March 6, 2008
Things around here have been busy as usual. Most of my time is spent getting together with local friends and investing in those relationships as we talk about what's important in our lives. I meet new people that want to be my friend each week, and it's difficult to find time to spend with all of them. Fortunately it is pretty easy to discern the difference between the ones who are only interested in me as a person to practice their English with and the ones who have a deeper interest in what I have to share with them about Dad.

I have had lots of great conversations with people this week, several of whom are studying the book with me. It's the thing that drives me forward when I am experiencing the hardships of life overseas. Getting to share truth with people who are truly seeking it is a pretty overwhelming thing. Just today I was teaching a study with some of my fellow students and as we finished I asked one of the students to talk to Dad for us. She thanked Dad for having me there to teach them about the good book, and for my being brave to tell the other students about Dad. Earlier today, while we ate lunch, she told me that I have been a huge encouragement to her to share with her friends, because she sees how brave I am to tell everyone about my loving Father. Wow - she will never know how much it meant to me to hear her say that. So often I feel hesitant to speak up because I know I don't understand the cultural context of what I say, and I don't want to push people away because of my ignorance of how I appear to them. Hearing a student tell me that I have encouraged her to be bold has made my day!

Last weekend my roomie and I traveled to our favorite small town. As we rode the bus there on Friday evening we witnessed a breathtaking sunset. Here are some pictures I shot through the dirty bus window as we flew along the windy countryside roads.    

   

That night we walked around the town trying to find some new friends. We went to the street with all the people and lots of barbeque carts selling meat on a stick. One of the owners invited us to sit and chat with him while he provided us with a TON of free spicy lamb on a stick. He invited us to come have lunch with him the next day and meet his family.
   

The next morning I got up and went for a run because it was a beautiful day! Seriously the kind of day that is so mild and wonderful that you wish you could freeze time and just stay in that day forever. While I was running I observed a dragon being chased around by monkey men. I guess is was in celebration of a new tiny hotel opening in the town. I have to admit that the monkey men freak me out a little bit.
        

        

Later that morning I went to the town square and observed some people dancing. They love to do this, and in this country it is very commonplace for women to dance together. I barely got out of an invitation by the dance instructor lady, who really wanted to dance with me. Instead, I enjoyed watching how fiercely they completed their maneuvers.
     

I took some pictures around the town square and just enjoyed the sunshine.
   

I met up with my roomie and we had lunch with the barbeque man from Friday night. He and his brother took us out to lunch after introducing us to his family. After that, he took us to meet his friends who own a motorcycle store in town. I had told him that I'm interested in learning to drive one, and hope to find one to buy someday. The men at the motorcycle shop were really great and tried to convince me to buy a new one that day. If they had gotten down to a low enough price I would have! But they did let me drive one around and even show me a few tricks they knew how to do. I loved it!
      
By the way, the pop bottle hanging from the handle bars is full of gasoline running down a tube into the gas tank so we could have just enough to drive the brand new bike around.

After this my roomie and I walked around town with the barbeque man, his brother, and his wife. My roomie shared the good story with them, which they believe is true - but they also believe other stories are true with contradict the truth, so they still have a ways to go.
I took some pictures while we walked and talked with them. The brother let me drive his scooter around, which is always fun.
       

   

That afternoon my roomie and I hung out in the square for a little while. Some students came up and wanted to take pictures with us, so they made us get up and go pose in front of some flowers with them. We had a lot of laughs.
      

It was a good weekend, which has been followed by a great week of hanging out and talking with friends here in the city where I live. I will appreciate all the thoughts you can remember to lift up for the people here that are hearing the story and are learning so much!

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March 11, 2008
This past weekend was my roommate's birthday. We packed in many fun activities to celebrate her birthday as well as "Women's Day", which is apparently an international holiday that America doesn't know about.
On Friday we went rock climbing and then out for pizza with our local American friends. The rock climbing gym was something I stumbled upon a few months ago, while I was checking out the possibility of joining a Tai Kwon Do club. I won't give you many details, but suffice to say that the condition of the climbing equipment and ropes would definitely NOT have passed any safety inspection in the States. Nevertheless, we climbed and had a great time of it! I decided to belay all of my friends, replacing the man who worked at the gym. I just felt it would help to slightly increase our chances of not getting injured. (To "belay" means to hold the end of the rope and keep the climber from hitting the ground when they fall off the wall.)
We had a lot of fun and everyone pushed themselves to climb high up the wall.
   
