I Think I'm Homesick!!!

That's a lie. I know I'm homesick. I guess I've been trying to deny it since I've been here. Today I reached my tipping point and started downloading country music on iTunes. I rarely, if ever listen to country music, but more than anything it reminds me of my friends and family back home. So, I just downloaded almost every George Strait song I've ever heard. George has helped.

P.S. He's beautiful.

Bad Christmas Evangelism

Last year, I spent my Christmas Eve at the Red Monster(Lobster) working. I remember when I found that I had to work, I wanted to quit because that meant I was going to miss a family dinner. Then I thought it could be a good witnessing opportunity and that people may be in the Christmas spirit and tip more, I was completely wrong.

The day started off horrible because I had to drive from home for my shift. So, I wasn't excited about the possibility of spending more in gas money that I would make during my shift. Halfway back to Charleston I realized I left my cell phone. Normally I could have cared less, but I needed my phone to call and arrange when I was going to pick up a co-worker for a church service that night. She didn't have to work on Christmas Eve because she had children. Anyways after hunting down a pay phone, I was able to arrange when and where I was supposed to meet her.

She decided that she would walk to the church and I would meet her there. I arrived and couldn't find her. Eventually the service started and she still hadn't shown up. So I stood in the lobby, refusing to go in the service because I knew she would show up. 15 minutes into the service she arrived. To my surprise, it was a half Spanish, half English service. Also, during the music a lady beside us keep yelling like she was being electrically shocked. I think it would have been better if my friend had never shown up.

I learned a lot from this experience. Mainly I learned that the goal of evangelism isn't to get someone to a church service. It's easier to put sharing the gospel on the preacher, but it rest on the shoulders of all members of Christ's body. (Me and You)

After the service, I took my friend to do some last minute shopping at the only store open in North Charleston, K-Mart. It was insane. It took us a couple of hours to buy milk and eggs. As I think about it now, that is what I should have done in the beginning. I wonder what kind of impact it would have had on her if instead of asking her to go to church with me that I asked her how I could help her prepare for Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas day because we consider it that day that Jesus was born. It is the day that God gave the world its savior. I've been so guilty of seeing Christmas day as a day of receiving instead of giving. I was reading over the birth of Jesus the other day and could not help, but think about His death. Our salvation didn't come in His birth, but in His death and resurrection. (1 Cor. 15:1-5) Why don't we go crazy and celebrate Easter like we do Christmas? Whenever I have my own family, we're going to blow Easter out of the water!!!!!!!!!

Here are two quotes by St. Francis of Assisi that I really like. They really don't relate to this post, but I really like them.

"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."

"It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."

New Pictures

These are a few pictures from our festival today. I've been at a training all week and this festival was our final task. It was tons of fun but non-stop work. Somehow I was assigned to work at the face painting table. Big mistake! All of the kids wanted Spiderman painted on them. I tried really hard, but I was a horrible Spiderman artist. I did end up becoming the "heart queen." You'll be able to see one of my hearts in the pictures. Also, I'm adding a few wedding pictures. They are really blurry, but you'll be able to get a picture of what it was like.

YAY!!!! for Life!!!!

Today is my two month anniversary of being here!!!!!!!!! Today I received my first package from home!!!!!! Today we had a Christmas party and Shared the Gospel!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!

Let me go ahead and throw out a disclaimer about all of the pictures in this post. They are horrible. Either the lighting is off or the camera was crooked. Hopefully you'll still be about to enjoy the pics.

Here is a picture of the women that attended our little Christmas party. Abby prepared all of the food and organized everything. We shared the Gospel by using a candy cane.(Abby's mom sent some over a few weeks ago.) They had never seen candy canes before. It was awesome. We also gave out New Testament Bibles that they were excited about.

While we were preparing for the party, I heard a tree limb fall and then saw this:

I was so mad for many reasons. There are only like 3 trees in this city, so we don't need to be cutting any more down. Also, he was making a mess right before our party.

Later on I looked out the kitchen window and saw this guy:

This picture is crooked b/c I was discreetly trying to take the picture by hanging my arm out of my window. One little slip and game over for this guy. Eventually I saw him with his paint brush taped to a stick painting the far corner.

I've been away at a training and came back just for the party. I'll be returning in a few minutes. I'm not excited about returning to squatty potties and bucket baths. Here are a few pictures of my friends at the training:

My computer is still not charging completely. Thankfully, I am able to use it for short amounts of time.

When my training ends, I'll post about our wedding adventure.

o

KFC and Reincarnation

Yesterday I ventured out in the afternoon to do some Christmas shopping. I knew exactly what I needed, so it didn't take me long. As I was leaving, I decided to eat my dinner there b/c they have a KFC. It's not the KFC as you know it. The chicken is really spicy. I order chicken strips and my nose is running by the end of the meal. It happens every time. Also, instead of mashed potatoes or biscuits, they serve french fries. They do have ketchup. In London they serve mayonnaise with their fries at KFC. I think that's so gross, but they may think ketchup is gross.

