A cyber cafe is now up and running quite close to our guest house, which makes e-mail checking and blogging quite an easy task. Unfortunately, this cyber cafe has opened just a few days before we head out of Kathmandu for the first time. As far as I know, on Tuesday we will be heading to Pokhara, which is about six hours away. If we don't go to Pokhara, which is a possibility, then we won't be leaving this city until Saturday, when we head to Butwal, which is a hot and sticky city close to the border of India. This is good and bad news. Good news, because we get to see some of Nepal and minister in remote villages, and bad news because we are enjoying the night-time drop in temperature here in Kathmandu, the first inkling of cool weather I personally have had since January 6th.
After Butwal, we come back to Kathmandu for a very short time and then head to northern Nepal to a place called Tatopani. This is where the bungee jump will take place, if it takes place at all. We have been pretty comfortable here in Kathmandu. It is the travels where we are unsure of sleeping arrangements and food and things of that sort, but we have already seen God work in the lives of children and adults here in Nepal.
I will try to keep you posted on the happenings, but other than a couple of orphanages and a church service we haven't been able to do a lot yet. The brunt of the stories should come out of the villages and travels. Thanks for the prayer and encouragement through the comments! I should be able to get one or two mroe posts on here before we head out of the city. Thanks for reading!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Bringing Portuguese to Asia, one Westerner at a time
Well, here I have found myself in an internet cafe with incrededibly slow computers, under a time constraint, doing my best to update you guys via a broken keyboard. Some letters have to be hit with a sledge hammer to work almost.
So far, Nepal has been incredible. We have been to the two largest Bhuddist temples in Nepal and heard the catchy little Buddhist chants, that if you are immature enough, like most of our team, you can hear completely off the wall English phrases in them. They have so many handy crafts that catch your attention and occasionally you see a Westerner who is making a fool of theirself trying to stick to Buddhist tradition. I have taken many pictures but have no way of putting them on the internet at all. The posting of those photos will have to wait until I get back to Malaysia and have a decent internet connection again.
Yesterday we went to an orphanage, run by friends of the base here, and played with the children for a couple of hours before we went to a praye meeting at the main base. It was so much fun playing with these children, and of course these Nepali orphans have a special place in my heart considering how close a once-an-orphan little girl is to me in my life. We had a blast together and had most of them not had semi-Wastern names I wouldn't know any of them if I was asked. We are helping the very same orphanage move locations from in he city to a building right next to the base outside of the city. The base is in an absolutely beautiful area in the middle of rolling wheat fields and hills that almost qualify as mountains.
As many of you know, before I came to Asia, I was learning Brazilian Portuguese and thought it strange that Asia was where I ended up. Come to find out, our guide in Kathmandu, is a man named Junio from Fortaleza, Brazil. I have been brushing up on my Portuguese and learning some new through Junio. There is also two more Brazilians at the main base that live here. Maybe this is a sign for me. How often do you learn some Portuguese and then go to Asia, only to run into Brazilians? I don't really understand God's sense of humor, but if this is a sign pointing me to South America, then I won't mind.
No more food updates really, just a lot of buffalo meat and noodles and rice. We have eaten some naan bread a couple times but we don't want to get burned out on it since it is so good. There are a lot of Tibetan food places that are pretty good. They have a food called Thendup that almost tastes like my grandmother's chicken and dumplings, though it just isn't the same.
Well, I'll look for a time to get to this stoneage cafe to update yu in a couple of days! Thanks for all the prayer and reading!
So far, Nepal has been incredible. We have been to the two largest Bhuddist temples in Nepal and heard the catchy little Buddhist chants, that if you are immature enough, like most of our team, you can hear completely off the wall English phrases in them. They have so many handy crafts that catch your attention and occasionally you see a Westerner who is making a fool of theirself trying to stick to Buddhist tradition. I have taken many pictures but have no way of putting them on the internet at all. The posting of those photos will have to wait until I get back to Malaysia and have a decent internet connection again.
