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| Thailand is a colorful culture, scattered with intricate tapestries, and architecture throughout. |
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| The worship of idols is common practice in Thailand, many statues created as "gods", yet many pieces simply expressions of the artistic detailed Thai culture. |
I spent 2 weeks in Thailand, with 40+ hours of well worth travel time combined. Blessed to have had the opportunity to experience a little bit of everything from back neighborhood house-restaurants (Thai food is amazing!), night markets, meeting new friends, a few tourist attractions, off-roading, pedicures, and connecting with ministries on the frontlines. Was able to see multiple geographical areas from cities to suburbs to the back-country northern rice fields.
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| Bangkok |
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| Chiang Rai |
The several day mission conference in the center of my adventure was inspiring, unexplainable through words, an amazing opportunity to personally witness amazing things God is doing around the world. Major missions leaders such as President of Campus Crusade, CEO of IHop, and founder of YWAM shared inspiring vision and informative testimonies. A major highlight of my trip was visiting my Compassion child, praise the Lord all the details panned out THE day I got on the plane heading to Thailand. Asked, knocked, sought, and it opened
(Matt 7:7)! Living a life of faith, often times results in stepping into the unknown, with God's leading!
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| Tuk-Tuk |
At one point of my adventure I waved goodbye to friends in one city, and left on a "tuk-tuk" (taxi) to a bus stop in order to travel by bus 3 hours up north (in the direction of the Laos/Berma boarder) to meet my Compassion child the following day. At that moment in that "tuk-tuk" heading to the bus stop I realized I was in the middle of Thailand, all by myself, with just little conversational Thai consisting of "Hello" and "Thank You". No phone, no way to access the internet, no confirmation of a place to rest my head that evening other then a few emails from possible contacts whom I was not even able to relay an arrival time or exact location within a particular city. I thought about my limited money tucked in my passport in a pouch around my waste, an equivalent of about 50 American dollars, and my close-to-empty bank account back home, with no access to funds, no plans, 3 days left in Thailand before my departure home to Hawaii. At that moment, I though
"...what am I doing(?!)... this is crazy(!)... Jesus, I LOVE MY LIFE (big smile)". God has allowed me to live an exciting and interesting life to say the least, it's these kind of moments and memories of adventures with God on the edge that I treasure. Well, I survived, overwhelmed and blessed as God showed up. The contacts turned out to be two amazing girls my age that arrived at the bus stop up in Northern Thailand, granted it was a few hours after I arrived and was sitting on a curb praying hard for what came next, as the sun was setting. My last few days were amazing; experiencing God's hospitality, answers to prayers, provision, and divine orchestration.
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| Thai child playing on a gravel pile at dusk. (Not my compassion child.. but about the same age.) |
The day-visit with my Compassion child was that following morning. I have been supporting and writting letters to him for the last ~4 years. The visit shifted that whole relationship forward, interactions creating reality. To see and be in his home village, school, church, and share a meal with him and his mom and other Compassion workers there was awesome. I was also blessed to meet more contacts in Northern Thailand, connected from my home church in Hawaii, and got to see an awesome ministry of an International Christian School they are running. Such an adventure; time with God, inspired, motivated, stretched, blessed! Sincerely happy to be back in Hawaii (not because I couldn't see myself staying in Thailand, or another country, longer-term at some point...) but for now Hawaii IS home. Starting a new season of life here, changes, Thailand adventure couldn't have of come at a more perfect time, filled and refreshed, ready to see what comes next in life...
Here are some more pictures I took during my travels;
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| Monks... can't go outside without seeing orange. |
