Until They Know

WHOA!

2009-08-01T04:07:00.001+08:00

I am officially updating on here.

only to say that I have started a new blog. You can follow me at

www.sethhood.org

easy enough?

The site still is a work in progress but i have posted a short introductory post so far.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Holi Holi Holi

2009-03-13T13:20:00.002+08:00

Today is the last full day we have with friends before heading back to Delhi to fly back to the states tomorrow. We had a great time in the villages visiting with locals and constantly eating the massive amounts of food continuously shoved into our faces. I know that I have gained tons of weight in the starch and carbs capitol of the world. My blood pressure has to be through the roof. The food was so good though, made by the locals including the natural terroir.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Holi with the locals which was one of the most intense things I have ever been a part of. I was involved in countless amounts of water fights as a child with other people but never to this caliber. Despite protecting my digestive system making sure that no water makes it down my throat, I had much bigger problems. The dye that was being thrown was not only vibrantly colored but also ridiculously permanent. I was viciously jumped by a pack of wild Indian children with buckets, squirtguns, and hands full of soaked powdered dye. No amount of fighting back wore them out. After a few minutes I tried to assimilate into the new people group and coordinate attacks against the people that I came with. I found that no matter how many victories we had, when the action was over, they turned on me every time. The end result is pink skin that is very hard to get rid of. As a matter of fact, now, a few days later, my skin is still mildly pink.

Tomorrow we head back to the states. It is pretty bittersweet because I love being here but I also am ready to get back and see my family and go back to school and work. Well I guess I am out of things to say for now.

First in 2009!

2009-03-08T19:00:00.003+08:00

Well, I stated on here in my last post I was going to attempt to blog more often now that I am not permanently in Asia. Since this is my first time writing a blog in 2009, obviously I didn't fulfill my attempted resolution. Now I come back asking for forgiveness only to say that I am in India again. It seems that I can only blog when I am not in the country.

After about 25 hours of travel, then a night of jet-lag hindered sleep (and by night I mean about 5 hours) only to wake up and get on another plane to travel Indian Air nationally, we are here in our location enjoying the first day. We will be traveling out of the city tomorrow to go to a friend's and "participate" in the festival of Holi. If you aren't sure what it is about, Google it. For the few that haven't lost faith in checking my blog to see a new anecdote about international travel had by me, be remembering us throughout the week. Maybe you will get another post soon. I won't say for sure since I probably won't come through if I do. Thanks for reading!

I know, I know...

2008-08-22T09:53:00.005+08:00

...it has been forever since I have typed anything on this blog. I am doing my best to get back into it from this point on, but with a full-time job and full-time school, I can't make you any solid promises.

As for what has been going on lately: my life has been pretty routine. Since I returned from Brazil, work has consumed most of my free time and then in mid-August I threw school into the mix. Anatomy and Physiology is kicking my butt right now to say the least. I still have found a lot of time to read, though. I have been reading quite a bit. Mostly Christian studies, the thicker (content-wise) books include: Knowing God by J.I. Packer and Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. Both books I would highly recommend to anyone who loves studying what they believe. I have also had enough time to fit in a few fictional novels one by Chuck Palahniuk who is one of the better current, non-Christian writers of our time, a little crazy though.

I am gearing up to leave the country yet again with a good group of people. It is going to be a great trip and I look forward to heading out for a few days. It will be a good reminder of this year for me. Pray that we will make an impact.

Also, as a side note, it is fitting to tell you that since very early on in my stay in Malaysia, I felt a very strong calling toward the country of Myanmar. I didn't quite understand why, as it is a closed country to most westerners. Last night, however, I discovered that there is a community of Myanmarese refugees withitn a mile of me. Isn't it funny that God brought Myanmar right to me! I will hopefully be joining Michael and Wit from the church to go hang out with them soon. Pray that we will influence those people.

Hopefully it won't be two more months before I update!

Another day, another continent

2008-07-15T09:38:00.002+08:00

So I think that I owe everyone an apology. I haven´t updated once since I have returned from Asia. I figured that since I was now In South America I would go ahead and update for my loyal readers. São Paulo, Brasil is my exact location, Campo Limpo if you want to get technical like Canaan Chapman behind me reading over my shoulder. I am down here with our churches partners and a group of people from our church. We have been doing some things around the favelas of the city. It has been a great trip so far, but since this computer is moving like refrigerated molasses, I am going to save most of the details for when I get back, but suffice itto say that myslf, Canaan Chapman, and Philip Elliot are giving Allen Kinble a really interesting time. Thanks for reading! God bless.

Goodbye Penang

2008-06-15T12:47:00.004+08:00

I am sitting at the Penang international airport as I write this. I have been stressing a little bit because the flight to Taipei was pushed back an hour and 15 minutes. I didn't know how long my layover was in Taiwan so I was worried because I am ready to get back to Nashville. Luckily, after finding a free wi-fi network at the airport I checked my itinerary and my layover in Taiwan was 4 hours. China Airlines seems to have done me a bit of a favor since now 2 of those lonely hours I can now spend with Adrian at the Penang airport since he is waiting on his flight to KL which departs 10 minutes before mine does. Maybe I should say God did me the favor and not China Airlines.

It has been a really somber day for all parties involved. I didn't get to sleep until around 5:00 AM and then woke up at 8. I guess I am just anxious to get home. That is only one of the emotions destroying my peace right now, really. I am so excited that I get to play with my sister and see my friends and family face to face again in less than 36 hours, but I am heartbroken to leave a country that I have grown to love. I am also heartbroken to leave a group of people that I have grown to love as well. It was so difficult to actually walk out of the door to the car. We put on "The Scientist" by Coldplay on the loudspeakers as we left and this could have ruined this beautiful song for me personally. I will never be able to hear this song again without the memory of walking out the door and leaving behind the people who have become a 2nd family to me. I don't mean to sound like I have left them for good or turned my back on them, just referring to the fact that I literally walked out the door and left them behind because I had to.

I came here 6 months ago not knowing what to expect, and the funny thing is, I'm leaving 6 months later still not knowing. I guess life is just like that. Here I am sitting at the airport after the most solid 6 months of my life, and now I am more confused than ever. It is funny how many doors open to you when you are in line with God's plan as opposed to when you aren't. I came with a goal to attain direction and I got more paths. I got direction, absolutely, but now there are more alternatives and that is the hardest part. I want to be back in Asia so soon, but I know I need that piece of paper that says I'm qualified. It will open more doors, and after a lot of prayer I know it is the right decision, but the toughest part is knowing that it is going to take time to get it. I will be in America for a couple of years finishing school. I love everything about America, but my heart beats for this place. I know that it will be hard to leave family and friends again in the future, but the end result is so much greater than what I would get sitting around chasing what I want, and not chasing what I need. I'm going to finish school and I'm going to love spending the time in America, but it will be great when you have to come to another country to see me.

Even though this journey has come to a close, minus the 30 hours of flight I am looking at ahead of me, I will continue blogging. I will continue to keep everyone updated on the things going on in my life and how I am continuing to work at changing the world for the kingdom, but I am just going to continue taking it one day at a time. I have Camp Whatever a week after I get back and Brazil just 2 more weeks after that. I am also working full-time again this summer to make some cash. I have a lot on my plate, but it is par for the course. I look forward to more adventures in the future, and I also look forward to letting you in on the stories. For now, the adventure is rediscovering home. See you soon, I have to catch a plane to America.

48 hours and counting...

2008-06-13T12:46:00.003+08:00

I have only 2 days left in Malaysia. It is unreal to me how quick these months have gone by. I described it to my parents as bittersweet. It is going to be so good to finally see friends and family face to face again, but I love this region of the world and can say with a good amount of confidence that, at some point in time, if you want to visit me it will require a trip to southeast Asia. I feel like I have a place here and that this region is where I am supposed to be.

On a light note, we saw the new movie from M. Night Shyamalan called The Happening, with Mark Wahlberg a.k.a. Marky Mark, as the lead role. Possibly the strangest movie I have ever seen, but I really enjoyed it. I am personally a fan of Shyamalan's very artistically strange representation of psychological thrillers. I am no movie making expert but I know enough to say the Shyamalan knows what he is doing with camera angles and shock factors. I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you know what you are getting yourself into. I loved it, but you may not.

It has been a rough week due to the Euro Cup soccer games. They are broadcast live here which means they don't come on until midnight and 2:45AM. Two games are played every night. We haven't been getting much sleep since our past few nights have been spent at various food stall locations until the wee hours of the morning. It helps to kill the time, though, since we are completely done and today and tomorrow are absolutely free. We are trying to get everything done that is exclusive to this area for one last time: Batu Ferringhi for tourist shopping, Balik Pulau for Siam Laksa(the angels themselves are employed by this food stall), Georgetown for Wan Than Mee and fresh fruit, the incredible taste of durian and mangosteens, etc. We have such a huge list of things to do in the next 36 hours.

Sunday at 2:15PM, my plane departs from Penang, Malaysia and it will take me about 30 hours of travel time to get back to Nashville. After I hug my family, we're going to Cracker Barrel. I have been thinking about that breakfast for six months, since I have known my arrival time in Nashville was 7:45AM for my whole stay. I am torn between Uncle Herschel's favorite and the Sunrise Sampler, decisions decisions. Then we are grilling out that night. I have considered making a list of different foods that I have missed out on for the past 6 months, but I am not going that extreme. All I can say is that corn beef and cabbage is going to be had within the first week. Anyways, I seem to be rambling on my blog so I'm going to sign off for now. I need to take a nap so I can be ready for the soccer games tonight. If I don't blog again before I come home, see you soon!

Nepal Final Phase pt. 2

2008-06-03T15:36:00.007+08:00

Here are some pictures just for a little taste of Nepal: Walking to the base in Kathmandu, Patan Square, The typical hammer and sickle symbol for the beloved Maoists, Sitting on a hill overlooking Pokhara valley, and the building of the god monument for an annual Hindu festival. More pictures later, on to the 2nd half of yestrday's story...

After our hot spring bath, we walked back down to the bottom of the valley to our guest house in Thambuchet. We worked with the children at Pastor Balkrishna's school again and did some open air evangelism very similar to what we had done in Butwal. We didn't have much time left here so we figured it would be best to utilize every second for last minute relationships. It ended up being a pretty good program we did on someone's front porch for about 95% of the villagers.

The next morning we woke up at 5:30 to take a bus over the ridge to our starting point for our hike. We totalled about 30 hours of hiking for the whole two weeks and most of these hours were spent in the last 5 days on the way to and from Gosai Kunda lake. It took us three days of hiking up, up, up, to our final location at the lodge on top. Our first stop on the way was a village called Thulo Syaphru, where we stayed with a Sherpa pastor and attended a church service with him before we hiked to the next village the second day. The songs the Sherpa people were singing were the most beautiful harmonies I have ever heard. It took us two days of hiking many hours to get to the top but it was worth it after we fought ourselves so much about whether or not we could get to the top. One the way up there was such an intense cloud cover that our visibility was only about 10-15 feet in front or behind us, if even that much. This was the most beneficial thing that could have happened since if we had seen how far up we actually had to go, it would have been a whole lot more discouraging than it was. When we were almost there it was sleeting on the path. The frozen rain felt like it cut through our faces. We sat at the top in the lodge eating garlic soup, to help fight the altitude sickness that we all had a bit of a taste of. Our South African leader and one of the teammates of our group actually had to walk back down because of the level of their altitude sickness. We began to pray for them as they started walking and the frozen rain was turning into heavy snowfall. About 10 minutes later, the snow stopped and everyone of us felt like a million bucks. Our teammates were on the way down and we were getting warmed up and drying off and hadn't really enjoyed the lake any. We sat there in the lodge for an hour or two and I decided to go walk around before the sun set and take some pictures. In that two hours of time after we prayed, the snow stopped and the clouds had left the sky above us. We stood at the top and realized that we were above most of the clouds as we were at 14,400 ft. This was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

We spent the night in the lodge that had no heat more than a wood burning stove in the middle of the dining area where they mostly burned coconuts and yak patties (yes I do mean poop). I had to sleep in a full thermal suit with socks, gloves and a hat with a stitched on scarf that you may see more of this coming winter. I almost froze to death and only slept about 2 hours the whole night. The next morning I was very ill with nausea and a headache and didn't feel decent until I yakked up (no pun intended as there were no yaks in the mountains this time of year) all of my rice and potatoes from the ngiht before. I walked down to the lake and we prayed a little, but I walked back up because I felt sick again. The lodge owners were cooking our breakfast and I couldn't even stand the smell because it was making me sick so I packed my things and started to head down the mountain by myself because I knew that the altitude was affecting me and I needed to go lower and lower until I felt better. I left before everyone else and they caught up with me and passed me because I had to stop many times due to the nausea. We got to the half way point down the mountain in a village called Chandanbari where there was a yak cheese factory that I didn't get to enjoy since my altitude sickness had spawned into a virus of sorts. I laid in bed all day with a fever, headache, and nauseous feeling but a bowl of tomato soup and a good nights sleep perked me right up for the other half of the mountain down the next day. Our porters were drinking Nepali homemade millet liquor called rhaksi the whole 5 days, but this day one of them got particularly beligerent and we are not really sure how he didn't fall off the mountain. I didn't agree with paying him for the days work because the other porters had to carry his load to make up for his drunken stupor, but we paid him when we got to the bottom at my disapproval.

We hiked off the mountain to a town called Dhunche. We were all so ready to get back to Kathmandu so we ate a nice expensive meal, which in Nepal is about $4 worth of food, and went to sleep with 7 AM bus tickets in hand. We were almost sweating blood praying for safety for the bus ride home and I actually think at one point I prayed "God if it is possible let this cup pass from me." I learned a bit about the power of prayer as we woke up and carried all of the luggage to the bus and the bus driver said "No buses running today." It was the first day of Nepal's new title as republic instead of monarchy. It became the first annual celebration of this brand new, two-day holiday. Nepalis everywhere were celebrating and we were stuck in Dhunche for another day. I spent 5 hours in my room that day playing games on my iPod, considering the worth of pulling my teeth out for entertainment. We tried to move our flight back so we wouldn't be pressed for time but Thai Airways didn't have another flight running all the way to Penang for another week. We "had" to rent a jeep to go back to Kathmandu (Praise the Lord!). We piled up in a jeep the next day and made it to Kathmandu in a safe vehicle. Our prayers were answered. We made it to Thamel, the tourist district, for one last night of souvenier shopping and good food before our flight the next day and now here we are in Malaysia killing time until our trip to KL before our flights home.

