It was about 10 years ago, before we had even met, that we started dreaming of this trip, we spoke about it on our very first date, have dreamed about it throughout our relationship and now we are sitting in a little house on a remote island in Thailand on the first leg of what is going to be a year long adventure. Who would have thought at Christmas last year, with about £1000 in our savings account that we would have been sitting here today? The lead up to this has been an incredible adventure in itself - God has provided the money for this trip in the most wonderful and extravagant ways, through incredibly generous people, random coincidences, surprising opportunities and pure miracles. We couldn’t stand here more thankful, blessed and in awe of God’s goodness!
For a long time we have been fascinated by ‘the church’. American pastor, Bill Hybels says “The local church is the hope of the world” and in many ways we have seen glimpses of that in the UK - we’ve seen the poor cared for, the sick healed, the lonely find families and lives transformed by the power of Jesus. We love what God has been doing in the UK church and are excited about where it’s going. However, in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul uses the metaphor of the church being the body of Christ and there has been a growing realisation in both of us that our own experiences of church have just been like sitting in the palm of the hand rather than being exposed to the body as a whole. What does the ear, the nose, the big toe look like? And that partly is what this trip is about for us - it’s about seeing the glorious body of Christ in it’s fullness. We long to see the global church - what is God doing in and through communities around the world and what can we learn? If the local church really is the hope of the world - what does that hope really look like in all it’s weird and wonderful forms?
So that’s the aim, to spend a year travelling the world and seeing some amazing places and along the way to be stopping off to see and learn from churches and communities as we go!
Before launching full throttle into a year of travelling we decided it would be best to spend a month relaxing, slowing down our pace of life, planning and enjoying some rest, which has brought us to the beautiful island of Koh Lanta! We set off on 15th September to Gatwick Airport, bleary eyed at 6:15am, said a teary goodbye to family and excitedly hopped on a plane to Thailand.
However, it wasn’t quite that simple - 33 hours, 3 plane journeys, 2 bus rides and 3 hour minibus ride (including a ferry crossing!) later we finally arrived in Lanta Old Town on Koh Lanta island. When we arrived we were greeted by the house host, Peter, a lovely German man who’s been living in Koh Lanta for 6 years. He showed us round the house and the left us to it. The mix of exhaustion, jet lag, the heat and arriving in the dark to what felt like the furthest place on earth we could possibly have come to left us feeling homesick and little overwhelmed. After a long sleep (thank goodness for air con!) we woke up to see where we had ended up in daylight. The view from our decking was breathtaking, the sun was glorious and within moments Jamie had already made friends with our neighbour Sunpan (forgive the almost definitely wrong spelling!). Sunpan is one of the local minibus drivers on the island.
The last few days have been mainly trying to adjust to our new home here in Koh Lanta. Fresh Restaurant has been our local go to restaurant which has provided us with a variety of incredibly delicious meals all for around 180 Baht each (~£3.60) with beautiful sea views. We’ve also been going to the local shop owned by a wonderfully smiley woman called Ying who has helped us find what we need and laughs at us when we try out the new Thai phrases we have learnt. Our days have been filled with reading, eating lots, sleeping in the hammock, people watching, enjoying the views and generally lazing around the place between meals...and of course fishing from the deck is a highlight of the day! With it being rainy season at the moment in Thailand, the spontaneous storms add an element of excitement into the day! It’s very dramatic and keeps us on our toes but thankfully the weather is so hot that it makes it good fun as we run around panicking trying not to get everything wet. The various creatures we’ve encountered in the house have also provided similar scenes - crabs, geckos, lizards, hornets, spiders, bats, it really has been a lesson in local wildlife!
It’s a funny thing when a dream becomes a reality. A true cocktail of emotions but as the uncertainty, homesickness and culture shock lessens, the excitement of what we are experiencing and anticipation of what’s to come builds. It’s been a relaxing first stint and over the next few days we are plan to venture out, hire some mopeds and explore the island a bit more. We will keep you posted as to how we get on...!
Follow us on instagram @boswelltravels for more photos!
