Package Relief

There is no greater joy in my life right now than receiving packages from home. Last night I had a horrible headache and couldn't sleep. I ended up calling people, but I can't really remember what we talked about b/c I think I took too much Tylenol. Anyways, I finally went to sleep this morning, but only to be awaken by a call informing that I received a package. I sprung out of bed, Praising Jesus!!!

In the last week, I've received packages from Jennifer, Mary Kathryn, and my Parents. Maybe I shouldn't be bragging b/c these may be the last ones I receive.

Here's a picture of what makes a girl living in South Asia happy:

My favorite thing I've received so far are the pictures of the little ladies from New Zion with Bindis on their foreheads. They didn't tell me they were doing it, so it was hilarious to see.

The Cemetery or Children?

I was just listening to a sermon by Perry Noble and he made the statement, "There are churches that have more money in their cemetery fund than in their youth fund." That's not a word for word quote and his sermon was not focused on bashing churches, but it made me think. This past summer, my job was the keep my church's grass cut. The hardest part was cutting in the cemetery because dodging gravestones isn't fun and weed eating around them is even worse.

Once you spend hours in a cemetery you start to think about how and where you want to be buried. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be cremated because that would be one less gravestone for someone to mow around and its cheaper.

Back to the sermon, it was about how following Christ has nothing to do with being comfortable. It was an amazing sermon, you can click here to watch it or you can download it free from iTunes.

Every time, I mowed in the cemetery I wondered how many of those people's names were written in the Book of Life and how many were going to spend an eternity in Hell. Yeah, I said it. More importantly, the Bible says it. Revelation 20:15, 1 Tim. 2:5-6, Romans 6:23... There are so many other verses, but those came to mind first.

Sometimes, I question my belief in Hell. Because it seems to me that if I truly believed it existed, I would be doing more about it. You may be thinking, "I thought that is what you are doing." Have you ever really wanted to do something, but all you did was the opposite? I'm sure none of you have ever wanted to lose weight, but all you could think about was eating or excuses not to exercise. If you've been "churched," in your head you're quoting Paul when he said, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." Romans 7:18b. I hope you aren't thinking, it's OK Paul struggled with sin too.

Last week we visited a church and a friend told me the pastor said that they were thinking about making the wall that surrounded the property taller to keep people from a certain religion out. I almost fell out when I heard that. It was easy for me to think this guy was being outrageous and un-Biblical, but I think too many of us, especially me, already have invisible walls up. Life begins to get uncomfortable when we start to pray for God to remove our comfort blinders. I really think a good judge of whether or not you're in God's will is your comfort level. Let's don't confuse peace and comfort. You can have peace, but not be comfortable. Ex: Not that I know from experience, but childbirth doesn't seem too comfortable; however, I hope for believers that there is peace knowing you're about to deliver a gift from God. It's uncomfortable, but God's will. I bet a few mothers just laughed at that one. I know I have a lot to learn.

Most of the lessons I've learned in life are a result of uncomfortable situations. One incident without T.P. and you'll never make that mistake again. Right now, I've never been so uncomfortable, but I'm learning daily and needing Him more and more.

I really like the end of 1 Thessalonians, it says, "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."

This is a picture of us dancing on the job. It was really tricky for me because we had to walk, turn, and clap at the same time. I never got it right. Also, I hope you can notice how much bigger we are than everyone else.

They Put Make-up On Me and ...

They made me wear a saree. I was afraid it was going to fall off, but it didn't. Also, the one I'm wearing is an 80 years olds, so I was styling. I felt like Lady Liberty. The only thing missing was my tablet and torch.

They asked us to dress up for a little girls first birthday party. Here's a picture of the little girl. This was her second outfit. Halfway through the party she changed dresses. I wish I could have changed outfits.

They handed her to me to hold for a picture, but she started screaming. Then someone with white hair came up to me and said, "Don't worry, she hates all white things."

One of the days we were there was the International Kite Festival. I loved the book The Kite Runner, so I was excited to see a sky full of kites like described in the book. My pictures didn't turn out too well, but hopefully you can see some of the kites. By the end of the week, the streets and trees were full of kites.

Also, these are no ordinary kites. The kite is made of paper and bamboo and the string is laced with glass, so they can cut the other kites. It was a foreign concept to me. Everyone goes out of the roof and tries to bring other peoples kites down. Once a kite is cut everyone starts screaming. I didn't even know it when I cut a kite, they had to tell me to scream. Since the string has glass in it you have to wrap your fingers with tape so they don't bleed. You may be able to see my taped fingers in the pic. below. It's sort of a dangerous festival. Few people fall off their roofs or their necks get cut from the string as they are riding on their scooters.

I Still Love You Andy

My computer is fixed!!!! It was probably the easiest thing I've ever had to do in the this country. I'm so thankful. I really considered buying a new one, but one look at my bank account and that idea was out of the window. I have so much to share, so over the next few days I'll try to catch you guys up.

