Howdy. It's been forever again, but in my defense it has been an extremely crazy couple of weeks. We had to finish up school before we left, and we are going to have a crazy week next week, so all of us are pushing to finish. Sunday through Thursday, of this week, I spent 34 hours on homework; reading 800 pages, and writing 20 pages worth of papers. It was crazazy, but I am done! I am officially a Senior in College. Score!
On a sadder note, today was our last Saturday in Bangkok. Sunday through Wednesday are going to be somewhat normal, and then we will go to Cha-Am Beach for a holiday through Saturday night. On Sunday, we will go to Church, come home and pack our stuff, have a last Family Dinner, and then take everyone to the Airport. The three of us fly out 23 hours after everyone else, so we will come back and probably sleep, then head out that night. Then we'll be home the 13th!
I can't believe its almost over! On one hand, I can't wait to get home, and see family, and have Christmas, and move on to the next section of life (ie. more school). On the other hand, I do not want to leave this place. I love everything about it; and it's probably going to be one of the harder things in my life to step onto that airplane. It's going to be weird to step out of the airport and be really cold... it hasn't been below 80 here as far as I know. But it will be fun! Pray for snow!
This week I plan to catch up with journaling and stuff, so I will post more indepth stuff; for now this'll have to do :)
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Life and Traditions
Wow. This has been an intense, but good week. I know it's been a while since I wrote last, but the last thing I've wanted to do is type anymore after homework :) But here's whats been going on.
Alan has had us lay off of the ministry since we got back from being up North so that we can catch up on our homework. We have one more paper due on Tuesday, and then the Buddhism section homework, and then we are completely done with this semester. So about 20 more pages to write, and 800 more pages to read. The end is in sight!
This week was a little bit weird; if we hadn't changed our plane tickets, we would have left on 17th, and gotten home on the 18th. So I would be home right now. For some reason, knowing this has made me really homesick over the past few days. But at the same time, I absolutely love it here, and dread the day we pack up and leave, possibly for good. Khruu and Lynette leave tomorrow to go to the States for a few weeks, so we had to say bye to them which sucked.....
When I'm not being dumb and emotional, I've been having a fantastic week, which makes leaving even harder. But at the same time, God's been getting me ready to leave emotionally. He's placed a lot of anticipation in my heart for next school year, for work, for my new living situation, and, of course, for seeing my family. So it's kind of a catch22. I guess the only way to say it is that I'm excited to go home, but not excited to leave. Guess that's life, ay?
We went to Bangkok's Chinatown on Friday, after Thai lessons. It was crazy. Tons of people, cramped streets, and lots of noise. It was a blast, but exhausting. It felt like being in the market part of Rosarito, Mexico, but I understood a lot less than I do in Mexico. Tammy and Kaitlyn got Christmas decorations for APSAI, so that we can be in the Christmas mood when we get home.
On that note; I love Christmas. We were talking about it in the car on the way home from Church today, and it made me really excited. It must be the little kid in me, but everything about Christmas makes me excited; butterflies in the stomach, huge smile, etc. I love snow. I love getting to wear clothes to keep yourself warm; jeans, leggings, flannel shirts, boots. Snow. I love Christmas lights. I love decorating the tree, and the house. Making winter food. Anticipating snow. The happiness that people typically have during holidays. Snow. The excitement of seeing family. The chance of snow. But my favorite part is the silly family traditions that come with holidays.
Like, every year at Thanksgiving, we watch the dog show, the one that's on after the Macy's Parade. It's dumb. And boring. But we watch it every year, and it's fun with everybody sitting around in a food coma, commenting on the stupidity of some of those dogs.
And at some point over Thanksgiving weekend, my Aunt makes orange biscuits and bacon; the mix should be disgusting, but it's the best breakfast you will ever eat.
On Christmas Eve, we always have a candlelight service at church. And it's always a little bit stressful (anything would be when you hand 6 year old's candles), but so much fun. It's peaceful, and amusing, and quiet... and just perfect. Even when it doesn't really seem like it's going well.
I was thinking about traditions today, and I think that the reason they make me so happy, and so excited is because of what it means. Year to year, we are not who we were. For better or for worse, we are different people by the next year. Things happen that change our worldviews, God speaks new things into our lives, and people shift; but every year, you can count on a few things, like orange biscuits.
Every year, you can do the same things you do every year, but as a new person with new perspectives.
I can't wait for Christmas!
Alan has had us lay off of the ministry since we got back from being up North so that we can catch up on our homework. We have one more paper due on Tuesday, and then the Buddhism section homework, and then we are completely done with this semester. So about 20 more pages to write, and 800 more pages to read. The end is in sight!
This week was a little bit weird; if we hadn't changed our plane tickets, we would have left on 17th, and gotten home on the 18th. So I would be home right now. For some reason, knowing this has made me really homesick over the past few days. But at the same time, I absolutely love it here, and dread the day we pack up and leave, possibly for good. Khruu and Lynette leave tomorrow to go to the States for a few weeks, so we had to say bye to them which sucked.....
When I'm not being dumb and emotional, I've been having a fantastic week, which makes leaving even harder. But at the same time, God's been getting me ready to leave emotionally. He's placed a lot of anticipation in my heart for next school year, for work, for my new living situation, and, of course, for seeing my family. So it's kind of a catch22. I guess the only way to say it is that I'm excited to go home, but not excited to leave. Guess that's life, ay?
We went to Bangkok's Chinatown on Friday, after Thai lessons. It was crazy. Tons of people, cramped streets, and lots of noise. It was a blast, but exhausting. It felt like being in the market part of Rosarito, Mexico, but I understood a lot less than I do in Mexico. Tammy and Kaitlyn got Christmas decorations for APSAI, so that we can be in the Christmas mood when we get home.
On that note; I love Christmas. We were talking about it in the car on the way home from Church today, and it made me really excited. It must be the little kid in me, but everything about Christmas makes me excited; butterflies in the stomach, huge smile, etc. I love snow. I love getting to wear clothes to keep yourself warm; jeans, leggings, flannel shirts, boots. Snow. I love Christmas lights. I love decorating the tree, and the house. Making winter food. Anticipating snow. The happiness that people typically have during holidays. Snow. The excitement of seeing family. The chance of snow. But my favorite part is the silly family traditions that come with holidays.
Like, every year at Thanksgiving, we watch the dog show, the one that's on after the Macy's Parade. It's dumb. And boring. But we watch it every year, and it's fun with everybody sitting around in a food coma, commenting on the stupidity of some of those dogs.
And at some point over Thanksgiving weekend, my Aunt makes orange biscuits and bacon; the mix should be disgusting, but it's the best breakfast you will ever eat.
On Christmas Eve, we always have a candlelight service at church. And it's always a little bit stressful (anything would be when you hand 6 year old's candles), but so much fun. It's peaceful, and amusing, and quiet... and just perfect. Even when it doesn't really seem like it's going well.
I was thinking about traditions today, and I think that the reason they make me so happy, and so excited is because of what it means. Year to year, we are not who we were. For better or for worse, we are different people by the next year. Things happen that change our worldviews, God speaks new things into our lives, and people shift; but every year, you can count on a few things, like orange biscuits.
Every year, you can do the same things you do every year, but as a new person with new perspectives.
I can't wait for Christmas!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Thailand So Far
Caution: the worlds about to end. This is the third post in three days!
But, thank God, we changed our tickets. Even know, the thought of leaving in 32 days breaks my heart. I don't want to leave these people, the beauty and craziness of the city, or the awesome church we've had the honor to be a part of.
I was thinking though, of all the really cool thing's we've gotten to do. We've seen a huge amount of the country; on an airplane, a train, and in a car. We've gotten to go to Cambodia. We went to a FIFA World Cup Qualifier game, for $3.
If we hadn't changed our flight, we would be packing up to come home right now. We would be saying bye to all of our friends here, walking through the slums we love teaching the little kids how to say goodbye, and we'll miss them. We would be making sure we had souvenirs for everybody, and frantically trying to fit activities in that we haven't gotten to do yet.
But, thank God, we changed our tickets. Even know, the thought of leaving in 32 days breaks my heart. I don't want to leave these people, the beauty and craziness of the city, or the awesome church we've had the honor to be a part of.
I was thinking though, of all the really cool thing's we've gotten to do. We've seen a huge amount of the country; on an airplane, a train, and in a car. We've gotten to go to Cambodia. We went to a FIFA World Cup Qualifier game, for $3.
We've had the incredible honor of working with an amazing teacher, Al; who has also given us the opportunity to learn with other fantastic people: Jim, Ken, Paul and Larissa, Mark, John and Barbara, Wayne and Tammy, Deanna, Kara.
We've gotten to meet people all over Bangkok, on our Soi, on Ekkamai, in Bandan, SaamSip.
We recognize people walking around; the lady making our dinner, the guy making roti, the girl that came to English class.
We've only been here for about 3 and half months; but it feels like forever. This has been a crazy busy semester, but its been amazing. Our minds have been stretched, and pulled, and shifted as our perceptions changed; as we saw the effects of things that we'd only heard about before we came. It's been awesome.
Thank God for another 32 days.
Loy Krathong
Tonight is a festival called Loy Kratong- Festival of Light. It's celebrated in November, on the night of the full moon. It's kind of been adopted by Buddhists, and basically, this is what happens here in Thailand. They make little octagonal boats with styrofoam and banana leaves, and lotus flowers, put candles, and money and incense in them, and then send them down the river. Some people had bread baked into the shape of a turtle, or dessert type things that were shaped like flowers. Though it isn't a traditionally Buddhist thing, they believe that by sending these things down the river, they can earn merit, and escape the cycle faster.
Sorry the pictures aren't that great. It was dark, and there were tons of people there.
We went to a temple near Ekkamai, to see what was happening. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people there; big stages with people dancing and singing; decorated images to pray to; extra bowls out to drop money into.
The air was thick with smoke from the candles, and incense that people were burning to get more merit. We kept hearing the clinking of people dropping 108 coins into bowls and the ringing of bells that "please the spirits". You could buy baby turtles, eels, and catfish to re-release into the river, because by doing that, you would be freeing them, and gaining merit.
At first it was kind of exciting, because there was so much going on. And then it got really depressing. There were millions of people who placed little boats in the river tonight, all over Thailand, Laos, and Burma, who are going to bed believing that they are one step closer to escaping from the cycle of life and death.
But it's not going to help. Because there is no cycle.
That's why we're doing, what we're doing.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
From Bangkok and Back Again
Sorry it has been awhile. The past two-ish weeks have been crazy and hectic and so much fun. But let me explain with pictures. First; our itinerary.
We started in Bangkok; to avoid flood waters, we drove South and West for about an hour, then started to head north. We drove up to Lampang, then headed farther Northwest to Chaing Rai. While we were in Chaing Rai, we went up to Mai Sai, to cross the Burmese border:
I didn't actually go into Burma (Mynamar), but shopped in the market on the other side. Burma is apparently famous for their jewels, and off on one of the side roads, we found a whole bunch of shops that had rubies and amethyst, and sapphires sitting in bowls, or on counters or tables. It was weird seeing so many of them, because they seem so rare and expensive in the States:
While we were in Chaing Rai, we taught English at Chaing Rai Vocational College- Monday through Thursday, from 8-12:30. In the evenings we went to the Night Markets, the mall, to delicious restaurants, etc.
One of the afternoons, we went to some villages, with people from the Karen Longneck tribes, the Akha hill tribes, and a couple others:
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| I'm not quite sure why it didn't save the one I cropped... but now you know what Barb and Mark's shoulder looks like ) |
We spent almost one week in Chaing Rai, then went down to Chaing Mai. Refer to the map above. In Chaing Mai, went to Ricks, which we found when we were there in September. We also found an amazing American food place called Duke's, which had some of the best chili I have ever eaten. The burger was also fantastic. Some days, you just need that stuff.
Anyway. On Sunday, we jumped in the car and drove to Kohn Kean, in Eastern Thailand. The drive was crazy gorgeous. Check out my Facebook for more pictures, but here is an idea:
This place is extraordinarily beautiful. But it was good to get home. Going to Soi 40 for dinner, sleeping in my own bed, doing laundry myself, having fast internet. It's a good life here.
So we'll just keep swimming.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
No Freaking Out...
Hey there. 2 days in a row! I'm impressing myself.