Yesterday we went to an orphanage, run by friends of the base here, and played with the children for a couple of hours before we went to a praye meeting at the main base. It was so much fun playing with these children, and of course these Nepali orphans have a special place in my heart considering how close a once-an-orphan little girl is to me in my life. We had a blast together and had most of them not had semi-Wastern names I wouldn't know any of them if I was asked. We are helping the very same orphanage move locations from in he city to a building right next to the base outside of the city. The base is in an absolutely beautiful area in the middle of rolling wheat fields and hills that almost qualify as mountains.
As many of you know, before I came to Asia, I was learning Brazilian Portuguese and thought it strange that Asia was where I ended up. Come to find out, our guide in Kathmandu, is a man named Junio from Fortaleza, Brazil. I have been brushing up on my Portuguese and learning some new through Junio. There is also two more Brazilians at the main base that live here. Maybe this is a sign for me. How often do you learn some Portuguese and then go to Asia, only to run into Brazilians? I don't really understand God's sense of humor, but if this is a sign pointing me to South America, then I won't mind.
No more food updates really, just a lot of buffalo meat and noodles and rice. We have eaten some naan bread a couple times but we don't want to get burned out on it since it is so good. There are a lot of Tibetan food places that are pretty good. They have a food called Thendup that almost tastes like my grandmother's chicken and dumplings, though it just isn't the same.
Well, I'll look for a time to get to this stoneage cafe to update yu in a couple of days! Thanks for all the prayer and reading!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Nepal at last
After a short few hours of travel, I am finally in Kathmandu. This is the bread and butter for the whole past three months. This is what we have been preparing for. I love Nepal. We are in a not-so-very commercialized part of the city, translation, when I walk out of the guest house we are staying at while in the city, I am in a village where many shops are run by candlelight at night and they don't understand much of what you say, unless of course you speak Nepali.
We arrived in Nepal around midday and got through customs without one single problem, which was an answered prayer in itself. We were picked up and taken to our guest house by a really hospitable guy names Amos, who gave us a couple of hours to rest, which I took full advantage of, before he took us up the street to a restaurant to eat. When I say street, I mean alley with some pavement here and there and absolutely no streetlights, and when I say restaurant, I mean walk in closet with a couple of tables. Our meal was incredible. I had chowmein with buffalo meat in it and a cup of hot milk tea. I also ate several other things that other people ordered that I don't have time to describe right now, but we did have a couple of people so adventurous that they ordered cheese pizza.
I really don't have enough time to tell you much else, and honestly, don't have that much information about Nepal yet either. Today was nothing more than airplanes, naps, and food. I don't know how accesible this cafe will be since we wont be having much more free time, but I will keep you posted as often as possible. Don't lose any sleep mom! Thanks everyone else for reading!
We arrived in Nepal around midday and got through customs without one single problem, which was an answered prayer in itself. We were picked up and taken to our guest house by a really hospitable guy names Amos, who gave us a couple of hours to rest, which I took full advantage of, before he took us up the street to a restaurant to eat. When I say street, I mean alley with some pavement here and there and absolutely no streetlights, and when I say restaurant, I mean walk in closet with a couple of tables. Our meal was incredible. I had chowmein with buffalo meat in it and a cup of hot milk tea. I also ate several other things that other people ordered that I don't have time to describe right now, but we did have a couple of people so adventurous that they ordered cheese pizza.
I really don't have enough time to tell you much else, and honestly, don't have that much information about Nepal yet either. Today was nothing more than airplanes, naps, and food. I don't know how accesible this cafe will be since we wont be having much more free time, but I will keep you posted as often as possible. Don't lose any sleep mom! Thanks everyone else for reading!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tomorrow's the big day!
This will be the last post you get from me from Malaysia. Tomorrow morning at 5:45 we are loading up the van and leaving for the airport to head to Kathmandu, Nepal. I can't tell you what we are doing there, not because it is restricted, because we don't know for sure. It is possible that we take a break to head about 3 hours north of Kathmandu to bungee jump off of a bridge in the gorge of the Bhote Kosi river in Nepal. It is a 500 ft. free fall making it one of the largest free fall bungee jumps in the world. If you are so curious, you can look up the place online and see the pictures of the beautiful place.
