Children's Choir... Asian Style

Merry Christmas

Suk San Wan Kis Sa Mas

I do hope that everyone is having sweet fellowship with family and friends. 

Our Christmas Eve was the first day off we have really had since Thanksgiving, so we enjoyed it thoroughly. We delivered cookies to some of our friends around town. Melody and I made homemade pizza for our Christmas Eve meal, grabbed our hymnals and went caroling to some beautiful friends of ours here in town, ended the night watching "Meet Me in St. Louis", and before bed we spent some time on skype chattin with the fam.

For Christmas Day we woke up and the 3 of us roomies exchanged our gifts and I made french toast. We got all dressed up in our Asian attire and headed to a service held here in town. One of my favorite things about living here is watching locals get excited about worshiping our Father. So much joy in the fact that our Savior chose to save us in this way. In the form of a baby boy, born into our mess to save us from our sin and rebellion. 

Being away from home/America during this time has of course been difficult in many ways. I miss my beautiful family and my hilarious friends so very much. But it has been helpful in many ways to really view this holiday for what it is instead of what American culture has made it out to be. The locals here have no idea what Christmas in America looks like. They have no idea of our traditions and customs, so being included in their own Christmas traditions and customs has been such a blessing to my heart this season. They celebrate all month long and this week you can find a celebration/service every evening and every morning. They truly just want to worship Father and use this time (that officials have allowed them to have) to celebrate in multitudes the miraculous birth of our Savior.

This video was taken at a local Christmas celebration on the 23rd. In my eyes its the closest thing to a children's choir you can get here. This celebration was such a beautiful picture of the body coming together to truly prepare their hearts for the birth of Christ and what this holiday truly means. These kids were absolutely adorable performing their "faoun" or dance, and I just had to share with y'all. The little guy in the middle is obviously the center of attention....

The lyrics to many hymns have been in my head for awhile now (mainly because we have sung them throughout the house and on road trips since Thanksgiving), but the words have never meant so much to me as they have this Christmas. I leave you with a few of my favorite verses to 3 of my favorite Christmas Hymns.

O holy child of Bethlehem! Descend to us we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today! We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel!

Come to Bethlehem, and see Him whose birth the angels sing; Come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn KING.

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, Love's pure light. Radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.

JESUS, LORD AT THY BIRTH!

"For to us a child is born, 

to us a son is given"

Isaiah 9:6

Don't knock it till you try it!

You know that saying….. “Don’t knock it till you try it.” I have said this many times in my life about a bunch of different foods. One thing I enjoy eating in the states is ketchup with mac n cheese. I know, I know, but…… Don’t knock it till you try it! Right? Everybody has their weird combo of foods that someone down the line said to you, “Don’t knock it till you try it.” And if your brave enough to try it, sometimes you find out that you like it and sometimes you find out that you were right in thinking it looked gross. But in those situations, the saying holds true. You receive permission in a way after you have tried something to speak negative words towards it.

Well where I live now, that phrase has brought on a whole new meaning to my life, and honestly a whole new level of bravery in exploration of foods. I have been lucky because there have been just a few times since I have been here when I literally didn’t know what I was eating, but to be kind and gracious to the host….. I ate it with a smile, I might not have finished it, but I ate until I was no longer hungry.

Tonight was a little different. I knew exactly what I was eating and it was a little bit harder to eat it with a smile, or eat until I was not hungry. 

Some friends took us to a special restaurant in that it served dog meat. I have had dog meat before, it’s not my favorite, but it’s not terrible, so at this point I wasn’t completely freaked out. (not excited, but not freaked out) We sat down and we all were engaged in some fun conversations when the plate came out. It was a small plate full of tiny pieces of grilled food. I recognized the dog meat, but there was one other thing on the plate I was not so sure of.