As I was eating, one of the workers came up to me and asked for me to fill out a comment card. While I was filling out the card, I thought I saw something move under my table. I didn't immediately see what it was then the little booger moved again. There was a rat under my table! I was sitting in a booth, so he would run from one corner to the other. I immediately jumped up and got away from my booth. As usual, people were looking at me like I was crazy. I tried to explain that I saw a rat, but they acted like they didn't care. I was doing hand motions and everything, but of course the little rat wouldn't come back out. Eventually, I jumped back into the booth on my knees and grabbed my bags and the comment card.

I walked up front to hand in my halfway completed comment card and to order food for my partner. I tried to explain to the workers what I saw. I don't know if they think it's normal or if they didn't understand me. I really think that everyone just thinks rats in restaurants are normal. Our instinct is to set a trap and kill it, but here that rat may be someones deceased uncle. Their solution is to catch it in a trap and release it outside. Which doesn't solve anything b/c they find their way right back inside. Restaurants and Reincarnation is South Asia shouldn't mix well. We, foreigners, prefer all animals inside the restaurant to be the cooked ones we are being served. However, I cannot blame the managers belief in reincarnation for keeping him from hunting down the rat, b/c he does sell cooked chicken for a living.

You probably thought, I cannot believe you still ordered your partner food from there. That KFC is one of the cleanest restaurants I've been to over here. I'll continue to eat at it and I did warn my partner about the incident, but it didn't really bother her. I'm sure you may have rat siting stories that have happened to you in the U.S. or other countries.

What Do All of These Things Have in Common?

They have all been gifts from Santa that I have broken before the next Christmas!

A few days ago I was talking Jennifer, one of my bestest friends, who just bought a new MAC laptop. I told her that I wanted to buy one when I was looking to buy a new computer, but I went w/ a PC b/c #1 I couldn't afford a Mac #2 I always break nice things, so I try to avoid owning them.

Well immediately after I said goodbye to her, I stood up to get off of my bed and my laptop flew onto the floor. I forgot that I had it plugged in charging, so it jerked straight out of my hands onto the marble floor. As a result, it will no longer charge. It's heading to the shop tomorrow. Thanks goodness I live in the country that Americans call for tech support, so it's not going to be hard for me to get it fixed.

Let me give you a few other examples of why I should not be allowed to own nice things.

For the longest time I wanted a nice pair of sunglasses. I got on this kick of wanting polarized sunglasses, b/c I heard that wearing them is like having sunscreen for your eyes. I never bought them because the ones I wanted were expensive and I knew I would break them. Well last year, Santa gave them to me. Until today they remained unscratched and unbroken. I was standing in line at the post office for around 15min. which is a relatively short amount of time for S. Asia standards when I became frustrated. In my frustration, I sort of threw my head back and released a sigh. That's when it happened. They fell on the cement floor and cracked. One lens has a huge crack in the middle from one side to the other. The lens is still in tack, so I'm going to sport them as long as I can. It's sort of annoying looking out of them b/c I feel like I have an eye lash stuck in my eye. I didn't even make it a year without breaking them.

The next thing I have avoiding owning for a long time is an iPod. No matter what I'm doing, I have music playing. So when iPods came out, I wanted one so bad. Santa knowing that I break things like crazy, one year gave just a regular MP3 Player and not an iPod. During my senior year of college, I developed a little running routine. Of course, I couldn't run w/out my music. Well, one day I stepped in dog poop. That doesn't come as a shocker to many people b/c its an understatement to say I'm accident prone. Anyways, I rinsed off my shoe w/ the water hose and took my MP3 player off so I wouldn't get it wet. The next few days when I went for my runs I couldn't find my MP3 player anywhere. I eventually bought a new one. One day after a run, I was stretching on the ledge and I noticed my MP3 player sitting there. The case it was in was wet from where it had recently rained. Good news is that it still worked!!! Since then I've dropped it a few times, but it will still works. It is just that the batteries are held in place with tape. I do own an iPod now that my sister, Mary Kathryn, gave me. So far, it's lasted five months. I'm determined to make it last for my entire term.

A few other mishaps include:

I stepped on my camera in Amsterdam and broke it. That was only three months after Santa gave it too me.

I was wearing my favorite pearl ring and knocked it on the escalator in London and watched the pearl fall into one of the little crevices. If I ever fool someone into proposing to me, I would completely understand if he bought me a cubic zirconium ring from Wal-Mart.

In college I had my bicycle stolen b/c I did not lock it up. I rode it to class that morning and didn't lock it b/c a few hours later I was going to ride it again. Well when I left for my next class it wasn't there. They stole it with the lock just sitting on the handlebars.

Overall, Santa is really the one who suffers from my absentmindedness. It amazes me how they are still willing to give me nice things knowing my track record. However for the past two years, they have refused to buy me a new bicycle. That may be because A) they know I'll hurt myself on it B) it'll be stolen from me or C) I'm 23 years old and I need to start buying things for myself.

I'm sure there are tons of other things that I have broken or lost along the way, but there are the ones that come to my mind.

Anyways this may be the last post for awhile b/c I'm getting my computer fixed and next week I'll be attending a training camp thing where I doubt there is wireless internet.

