There were three distinct parts to our trip, so distinct that it felt a bit like we had taken three separate trips. Our first trip was with our friends the Sheahans, who were extraordinarily generous with their time, and kind in helping us secure some fabulous and inexpensive housing for the first few days. We were shown around several markets in town, given pointers on how to navigate the city, and were exposed to a variety of ethnic foods (and to the concept of ridiculously-cheap eating out.) We got lost for the first time, took our first songthaw and tuk-tuk rides, and began our crash course in Thai culture. Our second trip was out at Pioneers’ SE Asia retreat. There we got a chance to meet the area and team leaders before most of the others arrived, got a chance to meet handfuls of really great people originally from the US and Australia and all over Asia, and told our stories over and over (a bit of foreshadowing of telling about this trip over and over up our return...?) We spent a lot of time in the sun, chatting with new friends, and played the coolest game of Ultimate Frisbee ever with the youth and their incredible retreat leaders. (Ever played Ultimate at night in the dark with a light-up frisbee and 2,000 glow-sticks marking the field and the two teams as a thunderstorm approached? If you ever get the chance, take it!) We were able to make some real connections with real people, and it was awesome. Our third trip was back in town, a whirlwind tour of CommNet’s (the team I’ll be joining as soon as I can) future beginnings and teammates. We celebrated Easter with the regional leader here and felt very much like a part of the family. We participated in Songkran, a three-day Thai celebration centered around the world’s largest waterfight. (I’ve never experienced anything like it. People stand on the side of the road near the center of town, or drive in vehicles around the center of town, and spray, splash and douse every human being in sight for three whole days. And everybody loves it. Not a sour face to be seen, despite perhaps having been sprayed right in the face while riding a motor scooter. It’s crazy.) I ate my first calamari (in a fantastic curry) and my first grasshopper (deep-fried, everything tastes the same, though the texture of eating a good-sized bug was a little unnerving.) I also got to drive for the first time on the left side of the road, shifting with my left hand (Thanks Kelly!) My future CommNet teammate, Jason, is an intense, insightful, and passionate photographer (and an INTP like me, for those of you who know Meyers-Briggs) with whom I am very excited to work. He’s the man, for sure, and I very much look forward to working with him. And now we’re heading back home, despite not really wanting to. Three trips, all great in their own way.
I took plenty of video footage on this trip, but it’s going to take a bit to compile it and make something interesting and useful out of it. I’ll post it here when it’s ready, but it’ll probably be a couple weeks.
I think to a small degree this trip feels like a bit of a tease, a glimpse at what could be, but won’t happen for a while. But I’m going to see it as a taste of things to come, a shadow of things to come. I can’t say I’m looking forward to going back to life as usual, a job I’m not always satisfied with, but now there is the tiniest glimpse at what God has for me, and that will have to be enough. Please pray with me for the thing I’ve been praying for for so long: patience. I just can’t seem to understand the years of waiting, culminating to more waiting, soon followed by still more waiting. I’m sure my lack of patience is in part due to my inability to fully relinquish my life into His hands. I know that He is good and everything happens for a reason, a good and perfect plan, and I need to learn to put trust in that. He certainly answered my prayers for this trip: safety, revelation, and good health. And where He is faithful in the small things in life, he’s unbelievably faithful in the big things in life. I pray I can give it all to Him. If anyone can change my impatient heart, surely the creator of the universe can do wonders. Thanks for your prayers, and keep ‘em coming. Blessings to you all.
I shall return to Chiang Mai.
1 comment:
This is very cool, Dayn. And the waiting thing? I'm sure a common experience for God's children. He really DOES NOT function or think the way we do, and it's hard. But I think I, too, am starting to maybe - just maybe - understand the bigger picture. We have much to learn, and I will try to keep that in prayer for you.
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