The gym had a big overhang near the top of the wall. I tried several times to get past it, but just don't have the arm strength of my childhood, where I could cross the monkey bars on a playground with ease. So I went for some wild rides at the end of the rope each time I fell - which was fun in a different way. (especially as I imagined the rope breaking with each fall)
      
                    

We ordered a special birthday cake to surprise my roomie with at the pizza place. She is from Texas, so we told them to make a big star, with an American flag in the middle. We had them write "Happy Birthday" and her name in the local language. She was born in the year of the rat, so we had them make lots of little rats circling the cake.

The next morning we went out to a nice hotel in town that serves a breakfast buffet which occasionally serves french toast! It is a real treat to eat there!

After breakfast we killed a few hours shopping downtown - checking out all the sales in honor of Women's Day. Then we went to the Royal Spa. I have never been to anything like this before, because in America it's not something the average person can afford. But in this country my money goes a long, long ways, so we splurged! This spa allows you to check yourself in and stay for up to 24 hours. While there you are given a plush leather recliner to sit in, which has a personal TV attached to it, as well as blankets and pillows. There were large rooms filled with these chairs so we all relaxed there for a while.

While at the spa they give you these funny pajama outfits to wear around, as well as a robe. All my friends and I got at least one massage while we were there. For the full body massage, you go to a private room. For the back / head / shoulder / foot massages, they come to your chair and do it there while you sit and watch TV or read a book. There is an endless supply of fruit, juice, and tea available to snack on all day long. They also serve a buffet during meal times. This was the first true buffet I've been to in this country and it was pretty strange to me. First of all; people don't stand in lines here. If they want to go somewhere or buy something they just all crowd toward the front, elbowing each other and thrusting their arms in front of one another to be the next person to get whatever they're after. So the buffet followed suit and I had no interest in battling it out with the locals. I waited about 20 minutes before attempting to get my food. Even then it was a challenge. People would grab the tongs in front of one tray of food and keep them as they circled the tables. Once you had tongs you better hold on to them until you were done! Although some men would just grab the food with their bare hands in their impatience to fill their plate. It was pretty crazy and another new experience for sure! After dinner we sat around our dining table and played cards for a few hours. I arrived at the spa at noon and didn't leave until nearly 11pm. It was a weekend full of memorable events, and I am glad my roommate had a special birthday because of it.
  

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March 25, 2008
I have been crazy busy the past two weeks with all my fun Easter events, language school, studying the book with friends, traveling, and developing relationships. But through it all I have had one thing constantly on my mind. One simple thought repeating over and over:
"I want to buy a motorcycle."

Now, it may be relevant to tell you that I have never owned a motorcycle, and thus far have driven motorcycles a total of 4 times in my life; each time for less than five minutes. But, being the highly skilled, athletically coordinated person that I am, I feel that those 4 times have adequately prepared me for advanced motorcycle driving levels. And so I began a quest to get my driver's license in this country, buy a motorcycle, and learn to drive in the city.

I know that you have to deal with a lot of "red tape" to get things done in this country, and so I was prepared for this to be a long and complicated process. But I was not aware that it would be a history-making, ground-breaking experience for all parties involved. Apparently I am the first foreigner EVER to get a driver's license in this city of a million people. And so it became a big deal. I now feel that I am close friends with many of the local cops and chiefs of the Department Of Transportation. And after the number of pictures they took of me with their personal cameras, I think I am well on my way to notoriety in this city.

I think I only had to go to the D.O.T. 4 or 5 times to get the job done. There was the typical overseas thing of arriving at one building, only for them to tell me I needed to go across town to another building to get some paper filed before I could return. So I did that several different times until there couldn't possibly be anything left to prove about myself.