The big wedding is tomorrow. I'm so excited. I bought my outfit for it today. I look hideous in it. I'll post pictures, so everyone can join in with laughter.

Momma Kim Rocks as Santa!!!

I just want to give my partner's mother a shout out. Momma Kim hooked my partner up with three boxes of gifts. I've never been so excited to see baking mixes and Christmas decorations. It was like she packed a mini Wal-Mart inside the boxes. It was insane. He's a pic. of the contents of one box.
This was my favorite gift....

A Cinnamon stick candle. I woke up one morning and my partner was burning it. I almost cried; it smelt so good and reminded me of Christmastime at home. The tree in the background was also in one of the boxes.

I really like the candles that smell like Christmas trees. Is that weird? We always have an artificial tree, but I'm pretty sure we burn candles that smell like trees. Maybe my family is the only one that does that.

My parents are sending Christmas gifts too. I heard Edgar almost had a stroke when he paid to have it shipped here. It's sad when the shipping cost more than the contents inside do. Once my partner opened her boxes, she started smelling some of the things inside that still smelt like home. I think that'll be the first thing I'll do too. You cannot imagine the smells here. You think Georgetown, SC smells bad. Overall there's a distinct smell, then you walk into pockets of grossness. It's horrible when I buy chicken and cover my nose b/c I think I'm going to start gagging. If you've ever visited here, you'll understand why I can't wait to smell what is inside of my Christmas package.

Wild Goose Chase!!!!

I feel like my life is one big, never ending wild goose chase. I want to do a million different things. A few days ago I decided after my two years here that I would like to move to New Zealand and work on a farm picking kiwis. I don't know where it comes from. Seriously that is what excites my heart. Should I get my brain checked out? Also, how awesome is this pic. It's was taken by a friend this 4th of July. A little random I know, but how appropriate for this post?

I have so many wild dreams that they don't make sense. It's impossible for them all to happen.
There's a book I like called Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. Here's a little portion of it:

"The Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit...They called Him An Geadh-Glas, or 'the Wild Goose.' Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger and an air of unpredictability surround Him. I think the Celtic Christians were onto something that institutionalized Christianity has missed out on. And I wonder if we have clipped the wings of the Wild Goose and settled for something less-much less-than what God originally intended for us...A part of us feels as if something is spiritually wrong with us when we experience circumstantial uncertainty. But that is precisely what Jesus promised us when we were born of the Spirit and start following Him(John 3:8). Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainties also goes by another name: adventure."

John 3:8 states, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

I by no means think that obeying the Spirit results in a never ending, purposeless goose chase. I do think obedience to the Spirit can take us to places that we never could have imagined. I can think of several people in my life that have said, "I would have never thought I would be living here...but I am" or "I never thought I would marry someone like .... but I did." Those phrases always end with, "And I know that was God's plan b/c ..."

In my life, I've wasted too much time chasing geese that weren't sent from the Big Man. Picking kiwis in New Zealand!!! Seriously, what am I thinking? One of greatest lessons I've learned is that not all of my dreams are God given. I wish they were b/c they seem like so much fun, but them I remind myself of verses like these:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then when you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 28:11-13

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

He knows what is best for me and you. Sometimes that takes us to foreign countries, or different counties. No one is better. All that matters is that it is His Spirit leading us there. From experience I know that if our plans are spurred by selfish desire, they'll fail. You may be thinking like I just thought, well what about these people who don't follow Him and still seem to be happy and successful? Then, I'm reminded of verses like these, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes...for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous." Psalm 37: 7, 17

Here's a picture of Whitney...She wanted the swan to give her a high 5.

P.S. We were invited to a wedding that is next week. I cannot wait. I hope to have some great pics that I'll share.

I Struggle w/ this Verse

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men..."

Col. 3:23

I struggle because it's a command I fail miserably everyday. The other night I was getting my worship on in my bedroom and one of my favorite songs played. It's called Give it All by Daniel Harper. You can read the lyrics and download it for free by clicking here. Anyways, I was singing how I'll give it all to Him, and then I stopped. I cannot remember the last morning I woke up and had the "give it my all" attitude. So many days, I just try and pray to make it through the day. What sort of defeated attitude is that? That's not cool.

The preacher today spoke about warnings that have been given to us in the Bible. He used this familiar scripture that's written in red,
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27

The preacher was trying to make another point, but this is how I applied it to my life:
OBEY SCRIPTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OBEY Col. 3:23!!!!!! or else I'm just another foolish girl that is playing in the sand.

There's so much I want to write, but that would result in another epic post that you wouldn't finish.

This is why our God is an awesome God. Col. 3:23 ends with this:

"You will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward."

My Dream Band

To some people weddings are the most important day of their lives. Some girls have their entire wedding planned before they even meet their spouse. Some girls, like my best friend Whitney, already have their wedding band picked out. She's getting Lionel Richie to perform live, and I can't wait. I never really thought about music for my wedding until today. I found the band. Don't worry parents, I got their card. It may be a few years to a decade before that day comes, so you have no excuse. Save up now! It'll only take about 12 plane tickets to fly them back home. Here's a clip of the wedding. I'm standing on our balcony recording this. Also, it's 10pm and just getting started. It's so loud it's unreal. The video may take awhile to load, but it's worth it.

