Week 4: Amazing Things -- May 23

11:31

So, it is now very late and I have basically just wasted the last many hours doing next to nothing, but ya, today was weird. Class, BT, phone time, quiet time, and some appointments with friends.

Ya. It's always great to have a conversation with someone and neither of you can understand the other person. Phone conversations are notoriously terrible. Also, when you say that you are Canadian and don't give a name all the Chinese people meeting Canadians apparently walk towards the white guy standing half a block from the meeting place instead of continuing to the actual place..?

In either case God used SVdM today to speak into a student's life and she prayed to receive Christ which is pretty awesome.

Ya.. probably the wrong couple to be meeting, but whatever. I really pray that God uses her to reach out to him [her boyfriend] and that their relationship is real, both Him and her and him and her. I pray that God really blesses her.

Also, I told AL that I had to prepare to be on different teams for EAP. Prepare mentally and emotionally.

Grr. I feel useless.

D.Fa

[While SVdM was talking to the girl that received Jesus, I was busy being a distraction with her boyfriend. They were going through the four spiritual laws booklet while we were having a very awkward conversation while I was eating dinner. A few of the things he said were pretty weird though. He said that he though the sky was god.

Skip forward a few weeks.

She is still going strong having been discipled by MC and PW and she's strong in her faith. Even though she broke up with her boyfriend she 'has God now' and that keeps her going. She was smiling and happy even with the breakup. She also got connected to a church the week we left.

I'm still praying for the both of them. That she is still strong in her faith and growing and that her faith has shown him how real God is and just pushed him a step closer to knowing God.

Yep. Keep praying in faith that God will do great things!]

Week 4: Amazing Things -- May 22

9:18

Hey. It was rest day and really I did a lot of nothing.

First I slept in.

Then we had a greasy breakfast.

Then we had an extended quiet time.

Then we went to a coffee shop to sit on couches while having quiet time [this was the start of going to Friend's Coffee shop, basically, everyday with our new friends]. I got a rose lemon tea. It was quite good. I read a few chapters of 'Fireseeds of Spiritual Awakening' about repentance and retribution as well as how Jesus' prayer life is an exemplary example for ours and the power of prayers. One thing [the book mentioned] was that Jesus' 40 days in the desert fasting was payment for the 40 years that the Jews tried in the desert but didn't obey God and ya, it made a lot of sense.


We then went for lunch together and went downtown to a big park. MC's first kite experience was hilarious and then we played a game for a while with music on a grassy hillside in the shade.

We then went for dinner. We found this newly opened hotpot place 9did I mention yesterday was my first hotpot?) and it was like 20X better than yesterday's and actually less expensive.

Ya. We are about to watch 2012 together as an awesome topic for conversations. Today has been pretty great, but I can't wait to get back to work.

Thank God for rest days.

D.Fa

Week 3: New Discoveries -- May 21

10:49

So, today was the day before our rest day. This is also the day of the week that we have separate guy + girl time. So today started with a jog, a lot of stair mastery, some weight training and a jog back, water, shower, breakfast then guy time.

We listened to a rap about 'Saving the Dying' and how God has placed us in a position to do so, but choose comfort over saving others. You cannot save drowning people from the lifeguard's tower. You cannot save burning people from the fire station. You cannot save sinners from heaven. You have to put yourself in a bit of danger.

Then I had quiet time and played ping pong with TL and some students [John and his friends]. After that we bussed back for family time. We heard a sermon about God's guidance and how all of our choices are within God's plans for the greater good. We have free will, but all our choices are determined. It's a tough thing to get your head around.

Ya. Then I shared what has been called my testimony. It is imperfect and sketchy, rambly and disjointed, but I actually had a revelation about parts of it seconds before presenting it. About the possible moment when I first accepted Jesus into my life with my heart.

Ya, but that will take a whole post so I will deal with an updated testimony after project.

Ya. I still haven't discussed all the reasoning behind my blog or it's title or a full testimony, but hopefully all will be done relatively soon.

Ya.

