I feel like we've spent all day being around old friends. That is definitely one of the major reasons we're here, and it is what makes going here different than just taking a trip or going to help out in another country.
We had our morning "fellowship" with our foreigner friends this morning. It is definitely a switch having church in a living room with eight other people instead of being in a church building with several hundred people. There was no music leader (we sang with music on the computer), no projectors or screens, no order of service, and not even a live preacher (just a podcast). Even without all of the normal elements to a church service, there is something very intimate about it. It is definitely different, but it has some elements that the American church has a hard time capturing.
For lunch we went and met one of my local friends here. He was probably my closest local friend while I lived here. Now he is married and wanted all of us to have lunch together. On the way to the restaurant with them, he told me that he knows another one of my local friends that I shared with a lot while I was here. I guess my friend called him, because when we arrived at the restaurant he was waiting on us. It was a good surprise because I was not sure how I would find him and I wanted to reconnect with him while I was here. He told me that he has been going to a local church over the past year and that he might go with me when we go later this week.
For dinner we met with another one of my local friends. He had us over to his house, and his wife cooked us dinner. She is an amazing cook, and we had a great time catching up on things. He is a strong believer and would go out with me on most of my village trips when I lived here. We ended up spending a good hour and a half after dinner just sitting around talking and encouraging one another in what we've both been doing.
It was a great Sunday and tomorrow we're going out with a friend to help him in one of the villages he focuses on.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Day 4 (Saturday)
Well we had our tourist day today. We spent this morning out in Old Town. Old Town is the part of town that is around 1,000 years old. It is all cobblestone, canals and storefront shops. Old Town is great, with the exception of the 4-million Chinese tourists that come here every year. We beat most of the crowd by going in the morning and getting out of there by lunch.
We're styling in an apartment that my friend used to live in. It hasn't been lived in for almost tow years, so there we some minor repairs the landlord needed to come by and fix. Because this is a third world culture, what should've taken thirty minutes ended up taking two and a half hours. So the afternoon was pretty much gone after that. Someone needed to stay there all afternoon and make sure it got done, so I like to look at it as our work for the day.
This evening has been pretty relaxed and has just been spent with friends. It is nice coming back here and being able to spend the evenings with people we know.
We're styling in an apartment that my friend used to live in. It hasn't been lived in for almost tow years, so there we some minor repairs the landlord needed to come by and fix. Because this is a third world culture, what should've taken thirty minutes ended up taking two and a half hours. So the afternoon was pretty much gone after that. Someone needed to stay there all afternoon and make sure it got done, so I like to look at it as our work for the day.
This evening has been pretty relaxed and has just been spent with friends. It is nice coming back here and being able to spend the evenings with people we know.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Day 3
We made it. The best way to describe the travel out here this time is uneventful. Normally there is some sort of hiccup or long layover or something; not this time. It was smooth the whole way. We arrived in LJ about noon yesterday and basically hung out with friends all day. It was a good chance to catch up on things and hear about what has happened since I left. Really the only news is that there are a few new roads, some more foreigners moved out here, and some restaurants opened or closed. Really that is about it.
The biggest thing that I've noticed about being back is how normal everything feels. It really doesn't seem like much time has passed at all since I've left, even though it has been over a year and a half. There haven't been any of the weird culture moments or even anything seeming out of place, well except for having Lindsey with me (that minor detail). Really though, that doesn't seem strange either. It just all seems to fit just like it used to but even more so now. And she seems to be really enjoying it so far (or else she is a much better faker than I give her credit for).
It is early in the morning so we are about to go and see Old Town before it gets crowded. It'll be a nice touristy thing to do.
The biggest thing that I've noticed about being back is how normal everything feels. It really doesn't seem like much time has passed at all since I've left, even though it has been over a year and a half. There haven't been any of the weird culture moments or even anything seeming out of place, well except for having Lindsey with me (that minor detail). Really though, that doesn't seem strange either. It just all seems to fit just like it used to but even more so now. And she seems to be really enjoying it so far (or else she is a much better faker than I give her credit for).
It is early in the morning so we are about to go and see Old Town before it gets crowded. It'll be a nice touristy thing to do.
Day One (and sort of two)
Well we've been doing the planes, trains, and automobiles thing. Actually over the last 24 hours we've done all three. I'm sitting on our final flight right now and very much looking forward to being there in another hour. Lindsey has been a trooper though. I thought I was going to lose her to jet lag last night on the subway, but she hung in until we made it to the hotel. Here's a rundown of where we've been and what we've done over the past day or so (it is hard to keep time straight with that pesky international date line).
