Definition of flexible: WE CHANGED PLANS

Hey there! Guess what, I'M STILL IN THAILAND!!! we just can't get enough! :) seriously, we had a change in plans at the last minute. we left chiang klang, the clinic we worked at on Saturday. We were supposed to fly from Nan to Bangkok and then to Laos. Yes, Laos, was the dangerous country I was asking you to pray about. Julie has a friend of a friend there. It's one of the darkest nations in Asia and is communist. needless to say, i had to hide my bible before we were going. i was a little scared about it but knew there was a reason we were going so i was okay with it. well, the Lord had other plans. our flight to take us to bangkok was three hours late, so we missed the connecting flight in bangkok and were not going to be in laos long enough to go an extra day late. so, i used my imagination, and came up with another plan. i'm so used to going down to plans "ghijklm..." in life, so we were there! no plan "a or b." as mindy and pan patiently waited with julie and me at the nan airport, we contacted julie's friend to see if she would be distraught that we weren't able to go b/c of the plane problems. she totally understood. then i asked if everyone would just hear my idea and see if it would work. i suggested to get a refund for the trip to laos and use that money towards another two day destination, i.e. why not the coast of thailand? we had already seen bangkok, so we didn't need to hang out there two days.

you will never believe where i am at the moment!!!!!! I am in Phuket, it's an island on the beautiful southern tip of thailand. does this sound familiar to you. i think you heard a lot about it these last four months in the news. YES, WE ARE WHERE THE TSUNAMI WAS!!!!

actually, it is surreal being here knowing what happened just a few months ago. i only suggested coming, b/c we've actually had several missionaries come down to help out recently and they said most everything was back to normal. i am absolutely honored to be where these people are down here. it is a very moving experience. i can't wait to share this history with you later. everything is fine here. tourists are back and you would never know it happened. i've seen only two buildings so far that are still messed up. we are being so careful to be sensitive to the people here in case anyone lost any loved ones. i've already talked to several store owners tonight who lost friends (families lost all at one time). it is absolute grace that i can be here and witness this. it was on my heart to come right after it happened. trust me, if we could find any relief workers here, we already said we'd rather be working to help them than use this as vacation. the problem is there aren't any that we can see so far today. so, we used the day to enjoy being finished with medical school. this trip is a blesing in disguise. this was not planned. but for all of you who know me, that shouldn't surprise you in the least. miss spontaneity at her finest! :) i absolutely love this island. the water is turquoise, the sand is white powder, and we are surrounded by small mountains. in each valley of the mountain is a beach village. we had the chance to ride in a tuk tuk through several villages today and see more of the island. God totally opened every door for us to come here. He gave us the flight and He found us a hotel with an appropriate name, "Graceland Resort." it is by His grace we can stay here. it is probably a four star, but the hotel isn't finished being constructed yet (it's brand new) so we got an amazing deal. Go God! He always gives the best!
we only have the weekend here, so we are using every hour here possible. i asked for the first flight in and the last flight out. we've met so many europeans here who vacation here. actually, God has blessed us b/c most of them have been to New Zealand and they are giving us great tips! We leave for NZ on May 3rd!!!!! We're leaving Phuket (pronounced Poo-get) tomorrow night! i have more to tell you about today and i'll blog it next!