Except not too much, cause this is just a brief message:
Tomorrow, at 4:30 am, we will be leaving to go North. One team is going South- one to Ranong, and another to Laos. If, at the end of the pre-planned trips, we are not able to return to Bangkok, we will be heading to Chaing Rai, which is up north, until Bangkok is safe to live in again. We still don't expect much water damage here at APSAI, but the effects of the floods are going to be much wider than that. Food and supply chains have been broken, roads and warehouses closed, and transportation might be a mess. Water will be destroying parts of Bangkok, so we are dry, but many other people will be hurting. Please please please be keeping Thailand in your prayers, as well as the government, and Wayne, who is the director of APSAI. He has a lot of people to take care of, and it's hard to know what the next best step is. He is doing a fantastic job at keeping the panic low and the information flow high. But please pray for him, and all of us and we bug out of town :)
Also. Internet may be an issue, so if this is the last post for a while, lets not assume I drowned, yeah?
Except not too much, cause this is just a brief message:
Tomorrow, at 4:30 am, we will be leaving to go North. One team is going South- one to Ranong, and another to Laos. If, at the end of the pre-planned trips, we are not able to return to Bangkok, we will be heading to Chaing Rai, which is up north, until Bangkok is safe to live in again. We still don't expect much water damage here at APSAI, but the effects of the floods are going to be much wider than that. Food and supply chains have been broken, roads and warehouses closed, and transportation might be a mess. Water will be destroying parts of Bangkok, so we are dry, but many other people will be hurting. Please please please be keeping Thailand in your prayers, as well as the government, and Wayne, who is the director of APSAI. He has a lot of people to take care of, and it's hard to know what the next best step is. He is doing a fantastic job at keeping the panic low and the information flow high. But please pray for him, and all of us and we bug out of town :)
Also. Internet may be an issue, so if this is the last post for a while, lets not assume I drowned, yeah?
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Current Situation
Hey there! It has been a very busy week, and I have homework to do; so brief recap :)
So in other news; the floods are getting worse, and we're heading out of dodge. They are sending us up North with one of the APSAI teams, which means we get to go to Burma, and Chaing Rai, and Chaing Mai again. If all goes well here while we're going to be back in about a week and a half. If the flooding here does get bad, or food is impossible to get here or anything, we'll just stay up north until it gets better, or until its time to go home. Right now, almost all of the public transportation is shut down- no buses, very few taxis, and the ones that are running are rather spendy.
I have mixed emotions about the trip. I really really don't want to leave Bangkok, cause I love it sooooo much. I've only been to Bangkok City Church once in the past month cause of stuff that's come up, and we haven't had Thai very often for the same reason. We haven't been able to teach in our regular areas cause of being in Cambodia, and flooding issues, and illnesses, so I miss all those little buggers. But at the same time, this is a cool opportunity to go see more of Thailand, and we get another stamp in our passport, which is always fun.
So I wrote on the last post that I had gotten sick; but was getting better... Yeah. On Friday night I started to feel worse, and had a fever and all that fun stuff, so we went to the hospital again. After about 4 hours, it was decided that I had pneumonia, and that the best way to treat it would be 3 rounds of IV Antibiotics. So I got three IV's and on the last day went to see a Pulmonologist. When we got in his office, he told us that I for sure didn't have pneumonia, and that I never needed IV's. Argh. Turns out it was some kind of Bronchitis, that was particularly annoying. So I finished up the oral antibiotics today, and am feeling much much better. Still cough a lot, but I can run up to the 5th floor again without falling over.
So in other news; the floods are getting worse, and we're heading out of dodge. They are sending us up North with one of the APSAI teams, which means we get to go to Burma, and Chaing Rai, and Chaing Mai again. If all goes well here while we're going to be back in about a week and a half. If the flooding here does get bad, or food is impossible to get here or anything, we'll just stay up north until it gets better, or until its time to go home. Right now, almost all of the public transportation is shut down- no buses, very few taxis, and the ones that are running are rather spendy.
I have mixed emotions about the trip. I really really don't want to leave Bangkok, cause I love it sooooo much. I've only been to Bangkok City Church once in the past month cause of stuff that's come up, and we haven't had Thai very often for the same reason. We haven't been able to teach in our regular areas cause of being in Cambodia, and flooding issues, and illnesses, so I miss all those little buggers. But at the same time, this is a cool opportunity to go see more of Thailand, and we get another stamp in our passport, which is always fun.
Oh well. Please Please please please be praying for Thailand. This flood is going to effect life here for months to come- people are losing their lives, their houses, their possessions, their jobs... it's going to take a while to recover from this. Please be praying for the missionaries here to have wisdom with what to do and how to help, and how to share the love of God while these people are looking for answers to why theirs gods didn't save them.
Thanks!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Hey!
So, again, it’s been forever since I wrote anything. It’s been a busy week (and a half-ish), and when I opened up my computer it was to write a paper; so this poor little guy has been neglected. Anyway, a quick catch-up;
Over the weekend, there was a lot of fear about flooding in Bangkok; a bad mixture of floods from the North, King’s High Tide, and lots of rain. Flooding happens every year; but this was the biggest in about 50 years. So we were pretty unsure about what we were going to be able to do, and have access to while the water headed out to the ocean. The dams and dikes around inner Bangkok ended up being quite successful, and we didn’t see any abnormal water levels where we are at. However, there was extremely severe flooding around us; hundreds of people died, hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes, and millions lost their livelihoods; industrial parks were destroyed, rice paddies were washed away, and people’s belongings were destroyed. Poverty was already an issue in many of these places; this was a heavy blow to many people. So, please keep the people of Thailand in your prayers; that this could be a turning point in which they discover that their sacrifices to their gods didn’t save them; but there is a God who will save them for eternity.
Because we weren’t sure what our situation would be over the weekend, we didn’t go teach English, which was a bummer; we’ve missed two weeks now with being in Cambodia. But we’ll make sure to get in there this week, if all goes well. Our church, Bangkok City Church, celebrated it’s 7 year anniversary on Sunday, which was so much fun. They had a slideshow with pictures from when they began; the church was started in a coffee shop, where it was just Pii Bai, Pii Wan, and their son for a long time, with people poking in and out every once in a while. Then they rented a small building, outgrew it, got another one; outgrew it, and are now in the church they just moved into. It’s so cool seeing their passions become reality in their community. There were lots of people at church, almost filling all the seats; so cool!
Monday we went out to an Italian restaurant for Leah’s birthday; decent food, great company, and lots of fun. Our week looks pretty calm so far; we have lecture on Thursday, Thai on Friday and Saturday, and ministry over the weekend. It’s so hard to believe that we have been here for 12 weeks already. If we hadn’t extended our trip, we would only have 3 more weeks left! I’m so glad we get to stay; time flies by way too fast.
Alrighty, my computer is dying, so I’m out!
Update:
This was written a few days ago, but I forgot to actually publish it... Whoops.
Anyway, the past few days have been interesting; I got to experience a new kind of cultural system. Somehow, somewhere, I picked up some sort of bacterial infection. I felt weird/bad on Monday, My head and neck started to hurt Tuesday morning, and I got a weird cough, with congestion, even though I haven't had any sinus problems. Then Tuesday night I started to get a fever, and a really bad headache, so we went to the Dr. on Wednesday morning. They gave me 4 different medications, and the headache is gone, thank God. If it didn't go away, then I was definitely going to be forced to poke a hole in my head to relive the pressure. Anyway. Prayers would be appreciated, but I'm not going to die. Thanks!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Cambodia Day 1.
Okay. So I'm finally getting to this. I didn't mean to put it off this long, but life is a little crazy. But first: a quick flood update. The water is expected to be here in about 4 hours; it is water that has washed through the majority of Northern Thailand; overwhelmed sewage plants, flooded chemical plants, and washed through contaminated areas. Unfortunately, the result of this means that the water not only holds nasty stuff, it is fairly unhealthy to be living in. So please pray for people as the water comes in, and invades their neighborhoods.
Cambodia. Okay.
So we landed in Phnom Penh at about 10 in the morning. After we unloaded our stuff at Ken's house, we got in the car, and headed downtown Phnom Penh. In the center of the city, there is a compound that was once used as a high school. A little bit of history will help this make more sense. Just remember high school. The Khmer Rouge was a result of a coup that led to Cambodian Communists being in power. Pol Pot and his associates had trained and been educated in France, but adapted China's version of Communism, with one goal in mind; to go back to Year 0. They thought that the world was messed up because of technology, education, and people not settling for what they had. Cambodian politics were filled with corruption; those who were rich were dirty rich, and those who were poor were living in unbelievable poverty. The rich treated the poor people horribly; in the young Communists mind, they had the solution for this massive problem.They would rid the country, and eventually the world of rich and poor, of technologically advanced, and of education that led to more power. Everyone would be a rice farmer, work for their living, and everything would be equal and good. Sounds somewhat ideal when you look at it from their point of view. However, the way they went about this "great plan" was atrocious. First, they rid the city, and the country of technology. They got rid of clocks, telephones, cars; anything that wasn't from there at the beginning of earth was unnecessary. They told the people living in the cities that Americans were on their way to drop bombs on the cities, and had them evacuate the cities. They arrested rich people, educated people, and anyone who they considered a threat. And here is where the High School in Phnom Penh came in. The S21 center was a place where they brought people to be tortured, and then brought to be killed. They started with people who were educated; Doctors, Teachers, Artists, Politicians, Clergy. They brought them to Teul Sleng, the High School, and they tortured them; demanding names of other people, demanding confessions for things that never happened, anything. After they got what they wanted, they brought the people to the Killing Field, an old Chinese burial site, where they chained everyone together by their hands, blindfolded them, and smacked them on the head with a tool. If the blow didn't kill them, they slit their throat, and tossed the string of bodies into a ditch in the ground. More on the Killing Field later.
At S21, also known as Teul Sleng, there were 4 buildings. When the Vietnamese came in and stopped the Khmer Rouge, they preserved the site exactly how they found it. When they got there, there were 14 bodies that hadn't been disposed of, one a girl. They put the bodies in concrete graves above ground as a memorial, and opened up the site as a historical site. The first building was three stories high. The first two stories had rooms; each with one window, one bed, and some type of torture tool. The beds didn't have mattresses; they were just iron frames with metal strips woven together to support a body. Some had iron crowbars on the bed, some buckets that used to hold water, and some with ammo containers. These rooms were for the more "important" people; high officials, particularly smart professors, etc. They were tortured in the rooms, then brought to the third building, which was also three stories. Most people didn't stay in S21 for more than a few days. If you were important enough for your own room for being tortured, you were important enough for a four foot by three foot room to spend the night in by yourself. The third floor of each building were used for less important people; they lived, tortured, and killed in groups.
Sorry if this is too gory. It's hard to even imagine that this possibly happened; try walking through, and realizing that these people that are buried in mass graves outside the city, with their bones poking out of the ground, would likely still be alive today with kids and grand kids if this hadn't occurred. This was only 30 years ago.
The bottom floors of the 2nd and 3rd buildings were filled with pictures. Each person brought in to S21 was given a number, and had a picture taken with their number. There were men, women, teenagers, kids, and babies brought through that place; each with a picture memorializing their life. You are walking through huge rooms with hundreds and hundreds of pictures filling each, staring into their eyes, wondering what they were thinking. Some of their eyes were blank; they had seen too much, knew it was hopeless, and were simply waiting to die. Some, particularly the kids, looked scared; they had been ripped away from their home, their family, and now were in a place no person should ever walk through. Some of them looked defiant; teenage boys with their chins high, and their eyes hard. The ones that broke my heart the most were the ones who were smiling. They couldn't have had any idea how they were about to spend the last days of their lives. It was a picture! You say "cheese", right? The last pictures were accidents; they had tortured them too much, and didn't yield a confession; the victim had died in the torture room; the torturers had to prove that they hadn't escaped.
Another room gave you an idea of how they were tortured.... I won't get into that here. Let me just say that there are images burned into my head that will never ever leave.
We walked through the torture rooms first; the first room I walked into made me numb, and that feeling didn't leave until the next day. It's impossible to reconcile the fact that humans can do this to each other in my mind. How can one person do such a thing to another person?
On Sunday we went to the Killing Fields. I had been dreading this since I heard that we were going. I don't like dead things; I didn't want to see bones and teeth all over the place, and at that point, I didn't want to think about it any more. But it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be.
In fact, it was somewhat peaceful. There was grass, and trees, and flowers, and butterflies, and birds, and animals. The hardest part was looking at the ground. Every once in a while, there would be a bone sticking out of the ground. Rain and time was washing away the dirt thrown over the victims, and clothing was surfacing. There was a lot of plaid fabric peeking through the grass and the dirt.
There were two trees in the vicinity that had particular impact. The first one looked over a small creek type of thing- next to it was once a pit. To save bullets, the soldiers would grab the babies and small children by the legs, and swing them against the tree, smashing their heads, and then toss them in the pit.