-flew to Vancouver: 4 hours plus a 2 hour layover
-flew to shanghai: 12 hours plus a 2 hour subway ride to our hotel and spent the night
-flew to LJ 4 more hours (and swearing I'm not getting on a plane again for another 2 weeks).
China has this amazing tension of beauty and chaos all at the same time. Admittedly, I usually remember the beauty a lot more than I remember the chaos. Three things about the chaos I've remembered since we got here:
1) There are a lot of bad Chinese parents out there. And I know the same can be true for Americans, and I know I shouldn't criticize when I don't have kids, but there was this kid on our long flight next to us that was nuts. I'm talking screaming, kicking, rolling in the floor because he didn't get a window seat - nuts. And mom was just like 'please don't do that' and then she changed to another set on a different row for the rest of the flight. I'm not gong to lie though, I did laugh when he got his head stuck in between the seats in front of him. He had it coming. All I know is that the girl sitting next to him had the patience of Job. Every time I looked over he was hitting her or screaming in her ear.
2) There is a lot of garbage in China. It is one of the details that gets lost after you live here. I guess I got so used to it I didn't notice it anymore. All I know is that there is a lot of garbage in Shanghai.
3) The economy of things here is crazy. For instance: we had steamed dumplings last nights for dinner and coffee before we flew out. Dinner for 2 cost just under $1. Coffee for two, just under $10. I now remember why I avoided Western hangout spots.
Like I said before, Lindsey has been a complete trooper. This has definitely been the smoothest trip here yet, but it is still a long one. She has been adventurous enough to eat off the street and wanted to take the subway instead of a taxi when we landed. And she insists on carrying her own backpack, which is also a plus (she keeps talking about having to haul a backpack through Italy with a broken elbow and saying this is nothing compared to that). I'm looking forward to ditching those big packs once we land though.
-flew to Vancouver: 4 hours plus a 2 hour layover
-flew to shanghai: 12 hours plus a 2 hour subway ride to our hotel and spent the night
-flew to LJ 4 more hours (and swearing I'm not getting on a plane again for another 2 weeks).
China has this amazing tension of beauty and chaos all at the same time. Admittedly, I usually remember the beauty a lot more than I remember the chaos. Three things about the chaos I've remembered since we got here:
1) There are a lot of bad Chinese parents out there. And I know the same can be true for Americans, and I know I shouldn't criticize when I don't have kids, but there was this kid on our long flight next to us that was nuts. I'm talking screaming, kicking, rolling in the floor because he didn't get a window seat - nuts. And mom was just like 'please don't do that' and then she changed to another set on a different row for the rest of the flight. I'm not gong to lie though, I did laugh when he got his head stuck in between the seats in front of him. He had it coming. All I know is that the girl sitting next to him had the patience of Job. Every time I looked over he was hitting her or screaming in her ear.
2) There is a lot of garbage in China. It is one of the details that gets lost after you live here. I guess I got so used to it I didn't notice it anymore. All I know is that there is a lot of garbage in Shanghai.
3) The economy of things here is crazy. For instance: we had steamed dumplings last nights for dinner and coffee before we flew out. Dinner for 2 cost just under $1. Coffee for two, just under $10. I now remember why I avoided Western hangout spots.
Like I said before, Lindsey has been a complete trooper. This has definitely been the smoothest trip here yet, but it is still a long one. She has been adventurous enough to eat off the street and wanted to take the subway instead of a taxi when we landed. And she insists on carrying her own backpack, which is also a plus (she keeps talking about having to haul a backpack through Italy with a broken elbow and saying this is nothing compared to that). I'm looking forward to ditching those big packs once we land though.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Resurrection II
Okay, so totally disregard the post from January about resurrecting the blog. That lasted for about a week. I've realized, I'm much better at writing about the randomness of life in Rural Asia than I am about living in Surburbia. Somehow being surrounded by houses stifles my creativity (I'm looking out my window at my neighbors nice brick wall as I type).
With that being said, I am resurrecting the blog AGAIN. This time I'll actually stick with it, since Lindsey and I are heading off to Asia for two and a half weeks. The game plan is to go back to the town that I lived in for eleven days, then head down south for four days. We have a basic plan of what we're doing, but all that could go out the window once we get there.