D.Fa

Week 3: New Discoveries -- May 20

7:03

Ya know, today was pretty great. First we had class. Then we had quiet time, but I had to leave early for an appointment. We got to the place where we were meeting a couple minutes early so me and JW just talked and prayed for a bit. Then, realizing he had a phone in his pocket, called the student we were meeting. He had stayed up late playing cards with his friends. He came running to us from his dorm [his hair was a mess. lol]. We were going to meet him expecting him to bring a couple friends, but he didn't have their numbers and he slept in, so it was just the three of us.

We went back to his dorm room. There were four bunk beds and it was a little messy. No one was there at first, but one of his roommates came shortly afterwards (he didn't speak English though). We just started talking about some stuff and we got to speaking about how there are problems in the world. We started going through the 'English/East Asian bilingual booklet that has verses from the Bible and also shows that Christianity is not just a 'western' thing' and I could really see that he was understanding. Before he had said that he didn't think God was, but he [now] saw the possibility. His mom had told him when he was a kid that God existed [I wonder what she told him exactly, but it sounded like she was Christian].

The only problem was that he didn't know how to explain in English what he was thinking. We gave him the websites and we left. He's going to the capital city next week sometime and then they will get work experience there [he was in school to become a tour guide]. I was just overcome with sadness; no, my, hmm... the only word I can use is heartbroken. Tears just kept coming to my eyes. I really want to speak with him again. He said he was going to study [English] very hard so that he could tell us what he was thinking.

I have been praying to see people as God does. I think that feeling of brokenheartedness is a part of what God feels. [There are thousands of millions of people in East Asia who don't even know of His name, let alone believe in Him. Yet each and every one of them is a unique and beloved creation in His eyes and He is reaching out to them everyday.] I need to have faith that God will use others to reach out to him. I'll be praying really hard for him.

D.Fa


[that is the racket I broke. lol]

Rainy Days.

Hey guys.

Today was rainy. lol. I woke up late at like 9:30 or something I think. I don't actually really remember. I know I had breakfast... lol...

I didn't do much again. Just blogging, anime, emails, facebook. I'm kinda sick of staring at this computer screen.

Awkward situations are hilarious. And because of the short form for awkward (awks. Example 'that was awks') I made up a bunch of hilarious phrases about overcoming the awkward situations. "Take the awks by the horns and overcome it!" "You can't ignore the awks in the room forever" (I actually didn't make up too many, but I thought it was hilarious.) One that I am rather proud of is: "I'm tawksick". Translation: "This is so totally awkward that it is making me sick." totally ==> totes, awkward ==> awks, totes + awks ==> tawks, tawks + sick ==> tawksick. LOL!!! Short forms are hilarious. Adorbs, g-ross, grotes, ridic, etc... lol But I don't fully support them. Not yet....... I'm losing ground though.

So, ya. Also yesterday I got to tell my brother a Bible quote because he apparently wrote an essay for Anthro, partly about the nature or nurture debate thing and he used the 'clay analogy'. By nature it is clay, but depending on the potter it can be in any different shape. Isaiah 64:8!!! "But now oh lord you are our father. We are the clay you are our potter. We are all the work of your hands." God created us and he has a plan for our lives, a plan to mold us into the role he purposed for our lives and a plan for how we can be used. But many different things in the world or other things that we build up as idols that end up controlling our lives.

Anyways, Ttyl.

=D.Fa

Week 3: New Discoveries -- May 19

9:06

Hey. Did I ever tell you that my roommate is awesome? Well, ya... He is. This morning I was being lazy and apathetic towards the idea of breakfast. He went out and got breakfast for both of us.

Ya, I kinda sinned last night. I wasn't feeling all that bad about it this morning. I mean I confessed and repented of it. I never really wanted to... but... ya... Where was I going with this is that I was having a feeling that was keeping me from praying and I didn't feel good.

This morning 8-10 we had a prayer walk and more prayer afterwards, so it was kinda depressing... [because of my prayerlessness] I later read that prayerlessness is sinful. Ya. It is. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "pray continuously". God commands constant prayer. There were a lot of other verses, but that one is the most direct. [God wants us to be in a close and open relationship with Him.] Ya. If we aren't praying, we are on our own, disconnected and lost in a losing battle. Prayer is essential.

