elastic basket for my peaches

Confessions of a slacker

2011-08-30T15:51:00.000-10:00

This is kind of a fake post. I just want to apologize to all three people who may still read my blog. I like the idea of writing fun and witty things on a regular basis but I tend to procrastinate. I even have a good idea for an entry right now but I just don't have the energy to undertake it this second. So, I will try to begin writing more again but I am not going to make any promises. With Young Life, grad school and work, it's easy to forget about the blog. Even so, I am going to try to start this thing up again.

On a side note, I am really enjoying this CD, Chasing Someday by Drew Holcomb. He and his wife came to our Young Life leader retreat and they are cool people with big hearts. They volunteer some with Young Life including with the special needs kids ministry. One of their songs was featured in the TV show, Parenthood and it's pretty cool. By the way, "Parenthood" is a pretty cool show too.

You know you’re in Asia when….

2011-07-18T04:47:00.002-10:00

1. You get really excited to see an MB (mole beard). It’s when someone has a mole on their face with oddly thick, long hair growing out of it. It’s like a cross between a mole and a beard. You get extra points if it’s a lady mole beard.

2. You also get really excited when you go into a restroom and find a) a Western toilet, b) toilet paper and c) soap. KFC and McDonald’s are the best bet for these.

3. You find yourself haggling in order to get a lower price on an already $2 item.

4. You avoid looking at other foreigners.

5. You let strangers take your picture.

6. You don’t get that freaked out when a saleswoman touches your eyelashes.

7. You think McDonald’s is too expensive.

8. You meet people with names like Coco, Candy, South Fly, Big Bear, Biff, Gold and Magic.

9. One Starbucks drink is the same price as a pair of shoes.

10. You can buy tiger paws on the street as well as seahorses, snakes and Gucci handbags.

First Week in Asia

2011-07-04T04:02:00.000-10:00

I have been here in Asia for one week now. We have gotten back in the swing of things very quickly. The first day we arrived, we met with my old friend, Marcia and we've met with several friends since. The team here is nice but a bit shy. I am trying to get them to engage more with the people. So far, I have taught an English corner, attended an English corner, attended a study and met people to invite to these events. I also got a friend to take me shopping for some killer purple paint-splattered Ray Bans. One really fun thing has been to talk with the people who I knew from before but had joined our club in the year since I have been here last. The change in them is awesome and a true testament to the big guy's power. Now if Marcia would just believe...

Despite our success so far, Shannon and I have already had a set-back. On Friday morning, we were heading to the team's apartment for some singing to the big guy. We decided to ride a bike with me on the front and Shannon on the back. The sidewalk was very crowded where we were riding. A man on a motorbike came very close to us as he tried to squeeze between me and a walker. On the other side was a kid and in my attempt to miss the motorbike, I bumped the kid. During all of this, Shannon's foot got caught in the bike's wheel. It was not good. She fell over and started crying and her shoe stayed wedged in the bike. I have never been great at a quick response in crisis. I just stared, shocked. A very nice older lady took Shannon's shoe out of the bike and told us with gestures to go to the nearby pharmacy. The pharmacies here don't require prescriptions.

When we got there, another lady who'd been at the accident scene was there and explained what had happened. They sold us some Asian medicine stuff that looked like a small bottle of perfume and smelled like strong mouthwash. I guess it couldn't hurt. We've been putting this stuff on Shannon and letting her rest. Yesterday was the first day she really went out since the accident. She is still a bit sore but getting around okay. Please lift her up since we walk here all the time. We'd also like to play some basketball.

Young Life Camp- Frontier Ranch

2011-06-24T11:48:00.000-10:00

It's been a crazy month! June 4- June 12 I went to Frontier Ranch in Buena Vista, Colorado as a leader for my Young Life kids. I think this was my sixth time to go as a leader but it's always fun. I've been to four different Young Life camps but I think Frontier is my favorite. We brought about 45 kids from our urban high school and about the same amount from the other urban school in our area. Some of the kids have never left Houston so it's a treat to watch them see new things. It was also even more fun for me this year because my friend, Shannon came along as a leader. She hadn't had any experience with Young Life and had never been to camp or Colorado so it was all new to her too.

We were in a cabin with Freshman and Sophomore girls and they were pretty crazy. They were good at having fun but not so good at being serious. It was great to get to know them better, regardless. One thing that really struck me when they were serious was how much they'd been hurt by their parents. The people who were supposed to protect them had instead caused them so much pain. I am looking forward to being a positive adult presence in their lives and help them to understand how much God loves them.

Some of our cabin at the rodeo

Me and Shannon with some of the girls who pied us

Having fun at Western Night

Resting after our hike

Most of the kids we took to camp

Testing

2011-05-18T16:08:00.000-10:00

I have been working at my old school as an hourly teacher. In this position, I have done a variety of jobs including tutoring struggling students, substituting and monitoring for standardized tests. My least favorite task is monitoring standardized tests because it's just so dull. As a monitor for these tests, you are supposed to read the directions to the kids and make sure they aren't cheating. You also give them pencils and kleenex as needed. I've been testing one to six kids during these all-day tests. One kid is the worst because you really just sit there since you can't assist them with any answers and they definitely aren't cheating.

Last week I had to one-on-one test a boy I will call "Daniel." Daniel is a third grader in special ed. so I had to read the entire test to him. This was complicated by the fact that in addition to being a very sweet little boy, he has the attention span of a goldfish. The mornings weren't as bad as Daniel was very sleepy. I kept him awake by gently poking him with the eraser end of my pencil. I even let him take a little nap. After lunch, Daniel was far more alert. This turned out to be unfortunate. His mind wandered so often that I started writing down his comments.

Here is a transcript. Keep in mind that this was during a Math test and then a Science test I was reading aloud to him.
-I don't like peanut butter.
-Do you have a dog?
-Can I take a nap? (He'd already taken a nap that morning with me.)
-Can I play a game?
-I like to make noises.
-I have a bruise. Can I go see the nurse?
-I didn't know flying squirrels were real.
-When can I go back to class?
-I saw Mr. J go by. Can I say, hi?
-I want to go home already but I can't.
-Now can I go to the nurse?
-Mr. C has a toy microscope.
-How many pages do we have left?
-These are the last pages. I am going to read them inside my head. (Finishes six questions in 30 seconds).
-Ok, I pick this flashlight. (Not an answer choice).
-You know you want it!
-Do you want ice cream?
(Makes grunting noises) -That means, Ok
-Want a tweetie bird?
-Want an owl?
-You want ice cream?
-My legs are sleepy.
-If I don't know the answer, I just guess right?
-Is that Mr. C? Can I go check it out?
-My hand is back awake now.
-How many more questions?

His inattention was almost fascinating and would have been a lot more humorous if I wasn't trying to get him to finish his tests. In the end, the day certainly wasn't as boring as some testing days have been.

The Tina Fey Theory

2011-05-06T17:50:00.000-10:00

I recently finished reading Bossypants by Tina Fey. It's safe to say that I LOVED this book! It was exceedingly hilarious and really fun to read. Reading this book reminded me of a theory I have about men, which I am henceforth calling, "The Tina Fey theory."

Tina Fey is undoubtedly talented and hilarious. She's been very successful at what she does so I am clearly not the only one who feels this way about her. She is not an unattractive woman but also not incredibly beautiful. I think she is average, verging on pretty when she tries. I think of myself the same way. Don't get me wrong. I don't have some self esteem problem that leaves me believing I look like a troll. I think I am average to pretty depending on the day.

Back to my theory. If a guy thinks that Tina Fey is hot, then there is a good chance he is the kind of guy I want. What this says to me is that he values her personality and general hilarity and finds that it makes her beautiful. Now I am not claiming to be as funny as Tina Fey but I do believe my personality makes me more attractive. So, if you know a guy who thinks Tina Fey is hot, send him my way.

Suspicions Confirmed

2011-04-19T11:07:00.000-10:00

This blog is long overdue but I figure it is never too late to share a funny story.

Every weekend there are countless open houses in my neighborhood. My neighborhood is very interesting and eclectic. My parents and I like to go to different open houses on the weekends for free entertainment. It is also a chance to get decorating ideas.

A few months ago we went to an open house put on by our former real estate agent. Her associate, David was manning the house. My dad recognized him as someone who had been at our old house for our open houses. My dad started talking to David, who didn’t recognize us despite the connection. My dad told him about how we’d bought another house that the real estate agent had been listing and he remembered our house.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. The house next door is for sale. My parents don’t like the neighbors too much partly because their loud conversations on their porch filter right into my parents’ bedroom. My parents wanted to see the inside of their house but felt awkward going to an open house in case the neighbors were there. My roommate, Katie and I have never really met the neighbors so we decided we’d go to their open house so we could look around.

When I got inside, I saw David, the real estate agent. I figured he wouldn’t recognize me because he didn’t recognize us last time and I was with Katie and not my parents. After I had only been in the house a few minutes, David said, “Haven’t I seen you somewhere?” I told him that I had seen him at another open house with my parents. I thought this was the end of it. A few minutes later, he said, “Don’t you live next door?” I was caught. I sheepishly fessed up. He was nice and said that often neighbors come to open houses and up telling their friends who are looking for houses.

Katie and I explored the house. As we were looking around upstairs, I got a great idea. My bathroom window looks out at the neighbors’ house. I’ve always been concerned about how much they can see as I take a shower. I called my mom and said, “Mom, can you go stand in my shower?” She immediately replied, “Okay.” She didn’t even wait for an explanation. As Katie and I looked out the neighbors’ window, all of sudden, my mom’s face appeared. Weird. We could really only see her head and shoulders until she pantomimed washing her hair. If she’d been naked, we’d have totally seen her chest. Eek! My suspicions were confirmed. I need to get a cover for that window or start charging my neighbors for the show.

When we went back downstairs, real estate agent David asked us why we were laughing and we told him about our experiment. We started talking about how Katie wants to buy a house and it turns out he has a lot of experience in the area she’s thinking about. He was very nice and knowledgeable. Looks like Katie found her real estate agent. The next step is to find a house. Overall it was a fun afternoon at the neighbors’.

