Traveling to Thailand

As I logged on a few minutes ago, my heart sank deeper into itself as the web site prepared to display. I knew that the death toll number from the earthquake would be thousands more than it was this morning. 2,000 an hour it seems. I'm sick in my soul at the lives lost in an instant. The frailty of the moment. The message left unheard by SO many. Tourists, basking in the sun, thinking "this is the life!" And within seconds, their paradise became a hell on earth. Death for thousands. Did they ever get to hear of having a life with a purpose beyond this earth?

It seems really close to home as we live in Asia now. In 4 weeks we and almost 400 other teachers will be traveling to Thailand. Many had plans to be on the beaches that were hit so severly. We will be hundreds of miles from where people's lives are being altered by the minute. Since we are now among Asian people every minute of our existence, it makes it difficult to compartmentalize what has happened. We have faces and names and stories of people who live lives like those in Sri Lanka and India and so many others.

It's been a humbling week with this news. We are thinking of how we can help and would love an opportunity to go to the areas worst hit...we'll see. But I'm brought to the place of urgency once again. There is a cure waiting people who are sick. There is clothing for those who are naked. There is a food that will satisfy forever. Never thirsting or getting hungry again. What a message of hope we are so priveleged to have received.

Lesson from the Golden Years

We have a older couple that lives one floor below us who are like-minded with us. They're Americans that have lived in China for a number of years. They're both in their 70's. He has two degrees from MIT, and a PhD from Yale. She's also has two degrees, a graduate from Harvard. He teaches engineering here IN ENGLISH. He's been a professor in America and in Beirut in the 1970's. He's also worked in industry for a number of years. They have a number of kids and many more grandkids.

You should see them at work. They are always active in engaging students with a joyful insistence. Given their time in life, it's uniquely amazing to watch them. We expressed our admiration for them recently, to which they responded, "Well, we figure we'd rather burn out than rust out."

In our day and time, I think we can learn from them. In America, we strive for retirement as if it were the end of our salvation, heaven itself. Yet, this couple has such vision and perseverance in love that we can observe the meaning of the saying, "Do not grow weary in doing good, for in the proper time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up."

some not so wise advie

I gave me students an assignment where they responded to an ancient quote by King Soloman, an ancient Near Eastern king. It was about money and never finding satisfaction in it...never having enough.
(By the way, his autobiography is one of the most relevent books in our daily interactions)

Well, one of the girls responded with this conclusion:

"Money can buy you a perfect marraige, but it can't buy you love."

Unfortunately, her idea is not far oof the way in which a lot of us in America think on a practical level.

A Teammate needs your thoughts

One of our older teammates, around 60, has been having medical issues for a while. She's always sick and has been in China with her husband for a while. She's being flown to Hong Kong this weekend b/c it's pretty serious and no doctor in the States or in China can figure it out. It could cause them to leave here if it's not resolved. They've been in China for about 7 years I think.
Thanks

I'm 3

Selah gets a lot of attention. She really gets swarmed, touched, grabbed, looked at... She gets asked, "How old?" She's now learned to answer them (when she's in the mood): "son sui"... "three years", as she dutifully holds out three fingers.

Well, the other day, she was not in the mood. She lazily laid back in her stroller and simply held out her hand, extending three fingers almost forgetfully. "I'm three years old," for all of you who are going to ask.

Wow, it's been a great busy!

We've never been so happy to be so tired. Our days have been full of meetings with people. Carrie has probably made around 150 Christmas cookies for parties and get-togethers. December is the busy month for sure, and it's only Dec. 7th!

A lot of people want to know the meaning of Christmas. We're glad to help them. In less than 6 weeks, things will settle down as the semester ends and we head to Thailand for rest and refreshment, where we will hear about other people and their work around Asia.

We have a lot of meetings this week, most of them during your mornings (our nights). Please be thinking of us as we make new freinds, build relationships, show Charlie Brown, and tell the Christmas story.

What joy!

Less Frequent BLOGS

"From Fear to Freedom"

A teammate gave me a book that I wanted to share from. It's called "From Fear to Freedom" by Rose Marie Miller. I just started it, but she gives some great wisdom in the opening chapter.

In order for me to find freedom and continue to live it out in my life, He needed to name my unnamed problem. His definition was, "Rose Marie, you have the mindset of an orphan." This is how the orphan mental attitude works"

Life consciously or unconsciously is centered on personal autonomy and moral will power, with grace understood as His maintaining your own strength-not as his transforming power.

Faith is defined as trying harder to do and be better, with a view to establishing a good record leading to self-justification

Obedience is related to external, visible duties, with attitueds and deeper motivation virtually ignored.

"What people think" is represented as the real moral standard, based upon visible success and failure.

An I-am-a-victim attitude is supported by coping strategies, wall building, blame shifting, gossiping and defending.

Oh how often i have believed these same things to be. I have fallen into the trap that I have enough power in myself to make myself good. My friend Paul wrote a letter to some Romans that talks a lot about how we can do nothing good apart from a Greater Source.

wow.

cultural mishaps

the two funny signs we saw this week:

a sign in the library reads in English"

"No Noising"

A sign was put up yesterday by a busy street:

"Please Walk the Horizontal Way" (as if maybe lots of people crawl across?!)

A Chinese friend told us a story about another white foreigner on our campus. There are several students here from Eastern Europe that make up the few whities on our campus. We get stared at...ALOT. The kids and I get our pictures taken almost every week by someone. It really feels like we're celebritiy's all the time. Well, sometimes it gets really old and you just wanna blend in. Well, one of the European students had enough of it one day. And he spoke Chinese. So when a Chinese student was staring at him, he replied with the retort "Don't stare at me like a caged animal!" Although not very kind, I can very much understand the frustration, but I've chosen not to learn the phrase for fear that I might accidently use it sometime. But we thought the story was really funny.

bound to tradition

A career is the eternal pursuit here. A job and finding an appropriate husband or wife. Probably my best Chinese friend came over this weekend for hamburgers. She's very honest and has her own opinions on things...this is rare here. People believe what they are told to believe, without questioning things. Well, she has many questions and searches the other side of things. She is married and we talk often of the differences in our cultures. Almost every time we get together, I hear a horrible story of how her husband forgets that she is there. He's a diplomat, which is translated into a "big wig" here. He's got lots of connections and many hopes for HIS future. Because of this, they are only allowed one child. (there IS a one child policy, but there are many exceptions) Her role...obedient, meek, mild, good traditional wife. She's a post graduate English major and really smart. But she does not share any of this with her husband. She knows what unwritten rules she is bound to and cannot imagine transgressing them.

Her husband is gone for weeks at a time without calling.

It's an interesting world. I cannot say much to her regarding her marriage. I try and instill hope and love her uncontrollably. But I so wish for her to find relief. It's a dream, she explains to me. "To share my opinions and have a loving husband." She marvels at Brad's attentiveness to our family.