It was decided that because I had my American driver's license, I wouldn't have to take a driving test - which is good because I barely know how to drive a motorcycle. But I did have to take a written test. On Friday one of my dear friends and teachers, Lucy, came with me to try to get the job done. She got us up to the third floor to talk with the heads of the D.O.T. The chief pulled some strings and found a different city's D.O.T. which had the test in English, so they sent it over. It only took an hour and a half sitting in his office while he called many people trying to find the password for the computer. Around 4:30pm he was ready to go home for the day, so he gave instructions to the workers that the foreigner (me) MUST pass the test, and they should stay there until I did.

I took the test a few times, but the translation was really poor and it used British terminology rather than American, so it was rather confusing. Also, the traffic signs apparently mean different things here than in America. Needless to say; I failed the test twice - meaning that I got an 81/100 the first time I took it. The second time I took the test all the workers gathered around me trying to help me get the required score of 90 or better. They were giving me answers and everyone was trying so hard to help me - partly because this was history in the making and partly because I'm sure they wanted to go home for the day. With their help I got a score of 77/100. Obviously they didn't understand the English test any better than I did. Of course, none of them spoke English except my teacher, Lucy. After that, they decided to send me home with a book to study and told me to come back on Tuesday.

So today is Tuesday. I went back to the department after studying this weekend with my teacher, who tried her best to translate the book for me to understand. She decided that it would be better if she just took the test in the local language, because it would go much quicker and we wouldn't have to worry about the translation of complicated traffic scenarios. We were placed at the head of the line, of course, and given the test in the local language. My teacher did her very best but she only got an 84/100. It didn't matter. The workers knew my friendly smile very well by now, and after a brief discussion with the head of the department, they simply changed my answers in the computer until I had an officially passing score. I thought that was kinda hilarious, although the entire process was really just a sad look at the nonexistence of set standards in this country.

Regardless of that, everyone at the department was nothing but kind and giving to me during my interactions with them. They all went out of their way to help me out and I was overwhelmed each time I went to the D.O.T. how caring they all were. I know I got special treatment because I'm a foreigner in a city with very few foreigners, but I was still really touched by their efforts to accommodate me. Seriously. WOW.

So this afternoon, after failing / passing my test, I went back down to the main floor and went through the final processing of getting my driver's license. History in the making, folks. I wanted to take pictures throughout my experience, but wasn't sure how appropriate it would be. I finally took out the camera at the end, though. Here I am waiting for one last half hour while they made my license for me.

Here I am during the special moment of receiving my motorcycle license!

My teacher and friend, Lucy, who came with me during my final two visits to the D.O.T. and really got the job done for me!

So, for my long awaited grand finale, here is the coveted license. Look out on the sidewalks! No, seriously. We really do drive on the sidewalks here!

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March 31, 2008
I have so many awesome things that have been happening this past week, and during the Easter holiday. I am thrilled to tell you we all have a new sister and a new brother! That's right! I'll break it down for you piece-by-piece, so bear with me because it's worth reading.

Easter was amazing. I had a couple large parties at my house to celebrate the holiday with my friends. My first party was with my friend and new sister, Sunny. She invited all her co-workers from the restaurant where she has taken a full time job, and convinced them all to come to my house after their shift. They arrived around 10:30pm and the party wound down about 12:40am. I was really proud of her being so bold to invite her friends to my party. We had a lot of fun playing "signs" - a game that was a big success during my Christmas parties a few months ago. It seems to transcend any language barriers. Sunny did a lot of translating for me throughout the party, because her co-workers didn't really speak English at all. We shared the story that tells about the reason for the holiday by reading it right out of the book. Throughout the story I showed clips of the movie "The Passion" to depict the section we had just read. It was an effective way to hold their attention and I was pleased with the respect they showed for something they had never heard about before.
    

The next night I had a party for my student friends from the college I attend. I told the girls who study the book with me to invite their friends to celebrate this special holiday together. They did a great job and I had around 20 students show up! I'm so proud of their boldness with their classmates. We went through the same routine of playing "signs" and then reading the story out of the book, mixed with clips from the movie. Again - I was really happy with everyone's response. It was a lot of fun. I have found that having parties at my house is a great way to develop deeper friendships and find out who wants to learn more about important stuff! I have made new studying friends from every party I've had so far!