Our host put a piece of the unknown substance in each of our bowls. In my head I thought, “Don’t ask what this is because if you know you won’t want to eat it.” But my mouth spoke before I could tell it to stop. I asked what it was as I picked it up with my chopsticks. Mel looked at me and said, “I think it’s dog innards.” This is the point when I lowered my chopsticks and second guessed this whole situation. I examined it more closely and yes, yes it was dog innards. What particular innard, you might ask? Well I don’t know, maybe intestine, maybe liver, maybe stomach, maybe all of the above, who knows. Our host pointed at the “jao” which is basically a form of Asian hot sauce. I smiled dipped it in the jao and mustered up every form of food bravery I could manage and ate it. It was chewy, it was different, it was a little spicy, and it was tolerable.

My natural instinct is to avoid these crazy things all together. I wouldn't say that I go out and try to find situations in which I can eat these foods. I only eat them if they are given to me and it would be rude not to eat. But I think I do have a little bit of pride that pushes me to try these new things and be able to hold it down. I'm not gonna lie, that pride helps in situations like these. Maybe its competition with myself to see if I can eat all of these different foods, I don't know, but it sure came in handy when I ate the 3rd or 4th piece. I moved onto the dog meat after it looked like I had enjoyed the innards. Ironically, the meat was a pleasant change. I'm not a texture person. I can handle something that doesn't taste good, what I can't handle is something that feels disgusting in my mouth. I can now say that dog meat AND dog innards are both in the bad texture but tolerable taste category. Both are tolerable when I am given it to eat (and I know now that I can eat it with a smile), but lets make it clear that I will not be ordering a plate of either one of these for myself.... ever.

The girls that I was with have lived here for awhile and are use to being served these different foods, so they were eating them much more quickly then I was able to, so that gave me hope that one day I will have had plenty of experience and built up a sense of food tolerance. 

Thank you SE Asia for your (always exciting) food choices. You keep me on my toes and make me check my bravery on occasion. 

It's like this culture reminds me of the saying... Don't knock it till you try it!

Would you like some hot tea?

This morning our MaBon (housekeeper) came over to clean the house. She isn't feeling well at all today. When she came this morning, she told me that she wasn't feeling well and I realized I didn't know how to say anything that showed that I cared for her and wished her well (thats going in my next language lesson). I was a little frustrated that I couldn't say anything to show her that I cared for her. I wish I could express to y'all how much I deeply care and love this woman. I knew her from my 2009 trip, and she has shown nothing but love and care to me all of the days that I have known her. That is truly how she is to everyone around her. She is diligent and hard working. She will come to our aide whenever we need her (example: I locked myself out of my bathroom and she called a locksmith for us). She is a person I have come to love and cherish.  


Later this morning, I went to the kitchen to make some hot tea for myself and I heard her coughing in the next room. I decided I would make her a cup too, but my mind went blank on how to ask someone if they would like some tea. I stood there for a second (or two or thirty) to try and put the sentence together in my head. It's such a simple sentence, but thats what happens to my brain on a Monday morning. I finally figured out how to say something of the sort, so I got her attention and asked. She laughed a little at my language, but she grateful said, "Yes that would be good." as she patted her chest and throat to show it really would help. I was filled with so much joy that I finally could show someone in this country that I care about them in their heart language. Father was so good to me in helping me remember those words and giving me the thought to make her some tea. It not only encouraged me with language but also to love on our sweet MaBon.


After a little over a month of language learning, I can confidently say it has been everything and anything but easy. It has pushed me to my limit on many levels. It's one thing to study a language in a classroom with assignments, quiz's, and exams, but living in the culture and being surrounded by people who do not speak english or can speak very little english is something completely different. You lose all sense of identity, competence, and confidence (all of which we were warned about over and over again at training). 


I have had good days, really good moments, bad days and some really really bad days. There has been days when I could understand a good bit of the language around me, but then there have been days when I don't feel like I've been studying the language at all. Those days, unfortunately, have been the majority lately. BUT this makes the good days and really good moments so much sweeter. Some of the greatest highs that I have experienced here has been when I can create my own sentence that I came up with on my own to a complete stranger, or when I can hold a conversation with someone, or tell a long story to a friend about my life, or just simply understanding what someone is saying to me.