Thoughts on Feminist Theory

2011-03-27T16:13:00.000-10:00

I am currently in a Counseling Theories class. The point of the class is to give us an overall picture of some of the most widely-accepted counseling theories from Freud and beyond. Our professor encourages us to find the parts of each theory that we like the best to use later when we are counselors. Some theories I definitely identify more with than others. So far, I am most interested in Reality therapy and Cognitive Behavior therapy, though I have a lot to learn.

We recently learned about Feminist therapy. This is a theory I do not like very much. I am not saying it is not without merit but it does not fit with how I see the world. The therapy attempts to eradicate traditional gender roles and blames much of society's problems on them. I am not saying that men haven't oppressed women and there might not be room for change. What I have a problem with is the idea of trying to get rid of gender roles. Personally I believe God made man and woman different but equal. Regardless of your beliefs about why we are that way, it seems ludicrous to me to believe that men and women are the same or are interchangeable.

Here are some situations where I would prefer a man:
Moving heavy things
Driving (esp. backing out of a tight space)
Packing a car
Fixing just about anything
General protection

Here are some situations where I would prefer a woman:
Shopping
Talking about my feelings
Decorating
Hospitality
Caring for kids

I am not saying that men can't do some of the women things I've listed and that women can't do some of the men things. I am just saying that most men are better than most women at the first list and most women are better than most men at the second list. I mean, my friend, Sarah Morgan O'Bryan picked up a couch and moved it all by herself and my cousin, Roy has decorated his house quite well. I like that men and women are different. If men were just like women, I probably wouldn't be attracted to them. I think when men and women do what they are best at, it actually provides more freedom, not the oppression that feminist theory purports. We are equal but different and for that I am thankful. As you can see, I will not be becoming a feminist therapist anytime in the near future.

The Beginning of My Softball Career

2011-03-19T10:08:00.000-10:00

I am still on Spring Break and I am realizing how nice it is to have some free time. Too bad it ends in only a few days. One thing I added to my already busy schedule is a co-ed softball team. Rojas, the P.E. teacher at the school I work at, has organized a co-ed team that plays in March. Basketball is really my sport but I am decent at most sports and enjoy being part of a team. I didn't play softball in high school but I did play some co-ed intra-murals in college. I didn't already have anything scheduled for Friday nights so I agreed to be part of the team.

I missed our first games because I was out of town visiting my brother's family. Last night was my debut performance. Our team is called the Third Base Bullies and we are mostly Mexican. The first team we played was mostly Black and the second team was mostly Asian. I am not sure if all the teams are so racially-segregated but it was pretty funny.

We ended up losing both games. Some innings we looked pretty good and other innings we looked pretty terrible. I played third base and definitely wished I knew more about softball or third base, for that matter. I had pretty realistic expectations of myself so I was happy to do anything good and not mess up too bad. I did okay. I was the second to bat, which was handy since most of the pitchers weren't too warmed up. I ended up getting walked three times, struck out once and got one hit where I beat the tag at first. Not too shabby. I caught a fly ball for an out, I stopped a line drive and caught the ball for an out at third. I made a few mistakes but I like to focus on the positives.

My friend, Erin is on the team and she, like me is fairly athletic but without much softball experience. She was in right field for most of the game and didn't get much action. She hadn't had much luck at the plate either. In the last inning I got walked and then the guy behind me got walked, which meant he got to take two bases. This put me on third. I prayed that Erin would get a hit and she totally did. I ended up running home and scoring a run. It was a nice way to end the game. Too bad we still lost by 10 runs.

It was fun to be part of a team and I look forward to our games next week. Maybe I will find someone who can give me some pointers so I can actually feel like I know what I am doing.

Young Life

2011-03-09T19:15:00.000-10:00

I have been a blog slacker but here's a video of what I have been up to.

Think Before You Speak

2011-02-20T18:39:00.000-10:00

I've been working as a tutor/substitute forty hours a week. It's really nice to be back with kids. I really do love them! On Friday, I substituted for a fourth grade class at my old school. It was field trip day to the Science Museum. I enjoy field trip days as long as they don't include incessant questioning. Fortunately in this case, I was being honest when I told the kids I didn't know anything.

The field trip was a bit too short to see much of the museum. We started by going to the planetarium and watching a movie about space. It made me bitter about how NASA is essentially being shut down. Then they divided my students up into small groups, each with a guide, and showed them around the dinosaur exhibit. The tour guides were a bit strange and I think they are volunteers. I didn't really know what I was supposed to do, so I just walked from group to group, making my presence known. One of the tour guides seemed like a conspiracy theorist. He kept talking about 2012 and how people were going to try to make money off it and the kids should be careful. I think they were just confused.

After the dinosaur time, we went into this classroom where a lady taught a lesson on animals. It was actually very well done The best part was when she gave each table of kids a real animal skull and then pictures of animals that they had to try to match to the skull. It was a cool hands-on activity. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of animal skull access so it would be hard to replicate this one. The teacher asked the kids different questions about animals throughout the class. At one point she said, "Name a carnivore that lives in the ocean." One of my students yelled, "Cougar!" I laughed in her face, and kind of loudly. I am sorry but that's just a stupid answer. Sometimes kids need to know when they've said something dumb.

Traumatic Timeso

2011-02-11T06:53:00.000-10:00

One of my classes this semester is called "Intervention Strategies for Psychological Trauma.As you can probably guess, this class is pretty intense. I didn't really know what I was getting into because the course catalog only listed it as Intervention Strategies. It is a hard class emotionally but I would love to help traumatized people.

Last week we watched a fictional movie about child molestation. The movie waas intense and I wouldn't recommend watching it. It follows two boys who were sexually abused by their baseball coach. One boy grows up to be a male prostitute and the other boy concocts a story of being abducted by aliens to explain why he has periods of time he doesn't remember.

I was a bit traumatized by the film, especially the sex scenes. I didn't feel like I was going to cry until after the movie was over. I began to think of all the people I know and love who were molested as children. Unfortunately that list is too long. I wrote down the names of all the people I know who were violated as children and I came up with 25 names. And these are just the people who've told me. I am sure I know other people who haven't told me.the whole thing makes me so sad and mad at the same time. I know how negatively this affects people and it makes me so sick that people hurt kids like this.

When I got home, I prayed for each of those people I know by name. I prayed that God would restore what was selfishly stolen from them. I prayed for a healthy view of sex and for healthy sex lives for all these people. And I prayed for the people who victimized them. I prayed that they would get help and never do this to another child. I don't see how people can honestly say that they think people are good when children are used and abused by those who are supposed to protect them. "The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children." Deitrich Bonhoeffer
Looks like our society has a long way to go!

My Third Career Day

2011-02-01T16:43:00.000-10:00

I've been working at my old school three days a week. It's actually been great! I don't have all the pressures of being a teacher as I tutor and substitute and I get to be with my friends there.

On Friday, we had Career Day. This is one of my favorite elementary school days. My school growing up didn't have Career Day but they were prominently displayed on my favorite TV shows like Full House. I think Career Day is a great idea to help kids see what types of jobs they can have when they grow up.

The event is set-up so that each class gets at least 9 presenters. This is great but the sheer number of participants means that some presenters will be duds. Some people's jobs are too complicated or too uninteresting for children. Some people are too complicated or uninteresting for children. This time I was subbing for a fourth grade class that got really engaging speakers.

We started with a lawyer, who did a decent job of explaining his profession to the kids. Then we had a woman from the city's gang prevention task force. She knew how to talk to children and had a nice powerpoint. My favorite part of her presentation was when she showed a picture of a woman with short blonde hair. (The presenter was a Hispanic woman with dark hair.) She asked who the picture was of and one of the kids said it was her. In fact, it was our mayor. Our kids really don't know much about our city government or apparently the difference between grown women of different ethnicities. The third speaker of that group was a judge, who looked to be about 25 but I am sure that was not the case.

The next group was probably the most interesting. The funny part of the presentations is that the other two presenters just stand there while one person is talking. It is interesting to try to guess what the other presenters do for a living before they speak. The cop was in uniform and he went first. Just before he came in, one of the kids had said he wanted to be a police officer so it was great timing. The cop was quite a character and I am pretty sure he would have talked the whole time if he'd been allowed. The kids started asking him if he'd fired pretty much every weapon that ever existed. I don't know if it's a good thing that they are so familiar with various weapons of mass destruction. While the cop was talking, I tried to figure out what the other people did for a living. There was an old guy who looked like a professor and a youngish guy who frankly, looked like a drug dealer. He wasn't dressed up at all and he had two facial piercings. I figured they wouldn't let a drug dealer in for Career Day so I guessed that he owned an auto body shop. Then when he began presenting, it was clear. He was Dave Morales, a DJ for local radio station, 96.5. He definitely had a great radio voice. He had the kids name their favorite singers and then told stories about how he'd met almost all of them. I think a girl almost fainted when he said he'd met Justin Beiber. It was hilarious! The old guy turned out to be an electrical designer, which simply can't follow after a cop and someone who's actually met the Beiber. Poor guy. It's like the year my dad, the lawyer had to follow the animal cop. He tried his best, though.

One of our last presenters was a retired educator whose son is our school's namesake. He was a state representative who died in a car crash. Then we had the most successful African American ballerina in Houston and a guy that worked at the Children's Museum. Overall it was a fun day and I think all the kids want to be cops or Djs now.

Livin' La Vida Loca: Grad School Edition

2011-01-25T17:24:00.000-10:00

I've finally had a full week of my crazy new schedule. Here's the gist of my life these days: I tutor 40 hours- 3 days at the school I used to work at and 2 days at another elementary school. I wish I could quit the job at the other elementary school because it pays half as much, but I have made a commitment that I should uphold. Then I am taking 12 hours of classes in school counseling. I am also a Young Life leader, which keeps me busy 2-3 nights a week. And did I mention I am starting a small group with my church on Thursday nights? It's pretty nuts but I realize I actually really like being busy. I've already gotten into the habit of bringing my grad school books with me everywhere to make use of any spare moment. Now I do feel good about schedule right now. Let's see how I feel when all the tests and papers hit.

Here's an example of what my Wednesdays look like. Last Wednesday was my first day tutoring, first day of school and first night of Young Life club. I woke up in the 6's. Ugh! I drove to the school I was tutoring at. I left a little too early so I ended up chilling in the parking lot for about 30 minutes. This is why I will have my grad school books with me at all times from now on. It was interesting to see how a different school runs but eight hours was a long time. I left a 3:30pm and headed to U of H. I changed in my minivan. That thing may guzzle gas, but it makes a hell of a changing room. Unfortunately I forgot my tennis shoes so I had to wear my fancy teacher shoes with my jeans and t-shirt. I brought foldy, my folding bike, which was a good thing since I got a little lost. I rode foldy from the parking lot to my class.