Nepal Final Phase pt. 1

2008-06-02T13:40:00.003+08:00

Alright, we are finally settled back into Malaysia and eating good fattening food again. I lost quite a bit of weight in Nepal, especially over the past couple of weeks, but now that I am in the capitol of eating I might not be quite as different as you might think I would be. It is said of the Malaysians that they only eat once a day and that time spans the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. Just warning you. On to the more important issues...

The last two weeks we spent in Nepal were incredible. It kicked off with the worst bus ride any human could endure on this planet. Some of the duration of the bus ride was spent with me sitting on top which was a result of getting kicked out of my seat by a lady leading a Hindu pilgrimage to Gosai Kunda lake, where our team would later be hiking to and having prayer there. I was a little frustrated with this lady at first but I was on top of the bus, so I couldn't complain. As I sat there on the top, I heard a familiar voice and turned to look and there was the very same lady sitting next to me. Despite kicking me out of my seat, she was an awesome lady. We developed a friendship and as we moved around the bus we always ended up close by each other somehow. She announced how happy she was to be sitting by me again in Nepali on the bus inside when we moved down. I thought she was joking, but my middle aged friend was quite serious that she enjoyed my company. The next thing I know, a man of around 70 sat on my lap and put his arm around me. This wasn't so bad, save for the fact that I was already sitting on rice bags in the middle of the isle. This bus ride, as I said, was the worst any human could ever have to endure. We sat on this 40-50 passenger bus that had a head count of 110 people sitting somewhere on this bus, be it top or inside, for 12.5 hours on a bumpy gravel road placed nicely on a ridge that the bus easily could have fallen off of at any shift of the weight. My prayer life has never been healthier, and there were times I was planning an escape to myself if I felt the bus begin to roll. We made it to our location nonetheless.

We began the last two weeks in a village called Thambuchet, located in the Langtang area of northern Nepal. This was our "base of operations" for the first 8 days. We worked with a local pastor in a neighboring village called Goljung. It was about a 15 minute walk between the two villages and there was one church in the two villages. The pastor, Balkrishna, was an incredible man with an incredible vision to see all of the people of his area break out of the stronghold of Buddhism and embrace Christ. He personally had come from a religious background mixed between Hinduism and Animism. He has a heart for his people group, called the Tamang people, because they remain an unreached people group in this location of Nepal so close to Tibet. In Thambuchet, we mostly worked a lot with children at a Christian school the Balkrishna runs.

That sunday, we hiked up to the next village, called Tethangchet. It was about a 3 hour hike up a mountain in the rain. Luckily, we bought ponchos before we left for this area, but unluckily, wearing these ponchos was like wearing a portable sauna, so I think I actually ended up covered with more sweat than rain water. In Tethangchet, we had a church service with another pastor who works closely with Balkrishna. This village is where we got a taste of how hard it really is for the people that live up in these mountains. With only a trail to get to your house, and ropes to carry your supplies, you really only have the essentials where you live in your 1 bedroom stone or wood house. After the church service, in which a very old woman renounced Buddhism at, we hiked back down the mountain only to hike up even higher on the neighbor mountain to a village called Tatopani. Tatopani, literally translated "hot water," is a bit wealthier than most villages in the area because of the amount of tourism that comes through this location. It is called Tatopani because there is a natural hot spring there that is perfectly safe for bathing. After eating Daal Bhaat, our every night meal of rice, lentil, and curry potatoes with pickled chilis, and almost freeazing to death, we stayed the night in a guest house here and the next morning all of us had a bath in the hot spring. There were two pools, one with warm water, the other with blazing hot water. The guys had to bathe second but we got there and took our time and it was the best I felt over the whole time we spent in Nepal...

The rest of the trip I will blog about tomorrow before we leave for Kuala Lumpur, where we will be until Saturday. Not positive if I will be taking my computer or not so enjoy the blog posts just in case. Thanks for reading!

Farewell Nepal

2008-05-30T10:12:00.003+08:00

Well I am officially back from my two weeks in the Himalayas. I don't have much time to update, but I found a few minutes to get down to the internet cafe to write something informative. In a couple of hours we head back to the Kathmandu airport to fly back to Penang where I will spend the next two weeks before I head back to the beautiful USA. I'm covering both sides of the emotional spectrum with happiness since I am going to be around my family and friends but also sadness since I will be leaving all of my friends here behind. It is a bit bittersweet to come back, but I am excited nonetheless.

I don't really have the time to give you the updates on the past two weeks now, but suffice it to say we spent a lot of time with a people group called the Tamang where they have a few church locations in the mountains. We also spent some time with some Sherpas and hiked up to 14,400 ft. altitude to pray over a Hindu pilgrimage site called Gosai Kunda lake. I have some great pictures to share very soon! Next time you read from me it will be from Malaysia.

M.I.A. for a couple of weeks

2008-05-14T13:11:00.003+08:00

Well, I'm blogging to you now at the risk of getting banned from the internet cafe since I had to snoop around and change some settings on this computer. For some reason blogger wouldn't let me sign in. It is obviously fixed now.

Butwal was a great trip. It was even greater when I got the medicine and my sickness began to dissipate, but even until that point it was good. We arrived at the church we were staying at and hit the sack early because we had been on a cramped Nepali bus for 8 or 9 hours. When we went to Pokhara we took a tourist bus. It was such a nice, comfortable ride. On the way to Butwal we had no such luxury. We found ourselves on a Nepali bus with minimal leg room. These buses typically stop to pick anyone up with an utter disregard as to how much room is on the bus. I found a few times some Nepali men almost sitting on my lap. It was a good experience.

The first full day we realized this place was no walk in the park. The heat was incredible and the amount of mosquitos far outweighed the heat. Malaria is not out of the question for anyone of us we are speculating. We began the first day walking around handing out tracts and speaking with Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and even some Christians out in the open with no problem from anyone, and as my dad mentioned on his blog I ended up speaking at a drug rehab facility and 8 men embraced Christ. We carried on this open air evangelism for a few days, including speaking to crowds of people on the street and visiting villages that white men have never been to. It was incredible. After the first few days we led a seminar for the church we were staying and I ended up speaking for over an hour about sin and repentance, something I know quite a bit about, making it very easy. And Saturday as typical for Nepali churches we attended service, played in the children's ministry, and then had a free day. Sunday was a free day but instead of sitting at the church all day pulling the teeth out of our heads, a few of us chartered a van and went and visited Lumbini, a town on the border of India that is also the birthplace of Buddha. Nothing really spectacular there: a tree, some old ruins, and some temples. It was an experience, though, and I am glad I can say I have been there. The bus back to Kathmandu was worse than the first as 2 different ladies were a bit sick and vomiting in the middle of the isle right next to me off and on for the whole bus ride. I'm back nevertheless.

As my dad also mentioned on his blog, tomorrow begins the most difficult segment of my trip. We leave at 5am where we have an 11 hour bus ride ahead of us that our South African guide, Wilhelmine, described only with the word "horrific." We are not exactly looking forward to it. but we will be in a national park area known as Langtang trekking around. We originally thought that it was going to be mostly prayer, but we have learned that we will be trekking through the Himalayas to different villages and staying. We were told we would be able to take only a couple of showers for the whole 2 weeks, if we are even capable of those 2 in the first place. This will be the area where we encounter the leeches, lack of water, fatigue, and physically strenuous activity. I have never been more excited. We had to rush out yesterday and by warm clothes because we will be trekking through snow for many hours at a time in a very high altitude area. Pray for our bus ride, and our physical health. Also be prayerful of the people we will be coming in contact with. We will be in the stronghold of Buddhism where there is no distinguished race, only religion. There will be absolutely no communication with the outside world, so ths will have to serve as the last information from me until I get back. Thank you for your prayer and thanks for reading.

Also, to mom, dad, zac, and jadyn: I will try to call before we leave, but if I can't then I apologize. I love you all and will be blogging again in just a couple of weeks.

Pray For Seth

2008-05-10T16:22:00.006+08:00

As you know, because of Seth's location, he doesn't have a great deal of time or the ability to get to a phone very easily. Communication, at best, has been very minimum since he headed out of Kathmandu.

I talked with him just before leaving and he was pretty sick. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that his GI track in on the blink. He was running a pretty high fever and quite frankly was miserable. He was concerned about even getting to make the long bus ride, but at my urging (because he would be there alone for the next 10 days), he medicated heavily and headed out, or at least I assumed he had because I had not heard from him.

At 11:30pm on Thursday night, our phone rang, of course stopping my heart and causing me to run haphazzardly into the living to find the phone. I was happy to hear Seth on the other end. He sounded much better than the last time I had talked with him (no fever this time), but he is still pretty sickly. All of his symptoms point to Giardia, which is an intestinal parasite (oooh, I hate that word) that comes from water. He has every symptom. He called to check with Dr. Mom on what he should take to treat it. Fortunately, medicines are available and easily accessible without a prescription.

I gave him name of the medication that he needed, Flagyl, and jumped online to check the doseage before he hung up. He was going later that evening to the pharmacy and see if he could find the medication. I did give him a back up plan if he could not find the Flagyl.

He called this morning to say that he had found and purchased the medication at the local pharmacy there without a prescription from Dr. Mom. He was able to get the Flagyl and already had 2 doses in him. He purchased a 7 day course of antibiotics for a whopping...

...that's right, .21 cents, something tells me that the price of medications in the US is a little bit high!

He's still making numerous trips to the bathroom, losing weight, and feeling pretty wiped out, but having a great time. He's seeing Nepalis cross the line of faith and that, after all, is why he's there!

If you would, when you pray for him, pray specifically for his health. Thanks for your faithfulness in reading, commenting, and most of all for praying. This Mom is very grateful for your encouragement to both Seth and to me. Love you all!

Amy

Back from Pokhara, leaving for Butwal!

2008-05-02T22:27:00.004+08:00

You will never appreciate life more than when you are on a Nepali bus on a road that winds around the sides of mountains with the most insane drivers that exist on Earth driving on the same road as you. After the first twenty or thirty near head on collisions I became accustomed to it and rather enjoyed the ride. I can't say the same for the ketchup club. The ketchup club is what we have dubbed the Canadian girls on our team. The name refers to a statement made by our friend Ken, from Minnessota, who lives in Penang. In a discussion about spicy foods he looked at the Canadians and said, "You're from Canada. Of course you don't like spicy food. The spiciest thing you guys eat is ketchup." It should also be noted that at particuar resaurants in Malaysia, Ken has a specially cooked food named after him that he invented.

Pokhara was an incredible city. The guy that was being our "guide"/translator was from Pokhara so we actually stayed for free at his church and visited with his family too. One thing that was reinforced to me while we were in Pokhara, is that Nepal is not a place to come if you are not willing to be physically challenged. We went to the top of a hill to pray over the city and the trail to get there was not easy, but I take pride in the fact that I was second to the top. Second only to our Nepali guide. I tried to hide my gasping for air, but I didn't do a great job. In spite of the clouds/dust in the air, we still couldn't see very many mountains. This seems to be clearing up a little as it is raining a little more. It was a well-spent couple of days in a beautiful city praying.

Thanks for all the prayers to this point. Be praying for team members stomachs. We are watching what we are eating and drinking pretty carefully, but some stomachs, including mine, are being effected in a not-so-nice manner. Pray for this especially because tomorrow we leave for Butwal. It is an eight hour bus ride. On top of the eight hour bus ride, the average temperature in Butwal is over 100 degrees and many places we will be do not have electricty. After the nine days there, we head up to Tatopani. Tatopani will be a welcome change because it is at around 4000 meters above sea level so it will be a bit cooler there. Pray also for the hearts of the people we talk to. Thanks for following!

Soon to be a travellin' man

2008-04-27T12:49:00.002+08:00

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!

Bringing Portuguese to Asia, one Westerner at a time

2008-04-24T20:39:00.004+08:00

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!

Nepal at last

2008-04-21T22:55:00.003+08:00

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!

Tomorrow's the big day!

2008-04-20T15:23:00.002+08:00

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.

Expecting a new sister soon AND a trip to Nepal

2008-04-14T22:12:00.004+08:00

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.

More Bangkok pictures.

2008-04-10T19:28:00.003+08:00

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!

Bangkok Pictures!

2008-04-09T17:54:00.004+08:00

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!

Back from BKK

2008-04-07T16:33:00.002+08:00

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!

Bangkok Bound

2008-04-04T13:22:00.003+08:00

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!

A lasting impression.

2008-03-31T18:37:00.003+08:00

Let me explain a bit of a story from a day where we went out to "evangelise" in the streets. Jared and I were paired up, but we decided it was a better idea to meet up with a pair of the girls and visit the hospital. We originally intended to go to the hospital and make balloon animals for the children that were there but got there about thirty minutes late and the children's ward had closed, despite the fact that we tried to convince the security guard that they were open. We were a little bummed but shrugged it off to begin plotting our next move. We looked down the hall and there were a few families sitting with children outside of the ward. It worked itself out after all!

We left the security "officer" and made our way to the area of the families all waiting on benches. They were all accepting and the children seemed to really like Jared's magic tricks with card and coins. When I tried to make balloon animals, the balloon always popped and the children always cried. I made a crucial decision to switch from playing with children to talking to the parents of the children. I made the right decision and seemed to have much more success. My opinion is based on the logic that none of the adults cried when I talked to them and I didn't feel the need to alter my voice to talk to them. John was also at the hospital. John and myself began talking to an Indian man who had stomach cancer. He told us about a group of westerners who had prayed for him a week earlier and asked if I would do the same. I gladly prayed for him and he gave John his contact information so we could contact him later.