Don't even think about stealing this band for your wedding!!!!

Thanksgiving ND Style

My partner and I splurged today. We went to the only place that sells turkey: Subway.
For dinner we went to a friends house and we had a meat-less feast. We played guitar hero and pin the tail on the turkey. It was great. It's worth becoming a tradition.

This is our new oven w/ lime muffins in it. We made them for Thanksgiving gifts. Everyone here is vegetarian, so the only thing I could find to bake that didn't require eggs was a lemon muffin recipe. Turns out what they call lemons we call limes. It took us awhile to figure this out. We went to the fruit stands and ask for lemons and they would point at green things. Eventually we realized lemons were no where to be found, and went with the limes.

I'm so thankful for this oven. It's the biggest one available. I cooked a mean macaroni and cheese in it for Thanksgiving dinner today. My partner thought it was weird that I was making it for Thanksgiving. My family has it at almost every meal no matter the occasion, so it was my South Carolina contribution.

During the lime muffin making, we had another pipe to spew. It went everywhere including my computer, and the batter. Thankfully everything survived.

Just about every neighborhood has a security guard. As we were leaving our friends house tonight around 9ish, their guard was asleep. Our guy is so skinny, I'm not sure who he could scare away. While I was sitting at our table, I saw this out the corner of my eye:

That's our security guard on a neighbor's roof. I'm not sure what he was doing. For Thanksgiving we gave him some lime muffins. He looked at us like we were crazy. I wonder what he thought of them. I didn't like them, so I doubt he did. The thing is that when we're offered food, we have to eat it. We say we like it even when it's gross. However, they'll straight up tell you if they don't like what we offer. This guy can't tell us if he doesn't like them b/c he can't speak English and we can't understand him...yet.

I hope you had a Great Thanksgiving.

Travel Dreams

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” -St. Augustine

If you know me, you know I like to travel. A few people accused me of coming to South Asia because it would be another travel adventure. I promise this hasn't been a vacation for Jesus.

During my freshman year of college, I wrote a list of places I wanted to visit before I graduated. I was able to check off over half of them. I checked all of the ones in Europe off; it was the places in America I didn't make it to. I've been to more countries than states. My first time to Tennessee was last year.

When I graduated, I wrote a list of places to visit before I turned 25. It's looking like I need to bump that back b/c that's how old I'll be when I return. Now it's more like before I turn 30. Uhh...I don't like how that sounds.
Anyways, I'm going to share my list with you guys. This isn't my before I die list. That one is really long.

U.S.:
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
The Grand Canyon, Arizona
San Francisco, CA

South America:
Machu Picchu, Peru
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Asia:
Mt. Everest, Nepal
The Great Wall of China

Africa:
Cape Town, South Africa
Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania*

I'm in the wrong profession. Sometimes I forget that you need money in order to travel. Where have you always dreamed of going? I doubt I'm the only one that has travel dreams. What or who's holding you back? If it's money; stop eating at McDonalds everyday and Outback every weekend. That way it's better for your body and wallet. I promise it will be cheaper to go now than in 1o years. No matter who you are if you need a travel buddy, call me. I promise it won't take much begging.

Mark Twain was on to something when he stated,
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

I've learned more about life through traveling and hanging out with people unlike me than I did in my four years of college or any book I've read. When I throw around the term travel, I'm not talking about a vacation in a resort w/ walls around it. I've done that before and loved it also. I'm talking about submersion into unknown places. Once you're surrounded by the unfamiliar, you're forced to learn. You examine everything: your friends, your morals, your faith, your existence. Scripture even looks different. You begin to read it with different eyes, and it speaks in new ways.

I agree with this cat more than Mark Twain or St. Augustine.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”

-Lin Yutang

If I were home...

I would sign up for these:

NewSpring Church's Unleash Conference for church leaders:
http://www.newspring.cc/unleash
(Anderson, SC; March 12, 2009)

Catalyst One Day for church leaders also:
http://www.catalystoneday.com/
(Atlanta, GA; February 26, 2009)

**The MacDaddy Conference** I don't even like saying "MacDaddy," but there's no other way to describe it.
C3: Creative Church Conference
http://www.creativechurchconference.com/
(Grapevine, TX near Dallas; February 18-20, 2009)
My pastor from Charlotte is speaking which is an insanely huge honor. Other pastors such as T.D. Jakes and Craig Groeschel will be speaking also.

Yeah, I know that you're thinking these are all for church leaders. Just because you're not on the payroll or don't have a title before your name doesn't mean you're not a leader. I'm a little obsessed with churches that's why I would go. I have friends that have been to each of these conferences and were blessed with many new ideas and a fresh outlook on their ministry.

Question?

Do you guys like this format better or the old one? Which is easier to read? I'm a baby blogger compared to some of my friends. I know one thing you're thinking that would make it better is shorter posts. Especially after the one about Thanksgiving. I'm trying to work on it. My fingers just keep typing. It's like the movie Weekend @ Bernie's, when the music starts I just can't stop.

