Today six of the team travelled to Krabi (about a three hour drive from Nakhon) to help out on an adventure camp with 60 Year 6 students. The intention was to catch a longtail boat from Krabi to the Railay peninsula and run a whole afternoon of activities, head back to the beach and finish off the batch of spaghetti for the kids.
It’s at times like these that one thinks of Proverbs 16:9 – “the heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps”. Almost nothing went according to plan. We arrived at Krabi quite late and the start was delayed. A few of us got lost navigating around the peninsula because it was our first time there. The kids were ill-equipped/some of the activities were too ambitious for such a hot and humid day and some of them got minor heatstroke. The group got split up around the peninsula and it was very stressful running around figuring what was going on and where kids were etc (thank God for working phones and Whatsapp!). We all ended up back at Krabi quite behind schedule and had a really late dinner.
To be frank I was far from the one who had the hardest day but it was still discouraging to see the kids having a hard time and seeing our (maybe not so well thought out) plans fall apart. During the sharing that night we were reminded to focus on the positives and to trust that God’s plans are better. Good conversations were had, we all learnt new things and the kids all seemed happy and content after dinner. Heading into tomorrow with more optimism!
Another plus: Railay was stunningly beautiful. Looking up at the gargantuan rock formations we were reminded how small we were and how big and mighty our Creator is.
By Lennox