Even though it was the first day, my class went all the way from 4:30-7:30. I almost ran out of energy half way through but a Coke remedied the situation. After class, I swiftly rode foldy back to the minivan for another costume change. This is where the lack of tennis shoes was really problematic. I changed into my biking clothes for a Young Life skit. I ended up just wearing my socks since I thought it looked a little less weird than bike clothes and my fancy teacher shoes.

I drove to Young Life and arrived about 15 minutes after it had begun. We were having our annual Pizza Olympics, where we call three pizza places at the same time and place an order. They are unknowingly a part of our little game. As each unsuspecting pizza delivery person arrives, they are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals and treated to the Olympic theme song. Their facial expressions are priceless. My job was to pretend to be a pizza person and bring in the three pizzas for the pizza eating competition. I dressed in my full bike gear and had one of the students sit on the back seat of foldy carrying the pizzas. It didn't quite go as planned. The kids mobbed me at the door and since I hadn't been around in a while, some of them thought I really was a pizza delivery person. Other kids did recognize me and tried to hug me as I was trying to make it through the sea of high school kids to the front of the room. In the process, some of the kids grabbed one of the pizzas and started to eat it.

I didn't know what I was going to say for the skit when I finally got in but it didn't matter because the kids were so loud, they wouldn't have heard me anyway. I ended by folding up my bike and walking off. It was pretty crazy and overwhelming to be thrust into a crazy crowd of teenagers. After everything calmed down, my friend Ann gave a talk about how God created us. I don't know if it was partly because of my long day but I found myself wanting to cry, not out of sadness but out of gratefulness. I felt so blessed that I got to end my day sharing Jesus with high school kids. It made it all worth it.

Foldy's Big Debut

2011-01-16T13:51:00.000-10:00

Yesterday was quite the emotional day both good and bad. I started the day by going to Oran Tarlton's funeral. Oran was a really great guy and a good friend to my parents and boss to my sister-in-law. He was only 53 and left behind a wife and two daughters aged 24 and 21. He died after a tough battle with cancer and will definitely be missed by many people. The funeral was good as funerals go and really felt like a celebration of his life. I couldn't help but cry when I saw his male friends crying as they spoke of Oran's life. Men crying gets me every time. Several of us wore bicycling jerseys as a tribute to his love of bike riding. I wasn't sure how to pull off a bike jersey at a funeral and ended up wearing a jersey with white long sleeve shirt underneath, fancy grey pants and a pea coat on top. It was a little unorthodox but the other people who wore jerseys dressed about the same so it worked out. The pastor told of how in his last days, Oran was thinking of heaven and also of riding his bike. It's not theologically sound, but it's nice to think of Oran up in heaven, no longer suffering and riding his bike.

After the funeral, I headed home to get ready for my birthday party that night. My friend, Sara Stanford was already in town so she helped me cook and get ready for the party. My mom had me vacuum the whole downstairs and since their house is fairly large, it took a long time. I'd just finished vacuuming and was still kind of in the vacuum zone, when I saw my friend, Jocelyn. We've been friends for 21 years, so it wasn't that weird to see her. Then I realized that she lives in New Jersey and I had no idea she was coming. It was so great to see her and such a surprise! I already felt like my day would be good just because Jocelyn had come in town.

We got everything ready and people started to arrive. It ended up being a very eclectic mix of people, just as I had hoped. There were about 25 people there who I knew from childhood, high school, church, college, summer camp, Young Life and YWAM, in addition to my family members. It was pretty awesome! I showed everyone "foldy," my folding bike and they were quite impressed. People took turns riding it in pairs down the street. For gifts I got a lot of school supplies for my upcoming grad school. The most memorable was my Justin Beiber notebook. That's sure to make me some new friends. Overall I had a blast and it was a great way to celebrate my 30th year of life. My real birthday is tomorrow but I don't have any special plans other than dinner at Chuy's. I think yesterday was probably sufficient for celebrating. Good times with good people. Most of the guests live in Houston so it definitely got me excited about all the friends I have here. I feel very blessed.

Massaged in Maui

2011-01-13T10:52:00.000-10:00

I've been meaning to write about this for a few weeks. Better late than never.
I've had a few massages in my day but only the dirt cheap Asian kind. My first massage was in Thailand. We laid on what looked like gym mats while ladies in hospital scrub-type outfits twisted our bodies like pretzels. They used their knees and elbows to put pressure on various body parts. I can't say that the experience was too relaxing.

My next massage was in China where the lack of English made the whole thing a lot more weird. You can look at that experience in my post titled "Trina Warrenton, this one's for you." Last time I went to China, I got two foot massages and a lot of head massages. It's a great cheap activity to do with friends. My hour and a half foot massage included a half hour back massage, all for about $7. The head massage included a shampoo for about $2.50. I think head massages are my favorite and coincidentally offered cheaply at every hair salon in China. Up until very recently I had never had a massage in America, mainly because I am used to such cheap prices and can't really justify them on my limited income.

When my family visited, my mom decided we should have a spa day. My friends have a concierge business that offered a good deal on the Grande Wailea spa. This is one of the best spas in Maui. Here is our experience:

When you enter the spa, it looks like some sort of Roman palace and I instantly felt not fancy enough to be there. We were escorted to the locker room where they had electronic lockers for us to store our things. As they showed us around, they continued to stress that the spa was clothing optional. I was a little afraid that everyone would take them up on this offer. After we changed into bathing suits and walked around the spa, I was relieved to find that none of the women we saw had chosen to take the staff up on their nudity offer.

The spa had a bunch of different pools you could lounge in for the hour before your massage appointment. Some were like hot tubs and others had scented oils. My mom and I gave each one a try. As we moved from one area to another, I noticed that one woman had chosen to take advantage of "clothing optional." This was the biggest lady in the whole spa and the one I would least like to see nude. I will refrain from being graphic but I didn't know the human body could look like that. It was like passing a car accident, you know you should look away but you just can't help yourself. I guess I should admire her lack of self-consciousness; but then again, I had to see her.

In the middle of our time in the pools both my mom and I got a sea salt scrub. Then, after an hour of pursuing the pools, we were told to go change into a robe. Then we headed upstairs to a waiting area with plush couches and chandeliers. It was so nice that the staff spoke English. During my Asian massages, I was always very confused about each thing that was coming next. The massage itself was amazing and the best I've ever had. I think it was a Swedish massage and it seems like those Swedes really know their stuff. I felt like I was in a trance and was totally confused and disoriented when my masseuse told me to turn over.

It was a really fun experience and I am thankful that my Mom paid for it. I know now how fancy people live and boy, is it nice!

My Ideal Man

2011-01-01T13:40:00.000-10:00

I've been pretty busy with my family in town but it's time to get back on the blog train.
Our base has been reading through the Bible in chronological order this year. This has been good for me. I am always more purposeful and intentional about reading through the Bible when I have a plan. Recently I was reading in Titus about the qualifications for a man to be an elder or leader in a church. I quickly realize that they are good husband qualifications as well. So, if I was going to create a personal ad based on those qualifications, this is what it might look like:

SWF, 29 seeking SM who is blameless, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain, hospitable, loves what is good, self-controlled, upright, holy, disciplined, of a firm faith, encouragement to others, knowledge of sound doctrine and able to defend the faith.

Now if we just add funny, sporty and cocky, you pretty much have my dream man. Let me know if you know anyone who fits the bill.

The In-Between

2010-12-23T15:44:00.000-10:00

I'm in a strange transitional phase right now. At the end of November, I was so ready to go back to Houston that I would daydream about it all the time. I think this was a result of feeling a bit burned out after 9 months of hard-core discipleship of students in DTS and SBFM. I basically had one day and one night off each week and was on-call 24/7. I loved it but it was quite time consuming. About Thanksgiving, I was feeling the burn-out big time.

Now that I am done with my responsibilities, I no longer feel so anxious to go home. I feel like I am sliding down a big slide to Houston and now I am trying to climb back up the slide. I know I am not supposed to stay on staff with YWAM and I know I am not supposed to live in Maui and get a job. Texas and grad school is where I am supposed to be. But nevertheless, I am feeling sad about leaving. I realize how extreme this feeling is when I almost got teary-eyed seeing an older Hawaiian man walking into a grocery store carrying a ukulele. I know I won't see that in Texas.

Here are some of the things I will miss about Maui (Just what came to my mind, not an exhaustive list):
The beaches- I definitely didn't go to them everyday but I liked the idea that I could have. And as you might have heard, they are pretty nice.

Local people- There are certain stereotypes about Hawaiians that are just true. They are super family and community oriented and they like any excuse for a party. They also like tattoos all over their bodies with Hawaiian themes, which you don't see much of in Texas- tribal designs, turtles, Hawaiian flowers, sharks, the Hawaiian islands, etc. I will miss hearing them speak pidgin and the way they block the aisles at Wal-Mart and Costco catching up with their old friends. You can't go to one of those stores with a local person and not run into 20+ people they are either friends with or related to.

YWAM Maui- I love my friends in YWAM and the way they love me, pray for me, make me laugh and challenge me to be a better person. I have met some of my best friends in the world here and though some have moved on, I still have plenty of friends here whom I will sorely miss.

The Food- Hawaii has some really good food. I don't like seafood but there are plenty of other good options. I will miss chicken katsu, potato wedges from Minut Stop, steak and rice from Blazin' Steaks, kalua pork, pineapples, haupia, sweet potatoes, cara-macs, and more. I will miss the restaurants in Paia: Fish Market, Milagros, Cafe Des Ami, Flat Bread, Charley's and of course, Anthony's coffee shop.

Paia- Though I have lived in both Haiku and Paia, my heart is in Paia. It's where I have spent most of my YWAM career there. I will miss celebrity sightings, the random hippies roaming the streets among Hawaiian flower print tourists, all the small businesses and living so close to what is probably the easiest, most efficient post office ever. I will miss being able to walk to the beach and riding my bike to Kanaha beach.

