Our squad had enjoyed a four day debrief at the beaches of Hua Hin, Thailand. It felt amazing to soak in some sun, get some good advice and direction from our coaches, and have great worship. We even had a WR style dance party….needless to say, it was a good time.
January 27, 2013
It's nights like these that I sit back and think…wow…is really my life?!
Today we were all packed and ready to head to Malaysia at 5am. We were told to expect a 24 hour bus ride, but we were excited to see a nice bus with air conditioning pull up. After getting on, I enjoyed some of the best hours of hard sleep that I've had in a while.
We watched two movies, listened to music, and got to have some good conversations. We finally arrived at the border around 9 pm that night. We sat on the bus for almost an hour before the new squad leaders had any information for us. Our bus drivers had apparently been stalling all day and disappeared as we arrived at the border. To make a long story short…there were a lot of miscommunications and we were informed we could not cross the border that night.
With 30 minutes till the border closed…three teams raced to get their bags across and head off to their ministries with an amazing contact who graciously came to pick them up. The other five teams were literally three minutes away from getting "stuck" in between two countries at the border for the night.
The busses pulled into a parking lot. We sat awake waiting for instructions…two hours later we were told they wouldn't let us sleep on the bus without paying more than we already had. We walked to find food since dinner hadn’t happened yet. After returning to the busses, decided it was time to cut ties and find a cheap hostel for the night. We unloaded our bags out of our air porters. Strapped on our big pack to our backs, and day packs on our bellies, and began walking about a half mile to the hostel the squad leaders had found. We literally walked in the door, grabbed keys for rooms by whoever we were around, and went straight to the rooms to get some rest.
As I lay here, I feel so grateful. I love this adventure that I am on.
I love that a crazy day of almost everything going wrong…I lay here in bed at 2:30 am just happy to be where I'm at and excited for what God has in store for every moment I’m on this race. I'm thankful that I am capable of carrying my close to 50 lb pack, encouraging our leaders who had a heck of a first day as squad leaders, and rejoice in who I am and where I am at. I am thankful for a bed, an air conditioner, and a shower for the morning. God is so good 🙂 I love being on this adventure with Him!
January 28, 2013
We got to sleep in today! I slept in till 9 without waking up…so I know I was tired! That almost never happens on the race! I got up and showered (the showers are so funny here. In this hostel, there's just a shower head in the bathroom. So water gets everywhere..but it felt so good to get the travel grime off!) I went down to the lobby and spent some sweet time with The Lord. When others started to wake up we walked to get coffee at 7-11. I can't even explain how much we love 7-11’s on the race. I think it’s because it feels like home.
We had to have our packs ready and downstairs by noon. We started our half mile trek to the border!!
The sun was out and blazing down as we all headed through traffic to get to the border and get through customs. After reaching the border it was a half mile to a mile to get to customs.
We walked a little further and plopped down to wait for a bus. My friend, Micah, got out her ukulele and started playing.
I honestly loved today..hiking with our stuff and hanging out in the blazing sun…feels like what I imagined the race to be like.
Travel days have become something I genuinely look forward to. It is exciting, full of the unknown and is usually filled with lost of laughs, good conversations, and great stories!
We finally arrived in Malaysia!!
We are in a city called Kulim Kedah. We will be staying in and working with Vinyard Community Church. We will be joining in their ministries such as worship, prayer walks, prayer meetings and teaching English. We are so excited to be here and begin to get to know Pastor Mark and his sweet family. Pray for our team this month as we are anxious to see what God has in store for us this month!