I did a lot of phone calling today and made plans for tomorrow. I then had quiet time. Then we went to meet John. He brought a couple friends and we had a conversation. His friend likes Titanic especially the sacrificial love of Jack(?). Jonathn (in the Bible) had a selfsacrificing brotherly love for David. From the the conversation went spiritual and I started praying. There was this old guy listening to our every word and another guy showed up. We gave John and his friends the websites and will hopefully meet up again on Saturday.

I always feel funny using materials I haven't seen before. I mean, I don't actually know what is on that website. xP.

Me and DP had some meetings afterward, but it was a no show [which led to us meeting 'New' who I will later talk about] and six extra girls [which was really annoying... lol], so kinda unplanned changes, but ya, it's all for Jesus.

Tonight was fun night and after a family dinner with a few guests [a stinter and a couple project directors] we went on a photo scavenger hunt. I really like animals. I will call home tomorrow morning. Phase II is interesting.

=D.Fa

Week 3: New Discoveries -- May 18

9:36

So. I keep getting really big, greasy breakfasts. This seems to make me not hungry at lunch. Anyways, ya, crummy attitudes again... It really keeps me from doing anything. It also made me feel really sorry for my ministry work partner. We did nothing for a couple hours, barely talked to one guy then we were late for BT... I blamed myself.

I apologized after and we had a little chat about what quiet time is. He figures that God is our friend, right? Quiet time is the time when you can just talk openly and just hang out with Him, or something like that. A time with no distractions, no worries, just you and God.

Ya. Phase II. We called a couple people and actually ran into the guy DP was meeting, didn't meet the first guy we were meeting and got to talk to five students when we only called one of them, so, ya, God works in crazy ways sometimes.

Ya. After that we went to an 'English Talk show' which turned out to be more of a speech competition... lol.

Um... I was just asked to share my testimony on Saturday. Ya... I'm still working on it...

The international calling plan has just been bought and I guess I can call home. I don't know what I'd say. xP...

The school we were going to study at is such a nice campus. God can use us, but every speck of sin must be eliminated.

D.Fa

"Joshua 7-8"

Week 3: New Discoveries -- May 17

9:27 [all pm from now on unless otherwise stated.]

Hull-o! I'm a little sick... I have a runny nose and I've just been sweating all day... That's not important though. What is important is how great and awesome God is.

In the last three days or so, I really only ended up meeting like two or three people, but today in our last couple hours officially only in Phase I I met eight more students that all had pretty good English! It was pretty sweet. TL had decided to back off so much that he wasn't even in a couple of conversations. He wanted me to do it. [It was totally the Holy Spirit that was doing it though. I wasn't.]

You know what's even more sweet? We had class this morning and I was in a crummy mood again. Just really to do nothing again, even though I knew I was way behind in Phase I. Then we had quiet time at McDonalds, but I don't carry around my Bible or books, so I thought I had nothing to do. Instead I just looked over John 14 of the IBS (my last resort). You know what? I was just looking through it and I was seeing so much more than I ever do. I was asking questions and stringing together gathered info and understanding to an extent. I was getting excited about God's word. I just felt so pumped about going out and doing work for God and then we met so many people (with English) in such a short ammount of time. =D

Then Phase II hit.

I had just got to being comfortable with Phase I and now we are in Phase II. We really need to get good phone plans so that we can actually call our new friends instead of walking around looking for a phone to use...

Ya... The crummy attitude came back. But then we went for dinner with a student and we had a good conversation. I'm excited again. xP...

I guess I'm fickle, or there's an internal war going on.

D.Fa

Week 3: New Discoveries -- May 16

9:37pm

Yo. Today was the day of rest. I was having a bad attitude towards it, I mean, I only have 14/25 contacts and we only have four weeks left, we've got to start moving onto Phase II and start getting into the spiritual conversations, right? Why should I take a 'day off' when I haven't really been applying myself because of scummy attitudes, but today I was pumped and ready to go... but wasn't allowed to.

But ya. I slept in. I read a cool Christian book. I'm actually ahead of my daily Bible reading schedule. This morning after breakfast (we went to a bakery) when I was in my room I heard the song 'Relax' by Mika. "Relax (echo, echo) Take it ea-----ea----say." I kinda took that as a sign and just asked God to be with me today too, although I wouldn't be doing any ministry work and swore I'd work five times as hard this week.