Words and phrases that are known only to people familiar to Hawaii-
talking story, spam musubi, Aloha drinks, shoyu, haoles, Aunties and uncles, Zippy's, all pau, pog, tutu, spam in general, no ka oi, kaamaina, keiki, etc

Rainbows and sunsets- There is so much natural beauty here. Gorgeous sunsets occur on a regular basis and rainbows are so frequent that you don't always take notice. In fact, the guy in the following video probably wouldn't survive as he would die of over excitement.

I think there might be some bad language, so I am warning you in advance.

And here is the musical parody:

Playing Tourist

2010-12-16T11:33:00.000-10:00

I have lived in Maui for about three of the last seven years. Living in Maui is definitely different than being a tourist in Maui. For one thing, as a missionary, I have never really had the money to do the touristy things on Maui that aren't free or almost free. Thankfully hiking, cliff jumping and hanging out at the beach don't cost any money so I have managed to have a lot of island-style fun in my time off.

Me and Israel enjoying the complimentary beverages

Up until November of this year, the only touristy things I had done were two snorkel cruises I went on for free and a whale watch I went on for free. All the trips were super fun and I definitely recommend them to tourists. That's not a lot of tourist activities for the past 7 years. I've only stayed overnight in a hotel here once and I didn't pay for that either. I am not sure if it's because I am leaving but lately God has blessed me with more free tourist activities. In November, after living in Maui for three years on and off, I got to go to my first luau. It was really fun and tasty. Even though it is stereotypical, I think all tourists should go to a luau. I had seen hula and fire dancing before and I had eaten local food before but never as part of the luau package. My parents are coming in about a week and taking me to my second luau, The Royal Lahaina Luau. It is supposed to be the best. I will tell you if I agree.

Getting Cozy with the Performers

Wil making a new fire dancing friend

On Monday, I got to go on the Flyin' Hawaiian zipline. It has eight ziplines that cover two miles. It was pretty fun and not too scary. You basically started from a ridge that didn't feel too high and then zipped over a valley. The guides were fun and really sarcastic. They played a joke on my friend, Chelsea leaving her dangling about 12 feet from the end of one line. It was pretty hilarious. I went with my friends, Chelsea, Kristy and Shannon. The group was made up of only us and one Indian doctor named Ravi. Along with our three guides, we had a really fun time. I don't know if I would have paid full-price for this activity but free was a great price!

So Scary!

Me zippin' along

Our whole group

Yesterday I got to play tourist again and go on the Atlantis submarine. My Maui dad, Jim Walsh is the general manager of the submarine and got us free tickets. There's nothing better than being a tourist with hook-ups! His daughter, Shannon has been on the submarine about a 100 times and never seen a shark. Before we left, she said she really wanted to see one and we totally did! There was a reef shark just chillin at the bottom of the ocean. Pretty cool! We saw lots of cool fish and I found the schools of fish to be the most interesting. There were so many of them in such tight formations. The whole dive made me want to snorkel really bad so I could get closer to the fish. It was cool to see what happens at the bottom of the ocean. I recommend it to tourists, for sure. It's also good for people who might not be physically fit enough for snorkeling as you get to see the fish without swimming.

I feel really blessed by all the free tourist things I have gotten to do lately. I couldn't afford to do any of these if I had to pay. If any of you are interested in discount Maui activities, you should check out my friends' website. They are former YWAMers who've started a business where you can buy all your activities in one place for a discount.

Click here. if you are interested.

Children's Theater

2010-12-08T16:46:00.000-10:00

I am a bit of a children's theater connoisseur. Well, I am not sure if that's actually true but I like the way it sounds. Last night, I went to the preschool children's program at Doris Todd, a local Christian school. Our base director's son, Elias was in the program along with Selah Kim, whose parents used to be on staff with YWAM and Owen Stewart, the son of the owners of Anthony's- Maui's best coffee shop. With such an all-star cast, how could I resist?

Elias- top left green shirt, Selah- left black and white dress, Owen- center red vest

We arrived at the school a little early to secure good seats. Seeing all the kids and being in a school definitely made me miss teaching. However I was thankful that I was not the one in charge of the whole thing. It definitely brought back memories of the Christmas programs I participated in during my two years as an Elementary School teacher. The last year I was a part of it, there was a real pony in the nativity scene. It was interesting that we were allowed to have both a live pony and Jesus in a public school Christmas program.

Elias hamming it up

Shannon, Joey and I settled in our seats after saying hello to some of the people we knew in the audience. The show started a little late since some of the kids had not arrived yet. There were many underage siblings in the audience so the overall atmosphere was pretty crazy. The whole program was a study in chaos. The teachers tried to instill order overall but we are talking about two dozen preschoolers so there is a certain level of chaos that is unavoidable. The kids sang songs and then helped participate in a story-telling time. As a whole, they seemed most excited about performing "Jingle Bells" since they actually got to use real jingle bells during the song. I couldn't hear many of the words but I am sure those kids were having fun!

As for the three performers we came to watch, their attitudes to the show varied greatly. Selah was one of a couple of children who crumbled under the pressure. Within minutes of the start of the first song, she had dissolved into tears. Her mom later said she thought it was because Selah forgot some of the hand motions to the song and can be a bit of a perfectionist. She spent the remainder of the performance on stage but wearing a somber face and sitting on a teacher's lap. Her younger sister on the other hand, was not even in the performance but kept sneaking onto the stage to be part of the action.

Elias, my boss's son, was going for the class clown approach. He jumped and gyrated himself to his place on the stage and spent most of the performance making faces. He is such a contrast to his serious, more introverted older brother that it is hard to believe that they are related sometimes. Elias seemed to relish his time in the spotlight even if he was sharing it with his classmates.

Owen is one of the youngest kids in the class so his parents were a bit nervous about how he would do. Like Elias, he seemed to enjoy the attention. Instead of making faces though, he kept standing up in the middle of his seated classmates. Sometimes he waved to mom and other times he seemed to be just standing there. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he was the only one standing. It was pretty hilarious.

The program was followed by pupus (Hawaiian for snacks/appetizers.) I didn't know there would be food and it made me feel properly rewarded for my patronage of the Children's theater. I got pigs in a blanket and jello jigglers! What more could I ask for? It was a great ending to a fun night.

Impacting the Spheres: YWAMer in Hollywood

2010-12-01T22:48:00.000-10:00

The school I am staffing in Maui is called the SBFM (School of Biblical Foundations in Missions). The main purposes of the school are to prepare students for missionary work, help them to develop a Biblical worldview and to learn how to impact the spheres of society. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade and Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM developed a system to break down society, which they called "mind molders." They divided all of society into 7 spheres of influence: Family, Church, Education, Media, Government, Business, and the Arts and Entertainment.

Personally I have always felt drawn to the education sphere and this has definitely influenced my decision to return to school to get my masters in school counseling. Our base focuses on this concept even in our entry-level school of YWAM, the DTS. One of the DTS students from our Summer 2009 school has begun to make an impact in Hollywood. I only met her briefly when she returned from outreach to Indonesia. Nevertheless, I am really excited that she's impacting Hollywood. She is currently playing a homeless woman on "The Bold and the Beautiful" and will be in an upcoming episode of "Lie to Me."

Here's an article about her: http://michaelfairmansoaps.com/news/bbs-brad-bell-kristolyn-lloyd-speak-on-the-homeless-story/2010/11/01/ Please pray that she will have a positive and powerful influence on the Arts and Entertainment Sphere.

Just Like Family

2010-11-28T14:26:00.001-10:00

I consider myself very blessed in the family department. I have a loving biological family and my younger brother is one of my favorite people in the world. In recent years my family has grown with the addition of my sister-in-law and nephew. Besides my biological family, I've also had the opportunity to have been "adopted" by awesome people who've been like second families to me.

I grew up in Houston in the suburb that NASA built called Clear Lake. We moved there when I was eight and I quickly made friends with our neighbors. Our street was a safe place full of kids where everyone played outside almost nonstop. My brother and I would run around and play with our friends, moving from house to house. I spent just as much time at the Regans', Patels' and Harnlys' as I did at my own house. My parents became good friends with the Harnlys and they soon became like second parents to me with their daughter, Jocelyn becoming the younger sister I never had. Throughout the years, they have loved and supported me as if I were their own child. Their relationship in my life is so precious. Mr. Harnly will even sign cards "Dad 2."

Some of my awesome neighbors from the street I grew up on

Me and Neha Patel with Our Second Parents, The Harnlys

I've lived in Hawaii on and off for a total of about 3 years. Because of the nature of our work: training and discipling missionaries to go overseas, I have spent most of my time getting to know the students who come through but not getting to know many people in the community. I definitely regret this as I prepare to leave Hawaii, possibly forever. During this last DTS I staffed, I had a student named Shannon who is from Maui. She is now my SBFM student and one of my closest friends here. It's been an interesting experience to be friends with someone who is actually from here and not just here for a few months. She corrects my pathetic pronunciation of Hawaiian words and my mislabeling of beach names. She also teaches me Hawaiian words like pau, shoyu and saimin. One of the best perks to being friends with Shannon, besides learning where to get the best shave ice, is her family. I finally have a surrogate family in Maui just as I am leaving. They live in a comfortable house about 20 minutes away from our house. I have been there countless times to relax and get away from the crowded, dilapidated house I currently live in. They have a nice TV, a hot tub and they've given me full refrigerator privileges, something I don't even have here in my YWAM house. I've spent many Saturdays there commandeering their TV all day to watch college football. (Thankfully they are also fans.)

One Saturday, we took Shannon's truck to the beach and her dad ended up driving my car back to his house. When I got my car back, he'd changed my oil and filled my tank with gas. What an unexpected blessing! Uncle Jim has done many other dad-like things that I appreciate so much since my dad is so far away. When he heard about our insect and rodent problem, he bought poison for us to spread around and gave us tools to defend ourselves from angry demonic centipedes. Then later, he spent hours at our house cutting down the tall grass where the centipedes hang out. He ended up killing about a dozen of them.

They've also blessed other YWAMers by having groups of us up to their house for meals. On Thanksgiving, they made an amazing meal for a dozen of us. I've also been invited to various events with their Maui extended family. I've been to several birthday parties and family dinners. They've really made me a part of their family and it makes living here so much better. I know I am going to miss the Walshes - my Maui Family, so much when I leave.