Fast forward a few weeks. We had another evanglism time over the course of the weekend. This particular occasion we were to stay out and let God lead us where He willed. Jared and I kind of walked around with stupid looks on our faces and just let people talk to us. We stayed at the top of Penang hill for $10 and it was an even more awesome sight at night. Then yesterday, we mostly walked and walked and walked.

The real story actually doesn't even involve us. It is about John and his team. Peter and John both speak fluent Tamil and they decided to go to a Tamil church on the mainland. Joy was on their team and speaks no Tamil, but with two fluent speakers he was in good shape. They met up with a pastor that Peter knows and he took them shopping after a nice dinner that he provided for them. He received a call at some point over the course of the night about a man that wanted someone to pray over him and Peter, John, and Joy decided they would ride along. They got to the house and walked in and immediately John recognized the man that wanted prayer. It was the same man that we prayed for at the hospital! The man's response was so welcoming. He actually said in a very excited voice, "PASTOR! I am so glad you are here! Where is your American friend?...I cannot believe that you are here, now I know that God truly loves me!" This guy told John that he and his family were going to begin going to church immediately and he thanked them so much. It is amazing that all that was needed was for someone to just show up. John, Peter, and Joy didn't know that there was going to be anything significant happen, they just felt that God wanted them there so they showed up. God used them "showing up" to speak into a Hindu man's life, a decision they made that will not only effect his, but also his family's life. Pray for this man as today he was supposed to have an operation. Thank you for allowing me to tell you incredible stories like this one!

Biblical Worldview, Champions, and Apes.

2008-03-28T16:08:00.003+08:00

This week we have been examining a Biblical worldview. It has been pretty interesting to see different viewpoints and the like. It has been more exciting to discuss with my dad the future plans that might take place in my life. Those conversations usually leave me a lot more confused since I want to do so many different things. I never know exactly how my future will look because of this. Hopefully it will just work itself out.

We did take the Myers-Briggs typology test to determine the, at the risk of sounding a bit eHarmony, "compatibility" of our teams going to our different locations. I ended up on a team where every single member save one of the leaders is an extrovert. I am an ENFP type, and there are many interesting things that are described by this category. It is funny that my interests and described personality line up almost perfectly. It is mainly a lot about my interest in social causes and the "retreat of evil in the world." I was pretty pleased with my results.

There was a description of the results made by a man named David Keirsey who came up with a "temperament sorter." There are four different categories of temperaments: Guardians, Idealists, Artisans, and Rationals. I happen to fall under the ctegory of an idealist. The sorter actually goes a bit further and seperates each category into four parts which I will save time and space by just including the idealists. The four categories of idealists are: Counselors, Healers, Teachers, and Champions. Could you guess which one I ended up with? If your guess was "Champion," then your right on target. Jared and I actually ended up with the exact same personality type and we have not been at all reserved about letting people know that we are the champions of the group.

We did find out that, in KL, there is a monkey on the loose. It apparently is a rhesus monkey that has decided to make its home in a tree at Jared's neighbor's house and has escaped out of someone's ownership. He has a chain on his neck and frequently runs around on Jared's roof and tries to get into the windows. We found this story incredibly amusing.

Other than that, tomorrow morning we leave for an overnight trip somewhere on the island to do some evangelism, and next weekend I will be briefly leaving Malaysia to go to Thailand for a visa renewal since I will just barely miss the deadline. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Some pictures and talk of a skit

2008-03-24T16:03:00.005+08:00

As promised: Pictures. From top to bottom: View from the rooftop (mosque and smoke on the mountain), that centipede was about 8 inches long and about as big aroun as a tire iron, the clocktower of the customs bulding at about 6:45 AM, the jetty right before nightfall (3 block walk from where we stayed, and finally looking down an arched sidewalk in the city.

So I am not really a sucker for anything performing arts, no offense if this is something you are into, it just isn't my bag. This was a factor as I was looking for a DTS to actually apply for. I don't mind acting in plays and I love to see musicals, but I just think the whole interpretive dance or pop-song skit is just a bit hokie if you ask me. As we approached about the third day of our midterm outreach, what do I find out? The abhorring news of our team's performing art activity we will be doing for three different groups of young to middle age Nepali men, set to the song "Everything" by Lifehouse, which, keep in mind, is in a language most of them cannot even understand. If you think I was thrilled at hearing this news you are so sadly and terribly mistaken. For some reason, my teammates decided it was most appropriate for the only white guy on our team to play Satan, so I used the excuse, "I'm just trying to get into character," anytime I felt it necessary to be a jerk due to my immature unhappiness.

When it all breaks down, over the course of the weekend we performed our "skit" at three different services, a service on Good Friday followed by two Easter services. Over the course of my weekend of pouting because of the "embarrassment" I was going to have to entertain, I began to soften up to the idea. My whole mood change after the second time we "performed" and noticed that in a room full of Nepali men, and one Myanmarese guy that we found out about later, there were people crying. The normal pastor preached after we were finished and we left a bit early to go eat some dinner before the next service that was 45 minutes away. We went through the same routine and sat through a Nepali man preach, in Nepali of course, and figured out things to do. I sat quietly in the back of the room and read a book in English, since this IS my first language and enjoyed myself. At the end we were all excited about the 4 men that decided to accept Christ at this service and watched in anticipation as they declared before all of their brothers their new found faith and acceptqance of Christ. We listened as Ramayah explained what was going on and she suddenly said, "Oh yeah, 17 men accepted Christ at the last service." Over the course of the weekend a total of 27 Nepali men accepted Christ, also along with the stealthy Myanmarese guy that snuck into the Nepali service. We were so thankful and so proud that night and still are.

My lesson was this: Despite my frustration with the way that we presented ourselves at these services in front of these men, God worked through as and the speaker and 28 people are now a part of his kingdom! Thanks for reading!

A few pictures...more to come!

2008-03-23T13:12:00.005+08:00

Some lovely Chickens

...and those are tentacles sticking out of my mouth (disgusting I know).
Nepali outreach, a rather large ugly concrete man, from the top of Penang hill overlooking one half of the island, and a monkey on top of Penang hill (which I apparently got too close to considering he hissed at me and almost "attacked" me).

"I feel so violated"...

2008-03-21T11:33:00.003+08:00

I don't have much time, but I would like to tell you the story of why those words came out of Jared's mouth. If you know anything about Asian culture, in many countries it is perfectly acceptable for two men to pubicly display affection for each other if they are friends. It is quite normal to see men holding hands or sitting in each other's laps and such. This is not a tradition that is very common in Malaysia; however, on our Thursday night outreach with the Nepali migrant workers, it is becoming a more common sight. Last night, as a matter of fact a was sitting next to two friends of mine as they held hands talking and laughing in their language. I looked across the room and Jared was sitting on the bed next to the Nepali missionary Devendra. Devendra was rubbing his knee with one hand and playing with Jared's leg hair with the other. This is not something that I have gone without experiencing since I have sat next to Devendra before and he knows us better than the migrant workers do, thus he shows a friendly affection for us. It doesn't really make me uncomfortable because I recognize the difference in culture but I don't think that Jared had ever experienced this or even seen it on one of our outreaches before. I assured him that he had better prepare himself for the actual country because it would be much more prominent in Nepal rather than hanging out with a few people from the country. All in all, it was a very quiet ride home for Jared, though I enjoyed poking at the wound that was created.

Today is our last day in Georgetown. It has been fun but I will be glad to get back to our normal living arrangements. According to my speculation, on Sunday I will be online much more and updating the blog a lot more frequently over the course of the next month, before time to leave for Nepal. Tomorrow I have the obligatory duty of moving all of our stuff back and making sure nothing gets left behind so I probably will not be doing much online tomorrow except for talking to my parents, since I haven't in a few days. Thanks for reading and in a couple of days I will have you better posted!

Tony Danza is truly Nepali

2008-03-17T11:42:00.002+08:00

For the past couple of weeks, we have attended a Nepali church service on the mainland of Penang. This service has been interesting to say the least. All of the attendees are men due to the fact that the women in Nepal don't come here to make the money for their families back home, which is pretty legitimate if you ask me. Many Nepalis have come to know Christ through this ministry and it is constantly growing. All of the men are so accepting of us and love to have a time of fellowship after the service to ask questions about where we are from. I wrote down in my journal last night that it is a really incredible thing when you realize you are in a room full of people who are the epitome of a cultural antithesis and you cannot understand a single word being said, but you can feel the presence of God. These men worship with their own drums that get passed around when arms get tired and they worship without boundaries. If I came home and tried to do similar dance motions with my arms I would have a pretty steady string of insults hurled at me most likely regarding a preference of mine, but it is beautiful when these men dance and sing with a reckless abandon to God.

The title of this has a little to do with "the boss." Last night, we not only attended the aforementioned service, but added a completely separate service to our list of things to do on Sunday afternoons. A service that begins an hour and a half after the first is finished. As Jared was sharing his testimony, via a translator of course, there was a very disruptive Nepali man who felt it necessary to correct the translator and "help her out." The translator, Kai Lee's face seemed to blush red with embarrassment, she is after all trying her best as a Chinese lady who heads up the ministry that is in 100% Nepali. I began to feel bad for her and glanced at the man and realized that he was a dead-on carbon copy of Mr. Danza himself. Kai Lee's potential embarrassment was tossed out the window as I was enthralled with this man's appearance. I began to question myself.

"How did I miss this guy in the introductions?"

"Was Tony Danza a fraud?"

"Is Tony Danza really Nepali?"

The second two questions are a bit ad libbed, but this occurrence did spur several quiet impressions of Tony Danza from my floor spot in the back of the room. We do, after all, find ways of entertaining ourselves during 45 minutes of a foreign tongue. It ended up being a brilliant night capped off with some tandoori chicken, which I am totally convinced that God himself invented in India somewhere.

Other than the Nepali service we have spent a lot of time as a team worshiping. As a matter of fact, in a 24 hour period, 8 hours were spent in a room worshiping in two separate 4 hour sessions. In all honesty it became somewhat of a burden after a while. I am glad we had the experience, but if you ever find yourself with a songbook that people are considering flipping back to the first page to continue, let me say good luck.

A quick update

2008-03-12T17:16:00.003+08:00

I have time for a quick update because coincidentally, I realized that we are about 3 blocks away from an internet cafe that is only $1 an hour. Any time I have free time I should be able to come down here and update. The excitement is a little dulled by the realization of the fact that in my head I tried to make it seem like it was going to be a tough two weeks. Far from it, as a matter of fact. We went to the movies yesterday and sat at the mall, due to our "day off," and today had three hours of worship. It sounds like a long time, but it went by pretty fast and nobody seemed to object, despite several repeated songs.

I have officially sworn off roti bom. It was a difficult thing to commit to, but I got here and lost weight then slowly began to put weight back on. I blame the reascension on the roti bom, thus I have to swear it off. I have made a commitment, and I am about 3 quarters of the way through day 1. We'll see how it goes since the best roti bom I have had is now directly across the street from my living arrangement.

A quick list of things that I have eaten since I have been here, categorized by animal. Fish: fillets, whole, and stomachs; cow: normal meat, stomach; whole squid; chicken: intestines, liver (i eat this back home though), skin, butt, and feet; pig: fat, intestines, and normal meat; and the best for last: stingwray.

I will let you know more about how God has been working as it happens, if possible.

Georgetown bound

2008-03-07T16:33:00.004+08:00

This will be my last post for two weeks. Tomorrow we head to downtown Georgetown where we will be staying on the busiest street in the city. I don't even know what we are going to be doing in the city, but it is a short version of our longer term outreach to give us a taste of what it will be like to endure each other almost all day everyday. I think it will be good preparation for our trip. We have been waking up and meeting to pray or worship at 6:30 every weekday morning. I think this is a great idea because it really shows our flexibility and how willing we are to be uncomfortable for Christ. I didn't feel that way at first, and even most days I still hate it, but I know that it is for an end goal so much greater than my wants and needs. I'll just continue to grit my teeth, put on the Darfur benefit album of John Lennon cover songs, and head to the meeting every morning until time to leave.

Yesterday we had our first sobfest, and two months in at that! It was worthy of a churh camp, holy high! I am surprised it didn't happen sooner, but we had a time of coming forward to co-students we have had differences or maybe misunderstandings with. The only person I felt I really needed to apologize to was the only other American here. She is a really great girl, but our personalities clash and there have been a few tense moments in the past. In its own funny way, I look at the fact that the only person here I feel tense around is the only other American. Maybe God is trying to tell me something, after all I have been told that I am more Chinese than any previously met westerner by a couple of people. We did have a time of washing each other's feet after we apologized and reconciled with each other. Puspa went around the circle and washed every person's feet in the circle and then kissed them (something I couldn't have done by force). It was honestly the most prime example of the servant heart of Christ that I have seen in anyone here.

Our cat will have been gotten rid of by tomorrow. Something I am completely okay with. It is a nice little kitten, but need I remind you that everyone here that wants to adopt this kitten is going their seperate ways in June. I don't think anybody is interested in taking her home (it is a girl we realized).

I have been drinking coffee like water these past few days. I have occasionally gotten to a Starbucks around here and ordered my usual cafe americano with no room for cream, but it is incredible to have quality coffee at my disposal. I have cleaned my new french press more times than I can count on both hands and I have only had it for about 48 hours. And for some strange reason, I have felt compelled to share coffee with a handful of interested students around me. I know this has to be the Holy Spirit, because I assure you that it is not my own.

This week has been really good overall. I took a lot out of the lectures on the basic timeline of the Bible. I thought I wasn't going to at first, but I was proved wrong. Now that I move into preparation for these next two weeks, I am counting myself happy to have reviewed the key events in the Word. I have two weeks of outreach here in Penang and then 4 more weeks of lectures. Time is flying at an uncomfortable rate. In six weeks I will be heading to Nepal! I am so excited. For the time being, pray for the next couple of weeks for me. Pray that I can effectively communicate the gospel in any opportunity presented, as well as for everyone else here with me. Well, I think that is about all I have for now. I am sure that I will run across an internet cafe from time to time. Hopefully I will have enough time to get online and write a quick post. If not, then I'll write to you again in about two weeks! Thanks for reading.