The second one was what finally brought the tears- for a somewhat dumb reason.
The tree wasn't used to kill people. The only thing it did was hold a loudspeaker. They soldiers would play loud sounds or music to cover the sounds of the moaning and screams as people died. Why bother? Everyone knew they were dying! There was no one in the vicinity that would care; no one that wasn't participating themselves in the murder of thousands. Why bother? If you're going to do that; man up. Listen to it. Let the impact of your decisions be heard; let it be seen.
So that was the hard part of our trip. It raises a lot of questions. In the beginning of the week, my question was why? Why would people do this to other people? What could possibly justify these actions to anyone? How can people live with themselves knowing that they participated in these actions?
The biggest thing I struggled though was with this: There are men, some of whom are still alive, that intentionally made the decision to do this. They forced other people, including small children, to do this to their relatives, neighbors, and fellow countrymen. Yet, if they asked, God would wipe their slated clean. Even though He hates their actions, God still loves them. He loves Pol Pot. He loves the Second Brother. Just as much as He loves me.
How is that fair?
So I prayed about it. I read, I prayed, I thought, and I talked about it. And finally, God got tired of my ranting. The conclusion that came to me was this. If God refused to grant these evil men His forgiveness, His grace and mercy, and the life of His Son, would be cheapened. It would mean that we can earn His love, His mercy, His forgiveness. If horrific actions mean that we don't get forgiveness, then that means that we have the power to earn forgiveness. If we can earn God's mercy, then we don't need Jesus to have died for us. It has to be all or nothing. We need to live our lives glorifying God; not condoning murdering an entire population. But at the end of the day; we've sinned. Each and every one of us have sinned. I have screwed up. But Jesus did come to earth. He did die. He died as much for me, as He did for Pol Pot, Hitler, and Genghis Khan. He died as much for them as He died for Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther, and for George O. Wood. We can't buy His love, or his forgiveness any more than I can buy a Ferrari. It's impossible, which makes it all the more valuable.
Cambodia. Okay.
So we landed in Phnom Penh at about 10 in the morning. After we unloaded our stuff at Ken's house, we got in the car, and headed downtown Phnom Penh. In the center of the city, there is a compound that was once used as a high school. A little bit of history will help this make more sense. Just remember high school. The Khmer Rouge was a result of a coup that led to Cambodian Communists being in power. Pol Pot and his associates had trained and been educated in France, but adapted China's version of Communism, with one goal in mind; to go back to Year 0. They thought that the world was messed up because of technology, education, and people not settling for what they had. Cambodian politics were filled with corruption; those who were rich were dirty rich, and those who were poor were living in unbelievable poverty. The rich treated the poor people horribly; in the young Communists mind, they had the solution for this massive problem.They would rid the country, and eventually the world of rich and poor, of technologically advanced, and of education that led to more power. Everyone would be a rice farmer, work for their living, and everything would be equal and good. Sounds somewhat ideal when you look at it from their point of view. However, the way they went about this "great plan" was atrocious. First, they rid the city, and the country of technology. They got rid of clocks, telephones, cars; anything that wasn't from there at the beginning of earth was unnecessary. They told the people living in the cities that Americans were on their way to drop bombs on the cities, and had them evacuate the cities. They arrested rich people, educated people, and anyone who they considered a threat. And here is where the High School in Phnom Penh came in. The S21 center was a place where they brought people to be tortured, and then brought to be killed. They started with people who were educated; Doctors, Teachers, Artists, Politicians, Clergy. They brought them to Teul Sleng, the High School, and they tortured them; demanding names of other people, demanding confessions for things that never happened, anything. After they got what they wanted, they brought the people to the Killing Field, an old Chinese burial site, where they chained everyone together by their hands, blindfolded them, and smacked them on the head with a tool. If the blow didn't kill them, they slit their throat, and tossed the string of bodies into a ditch in the ground. More on the Killing Field later.
At S21, also known as Teul Sleng, there were 4 buildings. When the Vietnamese came in and stopped the Khmer Rouge, they preserved the site exactly how they found it. When they got there, there were 14 bodies that hadn't been disposed of, one a girl. They put the bodies in concrete graves above ground as a memorial, and opened up the site as a historical site. The first building was three stories high. The first two stories had rooms; each with one window, one bed, and some type of torture tool. The beds didn't have mattresses; they were just iron frames with metal strips woven together to support a body. Some had iron crowbars on the bed, some buckets that used to hold water, and some with ammo containers. These rooms were for the more "important" people; high officials, particularly smart professors, etc. They were tortured in the rooms, then brought to the third building, which was also three stories. Most people didn't stay in S21 for more than a few days. If you were important enough for your own room for being tortured, you were important enough for a four foot by three foot room to spend the night in by yourself. The third floor of each building were used for less important people; they lived, tortured, and killed in groups.
Sorry if this is too gory. It's hard to even imagine that this possibly happened; try walking through, and realizing that these people that are buried in mass graves outside the city, with their bones poking out of the ground, would likely still be alive today with kids and grand kids if this hadn't occurred. This was only 30 years ago.
The bottom floors of the 2nd and 3rd buildings were filled with pictures. Each person brought in to S21 was given a number, and had a picture taken with their number. There were men, women, teenagers, kids, and babies brought through that place; each with a picture memorializing their life. You are walking through huge rooms with hundreds and hundreds of pictures filling each, staring into their eyes, wondering what they were thinking. Some of their eyes were blank; they had seen too much, knew it was hopeless, and were simply waiting to die. Some, particularly the kids, looked scared; they had been ripped away from their home, their family, and now were in a place no person should ever walk through. Some of them looked defiant; teenage boys with their chins high, and their eyes hard. The ones that broke my heart the most were the ones who were smiling. They couldn't have had any idea how they were about to spend the last days of their lives. It was a picture! You say "cheese", right? The last pictures were accidents; they had tortured them too much, and didn't yield a confession; the victim had died in the torture room; the torturers had to prove that they hadn't escaped.
Another room gave you an idea of how they were tortured.... I won't get into that here. Let me just say that there are images burned into my head that will never ever leave.
We walked through the torture rooms first; the first room I walked into made me numb, and that feeling didn't leave until the next day. It's impossible to reconcile the fact that humans can do this to each other in my mind. How can one person do such a thing to another person?
On Sunday we went to the Killing Fields. I had been dreading this since I heard that we were going. I don't like dead things; I didn't want to see bones and teeth all over the place, and at that point, I didn't want to think about it any more. But it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be.
In fact, it was somewhat peaceful. There was grass, and trees, and flowers, and butterflies, and birds, and animals. The hardest part was looking at the ground. Every once in a while, there would be a bone sticking out of the ground. Rain and time was washing away the dirt thrown over the victims, and clothing was surfacing. There was a lot of plaid fabric peeking through the grass and the dirt.
There were two trees in the vicinity that had particular impact. The first one looked over a small creek type of thing- next to it was once a pit. To save bullets, the soldiers would grab the babies and small children by the legs, and swing them against the tree, smashing their heads, and then toss them in the pit.
The second one was what finally brought the tears- for a somewhat dumb reason.
The tree wasn't used to kill people. The only thing it did was hold a loudspeaker. They soldiers would play loud sounds or music to cover the sounds of the moaning and screams as people died. Why bother? Everyone knew they were dying! There was no one in the vicinity that would care; no one that wasn't participating themselves in the murder of thousands. Why bother? If you're going to do that; man up. Listen to it. Let the impact of your decisions be heard; let it be seen.
So that was the hard part of our trip. It raises a lot of questions. In the beginning of the week, my question was why? Why would people do this to other people? What could possibly justify these actions to anyone? How can people live with themselves knowing that they participated in these actions?
The biggest thing I struggled though was with this: There are men, some of whom are still alive, that intentionally made the decision to do this. They forced other people, including small children, to do this to their relatives, neighbors, and fellow countrymen. Yet, if they asked, God would wipe their slated clean. Even though He hates their actions, God still loves them. He loves Pol Pot. He loves the Second Brother. Just as much as He loves me.
How is that fair?
So I prayed about it. I read, I prayed, I thought, and I talked about it. And finally, God got tired of my ranting. The conclusion that came to me was this. If God refused to grant these evil men His forgiveness, His grace and mercy, and the life of His Son, would be cheapened. It would mean that we can earn His love, His mercy, His forgiveness. If horrific actions mean that we don't get forgiveness, then that means that we have the power to earn forgiveness. If we can earn God's mercy, then we don't need Jesus to have died for us. It has to be all or nothing. We need to live our lives glorifying God; not condoning murdering an entire population. But at the end of the day; we've sinned. Each and every one of us have sinned. I have screwed up. But Jesus did come to earth. He did die. He died as much for me, as He did for Pol Pot, Hitler, and Genghis Khan. He died as much for them as He died for Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther, and for George O. Wood. We can't buy His love, or his forgiveness any more than I can buy a Ferrari. It's impossible, which makes it all the more valuable.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Thailand and Intro to Cambodia
Hey there! So we were in Cambodia for the past 5 days without internet access, with tons of stuff happening, so it's going to take a while to get everything out from the trip. Because of Cambodia's recent history, there was a lot of stuff that we saw that is heartbreaking- and I'm not quite sure how much to say on here. Anyway; we saw a lot; we thought a lot; and I think all three of us have a lot to say. A lot of questions. This is just my views, and what I saw; you can take it or leave it.
But first; Thailand! It is becoming top news on international news stations that Thailand is experiencing huge floods, and people are dying, and it is super dangerous here. Media, of course, exaggerates and/or misses stuff, so I just wanted to let you know what is happening, and what is really of concern. First of all; there are floods every year. Thailand has three seasons: Hot Season, Rainy Season, and Cold Season. Right now we are at the end of Rainy Season, moving into Cold Season. We get tons of rain, the ground gets saturated, and cannot hold anymore water; thus it builds up. The problem this year is that it is a lot of things occurring at once that is making it particularly bad. First, the rains were particularly heavy this year. Second, as the water rolls through the country, it is supposed to reach Bangkok in the next day or two. Third, the majority of Bangkok is below sea level, and sinking. In the next few days, the tides will be at their highest, which means the water has nowhere to go. The news is reporting that people are dying; this is true. Personally, we aren't in any danger. But the people surrounding us are. Clean water is going to run out, food is going to be hard to find, and diseases from the water are going to be the biggest problems immediately after the water recedes. Later on, mosquitoes are going to have many many many places to breed, and they can carry disease as well. So please pray for resources to help people, people to help people, and God's love to be present throughout this. And for news on the flooding, you can go to the Bangkok Post. It's in English, and is a very good source of information for Thailand. So yeah. Don't worry; just pray.
Okay; so Cambodia. Cambodia was difficult for me. It was difficult emotionally dealing with the extreme poverty. It was difficult physically. It was difficult mentally trying to absorb the amount of horror that could be done by humans. Unless you have been in a country as poor as this one, you can't possibly understand what it means. I thought people in Mexico were poor; but where we went, they were doing better than people in slums in Bangkok. That became the new "poverty" to me until we saw villages outside of Bangkok. But even that didn't compare to Cambodia. So emotionally, on that level, that was hard. Physically, which seems so petty after seeing how other people live, was hard too on some levels. Okay; spoiled American coming out right now. There was no air conditioning, and it was a little hotter there, so it was hard to stay hydrated and comfortable. There was no hot water for showers, and it took a couple of days to get used to the food. Mentally... oh boy. I think that the best way to do this is to just write one day at a time and kind of let the story develop like it did for me, one day at a time.
Tomorrow. Or later today. Bye :)
But first; Thailand! It is becoming top news on international news stations that Thailand is experiencing huge floods, and people are dying, and it is super dangerous here. Media, of course, exaggerates and/or misses stuff, so I just wanted to let you know what is happening, and what is really of concern. First of all; there are floods every year. Thailand has three seasons: Hot Season, Rainy Season, and Cold Season. Right now we are at the end of Rainy Season, moving into Cold Season. We get tons of rain, the ground gets saturated, and cannot hold anymore water; thus it builds up. The problem this year is that it is a lot of things occurring at once that is making it particularly bad. First, the rains were particularly heavy this year. Second, as the water rolls through the country, it is supposed to reach Bangkok in the next day or two. Third, the majority of Bangkok is below sea level, and sinking. In the next few days, the tides will be at their highest, which means the water has nowhere to go. The news is reporting that people are dying; this is true. Personally, we aren't in any danger. But the people surrounding us are. Clean water is going to run out, food is going to be hard to find, and diseases from the water are going to be the biggest problems immediately after the water recedes. Later on, mosquitoes are going to have many many many places to breed, and they can carry disease as well. So please pray for resources to help people, people to help people, and God's love to be present throughout this. And for news on the flooding, you can go to the Bangkok Post. It's in English, and is a very good source of information for Thailand. So yeah. Don't worry; just pray.