Uncle Jim and Auntie Debbie Walsh

The Thanksgiving Crew

Adding Another Name to the List

2010-11-23T11:50:00.000-10:00

Pastor Dale and his family

Here in Maui, I go to a church called Waipuna Chapel. In my time here, I've gone to several churches but this is the one that feels the most like home. It reminds me a lot of Clear Lake Presbyterian Church, the church I grew up in with a lot of nice families and loving people. The church loves YWAMers and always supports us in our overseas trips. The pastor there is named Dale Gustafson. I'm not personally close to Dale, but I have a lot of respect for him. I have seen him meeting with some of the guys from YWAM, sitting on our driveway with them and I'm so glad he takes the time to disciple our guys. He also preaches Biblically sound sermons that make me think and often laugh.

This week Pastor Dale announced to the church that he has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. His accompanying message was very powerful as he explained how life with the Lord isn't a formula. It's not that you do good things and only good things happen to you or that if something bad happens, it's because you've done something bad. I think the story of Job pretty much refutes that idea. It was interesting to hear how some people had already reacted to the news. One person told him that if he had enough faith, he would be healed. That's a pretty ignorant thing to say to a pastor. Having a lot of faith doesn't prevent you from hardships. If anything, the Bible implies you will have more hardships. Pastor Dale's transparency was encouraging and I think it will open new doors of intimacy for the church. After his message, the whole church surrounded him and prayed for him. I think that's the way the church should be.

I don't want to add people to the list of people I know with MS. But unfortunately this is the case. So, now in April when I ride in the MS150- the 150 mile bike ride from Houston to Austin, I have another person to ride in honor of. I will be riding in honor of Sara Stanford and Dale Gustafson. I pray I won't have anyone else to add to that list. Please pray for healing and strength for Sara and Dale as they live their lives with this unpredictable, debilitating illness. And pray that we can raise enough money to end MS forever.

Pastor Dale's Blog
http://www.coachgus.blogspot.com/

My MS150 Fundraising Website
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?px=8933909&pg=personal&fr_id=15941

Young Life

2010-11-21T20:17:00.000-10:00

I have to start this by giving a shout-out to my good friend, Joey Brunette who brought my computer back to life. It still has issues and I am glad I am getting a new one, but I was able to get everything I needed off of it and I am using it right now. Yay!

There are many things I am excited about when I go home to Houston. Two of the main ones being: riding my bike in organized rides and volunteering with Young Life again. My grad school schedule interferes with both of these things unfortunately. I have class on Saturday mornings (common time for group rides) and on Monday and Wednesday nights (Young Life). Luckily my class ends at 7:30 and Young Life begins at 7:37. I will have to be late but I will still be able to volunteer. I love those kids and our ministry with them. Check out this video to get a taste of our ministry:

YoungLife West Houston 2010 - Friday Night Lights from Ben Gillin on Vimeo.

The Memorial Service for Kirra Simone Daughtry

2010-11-17T14:02:00.000-10:00

Disclaimer: I am in the process of trying to get a new computer. Maui has no selection so I have to order one online and it's taking longer than I would like. Because of this, I probably won't be blogging as much since I have to use other people's computers. Bear with me.

With the events of the past few days, I have realized that even in the midst of heartache, there's always hope and much to be thankful for. Without hope and thankfulness, I don't know if we could make it through the difficulties of life. I'm not saying that the hard things themselves are good, but that good can be found in the midst of adversity.
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Genesis 50:20

On Saturday, we had a memorial service for Kirra Simone Daughtry. She was the unborn daughter of my friends, Maria and Bryan Daughtry. The Saturday before, a bunch of us girls had gone to the beach to celebrate Maria's birthday. We talked about how excited we all were that Maria would finally have her baby girl in February, after all the miscarriages she's had this year. How quickly things change. The next day, Maria was admitted to the hospital and told that her precious baby had died in her womb. Maria would then have to deliver the baby. So terrible! And yet, Maui was the best place this could happen. Maria and Bryan had moved to Oahu about a year ago and most of their close friends still live here in Maui and were able to rally around the family. Also Maria's best friend, Holly was visiting from the mainland and was able to be by her side. Because Maria was so far along this time, the doctors did an autopsy to determine what went wrong. This information will be used to prevent a miscarriage in her next pregnancy. Even in the midst of heartache, God gives hope and comfort.

Bryan and Maria wanted to celebrate Kirra and held a memorial service at the same beach we'd gathered at to celebrate Maria's birthday only a week before. It was a sweet time for all of us that included both laughter and tears. People hung out at the beach for a while and then the service began. There was a time of worship and Maria spoke about their experience with Kirra. I don't think there was a dry eye in the group and I saw even the macho men shedding tears. It was so inspiring to see Maria and Bryan praising the Lord in the midst of their pain.

Next we hit the water for a traditional Hawaiian paddle-out to commemorate Kirra's brief existence. We brought flowers and paddled out to form a circle on our surfboards. Everyone released the flowers into the water in her honor. Kirra's ashes weren't ready yet so Maria and Bryan are going to release them into the ocean later. We all headed back to shore and I even caught a wave on the way in. Unfortunately Holly stepped on a sea urchin on her way back to shore. She was in pain with about 10 needles protruding from her foot. There was talk of peeing on her foot to relieve the pain, but thankfully this idea was dropped. After Holly was stabilized, Maria's pastor, Duane led a time of prayer for the Daughtry family.

We finished the time by hanging out and enjoying the beach together. It was a sweet time of catching up with old friends. Many former YWAMers who live on the island came. We all have so much to be thankful for. Please continue to pray for Maria, Bryan and their five year-old son, Kieva.

Why is Everything Breaking?

2010-11-06T20:10:00.000-10:00

I am frustrated. Several important things in my life have broken at once. As a missionary, I have enough support for all my day-to-day expenses but I don't have enough for unexpected expenses and I don't know what I am going to do about all this. So here's the scoop:

My car
This summer my friend borrowed my car and part of the door handle broke off on the driver's side. Thankfully it was still functional. Then last week my passenger side door handle broke off completely while a friend was getting in. Apparently this is a common problem with 2000 Corollas, but this doesn't bring me much solace. Now I have to open the door from the inside to let people into the passenger seat. I looked online and found some door handles for about $25 but I couldn't get them shipped to Hawaii. I shipped them to my parents' house and they will send them on. Luckily we have handy boys here who will be able to help me fix this problem when my handles get here. I feel like I have a handle on this particular problem, at least.

My computer
My computer has always been abnormally hot. But all of a sudden, ast night it would not turn on. I suspect the excessive heat fried something. When I try to turn it on, it just blinks twice. I found out online that this signals that the BIOS is corrupted. I have no idea what this actually means but it sounds difficult to fix. My computer-saavy male friends can't even help me because the computer doesn't turn on. I am going to try to see about getting it fixed. I definitely don't have the money for a new computer right now and I may not have enough to get it fixed either, depending on how much it is. Ugh! I use my computer for everything, including my current job so this is super inconvienent! Luckily everyone here has one and people are nice but I hate continually borrowing stuff from people. I also have to register for grad school on a computer on the 9th. The worst part is that I may have lost my pictures. I backed up my computer this summer but I have taken a lot of pictures since then. Please pray that I can at least retrieve them even if my computer can't be fixed.

My Kindle
So, I was feeling super frustrated about my car and my computer. I had a friend pray for me about my frustrations. Right after the prayer, I went to my room to read my kindle. I was horrified to find that 1/4 of the screen looks like there is black ink spilled inside. My guess is that it somehow got stepped on. I don't remember this happening but regardless, it is no longer readable. This is probably the least of my worries as it is not a neccesity but I real enjoy it and I only got it last Christmas.

In the end, I know that these are all minor things compared to all the things people go through. I mean, my parents' friend, Oran has cancer for the second time. That's a much bigger deal than all my electronics dying. It's still annoying, though. I am trying to pray and learn from this experience but it doesn't mean I like it one bit. Please pray for me and that nothing else will break. I hate it when God smites my toys.

Shadanigans

2010-11-04T15:15:00.000-10:00

Halloween can be a bit crazy in our town, Paia. In recent years it's become the gathering place for the all the freaky Halloween lovers on the island. I do enjoy a good freak and definitely sought out encounters with them during my college days of spending Halloween on 6th Street in Austin. These people are a bit too freaky for me especially since some of them actually celebrate the demonic side of Halloween. We discouraged our students from being in town at night on Halloween and we had a party to help entice them to stay in. The party called, "Shadanigans" was to celebrate Daniel and Shannon's birthdays, Halloween and Reformation Day (the day Martin Luther nailed his 96 theses to the door, ushering in protestantism as we know it). I recognize the high dork factor associated with this final component of the party.

Before it got dark and ultra crazy, me and some of the students walked around Paia in our Halloween costumes. The local businesses provide candy and encourage children the trick-or-treat at their stores. Most were willing to give us tall children candy though a few gave us the stink eye. We were definitely a random group with a cow, cowgirl, pirate, cat, me as Michelle Duggar and my friend, Maddie dressed as me. I don't think everyone we passed recognized me, but the ones who did got very excited about my costume.

After we went trick-or-treating, we got ready for Shadanigans. Since the party was my idea, I bought all the food. There were many of my old stand-bys like rice krispie treats and queso. I also served Aloha drinks, chips, no bake cheesecake and a Shadanigans birthday cake, which had the numbers 219 on the top since Shannon was turning 21 and Daniel was turning 19. At the party we played Guitar hero. I have a feeling I was better at it than the real Michelle Duggar, though my babies cramped my style a bit. We also played pictionary telephone and pin the theses on the door. I am sure Martin Luther would have been proud.

After all the games, we watched the movie, Hook. Overall it was a really fun way to spend Halloween.

Cohabitating With Critters

2010-10-28T19:26:00.000-10:00

As I have mentioned before, I am currently living in Fehr's, our SBFM house in Paia. As much as I love living here, I do not like the critters that we often find living among us. Our house is a bit dilapidated and there are plenty of unseen openings that the critters can come in through. This sets us up for some interesting adventures with critters and a losing battle in trying to get rid of them.

Cane Spiders
When the nearby cane fields are burned, cane spiders invade our house. They are pretty freaky looking with small bodies and long legs. See the picture to the right. They can often be as big as a hand. Cane spiders move very quickly, which makes them difficult to kill. I don't mind killing them but I get a bit jumpy when they suddenly scurry away. Sometimes I lose my nerve and make my roommate kill them for me.