On a side note: My old Filipino roommate, Joie, is going to meet us over there. If you don't know Joie, he's full of fortune cookie wisdom and was the brains behind all of our coffee projects when we lived there. So Lindsey will get to meet him on this trip (maybe a good thing, maybe not...). Joie going with us is strategic, but more on that later.
Our basic game plan is that for the first half of the trip we're going to help out with the work that is continually going on there. We'll go out to some villages, probably help with some ag projects, catch up with local friends, and try to share whenever we can (even though my language is very rusty). This will also be a time where Lindsey gets to check things out and finally get to see what I've been talking about over the past year and a half.
The second half of the trip is going to be a little more business. We're going to travel down south where some people we know are growing coffee. We'll meet with them and talk about the possibility of partnering up with them in their work down there. We'll help them out with some of the coffee that they're growing, and we'll scope out some possible living/working situations for Joie. The hope is to have Joie living out there sometime in the first half of next year (for more on that see www.undergroundcoffeeintl.org). We've both been down there before and have friends there, but we've never looked at it as a place to live. It'll be a busy few days there, but we'll be enjoying some fresh mangos and pineapples, so I'll be just fine.
With that being said, I'll try and update this regularly over the next few weeks (assuming I can find a place with internet). The posts might be a little few and far between, but I'll try and keep things up to date. And I promise I won't do the American thing and only post about getting massages every day and taking pictures of the weird things we eat; however I'm expecting there to be quite a bit of both.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Thoughts from a Book Study
Occasionally things will pop out of my mouth that later I think 'oh, that was actually pretty good.' Now I'll admit, it doesn't happen often, and I'm far more likely to have things pop out of my mouth that I later regret, but sometimes I'll actually surprise myself.
Today some of us on staff started a once a week lunch study on Prodigal God by Tim Keller. It'll be a great book for our group, and even after one day I can tell we'll have some good discussion from it, assuming that we can keep the cell phones turned off (you know who you are...). Somehow our conversation today ranged from Free Will and Calvinism to Grace and Justice to why younger siblings are always the jacked up ones. It was a good time.
At one point during the grace and justice point I said that, "We can't truly appreciate grace until we understand justice." It is that idea that we can't truly appreciate driving a nice car until we understand what it is like to drive a P.o.S. every day. We were talking about why church usually turns so many people off, why there are so many older brothers from the story at churches, and the problem with 'turn or burn' mentality that a lot of people grew up in. I'm sure someone much smarter than I am has said my statement before (and probably more eloquently), but it is a truth none-the-less. It is hard for us to understand how much we've been (for)given if we don't understand how bad off we were in the first place.
The monkey wrench flew in when we started to talk about who Jesus was telling the parable of the Prodigal Son. There were both the sinners and the religious. The parable, along with most of the things Jesus said, had a great way of hitting home with both audiences. The sinners can identify with the younger son, the religious with the older. My questions were: which did Jesus preach most often, grace or justice, and did his audience changed which one he emphasized?
I'll allow for people to draw their own conclusions on this one, but from what I've read Jesus spends a lot more time preaching about justice to the religious and grace to the sinners. Somehow we've managed to get that backwards most of the time.
We all know of people who have grown up hearing about hellfire and brimstone and the judgment that comes from sin. And while that is all true, many times the message falls on deaf ears. In the same way, we all know of churches that preach a health and wealth type of gospel and the grace that comes along with our belief in Christ. And while that is all true, many times the message leads to complacency and a country club mentality at church. What would happen if we started reversing those messages to each audience more often?
Maybe what the sinners need is to hear about more is grace and the religious could use a little more judgment in their sermons.
Today some of us on staff started a once a week lunch study on Prodigal God by Tim Keller. It'll be a great book for our group, and even after one day I can tell we'll have some good discussion from it, assuming that we can keep the cell phones turned off (you know who you are...). Somehow our conversation today ranged from Free Will and Calvinism to Grace and Justice to why younger siblings are always the jacked up ones. It was a good time.
At one point during the grace and justice point I said that, "We can't truly appreciate grace until we understand justice." It is that idea that we can't truly appreciate driving a nice car until we understand what it is like to drive a P.o.S. every day. We were talking about why church usually turns so many people off, why there are so many older brothers from the story at churches, and the problem with 'turn or burn' mentality that a lot of people grew up in. I'm sure someone much smarter than I am has said my statement before (and probably more eloquently), but it is a truth none-the-less. It is hard for us to understand how much we've been (for)given if we don't understand how bad off we were in the first place.