We have had an excellent lecture phase here in Malaysia and I have learned a lot. I have gained quite a bit of insight in the arena of missions and things of that matter, which are pretty important especially if this is what I am going to try to do as a career. We have gotten increasingly busy over the course of the past few weeks and I wasn't able to come through on blog posting as much as I should have and I apologize for that.
The last week was taught by a New Zealander named Kel Steiner. It was a course called Kairos, which ended up very informational. It is a course that is heavily devoted to unreached people groups thoughout the 10/40 and the 10/70 windows. Kel Steiner had some great stories that would make anyone envious. He actually told us a story about finding a tribe in the Phillipines in the 1970's after overhearing a radio transmission coming from the American Air Force about a tribe that lives on the side of a mountain in teepee-like houses, something unheard of in the Phillipines at the time. Kel took the opportunity to get permission from the American military presence to trek through their area to find this tribe and they granted him permission and actually gave him a 4x4 Jeep and all the medical supplies he could carry to find this tribe. After some translators that spoke mountain dialects were found, they went out and actually found this tribe. To make a long story short, in one day, a tribe of animistic Phillipine natives came to Christ. The translators that Kel and his partner found, who happened to be two 18 year old girls that were already pastors at their home church, stayed and lived with the tribe and became their pastors. Kel called this tribe the "Wo Tribe" because that seemed to be the only thing they could say in agreement or disagreement accompanied by a nod or a shake, then he said they ran one of the two witch doctors out of the village, the other of whom accepted Christ along with the rest of the tribe.
I am praying that God works in Nepal just like he did in the case of this Phillipine tribe in the mountains. It could be tomorrow that I can get to an internet cafe to post about how incredible the first day in Kathmandu is, or it could have to wait until I get back to Malaysia to write a blog post. I will be in communication with my parents, who will probably post information bits here and there on the blog for me, so you won't be completely in the dark. Pray for our trip! Pray that God works through us in incredible ways for the people of Nepal! Thanks for reading and hopefully I can update you soon.
We have had an excellent lecture phase here in Malaysia and I have learned a lot. I have gained quite a bit of insight in the arena of missions and things of that matter, which are pretty important especially if this is what I am going to try to do as a career. We have gotten increasingly busy over the course of the past few weeks and I wasn't able to come through on blog posting as much as I should have and I apologize for that.
The last week was taught by a New Zealander named Kel Steiner. It was a course called Kairos, which ended up very informational. It is a course that is heavily devoted to unreached people groups thoughout the 10/40 and the 10/70 windows. Kel Steiner had some great stories that would make anyone envious. He actually told us a story about finding a tribe in the Phillipines in the 1970's after overhearing a radio transmission coming from the American Air Force about a tribe that lives on the side of a mountain in teepee-like houses, something unheard of in the Phillipines at the time. Kel took the opportunity to get permission from the American military presence to trek through their area to find this tribe and they granted him permission and actually gave him a 4x4 Jeep and all the medical supplies he could carry to find this tribe. After some translators that spoke mountain dialects were found, they went out and actually found this tribe. To make a long story short, in one day, a tribe of animistic Phillipine natives came to Christ. The translators that Kel and his partner found, who happened to be two 18 year old girls that were already pastors at their home church, stayed and lived with the tribe and became their pastors. Kel called this tribe the "Wo Tribe" because that seemed to be the only thing they could say in agreement or disagreement accompanied by a nod or a shake, then he said they ran one of the two witch doctors out of the village, the other of whom accepted Christ along with the rest of the tribe.
I am praying that God works in Nepal just like he did in the case of this Phillipine tribe in the mountains. It could be tomorrow that I can get to an internet cafe to post about how incredible the first day in Kathmandu is, or it could have to wait until I get back to Malaysia to write a blog post. I will be in communication with my parents, who will probably post information bits here and there on the blog for me, so you won't be completely in the dark. Pray for our trip! Pray that God works through us in incredible ways for the people of Nepal! Thanks for reading and hopefully I can update you soon.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Expecting a new sister soon AND a trip to Nepal
Well, as most of you may already know, I have yet another little sister in my future and the potential of another younger brother. I am pretty thrilled at the sound of this news, and of course I knew a bit before any of you and I was dying to get it on here. I am so happy that our family is expanding again but I am a little distraught at the fact that one of these children is apparently going to be the reason I am lovingly "kicked out" of my parents house.
