The Stockings were Hung on the Clothesline with Care...

A Full December

Greetings from afar!

     Life here has kept me rather busy over the last month, mostly due to my United States history class that I spend way too much time planning for. But school break has begun, which means I have some spare time to catch you all up on the goings-on of our team here in Asia.

     As I hinted at, much of our time has been spent teaching, and planning to teach, and grading the things that we taught. I have certainly enjoyed my 3^rd and 4^th grade history class, but also the various English classes I have been teaching and the “Bible story” class which allows me to read a story from the Bible in school so that the students can “learn morals using the Bible.” I guess that is how you can speak about God in a majority Buddhist country. Just this week, the school that we work at the most had its Christmas program and fundraiser, where the students all took part in performing songs and dances celebrating the birth of Jesus. What a neat opportunity for these children to teach their parents and friends about the truth they are hearing in school!

     Besides teaching, there are many activities to fill my days. I have continued to play some ultimate every week, though unfortunately that group takes a Christmas break as well. Our team hosted a fantastic post-Thanksgiving party and is currently planning a Christmas/New Year party for next week! We have enjoyed growing relationships with the teachers we work with and other folks we have met while working here. I have been able to visit several international churches, and have been attending one recently where I feel comfortable and can learn. Our team has enjoyed spending time together exploring, singing, baking, watching movies, dancing, and simply doing life together in a foreign country. It is such a blessing to have the support of a team who understands many of the difficulties associated with living abroad and is ready to tackle those difficulties together with God's strength!

     One of these difficulties we are working through has been dealing with changing visa laws. We arrived here on a short-term business visa with the expectation of renewing the visa once to a six-month visa which would cover the rest of our time here. That has not worked out. Around the time that we arrived, the laws changed making it nearly impossible for us to upgrade to a long-term visa. We have now completed one “visa-run” by leaving the country and re-entering on a brand new short-term visa. It appears we will have to do that one more time and then come home a little earlier than expected. Although it has been slightly stressful occasionally, this does give us an excuse to travel as a team! Plans are in the works for a trip to Thailand in February, and I am hoping to have the chance to visit my friends back there!

   We have been doing a lot of visiting in our own city recently: since we are here working for our church back home we have been tasked with getting to know the pastors who are a key part of the church network we are partnered with here. This is certainly an enjoyable task! So far it has involved having dinner with a pastor and his family and simply discussing with them what life looks like in their church and learning about how God led them to where they are now. These discussions have been a chance for us to learn about what God is doing here in the country and how He is changing people and bringing them out of difficult situations and into places where they can then bless others.

     For example, one pastor that we met recently grew up in a village that had no opportunities for education. He managed to leave the village to pursue schooling in India, but still had a heart for the children who grew up in situations like his with no hope to advance or learn. He has since taken in many children to provide them with a place where they can go to school. He hopes that many will choose to return to their home villages after graduating to teach others and continue to develop those places.

     It is encouraging for me to see how God is using so many people here to do His work: I see His love through the teachers we work with, His heart for the helpless through the pastors we meet, and a hope for a different future through the students we teach and the other young people around us. It is amazing to dream about what plans God has for this place!

That's all for now...Merry Christmas!

“This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” 1 John 4:9

Friday Night Musings

     As a white American, racism is not something that I am forced to consider on a daily basis. Honestly, unless I hear about a specific story or instance of racist behavior, this issue is one that does not cross my mind very frequently. Because of this, I believe I have never written on the subject in any sort of public forum. I simply do not have the experience or knowledge to consider myself worthy to address such an important and nuanced issue. So as you read this post, keep that in mind. This is not a story about racism or oppression. It is an instance when my experiences opened my eyes a little more to what others may feel when they experience racism.

     The story starts in the bus station as our team prepares to leave for our recent trip to the mountains. Our friend Chad helps us buy tickets at the counter. We discover that, as foreigners, we are expected to pay a higher price for our tickets. It is only a small fee, and it does not bother us. We board the bus, excited to see new sights and visit new places. The guest house where we stay in the small mountain town is simple: comfortable enough but certainly not much beyond that. We get two rooms for the four of us, and there are two shared bathrooms for all the guests to use. At the end of our lovely stay in the mountains, we get the bill for our guest house stay and realize there is some mistake: it is more than double the price that we were expecting. We each look at the bill and agree to wait until Chad arrives before we pay it since there is obviously something about the bill that we misunderstand. Since Chad speaks the language, and also is the one who booked the rooms, he will know how to explain to the owner that there is a mistake on the bill. 

