Well, I’m two and a half days away from being halfway done with the college quarter. It definitely seems weird. It is cliche to say “how the time has flown by”, or “it seems just like yesterday” so I’ll just say that each day has seemed to last forever, but when stacked in the past, makes but a small pile of time gone by. I believe that Continue reading “Halfway done”
Haiti Trip- Saturday 7/14
Sarah has sent in her first report:
dear everyone,
hi. So, I’ve been in Haiti since Thursday at noon, and so far it’s really cool. It reminds me of Mexico in a lot of ways, but not as hot. Yes, I just said “not as hot”. Maybe working outside every day has helped more than I thought. Anyway, here’s the basic overview. On Thursday we Continue reading “Haiti Trip- Saturday 7/14”
Sarah’s Trip to Haiti, plus Dani’s work there…
For those of you following Sarah’s interest in missions, you may know that she will leave this Tuesday (actually, Thursday- Ed.) for the Caribbean island of Haiti for a fact-finding mission trip, ending with a visit to her boyfriend (who is doing his own mission work there all summer) and his family. You can start by reading her recent support letter, and continue Continue reading “Sarah’s Trip to Haiti, plus Dani’s work there…”
Week Three
I met a man sitting on a bus stop bench on the street this past Thursday. His name was Mike and he was begging for money. I stopped and talked to him. He claimed that he had mental problems and couldn’t work, and got social security every month but it wasn’t enough. I tried to talk to him and encourage him. I shared Jesus with him. He claimed to know Jesus, not as one of his children, but he believed he existed. I tried to encourage him to pray and rely on the Lord for salvation. But Mike said he was afraid to pray, because he believed that every time he prayed, God punished him. In the end, Continue reading “Week Three”
Self Control vs. State Control
For many, the practices and motivations behind Wahhabi Islam (most terrorists claim this sect, including Bin Laden) are difficult and mysterious. The article linked under News (and here) gives great insight into at least one outworking of the attempt to please God by outward conformity, while ignoring matters of the heart. In fact, one Continue reading “Self Control vs. State Control”
Pics of My Room
Here’s my room. A bit messy, but I wanted to show you how it really is. At the moment, with all I have to do, keeping my room clean is at the absolute bottom of my priority list. Though I do more or less pick up every evening so I’m not tripping over stuff, my room is by no means a model of cleanliness. Don’t feel bad about me only having a mattress and box-springs for a bed. I actually like it much better than a bed, and it is very comfortable. I like being near the floor. Well, enjoy.
My name in Chinese Characters
Here is my assigned Chinese name in Chinese characters. It is To2ng Le3i. Those numbers right after the “o” and the “e” indicate a tone mark. Since you probably have no idea what those are, don’t worry about it. Tong Lei is Pinyin, the romanization of the pronunciation of the Chinese characters. Tong is just a family surname, no meaning. Lei means high as in social status, honor etc, and big as in great person/influential people. Not much correlation to me, but thats ok. Later, I think, after I am well into Chinese and really have a good grip on the language and culture, I can change my name. Many people do that. By the way, I wrote that vertically, but more and more Chinese people write horizontally, from left to write, just like us. Often if something is written vertically it is for traditional, artistic, or literature reasons.
Week two (hi y’all!)
Dear Family and Friends,
Week Two,
Well, I’m still alive, and that’s something. Actually it’s considerably better than that. I am alive and kicking, if a bit tired, and still loving every minute of it. Chinese continues to be hard, and there are definitely fleeting moments when I’d like to chuck it out the window. But those moments are rare and pass quickly. They usually come on after I have been studying for hours and it is late. For the most part it is very interesting, and I am definitely learning Chinese fast. There are now only five of us, and I believe nobody else is going to leave. We have passed the winnowing period and now the only people in class are those who are really serious and have put aside other things so they will have time to do Chinese. Continue reading “Week two (hi y’all!)”
Can we win this thing in Iraq (and why should you care?)…
Democrats, Republicans, Independents… even our enemies agree that the U.S. should get out of Iraq. The question is Continue reading “Can we win this thing in Iraq (and why should you care?)…”
The dogs point of view
With all this talk of the queen – i mean, the cat, I feel like it might be time to talk about the dogs a little bit. Do any of you wonder how they are? I have it on good authority (*coughserenacough*) that the dogs are “surpassingly adorable”. Here is their daily thought pattern, courtesy of the word magician that is my little sister: Continue reading “The dogs point of view”