As for me, pray for my direction. I pray and pray and pray about it and seem to find that I am not getting answers. There isn't a place in the world I couldn't fit in and fit in well. I am completely confident making that statement. One of our leaders today confirmed some "nomadic" feelings I had today and said, "I just see you as someone who will not stay in one place for very long." This is something that I have felt from the moment I was in Malaysia, as I have called the national role and felt called to every country in Asia since I have been here. I'm having a lot of trouble with this decision and sometimes I think starting a brand new ministry would be the easiest outlet.
Also pray for the fact that in one week we leave for Nepal. The situation is stable and we are praying that it remains that way. This week we are focusing heavily on the 10/40 and 40/70 windows in a course called Kairos, which is Greek. It is very informative and focused on unreached people groups. Some of those groups are in Nepal as well as Indonesia, our two countries of focus in this school. Pray our way through these countries with us! Thanks for reading.
As for me, pray for my direction. I pray and pray and pray about it and seem to find that I am not getting answers. There isn't a place in the world I couldn't fit in and fit in well. I am completely confident making that statement. One of our leaders today confirmed some "nomadic" feelings I had today and said, "I just see you as someone who will not stay in one place for very long." This is something that I have felt from the moment I was in Malaysia, as I have called the national role and felt called to every country in Asia since I have been here. I'm having a lot of trouble with this decision and sometimes I think starting a brand new ministry would be the easiest outlet.
Also pray for the fact that in one week we leave for Nepal. The situation is stable and we are praying that it remains that way. This week we are focusing heavily on the 10/40 and 40/70 windows in a course called Kairos, which is Greek. It is very informative and focused on unreached people groups. Some of those groups are in Nepal as well as Indonesia, our two countries of focus in this school. Pray our way through these countries with us! Thanks for reading.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
More Bangkok pictures.
From top to bottom: Bangkok Skytrain tracks, Bangkok train station, Brittany and myself sitting over some traditional Thai food, the terminal at Suvarnabumhi airport, boys playing in the dirty canal at the floating market, another boy painting at the floating market, two pictures of the expressway bridge in Bangkok and finally the King's symbol on the bridge.
I have a few more but they are similar to these. You have seen the highlights of my short, short stay in Bangkok. Next time I go back hopefully I will be there a lot longer, it really was a beautiful city with a lot of beautiful people.
This week we have been learning about personal giftedness and I have really enjoyed our speaker, Rick Hurlbut, the base leader here. He actually went to a military academy in Lebanon years ago, maybe some of you remember that military academy. He has a really powerful story and I have felt a few times that I was being bragged on by him, but I'll type more about that later. As for now, we will be leaving in just a minute for our last time with our Nepali friends. Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Bangkok Pictures!
Moslty pictures of the floating market on Saturday with the exception of one picture of Victory monument thrown in the middle. The cones were quite fun, but more interesting to have lunxh on!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Back from BKK
Well, I am officially back home on a brand new 90 day visa that I will only need about 16 more days on before I take off to Nepal. Bangkok was great. It was a real big priviledge to go hang out with Brittany and Wit all weekend, and a major plus having people that could show me around Bangkok. They really are some great people and I suggest you get to know them when they come to Tennessee for a while.
The first thing I would like to comment on is the food. First and foremost, I love spicy food. This quality made me especially fond of Thailand and maybe even made some Thais fond of me. I got in on Friday night and we went immediately to eat and had some great food at a restaraunt I don't remember anything about. That was about it for Friday evening but Saturday was when the real fun began.
