4138 Miles Apart with mornings together

Laura and Cheryl

So one of my best friends bought me this awesome book for Christmas. It is these two friends who live a little over three thousand miles apart and decide to share their mornings together. So every day they take a picture sometime before noon and share it with each other. They are beautiful. It is like you get a sneak peak into each morning of these two friends.

Anyway, Laura and I have decided to do that as well. So we have a blog especially for it. I started taking pictures right away so I could get in the habit before we officially start, which I believe will be Jan. 1st. The blog is http://www.lauraandcheryl.blogspot.com/

I cannot wait to see the different and unique ways that Laura and I see and go about our mornings and the similar ways that we go about our mornings as well. It is also awesome because Laura has helped me to completely get excited to do photography again and even inspired me to put my pictures up on a website http://www.gloryphotography.org/

Lastly, there is a little something that Laura pointed out to me and I googled it just to see it for myself, but if you want to travel the 4138 miles from Centennial CO to Kailua HI, you drive to Washington state, then you get in a Kayak (which if you know me makes me super happy that they decided that it is best to Kayak) and kayak 2756 miles to Turtle Bay in Oahu. So if you are ever interested, now you know! How I wish I could be good enough and crazy enough to do that. It does however take 15 days and two hours. So just FYI!

Viewing Pleasure

These eat things! They are awesome!

Here are some pictures I took from the gardens in Singapore!

Numbers and Lists

My trip by numbers and lists

3-weeks
4-countries
7-cities
6-Serve Asia workers met
12-airplanes
2-of us traveling
1,000+-times I have thought I wished Aaron was here
600+-pictures taken so far
5-stamps on my passport so far

Ways I have traveled

1. Plane
2. Boat
3. Train
4. Taxi
5. Tuk Tuk
6. Sung Tao
7. Motorbike
8. The Travellator (see picture below in travelator blog)
9. Walking

Things I have learned

1. That financially it is smart for families to send their sons off to be monks: They are fed and educated and they don't need to pay for it
2. That it makes me sick to my stomach to see young girls sitting outside a hotel waiting to be picked for the night's events
3. That Karma is so misunderstood: One of our missionaries met a boy with a cleft lip and most people were horrible to this little boy (of about 6) saying that it was Karma because he must have done something bad in a past life. The cruelty he faced was horrible. (Side note now he is a Christian and there was someone who came out and was able to fix it!)
4. Many people don't understand that our goal in our jobs really is to see people go over short term with a long term impact on their lives...a discipleship process. Many think short-term trips is a glorified vacation.
5. That motorbikes are as scary as they look when you are in Asia...but G-d is greater than the scary driving
6. That there are so many simple ways that peoples lives can be changed if there are just more people who are willing to work on the fields if G-d calls them.
7. That every day two people die in Cambodia because of an undiscovered land mine.
8. That so many people make offerings to things they don't even know...especially tourists who go to temples.
9. That I really miss good chips and salsa.
10. That so many of the long-termers are such amazing and beautiful people and how grateful I am for what they are doing.

Favorite things I have seen:

1. Children playing and waving
2. The wonderful colors at the Market
3. Pictures of people healed from disease, women rescued from prostitution, simple procedures made accessible to those before unable to get them.
4. The homes of many of the long-termer and their wonderful children
5. Fruit-it is even refreshing to see when you are in this heat!

Songs that have come into my head:

1. Wild Horses-Natasha Beddingfield
2. My Redeemer Lives-Nicole C. Mullins
3. J. loves the little children
4. Say-John Mayer
5. Do you feel the Mountains Tremble

Things you can pr-y for:

1. That I will be able to embrace this last week and have G-d strenght daily
2. That I can focus on being here and not going back home (I am missing it dearly)
3. That I will be able to stomach all the food that I eat
4. That I won't get more bug bites
5. That Mandy and I will continue to have a great time together
6. That the heat won't get to me especially while I wear pants and long sleeves
7. That we will be safe when traveling
8. That I will be positive for this last push of the trip
9. That I can process all I have been through!

Thanks so much for all of you who are reading this and keeping updated on this trip and walking through it with me!

Floating Villages

As you go down the Mekong River, you see these pockets of villages, mostly Vietnamese trying to get by through fishing and keeping the cost of living low and having their homes floating on the river instead of owning land. As we were speeding by I realized that there are some using the bathroom in the water while others just down a few houses are getting drinking water. There is both spiritual and physical poverty here in abundance. There are some we have on the field wanting to get a book published that will help people to understand some of the basics of keeping well but the goverment doesn't want it published because they fear they will not be given foreign aid as it promotes self-healthcare and not govermental. Now the book will have to be published privately with the funds from the people themselves. May this be a cause that people will come around so that as they feel physically healthy they will become spiritually healthy.