Ants
We also have tons of tiny ants that seem to appear from nowhere. They have invaded our microwaves, refrigerators, and counters so thoroughly, that we barely even pay attention to them anymore. I just stick my oatmeal in the microwave amidst the hundreds of ants, who by the way, don't seem at all affected by being nuked in the microwave. All day and night, I find lone ants crawling on me. Thankfully these ants don't seem to bite too much and are easily killed.

Centipedes
Another commonly seen critter in our house is the centipede. These painful spawns of Satan like to lurk in our bathrooms and bedrooms. My friend, Shannon woke up to one on her while she was asleep. Thankfully she didn't get bit but she did wake up her roommates when she turned on the light in the middle of the night. I watched a 4-5 inch, fat brown centipede wiggle out of my room as I stood frozen in horror. I was so startled that I didn't even try to kill it and let it just saunter out of my room. I recently killed my first one- a tiny blue guy intruding in my bedroom. They are hard to kill because you have to chop them into bits.

Rats/Mice
My least favorite critters (as if I like the others one bit) are rats/mice. The ones that live in our house are very bold. There is a tiny mouse that runs around our lecture hall even in the middle of class. It's hard to pay attention when there's a mouse frolicking among our sandals. One night, I watched a mouse (who I didn't know was visiting) run out of bedroom. I don't want mice around but I also don't want to kill them. I am not some huge animal lover but for some reason, the idea of killing an animal with blood and fur creeps me out.

Plan of Attack
Our guys are good at killing critters when they are around but they tend to be absent during most of the critter visitations. They have also set several mouse traps without much success. Having all these uninvited guests makes me feel violated. One big cause of all these critters is the fact that my bedroom door has a 3-4 inch gap at the bottom that pretty much any one of those critters could fit through. This means that even when my door is closed, I am not safe. I have rectified the situation by taping three sticky traps to the bottom of my door to create a barrier between me and all the creatures who want to come in. Unfortunately, the first day I set this up, a mouse ran in while our door was opened and therefore trapped inside with our new sticky trap door. Definitely not what I wanted to happen. I am not even sure that my barrier works but it does make me feel a bit safer.

Exercising My Spiritual Gift of Cheering

2010-10-26T12:38:00.001-10:00

Every year, my base volunteers at the Xterra world championships, a hardcore off-road triathlon held here in Maui. I am sure there are previous blog posts about my experiences with this event. Even though, I've only volunteered at the 5K/10K run event, which is held the day before the real race, it's always been fun and inspiring to help cheer these athletes on. I even thought about participating in the main event, though after finding out the actual length of the race and the qualifications to participate, I quickly abandoned that idea. Here's the website's description of the event:

The world’s premier off-road triathlon, combining a 1.5-kilometer (1-mile) swim that starts in front of the Makena Beach & Golf Resort a 32-kilometer (20-miles) mountain bike that climbs 3,000 feet up and down the lower slopes of Haleakala, and a 12-kilometer (7.5-miles) trail run that traverses lava rock, forest trails, and beach sand.
Since I quickly realized I would never be participating in this type of event, my new dream was that someone I know would do the event so that I could cheer them on. This dream has finally come true! Last Sunday, my roommate, Rachel and I went with three of my students to the fancy side of the island to watch Suzanne Vernau, someone I've known for like 15 years, compete in the Xterra. It was so much fun! I made neon signs for each of us to hold with sayings like, "Texas Girls Tri Harder," and "Hey Suz, you can't lose!" We all had a great time even though I was the only one of us who actually knew one of the participants. At one point, when we hadn't spotted Suzanne yet, Maddie turned to me and said that she wasn't sure Suzanne really existed but she didn't care because she was having fun.

The athletes started off with a one mile swim and I spotted Suzanne as she ran by even though she didn't see me. She did very well in the swim and finished first in her age group and then moved on to the mountain biking portion. We stayed and cheered on each person until the last one came out of the water. I love cheering athletes on! I especially love it when they acknowledge you with a smile, head nod, blown kiss or a burst of speed. After all the swimmers came in, we went over to the bike area and waited for the first bikers to arrive after completing the 20-mile course. They came down a grassy hill to the transition area to put their bikes away and several people fell as they tried to dismount. It was kind of funny. The mountain biking course is hardcore and many people came into the transition area with mud all over their bodies and faces. One guy was holding his bike and tire as he ran down to put his bike up. I am not sure what happened but the tire was in more pieces than I thought physically possible. The volunteers weren't doing a very good job of directing and several people couldn't find the exit to begin their final leg of the race. We filled in and pointed and cheered to show them where to go. I think we too, deserved a free volunteer t-shirt for our services.

At the transition area, as she was putting up her bike and putting on her running shoes, Suzanne heard and saw us cheering with our neon signs. I could finally prove she really existed. After she went from biking to running, we waited near the finish line to cheer her on the final stretch. We got a chance to cheer more people on and it was awesome to be able to tell them that the finish line was within their reach. We cheered so much and so loud that we got our own fans. One lady took a picture of us with our signs. Another person asked if we actually knew someone in the race. We also had several people tell us how much they appreciated us. I felt very useful and fulfilled.

Suzanne ended up doing well, especially for her first time on this course. She finished fourth in her age group and in the top half of the overall group, which included lots of guys. She also won a free wetsuit for being the fastest swimmer in her age group. It was so fun to root her on! It makes me want to cheer the runners on at the Houston marathon, since the course goes right by my house. It also makes me want to go support any friends I have doing sporting events. Let me know if you have somewhere I can cheer you on.

Christian Rap

2010-10-17T14:46:00.000-10:00

I have always loved rap and hip hop music. My parents didn't really listen to music while I was growing up so I don't remember even caring much about music until I was in junior high. I still remember the first CD I owned, Candy Rain by Soul for Real.

For some reason, both my brother and I were really into rap and hip/hop, despite being suburban white kids. It's pretty much all we listened to in high school. A bunch of my friends from church youth group, along with my brother and me had a Tupac phase. We would listen to his Greatest Hits album incessantly and I think I still know all the words to each and every song. One thing I noticed about listening to Tupac was that the more I listened to him, the more I used cuss words. I have never been one for profanity but both me and my friends definitely used it more when we were listening to Tupac. We even decided to cut back for a bit to help us control our language.

Since then, my love of rap has gone through phases of adoration and conviction. I would sometimes buy CDs at Wal-Mart, since they came already edited. When iTunes started offering clean versions of songs, I was excited to buy those. Unfortunately even the clean versions can't hide a lot of rap's sexual, illegal and violent undertones. More recently I have been more convicted of these themes and have gotten rid of some music. But yet, I still love rap and hip hop.

I think I have finally found a compromise. In the past Christian rap almost always sucked. It's just true. The beats were poor, the rappers not very talented and the lyrics were cheesy. Only recently have I decided to give Christian rap a chance again. There are actually some decent Christian rappers out there and it's been fun to listen to rap that doesn't make me want to cuss. Sometimes the lyrics are a bit funny sounding but at least they're uplifting. And these guys have a lot more talent than their early counterparts. There is even an album called, 13 Letters, where they rap Paul's letters from the Bible. Pretty cool.

So, if you hear me jamming to what sounds like gangsta rap, listen carefully, because they might just be rapping about Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

Stuff I Hate

2010-10-14T21:00:00.001-10:00

I try to keep my blog entries fairly upbeat, informative, heartfelt and funny. I try not to rant too much but today I am going for it. My last blog entry was about my thankfulness to my supporters but this one won't be quite so upbeat. Lately I have felt the Lord convicting me more to love what He loves and hate what He hates. I think there is a song with these lyrics but I couldn't find it despite scouring the internet. This process can be a bit painful as some of the stuff I love, I am pretty sure the Lord doesn't like.

The main thing I have been convicted of lately is the trashy TV I watch and the trashy magazines I read. I used to be really into those trashy reality shows like "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," "Jersey Shore," etc. There aren't really a lot of redeeming qualities to those shows and they definitely don't portray a Godly lifestyle. Trashy magazines present a lot of the same problems. In addition to the wonderful pictures of celebrity babies, many trashy magazines simply attack famous people in petty, unfounded ways. These also don't have a lot of redeeming value. I haven't given up People magazine yet since it tends to be mostly informative and entertaining with a little bit of trash while the others are primarily trashy.

In a good way, the Lord has given me a much stronger heart for orphans. I think about the ones we spent time with in Asia just about everyday and I long to adopt children myself someday. The Bible is full of references to taking care of the widows and orphans and I know it is something God longs for. I am thankful for this heart I have for them now.

On a less personal note, I have felt more anger towards things I believe God also hates. One of these things I hate, though it will certainly sound intolerant, is the new Mormon church website. There are many awesome people who are Mormons but their religious doctrine does not line up with Biblical Christianity and is therefore false. I don't want people to believe in a false religion, especially one that unashamedly piggybacks Christianity. Even their logo is designed to feature the words "Jesus Christ" as the biggest and most prominent part despite the fact that they believe he was brothers with Satan and not at all God (as He himself claimed). I've always been interested in Mormons and Mormonism but their website makes me mad. It's very slick and well-done. It's visually appealing and its main feature is testimonies, both written and videoed of real-life Mormons. There are people who work on Capital Hill, a man with severe Cerebral Palsy, mothers, fathers, athletes, etc. Whoever designed this website did a great job and this is why I am mad. This slick advertising campaign may very well bring new converts to a church that has changed their holy book over 4000 times since its inception. They once praised polygamy and now condemn it. They once said no black people could be elders in their church because they were cursed but now it's okay. Wishy-washy theology like this is just one of the reasons Mormonism can't be trusted. I just pray people learn the truth of Mormonism before being sucked into their slick ad campaign.