Cats, Coffee and Prophets

2008-03-05T19:51:00.002+08:00

We have adopted a mascot here in Malaysia. On the walk home last night from the night market, Niklos and Hailey picked up a stray cat. This cat has a tail, which believe it or not is rare for cats here. Most of the cats around here look like their tails have been cut off at some point. A couple of our roommates don't like the cat, but my Dutch friends in charge of the house like him so he stays! The girls named him Shadow, which if you ask me is quite a cliche name for a black animal, but no one liked my suggestion of Frank. He looks like a Frank.

I finally got my package from my aunts and uncles today. It was much needed, with the coffee and all. I have given away a couple of the Slim Jims in the package and so far Peter and Adrian love them, which prompts me to watch them closely. I have already had some coffee and I am soon to have another cup. It is so good to be off of the dissolving rock "coffee" that is Nescafe. Getting the package, however, wasn't the easiest thing I have done since I have been here. Peter, a Malaysian-Indian co-DTS student, accompanied me, which was really beneficial in the long run. We had to take cab to the jetty to catch the ferry to the mainland, which is where the customs post office is. It took us about 2.5 hours to get there. At the post office, I had to open my package in front of the customs agent, let him rummage through, and then wait in another line for the people to decide if they wanted to tax me for "importing." Of course, since Peter was with me, some other languages were being spoken and I got out of that line tax-free. After that, I had to wait in another line to sign for the package, where they needed my initials and my passport number. I reached in my pocket and realized my passport was on my shelf back at the house. I froze. Instantly my mind began racing, "Deportation...detention...etc." Then Peter wrote his ID number on the slip and they thanked us and sent us on our way. Needless to say, I was relieved. All in all, it was about a 4.5 hour trip, but the taste of good coffee makes it worth every second.

The past couple of days, we have stayed on the Bible overview from a historical standpoint. It has been great. I really enjoy learning about hitorical perspective of biblical times. We are a considerable way through the OT, that's "Old Testament" for you new christians, spending just a little time on the prophets. It has been a pretty enjoyable week so far, but nothing soul shaking has happened yet. If it does, I promise you'll be the first informed. Thanks for reading!

Finally listening to portable tunes again.

2008-03-03T18:13:00.003+08:00

Today was a beautiful day. I got a new iPod, most likely refurbished actually. Unfortunately, I lost all of the 3700 songs that was on my original iPod, but I can get them back when I get home so I'm not sweating it.

I have been dreading this week for some reason coming into lectures with the title "Bible overview." I guess I just told myself that I know what the Bible is about and I didn't need a summary, but of course my speculations were incorrect, as always, and it is actually the Bible in a historical context and a study of the era. I really enjoyed class today as we moved through the first three books, Genesis through Leviticus in case you didn't know. We have five days of lectures in one week and the first day of this week is already gone with time spent on only 3 books. If you do the math, that is 63 books in 4 days, so we'll see how it goes.

Time is moving so fast that it is blowing my mind. I can't believe that I have been in Malaysia for 2 months. I feel like yesterday I was homesick, but I can't actually tell you the last time I felt homesick. My friendships are constantly growing here and we are all becoming so much closer. It is getting worse and worse to think about when I come home. I'll be so excited to see my family and friends again, but at the same time, I'm leaving a whole other set of family and friends all over again. I'm looking so forward to June and dreading it at the same time.

There is something that I would also like for you to pray for. Kai Lee, one of the YWAM staff, heads up the ministry with the Nepali migrant workers here. A while back Kai Lee had cancer and went through chemotherapy and radiation and the treatment was successful. She has just found out that her cancer has come back and it is impossible to remove so she will have to go through treatment a second time. I don't even need to tell you how devastating this disease is, and of course I am assuming you are somewhat intelligient, giving some of you the benefit of the doubt of course. Personally, it has taken two family members away from me. Pray for Kai Lee, and also pray for the people we all know with this disease. That is about all I have for right now. Thanks for reading.

Fighting lions.

2008-02-29T14:10:00.002+08:00

I have been having a ridiculous time lately thinking of things to write and finding time to write them. I have had a pretty busy week trying to get things taken care of before our midterm outreach that is the week after next, a period of two weeks when I will not have a computer and if I can post it will be information I have given my mom over the phone and she has put on here for me. Once we are home, after the two weeks in Georgetown, we will have exactly four weeks of lectures before we leave for our outreach locations.

After a couple of Apple shop stops pertaining to my iPod, I was referred to the tech support center here in town when the other shops couldn't tell me what the problem was. After looking at the iPod for a few minutes the girl told me everything that I already knew. According to the shop, the iPod classics have been having the problem pretty frequently and she said if they couldn't fix it they would give me a new one in five to seven business days. I can't argue with that.

In my quiet time a couple of days ago, I was reading in 1 Samuel 17, and I came across the part where David is telling Saul how he can fight Goliath just as he fought the lions in the wilderness when he was shepherding his flock. God prepared David for his big fight by giving him lions to build his courage and strength. At the time, I wonder what David thought about having to deal with a lion, because I know that I would have soiled myself. David fought them like any good shepherd would have, and little did he know that every lion he fought readied him more and more for a fight against a giant to save the nation of Israel from the Philistines. After that fight, I think that David was really thankful to God for sending him the lions. I have been wondering to myself how I have handled the lions in my past and how I will handle the lions in the future, and also the giants that I will kill after being prepared by the smaller fights.. I am beginning to look forward to them instead of opposing them.

I experienced another funny thing with John. When we went to the Apple store we brought a taxi home and the driver was a Tamil fellow and John immediately began talking to this fellow in his native language. After the cab ride John and the cab driver exchanged information. Come to find out, the cab driver was a believer and listened to John and decided that it was mandatory for John to come and speak at his church. As I type this, a police car pulled up with John in the back. The police officers decided that they should check John's passport information. Everyone is in a pretty quick struggle to find John's passport, so that is all I have to say right now. Thanks for reading.

Do you understand what am I talking about?!...

2008-02-25T16:14:00.004+08:00

...That isn't a typo either. That is the most repeated phrase that peppered our lectures today by our Singaporean speaker this week. Samuel Phun is his name, and I can already tell this is going to be the most refreshing week for myself that we have had so far. It is perfect timing coming the very first week of the second half of lectures.

Sam Phun is a large 42 year old Singaporean guy that spoke to us today in camo shorts and a baggy t-shirt. Due to his highlighted, spiked hair, that fit his fashion well, fixed (not combed at all) into mullet form, I felt connected immediately of course. His topic is evangelism, and he presents it very differently than many people I have heard speak about the topic before. He is the pastor of a church in Singapore and the biggest ministry he heads up is a prison ministry. One of the fellow leaders in his church is a convicted murderer that spent 14 years in prison! Talk about someone who accepts everybody and their love of God for what it is, not who they are!

Sam talked to the class today about evangelism and how the techniques will always change but the message will not. He was very heavy on the fact that how we share Jesus is going to be so different from generation to generation, but the fact that Jesus is the one we are sharing always makes the central message essentially the same, no matter the presentation. I felt a little awkward and exuberant at the same time as he pointed out to our class that I had a better chance to connect with people of our generation than anyone else in the class. He asked our class why he thought that, and after several guesses such as, "He's white," "He speaks English" and "He knows how to talk to people," he came out and revealed that it was my style. He said college students around here would open up to me a lot easier than they would many of the other people in our class because of my appearance. This is what I have been screaming from the start.

I am in no way advocating that anyone or their children to go and get visible tattoos or wear any certain style of clothing (thus washing my hands from the responsibility of other's choices!), but I agree that there are certain people out there that I would be able to present the gospel to in a public, non-religious setting much better than my dad would be able to. I'm not saying that he couldn't either, I'm just saying it might be easier for someone my age to open up to me than some other people out there. My biggest question now is: How will that help me in Nepal? I don't know the answer, but I do know that I will be buying several Nepali outfits so I can fit in a little better than just being a blatant white American. Pray for me and a connection! Thanks for reading!

A boring weekend

2008-02-24T19:52:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone, and sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days. It has been a pretty eventless few days and as a matter of fact I have had more than enough time to post but unfortunately, I am that lazy. There hasn't been much to write about anyway, and that is how I am justifying my lack of blogging regularity.

Something near and dear to my heart is currently having some problems: my iPod. I bought it right before I left too. It is actually acting so weird on me that I took it to an Apple retailer to see if the good Mac doctor could make a diagnosis. The end result was a confusing conversation between some Asians and myself. In the end, I gathered that my iPod reads as a blank cd for some reason when it is plugged in and they couldn't do anything for me. I was, however, given a card for the Apple support center here on the island. I was told that if they could fix it they would and that if they couldn't I would get a new iPod because it is still under warranty, and either one of those options is okay with me.

After walking the girls home last night, we ran across a snake slithering across the road. Jared kept suggesting that I catch it but I wasn't interested because it was just a baby python. I told him that he was more than welcome to grab it himself and began coaching him through grabbing him. The snake didn't get picked up. We stood in the road for a little bit and looked at it and some guys on motorbikes stopped and told us that it was a python. I felt snake savvy having known previously that it was a python. This was the most riveting event that happened this weekend, save the one hour of kayaking in the ocean which led to very sunburned knees and salt-burned eyes.

Also, I have discovered that God wants me to become fat. I already told you about the roti bom that I eat on a regular basis. At first, I would have thought it a terrible thing to be on a first name basis with the Tamil fellows that run this place. It would, after all, just be a testimony of how it is easy to remember the customer that always comes and gives you money for your most fattening menu items. What I didn't think about, was the fact that all of these fellows are Muslims, and though I haven't openly sat down and asked Dahir or Ali about Jesus they have seen me with my Bible and that we have had small group Bible study there at their shop. It takes some tactics to just share with a Muslim fellow but hopefully my attitude and actions are speaking to their lives. I have two a month and a half more of eating their greasy fatty foods. I ask that you pray for my friends. Pray for my stomach too, I am getting fat in the name of Jesus anyway. Thanks for reading!

A little insight on outreach teams

2008-02-20T19:42:00.010+08:00

That is what it looks like when an Indian and an American are soon to be "takin' care of business." It is a terrifying site to behold and I would suggest if you ever see a duo of this caliber to run for your life.

This is my buddy John. I don't even know what we are doing in this picture. The good news is, I have finally figured out how to get pictures on this blog so you may not have to rely on my poor mother's free time to see pictures of Malaysia. It is pretty sad I have been here a month and a half and just figured this out.

I am learning more and more how funny it is when God works. Everyone here at our DTS gets along, for the most part, minus a couple of minor exceptions in the past of course. One thing I learned in China is, that no matter how mature or adult everyone is, there will always be certain people that get along better with others and tend to gravitate toward one another. This is an inevitable part of life and it is the reason you have the friends you do. Certain similarities will draw you towards certain people, and it isn't always the same for others. The same thing has happened with our group here. We are not cliques, but there have been two main groups of people that do things together or hang out the most with each other. Not that we don't love the others, we just all get along so well it is hard not hang out all the time, the same with the other "group". The point is this: After a lot of prayer from the students and an even larger amount of prayer from the staff over the final decision of the outreach locations for students, God split our groups up the very same as they were naturally split by shared characteristics of personality and compatibility. Everyone is going where they feel called and it just happened to work out beautifully for everyone. That said, my travel partners are as follows: Jared, Adrian, Tiffany, Joanna, Hailey, and Leah. It is a great group and we are absolutely thrilled about travelling with each other. No word yet on exactly what we'll be doing, but if I find anything out and I can mention it on here, I will definitely keep you informed in that area.

I did say that I might be unrecognizeable because of weight loss, but the opposite might be true in reality. We have recently found a food stall closer than the previous weekly to bi-weekly food mecca site. This one has become a daily visit. The item on the menu that always gets me is the Roti Bom. Roti is a type of bread and there are tons of different kinds. Bom is a Malay word for bomb. The only exploding this little creation of Heaven does is the explosion of carmelized condensed milk when you bite into it. Possibly the best thing I have ever had and soon to have again, in about 30 minutes actually. Roti Pisang is another great one, Pisang meaning "banana." The possibility exists that I might actually be unrecognizeable due to weight gain rather than weight loss. It is going to take a diet of an incomprehensible magnitude to undo the damage done by these two dishes of solid, sugary fat. When in Rome...or Penang actually.

One of the best things to happen to me since I have been here is the iTunes purchase of the David Crowder Band's cd title "B Collision." Thanks to my parents for the valentine's day iTunes card! I have had this short album on repeat since I have had it along with a couple of other artist such as Derek Webb and the Hispanic composer Silvestre Revueltas (who's an incredible composer, if you are into that form of music). These musicians have inspired me to do everything I can here. Thanks for reading.

It is official...

2008-02-19T18:14:00.003+08:00

On 21 April I will be leaving Malaysia on a plane bound for Kathmandu. We don't even officially know our plans yet. One of the other bases will most likely have a bunch of different things set up for us to do with local villages in the surrounding areas. Any time I am not in Kathmandu, I positively will not have internet. So I can tell you now not to expect quite as frequent blog posts. Any time we are in Kathmandu though, there are internet cafes about every three buildings from what I hear.

I am thrilled about the fact that I will be hiking around in the Himalayas and hanging out with some of the most beautiful people on the planet. I am even more excited about the fact that these people will have a chance to see who Jesus truly is, and you can also add the fact that this is, at times, the poorest country in the world. Everything is cheap there and I have already heard stories about the free roaming oxen, not cows. The beauty of Nepal is that they eat the oxen. I was told to get use to the idea of losing a lot of weight and that I would probably be skipping meals, because for six weeks i will be eating mostly rice and daal. Not a very exciting thing, but losing weight isn't something I consider a bad thing. I have lost quite a bit since I have been in Malaysia, says the people around me. You might not recognize me when I get back.