This is a picture of a temple seen from the river and truly shows the contrast of wealth and poverty that is here.

Angkor Wat/Siem Reap

Temples, land mines, monks, poverty, tourists, suffering, malnutrition, foreign aid, human trafficing, Hollywood adoption, killing fields...All of these words describe Cambodia. So far having been here my mind and my heart are struggling to process all I have seen. I am sure it will take months to understand all I have seen on this trip. So far I have only been to two different countries, but each place I go is different. Chiang Mai compared to Lopburi, Siem Reap compared to Phnom Penh, River villages, prostitution centers...so much for my mind to comprehend. But the greatest thing about it all is that G is really at work. So many different things are being done, and while there is still so much more to be done and so many more workers needed, it is still wonderful to see even the beginnings of what can happen when people invest their lives in living out what G has asked us to.

Below are pictures of Angkor Wat...a temple that has been both used for both Buddists and Hindu wors-p. This is one of the few things that survived the Khmer Rouge devistation. I pr-y for all of the people who wors-p here so blindly and the people who come here who so badly need true healing. So many deal with Post-tramatic Stress after the Khmer Rouge. May they know what can really bring healing!

Lopburi Youth Center

The student leading the cell group

Off and Pung-the couple running the Youth House

Yesterday was quite an interesting day. I felt awful in the afternoon. It was 36 degrees C which is 97 degrees F. Yes I had to look that up! I was a bit dehydrated and I had an horrible headache. On top of that, it was a day when I was really struggling missing Aaron.

In the morning we had spent about four hours at a pr-yer meeting where we got to hear some amazing things that are happening on the field. It was so neat to hear about how many things are going on just in the central region of Thailand. However, afterwards the elements caught up with me and I had to rest. I just wanted to go home. So we went back to the home we were staying at and I spend the next hour pr-ying and resting. Then that evening, we went to the Lopburi Youth Center.

It was absolutely the exact thing I needed. It was an encouragement to see what is being done there. We got to see some other Serve Asia workers, we got to see a student leading the cell group, and got to meet a very faithful Thai couple that loves on these kids right where they are at. The moment the students walk in the door they know they are cared for. What the perfect thing for me to see that stirred my heart and made me excited. Even if that was the only thing I came on this trip for, it would be good! However, I know that there is more to come. But here are some pictures from last night!

Some of the other students

On a side note, I am doing much better today. I am feeling a bit better and got to talk to both Aaron and my mom on the phone for a very short time. Please keep me in your thoughts. Pr-y that I will be able to get rest and that my body will remain healthy. I have fear that a cold is coming on. Also that I will be able to really enjoy my time. We have a pretty intense schedule in front of us.

Miss you all! Love, Me

Loves the little Children

One of the hardest things for me so far was seeing all these beautiful children in them temple. However, it was very powerful when a childhood song that I used to know came into my head and reminded me that J. loves the little children...all the children of the world!

CHIANG MAI

Yesterday we went to a temple in Chiang Mai. It was so interesting to watch so many people worship all of these different images that were cracking and fading. How different it would be if they knew that they didn't have to pour oil over a candle or walk around the temple a certain number of times for the Real G. to clear their s-n. It was amazing to see all of the THINGS that needed to be done. How great that we can just ask. That is the amazing difference in a relationship and rituals.

We also went to the night market and on the way home drove a tuk tuk (once again don't know the exact spelling) home. On the way we saw the building where all the prosititues sit outside waiting to be chosen. I wish I could explain to them that they already were chosen and loved in a much more beautiful way.

It has been so beautiful to be out here even though I miss many things...namely my hubby and my friend Sarah who should be having her baby today!!!

All its own

This picture needed a blog all it's own.

This has been one of my most favorite things so far. You can't see it very well but the blue writing over the moving walk way says "End of Travelator"

YES...in Singapore they call it the travelator. They don't have a cool voice saying "Watch out for the Travelator" or anything like that, but it is still awesome!

So far...

The First few days: (out of order)

Singapore Airport:
Aaron you would have loved the real gardens

Hong Kong Airport (Naomi this is as much as I got to see but I took this for you!)