Ya. Today we went downtown to Walmart. We (five of us) took a taxi and it cost like 4.40$ Canadian for like a 10-15 minute drive. We went to KFC for lunch, went to RBT for tea (very expensive) we checked out the malls, Walmart and a couple parks. It was pretty sweet. There were a million kites flying above the park. We had PizzaHut for dinner. Western restaurants are classy here. It was 55.9$ Canadian for the 13 of us. I got to hold the baby for most of the meal, so I only had two slices of pizza, but ya. I'm glad I finally got to hold him. My camera broke... I hope I can fix it soon. [It is still not fixed. lol... whatever. What's another thousand photos on facebook and my computer?]

Oh. Then we went to play frisbee at the circle [best place ever. old broken fountain surrounded by student dorms and the laundry lady's place. It would be refered to as the square, but it was circular]. It was a lot of fun. Two frisbees. Six people. Twilight. People walking by constantly. xP We also had some students play with us and I got to meet one and get their number. Even on the rest day, with no effort, God got me a contact.

Praise the Lord.

D.Fa

Week 3: New Discoveries -- May 15

--

Hey! Today was interesting as usual. First we went for a short jog and crazy workout at the park. (The other day I saw a real elliptical machine in another park, so they do exist, as opposed to the pendulums.) I could barely lift my arms afterwards...

We then had an awesome man time. It was kinda really funny. The pastor that was speaking (we listened to it from JW's ipod) about the differences between men vs women and how men are built to build bigger, better, faster, awesome things [it's biblical. lol. but the way he phrased it was funny].

We then went to do ministry work. Sundays there are no people... We did however meet three first year airport security majors (one of which who was 14 years old). We had lunch with them [The only time I actually had something from McDonalds].

We then had a couple free hours, which we used to do laundry, buy towels and buy bread/juice for communion.

We then had a 'family time'. This is equivalent to church while we are here in East Asia. TL, SVdM and MC shared their testimonies. We prayed. We had communion. Then because of our IBS on John 13 we washed each others feet. Litterally.

It was pretty funny. All the guys couldn't contain their laughter at their roommates tickling their toes. But seriously, Jesus came down from Heaven and humbled Himself to our level, He came down, felt all the temptaions we do, He even came down and washed His disciples feet the day before the ultimate sacrifice. From being in Heaven, with all things under His authourity down to scrubing dirty feet.

I tried imagining Jesus washing my feet, but it was too funny when DP was washing my feet. I tried again afterwards, I just can't think about it. How would I react?

Another thing that is awesome is that because Jesus died on the cross, TL, SVdM and MC are all alive right now. I'm so glad they are my brothers and sister and that I got to meet them [and spend seven weeks together with them]. I love them.

We also went to dinner, bubble tea, and we are just hanging out now. Tomorrow is the day of rest and we are probably going downtown for shopping and fun time.

D.Fa

Week 2: I'm in East Asia!?! -- May 14

--

I was feeling really awesome this morning. In BT we had a talk about who God is and our possible misconceptions or imaginations of God based on parental figures or mentors, or our feelings [which was apparently part of our OCBC church family retreat a week later back in Canada. What!? Crazy!]. Then we looked at a number of verses that give a real picture of who God is and who we are because of who God is. It was really awesome.

[I'm actually still using the card we made from this BT. Thanks MC!!! Here are some points:
God is:
-my strength + my rock + my deliverer (Psalm 18:1-2)
-the true vine (John 15:5)
-the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)
-rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4)
-my armour (Ephesians 6:10-11)
-love (1 John 4:16)
-good (Romans 8:28, Psalm 106:1)
-My redeemer (Romans 6:23)
-resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26)
-my Shepard (John 10:27-29)
-creator of all (Prov 22:2)
-consuming fire (Hebrews 12:39)
compassionate (Matthew 14:14)
-great and awesome (Deuteronomy 7:21)
-eternal (Matthew 24:35)
-with us always (Matthew 28:20)
-giver of good gifts (John 15:7)
-unrelenting in his pursuit of the lost (Luke 19:10)

In Light of who God is, ____(insert your name here) is:
-adopted as his son/daughter through Jesus (Ephesians 1:5)
-marked in Him with a seal the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)
-a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20-21)
-raised with Jesus (Collosions 3:1)
-called (Collosians 5:24)
-masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10)
-Child of God (2 Corinthians 6:18)
-new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
-victorious (1 Corinthians 15:37)
-loved (Galatians 3:20)

We ran out of time though, but I am still adding to this list and looking back on it. 'It was really awesome']

Before BT, me and TL had a badminton man-date. It was pretty fun for a while. The problem is that I tend to play to[o] hard. xP I swung at the birdie and the racket went flying. Well, just the neck and head, not the handle. So, ya, we stopped playing.