Happy Turkey Day or Thanksgiving?

I saw these guys in the park the other day. J/K. This is for you Mary. Maybe you should try this w/ Dotty and Crazor.


With Thanksgiving around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it actually is. I’m in a country that doesn’t have a clue. I tried to describe it to my landlords and I butchered it. I said something like it’s a holiday where families get together, eat big meals, and give thanks for the blessings in their lives. You may be thinking, “That sounds just about right.” But is it really? Should that be what Thanksgiving is?

All holidays over here everything are associated with their religion. So, they associate all of our holidays with the one religion that all Americans follow, Christianity. (Yeah right, but that’s how the world views us)

For instance, I’ve heard that people over here think that Santa Claus is one of our gods because we plaster him everywhere during December. Same with Christmas trees. I wonder how Halloween looks to them. I don’t even want to know.

I’m starting to think S. Asia has something right. Their religion is so embedded in them that it overflows into every aspect of their lives. Let’s keep in mind this is a false religion that is keeping millions blinded from the truth. Of course, the devil wants their beliefs to infiltrate all aspects of society.

Back to Thanksgiving. Should we do anything that isn’t for God’s glory? Of course, we immediately say no b/c that would be sin. But I know in the past when I’ve celebrated Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, etc. focusing on giving Him due praise and honor hasn’t been first on my mind. I don’t doubt for one minute that many of you reading this get our holidays right. I don’t. For example, in the past I've spent more time decorating the Christmas tree than reading or sharing the Christmas story with others. My very existence is dependent on Him, and everything in my life is from Him. So this Thanksgiving day, I want to give credit where credit is due. Someone sent me this scripture, so I’m passing it along to you. It’s a compilation of scripture that sums up Thanksgiving. (It’s long, but worth it) If you don't have time, skip to the bottom and read it later.

"On that day David decreed for the first time that thanks be given to the Lord…Give thanks to the Lord; call on His name; proclaim His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him; sing praise to Him; tell about all His wonderful works! Honor His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice…Remember the wonderful works He has done, His wonders, and the judgments He has pronounced…He is the Lord our God; His judgments [govern] the whole earth. Remember His covenant forever…Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Proclaim His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonderful works among all peoples. For the Lord is great and is highly praised; He is feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His place. Ascribe to the Lord, families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of [His] holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth…Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord is King!”…Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. May You be praised, Lord God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. In Your hand are power and might, and it is in Your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your own hand. We give thanks to You, God; we give thanks to You, for Your name is near. People tell about Your wonderful works. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are His — His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations. Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts or proclaim all the praise due Him? Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord…I will give thanks to You because You have answered me and have become my salvation. I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing Your praise before the heavenly beings. I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your constant love and faithfulness. You have exalted Your name and Your promise above everything else. May the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him…Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.' Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"
(1 Chron 16:7-15; 23-26; 29:10-20; Psalms 75:1; 100:3-5; 106:1-2; 118:19-21; 138:1-5; Dan 2:19-23; 1 Thess 5:16-18; Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 15:56-57 HCSB)

After that if you’re still wondering what you should be thankful for this year think about the people in these statistics:
· Every day 799 million people in developing countries—about one of every seven people worldwide—go hungry.[1]
· Every 5 seconds a child dies because he or she was hungry.[2]
· A child dies every 15 seconds from a water-related disease. This amounts to nearly 6,000 deaths, or the equivalent of 20 jumbo jets crashing, every day.[3]
· Americans spend $26 billion annually on ice cream, an amount that could feed 83 million hungry children for an entire year.[4]

I’m definitely not trying to make you feel bad about the blessings we both share or how much ice cream you eat. I love ice cream. When I get back, I’ll continue to buy over-priced ice cream from Coldstone. Just keep the nations in your prayers this Thanksgiving. Pray for more workers, especially for national/local workers. The gospel spreads like wildfire amongst nationals. It’s been amazing to see.

Also, you can give to organizations such as this one:Water Missions International. It’s an amazing non-profit. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to serve there and get to know its leaders. They have an online Christmas catalog where you can purchase life saving gifts. Look online for more detail. I cannot describe it well. Please check it out. It’s based out of Charleston. http://www.watermissions.org/ P.S. Family this is what you’ll be receiving this Christmas.

Thanks for hanging in there through this long post. Thanks for all of your support. I cannot imagine where I would be without your prayers.

Here's one more funny:

[1] United Nations Human Development Report 2003.
[2] State of Food Insecurity in the World, Food and Agriculture Organization, 2003.
[3] World Health Organization, 2004.
[4] State of the World 2004, World Vision, International Dairy Foods Association, Dairy Facts 2008.

I Take It Back...

Everyday is a day in paradise here. After posting the previous message, I went back to the flat knowing there was no electricity. We called the electrician and he fixed the problem. That was quick and easy.



Well as I was cutting my chicken to bake for dinner this happened:

I slightly bumped the faucet. Now water freely flows on and off throughout the day. Thankfully it flows straight into the sink. Some people think fountains are peaceful and serene. I still don't get that. It seems that everyday we find water that is either freely flowing or dripping from new pipe.

