The Family :)

photos

Here are a few photos from random recent times.

Here is a lot of what I saw (friends' faces) during the Lantern Festival. It was noisy, smokey from the thousands of firecrackers, and just not quite what I was expecting as we watched a parade of gods being pulled on carts go past us to the big temple of the area.
Here we are before the parade, eating something out of little shells.


Mark and Michael:

Mike:


James and Michael at the CELA office, sporting their Acehnese head gear:


Durian was the favored fruit of those I met in Indonesia, and look what I found in Taiwan too! But no, I didn't buy any. I'm still developing my taste for this... indescribable fruit.

Reconciling a Day

I don't know how to say it other than just come out and say it. I hope it's okay. I wanted to share with you. Especially now that the day has drawn to a close, I hope that from the midst of things, there is something to be gained and by gained I mean some encouragement to be found in the promises of our God in Christ our Lord...

Today I found out that a kindergarten student of mine, Lisa, had not been in class at all this semester because she moved to another city to live with her aunt. Why? Because her mom killed herself at semester time.

I still don't know what to say about it. I just feel grief.






But then, within an hour of the first news, I received word from one of my dearest friends that she is engaged! (And to a man for whom I have a world of respect and love!)

But what do you say? With my heart so heavy and full of sorrow, I felt completely useless at sharing in the joy and expressing the weak joy that I did feel somewhere in my heart.

So then not only was did I feel completely lost in my emotions and how to process the news of the day, but I felt completely disappointed in myself for being seemingly incapable of joy.

I don't even know if it was appropriate to post on stuff like this. I don't know. But here's the point I've come to this evening. The more I think about this day that I can't make sense of, the more I see the need to share Christ ... maybe Lisa will remember the songs she sang with us at Christmas time... maybe she will remember the prayers we prayed before lunch... maybe Lisa knows Jesus in her heart and maybe He will give her the strength and grace to get through this time... I can't imagine being this girl.

But also, the more I'm just SO excited for my newly engaged friend... and the more my heart wants to sing at the grace shown us... and the more I think... this world is so dark... so dark... and even though my mind seems to be stuck on obsessing on the darkness for a time, I hope that that will soon be helped and healed, and I hope that God will allow me to truly fix my eyes on Jesus, "the author and perfector of our faith." (Hebrews 12) And with our eyes fixed on the Son of God... the Light of the World that breaks the darkness... maybe then we can say with God's people of all time, "The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." - Psalm 126: 3

And I suppose it's the best to remember, as we fix our eyes on Jesus, as we know it is not by any strength or might of ours, as we learn more about God and His righteousness and His grace... that we were not made to live in sin like this. We were made to be perfect. And because of Jesus Christ, we can look forward to a time, after this brief life, when we will be with our Lord and Savior as new and perfect creations in His heavenly kingdom.

And you know what? There are so many people who don't know that that promise is for them too. Please, let's tell... through God's work in our lives and through the words He promises to give... may our conversations be seasoned with grace, and let's tell.

The Reason I Teach

One of my coworkers and dear friends said today, "If it wasn't for the students, I'd hate teaching."

There you have it.

And here you have it. Two treasured snapshots of my E-3 class today. We finally took a picture all together to send to our pen pals. It was ridiculously cold today. You can see we're all bundled up, trying to ward off colds and the the just plain discomfort that being cold with no heater can bring. It being March first, and a lion of a day, I tried to explain to them the "in like a lion, out like a lamb" proverb we like to throw around in the English language at such a time... I'm not sure it went over really well, despite the fact that we are doing a weather unit at present. Ah well.

These kids are a joy. They're also kinda nuts. But who isn't? Jesus Christ loves these children (and you and me) and died to save them (and you and me) and rose to give them (and you and me) life and hope and it's a privilege and joy to tell them that.

So hello to you there from us here!

God's blessings to you this day, this Ash Wednesday, in Christ Jesus our Lord! :)


I love it. The guys can't take a "normal" picture to save themselves... they eat, breath, and dream silly. But then the girls took forever to come up with the "silly" pose... and there's still the one in the middle going, "Silly? I got nothin'."