Okay; so Cambodia. Cambodia was difficult for me. It was difficult emotionally dealing with the extreme poverty. It was difficult physically. It was difficult mentally trying to absorb the amount of horror that could be done by humans. Unless you have been in a country as poor as this one, you can't possibly understand what it means. I thought people in Mexico were poor; but where we went, they were doing better than people in slums in Bangkok. That became the new "poverty" to me until we saw villages outside of Bangkok. But even that didn't compare to Cambodia. So emotionally, on that level, that was hard. Physically, which seems so petty after seeing how other people live, was hard too on some levels. Okay; spoiled American coming out right now. There was no air conditioning, and it was a little hotter there, so it was hard to stay hydrated and comfortable. There was no hot water for showers, and it took a couple of days to get used to the food. Mentally... oh boy. I think that the best way to do this is to just write one day at a time and kind of let the story develop like it did for me, one day at a time.
Tomorrow. Or later today. Bye :)
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Thursday, Friday, Saturday!
Hola. This will just be a quick catch up until I can sit down on Monday and gather some thoughts. But here's what has happened so far, and what you can pray for us for! As well as some answered prayer :)
Thursday: A fairly relaxing day; we went to the Bamboo Shop to study for a few hours, then got a massage, dinner, and then Alan, Kaitlyn, Mark, Kelsey, and I jumped in the car and headed to one of the slums we are working in. It started to fan dok super duper hard, and we were getting soaked, so we ducked into a little restaurant so Mark and Kaitlyn could grab some dinner. While we were standing there, in the rain, a Muslim guy started talking to Kruu and eventually invited us into his house. His wife(?) and two boys were inside playing cards, so we sat down for a few minutes, and they taught us a new game. Then we headed over to Miriam's house. I don't know if I've said much about Miriam, but I'm going to take some time to tell you about her, because she definitely needs some prayer. Last year, Kruu met a man who was an Islamic teacher; his job was to teach the people in his community Arabic, and about the religion of Islam. When Kruu went over to talk to him next time, he had just died, and his funeral was about to start. Kruu went to his house, and met the family, and continued to go back and talk to his widow. She has three or four kids, and is having a very difficult time raising the kids without her husband, along with missing him. So pray for Miriam and her kids; we go over to her house every once in a while and talk to her; pray for her heart to be opened to Christ's love for her and her family, peace in her heart, and patience and love for her children.
Friday: Friday was Thai lesson! We learned words for family members, which is more complicated than it sounds. It is a different word for big sister, little sister; big brother, little brother. Your Father's mother has a different title than your Mother's mother; same with Grandfathers. Your Aunt and Uncle's titles depend on whether they are your mother's sibling, or your fathers, and whether they are older or younger. ahhhh. But it was good. I left feeling like my brain was about to explode, but I also feel like I retained most of the words. We'll see how long that lasts. When we got back from Thai lessons, Kelsey, Kruu, and I walked over to Assumption University, and English-speaking university about a mile from our house. There is a large group of Muslim students there; since they already speak Angrit, we can talk to them, and learn from them. So we have been doing some scouting, trying to meet people. When we got back, we headed over to the church prayer meeting. As the meeting was wrapping up, they asked the three of us girls if we needed prayer for anything. When we all said that we were okay, Pii Bei stood up, and had everyone pray this for us: That we would come back to Thailand to stay.... with husbands. Guess it's inevitable now :) So I guess prayer points for Friday: Pray for connections with students at Assumption, who are willing to talk to us, and give us an "in"; also pray for Bangkok City Church, for God's blessing and guidance in the new activities they are doing to reach out to their neighbors.
Saturday: Today we woke up early to prayer walk with the church. Kruu picked us up at 7:30 this morning, and we walked until a little bit after 10. Kelsey and I took quick showers then headed over to a cafe to get some studies done. At 3 we headed into Ekkamai SaamSip, to our English garage. We had 17 kids there this week, which was pretty crazy. It's kind of dumb, but there is just something awesome about little 6 year old kids running down the Soi toward you shouting your Chuulenn, and give you a big hug. It's super cute, and pretty darn heart melting. We taught there for about an hour; we gave them all paper and color crayons and asked them to color a picture of their families. We talked about how to ask about families, and everybody's names; it was really interesting to hear the different family dynamics from the perspective of the 7 year old's. The guy that we met on Thursday when it was raining found out that we were teaching there, and told Kruu that he wanted us to come teach at his house as well; we're going to try to figure out when we can do that. So I guess prayer points for Saturday: Time enough to take advantage of all the doors that are opening for us in the Muslim communities; health for all of us, as we are having adorable little germ farms crawl all over us during lessons. Oh, also. One of the missionaries here, Mark Rodli, got bit by a snake a couple of hours ago, so please pray for health for him. It doesn't look like it's too bad right now, but the hospital is keeping him overnight for observation.
Okay. That was longer than I planned. Have a fantastic weekend!
Thursday: A fairly relaxing day; we went to the Bamboo Shop to study for a few hours, then got a massage, dinner, and then Alan, Kaitlyn, Mark, Kelsey, and I jumped in the car and headed to one of the slums we are working in. It started to fan dok super duper hard, and we were getting soaked, so we ducked into a little restaurant so Mark and Kaitlyn could grab some dinner. While we were standing there, in the rain, a Muslim guy started talking to Kruu and eventually invited us into his house. His wife(?) and two boys were inside playing cards, so we sat down for a few minutes, and they taught us a new game. Then we headed over to Miriam's house. I don't know if I've said much about Miriam, but I'm going to take some time to tell you about her, because she definitely needs some prayer. Last year, Kruu met a man who was an Islamic teacher; his job was to teach the people in his community Arabic, and about the religion of Islam. When Kruu went over to talk to him next time, he had just died, and his funeral was about to start. Kruu went to his house, and met the family, and continued to go back and talk to his widow. She has three or four kids, and is having a very difficult time raising the kids without her husband, along with missing him. So pray for Miriam and her kids; we go over to her house every once in a while and talk to her; pray for her heart to be opened to Christ's love for her and her family, peace in her heart, and patience and love for her children.
Friday: Friday was Thai lesson! We learned words for family members, which is more complicated than it sounds. It is a different word for big sister, little sister; big brother, little brother. Your Father's mother has a different title than your Mother's mother; same with Grandfathers. Your Aunt and Uncle's titles depend on whether they are your mother's sibling, or your fathers, and whether they are older or younger. ahhhh. But it was good. I left feeling like my brain was about to explode, but I also feel like I retained most of the words. We'll see how long that lasts. When we got back from Thai lessons, Kelsey, Kruu, and I walked over to Assumption University, and English-speaking university about a mile from our house. There is a large group of Muslim students there; since they already speak Angrit, we can talk to them, and learn from them. So we have been doing some scouting, trying to meet people. When we got back, we headed over to the church prayer meeting. As the meeting was wrapping up, they asked the three of us girls if we needed prayer for anything. When we all said that we were okay, Pii Bei stood up, and had everyone pray this for us: That we would come back to Thailand to stay.... with husbands. Guess it's inevitable now :) So I guess prayer points for Friday: Pray for connections with students at Assumption, who are willing to talk to us, and give us an "in"; also pray for Bangkok City Church, for God's blessing and guidance in the new activities they are doing to reach out to their neighbors.
Saturday: Today we woke up early to prayer walk with the church. Kruu picked us up at 7:30 this morning, and we walked until a little bit after 10. Kelsey and I took quick showers then headed over to a cafe to get some studies done. At 3 we headed into Ekkamai SaamSip, to our English garage. We had 17 kids there this week, which was pretty crazy. It's kind of dumb, but there is just something awesome about little 6 year old kids running down the Soi toward you shouting your Chuulenn, and give you a big hug. It's super cute, and pretty darn heart melting. We taught there for about an hour; we gave them all paper and color crayons and asked them to color a picture of their families. We talked about how to ask about families, and everybody's names; it was really interesting to hear the different family dynamics from the perspective of the 7 year old's. The guy that we met on Thursday when it was raining found out that we were teaching there, and told Kruu that he wanted us to come teach at his house as well; we're going to try to figure out when we can do that. So I guess prayer points for Saturday: Time enough to take advantage of all the doors that are opening for us in the Muslim communities; health for all of us, as we are having adorable little germ farms crawl all over us during lessons. Oh, also. One of the missionaries here, Mark Rodli, got bit by a snake a couple of hours ago, so please pray for health for him. It doesn't look like it's too bad right now, but the hospital is keeping him overnight for observation.
Okay. That was longer than I planned. Have a fantastic weekend!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
AfterThoughts
You know how when you're listening to a debate, and you can't figure out how to say what you want to say, and then you leave, and it all comes to you? Yeah. That's what this is.
That's why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Setting: Bamboo Coffee Shop, last night, 5 participants. We somehow got on the subject of Missions, and if it is relevant, necessary, or something that people do to make themselves feel good. One participant was arguing that mission, missions, missionaries, are all things that people, humans, come up with, and make a big deal about; but in the end, it's not important, if not pointless.
There were 3 missions majors sitting at this table, as well as a Career missionary with a Master's degree sitting at the table, so it was an interesting conversation that I continued to think about the rest of the night. So because I thought of a great response now, I'm gonna tell you: Feel free to tell me your thoughts below.
First off, we need to establish a difference between social worker- someone who does things to help people out around the world such as dig wells, start orphanages, feed starving people, and a missionary. I don't think a person in the world could argue that this was a bad thing. The first role that I have presented is a very important one; but it does not include the whole picture. A missionary should be doing all of the things that a social worker does; but for a different reason, and with the intent that the people they are ministering to will see the love of Christ through them. Social work performed by the missionary should be driven by the reason we even exist, and do what we should be or are doing.
So I came up with an analogy in the shower. Shower thoughts are the best aren't they?
Lets pretend that the world is ending, 2012 style, but the cause of it all is a disease; every single person on this earth is struck by an illness. Some people are hit harder by others, with different levels of severity, but eventually, this illness is going to cause every single person on earth to die.
People are dealing with this eventual outcome differently. Teams of scientists are desperately trying to come up with a cure; some people decide that they are going to die anyway, and get stupid. Other people deny the fact that they have the disease, and try to ignore the signs of the disease ravaging their bodies.
But you discover a cure; a simple regime of pills or shots, that remove the disease from your body, and give you the chance to live a long, happy life.
What would you do with that?
I think the obvious thing would be is to go share it with people, tell them about how the pills cure them, and that this will change their life. You genuinely believe that this pill or shot will save their life. Whether you are right or not, you believe that; out of love for humanity and life, wouldn't you go try to give the pill to everyone?
There may be mixed reactions to the cure; the people who ignore the disease decide they don't need it; other scientists are coming up with pills and shots that are taking away the side effects, but not curing the disease. You have the only solution to a problem about to decimate mankind.
Isn't it your responsibility to get it out there?
Now lets make this real. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to have eternal life with our Maker. At our core, that is what we believe; everything else will lead away from God, and His presence.
If we believe that we have the solution to the problem's on earth (sin), is it not our responsibility to share it with every person we encounter? And there are people out there in the world that we will never encounter, so should we not send anyone to get them word that there is hope and grace for them as well?
We believe in a God who loves us; so much that even though we screwed up to massive proportions, and still do every day, He still sent Jesus to pay for our sins, and our mistakes. He loved us so much that even though we still mess up, he gave us His son so that we can still be with Him eternally.
If this, above, is what we believe, then we believe in the Bible. Because that's how we know any of that. And Jesus, right before He died for us, told us to love one another, like He loved us (John 13:34).
We have a truth, that we believe to our core is the saving grace for this world. Part of the mandate from the Savior that we believe in is to love other people like He loved us. The guy who said this, died out of His love for us.
All this to say; whether or not we are right, we believe we are. If we follow the commandment given to us, we will have so much love for the world around us that we have to share the truth with them.
That's why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Thailand on Tuesday
Good evening.
Look, two days in a row! Okay, sorry over it.