In quiet time I read Joshua 3-4 and Psalm 58-60. I also kinda zoned out. Me and TL then went out to explore and meet people again. We bussed to the PT University and it was pretty quiet, so we walked. We ended up at the river. It looked like it was dry. [It looked like it was dry!] I found out the hard way. I was the first to get a mud bath. We walked through 'the ghetto' to get home, I changed shoes and we went out again.

We really didn't meet too many people, but this one guy, who we named David was really nice. I really felt that we should make friends with him. I'm glad we did. [He was misunderstanding our question of 'how many years have you studied' as 'how many will you', so he kept saying he was in 5th year. I didn't believe it, but TL did. In the end he had been in university 2.5 years. We had lunch with him.]

I'm so sunburned. lol. If sunsickness exists, I probably have it. Kinda a depression and a rash and some headaches.

MC is so nice. heart. SVdM is kinda a combatative person.

D.Fa

"Col 3:12-14 'Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.'"

Week 2: Im in East Asia!?! -- May 13

--

It's funny how God works. Up until like the last half hour, today was, like, the darkest, worse day. Not that the sky was cloudy, not that anything big and bad happened, I just was burying myself in unrepented sinful ideas and attitudes. My attitude towards my fam member SVdM was growing worse and worse, I was feeling apathetic towards ministry work, I was closing myself off from others, I slept in, I was getting fed up with 'East Asian Language' class, I was just being sinful. Quiet time was a fail, BT was a fail, I wasn't really praying, I was just on a downwards, internal spiral of apathy, self-centered attitudes and a sinful outlook. Just because you haven't physically sinned in a couple weeks does not make you able to personally, on your own, keep yourself in the right. It's all this self-centrality that is undermining everything I am doing here. Satan is stupid and lame, but against you he has power. Against God in you he is weak.

I'm so thankful for how God was speaking to me to confess these attitudes and actions to someone although Satan kept telling me to bottle it all. I'm thankful that God uses others to speak into our lives, I'm super thankful that God humbles us. If it wasn't for JW. Scrap that. Even with him there prodding, if it weren't for the Holy Spirit convicting me to be honest always and to be open about some things I would be so much further down right now, probably taking the scum into the physical realm, but instead I've seen how wrong I was, how incorrect my thoughts were, how much God unconditionally loves us, how many and endless are the possibilities for those who rely on God, the value of confession and rebuking brothers,

God, thank you.

D.Fa

"Every second I am here"

[PS. That is a picture I took from the 14th when we were going through a broken part of the city. It was pretty sad, but really, there used to be more people in the town, so some parts just aren't used anymore.]

Losing things.

Life in East Asia was so much simpler.

No need for cell phones or keys or laptops.

The third day back and I lose my cellphone. I havn't found my house key yet, well I have found my old house key and my new one, but not my parents' house's key...

Also, with the cluter of boxes and furniture I almost lost my notebook... The one that had all my Asian friend's email addresses! I was freaking out about this. Luckily I found it today. I was so relieved. I just added all my friends and I just started having a conversation with one of my and DP's friends! I miss him. xP

Anyways, today I blogged, watched anime, went to BF's to get my phone and I ended up feeding RM's bird and signing up to lead YA next week..., I had a really long quiet time and prayer time, played softball with a bunch of friends in the rain. So great.

About all my problems with the summer camp: They have all melted away! lol. We will have internet in Quebec. I'll be in a community near James Bay. We fly back on the 12th.

Oh. I don't have to work in produce at all these next two weeks. Bonus! But actually, BJ is leaving. TT.TT

I think I should start trying to get my G1..?