     There is no mistake on the bill. Since we are foreigners, the owner has decided to raise the price. Chad spends several minutes talking to her and arguing that it is not a fair price. But he can do nothing to change her mind. There are only two other guest houses in this town, and very few foreigners pass through. She can charge whatever she wants. So we pay our bill and decide to cancel our planned visit to another city since we suddenly have much less money than expected. We travel by van down the mountain and then prepare for the final bus ride home. Chad is able to book bus tickets over the phone for this last leg of the long journey. We unload our backpacks at the bus station around dinnertime, mentally prepping for the overnight bus ride. Chad goes up to the counter to pick up our reserved tickets for the bus. Once again, there appears to be a problem. We watch him earnestly conversing with the ticket agent. His friend comes over to join the conversation. Once again, our fare has been raised. Despite agreeing on a ticket price over the phone, the sight of foreigners has awakened a thirst for more money. 

     We have no options open to us. We need to take a bus back home, and this is the one that will take us there. We have already brought our belongings with us to the station and are set to reach home tomorrow. There is no one who can speak for us with authority over the dishonest ticket agent. Our friends try, but in the end they cannot change the situation. We pay the inflated ticket price, extra for our bags, and our seats are moved further back on the bus.

     The big picture in this situation is that it does not matter. Every injustice only cost us money. While we do not have a lot of money to spare, we will not go hungry or lose our apartment or anything significant because of paying extra at each step of our trip. I am aware of this even as I stand in the darkening parking lot waiting to board the bus. We stand in the dusk knowing that there is no one to whom we can turn. The only ones who stand along side us end up paying more as well. I am frustrated by the injustice. I yearn to be treated fairly and am discouraged when lied to. But perhaps this is a good way to learn.  

     Reflecting on this time, I cannot help but think about those who are treated unfairly every day. Those who are discriminated against because of their race, and are handed injustices at every step in their lives. Maybe they feel like we did: that there was no one who would listen to their pleas for fairness. They may experience the bitterness of watching their friends argue for them to no avail, and then perhaps suffer alongside them for their troubles. Perhaps they become weary of pointing out the inconsistencies in laws or policies that take advantage of them, because no one appears to care or want to work for change. They raise their voices time and time again in helpless frustration. Because no one listens to their voice.

Will you?

Will you listen? And will you be their voice to the world?

The Mountain Road

A Breath of Fresh Air

"The Heavens declare the glory of God: the skies proclaim the work of his hands." -Psalm 19:1

Last week, we took a break from our normal routine to take a much-needed retreat as a team. We had a three-day weekend, so we cleared our schedule of other duties and made a week of it. The northern part of the country is rather mountainous and much more rural than where we live in the city. We were ready for some quiet streets and cool air. So we boarded an overnight bus and an all-day van to crawl our way up to the small hometown of our guide and friend Chad. Before I go any further, I just want to mention that the van we took was amazing. The mountain road we traversed was muddy, filled with ruts, and seemingly impassable at times. But the van muscled its way (slowly) over all obstacles. Approximately thirty hours after leaving our apartment, we arrived at our destination.

And that destination was beautiful! Simple houses on narrow roads with lovely flowers and giggling children staring curiously as we white people ambled past. Friendly puppies bounding over to be patted. Views of rice paddies on the slopes of mountains wreathed in clouds. Stately churches with wide open gates. Over the next few days, we spent many hours just wandering this small town appreciating its charm. There is a quiet strength in mountain towns like this, that are seemingly untouched by the dirty world around them. Life seems more straightforward and peaceful, despite not being easy. As far as we know, there were five white foreigners in town-including the four of us. Many adults would stop us so they could shake our hands. Those who spoke English thanked us for visiting or stopped by our motel to talk. On one of our walks, we were invited into the home of a pastor as we paused to play with some puppies. We sipped on cold homemade limeade and listened as the man told us about his many travels and work with the church. Asian hospitality at its finest.

While in the mountains, we took a day trip to see a large waterfall nearby. We each rode on the back of a moterbike behind Chad or one of his friends. They navigated a mountain road up and around lovely farmland to the waterfall an hour and a half away. After a short hike through the jungle, we arrived at the third level of a seven-level waterfall rising far up in the cliffs. We spent several hours clambering around the the rocks, taking pictures, slipping on the impossibly slippery ground, and getting drenched from the spray of the falling water. There were giant honey bee nests hanging from the cliff wall rippling in the wind. There were legends of ghosts who pulled unwary visitors over the falls, and a dragon who lives in the highest level where no one can climb. Because the water was so strong and the rocks so treacherously slick, it was not a good time of year to climb up to a higher level. So instead, we enjoyed a picnic lunch before clambering up behind our moterbike drivers to speed back toward town.