On top of that I went to put the chicken into the oven and it was broken. I couldn't get it to turn on. I ended up having a breakdown. I ate Easy Mac that I brought from home. I've been saving it for a bad night and last night was perfect. It was the best Easy Mac I had ever had.

One amazing thing is that WE HAVE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just Another Day in Paradise!!!!

We still don't have Internet. We were informed this morning by the company that it may take a month. I'm at the coffee place in the mall again, but this time I'm drinking some type of berry tea. It's not as bad as the coffee I had last time, so I'm thankful.

Things aren't going so smoothly. Here's an example of a day in paradise. Last Sunday we attended "a gathering of the body" that some friends recommended. Next thing we knew people were convulsing and falling out on the floor all around us. They were pointing people out of the crowd to get freed from the devil's stronghold and to receive joy. After 2hrs of watching in shock and from fear of being called forward, my friend and I bolted.

We left to met up with some friends and when met our crazy auto rickshaw driver. We jumped in the auto, then while it was moving got out b/c he wanted to charge us a crazy amount. This persistent driver followed us down the road a good bit. Finally we stopped walking when we reached a crowd of people and I screamed "No" and started shaking my head. I was laughing and so were the locals watching me. Eventually we gave in and got in his auto, but at a lower price. The thing is we think we're getting a deal when they lower from their original price, but we're still getting robbed compared to everyone else.

Anyways, a few miles down the road this happened:

We had a blow-out. It sounded like we were getting shot. I looked and realized there was no blood on me or my friend, so then I started laughing. The auto driver stopped someone to help him change the tire. Instead of using a jack his friend just tilted the auto. I thought it was going to tip over. That would have been funny.

Well this is our solution to all of the issues with using autos:

A Scooter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know it's scary and my parents are finding out about it just like you are. Sorry guys. I do have a helmet to wear, but I didn't wear it in this photo op. It's so much fun. I haven't ventured out far b/c I'm scared. I've got the neighborhood down pat. Our neighbors absolutely think we're insane.

Speaking about paradise, I've got to go. I was just informed our electricity is out again and I need to be back at the flat. No electricity is not that big of a deal, last week at around 3am water in my partner's bathroom spewed everywhere. Literally a pipe fell out of the wall. That's fixed now. The best part about that is plumbers here give an extra gift with their services. It's really sweet and cheap. They don't wear deodorant, so as a gift they let their delightful aroma fill and linger in your room. It's better than having a Glade Plug-In. Plumbers in America should try it.

I apologize for not responding to many emails. I'll promise once I get internet for more than 30min. at a time, I'll respond. Thanks for your support and prayers.

Design on a Dime

We're in our flat!!!! That means we don't have Internet yet. There is no Farmer's Telephone that we can call to set everything up. Right now, I'm in South Asia's version of Starbucks. You would have laughed at me while I was ordering. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I don't know the difference b/t a mocha, white chocolate latte, espresso, etc. I finally saw something named "Americano" so that's what I went with. It's hot and gross. I did get a blueberry muffin which is really good.

Here's a pic of by bedroom. Try to see if you can find my pet miniature iguana.

He's in the top right corner. I named him Shiv.

This really isn't a good picture. Do you like my bedside table? Yeah, it's a computer chair that is still wrapped in plastic. You can't see the actual bed, but it cost around $30 to have it custom made and delivered. The curtains were $3 each, and the computer chair/bedside table was $11.

Enough about the flat. I'll move onto a more important issue...FOOD. We went grocery shopping a few days ago. Their grocery stores make the T'ville IGA look like a Super Wal-Mart. Most of them are so small that they don't have buggies to push around. My partner thinks its funny when I call them buggies. I forgot what she calls them, but I think it's funny. We have found two stores that have buggies, but they are the size of the little kid ones our grocery stores once had. Hugh you need to bring those back. I loved them.

Here's a picture of the Fruit Loops I bought. I'm not typically a Fruit Loop eater, but it was that or granola. I chose sugar. They were manufactured in South Asia. I don't think they have artificial coloring down yet. They roughly tasted the same.

Although the outside is green, this is an orange. It just tasted a little watered down.

That's all I have about food. Everyone asks me about the weather. It's still in the 80s during the day, but it's cooling down at night. Our guard that stands outside our house wears a scarf sometimes. It makes me laugh, b/c I would be sweating. I'm told that the constant temp. in the summer is 120, so when it gets in the 60s they think it's freezing. I'm going to struggle this summer.

I'm really excited about this week. We're actually going to start working. We'll be traveling to a different state to train nationals and to scope out future work opportunities in slums and orphanages. This week is really crucial for us. We're really excited.

The blog may not be updated for awhile. Hopefully when we return from traveling, I'll have a few good stories and pics so I won't need to write about Fruit Loops.

Taking Time to be Holy

Warning: This post may bore you. You're exempt from reading it if you'd like.