D.Fa

Week 2: I'm in East Asia!?! -- May 12

10:52 am

'Proverbs'
-Prayer walks are pretty awesome, but sinful attitudes are not.
-Fluffy seeds can make things look magical, but when they get in your eyes it is not magical.
-Having a family in another country is like the best thing ever.
-Make sure you call him back the next day. (lol.)
-God speaks in many ways, but you have to be listening for Him.
-Comparing yourself to others is never a good thing. You either get prideful (sinful) or jealous/depressed (sinful). God will use you in a unique way.
-Threatening to destroy an alarm clock that ticks very loudly may result in the sudden disappearance of said clock.
-Side hugs are a safe and culturally acceptable way of showing affection for one another.
-If you want something [in specific] to drink and you have water, there is definitely a powdered form out there for you.
-You don't have to pretend to be foreign if you are.
-Look both ways before ya cross. Even then, be prepared to book it.
-Make sure you wash or 'hanitize'[our way of saying 'sanitize your hands with purell or other hand sanitizers] before eating. You don't want to get on the 'D-train' [euphemism for 'getting diahrea'].
-Never walk barefoot in your bathroom, or anywhere. Both floor and bathroom start with the same syllable.

D.Fa

Week 2: I'm in East Asia!?! -- May 11

8:26pm

Yo. Today was pretty awesome. Instead of a run, we went for a prayer walk to the big cafeteria near the South Gate of the city. There were so many students. We ate some 'delIcious breakfast food' and soy milk. (So proud that I ordered the 'delIcious breakfast food' by myself. "Two" (in East Asian) =D) It was so good and only like '35 cents Canadian'.

We bussed back to McDonalds for class again. The same song was playing. We did some more 'East Asian spelt with English characters' and pronouncing stuff work. After we had business time (BT) and quiet time and Inductive Bible Study (IBS). IBS was pretty cool.

We went to the caf again for lunch and to meet some people. We prayed for an awesome person who could speak English. We approached one guy in line to ask him what to order and he ordered a 'delIcious chicken meal' for us. It was spicy. He likes to play Devil May Cry 4. He was pretty cool. I then accidentally approached a girl and awkwardly left, but then a guy approached us asking if he could help us. He was really good at English and he definitly has an interesting story. A fortune teller told him that if he didn't change his name from 'Grass Cutter' he would have a disaster occur to him. He changed his name to 'Family Protector'. He had to leave quickly so we didn't get to talk for long, but I'm excited for him. We also talked to a graduate by accident. He was great to talk to too.

After we played basketball with our teacher's English class. We gave some guys English names. xP. We also went towards the cafs for dinner, but ended up going through 'an area that resembles a more stereo-typical version of what I thought East Asia might be like' and getting a 'crepe'. It was so much more 'East Asian' than the rest of this city.

We went for Korean BBQ. I love my family. This city is awesome and there's so much going on. I'm ecited for this summer.

D.Fa

Week 2: I'm in East Asia!?! -- May 10

8:59pm

Today started off earlier than usual, but later than expected. I wanted to wake up at like 6 to do a work out or something, but I kept sleeping after I turned the alarm off. Ya. However, when I woke up again I couldn't get back to sleep easily (combination of opening my eyes too much, rolling around, the darn ticking clock, etc. so I went through Deut 29-30 and then started going through the Spirit-filled life booklet again. I got to the fourth point I think and then RN and JW knocked on the door and all the guys (except DP) went for a good run.

It was pretty sweet. Ya, problem. We 'did our laundry' last night. This involved giving the laundry lady and her Chihuahua all my clothes, so I had nothing else to wear. When I showered, I washed my shirt too... lol.

Then I had a peanut butter sandwich with taro and honey breads. We had another class at McDonald's, we had some 'business time' [the time of day when we either learn something with quotes from the Bible about a spiritual topic, do our inductive Bible studies, share things that God is doing in our lives, plan for the week ahead, etc.].

I ended up feeling pretty bad. I mean I had all these scummy feelings of apathy and uselessness. I prayed that they would be replaced by joy and peace.

We then went for lunch and afterwards ministry work finally began. We (RN, DP and I) went around meeting people. On the basketball courts we were celebrities with screaming girls, but that's not important. We met some guys and then we bought a basketball for later. We went to play ball across from our hotel with some of our teacher's students. By the end of all that ministry work and stuff I felt so much better and I am really excited for this summer. Praise the Lord for answered prayers, yo.