On the days when I am not looking forward to adding new vocabulary to my language snowball or studying for another 3 hours, I always come back to "why am I learning this crazy language again?" Every time I think about this, I have to come back to "why did I move to the other side of the world?" and "why did I leave home and family for 2 years?".  Every time I come back to the good news. 


I came to this beautiful country to share the greatest story every told. News that can bring hope to their hopeless lives. News that can bring them joy and a purpose. News that can bring them out of blindness and out of death. News that changed the world. News that changed me. I didn't come because of me and my desires. I came because I love my Father and my Father loves these people. If I want to share, I must share it in their heart language. Right now, I obviously don't have the language to share the good news, but persistence, endurance, and focus during this time of studying will lead to that.


While offering hot tea is not sharing the good news, it still served it's purpose of showing someone in a different country, with a different language then my own that I care about her. She knows what I believe and I hope that our care for her speaks volumes. 


Please lift up this sweet woman. She is not a daughter to the Father, but she has heard the good news before. Ask that her heart is opened to understand the good news, and her eyes be opened to just how good Father is.

Beautiful

If you know me you should know that I use the word "beautiful" probably a little bit to often. I don't know when I picked it up or why I started using it so much, but now it seems like it is my adjective for everyone and everything. One "beautiful" friend pointed this out to me a couple months ago and I have been pondering the thought of "beautiful people" and "beautiful things" since then. 


Lately, Father has been showing me many things about myself that are not so beautiful and rather are nasty, dirty, and so very sinful. Moving to this "beautiful country" has brought about many opportunities to learn about myself. About how I react to high stress situations, how I act to feeling incompetent in life, how I handle the difficulty of learning a language, and basically how I adapt to such a huge life transition. All of these things at some point have brought about some nasty reactions and some sinful parts of my heart that I don't enjoy viewing.


In viewing this hidden sin in my life, there have been days when I have been discouraged and times when I don't understand how in the world Father can continually show me grace. I sometimes think he gets annoyed or frustrated with me when I continue in my sin, (making Father out to be someone He is not is a whole other blog) and I think that he gives me grace because He has to.... you know because he is the Almighty and thats what he does and suppose to do.

Sometimes I get more shameful and embarrassed at the thought of how people will view me if they knew my sin and if their opinion of me would change, then i do when I think about Father viewing my sin. So dumb! How much more does Father know about me than anyone on this earth and how much more does it hurt Him to see His daughter sin against HIm. He sees my sin every day, every single last sinful thought that I have he sees in that moment. The thought of Him being all knowing plus the hope that people wouldn't change their opinion about me is the reason I sometimes feel like Father gets frustrated with me in my sin.

When you think about the good news and what it really means to be made alive,  you have to think about what you came from. When Father chooses to save you, he literally pulls you out of a dead sea. We were lifeless, without any hope at all. Drowning in our sin. We were dust on the earth. No form, no purpose. That glorious day when He pulled you out of death and dust, he formed you into a beautiful thing. He made you righteous in His sight no matter the sin you lived in. Even though we sin against the Almighty daily, He will see us through His sons blood on that day when we stand before Him.

While we are still living on this earth he DELIGHTS in making us look, reflect, think, act, speak, and love like Him. This truth is so sobering for me. He NEVER looks at me with frustrated eyes or annoyance at my repentance. When I come to Him with sorrow over sinning against Him, He will never begrudgingly give me grace. 

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, 

 my chosen, in whom my soul delights; 

I have put my Spirit upon him; 

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

Isaiah 42:1

My son, do not despise the Lords discipline

or be weary of his reproof

for the Lord reproves those he loves

as a father the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 3:12

I think that Father rolls his eyes at me when I ask for forgiveness yet again for that sin that I keep going back to. I feel so shameful for the sin that I have so much trouble with and seem to never be rid of. BUT Oh, how he delights in our repentance, he delights in our desire to be like HIm, he delights that we hate our sin, he delights in making us beautiful.