What does it mean to be Holy? I don't have a clue. I really like music, so often times when someone says something I think of a song that relates to the topic. Some friends were talking about being holy and I thought of and old hymn we sang in the church I grew up in. It's called Take Time to be Holy. Initially, I thought that's wrong. "Take Time to be Holy" Shouldn't we always be holy? Then I read the lyrics to the song:

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word. Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak, Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone. By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide; And run not before Him, whatever betide. In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul, Each thought and each motive beneath His control. Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.

George C. Stebbins, 1890

Doesn't that pretty much sum up how to be holy? I was going to give the scripture references, but I'm too lazy for that. If you want to hear the hymn just click here I laughed out loud when I first heard it, but it helped me remember the tune.

We've been moving into our flat. It's taken us all week long to get it ready. It takes forever to get things done here. I will never take a Bed, Bath, & Beyond for granted. Here you have to go to one market for curtains, then another for bedding, so on and so on. I'll update you with pics of the finished product.

As many of you have experienced, moving into a new house in the U.S. is stressful. Coordinating and working with future roommates or spouses can be one of the hardest task. Needless to say, this move brought the best out of my teammate and me. In my readings this week I read these verses:

Eph. 4:26-29,

"In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. ...Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building other up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Philippians 2:3-4,

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interest of others."

In college I had that verse above the kitchen sink. So when I cleaned out someone's soggy noodles that were clogging up the drain, It would remind me to check my motives and heart. It didn't always work.

Cleaning up after someone else isn't always fun, but its the little things count. This week my teammate gave me the best bedroom. She knew I wanted it b/c it had more windows and it was blue, but I knew she wanted it for those same reasons. I said we should flip, but she gave it to me anyways. Maybe you or she doesn't consider that being holy, but I do. She thought of me above herself. Thanks Partner!!! You're the bestest ever!!!(I know it's not supposed to be "bestest")

My point is that there isn't a list of things we can do to become "holy." If we could apply the first line of the song to our lives I think we would be just a little better off.

It says, "Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word."

I Voted!!!!

This is just a random pic. I don't really have any new ones from this week.

YAY!!!!!! I went to America today to vote. Well...I went to the embassy to vote! I was so happy because I didn't meet the absentee requirements before I left, but then I found out I could vote at the embassy. Now I feel a little bit better about myself.

We've been in language learning this week. Yesterday I learned how to count. My tutor asked me to count the tires on a car and I counted them out loud in Spanish. She looked at me crazy. Just a minute ago, we rode an autoricksaw home from a friends house and got lost. Once we finally found the house, the driver said "Saat." I thought he was trying to say sorry for getting us lost. I said, "It's ok, don't worry about it." Well, he was saying 70 which is 20 more rupees than we had agreed on. My friend looked at me like I was stupid. I'm getting crazy looks from locals and my own friends.

Hopefully by this time next week, we'll be in our flat and we'll also know who the next President will be. I'm so excited about both events.


There are a few verses that talking about praying and submitting to those in authority, but I'm going to quote two different version of this verse: 1 Timothy 2:1-3

"I urge, then, first of all, that request, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for
everyone--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quite lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior." (NIV version)


"The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live." (The Message; it's a paraphrase not a translation)


Pray and Vote. It's more that just a duty. I'm so glad I was able to vote, b/c if I didn't I couldn't have said that.

Yeah, I know this pic. is crooked. I still like it.


Health update: Ankle isn't swollen anymore. My boogers are not longer black from the pollution, but they are green b/c I'm sick. It's weird that I have a cold w/ a runny nose, sore throat, and cough when it's 80 degrees outside. Yeah, I said it...Boogers. What else do you call them?

Thanks Guys!!!

We signed a lease last night!!!!!!!!!!!! Our landlords called us back, and we worked everything out. Thanks for your prayers.

The Taj, Jesus, and Japan

As you can see from the pic., we visited the Taj Mahal today. Yeap, it's pretty much one of the 7 wonders of the world. It didn't look real. We got to go inside and see the actual tomb. The guy who built it had two other wives buried on the property, but their tombs looked like dog houses compared to this.

The best part of the trip wasn't seeing the actual Taj, but watching and talking to people.

We had a lot of fun trying to seek pics of people without them knowing it. We think this guy resembled Jesus. The funnier thing was that we started to realize people were doing the same thing to us. They would walk by us and have their camera under their arm and we would hear it click.

One guy just walked between us and posed while his friend took the picture. Then his friend came up to me and asked if I was Japanese!!!!!!! My family is probably laughing b/c we always talk about our little squinty eyes. I wasn't wearing sunglasses and I was squinting, but clearly, for many reasons this man is confused.

#1) I look like a Sumo wrestler compared to any Japanese person, male or female. They are tiny. #2) My hair is brown w/ tons of poof. Their hair is black and flat.
#3) I have blue eyes. They typically don't.

This is a picture of a women scooping up with her hands fresh...well just look closely and you can tell. They gather it, dry it, and use it for fuel for fires.

Let me add a little disclaimer about this pic. I didn't walk up to her and take it. I rode past her in an cycle rickshaw and turned back in my seat to take the pic. I'm surprised it turned out.

