Our team spent this past week living in Mae Ai Village in Northern Thailand and it was an experience I will carry with me forever.
I’ll miss the delicious, small bananas.
I’ll miss the talkative rooster that insisted we wake up around 5 or 6AM.
I’ll miss the little red ants that swarmed where I slept.
I’ll miss squatty potties and bucket showers.
I’ll miss the three dogs that visited our host home, Bob, Salt, and Pepper.
I’ll miss the freedom of not looking into a mirror for a week.
I’ll miss my Mae Jon’s startling, intense burps and fighting to hold back laughter.
I’ll miss the lizards that gathered on the ceiling at night, especially the one that fell on Katrina’s head.
I’ll miss white rice for every meal and so many fresh vegetables.
I’ll miss taking walks and seeing so much beauty surround me.
I’ll miss the mountains and the trees.
I’ll miss dirty hands, dirty feet, and dirty everything really.
I’ll miss having no cell phone service, Internet connection, or social media.
I’ll miss conversations with Thai people and having no idea what they are saying.
I’ll miss 10 baht ice cream trips after dinner.
I’ll miss Mae Lee braiding my hair better than any Pinterest article could ever teach.
I’ll miss telling proposal stories, rapping Emma’s abbreviations, and laughter.
I’ll miss endless hours spent with nothing to do but be with Jesus.
I’ll miss the quiet.
I’ll miss desperately needing to pluck my eyebrows, trim my nails, and shower.
I’ll miss worshiping with my team in a beautiful village.
I’ll miss sunsets like I’ve never seen before.
I’ll miss waking up with more mosquito bites.
I'll miss my host home, every inch, every memory.
I’ll miss brushing my teeth with water from my Nalgene.
I'll miss the little boy who danced in the streets and gave me kisses on my cheeks.
I’ll miss constructing part of a home, and digging in lots of dirt for mushroom planting.
I’ll miss sharing our hearts knowing every word was completely safe.
I’ll miss the community of a place where they have little, but give so much.
I’ll miss being completely distraction free.
I’ll miss the village.
You might read this and wonder how I could miss some of these things. Some seem amazing, but some seem uncomfortable. And that’s exactly it.
I’ll miss all of these things because the Lord used them to change me. He used them to show me that a simple life is incredibly beautiful and that there is nothing sweeter than time spent with Him. He used them to show me that life isn’t meant to be boring. It’s full of adventure waiting to be had, and He gives me so much so that I can give more.
Yeah…
I’m going to miss this.