Besides the waterfall, some highlights from our trip include tossing a disc around on a mountaintop golf course overlooking the town, several moterbike rides, playing euchre and eating “cake” to celebrate my birthday, meeting Chad's family, and enjoying so much time out in God's creation breathing fresh, crisp mountain air.

The ride home was more spread out and relaxing, and we had some time to rest after our vacation-something that always seems to be needed! We are now getting back into our routines of lesson planning and teaching. I am certainly thankful for the time to get away and reflect and breathe clean air and take a break to look at our trip from a slightly removed perspective. God is good.

New Routines

It is difficult to know where to begin in catching you all up with what has been happening here! (This can be a motivation for me to be more regular in writing updates.) Since there is much to tell, I will simply begin with a man I mentioned in my last update: John. As you may remember, we met John at a conference soon into our travels here and discovered that he had already been in contact with our team through email. He told us about his school: an international school, taught in English, with very low tuition prices compared to other international schools in the area. He works hard to keep costs low so that middle and lower class families can send their children there to receive a quality education. At the time that we met John, he was hoping and praying for international teachers to join his team and help with the English teaching and some of the higher level classes. We are now those teachers!

Monday and Wednesday mornings, our team teaches English, music, science, health, Bible, and US history to preschool through fourth graders. Each grade level has an English and music class, while we only teach the other subjects to specific grades. This is an exciting partnership for us! We share John's vision of providing quality education to children who otherwise might not be able to afford it, while finding opportunities to share the gospel with the many Buddhist children who attend. (John estimates that about 40% of the students are Buddhist.)

Over the next few weeks, we expect to begin teaching several other English classes, always with that same goal: to plant seeds of God's good news in the hearts and minds of those we teach. As our schedule begins to fill, we are working to keep that aim in the forefront of the choices we make and the way we develop relationships here. We have been cultivating a relationship with a local couple through weekly Bible studies, and we now have the opportunity to begin teaching many students at their home. Some of the team has been playing ultimate frisbee each week with a group of international teachers and travelers. We have been meeting more with the native pastor we know here, and plan to begin spending more time at the orphanage he started. We hope that in all these relationships, God's love will be shown through us.

In other news, we recently purchased bicycles, so that we can more quickly and comfortably travel around this part of the city! That has been a huge blessing, as we need to rely slightly less on taxis or the confusing and crowded public transportation system. We have also been experimenting with our rice cooker, as we do not have an oven in the apartment. As a result, we have been eating lots of baked goods recently, from banana bread to pumpkin harvest loaf. As November approaches, we have been discussing different methods for preparing Thanksgiving dishes! Like every other aspect of life here, that will surely be an adventure.

Exploring God's Plan

This has been a week full of sightings of God's love and realizations that He has a plan for us here in Asia, even if our team has yet to figure out exactly what that plan is.

God has shown His love through the people we meet all around us. He is seen in the cab driver who bought us flowers and then offered to give us a discount on the drive. He is seen in seemingly random meetings with those who want to help us, invite us into their homes and schools, and start Bible studies with us. God shows His love by remembering the little things we think we don't need—coffee shops and ice cream, lovely sunsets and music, games of Ultimate Frisbee and time to read or play cards. We are surrounded by His beauty even when walking the dirty streets littered with stray dogs and trash.

As this is an “exploratory” trip, we have not come to Asia with an exact plan of how to share God's love with others. This has been difficult for us to grapple with, as it means we have many days with no clear direction of how to spend our time. God has been very gracious in showing us one step at a time where to go and what to do, though He often doesn't make the reasons clear ahead of time. Many times we have followed His leading to attend a conference or go to a meeting and ended up making contacts with people who we hope to work with in the future. One example of this was a “chance” meeting with a teacher we had on Tuesday during the lunchbreak at a conference. We happened to sit at the same table with this man “John,” who began talking about the school he works at. Turns out Peter had already been emailing with John about volunteering at his school! Neither one had ever met each other, nor did we know that John would be at this unrelated conference. It's amazing how coincidences like these keep cropping up: clearly someone has a plan for how this trip will work out! I'm just not that someone.