I would like to ask you to pray for stability. Nepal is currently undergoing some heavy, heavy change in their system. They have had a king the entire length of the country's existence and still do. This is the king's last year as a governing body. Nepal will be having their first election in the history of their country in April, the month we are going there. I am not worried about anything at all and I trust God to protect us, rather the people there I am thinking about often and would like for you to do the same.

One more thing: I don't know how it caught my eyes, but as I looked on a map of the continent of Asia hanging on our classroom wall, one place stuck out and caught my attention. I don't know why, but the first place my eyes fell on was Mandalay, Myanmar. Part of me feels that I need to visit, and I don't know what for. I would like to ask that you pray God would reveal to me a reason for going there, if in fact it wasn't my own brain telling me to go. Thanks for reading!

Beach Pictures

2008-02-18T15:15:00.005+08:00

Instant Noodles and Diabetes

2008-02-17T14:03:00.003+08:00

I should, at some point, let you know about instant noodles. I feel that the time is appropriate now. These noodles, the kind that Top Ramen tries their hardest to recreate, are a way of life over here. The beauty of it is that there are about 100 different flavors, so they never get old. They are a bit more expensive here but well worth the price. Having been in the position of a pauper after moving out on my own a couple of years ago, I learned the value of a certain level of frugality when it comes to buying groceries. The instant noodle isle usually was the first visit I made followed by the condiment isle so i could disguise the "chicken" or "beef" taste. But here, there is no need to disguise the taste of these noodles. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the Asian culture's recognition of the need for a vast amount of flavors when it comes to instant food. They have done well in this arena of society and I wanted to devote half a post to applauding their efforts.

You may have noticed also that the latter half of the title was named after a disease that millions of people have world wide. A few days ago, we were sitting around at the house and Jared came out of the bathroom and said, "I'm so sorry guys, someone here has diabetes." We were a bit confused as to how a visit to the bathroom allowed Dr. Ang to diagnose "someone." Come to find out, it is common knowledge in Asia that if you go to the bathroom and ants swarm the toilet there is a unusually high level of sugar in your body's wastes, telling you that most likely you have diabetes. I, of course, looked like an idiot when the Asians said, "You didn't know that? That is common knowledge." After my brain went through the different cycles of worrying about whether or not the ant swarmed urine was mine or not. I concluded that it wasn't. Though I still worry about it a little because the disease runs in my family, so the possibility is there that I still will go get checked at the clinic. I even called my mom on her cell so she could get in on the worrying. Healthcare is as cheap as eye care. One thing after another makes me love it here even more!

Kusnan on Magellan

2008-02-15T20:05:00.002+08:00

Today's post is going to be short and sweet. We had no lectures today. They were replaced by "faith in action" weekend. We did an inductive Bible study on Galatians then they handed each of us 10 ringgit and said, "see you guys around six!" Transportation was even left up to us.

In true apostolic fashion, we were sent out in teams of two. I was paired with Adrian. We talked to some Chinese people on the side of the street and they gave us a ride to the bus station where we hopped a bus to Komtar, a gigantic shopping center. We walked around downtown Georgetown and ended up at Kawan, the homeless ministry that YWAM runs in the city. We had a free lunch with homeless people and sat and just listened to them for a couple of hours.

I talked to a man named Kusnan. Kusnan also answered to Darius and enjoyed talking about boxing. He also enjoyed talking about Ferdinand Magellan and people getting eaten by crocodiles. I think he was talking about a friend of his that really was eaten by a crocodile and how he was hurt because he was too afraid to jump in the water and save him. Whether or not that is true, I will never know, but it makes for a pretty sad story. The point is that he really needed to be listened to and when we were leaving he thanked me for doing just that. It made me feel good to know that I didn't have to do anything but sit and look at someone and I was showing them Jesus.

Now we are back home and all exhausted. We are planning on bowling tonight but I'm not sure. I might just retire early this evening. Thanks for reading!

Untitled

2008-02-14T22:46:00.005+08:00

It is one thing right after another here in Malaysia. Since we have been here, the other four guys in my room and I have become great friends. Adrian and Jared, both Chinese, are from Kuala Lampur. Joy, who is Indian, is from a town called Jawi in mainland Penang about 30 minutes away. John, the oldest and probably funniest out of all of us, is from Chennai, India. He is a 36 year old pastor at home and a really great evangelist. As a matter of fact, on one of our outreaches, Jared and I walked around struggling to find people to have a good conversation with. After the outreach was all said and done John said "How was it?" This was said in very heavily accented English since Tamil was John's first language. We replied, "It was good we talked to a couple of younger guys in little India, how about you?" He quickly said, "Three were introduced to Christ and received salvation tonite!" We were speechless and in awe. I'll get back to John later...

Tonight we went to a basement for our outreach. A basement of a parking garage where Nepali migrants live in a walk-in closet. The room was about 20'x8' and there were about 15 men living in this one room. They invited us in and were so happy to share their home with us. We hung out for a couple of hours and I have never felt so stupid in my life. I urge every one of you back home to have your children, if you have children of course, to learn other languages. There were Hindi, Nepali (which is similar to Hindi), Bahasa, and Tamil conversation taking place all around me. I sat there and scratched my head like a stupid American and Preta, a 20 year old Nepali migrant taught me how to count to 5. I was helpless. It was so much fun though. These guys were so accepting of us and so willing to sit down and make us a part of their family. It made me really excited about the potential of going to Nepal, which I find out for sure tomorrow. Devendra and Ramaiah, a newly married Nepali couple, sacrificed their honeymoon to come down here to Malaysia and minister to these migrants who are very much alone in their work. They have each other and that is all.

Now back to John. Since the beginning of this whole ordeal all of us in the room have taken note of John's peculiar sleeping habits. Often he wakes up in the middle of the night in a frenzy and runs out of the room or shouts at one of us. Usually, if he begins shouting, I calmly wake him up and make sure he is okay. After some reassurance and some prayer from his bunk (which is next to mine), he goes back to sleep and it is hit or miss whether it will happen again. It was seemingly comical to us a couple times but then when we realized that it was a consistent problem we were a bit concerned. One or two of the fellows were a bit bothered and had been frightened a couple of times so they took it to the leadership here. After many conversations with John they found out the story...

This 36 year old man, that I compare to a large swivel-headed teddy bear, is a pastor in his hometown in Chennai, India. His father died when he was just a year old so he grew up a child of a single parent home and his mother raised him in the Bible. His family was not wealthy and he couldn't get a "proper" education but after much service and growth in the church he was put in charge of sister church. He delivers the gospel with a passion that is easily seen by anyone around, however, some of the men from his home believe he is inferior and not deserving of the position he was given. For 15 years he has been in a constant struggle with these men. He lives his life in fear on a constant basis. On multiple occasions they have broken in and severely beaten him with rods and fists, they have made threats against his life, and have even set him up and had him arrested. He told me holding back tears today that they frequently ask him for help with their ministry, because they are fellow "christians," and he helps them despite his hurting. He told me that he loved the men that do this to him. Right now, I am holding back tears writing this. This, so far, is the most beautiful statement I have heard from another human being since I have been alive. Not many Christians in America, at least not my age, have had a chance to meet someone who is beaten, jailed, and threatened by his colleagues. How this man has kept the faith living in a dark country, alone, being persecuted by fellow "christians" is something I have asked myself over and over again. I am wondering if you or I would have what it takes to have the same attitude as my friend John does. Think about John and pray that his situation will get better. Pray for his heart because, at surface level, you would never know he was hurting. He is one of the happiest guys I have ever met. I would really appreciate it if you remembered him for me.

To Nepal or not to Nepal?...

2008-02-13T19:59:00.004+08:00

Today we had to submit the official decision we have made in regards to where we think God is calling us for outreach. I must say, I have been extremely adamant about Nepal this whole time and then the group that showed the video for the Indonesian outreach really had a beautiful presentation. The Nepali presentation still took my heart over all. The pictures of Nepal really spoke directly into my heart. There were pictures of children and the look in their eyes spoke to my heart.

We were told if we go to Nepal, we had better try to get into some form of shape. We would be doing a lot of hiking around the foothills of the Himalayas. The "foothills" of the Himalayas are similar to the Rocky Mountains in America. They have a very different perception of what a tall mountain is and I have no idea why (sarcasm). Richard also told us that if the bus is full we might find ourselves riding on the top of the bus, a fairly common practice in many countries around the area. He gave us the heads up that we would be possibly on the top of a bus looking off a thousand foot cliff. What an experience!

The Nepali outreach costs a bit more, but God blessed me with the ability to comfortably go to Nepal and potentially help someone else out if the need is there.

We learned more about spiritual gifts today and it was a rather fun class. Tomorrow we are supposed to be discussing dream interpretation. It should be fun letting him interpret a few of my dreams, since most of them I wake up from thinking, "wow, that was messed up." I don't remember the rest of them. I think it will be a fun class. So far I have taken the classes with a grain of salt since this is far from how I grew up. It is a little difficult but I am glad that I am around people from different backgrounds that worship differently than I do. As my dad and I were talking, he was saying that it is such a good thing, since it is forcing me to recognize what I believe and learn how to coexist and worship next to someone whose approach is completely different than my own.

With each passing day, I am beginning to realize that June is getting too close, and a couple of times I have almost made plans to do outreach trips to surrounding nations and then thought to myself, "wait, I have to come back in June." And it is becoming a "have to" much more than a "get to" faster and faster. I look forward to seeing my friends but it is going to be one of the worst feelings leaving this place. I love it here already. Thank you for reading and I appreciate the support that I have been getting.

Also, Tim, I don't think I am very good at shopping. As a matter of fact, I am terrible at blowing money, so the fact that I have stuck so closely to my budget and not spent out of line is completely a God thing. Though I don't know what "gatherer" means, I don't think it pertains to shopping. I appreciate the theory, though!

Sha lalalala what?

2008-02-12T20:36:00.000+08:00

I haven't been able to think of a lot to write on here lately, but I do have a few things I can update you on today. Pastor Amos, an Indian man who lives in Singapore, is teaching our class this week. His area of expertise is living in the spirit.

If you speak in tongues, I am totally okay with it. In all honesty, I do have a hard time taking prayer time seriously when someone around me is speaking gibberish. I believe this is a personal gifting that is not necessarily to be used in the company of believers as it is used so frequently here (nothing against my friends and i'm unoffended if you disagree or think me ignorant because I am by no means an authority on the subject). It is not my personal style of worship, and my intentions are not to offend anyone, but I did feel a little discouraged today because I almost felt inadequate because of how heavily this spirtiual gift was being advocated and discussed. I don't hold anything against anyone here, I have just been raised under a different system. The charismatic church here, however, tends to be much more laid back than those in America. This style of worship just isn't for me personally and I don't think how well the spirit works in our lives depends on whether or not we speak in tongues. If you worship this way, more power to you. I fully support your praise habits.

Amos did pray over us today. I had someone say to me, "it is really cool that Amos prayed the same thing over you that Jeff did." As I thought over that statement, I began counting the prayers that have been voiced over me in a prophetic sense and realized that I have been prayed over like this 5 or 6 times since I have been here. One thing i realized is that every single time I have been prayed over the prayers have all seemed to parallel. This is such an affirmation to me but it is also a scary thing. These prayers put me in a large spot of responsibility employing the terms: pioneer, warrior, leader, communicator, gatherer, builder, etc. One thing that gets me the most I think is the "when." I hear these prayers and I think to myself, "This is incredible God, make it all happen right now!" I guess I am just praying for patience and direction. I know I am not ready for anything of great magnitude right now because I have a lot of growing to do, but I hope to get there someday.

I felt a bit more serious as I have been writing this post. These were the only things I could think of to even write about. I have been in a pretty solemn mood today. I hope to be back in my normal blogging routine in a day or two. Thanks for reading.

Hold fast.

2008-02-11T14:33:00.000+08:00

I just wanted to do a short post today to encourage everyone participating in the fast. How funny it is, that today our entire lesson was on the benfits of fasting and how the holy spirit can work so easily when you are in this process. God obviously has something to say. Are you listening?

A whole lot of nothing.

2008-02-10T16:08:00.001+08:00

Finally, pictures were put on my blog. A couple even include my face in them. It is a bit difficult to get a lot of pictures with myself in them because I like to experience these new things in a world of my own. I like to make my own conclusions and formulate my own opinions based on what is happening around me without the interpretation of others. I usually either hang out in the lead or in the back but I try not to get stuck in the middle. In any case, this makes it a bit difficult for me to snap the picture involving myself with a good angle and ensure a decent picture, so most of the time I stick with the motif of landscape or people shots because that is what my eyes usually gravitate towards; the natural beauty of the creation of our Father's own artist's hands. Maybe this is not all evident in my pictures, but I haven't really been in an incredible situation yet, mostly just classrooms and mall shopping (where I usually buy nothing anywyas). When the time for outreach comes much more quality pictures will be attained.

That is another thing I guess I should go ahead and warn all of you who read this about: During the 6 weeks outreach phase, we will not be in the "safest" of places to carry a laptop, and frankly, I don't want to carry it around anyways. I will be lacking an internet connection for that time, unless I can get into a city with an internet cafe and update quickly, which may not be that hard. I just wanted to say that for the time being I will, of course, keep everyone posted on the happenings around me and how I see God moving in my life, since I haven't really been able to see anything else yet, but during that phase of this trip I might not be able to update as frequently as I, as well as many of you, might like for me to.

I'm sitting here bored to tears after watching "Runaway Bride" with the girls. That is the most obnoxious movie I think I have ever seen. I am sorry for anyone who thought this movie was good, but you might want to go visit a doctor. A doctor that specializes in brain disorders. Sorry if this offends you, but it is an attempt at blunt transparency again! I'm wrapping up this four day weekend. It was a welcome break, but I'm glad the hustle and bustle of lectures are starting back up. I have enjoyed the downtime but I'm glad it's over. This was a bit of a nonsense post, but I felt like writing something down. Thanks for reading.

