A quick update from my last blog.
Ella and Chips relationship continued to the extreme that we even brought her alongside us for our adventure day in Hoi ann. To finish off our time with her, Ella gave her a Bible story book. Before she even left us she was reading it aloud! We hope that so many kids and families that come through her house encounter God!
Da Nang , Vietnam
We arrived to Vietnam and were met with lots of Rain. We ended up arriving when rainy season started, and leaving when it ended. Good timing right? I wore ponchos , chacos, and a soft smile through it all.
My time in Vietnam was bitter sweet. I don’t want to write a blog and lie about my time , but rather I want to document the reality of the world race. Living with 7 other girls who I just met and doing full life with them isn’t easy. Especially when we are all so different, have different opinions on things and are also on our own journeys of life. On the contrary, one thing my whole team agrees on is how important life with Jesus is. We are never in disagreement when it comes to praying over every situation, praying though hardships, and reading the living word of God! We didn’t have a lot of organized ministry after the Christmas season was over, so our time was spent pouring into the community and each other. One unique way we did this was putting sticky notes of affirmations all over our hostel saying things like “ you are deeply loved “ and “ Jesus loves you “.
When I think about my time in Vietnam I’m going to remember the snails I ate right out of the shell at a woman’s house, the whitewater rafting that ended up being around a class 3 ( with no paddles & constantly running into boulders with our bodies), eating chicken feet and liver, the 3 times my team bought a whole cake and ate it within 4 minutes, our host having us over for a movie night with popcorn ( what a luxury) , the time my team read Romans on the beach, going to a theme park and riding some amazing roller coasters over and over again, surfing in the ocean, and the many many MANY strawberry smoothies I had ( I was addicted ).
These are memories that I hope to remember and cherish forever.
Through the ups and downs of everyday life, being able to go to Vietnam ( a country that was added on 3 weeks into the Race) was a true blessing and I would’t trade it for anything!
Here is my travel log of our squad going to Cambodia ( or not?!)
TRAVEL DAY WITH W SQUAD
⁃ Woke up at 4:30am
⁃ Arrived at Celina hotel at 5am
⁃ Got on the bus at 7:10am
⁃ Arrived at the Cambodia border at 4:50pm
⁃ We were informed we couldn’t enter that border so we are back on the road at 5:45pm
⁃ Changing out popped tire at a rest stop and I’m hungry 7:30pm
⁃ I started watching pitch perfect at 3am
⁃ At the correct border, but we can’t cross ?? 7:47am… so 24 mark has been hit
⁃ We are back on the bus and it’s very hot. We cannot get to Cambodia because we extended our visas. So we are going to Ho Chi Min city ! 8:30am
⁃ We are informed we have a hotel for the night in the city, but only 1 hour to go find lunch… it’s 12pm . Hour 29 on the bus. Have not left the country.
⁃ The immigration office denied our request to extend our visa ( we are already 2 days over due oops) and now we are leaving the bus for the last time to the hotel, the future is unknown, we may have to fly to Cambodia. 2:13pm
