Thailand!!! We made it and everyone is in Hat Yai at Henro’s friend, Stephan’s place. Everyone except for Welman and Philip who wanted to push on to Welman’s friend a bit futher north in Hua Hin.
Our small team didn’t sleep at all and took the bus at 5h30 am to Hat Yai. We crossed the border in to Thailand at about 8am. It was here that we all felt extremely tired and hungry to the point where you just do not care what happens, you just want to sleep. Welman got himself some weird Chinese food, sticky rice, a sort of chilly-tomato kapenta (small dried fish) mix and a hardboiled egg. The rest of us could only manage coffee.
We only arrived in Hat Yai at round about 10am, but because Thailand is an hour behind Malaysia, it was 9am. The bus dropped us in town and immediately the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers were harassing us to go with them. Seemed like our bus driver was in on the deal as well, because he was trying harder than the taxi drivers to
get us into one. He gave their game away though when we asked him how far it was to our destination and he said “far”. “How far?” I asked. “1km.” We thanked him and started walking down the road and suddenly 1 km changed to 10km! We just laughed.
Stephan is a teacher here in Thailand and lives in a small hotel with the other teachers. He welcomed us with open arms and made us feel very at home. A shower, clean clothes and something to eat was great to say the least. Welman and Philip moved on straight after their shower to reach Arno, Welman’s buddy.
This is Stephan-Henro's friend! What a guy!
This is the beautiful city we stayed at.
Bernard and Angelo arrived from where they were staying in another flat and we immediately started
sharing our travel stories. Their stories were obviously more successful, but we were just glad to be together again. Thank you Jesus!
We met some of Stephan’s kids from his school and spent some time with them finding out if Stephan can teach or not… Bubbly young teen agers ranging from 10 to 16 years of age, just like ours back home, just with different looks and accents… same braces. People will be people and kids will be kids, doesn’t matter where you go. They were all made by the same Maker.
These photo's are just one of many worship stations and small idol's all around town.
Tomorrow is the start of our
Luke 10 journeys. In Luke 10 Jesus sent out the disciples two by two into the towns that He planned to minister in. No money, food, bag or extra shoes. Look for a man of peace and stay at his home eating what he sets in front of you. Heal the sick, help the poor, raise the dead and preach the Good News to a world in need. That will be our mission for the next 10 days. We are splitting into 3 groups for this activity. Freddy and Bernard, Welman and Philip and then De Necker, Angelo and Henro. No one knows where they are going and are waiting for word from the Lord. We are probably going to pickle our bags with us for logistical reasons after our journey. This will be a huge test for our integrity when things get tough. Please pray for our safety and that we would hear God’s voice clearly.
It just started raining here, but I don’t think that will
intervene with our host’s plans for a braai…