Kuala Lampur Slideshow

2008-02-09T01:08:00.001+08:00

Penang Slideshow

2008-02-09T00:50:00.001+08:00

Tahun Baru Cine - Happy Chinese New Year

2008-02-09T00:28:00.000+08:00

The first monkey sighting.

2008-02-08T15:32:00.000+08:00

Well, I had it wrong. We didn't go to monkey beach today; it was turtle beach. There were no turtles due to the fact that the people here ate them all. With no turtles around then there is an abundant supply of jellyfish. We jumped off of the pier anyways, watching for the elusive devils before the fall. We had someone else stay up top to spot and tell us where to swim since they could see most of the jellyfish. More than half of the people with us were stung and all refused to use urine, the "miracle cure." I didn't get stung by a jellyfish but as I was standing on the pier I looked down and realized my arm, knuckle, and knee were bleeding. There were barnacles growing on the side of the pier and they are apparently razor sharp. That was the worst of my stinging today.

I did, however, see some monkeys today. Actually, yesterday after I posted about not having seen any monkeys yet, we were sitting on the beach and a man walked by with a little Rhesus monkey on a leash. He tried to steal a flip flop, back pack, and my water bottle while we were sitting right there. A gentle tug of the leash set him straight, though. He was terrified of the dogs on the beach and would frantically scramble up his owners body and sit on his shoulder. We saw some more monkeys today, but they were mostly in the tops of the trees, save for the one the my friend Ken said was quite mean when you get down to the brass tacks. That monkey also was on the ground not very far from us. Ken also told me that you could get pet monkeys here in Malaysia for very cheap. I didn't realize that. If I lived here permanently, I would own one. Ken also told me that they will gang up on you if you aren't careful. One monkey will run up and get a flip flop and have you chase after him, and then two or three more will unzip your back pack and take the things that appeal most to them so when you return victoriously with a flip flop you will realize the other theivery that has taken place.

It has been a pretty fun day. I am exhausted so I'm off to shower and take a nap.

Let's give this another go shall we?

2008-02-07T13:16:00.000+08:00

Yesterday marked the end of the fourth week of lectures. I have been here for over a month. I'm astounded at how the time has passed. At first, I prayed for the time to pass faster and now I'm praying it moves a little slower.

Last night we watched the movie Evan Almighty. I would recommend it to anyone. It had its hilarious scenes, but ultimately it gave me a painful feeling in the pit of my stomach as to what following God looks like to this world. It painted a pretty vivid picture of how things most likely occured when Noah built the boat, in a more modern aspect of course. Obviously we don't know all of the goings on around Noah in the true story, but there is a scene where Steve Carrell's character, Evan Baxter, is standing on the ark while threats of tearing the boat down are getting more real with each passing minute. Evan stands on deck and pleads with the people to get on the boat and they laugh. It made me pretty heart-broken for the people that were around Noah. The movie had a happy ending, but that particular scene struck the core of my heart for the true story of what actually happened. The bottom line is that none of those people got on the boat in real life. I hurt more for what it felt like for God to have to do that. It hurt him pretty badly.

I'm actually sitting on the couch just counting minutes. We have a four day weekend due to Chinese New Year and quite a bit of the group went home to their families to celebrate. The rest of us non-Chinese folk are trying to pass the time with meaningless activities. I actually took an "unofficial" IQ test and scored a 135, which was pretty good according to the website. Then I took a Mensa test. I did fair on it but people were in the room so I couldn't concentrate. I attributed the missed questions to conversation attempts by my peers. I'm not upset or anything. Mensa means "table" in latin. Whoever would want to be a member of a group named "table" is someone I would like to know (no offense if you are a member and go to table conventions with the other "geniuses").

Tomorrow will be much better than today. We are leaving at 6 AM and going to the highly esteemed "monkey" beach. That's no tribute to Davy, Michael, Peter and Micky either (be careful with that statement, lest you show your true age, because in my efforts of transparency, I have to admit, I had to look that up). There are suppose to be primates there often. I have heard monkeys are everywhere here but I have seen not one. Apparently, I couldn't spot George Washington on a dollar bill. It will be a full day at monkey beach and I will have my camera with me. You don't have to worry about that. My mother reminded me to take lots of pictures in the most threatening tone anyone could use over an instant message chat.

Yesterday, we prayed for a state in India named Orissa. Orissa is in bad shape with the persecution of followers of the only living God. Hindu radicals fear the surge of Christianity that has been taking place and in an attempt to subdue this "problematic christianity" and "kill it at the root," churches are being burned and people are being murdered. Believers are fleeing the entire state and it has been said it is unsafe for Westerners. A man feel off of the roof of a Christian church and these oblivious Hindus are calling him a martyr. What cause did he die for? I have never heard of a martyr for stupidity. He isn't a martyr sitting in hell right now, I promise. He is probably thinking how much more convenient it would have been to fall IN the church than OFF of it. I feel terrible for that lost soul. There is a very high profile person in Orissa right now and they are able to move freely through the state and give missionaries reports of what is happening there. I apologize for my blunt honesty, but I hope this breaks your heart like it does mine. Remember Orissa all the time in your prayers.

Thanks for reading.

The awesome internet.

2008-02-06T17:26:00.000+08:00

I'm sorry. I had a complete, typed blog and hit publish post and there was an error. It was mostly ramblings with a stint of seriousness at the end. For all intents and purposes, remember Orissa in your prayers. I'll explain tomorrow since I don't feel like typing up a few paragraphs again.

Thanks for reading!

Every preacher's kids nightmare.

2008-02-05T14:13:00.000+08:00

Well to answer the question my aunt asked me through comments: if you like coffee, don't come to Malaysia. Unless you can get to Starbucks, which are few and far between believe it or not, then it isn't much worth it. I have been swallowing my pride and drinking the gut-wrenching Nescafe instant coffee. I haven't decided if it was really worth the pain or the cringe on my face to drink it but I continue to chug that black gold, that tastes a bit similar to Jed Clampett's source of wealth actually. The problem, I have realized, lies in the fact that America consumes 20% of the yearly amount of coffee consumed. I fall into that statistic accounting for probably 5% at least. I promise you that my appretiation for the real stuff will be doubled when I return to America.

I led a Bible study this morning, something required of each of us once. I signed up for it early so I can watch the others writhe as times passes by slowly and they all wait for the fateful plane crash that is their first structured lesson of God's word. We all have to speak on a characteristic of God, which was easy because there is an abundant supply of those characteristics. I chose His power, an obvious one to me. Of course, I called my dad and used his guidance after I told him I was using the story of Gideon. My worst fear became a reality today. I finished remained standing to endure the positive and negative constructive criticism that follows each of these studies. I agreed with all but one of the negative aspects, but it was a bold claim made on a more personal bias rather than from a group perspective. And then it happened. What is "it" you might ask? My worst fear was realized today. When we wrapped up, my Dutch friend Ed walked up and said in a heavy accent, "You did really well today. You are such a preacher man." In my head I screamed "NOOOOOOOO!" I have always told everyone I have no aspirations to become a preacher, and I still don't. So I'm just kind of shrugging it off right now.

We discussed the fear of God more today and I didn't discuss the fall of man. Essentially, yesterday's lesson was about the love relationship between God and man that was originally intended. It was a great lesson that I don't know how to put into blog terms. Today, we discussed the "good news of the gospel," though. Another good lesson, save the overly obvious questions that no one seemed to have the answer to. Everyone's mind said, "Nope. This is a trick question. It isn't that easy." It was. We just didn't answer because of that.

I think that my glasses make me more intellectual. I have noticed an improved vocabulary, boosted confidence (the reverse of what should have happened) and a better ability to formulate ides in my head. Somehow it seems possible for me to leave my fears behind these little glass lenses and project this big, bold version of myself out in front of them. I appreciate them.

Something I would like to ask for is prayer. There is still a small lack of funding for some of my co-students. That is for the lecture phase. Many people are being completely faithful to God for the outreach phase, but the lecture phase is priority. Pray about it for me and my new family members. Thank you all for reading!

Another weekend in review.

2008-02-04T14:13:00.000+08:00

I know it has been a few days but I will give you another weekend update, among other snippets of information of course. My best blogging time is in the early hours of the morning for most of you who read this blog and I just didn't have that time this weekend. We stayed pretty busy.

We went to a large shopping mall in KL and ended up at a glasses shop. As I was thinking to myself that I wished I had gotten glasses before I left. Jared told me that you pay for the frames and the eye exam and prescription are free. I looked around and thought, "Thanks for my procrastination back home, God." I bought some. I got prescription glasses for $40. I was told I looked like Elton John. Not the proudest moment of my life but Jared reminded me that all westerners look alike to him. I assured Jared that he was British and I was American and that Sir Elton and myself are VASTLY different. I also warned him that though I dont think all Asians look alike, I would soon be mistaking him for many homely people. Then we went to the Switchfoot concert. I wanted to walk up to them and say, "God brought you guys here for me, I needed something from home!" I didn't. I thought it would be a bit awkward for the fellows in the band and I really didn't want to wait in a line of over-excited Asians to talk to these people who are just like you and I. I was about to snap a beautiful picture of the twin towers in KL and my camera died. It was so convenient, really. We made it to a sidewalk cafe, our usual style of weekend dinner, and I got a plate of noodles with some peppers in it that some Asians were impressed I was eating. I love them like coffee, though.

Sunday church at Damansara Utama Methodist Church, DUMC for short, was pretty eventful. The pastor was pretty good. Imagine Sean Connery with an added hint of Chinese as a first language and English as a second in his voice. I was amazed. They commisioned some marriage counselors named Fan Ngiang and Sian Li. We had to leave early to catch our bus but decided that a stop at KFC was necessary. We pulled up to the drive-thru window and parked and waited for our food to be brought out to us. It took a little longer than planned and Jared's all to intimidating mother walked to the window, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot until she walked back to the van with our food. What a woman!

When we got back to Penang, I looked at Jared and Leah and said, "It feels good to be home." I then thought to myself, "There is no way I just said that!" I couldn't escape it, I referred to Penang, Malaysia as home. Overall, it was a good weekend and I should have some pictures up on here soon, or my mom should have some pictures up on here soon, rather. And it has ever so slowly begun to feel like home here.

We began discussing the fear of God today. We discussed the fall of man so in depth I don't think I can put anything down about it until we go over the same things again tomorrow to make sure I picked up the intended message. It was a pretty incredible lesson taught by the woman who had a child, natural birth I might add, a few weeks ago that I smuggled the drugs in for. She went to college for teaching so she is a pretty gifted communicator. We have two more days followed by a four day break for Tahun Baru Cine (Chinese New Year - pronounced "Tah-hoon Bah-roo Chee-nuh" and roll your "R" ). Apparently, everyone staying here in Penang is going to have a blast. We don't even know yet how we are going to do that but sunrises on the beach and cliff jumping has been discussed. These people know the way to my heart!

I think that's plenty for now. To be continued...

My home away from home away from home

2008-02-01T23:31:00.000+08:00

Well, after a 4 1/2 hour bus ride in possibly the most comfortable bus I've ever been in, I'm at my friend Jared's house in Kuala Lampur. This bus was almost like first class on major airlines. Tomorrow night we'll enjoy a Switchfoot concert, an event that I'm particularly excited about. That's not the main issue though, I have a few things much more important to write about that I'm sure everyone is dying to know.

First, I'll start with the things that I've eaten tonight. I started out in a well known night market in KL with a soup of assorted edible beef parts, including cow stomach. The stomach looked a little hairy on one side & really had no taste. I can say that, similar to the chicken backside, I won't have any reason to eat this culinary non-delight again. Jared's mom, however, did tell me I fit right into Asia because of my love for chili sauce. Then as we (Leah from Canada & myself) walked out of the night market with Jared & his family his mother spotted some seasonal fruits that we were required to try. One was called Pamelo and was very similar to a grapefruit but a little bigger & bright green on the outside. It wasn't quite as tart as many citrus fruits back home. The second and final fruit we tried was an Asian delight. Durian, as they call it here, was described to me by Jared as, "an awful smelling fruit that Asians love & Westerners hate." I tried the fruit after discovering that it smelled a bit like a high school locker room. To my surprise, the fruit was very tolerable & I'd buy it again, despite the horrid things it's done to my breath & hands. It feels a bit like being sprayed by a skunk & enjoying it. I do take heed to the fact Jared's mom complimented my adventurousness with the food.

Now on to the more serious aspects of the day, that I've noticed usually follow some gross, shocking or funny information. A man named Jeff prayed over us today. We were told it was going to be more of an affirmation thing. I have to admit I was a little nervous about what he was going to affirm. A few times I thought he might just CONFIRM that I'm an overweight American, like my 11 year old friend, Getzie, did. He didn't. (Good so far) What Jeff said really shocked me. It shocked me from the standpoint that this man doesn't know anything about me & yet God affirmed through him everything I spoke to my dad about the direction of my life before I left to come here. He told me that I was going to lead people into places that they didn't want to go. He also told me that God created nations & people groups specifically designed for me to reach. He told me how caring & gentle I was and that I can put my arms around people experiencing brokenness & injustice in the world and lead the way in breaking the chains of injustice (something I told my dad that I felt specifically purposed for). This time was so meaningful to me because no matter how many times I try to tell myself that I'm not good enough or can't do it, I'm affirmed yet again by God through someone who recognizes the will & determination in me. I am so thankful for where I'm at and the people I'm around. I miss everyone at home, but Malaysia feels more & more like home everyday.

I love you all and thank so much for reading!

No one more blunt than an 11 year old Indian girl

2008-01-31T15:04:00.000+08:00

It is funny that one day you feel that God is speaking to you through the words of an 11 year old Indian girl and a few days later the very same girl tells you that long hair isn't "suitable for you because you're fat." Apparently, there is no one on the planet more blunt than an 11 year old Indian girl. One day she may be speaking the very words of God and the next she may be telling you in her nicest fashion that you're a bit portly. I couldn't seem to find it in my heart to be upset with her because it was, in reality, a very funny situation.