A song that I have always loved has come back into my life recently (I go through cycles of listening to my music, so sometimes I neglect some of my favorites because I try to listen to all of my music.... random weird thing about Katy). Of course the title is "Beautiful Things" by a band named Gungor. (Go listen to it now if you've never heard it!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyPBtExE4W0&feature=related) The chorus is simply this:

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us


You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
You are making me new


Praise Father that he is making me new and he makes beautiful things out of dust and of us (we were dust) because if He didn't I would still be a dead lifeless, hopeless body drowning in my sin. With his salvation he made us ALIVE and with  his discipline, reproof, and continual grace he makes us BEAUTIFUL!! 


So in conclusion, I have decided that I like the word "beautiful" even more now and will continue to use it. Saying that a person is beautiful holds so much more weight to me now and I love it. I love that it means more than just a superficial descriptive word or just some random thing that I do. It is an adjective that describes what Father is making us out to be. 

Why shouldn't I use this word maybe a little bit to often?!

World Series

So if you are a true American, you have been indulging in and completely consumed by the great American past time that is the World Series! If you are not a true American (David Azam) you probably had to be reminded of this phenomenon and have probably been annoyed with the amount of attention it has been getting this month. Especially since the RANGERS have made it to the World Series.

For me, this series has been a bit different. Not only have I had to resort to watching the gameplay mode on the MLB website, but the games have been starting at 7am. So this past week, I woke up, got ready, grabbed my breakfast, sat down with my word and journal, and read while I occasionally glanced at the screen to see who was batting and what big plays had happened. My language lessons start at 9, so I didn't get to finish the games. After language I would get back on the internet and watch all of the highlights to the games and post game interviews. haha. It was a surprisingly difficult adjustment not getting to watch my RANGERS play in the World Series.

BUT during Game 6 and 7, I skyped with my sister and she (lovingly) set her computer up on a stool in front of the TV.  I missed out on most of Game 6 because of my language lesson, so apparently I missed the most intense innings of the whole series. But Game 7 was Saturday morning for me. I had no responsibilities for that morning, so I was able to watch the vast majority of the game. It was a devastating lose and I definitely had to remind myself that its just baseball and I'm in SE Asia where there isn't even a word in this language that describes baseball!


So even though my team lost (which I'm still trying to get over), I'm thankful I at least was able to watch a few innings of a couple games.

Kassidy's living room.

My computer screen.

Routine

I'm a spontaneous woman at heart, but it has been way to long since I have had a routine of my own. One that I have made for myself, and NOT someone else telling me what to do or just NOT having any responsibilities at all to be able to make a routine.

 My summer was just that. I had no responsibilities, so i was able to pretty much go wherever I wanted, do whatever I wanted, and be with whoever I wanted at any time of day or any day for that matter. I road tripped a few times across Texas, was a lake bum the majority of the time, climbed as much as my heart and body could physically climb, and was able to have lots of great memories with people that I love with no responsibilities to worry about.

While in VA, my life turned into a rigid schedule that someone else had made for me. It was very hard for me to mentally get into that schedule and learn to schedule out time for myself within that set schedule, but it ended up being very good. Father taught me a bit of discipline since the only time for me to spend time with Him was early in the morning.

After VA, I went home to 2 weeks of a mixture of slow pace days and then a million things to do in a day. It was a wonderful 2 weeks preparing to move to Asia and I spent wonderful time with my awesome family. My days were filled with packing, making lists, crossing off the lists, planning, lunches, laughter, and then closer to the end it was good bye after good bye after good bye. It was a draining 2 weeks and somehow getting on the plane was some sort of a relief, not because I left the people I love, but the simple fact that I didn't have to say good bye to anyone else.