The monkey wrench flew in when we started to talk about who Jesus was telling the parable of the Prodigal Son. There were both the sinners and the religious. The parable, along with most of the things Jesus said, had a great way of hitting home with both audiences. The sinners can identify with the younger son, the religious with the older. My questions were: which did Jesus preach most often, grace or justice, and did his audience changed which one he emphasized?
I'll allow for people to draw their own conclusions on this one, but from what I've read Jesus spends a lot more time preaching about justice to the religious and grace to the sinners. Somehow we've managed to get that backwards most of the time.
We all know of people who have grown up hearing about hellfire and brimstone and the judgment that comes from sin. And while that is all true, many times the message falls on deaf ears. In the same way, we all know of churches that preach a health and wealth type of gospel and the grace that comes along with our belief in Christ. And while that is all true, many times the message leads to complacency and a country club mentality at church. What would happen if we started reversing those messages to each audience more often?
Maybe what the sinners need is to hear about more is grace and the religious could use a little more judgment in their sermons.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Ressurection
So I've decided to resurrect the old blog. I've taken a year off and now I think it is time to start again. I'm sure this will be different than it used to be because I'm in a different place than I was the last time I wrote; both literally and figuratively. A lot has changed in the last year, so I'll try and catch everyone up to speed.
I finished up my two years of living in the Himalayas almost one year ago. By the end of it I was very ready to get back to America (and now that I'm back in America, I am very ready to go back). Somehow being away romanticizes places. America just seemed so much better than where I was until I got back here. I think it is like that girl that you date in another town. She seems really great until you are actually around her. Don't get me wrong, I love it here and know I'm supposed to be here; it just wasn't exactly the way I remembered it.
After I finished up my time in Asia, I decided to take a month long trip backpacking in Nepal. For one, I worked out for the trip to be on my way home so it didn't cost me any money, and two, backpacking through Nepal just seems like something an unemployed world-traveling type person would do. I loved it. It was fun. I spend every day as a vegetarian (not by choice) and with a Nepali guy named Dil (also not by choice). It was a great buffer between being overseas and returning home. I was able to process through a lot of things on my own before coming back. And I saw some of the most amazing mountains in the world. I've got to tell ya though, after being away for two years, having to spend those extra couple of weeks on the side of that mountain just about drove me crazy.
After I returned back to America, I did what anyone would do and planted a garden and got a girlfriend. She was my senior English teacher back in high school. I like to tell that story, and she swears she's not embarrassed by it. Luckily, the relationship worked out better than the garden did. We've recently become engaged and plan to get married in May.
I also got a job at a church. I had a little bit of an adjustment period coming back where church seemed really strange. I guess going from meeting in an underground house church for two years to a place that has several hundred people, lights, speakers, singers, and a band can be a shock to the system. I've ended up in a fairly large church (which I swore I would never do) in a fairly affluent part of town (which I also swore I would never do). It is funny how God ends up making that 'I swear I never will...' list get shorter as time goes on. It truly is a great church. It has taken some getting used to the aesthetics of the place, but I love a church that is dedicated to reaching the broken and lost. And they aren't big on buildings and like to plant new campuses, which makes me feel like I haven't totally sold out. I also work alongside a great staff, which makes it fun to go to work every day.
I also turned thirty this year. That's all I really have to say about that.
And finally I started up a non-profit. Since so much of my time in Asia was dedicated to maintaining a platform and giving a reason to be able to do what we did, I figured it was only natural to start a coffee company. Non-profit and coffee don't normally go together, but I think they can. Basically we (Underground Coffee International) buys coffee and then sells it under its own label, using the profits to support missionaries and fund humanitarian projects. Most of the people interested in partnering up are churches, so in effect we are partnering churches with missionaries. The missionaries we fund are back in Asia, working in closed countries, and using coffee training as their platform to be there and build relationships with locals. Eventually the locals will grow their own coffee, make more income than they otherwise would have with their old crops, and then we buy it from them because we've already established a market for their coffee here with churches. Assuming we can raise enough support, it shouldn't be too complicated, and hopefully I'll be able to go back overseas a few years down the line.
So yeah, that's pretty much the year in a nutshell. I am sure this blog will transform into something new. I don't exactly have random stories of eating pig brain or hitch hiking to mountains villages. This blog used to serve as a way to keep everyone updated on the work, but now that I'm here, there probably won't be a schedule to it, and it'll probably serve more as a place for me to ramble. So buckle up!
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