Around And Around We Go

So it's been a while, quite a chaotic last week. Since our last update we have traveled from the south of Thailand, up through the north, and then all the way up to Vang Vieng in Laos. Definitely a change of scenery and spirit. From relaxed, climbing hub Ton Sai, to westernized, party city Vang Vieng. The trip has been a journey in itself. We left Ton Sai and headed to Chang Mai, which is in the northern part of Thailand, on the way we had a young German named Bella join us on our trek, we had a "lay over in Bangkok and Cristina and I spent the day in the park sharing with her while Isaac and Gabe got dreadlocks... yes all three of us had a head of dreadlocks and Cristina upped her number to two. After a day there we loaded up on to a night bus up two Chang Mai.


We arrived at the break of dawn to find that our bags had been gone through. By His grace nothing but a head-lamp, which we had a spare of, was taken. Our group, which Bella had joined for our time in Chang Mai, found an awesome hostile and settled in to relax. After a pleasant morning we had a nice session in the bouldering gym then a peculiar experience at the "farang" night market.

The next morning we packed up and parted way from Bella as we headed up to Pai in the north-west. Upon arrival we had another travel partner join us for our stay. Ed, England, bunked up with us for the extent of our time in Pai. We spent two nights in Pai; went to a reggae concert, took a cooking class, biked through the rice fields, and had some solid talks with people. After a pleasant, relaxed stay we moved on.

The next leg of our travel was the worst yet. 24 hours crammed in over booked vans and buses. The first leg was from Pai to Chang Mai, I got sick. The second was from Chang Mai to our visa station, Gabe got sick. Third leg was to the border, everyone was drained. We missed our bus from the Thailand border to the Laos border so we had to stand in another bus. Next we road from the Thailand border to Vien Tiane and that bus was packed, people laying and sitting in the aisles, full nine yards. Vien Tiane, we missed another bus, sat in the sun for an hour, then we were packed into another bus, people in the aisles and mosquitoes out the yin yang. At this time nobody had really slept so we tried on this but the roads were impossible between the drivers weaving in out of traffic, on a school bus mind you, the pot hole infestation, and the random cows that wanted to take the bus head on... a dog tried and lost... Finally we arrived in Vang Vieng and were greeted by people already drunk in the streets, in the middle of the afternoon. Tough welcoming committee into ministry. Needless to say we've arrived, this is not going to be an easy place but we are confident He has a plan (closed country so beware what is posted considering Him^)

Petitions: Team Unity
Team health (we are all good right now but we would like to stay that way)
Deep Conversations
Our hearts would be sensitive and united.

P.S. Gabe and Isaac both didn't like the way their dreads were done so they have removed them... I'm back to solo dreads... plus Cristina's two...