Then I landed in SE Asia....
My first week or so here was anything but routine, to say the least. A couple days of orientation/initiation to culture and getting over jet lag days, then a sudden road trip to Thailand for a week, and finally coming back home to start learning language and getting into a daily ROUTINE. Asia didn't really start feeling like home until I got to sit down look at my day and decide when I wanted to do my language lessons, study language, workout, have meals, and practice language. As you can tell learning language is what my schedule is filled with. Learning language is my job right now and it keeps me busy for a very large portion of my day.

Now, I can finally say that Asia is feeling like home. Moving overseas is obviously a new thing for me, so I am learning so much about myself as I go. Especially moving to a non-English speaking country. Your independence is stripped immediately because you are not able to do almost anything on your own. Grocery shopping, cooking in a new and different kitchen with new ingredients, ordering at a restaurant, drive around town, etc. So being able to plan my routine really helped, I didn't realize how much stability a routine brought me.

One other thing that has really helped me to feel at home is having my own motorbike and knowing how to get around to the few spots that I know how to get to. ha. Being able to leave the house on my own is incredibly freeing and is a huge step in gaining independence. Granted I really only know the hot spots around town, like the market, a friends house, the 2 coffee shops, and a few restaurants. haha. I learn about or find a new place everyday, so I'm building my knowledge of the town slowly but surely. Also, I should say that I am NOT a pro at the motorbike, so my skill in that is also being built up everyday. Slowly but surely everything is making me feel at home here in SE Asia.

Oh the Mekong view...

Ginger Bullet #2...

Intimidating helmet... To bad, I'm not an intimidating driver. haha.

Need of Jesus

NEED OF JESUS

I am blind, be thou my light,
ignorant, be thou my wisdom,
self-willed, be thou my mind.

Open my ear to grasp quickly thy Spirit's voice,
and delightfully run after his beckoning hand;
Melt my conscience that no hardness remain,
make it alive to evil's slightest touch;
When Satan approaches may I flee to thy wounds,
and there cease to tremble at all alarms.
Be my good shepherd to lead me into
the green pastures of thy Word,
and cause me to lie down beside the rivers of its comforts.
Fill me with peace, that no disquieting worldly gales
may ruffle the calm surface of my soul.

Thy cross was upraised to be my refuge,
Thy blood streamed forth to wash me clean,
Thy death occurred to give me a surety,
Thy name is my property to save me,
By thee all heaven is poured into my heart,
but it is too narrow to comprehend thy love.

I was a stranger, an outcast, a slave, a revel,
but thy cross has brought me near,
has softened my heart,
has made me thy Father's child,
has made me joint-heir with thyself.

O that I may love thee as thou lovest me,
that I may walk worthy of thee, my Lord,
that I may reflect the image of heaven's first-born.

May I always see thy beauty with the clear eye of faith,
and feel the power of thy Spirit in my heart,
for unless he move mightily in me
no inward fire will be kindled.

Football Time!

Here in our little community we don't have TV so we go on with our lives without really knowing whats happening on the outside. With the exception of news from family and friends and the little bits and pieces we get off the internet.

BUT on the day that college football starts, this little community went crazy! Children came out in cheerleader uniforms and football uniforms. Most adults had on some affiliated shirt, and we found a way to get some football on a big screen, so for the first night of college football we are all enjoying each others company watching TV for the first time in 6 weeks. Oh how I will miss College Game Day and that glorious Jones Stadium!

Hammockin

The past 2 days we have had so much personal time. Time to get things done and time to spend with the Father. I spent the last 2 days out in the woods in my hammock. Reading, sleeping, and writing. It has been so good to get away spend time by myself and not think about life. We have been so busy here that I haven't been able to really spend some time to myself and definitely no time where I haven't been thinking about what I need to do or get done, so these 2 days have been a huge blessing from Father. He is so good to bring rest and refreshment to us.