Wit and I woke up and got ready for our day and went and ate a really great rice breakfast before time to meet Brittany to head to the floating market. We went to the Baptist Student Center they go to in Bangkok and picked up a group of several people, all Thai, and then we were off to the market. The market was a great place to spend the first half of the day. It was really a cultural experience. We got into long wooden canoes and Wit and I paddled up and down a small canal and had a Tomyam lunch from ladies that were also sitting in a canoe at the side of the market. They warned me that it was spicy, which happened several times, but I knew I could handle it. We westerners apparently don't represent very high pain tolerance when it comes to eating spicy food because it always surprises the Asians when I choose to take my meals very spicy.
After the market we headed back to Brittany's apartment and watched a movie with most of the people that went with us to the market. Before we started the movie some of the ladies made food that was essentially lettuce wraps and watched as I ate the spicy stuff and then spoke in Thai to each other. Brittany told me that they really admired my ability to eat anything and that they usually complained about foreigners but they wanted me to apply for a job and come back. I don't know if that is a sign for God or not, but I did make my decision that my wife is probably in Thailand since there are no unattractive ladies there. I don't care at all if God wants me to go there!
After the movie we went to Khao San Road, which is like backpacker central. It was a really good experience with a lot of interesting people. Then on Sunday I basically just went to the airport. All in all it was a really fun trip.
I'm home now and we have officially started our second to last week of the lecture phase and are cracking down and getting busier and busier before we head to Nepal. Coincidentally, at our house the internet is also down so the pictures are going to have to wait a while since the connection in the office isn't great. I took lots of them though. Thanks for reading!
The first thing I would like to comment on is the food. First and foremost, I love spicy food. This quality made me especially fond of Thailand and maybe even made some Thais fond of me. I got in on Friday night and we went immediately to eat and had some great food at a restaraunt I don't remember anything about. That was about it for Friday evening but Saturday was when the real fun began.
Wit and I woke up and got ready for our day and went and ate a really great rice breakfast before time to meet Brittany to head to the floating market. We went to the Baptist Student Center they go to in Bangkok and picked up a group of several people, all Thai, and then we were off to the market. The market was a great place to spend the first half of the day. It was really a cultural experience. We got into long wooden canoes and Wit and I paddled up and down a small canal and had a Tomyam lunch from ladies that were also sitting in a canoe at the side of the market. They warned me that it was spicy, which happened several times, but I knew I could handle it. We westerners apparently don't represent very high pain tolerance when it comes to eating spicy food because it always surprises the Asians when I choose to take my meals very spicy.
After the market we headed back to Brittany's apartment and watched a movie with most of the people that went with us to the market. Before we started the movie some of the ladies made food that was essentially lettuce wraps and watched as I ate the spicy stuff and then spoke in Thai to each other. Brittany told me that they really admired my ability to eat anything and that they usually complained about foreigners but they wanted me to apply for a job and come back. I don't know if that is a sign for God or not, but I did make my decision that my wife is probably in Thailand since there are no unattractive ladies there. I don't care at all if God wants me to go there!
After the movie we went to Khao San Road, which is like backpacker central. It was a really good experience with a lot of interesting people. Then on Sunday I basically just went to the airport. All in all it was a really fun trip.
I'm home now and we have officially started our second to last week of the lecture phase and are cracking down and getting busier and busier before we head to Nepal. Coincidentally, at our house the internet is also down so the pictures are going to have to wait a while since the connection in the office isn't great. I took lots of them though. Thanks for reading!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Bangkok Bound
Just a quick update...
I am leaving for the airport in just a few minutes to go on a visa run. This will be a double purpose trip, as I will be going to Bangkok to hang out all weekend with Brittany Greene and her fiance. Thank you guys for following me all this way and I would like to apologize for not being as informative the past couple of weeks as we have been quite a bit busier than before midterm outreach. After my visa run I will try to update often. Pictures of Bangkok coming soon! God bless and thanks for reading!
I am leaving for the airport in just a few minutes to go on a visa run. This will be a double purpose trip, as I will be going to Bangkok to hang out all weekend with Brittany Greene and her fiance. Thank you guys for following me all this way and I would like to apologize for not being as informative the past couple of weeks as we have been quite a bit busier than before midterm outreach. After my visa run I will try to update often. Pictures of Bangkok coming soon! God bless and thanks for reading!
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