Tuesday's here at APSAI mean early mornings, and lectures. We have a Prayer/ Worship Chapel at 8 am; then Alan asked us to sit in with the APSAI students for his lecture with him at 9. That went until 10:30; it was kind of a brief recap for the three of us, which was nice, since we're wrapping up this section of lecture. School here isn't anything like school in the States. Here's a brief rundown. The three of us Northwest girls are taking 17 credits, all through Alan, which will then be recorded by NU. We are taking three credits of each: Missiology, SE Asian History and Context, Buddhism, and Practicum credits. Our Thai class counts for 5 credits. So we are taking Thai for the length of the semester; ending about the middle of November. We have done about 7 weeks of Missiology tutorials, where we meet once a week for four hours. For each subject, we have to read 800 pages of relevant texts; books and journal articles on the subject. We also write about a paper a week, while editing the paper from the week before. On October 6th, we are going to Cambodia to renew our Visa's and while we're there, we are going to have our first SE Asian History lesson. Our Practicum credit comes from a journal that we're supposed to be keeping, as well as keeping track of our finances, and ministry that we do. It's not so much assignment driven as action driven. The Buddhism class will be a 3 day Seminar with everybody, which should be interesting. Long days, but it will be nice to learn more about it.
So in trying to find text for my 800 pages, I ended up reading a book called Unveiling Islam by Ergun Mehmet, and Emir Fethi Caner, two brothers who were raised in a Sunni Muslim home. It was written right after September 11th, 2001, so it is very focused on explaining jihad and the main beliefs surrounding that. But it was a really good, informative book, which I would gladly suggest to anybody. I also plan on bringing a copy home, if anyone wants to borrow it. Anyway, this stirred up tons of questions in my brain, so I've been trying to find stuff on it. No, I'm not converting to Islam. But one of the main points that the author makes is that you can't reach out and effectively minister to people who you don't have some understanding. Islam teaches its followers that Christians are evil, wrong, and must be killed. There is no grace. So as a Christian, how should we interact with Muslim's? How can we build strong relationships with people who are disobeying Allah by interacting on a friendly level with us? I'm not saying that we should be scared of Muslims. But we need to learn their traditions, and how to respect them, so that we can minister effectively, and not be totally rude.
Anyway. This is what has been rolling through my head for the past couple of days, among other things. I've been trying to find an English Qu'ran, and Hadith but haven't had much luck in Thailand, go figure :)
Oh yeah, I was telling you what we did today. After lunch, we sat in Alan's office for a few hours, and went over finances that finally came in, thank you Jesus! It was getting tight there! So we figured that out, and got a little bit of money so we can eat this week, and then headed to the Bamboo Coffee shop to study for a while. I think we are going to watch the 3rd Lord of the Rings tonight (we're all a bunch of geeks :) ), think this will be okay, got lots of reading in today.
Anywho. Good night!
Look, two days in a row! Okay, sorry over it.
Tuesday's here at APSAI mean early mornings, and lectures. We have a Prayer/ Worship Chapel at 8 am; then Alan asked us to sit in with the APSAI students for his lecture with him at 9. That went until 10:30; it was kind of a brief recap for the three of us, which was nice, since we're wrapping up this section of lecture. School here isn't anything like school in the States. Here's a brief rundown. The three of us Northwest girls are taking 17 credits, all through Alan, which will then be recorded by NU. We are taking three credits of each: Missiology, SE Asian History and Context, Buddhism, and Practicum credits. Our Thai class counts for 5 credits. So we are taking Thai for the length of the semester; ending about the middle of November. We have done about 7 weeks of Missiology tutorials, where we meet once a week for four hours. For each subject, we have to read 800 pages of relevant texts; books and journal articles on the subject. We also write about a paper a week, while editing the paper from the week before. On October 6th, we are going to Cambodia to renew our Visa's and while we're there, we are going to have our first SE Asian History lesson. Our Practicum credit comes from a journal that we're supposed to be keeping, as well as keeping track of our finances, and ministry that we do. It's not so much assignment driven as action driven. The Buddhism class will be a 3 day Seminar with everybody, which should be interesting. Long days, but it will be nice to learn more about it.
So in trying to find text for my 800 pages, I ended up reading a book called Unveiling Islam by Ergun Mehmet, and Emir Fethi Caner, two brothers who were raised in a Sunni Muslim home. It was written right after September 11th, 2001, so it is very focused on explaining jihad and the main beliefs surrounding that. But it was a really good, informative book, which I would gladly suggest to anybody. I also plan on bringing a copy home, if anyone wants to borrow it. Anyway, this stirred up tons of questions in my brain, so I've been trying to find stuff on it. No, I'm not converting to Islam. But one of the main points that the author makes is that you can't reach out and effectively minister to people who you don't have some understanding. Islam teaches its followers that Christians are evil, wrong, and must be killed. There is no grace. So as a Christian, how should we interact with Muslim's? How can we build strong relationships with people who are disobeying Allah by interacting on a friendly level with us? I'm not saying that we should be scared of Muslims. But we need to learn their traditions, and how to respect them, so that we can minister effectively, and not be totally rude.
Anyway. This is what has been rolling through my head for the past couple of days, among other things. I've been trying to find an English Qu'ran, and Hadith but haven't had much luck in Thailand, go figure :)
Oh yeah, I was telling you what we did today. After lunch, we sat in Alan's office for a few hours, and went over finances that finally came in, thank you Jesus! It was getting tight there! So we figured that out, and got a little bit of money so we can eat this week, and then headed to the Bamboo Coffee shop to study for a while. I think we are going to watch the 3rd Lord of the Rings tonight (we're all a bunch of geeks :) ), think this will be okay, got lots of reading in today.
Anywho. Good night!
Monday, September 26, 2011
This Week...
So in case you haven't noticed, consistency isn't my strong point. Or maybe it's commitment. Or something. Regardless, I haven't written since... last Monday? Sorry Dad :)
Okay. So let's take it from Tuesday. If I remember:
Tuesday was our day to lead worship for the prayer service. Tuesday's are rough... starts at 8 am. Anyway, we had our tutorial with Alan, and discussed... a lot. We started talking about how Social Action and Evangelism need to work together, rather than be two ends of a very debated spectrum. Our paper this week is on how to integrate it, and why it is even an issue.
Wednesday began the Thai Missionary Prayer Fellowship, after our chapel in the morning. An amusing phenomenon has been occurring since we got here. We keep meeting really awesome, fun, friendly, laid back people, and we hang out with them, and joke, and talk. Then we find out that they are really high on this whole AG Missions hierarchy thing. I had no idea what we were getting into working with Alan Johnson. That guy is brilliant, and down to earth, and one of the world's leading Missiologists. Then a few weeks ago we met a guy named Mark, who was really nice to us, and very friendly. This week we found out that he is the country moderator for missionaries. But that's one of the lessons we're learning here; every one of these people are normal, average people, who are listening to God when He asks them to do something. Sure, they get to be involved in something huge, and awesome, and blessed; but they still have human struggles, they still get sick, they still make jokes, they still love their families. So anyway, we had our morning APSAI Chapel, in which Mark spoke, and then a bunch of Missionaries started rolling into town. That evening, we had a prayer/worship service, and then hung out a little bit.
Thursday was day two of Prayer Fellowship, so we led worship in the morning, then got comfortable for the days meetings. We had our computers, books, crocheting stuff... anything to keep us occupied. It actually ended up being pretty fun though; the point of the week was for everyone to get together, and share prayer needs, and testimonies, and hang out and get away from daily life. So we spent the day on 5th Floor APSAI, and worked on homework and hung out with everybody. That night, Tammy made Spaghetti, which was absolutely delicious, and we played big group games; then Kelsey and I went and got massages. I think I got a new girl... it hurt more than usual. But it still felt pretty good. We got Roti, then headed back to work on the next day's worship set.
Friday morning, we had worship in the morning, and then had a little bit of prayer, and they wrapped up the business side of it all. Then all the missionaries jumped in cars, and we headed over to the biggest AG church in Thailand, Romyan Church. They had gathered some of the bigwigs in the system to talk about some of the split stuff that one of the organizations is experiencing. They served Massuman Curry for lunch; amazingly delicious. That was the last thing on the agenda, so Kelsey and I headed over to the mall to study. I read a book called Unveiling Islam, that was assigned to the APSAI students. I needed pages to read for our tutorial, so I kind of picked it up on a whim; but it ended up being really good. It was a lot of very basic information, but it made my brain start to explode with questions. After Kelsey and I talked about it for a while, we called Barb and John, and asked if we could go talk to them about it over dinner. We went to a North-Eastern Thai restaurant, which was also pretty good. We talked for about an hour, then headed home, and headed to bed. This week was really good, but also really long, with early mornings, late nights, and lots of activity in between.
Saturday morning we had our first Thai lesson in about two weeks, which was really fun. Then we headed over to Alan and Lynette's before we went to teach into Ekkamai Sahm Sip. It went really really well; with about 15 kids. Then we headed back to APSAI for family dinner, and Jenna's birthday party. Sunday, we went to church, and then to Bandon, where we taught in three different places. Again, we headed home, where I finally got the remnants of green/blue out of my hair from Camp this summer. The box said that it was dark brown; it is dark dark dark brown. I like it though, just takes some getting used to.
Monday... I love Mondays. It's always good to unwind, and sleep in, and recap the week. I slept in a little bit, then skyped the family. Did you know you can play BattleShip while Skyping with people?!?!?! So awesome! We went to Patim's for lunch, and then I tried to study for a little bit; finished the Islam book, read a few articles, etc. Then we headed downtown Bangkok for some delicious food, shopping, and fun. We had Mexican food!!!!!! It wasn't totally fantastic, but was decent enough. Then we wandered the streets of Ramkamphaeng before we got stuck in the rain. We jumped in a taxi, and now here I am.
I have no idea what this week is going to look like; but I anticipate awesomeness. A couple prayer requests before I go;
- I need to start thinking about next term, and what living, financial, and transportation situations are going to look like. God knows what's best, and I'm praying for guidance as it all comes together.
- Off of that, money is going to be rather tight, since I obviously haven't been working; about 5 months by the time I get back to school.
- Please pray for open doors into people's hearts, as we try to build relationships and connections with people here. Pray for God's grace to be poured out as we walk through the slums, both Muslim and Buddhist, and people's hearts to be receptive.
Thanks!!!!
P.S. I am going to be better this week about writing... I promise!
Okay. So let's take it from Tuesday. If I remember:
Tuesday was our day to lead worship for the prayer service. Tuesday's are rough... starts at 8 am. Anyway, we had our tutorial with Alan, and discussed... a lot. We started talking about how Social Action and Evangelism need to work together, rather than be two ends of a very debated spectrum. Our paper this week is on how to integrate it, and why it is even an issue.
Wednesday began the Thai Missionary Prayer Fellowship, after our chapel in the morning. An amusing phenomenon has been occurring since we got here. We keep meeting really awesome, fun, friendly, laid back people, and we hang out with them, and joke, and talk. Then we find out that they are really high on this whole AG Missions hierarchy thing. I had no idea what we were getting into working with Alan Johnson. That guy is brilliant, and down to earth, and one of the world's leading Missiologists. Then a few weeks ago we met a guy named Mark, who was really nice to us, and very friendly. This week we found out that he is the country moderator for missionaries. But that's one of the lessons we're learning here; every one of these people are normal, average people, who are listening to God when He asks them to do something. Sure, they get to be involved in something huge, and awesome, and blessed; but they still have human struggles, they still get sick, they still make jokes, they still love their families. So anyway, we had our morning APSAI Chapel, in which Mark spoke, and then a bunch of Missionaries started rolling into town. That evening, we had a prayer/worship service, and then hung out a little bit.
Thursday was day two of Prayer Fellowship, so we led worship in the morning, then got comfortable for the days meetings. We had our computers, books, crocheting stuff... anything to keep us occupied. It actually ended up being pretty fun though; the point of the week was for everyone to get together, and share prayer needs, and testimonies, and hang out and get away from daily life. So we spent the day on 5th Floor APSAI, and worked on homework and hung out with everybody. That night, Tammy made Spaghetti, which was absolutely delicious, and we played big group games; then Kelsey and I went and got massages. I think I got a new girl... it hurt more than usual. But it still felt pretty good. We got Roti, then headed back to work on the next day's worship set.
Friday morning, we had worship in the morning, and then had a little bit of prayer, and they wrapped up the business side of it all. Then all the missionaries jumped in cars, and we headed over to the biggest AG church in Thailand, Romyan Church. They had gathered some of the bigwigs in the system to talk about some of the split stuff that one of the organizations is experiencing. They served Massuman Curry for lunch; amazingly delicious. That was the last thing on the agenda, so Kelsey and I headed over to the mall to study. I read a book called Unveiling Islam, that was assigned to the APSAI students. I needed pages to read for our tutorial, so I kind of picked it up on a whim; but it ended up being really good. It was a lot of very basic information, but it made my brain start to explode with questions. After Kelsey and I talked about it for a while, we called Barb and John, and asked if we could go talk to them about it over dinner. We went to a North-Eastern Thai restaurant, which was also pretty good. We talked for about an hour, then headed home, and headed to bed. This week was really good, but also really long, with early mornings, late nights, and lots of activity in between.