Lately Father has been continually showing me just how well he keeps his promises. He is our Father of peace. I think I have become numb in some ways to the fact that he is our peace in times when we are stressed, in times of hardship, in times of trial, in times of persecution, and also in times of great joy. The peace we receive from Father is beyond anything this world can give us and I find myself turning to his creation to find the peace I seek in my heart. Romans 1:25 says that we tend to exchange the truth for a lie and serve the creature rather than the creator. This can be viewed as an extreme, but it can also be looked at in every facet of our lives. We all have idols that we hold so tightly in our hearts which is much like exchanging the truth for a lie. We exchange his peace for worldly satisfaction. This is something I have been sifting through and processing over the last few days. Much has happened in my life lately that I have immediately turned to sin, friendships, busy-ness, sleep, or whatever over spending time with Father and seeking his counsel. Isaiah 26:3 says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." While in my wonderful hammock this verse was running through my brain and I realized later that I was so much more relaxed and my mind was so much clearer because Father had brought me that peace that he promises. Father revealed to me that he is my peace, and what a wonderful feeling to feel his peace around me. For me his peace looked much like the woods in these pictures. His peace can look much like these woods completely enveloping you and can drown out all other noises, busy-ness, and situations in your life.

Starting today we are going through some rather intense training that will be very draining mentally, emotionally, and probably spiritually. haha. This training is going to push us to our extreme limits. It is much needed and much applicable training, so I am so grateful to go through it, but it is going to be exhausting. With this said, I am so thankful that Father gave me these 2 days filled with time away before heading into this training.

Father is good to fulfill his promises. Trust in all that he says. He is completely trustworthy.

"For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:10

For fun.....
While in our hammocks we kinda had a snake encounter. haha. Some of my friends were so very intrigued by the creature. So much planning went on to try and destroy the poor thing. I remained in my hammock and took pictures while they persisted in there expedition. haha.

Summer Recap/Enjoying America

Wow, it has been about 6 months since I blogged last. So much has happened since then, but this blog is going to be a reflection of the wonderful blessing of a summer I just had.

I spent a good chunk of my time at PK Lake, with family and friends. My family reunion was once again EPIC and so encouraging to me to have a family that covered me in pr-er and I know is continually pring for me. Love them so much and I can't wait to hopefully skype in next year at our nightly hangouts :-)

So many good times were had and memories that I'll never forget. If I typed everything out it would take forever, so I put some pics together for a shorter blog post. haha.

WATERSPORTS!! I had so so so much time on the lake this summer. So much skiing, so much wakeboarding, and so much boat driving. I loved every minute of it!

These are a few pics of the many people who came to play this summer. All of these people are loved, so special to me, and will be missed so dearly!

I also spent a little time in Dallas to visit my sweet Gammy and Gayle. They made sure and feed me (and Neil) well. I also was so blessed to have a couple days with the Droogsma's which was such an encouraging couple of days. We managed to go to a Rangers game and only spend all of $2 including ticket and hot dog. Then rendezvous at Cheesecake Factory for a slice of Key Lime Cheesecake! So much laughter and much needed catch up with these 2 beauties!

While I was in the DF-dub I got to hang out with Neil for a little while. We also went to a Ranger game (yeah thats right I went to 2 games in one week, did I complain.....absolutely NOT), Six Flags, REI, and, you know, I got to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. It was pretty wonderful. I have no words to describe exactly how wonderful it was.

My summer ended with a few days at home with my sweet parents eating Chicken Fried Steak and whatever piece of meat dad was smoking on his new smoker. haha. I also had one surprise night with the Azams at their new home in Olton. Being around them is always special no matter how long or short. And to top the summer off, I was so blessed to be able to be a part of my sweet friends Jenny and Ben's wedding. Being there on their special day was so wonderful and Im so glad it worked out for me to be there and support them in their new marriage.

All in all I had a pretty wonderful summer, even though it ended with me saying good bye to my loved ones. I cannot express the joy these pictures bring to me. This is what I will come back to these next 2 years. I truely love you all so very much! Thanks for making my American summer so special. haha. Asia is only a skype date away :-) Just let me know and I'll be there!