Now for the issue I have been the most fired up about lately. It's the Westboro Baptist Church. You may have seen them in the news lately for the lawsuit against them picketing soldier's funerals. Here's their disturbing website: http://www.godhatesfags.com/ I recently watched a short news special on them and was brought to tears of anger. These people believe they are serving the Lord through their hatred. I am thankful that I don't think there is anyone but the members themselves who would consider these people Christian. It's hard to believe that they are reading the same Bible as I am. Their main "ministry" is picketing soldiers' funerals. Now, my brother is in the military so I know the feeling of having a loved one in harm's way fighting for our country. I can't imagine the pain these families must feel at the loss of their children. The idea that this church pickets these heroes' funerals saying that God creates war because he is so mad about homosexuality makes me want to punch them in the face. These soldiers aren't even gay, as if that makes any difference. I know there is talk that stopping this is some sort of slap to their first amendment rights. I fully support the first amendment but I don't believe there should be any picketing of any funeral, ever. I don't care if someone is a serial killer, every family deserves to bury their loved one in peace. It should be a basic human right. Their signs make me want to get violent, though I know it's not the answer. They have signs that read, "God loves dead soldiers" and one I hadn't seen that depicts a breast cancer ribbon and says curse. Having a brother who's served in Iraq and a best friend who battled breast cancer makes these unbelievably offensive to me. I think almost everything they do is offense but these two campaigns make me especially angry. I know it makes the Lord angry too! These people claim to know the Lord but it reminds me of the following passage in Matthew 7:18-24:

⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'²³Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Please pray for these people to realize God's love for all his people and stop hurting people.

Thankfulness

2010-10-13T12:04:00.000-10:00

On Mondays, we have something called staff fellowship. This is really a glorified staff meeting with snacks. I don't necessarily hate these meetings but they can be tedious sometimes. They always involve prayer, announcements and the reading of our Bible passage of the day. Sometimes we have teachings, skype with our YWAM friends abroad or watch a video. It's not the content of these meetings I dislike but the amount of time they take and the time of day they occur. Mondays are crazy with worship at 8am, SBFM lecture from 9:30-12:30. Lunch at 12:30 and then staff fellowship at 2pm until anywhere from 3:30-4:45. I also try to squeeze in a one-on-one with one of my girls in the afternoon pre or post-staff fellowship. Then dinner at 5:00pm, house meeting at 6:00pm, house cleaning at 6:30pm and then sometimes a night lecture at 7pm. Those days with night lecture kill me because they mean I sit on my butt at least seven hours that day. Not fun. I'm not sure how this turned into a rant against Mondays but I figured you might want to know what my Mondays are like.

Well, last Monday in staff fellowship, we had a prayer time where we expressed our thankfulness to the Lord. I thanked him for my amazing supporters. I feel so blessed. I may not have the largest amount of support of anyone on the base but my supporters have come through for me so many times throughout my seven years in and out of full-time missionary work. I figure I have raised probably $25,000 in the past seven years and with that, have been privileged to go on outreaches to New Zealand, Thailand, Bangladesh, Qba, and three times to that big Asian country that starts with a C. I've had people loan me their car while I've been visiting the mainland. I had a supporter give me $500 to pay for my last team's visa run in Hong Kong (something I didn't even ask for). I've had people support me monthly even through college and their own time in YWAM. One friend sent me over 100 packets of my favorite Crystal Lite drink. Another friend prays for me at a specific time each week. Another friend arranged for our girls' Bible study to get a free Beth Moore Bible Study kit, which retails about $400. I have received so many words of encouragement through letters and emails. And these are just things I am remembering off the top of my head. I am just so blessed and I want to thank any of you who are reading this who have supported me with prayers, finances or encouragement. There are so many missionaries here who don't have the kind of support I do.

There are plenty of things I will miss when I go back to Houston for grad school. One of those things is this relationship I have with my supporters. I am sure I will get some sort of job and even though the security of a regular paycheck is nice, I will miss that feeling of support and encouragement I get when someone has chosen to support me with their money. The Bible says that "where your treasure is, your heart will be also." I know that when someone donates to me, their heart is with me. A regular paycheck will never provide that same feeling.

The day after I publicly thanked the Lord for my amazing supporters, I eagerly checked the mail as I do every day. One of my supporters had sent me his usual monthly check along with a $100 "early Christmas bonus." What an unexpected blessing! Also very timely since I have 10 birthdays to celebrate between now and the end of November. I love to give thoughtful gifts so it's nice to have a little more money to do so. Yet again God has come through for me through the generosity of my supporters.

Wacky Weekend

2010-10-07T18:55:00.000-10:00

I have been meaning to recap my weekend all week and now I have finally gotten around to it as this next weekend is almost here. I find that I spend most of my time here focusing on just the tasks for each day without looking ahead much. I guess this is good for living in the moment.

On Friday I went to my friends, Abbey and Wil Brillinger's house. I helped our friend, Rachel babysit for a bit. I just love the Brillinger kids. They are so cute and funny at two years old and almost one year old. I tried to be helpful and make some Kraft mac and cheese. I put the sauce in the bowl first and as I dumped the noodles in, the cheesy sauce sprayed all over me. I looked pretty ridiculous. Israel, the two-year old wouldn't even come near me with all the cheese in my hair and on my shirt.

The next day I went to Shannon's house, like I do every Saturday to watch college football. Her parents are great and even made us breakfast. Unfortunately it seems like all the teams I am rooting for lose and that day was no exception. I guess this is what they call a rebuilding year for my Longhorns. After about 7 hours of football, which included a unintentional nap on the couches with Shannon and her dad, Shannon and I drove back to Paia to pick up some of our friends.

We piled a bunch of people in Shannon's truck and headed to the Maui County Fair. There's not a whole lot to do in Maui at night, so the fairgrounds were packed. There were people everywhere. There aren't that many rides so the lines for each are very long. I mainly spent my money on fair food. I got these doughnut things called malasadas, a chicken taco, a snowcone, a drink, popcorn and cotton candy. I am surprised I didn't throw up. I probably would have if I had ridden one of the rides. There was a livestock show (very small) with lots of live chickens on display. I never thought chickens were particularly good looking but these were some beautiful chickens. After our fill of games, fair food, rides and people watching (Lots of little boys with rat tails.)

On Sunday, I went to church and then attempted to be productive for a few hours with limited success. Then Rachel and I went to see the movie, "You Again." It was a cute movie and refreshingly non-sexual. After the movie, we went to a party at some of our friends' house. There were lots of good snacks. I need to gain some sort of party snack self-control. I pretty much stuff myself at every event I go to here, and there are a lot. Overall it was a busy weekend but a fun one spent with lots of good friends.

Home Sweet Paia

2010-09-28T11:21:00.000-10:00

I really enjoy living in Paia. I lived here during my DTS and SBFM and for most of my time on staff. I was leading a team in Bangladesh when our base moved up to Haiku and the house there has never really felt like home. So, I am glad to be back in Paia. My favorite quiet time spot in the whole world is Paia Bay, which is only a short walk from my house. We have great restaurants (though I can’t afford to patronize them as much as I like), celebrity sightings, coffee shops and cute little surf shops.

We also have an abnormal amount of hippies per capita. I don’t mind hippies but they tend to smell like body odor and patchouli oil, which makes me careful not to breathe in deeply around them. They are super friendly and will gladly hug you or give you weed. There is definitely a large drug culture here, which is not good but contributes to the overall feel of the town. We even have a store called Hemp House where the hippies can go to purchase overpriced products made with hemp. There have been several Woody Harrelson sightings there. More than once I have been walking to my house and offered some “bud”, or “Maui Wowee” or my favorite, “herbs”. Do you think they meant thyme or paprika or maybe even cinnamon? I think I have seen more people blatantly smoking weed in public in Paia than anywhere else.

The other day, my friend Daniel was walking through town. He’s Indian so if you weren’t paying close attention, you might think he is Hawaiian. Some tourist guy approached him so Daniel said, “Hey, what do you want?” Then the guy said, “I want, I want” with a knowing look. Daniel was confused at first and then told the guy he didn’t do that stuff. The guy got embarrassed and then asked where the beach was.

Besides the hippie, stoner vibe, there is a large emphasis on spiritualism in our town. Maui is a Mecca for New Age and Eastern religions. Our town has a Buddhist temple at the South end, the West end and the East end. There would probably be one at the North end if there wasn’t that little body of water called the Pacific Ocean blocking the way. Everyday I pass by one of the Buddhist temples. The other day there was a blond woman kneeling down and bowing to the stupa, what my base director calls a “demon magnet.” It’s supposed to be a place of spiritual enlightenment and the Dalai Lama even came to town for its opening. It’s still strange to see non-Asians practicing Buddhism. Buddhism is just so opposite of our Western culture. It’s hard to understand how Western-minded people come to follow Eastern religions. I even recently heard that Julia Roberts has become a Hindu. Talk about strange!

Paia also has its prominent residents. There is an old guy named Maurice who walks around collecting cans. He’s a nice little guy but if you get too close, he might give you a hug. There’s also a guy named Bob who we like to call “Hair shirt Bob pants.” He looks pretty much exactly like Santa Claus only instead of wearing the red suit, he often just walks around shirtless with his wooly beard acting as a shirt, hence the nickname. There’s also another old guy we call Paia Dave. He wears tattered hobo clothes with a top hat. Unfortunately he’s been known to frequent the nude beach sans top hat. Eek!

So, Paia has a lot of character and a lot of characters and is definitely never boring. I am glad I get to end my YWAM career here.

Paia Bay

SBFM Goals

2010-09-20T21:24:00.000-10:00

I've come up with some goals for the next four months of my life and I figure blogging them will give everyone who reads this a chance to hold me accountable. I have had mixed success so far but I am only a week in.

1. Cultivate a deeper, more disciplined relationship with the Lord
2. Love and give sacrificially in my relationships; putting others first
3. Improve my Spanish skills
4. Participate in physical activity on a consistent basis
5. Use my time productively

So far I have only run once and it wasn't pretty. I did use my friend's Rosetta Stone program twice, so at least that's a little better. The other ones are going a bit better but could definitely use more time devoted to them.

So far, I am enjoying sitting through SBFM lectures again. Today we talked about truth and the time went by so quickly even though I have heard a lot of it before. The rest of this week will cover the state of the world, which can be depressing. It doesn't have too much effect on me as I try to have hope in all situations. It does make me want to take action, which is probably a good thing.

Here are my three DTS girls who are doing the SBFM:

Here is the rest of our school:

Love Feast...again

2010-09-15T22:23:00.000-10:00

It's been a wild and crazy ride but I am now halfway through the first week of the Fall 2010 SBFM. Last night we went to Love Feast, which is a fancy dinner celebrating the DTS students' return from their no-frills camping trip. During the night I came to the realization that this was the 10th DTS I had been around since I first came to YWAM Maui in 2003. This is pretty crazy! I figure I have been to about 8 of these Love feasts and yet they never get old to me. The most powerful part is always the foot washing, a Christian tradition that used to give me the creeps but yet I have now come to love.