Saturday morning we had our first Thai lesson in about two weeks, which was really fun. Then we headed over to Alan and Lynette's before we went to teach into Ekkamai Sahm Sip. It went really really well; with about 15 kids. Then we headed back to APSAI for family dinner, and Jenna's birthday party. Sunday, we went to church, and then to Bandon, where we taught in three different places. Again, we headed home, where I finally got the remnants of green/blue out of my hair from Camp this summer. The box said that it was dark brown; it is dark dark dark brown. I like it though, just takes some getting used to.
Monday... I love Mondays. It's always good to unwind, and sleep in, and recap the week. I slept in a little bit, then skyped the family. Did you know you can play BattleShip while Skyping with people?!?!?! So awesome! We went to Patim's for lunch, and then I tried to study for a little bit; finished the Islam book, read a few articles, etc. Then we headed downtown Bangkok for some delicious food, shopping, and fun. We had Mexican food!!!!!! It wasn't totally fantastic, but was decent enough. Then we wandered the streets of Ramkamphaeng before we got stuck in the rain. We jumped in a taxi, and now here I am.
I have no idea what this week is going to look like; but I anticipate awesomeness. A couple prayer requests before I go;
- I need to start thinking about next term, and what living, financial, and transportation situations are going to look like. God knows what's best, and I'm praying for guidance as it all comes together.
- Off of that, money is going to be rather tight, since I obviously haven't been working; about 5 months by the time I get back to school.
- Please pray for open doors into people's hearts, as we try to build relationships and connections with people here. Pray for God's grace to be poured out as we walk through the slums, both Muslim and Buddhist, and people's hearts to be receptive.
Thanks!!!!
P.S. I am going to be better this week about writing... I promise!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
The Big News!
Oh my goodness! I totally forgot to share the big news! Over the course of many discussions, it has been decided, that.....
We get to stay here until the middle of December, rather than leave in the middle of November!
There are lots of pro's and con's, but in the end... it's going to be awesome.
That's all. Have a good day!
We get to stay here until the middle of December, rather than leave in the middle of November!
There are lots of pro's and con's, but in the end... it's going to be awesome.
That's all. Have a good day!
Hi! Wow! I have not posted anything in an obnoxiously long time. It's been a little chaotic since we got back from Chaeng Mai; and I guess I've been a little bit lazy :)
Anyway. I'm going to skip pictures this time, because my computer doesn't feel like loading anything. Annoying. This should be long enough anyway though. I had to go read my own blog to find out the last time I had written. Sorry!
So we got on a train at 4:15 P.M. on Wednesday afternoon of last week. We arrived back to APSAI shortly after 10 A.M. Thursday morning. Is that ridiculous or what? Because of the rain, there was sever flooding which meant the train had to go super slow. We actually caught the last train out of Chaeng Mai for a few days, so it was good timing; just a little slow. We had the rest of the day on Thursday off, which was good because we were super exhausted. I don't exactly remember what I did, it's all a little foggy. But I was in bed by 6:30. Not asleep, but in bed. Life was good that night.
Anyway. I'm going to skip pictures this time, because my computer doesn't feel like loading anything. Annoying. This should be long enough anyway though. I had to go read my own blog to find out the last time I had written. Sorry!
So we got on a train at 4:15 P.M. on Wednesday afternoon of last week. We arrived back to APSAI shortly after 10 A.M. Thursday morning. Is that ridiculous or what? Because of the rain, there was sever flooding which meant the train had to go super slow. We actually caught the last train out of Chaeng Mai for a few days, so it was good timing; just a little slow. We had the rest of the day on Thursday off, which was good because we were super exhausted. I don't exactly remember what I did, it's all a little foggy. But I was in bed by 6:30. Not asleep, but in bed. Life was good that night.
Friday we stayed on this side of town, and walked over to Assumption University, an English speaking university about a mile from our location. We wandered around the campus for a while, and tried to meet some people, then headed over to our favorite coffee shop for some good 'ol study time. Of course, with 3 other awesome people there, you don't get much studying done, but the waffles are awesome. When we gave up on being productive, we headed over to Soi 40 for some awesome food, and played Settlers of Catan until we couldn't stand being around each other any longer. We did something else after that, but I can't remember what.
Saturday we woke up crazy early and jumped in vans to head over towards Ekkamai. Alan and Deanna's ministry in the slum areas includes a once a month activity; this month they rented out an indoor soccer field, and brought in a pastor who is also an awesome soccer coach. We bussed in about 30 kids from Ekkamai Sip Sii, one of the areas we hang out in, and played soccer, colored, did crafts, and ate lunch with. Then we ran the kids home, and headed over to Ekkamai Sam Sip to teach English. This was our weekend to be at APSAI for the weekend, so we got to go to Family Night with everybody. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, corn and broccoli casserole, biscuits, and banana foster; then watched Tangled. Such a good movie; we chose a fantastic night to be around!
Today, Sunday, was so much fun. It was our first Sunday in the new church building- absolutely amazing. The new campus is huge, with so much room to grow. Pii Wan asked the three of us NU girls to do a special song, so we did that during offering, which was super fun. Because it was the first Sunday, a lot of the missionaries were there for the service, so it kind of turned out to be "thai" side of church, and a "farang" side. It was funny. But it was really cool to see the absolute joy in everyone's hearts. Such an awesome thing to get to be involved in that church.
After church, we hung out for about 2 hours, then headed over to Bandan with Dua to teach English. Alan wasn't going with us this time, so he asked to us to go say hi to a lady and her daughter, as well as teach at the two places we usually go to. So we stopped at the school we teach in first, and it was all locked up because the lady in charge is mai sabi- sick. That was a bummer, but no problem. We headed over to the lady's house: not home. So we headed over to David's house. He had a stroke somewhat recently, and doesn't have a lot of muscle control on his left side. Alan has known him for a while, and when we first got here, he brought us over to meet him. There ended up being some kids hanging around, so now each Sunday we go over there at about 5 om and teach English. There is one boy there, Don, who is super smart, he is the only consistent one, but man, that kid catches on fast. Davids house is in the not so nice part of the slum, but they are super nice, and very willing to let us come crash their house for an hour or so each week. When we got done there, we headed back over to Tai Ping, and had dinner, then headed home.
So that's what's been going on. This week is going to be a crazy one; there is a quarterly meeting for all the missionaries in Thailand this week. So we are going to sit in on the meetings, and lead worship for the services and stuff, as well as our normal stuff. I swear that I will be more consistent about this... Sorry I let it go so long.
I'll try to hop on and load up some Chaeng Mai Pictures up soon!
Friday, September 16, 2011
I'm Alive!
Sorry, I know its been a while. I have a lot to tell, and a lot to post, but right now, I need sleep. So there will be an extremely lengthy post coming either Saturday Night or Monday. Love ya all :) Thanks for understanding!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
It's been a while....
Did ya miss me?
We don't have easily accessed WiFi in our new hotel, so we have to come use regular computers in the office.
So we have some catching up to do!
Sunday night we went the the Sunday Night Market, which is a whole kilometer of vendors. Guess what that means... bartering! I love it! Over the past two days, in two markets, I have got almost everyone at least one or two presents. Except Dad... if you're reading this, you need to understand how hard you are to shop for :) So we walked around the night market for about an hour, then took a Songtau (poor phonetic spelling, sorry) back to our hotel.
On Monday mid-morning, we switched hotels to stay with Weldyn and Barb, our professors from Northwest. We are now at a super swanky hotel, which is only about $89 a night (SWEET!).The funny thing is though, is that we've had the hardest time staying here. First off, this place is super duper high end. Like.... bathrobes in the closet, minibars in each room, fresh roses on the pillows every night, heavy gold curtains on all windows, biggest towels you've seen in your life... yeah.... Anyway. We woke up this morning with bug bites all over our legs and arms. I have 19 on my legs alone. Ridiculous. After a little bit of exploring, we found ants in our beds. Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck. We're not sure if they were in the roses, or just in the room, but yeah. It was gross. So they switched us to another room this morning. Not 5 minutes after getting there, the power in our room went out,and the maintenance guy had to come crawl around our ceiling and fix stuff.
But still, its a freaking awesome hotel. Pool, awesome gym, sauna, super close to the night market, all that jazz. We have one more night here, then back to Bangkok. I'm kind of torn, cause I love it here, but I also miss being in Bangkok, at APSAI, and Thai lessons. I'm excited to get back to real life.
Isn't that funny that Bangkok is real life to me right now? So weird.
Sorry. Anyway. I have some potentially super duper duper exciting news.. .but I'm going to hold off on announcing it until its for sure. But please pray for guidance, and good decisions in this.
Also, while we're at it, please pray for our ministry back home; we have been working with a few Muslim communities for a while now, and we would love to have the chance to get deeper with some people. In Alan's words; we need seekers. People who know that this isn't all there is to life, and recognize it in us. We need them to be comfortable coming to talk to us, and have people who can't be content without Jesus in their lives.
Thanks!
We don't have easily accessed WiFi in our new hotel, so we have to come use regular computers in the office.
So we have some catching up to do!
Sunday night we went the the Sunday Night Market, which is a whole kilometer of vendors. Guess what that means... bartering! I love it! Over the past two days, in two markets, I have got almost everyone at least one or two presents. Except Dad... if you're reading this, you need to understand how hard you are to shop for :) So we walked around the night market for about an hour, then took a Songtau (poor phonetic spelling, sorry) back to our hotel.
On Monday mid-morning, we switched hotels to stay with Weldyn and Barb, our professors from Northwest. We are now at a super swanky hotel, which is only about $89 a night (SWEET!).The funny thing is though, is that we've had the hardest time staying here. First off, this place is super duper high end. Like.... bathrobes in the closet, minibars in each room, fresh roses on the pillows every night, heavy gold curtains on all windows, biggest towels you've seen in your life... yeah.... Anyway. We woke up this morning with bug bites all over our legs and arms. I have 19 on my legs alone. Ridiculous. After a little bit of exploring, we found ants in our beds. Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck. We're not sure if they were in the roses, or just in the room, but yeah. It was gross. So they switched us to another room this morning. Not 5 minutes after getting there, the power in our room went out,and the maintenance guy had to come crawl around our ceiling and fix stuff.
But still, its a freaking awesome hotel. Pool, awesome gym, sauna, super close to the night market, all that jazz. We have one more night here, then back to Bangkok. I'm kind of torn, cause I love it here, but I also miss being in Bangkok, at APSAI, and Thai lessons. I'm excited to get back to real life.
Isn't that funny that Bangkok is real life to me right now? So weird.
Sorry. Anyway. I have some potentially super duper duper exciting news.. .but I'm going to hold off on announcing it until its for sure. But please pray for guidance, and good decisions in this.
Also, while we're at it, please pray for our ministry back home; we have been working with a few Muslim communities for a while now, and we would love to have the chance to get deeper with some people. In Alan's words; we need seekers. People who know that this isn't all there is to life, and recognize it in us. We need them to be comfortable coming to talk to us, and have people who can't be content without Jesus in their lives.
Thanks!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
ChaengMai
Hey there.
I think I mentioned that we were heading to ChaengMai for a few days; we made it! We've been here about two days, and have already had a million adventures.
I think I mentioned that we were heading to ChaengMai for a few days; we made it! We've been here about two days, and have already had a million adventures.