Now to important things: I absolutely love Andy Roddick. I have since high school; it's sort of sad. He's even engaged now to a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, but I'm still praying for him to come to his senses. Just kidding.

He is America's No. 1 tennis player, but he's No. 7 in the world. After Pete and Andre left us, American tennis has gone downhill. However, I still believe in Him. He just made it through to he Semi-Finals of the Australian Open. He's probably meet Federer there and once he wins there, he'll beat Nadal in the final. I'm so pumped. Too bad, I can't watch it.

Back in Del-licious

I never thought that would be a title for a post. I'm glad to be back. We've only spent three nights here since Christmas. One little problem is that my laptop has completely died and that is how I call home to tell my parents I'm alive and to check my blog. So, if you see my parent's let them know I'm alive and I'll call when I can.

Our little excursion of living with a national family was an adventure. Once I get my computer fixed, I'll post the pics and share the stories.

Heading Back to Hellhi!!!

Tomorrow we're leaving glorious land of Thailand and heading back to Hellhi. Yeah, that's my new name for it. I'm so dreading it. The good thing is that God's taught me a few things over the past couple of weeks, so I do feel like I'm heading back with a different attitude on some things. Love for the city not being one of those.

Today was a lot of fun. We started by doing on a zip-line tour through the jungle. The tour was called Flight of the Gibbon. Which was funny to me b/c my Grandmother's maiden name was Gibbons and I remember pretending like I was Gibbons monkey when I was a kid. I actually think we have pictures. When you grow up in a small town like New Zion, you do odd things to entertain yourself. My sister, Mary Kathryn, always liked pretending like we were homeless people that lived under our trampoline.

In this picture you can see Abby sailing across the line onto the next plank. Then from that plank we repelled straight down approx. 50 yards!!!!

This is a picture from one of our straight drops.

After the canopy tour, we went to this thing called "Monk Chat." It was a ton of monks just sitting at tables and talking to people, mostly tourist. Could you imagine once a week the elders and pastors of churches opening the church doors to the public to just talk? It would be a disaster. Did you know that the Prime Minister of England has unscripted Q&A sessions in front of parliament every Wednesday? I know that is random. The monks don't have these sessions for accountability, but that's what I thought about. Is there any accountability in America???? Is there any accountability in our churches? Is there any accountability in my life?

At the first local church I attended over here, a man went up front to the mic. and confessed his sin of offering a prayer to a Hindu god. Holy Cow!!! I would never get in front of any church and confess one of the many sins I committed in the previous week. I didn't plan on writing about accountability, but I think I've been overlooking it's importance for way too long. How do we ignore scripture like James 5:16 that says,

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

For the guys reading this: Has anyone in the last month asked you if you've viewed pornography or committed any sexual sin recently? For the girls: Has anyone asked you if have lusted over the boyfriend/husband that you don't have? For parents: Has anyone asked you if you've spent more time at work than with your family? For any believer: Has anyone asked if you've shared your faith with anyone this week or spent time in the Word daily?

I don't like my answers to some of those questions. Yeah there are better questions, but those are the first things that came to my mind. I hope you get the point I'm trying to make. Having people ask us hard questions like the ones above benefit us. James 5:16 says to confess and pray then you will be healed. James 5:19-20 states,

"My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins."

This isn't a command for us to run to all of our friends and reveal their sins to them. You know the people you can ask the hard questions to. The great thing about a question is that the person always answers truthfully to themselves. Lies may come out of their mouth, but in their head they know the truth.

Elephants Among Us!!!!

Hands down one of the things I'm most scared of in life is big animals. So when Abby wanted to visit an Elephant camp, I was a little nervous. Monday we are going on a canopy tour of the jungle, I love heights and she doesn't. It will be another interesting day.



Here are some pictures from our big day:

Notice how cute and calm Abby is on the elephant...then look at me...

I wrote in one of my first post about a man that came up to me and asked if I was from Japan. Well a few days ago I was getting a massage and the woman asked me, "Are you Chinese?" Then she said, "Your eyes are like mine." With a picture like the one below, I'm starting to understand why people ask me that.

The Red Monster in Thailand!!!

I've been on a business/vacation in Thailand. It's like heaven compared to the city I live in. It's so quite, I felt like I had ear plugs in when we walked down the sidewalk. The fact that they had sidewalks amazed me. Another little perk of this country is that they serve beef. Within my first hour here, I ate a double cheeseburger from McDonald's. I've never eaten a double cheeseburger in my entire life, but that's what happens when you go a few months without beef.

Here are some pictures of my trip so far:

I took this pic. from inside my taxi. It's a Red Lobster. Gross...They're everywhere!!!

Here's a praying Ronald McDonald. Not really, this is how the Thai people greet you.

Find the European....Hint: He's the one in the Speedo. They were all over the beach...SICK!!!

Just a little random pic. of my friends in the water.

I'm ridding elephants tomorrow and doing a zip-line tour through the jungle the next day. I'll post more pics soon.