That seems to be a recurring theme while I am here though. I heard my Singaporean friend Tiffany say, "before we leave I want to see Seth mad or at least frustrated because he is so mellow." My Canadian friend Hailey said last nite as a small group of us we sat on the patio of a Malaysian resaurant that she "apologizes for her sharp comments" because it was her goal to make me mad and it was getting under her skin that it "seemed impossible to." I have clarified here that the only people that make me mad are my brother and my best friends. So as it stands, I haven't made myself out to be a liar, or I haven't opened myself up enough for the people around me to get really close to me. I am still going to work on the first though.

Tomorrow in our lectures Jeff and Diane Littleton, the couple that I smuggled drugs in the country for (or vitamins and supplements if you want to call them that), will be heading up our class. Jeff will be doing an individual prayer time with each of us where he will be using his gift of prophecy to pray over us. It will be a very interesting class. I am anxious to hear what he says in regards to me.

We also have books supplied by the staff we are suppose to be reading. I love reading but it is SO hard to read a book you are told you have to read. I felt the same in high school. Honestly, I figured out that in the first book there were skeletal outlines at the end of each chapter explaining the contents of the particular chapter. I cheated. I'm not sorry either. I got the main idea of each chapter without inconveniencing myself with the superfluous examples. The second book is a bit more interesting though. It is by Loren Cunningham, the guy that started YWAM. It is called, Is That Really You, God? It is a pretty good read and I have read most of it in my free time today. I made the decision that procrastination was something I was going to work on so I'm putting that into practice because it isn't required to have this book read for another two weeks. If I finish this one early, I'll be able to continue reading the books I brought and WANT to read.

I do want to say sorry for the lack of pictures lately. I promise I will try to get with it.

I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts and feelings for the day. I'm going to continue on with this book so hopefully I can be done by tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

The mother side of the Father

2008-01-30T14:02:00.000+08:00

I'm sorry that yesterday I couldn't post anything but I had a terribly busy day. I was on my feet pretty much from breakfast to bedtime.

We had a pretty good continuation on the father heart of God yesterday but we shifted gears today and started on a whole new playing field. Today we discussed the mother heart of God. I have to say, honestly, I never thought of God from that perspective and I learned a lot about the mother side of the Father today. A bit of a paradox I know, but it was incredible. We also discussed the four types of love today: Agape, Phileo, Eros and Storge (with the main focus on storge). It felt a little irrelevant to me because I have never felt that I lacked the love of a mother or a father. I could understand the need for today's lesson though, due to the fact that there is someone in our class who is the survivor of an abortion. A pretty powerful testimony they have.

I signed up to be a member of the worship team. I hadn't played a guitar in a while, I have to admit, but when I sat down and began to play I felt that I was in the right place. The songs are a bit old fashioned at times but it doesn't matter to me like it once did. I enjoy playing the songs now for the message behind them. It is funny that I am realizing that a lot of my prerebellion stage was mostly just me jumping through hoops. I didn't recognize it then but I do now. I am thankful for where I am, where I have been and who I am because of it.

Also, I'd like to thank the Shingletons for making fun of my darkest hour. Who knew that Habanero sauce was a weakness of mine. If you eat at Sticky Fingers remember me! Thanks for reading!

Your Weekend Update

2008-01-28T13:48:00.000+08:00

I sat here for a bit skimming over the previous posts realizing that I haven't made any sort of a response to the comments that I have been getting. Thanks to everyone who has left encouragement on here, it gives me an affirmation that what I am doing is for something much bigger than I am, something I especially need to be reminded of on a fairly frequent basis. You might not have realized it, but you have played a large part in keeping me in line. It makes me feel good as well to know that I have given people a reason to examine themselves and look deeper into things that can be done for the kingdom. Two years ago I would have laughed if I was told this was where I would be, maybe even had a few colorful words in regards to the matter.

I will do a little weekend update since I didn't post any new information between Friday and now. On Saturday we woke up at the awful hour of 6 so we could be at a Methodist boys school to participate in a basketball clinic. The clinic was specifically for charity and RM350,000 was raised. That's equivalent to approximately $100,000 (hard to say for sure because of the fluctuation of the US dollar). RM50,000 went to a ministry run solely by YWAM staff in downtown Georgetown called "Kawan" that exists to serve homeless drug addicts, most of them addicted to heroine due to its easy accessibility. Who knew that we would be playing teams with Yao Ming look-alikes? We got beat like a drum in every game we played. We do, however, hold the YWAM record for most points scored in one game: 4. I was so proud of our teams capability of breaking previously set records. I truly hope we set the bar high for the next contenders. We did go see the new Tim Burton flick Sweeney Todd. It was fair. Much more graphic, although noticeably fake, than I thought it was going to be, with a very ironically tragic ending.

On Sunday I went to the church that I have been going to and took a student friend on the promise of a short service and a free lunch. Yes, unfortunately I was trying to sell the church to my friends so I didn't have to go alone. I was humbled in the sight of the Lord as it was the church's 15th anniversary and the service was double in length. The lunch was good though so I could still claim delivering 50% of the deal. Then back home for napping until 6 when we went to a "western" restaurant for our friend Tiffany's birthday. The coconut, pineapple juice and fried ice cream I had were wonderful; the 9 french fries I had were mediocre. The chicken wasn't bad. Though it's a rare necessity, you can make anything here taste okay if you just add chili sauce so that the food just burns your mouth and you concentrate more on the pain than the taste. Don't let anyone tell you their are no solutions to your problems.

Today we had some more lectures on the father heart of God and how our representations of our earthly parents reflect our opinions and feelings on our Heavenly Father. It was a good lesson but the types of parents we discussed were not really good representations of my parents. I guess I have had a pretty easy time growing up, even when I thought otherwise. Then we had the lunch that I of course just drowned in chili sauce.

Now here I sit thinking of other things I can add, but as far as I can tell you are all completely updated. Once again, I appreciate the encouragement and thanks for reading!

Sin, Repentance and Potato Salad.

2008-01-25T23:53:00.000+08:00

Today we had a pretty meaningful class of just confession and repentance. We wrote down lists of the things we have done in the past and I learned that apparently Asians idea of rebellion is much different than mine. That's okay though, they shared from the heart, and since we agreed on confidentiality, I will stop there. We wrote all of our wrongs on a piece of paper and told our stories than nailed them to a cross. After everyone went (which took about 8 hours for six of us guys ha), we burned the paper to be "set free." It was a well spent 8 hours I must say.

Then on to our "freedom" supper. A bit of a hokey title I know, but I have not been so happy since I have been here as I was tonite. We had excellent, authentically grilled food. Sausages, chicken and lamb. I took charge of making the potato salad, mainly because I had the leniency of screwing it up since the Asians did not know what it was until tonite. I absolutely butchered the recipe but they loved it! They were also very impressed at my vegetable slicing ability. I don't use a cutting board and that seemed to be an intriguing stipulation to my dinner preparation for my slant-eyed cohorts. I love wowing them with my smooth, southern savvy. I have my mother to thank for the nixing of the cutting board.

After dinner we watched a movie. The Kid starring Bruce Willis. *All men reading this pardon my word choice* A "cute" movie (for lack of a better word). Half-way through the movie I heard thunder. In any normal situation I would not have panicked. I am not, after all, afraid of thunderstorms, I rather enjoy them actually. I realized, however, that the clothes that I had washed this morning were still drying on the line. Needless to say, they were washed a second time because we were a good drive away from the house. We ended up throwing football in the street with the girls anyways getting soaking wet. It made for a good night though we have a frisbie down in the drain (a place no Malaysian dares step foot). Joy was a little upset at the loss of his frisbie but my rendition of "Taps" seemed to make him feel better.

As I sit here at midnight on the couch wishing I didn't have to get up at 6 on a Saturday I'm beginning to think I should have skipped this particular post. On that note: goodnight all (or good day for those of you in America). Thank you for reading.

Flied Lice and Thaipusam.

2008-01-24T14:05:00.000+08:00

I am going to begin this post with a bit of a comedic anecdote, but then I will take a turn towards the more serious aspect of things that I have experienced lately.

Jared has been teaching me how to speak Chinese-English and we have been working really hard to abolish my use of the letter "R." Today we ate "flied lice" and yesterday we discussed "supplies pahties." He also told me, "When we go to Thailand watch out for ladies saying 'massage sir, good plice!'" It has been really good learning this new dialect.

Now for the more serious aspect of recent experiences: Yesterday I had a free afternoon. After lectures were through at 1 O'Clock, I was free so I decided that I was going to cycle down to the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. For those who don't know what this festival is, it is a Hindu celebration of Lord Murugan's, the youngest son of Shiva and Parvathi's, birthday. To celebrate, many Tamil Indians will shave their heads and carry large pots of milk. But, the extreme "devotees" will go through a process of mortification of the flesh to symbolize the lance that Murugan, who is the Hindu god of war, was given by his parents to vanquish the demon Soorapadman. To celebrate this, they take large metal spikes and pierce it through both cheeks and large metal hooks and pierce the flesh on their backs and tie ropes to the end of the hooks. Some "devotees" even walk on broken glass or hot coals, but often times they are ridiculed for taking this too far with acts that are too dangerous and contrary to the spirit of Hinduism. Needless to say there was none of this firewalking at the festival I was at.

As I walked around this festival, that I had to cycle about 8 Kilometers up and down hills the whole way, to get to I realized how lost these people truly were. There was a heaviness in the air that felt as though I were being pushed down at my chest. I can't begin to tell you how uncomfortable this feeling was. I think I should say, that I have lived a "sheltered" life that I am thankful to my parents for and I haven't really been in the position of seeing people kneeling in shrines worshipping dead gods. It is a truly painful feeling when you know that everyone around you is completely lost. These Hindus need I think some of the heaviest prayer. With many other religions you have to sway the beleivers from one dead god but with hinduism there are tons of gods that they worship. It really was something I'm glad I chose to go to because God really gave me a glimpse of how broken His heart is for these people. I'm also glad that I will never feel like I want to go back.

2008-01-23T06:55:00.001+08:00

Today I realized that God breathes poetry.

2008-01-21T14:05:00.000+08:00

First and foremost, I would like to express my anger with the super bowl match-up for this year. I picked a great year to leave the country.

Now on to the more important things. We started our second official week of class today. Instead of doing a week on "Sin, Repentence and Restitution" as I said we were, we are combining next week with this week so it is also the "Father heart of God" lectures. Richard Jones from England did our teaching today and he showed us a bit of a shocking video of a symbolic gesture they did at a school of biblical studies in Indonesia. They sacrificed a goat in the video, the grunting of the goat when his throat was cut is imprinted in my brain forever. I'm glad I lived after Jesus died for me. I am actually really excited about these next two weeks of lectures though.

Today we began discussing the Father's heart and what it was like when God stopped speaking things into existence and got his hands dirty to create humankind. Then we discussed the breath of God entering into Adam and for the first time ever blood pumped through veins, eyes surveyed surroundings, fingers twitched and joints bent as God stood there admiring his creation. That is the best definition of poetry I have ever heard. The depth is captivating. It reminded me a little of a scene from an episode of Family Guy when a man is reading too much into a symbol of art and a white robed white beard version of God says "That's nothing!...Have you seen your circulatory system?!" I think too much we try to analyze God's creation instead of admiring it. What a sad waste.

I have noticed that the weekends tend to be a little rough for myself. The downtime gives me nothing to do but sit and think about home and what I could be doing instead of being on the other side of the world. So I'm asking that on the weekends you say a short prayer that the enemy doesn't get a good grip on me. Remember I am technically living in your future by 14 hours! Thank you for reading I will try to have some more pictures up soon!

Week 2 at Hillside Baptist.

2008-01-20T22:00:00.000+08:00

Today was the 2nd time I have been to church since I have been here in Asia. It is nothing at all like church back home. A little bit more "old school," and that is the most technical I can get. I'm sitting here listening to Bob Dylan now closing out my day and it's been one of the best endings since I have been here.

They say that you don't get good at things overnight and apparently that's true. Apparently also Malaysian praise and worship bands don't get better over the course of a week. Bless their hearts they love what they do and so does everyone in the crowd but I guess I have come up a bit spoiled on worship bands. They sound a little like a train hitting a herd of cattle. Not so good but they are praising God and who am I to criticize?

I did offer to play in the band but you have to have your own instrument and I didn't have the heart to tell poor Dominic that I wasn't going to purchase a guitar for the time that I was here. All the Asians and Canadians alike that go to HBC want me to play in the band now that they know I'm from Nashville. I'm not too worried about it though, maybe I can just give tips and stay behind the scenes.

Then we sat around as a group and got into a spiritual discussion. I noticed that I get irritated in arguments so i "gracefully bowed out" of the conversation so as to avoid frustration. Also I hate that I was immature once driving my parents insane because immaturity drives me the the brink of insanity. It's okay though I feel much better now.

A Few Photos

2008-01-20T08:31:00.000+08:00

These are a few pictures of the outreach to the illegal immigrant community.

Brad Pitt and Beautiful Beaches

2008-01-19T22:39:00.000+08:00

Today was an incredibly full day. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera (I'm sorry everyone). It wasn't anything we won't do again though so fear not (maybe I can talk everyone into reenacting).

We went to 2 movies in 2 days. Jared and I picked both and we apparently are terrible at picking movies. The first day we went and saw a movie called "Gabriel," a movie about fighting angels and demons and the had guns, possibly the worst movie ever. Today we decided on the movie "In The Name Of The King." A slight bit better but our aim didn't improve much. It had everything: set in midevil times and one person spoke with an English accent (the rest didn't), there were ladies that swung from vines in trees, chinese acrobat ninjas, and the bad guys were an army of ninja turtles controlled by a magician played by Ray Liotta. You can imagine what a box office smash this movie was.