When I was flying out here I was thinking about what the smells that I would experiance. However I must say that as I was driving in the taxi I just kept thinking, "This makes me think of Wild Ginger" (A local Thai resturant) which just made me want to eat Panang Curry or Pad Thai. However I had just come off 26 hours of flying and about 12 meals (or so it felt).

It has been very interesting to be traveling so far away from all I know. However, for the last day and a half I have been around a great group of Serve Asia Field side coordinators, mostly Americans and Europeans and Aussi's. Which has maybe been a good transiton for me to slowly get to know Asia. It is also humid like the South so I am able to relate to that as well.

Today however Mandy and I are going to a temple here in Chiang Mai and taking a sungtao (have no idea how to spell that) up there so I am sure I will be having my first real dose of culture today! We are also going to the night market which will be a great place to see the local working class and to get a taste for what life can be like out here.

Tomorrow we will be on a train ride down to Lopburi, Thailand and so therefore I won't be able to write about my experiance for a few days but I promise I will.

Where will I be?

Indonesia








Singapore











Phenom Penh, Cambodia












Near Siem Reap, Cambodia









Bangkok, Thailand








Chiang Mai, Thailand












The photos are thanks to google Images! I will post my own pictures as soon as I get home!

A few things from my eye

Peeping Dogwood

To the bone

Lennon Wall says it all

Unrealistic Reality

Ahhhh!

As the cobblestones soaked up the sound

She walked in Beauty (picture for Laura)

Mighty Oak

And they will be call a Mighty Oak
Planted by the Lord
To display His splendor.

Isaiah 61:3b


May this be me Lord!

Last Goodbye

With wisdom in his eyes and love in his heart, he never let you stray to far.
He told you truth and showed you the way, so that you could live for Christ each day.
Now he's gone and his words still ring true, Grandpa if we could only all live like you.
I will miss this man, more than words could describe, but now you sit by Jesus side.
And I know Grandma's there, probably stroking you hair, eager to share all that's there.
I wish we could have celebrated your brithday with you, in 7 days you would have been 92.
But now I am sure as you walked through the pearly gate, God has arranged a "Big Band" to play.
And I am sure everyone was dancing to welcome you in, and in your new body you danced again.
I thought I would see you in a few days, but now I have to wait aways.
Yet when we reunite, it will be such a sight, but now I will live with all my might,to fight the good fight
run the race I'm given
press on towards heaven
JUST LIKE YOU TAUGHT ME TO DO!


I miss you Grandpa. I miss you more than you will know. But I am glad that you are with Christ now, and I am glad you knew we were all on our way to see you. Thanks for being everything that you were and will always be!

Bragging

I just want to take this momemt and give a shout out for some of my absolutely amazingly talented friends. If only I could do art like all of them. I guess it wouldn't be art, it would be plagerism. HOWEVER, I can at least brag about these people and encourage you to look these people up through the web or visit thier blog and take a look at more of their work. Many of these people sell their work too, so embrace it. Soak it in. Let it bring beauty into your heart and life. And let me brag about my friends.



Naomi: She painted this for church at Christmas. One panel was on one side of the church and one was the other. Then when they came together you could see the word "Joy" in black. She does amazing murals too. I want her to do one in my home, so my home can look like her home.










Laura: I take a great deal of pride in knowing that I got Laura hooked on camera...soon she got her own. Now she takes some amazing pictures, and many better than I ever could. Plus she lives in Hawaii, so she has some great things to photograph!






Nate: Missionary in the Czech Republic/amazing photographer. I admire this man in so many ways. I am so glad to be friends with him. I think that people should buy his photographs to help with his support...but that's just me. The first picture he took in Czech, the second he took in Isreal.












Regan: I have known this beautiful person since middle school. She has ALWAYS been creative and always had an absolutely beautiful spirit, so it makes sense to me that she now captures beauty though a lens as well. She has always seen beauty in everything.




Aubrey: this is a person who I have not met yet, even though I will this summer. However, I ran into her blog through Nate and have been hooked ever since. I think it will be a true gift to meet her and to be able to see this person who inspires me so often.




Alyssa: A sudent, a friend, a humanitarian, an artist. Alyssa is studying in Switzerland. She takes the most beautiful pictures and lets me journey through life with her by looking at her pictures. I love her eye for the amazing things that are in this world.








Becca: I met her in College and she has become a dear friend. This is one of the sweet pictures she took of her girl Acadia. She will take pictures of my children when they are born...or else...!

Thanks for letting me brag.