First of all: We took an overnight train from Bangkok to ChaengMai- about 13 hours. So we boarded the train at about 6, and headed out. We had 2nd class sleeper tickets, so the four of us (Alan, and the three of us girls) were in two sections, right across from each other. We did a tutorial on the bus, since we had some time to kill, then about 9:30 or 10 they came around and set up the beds for us. Let me just say, here and now: Trains do not provide the comfiest sleeping arrangements in the world. It wasn't awful, and I did sleep a little bit, but I kept waking up. I had a window though, so I had fun looking out the window when we went through villages and stuff. Anyway, we had been stopping and starting the whole night, and about 5:30 A.M. the train stopped again. I quickly fell asleep, and we all slept soundly until about 7:45- the time we were supposed to arrive in ChaengMai. We got dressed really quickly, and when we got back, Alan had gotten some information from the guy in charge of our car. It had been storming really bad throughout the night; thunder and lightning. Apparently the rain had gotten so hard that it got into the electrical components of the engine, and fried the engine. So an engine car came from the next town, and was about to pull us over the mountain. When we got to that town, we would be taken off the track, let all the trains behind us get through, get a new engine, then be on our way again. Alan, however, knew that this would be an extremely long process, so we hopped off the train at that town. We went over to the bus station, where we bought tickets that left for ChaengMai at 9:30, and grabbed some breakfast. The bus took about two hours to get here, and we went right to our hotel room and crashed. Actually, I lied. Alan had some meetings, so he dropped us off. We all took nice long hot showers, ordered pizza, ate, and then crashed. For about 4 or 5 hours. It felt so good. Then we went and met Alan at his meeting, and had dinner with them. We were pretty wired when we got back, so we went out to the main road, and walked around the street vendors for a few hours.
Today was long, and tons of fun. We went to a pretty big church, where most of the other missionaries go, at least once a month. We had lunch with the church people, and then cake and ice cream for Missionary Mark's birthday, then headed back to change our clothes. We went out to a reservoir, and while Alan and Lauren (another missionary) went for a run, we walked around and took pictures. Then we flew back to our hotel room, showered, changed again, and took off for a really big temple on top of a mountain. It was about sunset, and we drove up this enormous, curvy road. At the peak of the mountain there is a really big Buddhist temple, with a view of the entire city. So we got lots of night shots, good conversations, and big bites. I have tons of pictures to put up, but I'll do it another time, cause I'm getting sleepy .Anyway, to get up to the temple, there was 390 something stairs. It was super crazy high, but sooooo worth it. Again, pictures are coming. On our way back down, it was kinda creepy, cause all the monks were chanting, and just as we start to walk down, the power went out; it was pitch black. All 5 of us froze, and laughed, then the power switched back on. So we ran back down, and headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at a really tasty Italian place, not very Thai, but good all the same. Then we went to the Sunday Night Market, where I got some super awesome stuff that people are going to love; and spent about $15 .
All in all; it was a pretty awesome day.
But now I need to sleep.
But now I need to sleep.
Sawati kha!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Thoughts on a Train
I have come to the extraordinary realization over this past year and a half that God has a plan for me. I know. Duh, right?
I knew He had called me into some form of missions and as time progressed, He has revealed more and more tiny bits of His plan for my life. He chose Northwest; I went. He said Intercultural Studies; I studied. He laid Thailand on the table; I picked it up and flew. Literally.
So my plan consisted of NU, then missions. So then I started to worry. You can't go straight from school, where you stack loan on top of loan on top of loan, then leave the country. Co-signers wouldn't be so happy about that. So I started to plan, and worry, and come up with a million of backup plans.
And then God smacked me with some very wise words. "You think I don't have a plan for that? You think I only have two things ready for you; go take care of one thing, get your life together, find me when you're finished? Foolish foolish child! I love you, but geez, you aren't very bright sometimes.
I have plans for you; and I know what those plans cost. Not just money; I know of costs you don't even realize you are going to pay.
But I still have a plan. I'm still in control. Will you let me be in control? Will you get your hands off the steering wheel? Your feet off the accelerator?
I not only have big plans for you kiddo; I have small plans too. I have plans you aren't going to understand; plans you won't recognize; plans you won't acknowledge.
Are you going to accept the little plans? Or just the big ones? The everyday choices, or just the ones that leave you with $50,000 of student loans?
In the end; I've given you a choice. It's a big one. It's sometimes a hard one. But I love you enough to let you go if that's what you want. If you choose to follow me; to submit to my plans; to pay a few prices, I guarantee you results that I can't even tell you; you wouldn't believe me if I did."
I knew He had called me into some form of missions and as time progressed, He has revealed more and more tiny bits of His plan for my life. He chose Northwest; I went. He said Intercultural Studies; I studied. He laid Thailand on the table; I picked it up and flew. Literally.
So my plan consisted of NU, then missions. So then I started to worry. You can't go straight from school, where you stack loan on top of loan on top of loan, then leave the country. Co-signers wouldn't be so happy about that. So I started to plan, and worry, and come up with a million of backup plans.
And then God smacked me with some very wise words. "You think I don't have a plan for that? You think I only have two things ready for you; go take care of one thing, get your life together, find me when you're finished? Foolish foolish child! I love you, but geez, you aren't very bright sometimes.
I have plans for you; and I know what those plans cost. Not just money; I know of costs you don't even realize you are going to pay.
But I still have a plan. I'm still in control. Will you let me be in control? Will you get your hands off the steering wheel? Your feet off the accelerator?
I not only have big plans for you kiddo; I have small plans too. I have plans you aren't going to understand; plans you won't recognize; plans you won't acknowledge.
Are you going to accept the little plans? Or just the big ones? The everyday choices, or just the ones that leave you with $50,000 of student loans?
In the end; I've given you a choice. It's a big one. It's sometimes a hard one. But I love you enough to let you go if that's what you want. If you choose to follow me; to submit to my plans; to pay a few prices, I guarantee you results that I can't even tell you; you wouldn't believe me if I did."
Thursday, September 8, 2011
I Like Toast.
Just in case anybody was curious. I eat it for Breakfast, and late night snack. It's best with a light layer of Nutella, but butter is just as swell.
Anybody still reading? Oh. Okay. Fine then.
Today was kind of a lazy day until about 2 pm. I was down to 300 Baht, with is about 10 bucks, so I had to go find a bank to a bank. I now have money again, so Dad... don't worry :)
Tonight we drove over to Ekkamai with Mark, and went over to the slum that we went to the very first time we went. It was fun; we got stuck in the downpour, and ended up staying at one of the houses for about half an hour. Eventually, we decided that we weren't going to get a break from the rain, and just decided to go, so we popped up our umbrellas and headed out. One of the quirks here: The sidewalks are made from cement blocks, and when they get wet... it's like walking on a sheet of ice. So slippery. Anyway, we walked down to to a little restaurant, and got the same dish we got last time we went to Soi Sip Hok (16). It's absolutely delicious- rice with pork that has been simmering in a delicious sauce for a very long time, with Chinese kale. It's hard to explain it, but it's delicious.
Tomorrow evening we leave for Chang Mai. I am so super excited. It's a 13 hour train ride, but we got sleeper cars, so we will do lecture, and then curl up in bed, and hopefully sleep the rest of the way there.
Okay. I'm going to try to knock out some of those darn papers. Talk at ya later!
Anybody still reading? Oh. Okay. Fine then.
Today was kind of a lazy day until about 2 pm. I was down to 300 Baht, with is about 10 bucks, so I had to go find a bank to a bank. I now have money again, so Dad... don't worry :)
Tonight we drove over to Ekkamai with Mark, and went over to the slum that we went to the very first time we went. It was fun; we got stuck in the downpour, and ended up staying at one of the houses for about half an hour. Eventually, we decided that we weren't going to get a break from the rain, and just decided to go, so we popped up our umbrellas and headed out. One of the quirks here: The sidewalks are made from cement blocks, and when they get wet... it's like walking on a sheet of ice. So slippery. Anyway, we walked down to to a little restaurant, and got the same dish we got last time we went to Soi Sip Hok (16). It's absolutely delicious- rice with pork that has been simmering in a delicious sauce for a very long time, with Chinese kale. It's hard to explain it, but it's delicious.
Tomorrow evening we leave for Chang Mai. I am so super excited. It's a 13 hour train ride, but we got sleeper cars, so we will do lecture, and then curl up in bed, and hopefully sleep the rest of the way there.
Okay. I'm going to try to knock out some of those darn papers. Talk at ya later!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Thai Lessons, Pictures, and Yummy Food. Plus Some Catching Up.
Hola. SawatiKha. Hello.
Today, I am proud to say, we took a taxi to Ekkamai, and back, for the first time on our own. We successfully explained where we wanted to go, didn't get lost, and arrived on time for our Thai lessons. And it only took about 15 minutes each way. Be proud. We deserve it! :)
Anyway. We had our last Thai lesson until next week... cause on Friday we leave for Chang Mai! Yay!
In class, we attempted to learn how to say what time it is in Thai... don't even ask me... it is so darn complicated! But I got my color crayons out tonight, and made clocks to hang up, so maybe that will help. Coloring was fun anyway.
I had probably my most favorite meal so far here tonight. It was garlic chicken, with lots and lots of pepper... So delicious. The garlic is deep-fried, then stirfried in with the chicken, over white rice... Goodness gracious. That was delicious.
In other news; I have pictures! I haven't unloaded them from my camera in about 2 weeks, so some of the pics are kind of old, but here they are anyway :)
This was taken at an awesome little coffee shop that we love to study at. Even though it's on a really busy road, it's surrounded by bamboo tree things, and it has an awesome atmosphere. Plus, they have fantastic waffles.
The view from our 5th Floor. I think it's about to rain.
And thunder.
The Library at the Thailand Assemblies of God Bible College. We studied in their for a couple of hours... lots of fun. Plus, quite a few of the books were in English!
The mosque in Bandan, the Muslim community we are ministering in.
This is in front of a ladies house in Bandan. We were going to start teaching English in her house, but it didn't work out. So we just go hang out sometimes.
This is another house in Bandan.Not really sure what else to say :)
Night picture of the Ekkamai area. The old church building is in between the two white buildings right in front. It's in the far one, about 4 or 5 sections over.
The team! John and Barbara Wright are in the chairs on either side- they are our campus pastors, and live below us. Wayne and Tammy are in the back, they are responsible for the amazingness that is the place we live. Also in the back is Jeff, the guy who is charge of the missionaries in the PenAsia area, I think. And then there is us... the students :)
Good night!
Today, I am proud to say, we took a taxi to Ekkamai, and back, for the first time on our own. We successfully explained where we wanted to go, didn't get lost, and arrived on time for our Thai lessons. And it only took about 15 minutes each way. Be proud. We deserve it! :)
Anyway. We had our last Thai lesson until next week... cause on Friday we leave for Chang Mai! Yay!
In class, we attempted to learn how to say what time it is in Thai... don't even ask me... it is so darn complicated! But I got my color crayons out tonight, and made clocks to hang up, so maybe that will help. Coloring was fun anyway.
I had probably my most favorite meal so far here tonight. It was garlic chicken, with lots and lots of pepper... So delicious. The garlic is deep-fried, then stirfried in with the chicken, over white rice... Goodness gracious. That was delicious.
In other news; I have pictures! I haven't unloaded them from my camera in about 2 weeks, so some of the pics are kind of old, but here they are anyway :)
Good night!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Whats Going Through My Head Before I Head To Bed.
Hey there. I had/have some stuff rolling through my head right now that I'm going to try to get down on some paper; please be warned that it may or may not make sense; it may or may not be politically correct, and it probably will be sort of boring.
Okay, so today, the APSAI students had a history class with the awesome missionary Jim Hosack. After their class, we ran into him at the Rice Lady, when we were getting lunch. After chatting for a little bit about the class, he looked at us, and expressed how surprised he was when he realized that none of the students knew anything about the Khmer Rouge that took place in Cambodia. He told us that he had started talking about it, assuming we were fairly educated about the whole thing, and realized that not one of the students had any idea what he was talking about. So then he turned to us; did we know anything about the Khmer Rouge? I had heard the name, and knew that it was a genocide that had occurred in Cambodia. I knew that when we went to renew our visas in November, we were going to visit the "killing fields" and had been told that its an emotional time, so "be prepared". But that was about where my knowledge ended.
So when I got back to our dorms, I hopped on Google, and started to learn more about this stuff. I pretty much sat on my bed for an hour reading article after article, wondering why this was the first time I had ever learned any of this stuff.
Maybe I just missed all of this in my history books. Maybe I just ignored it. Maybe I'm just a dork.
But 13 Jr. and Sr.'s in Universities from around the U.S. knew little to nothing about this.
In a four year span, 1975-1979, it is estimated that more than 2 million Cambodian men, women, and children were killed. The bizarre thing is why they chose to murder who they did: A communistic worldview led Pol Pot and other members of the group, Angka, to murder anyone who had an education, anyone who rebelled, anyone who looked at them wrong... Pointless reasons.
The Angka group remained completely secretive; the mass majority of Cambodians had no idea who was in charge of their country, who was responsible for the deaths, who was making the decisions. All they knew was that they were being forcibly removed from their homes; forced to participate in back breaking labor, and forced to watch their parents, children, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands be worked to death.
Now. I get that this is way different from what I usually blog about. I mean, geez... Why do we really care Jess? We just want to know what crazy antics are occurring in Thailand.
