Sorry for the lack of updates. I have a few awesome videos coming in the next few days. My internet connection is spotty at times so it’s kinda hard to upload videos, but I’ll have some great ones soon. I actually had the awesome experience a couple of weeks ago to ride elephants. So much fun. This past weekend I was high in the mountains of northern Thailand. It had to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. I attended church in an Akha village and it was so cool. The people were amazing and we had such a good time. Thanks for the prayers and I will do my best to keep everyone posted. Sorry for the lack of communication.
jonny
3 Weeks down!
Well it’s hard to believe that I have been away from the U.S. for a little over 3 weeks now. I’m glad to hear that everyone home is doing well and enjoying the frigid temperatures. It is dry and consistently in the 80s here in Thailand. For those of that have been able to follow over the past few weeks I just wanted to say thanks and I will try to keep the videos and pics coming more regularly.
Over the past few weeks I have been able to take part in an amazing teaching, training, learning, and outreach process called Media Light Institute. This has been a real time of growth for me, I feel that a lot of the contacts and friends that I have met are people that God has put in my life for a purpose. Even the media training that I am participating in has been unreal. I just can’t say enough about how I feel that God has me right where He wants me for this time in my life. I look forward to gaining the skills and knowledge that I can over the next 3 months and be better prepared for even more ministry when I get home.
Tonight after dinner we went to the local market and tasted some Thai grub worms. They popped in my mouth after I took a bite. Crazy sensation!
So the journey begins….
As many of you know I am living in Thailand for the next 3 months. So far my experience here has been absolutely incredible! In fact it’s been so amazing that I forgot to call my mother the first day and a half that I was here. I think I am officially the worst son in the world. Apparently it’s not proper “good son” etiquette to leave home for three months to a foreign land and not call your mother immediately after landing safely at your destination.
Also, my response when asked, “why didn’t you call?” didn’t earn me any brownie points.
I replied, “what? I posted on my facebook that I got in safely.”
I guess that mothers like to hear that type of thing first hand. Oh well, sorry mom. I’ll try to do better next time I leave the country for an extended period of time. Thus far my time here in Thailand has been epic. Quick recap….
Getting to Thailand: The journey here was brutal. 3 days of total travel. 4 flights. 6 of hours sleep. 8 child portioned meals and 267 bags of free airline peanuts (to hold me over until they would bring the next tiny meal). But I finally made it.
Day 1: Arrived at the Chiang Rai airport with the most gruesome case of jet lag ever. Ate at the coolest little local Thai restaurant. I say local because there are a lot of tourists here and we seemed to be the only white people in the place. The food was insanely spicy and delicious. Then went fishing for a bit with a collapsible fishing rod and bread. Needless to say we did not catch anything using white bread as bait. Maybe fish in Thailand are a bit more health conscious and will only eat wheat, rye, or whole grain organic breads? After the fishing debacle it was time to ride scooters. This was a lot of fun until a ravenous rabies smitten dog tried to attack me. The crazy thing about this dog was that it was wearing a Virginia Tech Hokies doggie sweater. Who knew that wild beasts were so fashion savvy? This rabid dog caused me to wreck my scooter into a concrete wall. Luckily I was able to spare my scooter severe damage due to my superb coordination and motor skills. Unluckily I was not able to come away from the incident completely unscathed. I cut and bruised my leg up a little. All in all though day one was quite enjoyable.
Day 2: Still recovering from jet lag and my rabies dog wound, but able to remain fairly active. Played a wicked game of Thai scrabble. Ate more amazing food. Got lost on the way to the village where we were trying to ride elephants. Didn’t make it to the elephants on time so we went for a hike and climbed a really cool waterfall. Now when I say cool I don’t mean it as “neat” or “swell.” I mean “frigid” or “deathly cold.” The water was so cold but we had so much fun. I actually can’t feel my fingers as I am typing this, that’s how cold it was. On the hike home we ran out of daylight so we had to walk home in the dark. Good thing I am an outdoorsman and always prepared. I was able to light my path and see three inches in front of me with my cell phone light. After the waterfall and hike we capped an amazing day off with an even more amazing thai massage. The most amazing thing about it was the price….$6. I felt kind of bad because I feel like I was ripping off the masseuse. I can’t even get a happy meal in the U.S. for $6. So yeah, it was a great day.