One more theme of this week has been the strong example of the local Christians we have met. It is a humbling reminder of how to live for God as I see His people here living in faith of His provision and grace every day. Local folks here often have nothing by the world's standards, but they are willing to share that nothing with others, or spend all they earn to share the truth about God with others around them. What an amazing testimony to learn from! There are many examples to share, so stay tuned. God is at work here. Pray that we will join Him in the work that He has planned for us.

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." --Ephesians 2:10

God's creation, as seen from our kitchen window.

Week One

Greetings from the other side of the world!

I have now been in Asia for a little over a week, and we have finally figured out how to get online using computers. (Up until yesterday, we could only use the internet on smart phones.)

So, you may be wondering, what have I been doing all this time?

Our journey started on Tuesday morning 9/20. We met up at Peter's house in Hampton and said our goodbyes. From Hampton, we had the long drive to Gwen's home in Connecticut. We were able to spend most of the day relaxing there—and enjoying the wonderful steak dinner provided by her parents—before heading to JFK late that night. Flying out at 1:30 am provided wonderful incentive to get some sleep during our 16 hour flight. After a much shorter connecting flight, we arrived at our destination, where we were met by Roger's sister and two brothers-in-law.

This began a whirlwind week of meeting people, settling into our apartment, finding helpful locations, and trying to begin to figure out what we are supposed to be doing here. One of our airport welcoming crew, Chad, has been traveling around with us acting as a translator and a guide. He has been invaluable in many situations, always willing to help, and a huge blessing to our team. Here are some of the highlights from week one:

We found an outdoor market a short walk from our apartment. We buy fresh fruits and vegetables there—and some lovely flowers for our coffee table!

There are many small, open-air tea shops all over the city. We have tried several and found a place where all four of us can buy noodle soup and tea for about $1 total!

We have met several local Christians who are interested in getting to know us more. They could be a valuable resource in learning more about the city, and also it's been exciting to start building friendships with people we have met while walking around our neighborhood or eating at a tea shop.

We had dinner with a missionary that Peter knows as he was traveling through the city.

There is a huge market in downtown that we were able to explore. We bought a guitar there, and have enjoyed playing music and singing together!

We were able to meet with two foreigners living and working in the city who we might be able to work with. They were both wonderful sources of information about living in this country and helpful in networking to other people and resources.

Overall, it has been a varied week where we never really know what we are going to do the next day—or in some cases the next hour. I came across this Bible verse the other day, and it sums up how we've been living: “The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?”--Proverbs 20:24. We are trusting God to guide us to what He wants us to be doing here. We've certainly had some cool new experiences so far, and I'm excited to see what he has in store for us next!

A New Adventure

I have been thinking about adventures lately. A friend told me about a conversation he heard between two kids taking a walk: one complained that he didn't just want to walk; he wanted an adventure. Instead of just going on a walk, this kid wanted to climb a mountain.

It is time for a grand adventure!

Next week I set off on what will be my longest overseas trip to date. The plan is to spend the school year in Southeast Asia with three other adventurers from my church. That's about as detailed as our plan gets.

What will we be doing in Southeast Asia, you may ask? Like I said: we have not set many details yet. We are going to Asia in response to a request from a pastor over there—we will call him Roger. Roger leads a church, helps run a Bible college, and started an orphanage. He asked our pastor to send some folks to help at the orphanage or teach English. In January, several others from my church and I traveled to the city where we will be staying to check things out and decide if there was a need we could fill during a longer trip. We were able to meet with Roger, visit his church, orphanage, and Bible school, as well as work out other details for an extended stay in the area. We visited local English schools, met someone who was willing to get us business visas, found an apartment to rent, visited the local university, and toured parts of downtown. This short (about three days in-country) trip inspired us to commit to our eight month expedition to explore and serve.

Instead of narrowing our focus, this brief trip opened up many options of what we can do while in Asia. We hope to teach English, but do not know if we will do this in schools, at the orphanage, through private tutoring, or all three. Since our apartment is only about a mile from a local university, we plan to network with folks there as well. Roger's orphanage is near enough to spend time helping with the kids or giving lessons to them. One of my team members knows a lady who is part of an organization fighting human trafficking, so there might be an opportunity to help there also.

As a team, we have many ideas of what this trip might look like. I know that at many times it may not seem grand or very adventurous. Like the kid my friend overheard bemoaning the boring nature of walking, there will be days of mundane work and frustrating problems. There will be many days that are not super exciting. But God is sending us to this country for a reason. We are going not merely to sight-see and travel, and not even to just teach or help at an orphanage. We are going with the hope that we can show others God's love in a tangible way. And what adventure could be grander than that?