are going to stay. ** So, we look for a Songthaew (it is a pickup truck with benches and a cover) to take us further into town. We found this cute little coffee shop called, “Coffee Farm Rayong.” Now it is time to game plan.
We started praying and decided to do a treasure hunt to find a place to stay. A treasure hunt is something we learned during training. We all pray for God to reveal either a person, place, color, object, or an ailment. We could only remember four of those things when we started praying. We saw an older woman, the beach, the colors yellow and green, and an overall sense of peace.
As much as I wanted to be apart (as most of you know I never want to miss out on ANYTHING) I stayed back with everybody’s stuff and prayed. Ronny, Kate, Hunter, and Hannah all went out. Talk about a faith walk!!! My heart might explode! So they returned after 1.5 hours and they met so many great people and had a mini tour guide. ANNNDDDD they found a camp site on the BEACH!!!!
So we are about to go tenting on the beach <3
Look at God!
