It’s day 5 of Operation Limbo.. er, Operation Be Still and Listen (day 7, if you count the two travel days, which trust me, we do). We’ve been listed as World Race Emergency Team (somethin like that) under YWAM’s info, and after staying at the base for the week and enjoying AC, good showers, fridges in our room, 7-11 runs and wifi in our rooms, we’re about to move down the street to a more cost-friendly place until we decide our next steps..
It’s been a tough, challenging, emotional rollercoaster of a few days. We’ve had moments of clarity and conviction, but just as many (if not more) feelings of confusion, uncertainty and slight paralysis from not knowing what to do next or trying to find common ground. We haven’t given up by any means. We’ve certainly had ample time to get to the bottom of how things unraveled (the whole deportation story and all the messy details and characters involved) and to deal with and let go of disappointments. We’ve been stir crazy but also had time to rest and to learn how to stretch our baht (no, not an exercise to firm up your -nevermind).. We’ve been living on $2 USD a day to compensate for sunk costs (altho praise God – we’re seeing our budget and morale inch back up thru reimbursement and blessings from generous ppl – thank you Jared V and Paschalls!!). When Benny surprised us on Wednesday night with a visit to see Mike and Patti who were still in Thailand after debrief (see Mel’s blog), I’m honestly not sure that our tears of joy weren’t equally for the delicious meal (drinks, dinner, dessert) they treated us to as it was to be in their company. The night was uplifting and refreshing , just the boost we needed! Thank you Mike and Patti for being such caring parents to us.
As much as we’ve loved Bangkok (ha), we are heading towards a decision.. we’re ready to get up off our bahts (had to do it) and just GO. Please continue to pray that we’re at peace with what happened and what will happen or NOT happen next… that we’ll be on the same page (or as Jen astutely put it, be on the same rollercoaster cart as we ride the ups and downs). We don’t expect or crave big stories of redemption, but stories of how God’s faithful in the small, daily things, like providing sweet street vendor ladies who cook authentic Thai food for 25-30 baht, or giving us the YWAM base to ’emergency land’ at (even allowing us to host our own movie night on a projector).
So as not to reinvent the wheel, please visit my teammates’ blogs (see My Links on left side) for the update on exactly what caused Operation Vietnam to stall temporarily… it was kinda like solving a mystery as pieces came together. It’s a drawn out, crazy story but worth the read. Whenever I’m bored, I love to go back and re-visit how it all went down… (k, i joke!)
more to come soon.. maybe.
PS. I can’t thank you enough for all your thoughts, prayers and comments! We’ve all felt blessed and watched over by you guys.. I never thought I’d care about comments, but Iately it makes me happy to know that YOU guys are alive (I can only assume you are if you comment, hehe). So leave some love! I’ll love ya back (but it’s conditional)..