But the thought came to me tonight as I was re-skimming information. I take wayyyy to much stuff for granted. Yeah, I know. I'm a "rich" American student, chilling in Thailand with a phone, and a Laptop, and a camera, and seemingly endless money. But I'm not talking about that kind of stuff.
I, at this very moment, am working my way toward a college degree. In November, I will have 2 more semesters before I graduate with my B.A. in Intercultural Studies. If our country was under the rule of Pol Pot, or anyone who thought like him... I would be 2 semesters away from a death sentence. My Dad, my Mom, the majority of my family, would probably already be killed, or be doing manual labor, because they simply "knew" too much. Not about politics, or the personal life of the authorities; simply because they took some classes. I live right in the beautiful Seattle area for most of the school year. But if we were under the Khmer Rouge gorvernment, we would probably all be forced out to... Yakima or something.
And we whine about Health Bills. And welfare. And taxes. And the next election.
So what's my point? I have 2. Haha.
1. As Christians... I don't think that its wrong to disagree with the President. Doesn't matter if they are Republican, or Democrat, or Gold, Guns, and Homeschoolers. We should be constantly raising up our leader in prayer, asking God to guide his thoughts, touch his heart, be present with his family. And we should be grateful that we live in a country that demands information. We get to know the name of our leader! We get to Google the papers that he writes, and the decisions that he makes, and educate ourselves about what's going on.
2. Take advantage of the opportunity to have your education be valued. I'll be the first to admit that homework sucks. But in our country, we have the opportunity for education, and it's valued. At least, that's what they tell us : )
Sorry to get all... I dunno. Save the planet? Count your blessings? Sermony? D. All of the above!
But that's whats going through my head as I head to bed.
Goodnight!
BBC Article- Basic information, brief overview
TIME Article- A little more in depth, information about what happened to the leadership responsible for the killings.
Article about one of the torturers, before his trial.
Yale- The University gathered a lot of information, and compiled it on this page... if you want to dig deeper.
Okay, so today, the APSAI students had a history class with the awesome missionary Jim Hosack. After their class, we ran into him at the Rice Lady, when we were getting lunch. After chatting for a little bit about the class, he looked at us, and expressed how surprised he was when he realized that none of the students knew anything about the Khmer Rouge that took place in Cambodia. He told us that he had started talking about it, assuming we were fairly educated about the whole thing, and realized that not one of the students had any idea what he was talking about. So then he turned to us; did we know anything about the Khmer Rouge? I had heard the name, and knew that it was a genocide that had occurred in Cambodia. I knew that when we went to renew our visas in November, we were going to visit the "killing fields" and had been told that its an emotional time, so "be prepared". But that was about where my knowledge ended.
So when I got back to our dorms, I hopped on Google, and started to learn more about this stuff. I pretty much sat on my bed for an hour reading article after article, wondering why this was the first time I had ever learned any of this stuff.
Maybe I just missed all of this in my history books. Maybe I just ignored it. Maybe I'm just a dork.
But 13 Jr. and Sr.'s in Universities from around the U.S. knew little to nothing about this.
In a four year span, 1975-1979, it is estimated that more than 2 million Cambodian men, women, and children were killed. The bizarre thing is why they chose to murder who they did: A communistic worldview led Pol Pot and other members of the group, Angka, to murder anyone who had an education, anyone who rebelled, anyone who looked at them wrong... Pointless reasons.
The Angka group remained completely secretive; the mass majority of Cambodians had no idea who was in charge of their country, who was responsible for the deaths, who was making the decisions. All they knew was that they were being forcibly removed from their homes; forced to participate in back breaking labor, and forced to watch their parents, children, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands be worked to death.
Now. I get that this is way different from what I usually blog about. I mean, geez... Why do we really care Jess? We just want to know what crazy antics are occurring in Thailand.
But the thought came to me tonight as I was re-skimming information. I take wayyyy to much stuff for granted. Yeah, I know. I'm a "rich" American student, chilling in Thailand with a phone, and a Laptop, and a camera, and seemingly endless money. But I'm not talking about that kind of stuff.
I, at this very moment, am working my way toward a college degree. In November, I will have 2 more semesters before I graduate with my B.A. in Intercultural Studies. If our country was under the rule of Pol Pot, or anyone who thought like him... I would be 2 semesters away from a death sentence. My Dad, my Mom, the majority of my family, would probably already be killed, or be doing manual labor, because they simply "knew" too much. Not about politics, or the personal life of the authorities; simply because they took some classes. I live right in the beautiful Seattle area for most of the school year. But if we were under the Khmer Rouge gorvernment, we would probably all be forced out to... Yakima or something.
And we whine about Health Bills. And welfare. And taxes. And the next election.
So what's my point? I have 2. Haha.
1. As Christians... I don't think that its wrong to disagree with the President. Doesn't matter if they are Republican, or Democrat, or Gold, Guns, and Homeschoolers. We should be constantly raising up our leader in prayer, asking God to guide his thoughts, touch his heart, be present with his family. And we should be grateful that we live in a country that demands information. We get to know the name of our leader! We get to Google the papers that he writes, and the decisions that he makes, and educate ourselves about what's going on.
2. Take advantage of the opportunity to have your education be valued. I'll be the first to admit that homework sucks. But in our country, we have the opportunity for education, and it's valued. At least, that's what they tell us : )
Sorry to get all... I dunno. Save the planet? Count your blessings? Sermony? D. All of the above!
But that's whats going through my head as I head to bed.
Goodnight!
BBC Article- Basic information, brief overview
TIME Article- A little more in depth, information about what happened to the leadership responsible for the killings.
Article about one of the torturers, before his trial.
Yale- The University gathered a lot of information, and compiled it on this page... if you want to dig deeper.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Weekend
So this past week marked our first month of being here. We are nearly a third of the way through our time here in Thailand; how is it possibly going this fast?
Anyway,this was a really long weekend, but it was full of fun, learning, and, encouragement. Precaution: This may be a really long, confusing, entry. But I’m going to try to be concise and get across my meanings with as few words as possible. First, what we did this weekend. Friday we got to go to a slum community and go to a cell group meeting that Pii Bei is trying to start. There were about 6 or 7 local people there, along with a baby and a little girl. They were either brand new Christians, or interested in Christianity, which was really cool to get to see. We had dinner with them, all sitting on the floor in a circle. It was just so “Thai”. I love how we get to see real life here; not many people are interested in putting on a show for us, they are just genuine. Anyway, during the devotional part, Pii Bei asked us to share with the group why we maintained a relationship with God when bad things happened. I was glad I had a second to think about it before I had to answer. It’s not that I doubt God, or my faith in Him. But I needed to come up with a short, concise, easily translatable answer, within a few seconds. Jeremiah 29:11-13 popped in my head as I thought about this, and that’s pretty much what I based my answer around. I told them that I know that God has a plan for me, even if I don’t know exactly what that plan is. But He promised to be faithful, and I trust Him. I need to cling to the promise that God has a plan for my life, even when things aren’t going well, or if I’m not content with what’s going on. I have no idea if anyone even understood what I was saying, but I ended up really appreciating the question; it was a good reminder of why I still trust God. Why I still try to follow Him when bad stuff happens. I don’t want to have a relationship with Him in which I turn away every time something happens that seems bad. He is way too awesome, merciful, and loving for that. Anyway, we finished up the cell group, and took a couple of pictures with them, and then headed home. We ended up in a taxi with a guy who really wanted to talk, and Alan ended up getting the opportunity to witness to him the whole way home, which was really cool. On Saturday, we woke up super early, and went to help out at a school that was having an English camp. There were probably about 100 kids there, and they had 6 stations set up with different themes for learning English terms and sentences. I helped at the cooking station, where we made a lot of somtum (Papaya Salad). That was a lot of fun, and then we got to head over to Ekkamai 30, to do more English teaching where we have been going on Saturdays. There were 15 kids in this little tiny garage, so we split them up, and had a really good time teaching. We were in there for about 2 hours, and then headed over to Alan and Lynette’s for dinner and games and bedtime. Alan and Lynette gave the three of us the opportunity to ask anything we wanted about life as a missionary family, missionary wife, or female missionary. It was so cool to hear about how Lynette balanced ministry with family, and how she was able to be a fantastic mother to her kids, a loving wife, and also a helpmate to a missionary with a lot of energy. Such a cool lady. Then Sunday, yesterday, came along. We went to church, and had a lot of fun. I love how accepting the people are here; they are willing to have a good time with anyone who is willing to try to break the communication barrier. Then we went to the dedication of the new church building, where we toured the new building, and sang some songs, and then they did a really cool thing. They handed everybody a permanent marker, and asked the write a prayer, verse, prophesy, or blessing over the church on the sidewalk around the building. I wrote the blessing that God had Moses say over the Israelites in Numbers 4: 24-27 “The Lord bless and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. So He will put His name upon His people and He will bless them.” After that, we all walked back together, and hung out at the Johnson’s house for about an hour before heading over to Bandan for more English teaching. We were in that community for about 3 hours, then headed home at about 8. Needless to say, its been a long weekend; but very productive and quite enjoyable.
P.S. I've heard rumors that it's not letting anyone post comments. Trying to figure that one out. Sorry!
Anyway,this was a really long weekend, but it was full of fun, learning, and, encouragement. Precaution: This may be a really long, confusing, entry. But I’m going to try to be concise and get across my meanings with as few words as possible. First, what we did this weekend. Friday we got to go to a slum community and go to a cell group meeting that Pii Bei is trying to start. There were about 6 or 7 local people there, along with a baby and a little girl. They were either brand new Christians, or interested in Christianity, which was really cool to get to see. We had dinner with them, all sitting on the floor in a circle. It was just so “Thai”. I love how we get to see real life here; not many people are interested in putting on a show for us, they are just genuine. Anyway, during the devotional part, Pii Bei asked us to share with the group why we maintained a relationship with God when bad things happened. I was glad I had a second to think about it before I had to answer. It’s not that I doubt God, or my faith in Him. But I needed to come up with a short, concise, easily translatable answer, within a few seconds. Jeremiah 29:11-13 popped in my head as I thought about this, and that’s pretty much what I based my answer around. I told them that I know that God has a plan for me, even if I don’t know exactly what that plan is. But He promised to be faithful, and I trust Him. I need to cling to the promise that God has a plan for my life, even when things aren’t going well, or if I’m not content with what’s going on. I have no idea if anyone even understood what I was saying, but I ended up really appreciating the question; it was a good reminder of why I still trust God. Why I still try to follow Him when bad stuff happens. I don’t want to have a relationship with Him in which I turn away every time something happens that seems bad. He is way too awesome, merciful, and loving for that. Anyway, we finished up the cell group, and took a couple of pictures with them, and then headed home. We ended up in a taxi with a guy who really wanted to talk, and Alan ended up getting the opportunity to witness to him the whole way home, which was really cool. On Saturday, we woke up super early, and went to help out at a school that was having an English camp. There were probably about 100 kids there, and they had 6 stations set up with different themes for learning English terms and sentences. I helped at the cooking station, where we made a lot of somtum (Papaya Salad). That was a lot of fun, and then we got to head over to Ekkamai 30, to do more English teaching where we have been going on Saturdays. There were 15 kids in this little tiny garage, so we split them up, and had a really good time teaching. We were in there for about 2 hours, and then headed over to Alan and Lynette’s for dinner and games and bedtime. Alan and Lynette gave the three of us the opportunity to ask anything we wanted about life as a missionary family, missionary wife, or female missionary. It was so cool to hear about how Lynette balanced ministry with family, and how she was able to be a fantastic mother to her kids, a loving wife, and also a helpmate to a missionary with a lot of energy. Such a cool lady. Then Sunday, yesterday, came along. We went to church, and had a lot of fun. I love how accepting the people are here; they are willing to have a good time with anyone who is willing to try to break the communication barrier. Then we went to the dedication of the new church building, where we toured the new building, and sang some songs, and then they did a really cool thing. They handed everybody a permanent marker, and asked the write a prayer, verse, prophesy, or blessing over the church on the sidewalk around the building. I wrote the blessing that God had Moses say over the Israelites in Numbers 4: 24-27 “The Lord bless and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. So He will put His name upon His people and He will bless them.” After that, we all walked back together, and hung out at the Johnson’s house for about an hour before heading over to Bandan for more English teaching. We were in that community for about 3 hours, then headed home at about 8. Needless to say, its been a long weekend; but very productive and quite enjoyable.
P.S. I've heard rumors that it's not letting anyone post comments. Trying to figure that one out. Sorry!
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