After Jared and I agreed to never pick a movie again we took a bus to Batu Feringgi. That is where the night markets are. We walked into a resort like we owned it and were hasseled by hotel staff and people trying to rent us jet ski's or kuda's (horses). tehn we walked down possibly the most beautiful beach I have ever been on. Then we shopped around and I got a pair of Ray-Bans for $5, can you believe that?! I'm not that stupid I know they are fake, but Yee Vonne, one of the Chinese girls here told me I looked like Brad Pitt with them on. Apparently I'm in the right place, and it's a good thing when all white people look alike I have found out. There wasn't a whole lot of apologetical bible study or discernment about today just a lot of walking around. It was a lot of fun though. Soon I'll be heading to bed since I have church in the morning. Thanks for reading!

The great barrier...language.

2008-01-18T16:21:00.000+08:00

Today has actually been great so far. We did the normal routine but I felt much better than I've been feeling and I've had more of an appetite (I actually enjoyed the noodles at lunch today). My stomach seems to have calmed down a bit and now I'm getting the swing of Asian life. When I'm home in June don't be annoyed if I say "la" after every sentence. It's just one of the idiosynchrocies here and I'm afraid it's catching on.

Last night we did the first little "evangelism" event as a group. I didn't do much of anything because I speak only enough phrases in Bahasa to greet people and ask if they've eaten yet. I don't even know the answers to those questions either. We walked about 30 minutes away up the side of one of the mountains close by into some new housing developments. All of the buildings are unfinished and there are many construction workers that work all day. The rub is that most of the construction workers are illegal immigrants from all over SE Asia who live in the unfinished buildings. I talked to Cambodians, Bengalis, Myanmarese, Indonesians, and Indians personally (actually not personally, via a translator). They all left their homes because of political or family problems. They're all also muslims. They were very accepting of us though and we sat right down and hung out with them. It was a great experience save the many men walking down to the buildings with plumbing in just towels to take showers (a couple even just bathing in stalls with no shame). They were very talkative and asked a lot of questions and apparently they never refuse prayer.

Unfortunately, we won't be going to the same place next week. We will be heading into downtown Georgetown again. That'll be fun as well though.

Well today was our last lecture on hearing God's voice and next week we will begin lectures on "Sin, Repentance, and Restitution." Can I get a hacking, pentecostal "Amen"? That'll be fun I believe. Well I think I'm about typed out so I'll continue hopefully with some pictures of the outreach today or tomorrow. Going to see a movie tonight though! Thanks for reading!

A Few More Pics

2008-01-17T21:41:00.000+08:00

The Classroom

From left to right: Richard, Jared, Joanna and Tiffany

Adrian and Joy

It takes a pretty long time for Seth to upload pictures, so they seem to come just a few at a time. So, here's what I have for now.

Malaysian culture to the extreme!

2008-01-17T07:54:00.000+08:00

Last night 10 of the other students and I went down to the mall. We waited on the bus for about an hour and then got on the bus and the driver pulled into the bus station so he could take a bathroom break. We then stopped at the gas station for the bus driver to fill up the bus. After about an hour anf a half we got to the mall.

While at the gas station I decided to go in and get a Red Bull (which are not as good here). They were out so I picked up the best other option ( an energy drink in a red can). I payed for it and then drank about half of it, due to its small stature and got on the bus. My friend Jared looked at me and said "Oh no, is that Tongkat Ali?" Sure enough it was. I knew I had made a mistake when every Asian on the bus laughed hysterically at me. I then proceeded to question Jared about tongkat ali. Come to find out this tongkat ali is much like a Malay version of viagra and mostly old people drink it. Moral of this story: When in Asia, make honest Asians help you buy things. Though they assured me it was okay to drink we agreed on the fact I would buy no more tongkat ali drinks.

Then we went to the shopping mall, where we actually only played pool. It was fun but I can play pool back home, and everyone back home knows how to play.

The next stop was the Hokker food stalls on the side of the road. Very similar to a food court in a mall back home but its outside and there are about 50 stalls where you can get different food. Needless to say, I had Jared order my food and I got a pretty decent bowl of noodles and a drink called "Lychee" (sweet water with ugly fruit in it) for about $1.25. Then came the new foods. I had had squid before but never to the extent of the squid being a whole squid from tentacles to tip. It was really good though. Then I tried the stingwray. Quite tasty but I almost broke my tooth on a stingwray bone (who knew stingwrays had bones?..because I didn't). Finally, one of the girls we were with ordered some food I had never seen, it was her favorite apparently. It was chicken "backside." It was really decent to eat but I think I can eat a drumstick and get the same effect.

This morning my stomach hates me.

Well I'm off to worship and then to lectures. Thanks for reading!

I can't think of a decent title.

2008-01-16T14:00:00.000+08:00

Today after our class we had a session where we broke into groups to encourage each other. I was told that I looked like a bouncer outside of a nightclub that people know not to mess with HA! I was also told that God was going to work with me just as I was and that i didn't have to look for him or try to perform to get his love. That's pretty encouraging if I say so myself.

The days are beginning to move a little faster which I think I am thankful for. I would like to get back home but it is starting to become a family thing than just a bunch of people from all over the world. So far I have a great friend Jared who is Chinese and we have gotten along from the start. His friendship has encouraged me in a brotherly way and it is getting easier to enjoy it.

I have been taking many, many pictures and soon will have them posted (hopefully in the next 24 hours). I also have a "unspoken" prayer request that I would like to ask everyone back home to pray for. It pertains to back home it is just a little personal for a friend and I don't want to expose any information I shouldn't. Thanks everyone! I am off to small groups.

Maximum Malaysia...a little hard to swallow.

2008-01-15T17:08:00.000+08:00

I don't know if the time is just catching up to me or what, but today I felt absolutely drained. Apparently I was giving off that vibe since a few staff members asked if I was okay. After much restlesness and almost falling asleep in class I got a couple hours of rest but one of my roommates turned the fan off on me so I woke up feeling fresh out of the shower. I don't know if it is the time difference catching up to me or just exhaustion from trying to automatically be adjusted since day 1.

We're in pretty heavy on the hearing God's voice topic and it is cool. All of the teachers keep saying, "This YWAM thing is gonna go by so fast, don't blink." I think that's only true if you're close to home like many of my classmates, because my days are creeping by at the pace of a sloth (slowest animal on the entire Earth in case you didn't know). I am enjoying it though so far. I am just keeping myself pumped for outreach. It seems that everybody here wants to go to Nepal though, which may not be a great situation since if everyone goes to Nepal there will be no one else going to the other places. We'll see what happens though.

I love Asian food but imagine eating rice and noodles every meal. That's the position that I am in right now. I am trying real hard to get adjusted to it but it seems that with every meal I lose a little more of my once ferocious appetite. That isn't all that bad though I don't think.

I love reading the comments they make me feel really good about where I am at and what I am doing, but I still want to see my baby sister more than anything in the world right now. The pictures just don't do it like the real thing does. Soon enough though, soon enough. I love you all, and thanks for reading and commenting in such a devout fashion!

P.S. - Fun Fact, my brithday is actually on Malaysian Independence Day

P.P.S. - Ryan and James, I should be back for the reunion trip just to let you know.

A Few Pics

2008-01-15T06:45:00.001+08:00

My House-Welcome to the jungle!

Spy Van Transport

Hotel - Georgetown, not too sure about the rates or the or the star rating?!?!?!?!

A Very Important Sign!

Buddhist Temple

Now thats what I call incense!

My Indian friend - John, in Little India

Just another day on the opposite side of the world.

2008-01-14T15:07:00.002+08:00

There are geckos everywhere just running around inside, but that's beside the point. This is the jungle after all, and I don't even have the Guns 'n' Roses tune on my iPod.

Before I left I was talking to dad about how I felt that I was suppose to be a part of something big. Also, I talked to several different friends about a Donald Miller lecture I heard where he said the God doesn't close doors on anything and that if a door is closed it is our responsibility as christians to kick down the door. During our morning worship meeting today, a couple different staff members prayed over everyone individually. One of the fellows that prayed over me was a man named Richard and he has been in Malaysia for a good amount of years (originally from England though). He went on to pray many thing about my character and how I am the kind of person that will be a pioneer for the faith and I will lead people into places that others cannot go and I will have to go there first to open the doors because as doors are closed I am the type that will "kick them down." He also said something about a vast amount of leadership he sees and that no matter how I've used the skills in the past, God is refining me to use them solely for him. I was shocked as he prayed and then said he could see all this in me. Now I think I'm just beside myself. He also told me after we prayed "I know that God's got really big plans for you and they're bigger than you or I can imagine." Needless to say I have been super encouraged all throughout the day.

We started our first classes today and they are being led by an African-American man who is a missionary in China. He is a pretty radical guy. It seems no matter how homesick I get or how much I miss my family and friends, I am always encouraged in the strangest ways. I love being here but I still cant wait until June. It will be so good to see everyone's faces... and I've only been gone a week.

3 Malaysians, 1 Indian, and a White Dude.

2008-01-11T12:43:00.000+08:00

I have officially moved rooms. I have gone from having one roomate to having four, 3 Malaysians and 1 Indian. It's okay though, I enjoy my new roommates. We stayed up watching Kingdom of Heaven, but mostly Jared, from KL (Kuala Lampur), was teaching me Bahasa Malay (the official language) and I was teaching him as much Brazilian Portuguese as I could (because he already knows English). Jared is wanting him and I to travel to K L on the first Saturday in February to go see Switchfoot in concert. Who knew they would be in Malaysia when I was! Maybe it will work out. It would be a nice taste of home.

I ate one of the best meals I have ever had in my entire life yesterday and had a drink for a grand total of $1.50 in USD. That already makes Malaysia awesome. Almost every restaurant that you go to is outside under something very similar to a carport, only much much larger. They cook your food in stalls that line the edge of the carport.

It is absolutely beautiful here but it's so incredibly hot and humid that even when you are asleep you just feel damp. I am already kind of learning to live with it. Hopefully it will just sweat the pounds right off of me. Yesterday as Ed and Aafke (a married couple from Holland who are on staff here) and I were picking up two more students from the airport, there was a flight coming in from Jeddah. The airport became overwhelmingly crowded with Muslims. Ed informed me that the flight from Jeddah was a flight full of devoted Muslims returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. It was really obvious and I should have noticed before he told me, but there were many, many proud Muslims in the airport. I felt like a spy. It made me feel really good about being a dude in a foreign country full of people who were not like me. If they only could find out more about what I believed!

I LOVE it here. I will continue to post more as it goes along. I'm off to orientation.

Terima Kasih (Thank You in Bahasa Malay),
Seth

He's Still Thriving!-Day #3 Coming Soon!

2008-01-10T21:32:00.000+08:00

Seth just called a few minutes ago and said that hopefully, in the next day or so, he will have internet access in his house. Today was a national holiday there, so no one was working. He has begun his school orientation and he said that his schedule is extremely hectic. This makes it nearly impossible to get internet access because the school office where he has been getting on line closes at 4:30pm.

He is fine and hopefully he will have unlimited access in his house very soon! He has a blog post typed and is going to try and send it to me soon, along with pictures, and I will post it when I get it. Also, you may or may not have noticed that I removed his address. This is for security reasons. If you would like it, contact me and I will gladly give it to you. I'm sure that he would love some mail from home! Thank you everyone for all your support.

Amy

Day #2

2008-01-09T09:24:00.000+08:00

Day 2 and I'm feeling much much better after I have been rested. I had to dry off with the t-shirt I was wearing. I think the fatigue of travel was making me an emotional wreck. I'm ok now. I just need my luggage with all my pictures of the family and everything. My roommate is a Malaysian college student who speaks very broken English and the native Malay language along with four different dialects of Chinese. We went to KFC for supper yesterday. I slept fairly well though.
A trip back to the airport is on the schedule today to pick up other students and check on my luggage. I am the only student here so far. I know that there will be another American, a Canadian, an Indian and a bunch of Malaysians. Everyone on staff I have met so far is super nice. As more people get here I expect it to get better and better. My quiet time this morning was Romans 8:18. Not verbatim but something to the effect of "Our suffering that we are experiencing is nothing compared to the glory we are to receive." I definitely consider being without family and friends "suffering" of sorts. I am trying to post some pictures I hope it works!... I love you all.

Finally in Malaysia

2008-01-08T15:25:00.000+08:00

I arrived in Malaysia to be greeted directly off the plane by a man shorter than I am to tell me that both of my suitcases are not in Malaysia and that coming back tomorrow to check on them would be best. All I can really do is pray. I didn't have any other problems entering the country and the internet connection I am temporarily using isnt very fast so I'm going to wait to put pictures up.
Just as I expected about 30 minutes ago it really hit me that I am going to be away from everyone for 5 months. I can't decide if im nervous or excited or thrilled, but I'm leaning towards the nervous side. It is HOT here!.. A welcome change from the current state of things in the south. I am pretty exhausted and trying to take everything in but its very overwhelming. I'll try to get on later tonight.

29 hours of travel?!

2008-01-07T06:02:00.000+08:00

Yep. It is as bad as it sounds. I'm not particularly looking forward to these plane rides, but I am going to press on toward the goal. I'm very thankful for everyone that spoke with me at church today.
Well, I'm off to the airport. Next time you hear from me I'll be on the other side of the world. It may take me a day or two to get adjusted enough to post a blog but I promise I will, and I'll post pictures of my arrival in Malaysia! Adios America.

Tomorrow...You're only a day away

2008-01-05T23:56:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow is the day. I will be "leaving on a jet plane" but as far as I know I'm returning June 16th. Malaysia bound with a purpose. I don't think I have ever been more excited in my entire life. I'm in a win-win situation. I get to tell people about Jesus AND hang out with Asian women all at the same time. It may be tough but I figured somebody had to make the sacrifice. As much as I don't keep a blog very well, or even follow e-mail for that matter, I will being doing my best to maintain a consistent blog with new pictures and information about how God is evidently working throughout southeast Asia.
As I have already said, I am absolutely thrilled about going to Asia. I would however rather take the worst beating of my life than sit on planes for more than an entire days worth of hours. I don't know that I can really count that as suffering for Christ, but if I find out I can, I assure you that it's going on my spiritual resume in bold and underlined script. I think I've said all that needed to be said today, and I still have pretty much all of my packing to do. God Bless