D.Fa

Week 2: I'm in East Asia!?! -- May 9

7:50pm

So. Today was interesting. We woke up at like 8, had breakfast at the same place again, and then we went to McDonalds!(sarc) I didn't want to go to McDonalds. xP, but it was so good! Why? Our first 'East Asian Language' class! Pretty exciting, except that the subject matter was not. We were just reading 'East Asian written in English characters' for the whole two hours... Kinda got boring.

Ya. Today was our day of rest, so we went for a bit of a prayer walk, had some quiet time, went for a tour on a bus trolley thing [Which we started calling either a 'buggy' or 'little bus'], did some laundry, went to this crazy park with ridiculous machines for working out and we explored a bookstore and a mall.

This was all great except that my stomach was hurting. It turns out I was hungry. At the time I thought it might have been 'constipation' or 'diahrea'[this is awkward, but it was way more fun writing thos words with manners. lol]. I feel better with some food in my stomach.

I'm actually getting bored of all this free time and rest and junk, but I guess it will all work out for the best. If I had been doing ministry work while my stomach hurt, it probably would not be very effective.

D.Fa

Week 2: I'm in East Asia?!? -- May 8

2:30pm

We had breakfast together this morning. To feed all fifteen or so of us cost like 10$ Canadian. That is ridiculous. There's no tax and no tip. Craziness. Breakfast is like 10$ per person [minimum in a restaurant] in Canada.

This morning when I woke up breifly at 5am I heard 'fireworks'. It turns out that they have 'rain cannons' that make it rain [very low percentage though] by firing chemicals and junk into the air.

At 8 we looked around the town and broke into groups for exploring. Me, MC and DP went together and found like a bank and some female dorms and finally the school where we'll be learning at [nope. more on that later]. We talked to some students and it was cool.


We then went for lunch (I have been taking pictures for CC. lol.) and afterwards it was raining. All the stores had umbrellas for sale. All of them. At competative prices. So we got new umbrellas for like three dollars Canadian. Ya. This is gonna be good.

D.Fa

Excuses.

So, today I slept.

I slept until 2:30. I went to bed at midnight though, so, really, 14.5 hours. Kinda terrible... BUT I was sick... AND I'm still lagging a bit... but really those are excuses. I could have woken up earlier.

I could have.

In anycase, I did very little today. I had lunch, played tennis (poorly), read emails and went to YA.

YA was cool though. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 makes way more sense after having read a bunch of the Old Testament. Also, my friends are awesome. A friend confessed something tonight and I totally agreed with him. We had been talking about how it is hard to love some one you hate (because we were talking about this week's sermon on love being a sign of assurance of your salvation in Jesus) and generally it is only 'normal' (in the most basic sense) to love people who help you some way or people who love you is the idea that came up. That friend said that he really loves this guy who there really isn't much of a reason for him to and I totally understood that. I love that guy too. I want to pray for him every night. I'm gonna get a prayer journal to keep track of stuff. JW's influence.

Ya. More to come tomorrow maybe..?

D.Fa

Service Charge?!?

So.

Today was another somewhat long day.

Today I had to get a Police Record Check, so that I can work this summer and help orient the new kids at school in September, and exchange my Asian money so that it would be useful to me.

Service Charges are outrageous. lol. In Asia there's practically no price on any service. Again I need to remind myself that people aren't treated properly in Asia. Workers get absolute minimum pay and no tip or anything. Working hard all day for almost nothing. So, my paying a bit of tax or a small fee is helping a lot of people.

Anyways. I eventually went to the house I'll be living in come September and we had pasta and ice cream and played monopoly. We also talked about Asia. It was good.

You don't know yet, but you will see that I was really being tempted to do nothing and given bad attitudes and temptations to do 'that thing that guys sometimes do' and all that stuff while on project. The devil doesn't want us doing work. He definately slowed me down. I could have done way more, but God taught me a lot and sometimes the hard way is the better way to really learn things. Hebrews 12:11 "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." I hope I have really been trained and pray that the training sticks and doesn't wash away.

Ya. I'm sick.

Goodnight.

D.Fa