Cats go through our garbage...Cows go through theirs.

These are cute little kids riding home from school in an auto rickshaw.

Also, our lease fell through with our landlords. As of right now, we don't have anywhere to move into once our training is over. Please pray that something will open up and we'll be able to start our work. I'm getting a little tired of this tourist stage.

I'll post again next week.

Gracias...Si, Por Favor!!!

Those are the words that try to come out of my mouth each time I talk to a national. Today I answered a rickshaw driver by saying, "Si." Speaking Spanish would be great if I were living in South America, but I'm in South Asia. Also, I can't speak Spanish. I don't even know what "Gracias...Si, Por Favor" means.

Ankle update: Still Swollen and beautiful.

I'll probably be updating the blog once a week, not daily. Check back next week. We're doing a little traveling over the next few days, so I'm sure I'll have some more stories.

Jet Lag Ain't No Joke

Clearly the Jet Lag is talking. Although, I hail from South Carolina I try to abstain from saying "ain't." However I cannot sleep at night and I'm going crazy. So please ignore any typos and anything that doesn't make sense. Actually when I'm not jet lagged I don't make sense. My friends named my language "Allisonese." If you understand me, you're one of the fortunate ones.

This picture was taken by a friend at the rebar accident site. Of course, I didn't see the sign. I think they should use my picture instead of the stickman on the sign.

Here are some pics of my future apartment. We'll make the move in a few weeks.
This is from the balcony looking into the main room.

The above pic is one of the bedrooms, and the pic below is of our first pet. They eat mosquitoes, so he's a keeper.

This is our first day out in our salwar kameezes. You can't see the pants in the picture. The style is a bad combination of Aladdin and MC Hammer pants. My pants matched my dupatta (my scarf) which made me look like a piece of asparagus. If anyone would like to borrow it for Halloween, you could be a giant leprechaun.

I'm about to fall out from exhaustion. We were extremely busy today. We visited temples of four different religions. I've never witnessed lostness and oppression to that magnitude until today. Pray for the darkness that plagues South Asia. All we can do is pray and be obedient to His leading.

Phone Numbers and Rebar

I truly believe everyday of my life has been an adventure. At the end of the day when I write in my journal, I can usually recap an odd occurance that defined the day. So, when I signed up for this "trip" I knew I would have a story or two to tell.

That's the final farewell picture.

The tales begin now and forgive me if I bore you. I understand that my momma will most likely be the only person to read the entire post.

On my third connection flight, I sat next to a Sikh. A Sikh follows the teachings of 10 gurus. Sikh's are often distinguished by wearing turbans which cover their hair that has never been cut.

On the 8 hour flight, I sat in between the Sikh(named Gurpreet) and another older local man. At the beginning of the flight I told Gurpreet that I didn't sleep on planes. After the flight took off, I took out my iPod to listen and he stopped me. He told me it would cause the pilot to crash the plane. Of course, I knew iPods were allowed, but I was too shy to tell him otherwise. At this point I prayed for God to knock me out b/c I didn't think I could make it without music. God granted that request. I was practically naraleptic. If it weren't for Gurpreet who continually poked me to tell me something, I would have slept the entire time. I fell asleep a few times while he was talking to me. The end of the story is that this guy asked me to move back to Canada with him and his wife. He told me that he could find me a good job, and then he gave me his son's phone number.


Day 1 was eventful to say the least. One thing I've realized that this city is absolutely insane, so this will be the first of many eventful days. The day began with our supervisors giving us a tour of the market. While she was leading us, she was hit by a car. It didn't knock her down; it just bent the car's mirror backwards. I screamed like my arm had just been chopped off and everyone turned to look. Great start to the day.


He's a little video clip of my first ride in an autorickshaw. I thought we were going to take out the man walking when we turned.





I've always liked Romans 10:14-15 which says, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"


I love that passage, but the beautiful feet part always bothered me b/c I think feet are gross. The below pictures are my battlewounds from my first day here.

Are these the beautiful feet that Paul's talking about?


I'm still not sure what made my ankle swell so much, but I thought I would have to cut my foot out of my sandal.

The event that resulted in this picture happened as I was attempting to cross the insanely busy road. I was stepping up onto a curb and avoiding a big hole when my pant leg got caught on some rusty rebar that was sticking out. Since my pant leg was stuck, I began hopping to keep my balance which in turn caused me to teeter back and forth over the road. Anyways the result was a ripped pant leg, a bloody ankle, and laughter from all my friends.

Pretty much, my left foot has caused more stress than any other factor since the move.

The first pic. is an Indian all vegetarian meal. The second picture is an attempt to redeem our lunch w/ some pizza.

The pizza had this glue-like cheese oozing from it. This is their version of stuffed crust. Also, this pic. doesn't do the oozing justice.

The last two days have been full of learning things the hard way.

The main lessons learned have been:

1) Don't sit next to a man on a plane that's trying to marry off his son.

2) Cars don't stop for people.

3) Don't cuff your pants when rebar is around.

4) Don't order stuffed crust pizza.

Stay tuned for more post. I'll load pics of me in my new outfits next.