You all remember my dear friend and teacher, Lucy. She has become a close friend over the past 5 months and I am so grateful to have her in my life. She has been reading the book more and more over the past few months, but has been holding off from making any life-long decision about Dad until she was absolutely sure. But last week she got yelled at by her mother-in-law, who gives her a lot of grief all the time. She and her husband went home that night and he tried to talk with her about it. She told him to leave her alone for a while because all she wanted to do was read her book. She told her husband that her Father would tell her what to do and help her forgive her mother-in-law. When she told me this the next day, I decided to talk to her about officially letting Dad be her Father, and becoming His daughter forever. She said she definitely wanted to, so we talked to Dad right there in my classroom and she became my sister forever! Man oh man! I am still thrilled about that. She is so fired up, and loves studying her book every day. Please continue to think for her often, so that she will grow quickly in understand and soon be ready to tell all her friends and family!
            

This past weekend I traveled out to a new small town with my roommate. This is an even smaller town than my "favorite small town" that I often visit. Probably about 5,000 population. I have no idea. It's just small. But on Saturday afternoon everyone was out in the main streets enjoying each other and checking out the market goods. That's something that I really like about this country; people interact constantly. I have thought a lot about how much of a bubble everyone lives in in America. People stay in their cars and homes, always on task and on schedule. No time for making new friends, and very few opportunities to talk to someone new without them thinking you're a weirdo. I love that everyone walks around and lives their lives out in the open here. If someone has a problem, everyone usually knows it - but it's okay! They don't have a compulsive need to keep their lives a secret from each other. I just love the lifestyle of SHARING our lives with each other.
   

   
So anyway...... my roomie and I went to this small town, I'll name it "Sipper" just so I can have something to call it in the future. We arrived in Sipper and it was about lunch time so we had a typical noon meal. Noodles soup with vegetables and some meat. Delicious!
  
Our goal for the trip to Sipper was to do some humanitarian medical work. We planned on walking through the streets knocking on people's doors. When they answered we would offer to check their blood pressure for them and give them a little advice about keeping their heart healthy. So throughout the day we were able to check out over 20 people. My roomie would take their blood pressure and I would write it down. That was my job - write it down. Very important stuff! But after we did that we would offer to tell them a story. Then we would tell them the story and let them respond however they would. It was a fun idea because it allowed us to help people a tiny bit with their health, allowed us to go into people's homes and make new friends, and ultimately allowed us to share some good news with our new friends. What a perfect plan for a perfect day!
    

  
As we walked around we got various responses to our offer to check their blood pressure. Many people in Sipper don't speak the standard language of the country, so they couldn't understand us perfectly. But as we visited with more and more people during the day, they would go to their neighbor's house and tell them what we were doing. So we started seeing people waving us into their homes because they had someone inside that wanted their blood pressure taken too. That was pretty fun once people started spreading the word and stopped being afraid of us. When we would offer to tell them a story, some people said "no thank you" but many said "okay." Each time we came into someone's home, many neighbors would walk by, see us inside, and come inside the house to find out what was going on.
     
I know this is a difficult thing to imagine, but they all keep their front doors open and you can see right into people's homes when you walk down the street. And apparently everyone in town feels comfortable just walking right into another person's home.
  
The last house we went into had some women playing cards and some old men sitting around chatting. We had fun with this older group of people and they were really nice.

When we offered to tell them a story they were respectful and very interested. One man seemed to have heard of Dad before, by the way he clarified things that my roomie said while she told the story. He didn't laugh at anything, but seemed to pay a lot of attention and show his interest clearly. At the end of the story he decided to accept the story for his own life. My roomie asked him a couple of times just to be sure he understood the big picture. He understood and was sure that he wanted to become our new brother. It was a very exciting time! Most of the old people in the room couldn't understand us because they only spoke their local dialect, but this old man (78 years old) is a retired teacher, and he agreed to tell the story to all of his old friends so they could understand too. He said he doesn't have a book, but he wants one so that we can study it together. We promised to come back next week and he agrees to share the story with his friends. Ye-haw man! How great is our Dad? Soooooo great!

As a random little extra note, I'll tell you that this next weekend is a special holiday for the people in this country. They go to the graves of their ancestors and offer gifts to them. They burn fake money and bring food and stuff to the graves to honor their ancestors. They also ask their ancestors to bring them blessings. Here is a picture of the fake money they burn. Note the small text on the bill - you can read the English part...