And so it begins...

We arrived safely in Bangkok on schedule and managed to get to our hostel by about 2:00 am local time. Thank God for good flights and a few mini miracles along the way. (Qantas airlines actually booked us a free flight back to New Zealand for Jan 10 just so that we would have proof of leaving Thailand within our 30 day visa restriction. It was quite unusual. We ended up not needing it at the border but it was a very nice gesture on their behalf and we can easily cancel the flight now that we are in the country.)
We all slept well and have had a great first day in Thailand. We definitely felt the spiritual heaviness when we arrived and some of the team were feeling particularly burdened. We started the day with some great fruit salad with yoghurt (only 30 baht!) and then went to a nearby park (the same one we spent Christmas in last year on our layover) and spent some time in worship. That was definitely the turning point in the day and it only got better from there (for me anyway).
We split into pairs and started exploring the city a bit and keeping open ears and eyes for whoever God would bring along our path. Malori and I were technically looking for a good hostel to spend Christmas in but we kept getting "distracted" by a whole bunch of great witnessing opportunities. I'm running out of time so I'll keep it short.
Pray for Guiton, from Sweden. He is heading home today after four months of travel in Southeast Asia. We had lunch with him and talked for about two hours. He was very touched when I prayed for him and asked for God's blessing on his return home. We exchanged email and he might be able to get us some contacts in Chiang Mai.
Pray for Maria, from Spain. We bumped into her a few times and she was practically begging us to stay in the same hostel as her. We didn't get as much time to talk with her but we exchanged email with her as well and plan to get together with her for a meal as soon as possible.
Pray for more open doors. Pray for good health and safety. Pray for spiritual protection and discernment. Pray that we would be united as a team and totally focused on obeying God no matter what the circumstances.
That's that for now. As we see signs all over Thailand saying... LONG LIVE THE KING!