The students have spent a few days without bathing and there is usually an effort made by their staff to get them as dirty as possible. This means their feet are often disgusting. I know mine were during the three times I went on the trip. It is so humbling to have someone wash your feet, let alone your filthy, haven't showered in days, feet. Tears are common during this ritual. In the Bible, Jesus' washes the disciple's feet as a symbol of him humbling himself to serve them even though he is their leader. This is the same sentiment in our foot washing. DTS leaders and staff wash the incoming students feet to show that they are there to serve the students during their journey with the Lord.

As SBFM staff, we also washed our students' feet. Thankfully we had not just been on a camping trip so the feet were relatively clean. It is a little less satisfying, though than washing incredibly dirty feet. I washed one of my new girls' feet, Rebecca from Switzerland. She didn't do her DTS here and had no idea we'd wash the SBFM students' feet as well. When I brought the basin of water to her, she said, "Me?" It was pretty funny. Because we had so many students, I also washed the feet of Shannon, who is in the SBFM and was also on my recent team to Asia. We've grown really close and been through a lot together. I wrote her a heartfelt note that totally made her cry. Success!

All in all, it was a really good night. It doesn't matter how many of these things I go to, they are always special.

Some pics of my Team

2010-09-05T21:18:00.000-10:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures from outreach and grad. I can't post pics from the kids at O-town but you can see them and more pics on my website- www.lizhightower.com

We went to the best zoo I have ever been to. You could buy leaves to feed the giraffes so of course I had to give it a go. How often do you get to feed a giraffe?

Me and Sarah in one of these motorized cart type things. I was enjoying a delicious mango smoothie.

I bought a folding bike in Asia and rode around with my student, Shannon on the back. It was great fun just cruising on "foldy" together. In this picture, my friend, Marcia is trying to get in on the action.

Sarah tried to assimilate to the local culture by relaxing indefinitely in the chairs at IKEA. People also take naps in the beds. It's pretty much amazing!

IKEA provided endless opportunities for fun times as evidenced by these delightful hooded towels.

My student, David is 17 and 6'9" or 1.2 meters. This was amazing to all the local people and many wanted to take pictures with him. David finally got to understand what it feels like to be a celebrity.

Four out of my six girls just chillin' during one of our many rides on the metro.

Shannon and her new friend.

The tiger got a little crazy while Grace and Johanna were holding it and the zoo keeper had to rescue it from them.

Me and Joey at DTS graduation. I couldn't have done it without my co-leader.

My whole team. Aren't we cool?

My Mini-Vacay

2010-09-05T13:43:00.000-10:00

I can't believe I have been back in Maui for two weeks. Part of that time was spent in a sinus infection haze that I am only now coming out of. I really wish this pesky cough would go away.

Usually after you lead a team overseas, you get to have a week off to rest. My co-leader, Joey and I both signed on to staff another school, the SBFM, which starts September 11th. Because of how close the schools are together and the limited training time, we were unable to have a real week off. Thankfully our school leader, Trevor allowed us to miss some of the mandatory base activities. Last week we ended up getting every afternoon off except Friday and all day Tuesday and Thursday off.

My student, Maddie's parents came in town and stayed at a hotel on the resort side of the island. They invited us to come and stay with them so me and my student, Sarah drove over there Monday afternoon and spent the night. It was so much fun! Maddie's parents were so generous and got us our own hotel room and paid for all our food. Maddie had a ton of trashy magazines to read so we lounged around the room reading those, watching TV and eating snacks! So fun! What an amazing change from outreach and our YWAM base! The hotel was right on the beach so we got to swim and play in the hot tub. I felt like a real tourist and it was just what I needed. The time felt even longer than 24 hours and I am so glad I went. It was the perfect way to separate the DTS I had just staffed from the SBFM I am about to staff, especially since half of my students are doing this next school. I am so thankful for that time of refreshment and I am now ready to begin my next assignment...at least I think I am.

The Evolution of a Name

2010-08-29T19:46:00.000-10:00

I have a lot of names: Elizabeth, Liz, Hightower, Hot Stuff and sometimes Lizzy or Elly. My various names correspond to different people and phases of my life. For those of you who are confused, I am going give a mini-history of my name.

My parents named me Elizabeth Ann Hightower, which was not the easiest name to write come kindergarten with 18 letters in just my first and last names. Most of my family calls me Liz, although my dad often calls me Elizabeth. My mom is the only one in the world who can call me Lizzy. Take note of this if you are thinking about trying it.

My friends from my childhood street called me Liz but my friends at school always called me Elizabeth. At church I was usually Liz and this carried over to the Christian summer camp I worked at in the summers.

In college I was Elizabeth to most of my friends. My college roommate, Lucy confused about the Liz/Elizabeth debate, decided to try to call me Liz for a week. In her words, "It didn't take" and she resorted back to calling me Elizabeth. I also came up with my own self-proclaimed nickname in college, "Hot Stuff." This came from having to sign up for different things with my campus ministry. I would grow bored of writing my name so I would sign Elizabeth "America's Sweetheart" Hightower or Elizabeth "Sweet Thang" Hightower. One time I wrote Elizabeth "Hot Stuff" Hightower and a friend named Sam Duff started calling me that. It stuck. I love absurd things and what's more absurd than me giving myself the nickname, Hot Stuff?

After college, I attended my DTS at YWAM Maui where there were two other girls named Elizabeth. One went by the one-of-a-kind nickname, Biza and the other commandeered Liz so I was known again as Elizabeth. Then when I came back on staff, my closest friend, Amy called me Liz and most other people followed suit. On outreach to Bangladesh, our contact started calling me Elly. First time I had heard this one. Some of my friends from that team still call me that.

When I was a teacher we pretty much all called each other by our last names so I became Hightower to my teacher friends. Then for some reason when I came back to YWAM for the third time, people also started calling me Hightower.

So depending on where you know me from, I could be Elizabeth, Liz, Hightower, Hot Stuff, Elly or even Mexican Sugar (long story.) It doesn't really matter which one you call me as long as you stick to the same one. And remember, only my mom can call me Lizzy!

Fun on the Metro

2010-08-10T04:44:00.002-10:00

There are definitely great things about being in this large Asian city. Two dollar shampoos/head massages are clearly high on the list. So are all the other kinds of massages you can get for basically pennies. I also love these shopping carts they have here. They are like the little baskets you can carry around at Wal-Mart if you don’t want to push one of those bulky carts. The genius of these baskets is that they have wheels so you can fill them full of heavy things and still easily maneuver around the store. I am tempted to make an offer to buy one even though I am pretty sure they aren’t for sale.

Another great thing about this place is the metro/subway system. There are at least five lines but there will be up to nine later this year. They are super clean unlike New York’s subway system which is like a giant toilet. The trains come about every two minutes and make it super easy to get around the city. The signs are in English which also helps greatly. There is some good people watching with plenty of weird fashions and mole beards. There have been many fun adventures on the metro for my team. Sometimes the metro is so crowded that you literally squeeze yourself in or out of the subway car. Sometimes people try to bring large luggage or boxes onto the metro, which is pretty much a terrible idea. It makes it super difficult to disembark the car. One time my student, Sarah started backing up into what she thought was an empty space and fell onto a giant box. Good times.

Sarah has a lot of adventures on the subway. Whenever a seat opens up, we all race to try to beat the locals to the coveted seat. Sarah was making a power move to the seat and totally beat some guy to the seat. Apparently he didn’t see her sneak into the seat and ended up sitting right on her lap. Talk about awkward!

My favorite subway moment involved my student, David. We were on our way home from a long day at English camp. David was a little away from the rest of us and we lost track of him. We got to our subway stop and I saw David walk out in front of us. He happens to be 6 foot 9 so he is fairly easy to see. I see David talking to some guy I have never seen and then all of a sudden they are hugging in a very awkward way. I guess any hug in a metro station is going to be a bit awkward. We were so confused about why David was hugging some guy in the metro. It turned out they had talked for most of the long ride. As they were parting ways, David thought the guy was reaching in for a hug so David went for it. The guy seemed a bit stiff and confused about the whole thing. After the guy left and David thought about it for a moment, he realized that the guy had been trying to measure himself against David and was not going in for a hug after all. Always an adventure on the metro!

A $5 Massage

2010-07-25T11:05:00.000-10:00

While I am here in Asia, my main responsibility is to my students. I obviously care about the people of this country but if my students’ needs aren’t met, then they won’t be effective here. Part of meeting their needs involves me spending one-on-one time with each of my six female students. Right now my busy schedule only permits me to meet with three of them each week. We try to do something fun and cheap that will give us some time to talk about how they are doing. So far, I have gone to IKEA a few times, out to lunch, to babysit our friend’s baby and to a video arcade.

The funniest experience so far was going for a foot massage with my student, Grace. I’ve never had any type of massage in America other than a 10 minute massage after a 150 mile bike ride, because I am too cheap. In Asia, I always try to get at least one since they are so cheap. We paid $5 US for a 70 minute foot massage. We had no idea what we were in for.

When we arrived at the massage place and they led us into a room with two recliners. Thankfully Grace speaks their language so we could communicate. They asked us if it was okay to have male masseuses because of some sort of yin and yang thing. We said that would be fine and two men in matching track suits arrived. They poured something that looked like ginger into a super hot tub of water and had us put our feet inside. It was so hot! Grace couldn’t take the heat so her guy had to pour a bunch of cold water in to cool her off.

Then they started massaging our shoulders. It was a nice surprise. I had assumed that foot massage literally meant only your feet. You really shouldn’t assume anything in Asia. The back massage lasted about thirty minutes while our feet were soaking in the ginger water or whatever it was. Everything was going fine until my massage man put a pillow on his lap. He leaned me back onto the pillow and began to “massage” me with his knees. It was so weird! I didn’t know how to react. I couldn’t stop laughing. Grace started laughing too because of how ridiculous I looked. I couldn’t wait for him to stop.

In the meantime, Grace’s massage guy had grabbed her left arm and pulled it across her body to the right side. He started yanking on the arm so violently that I was afraid it would come out of the socket. She looked like a rag doll being tossed about. I laughed at Grace’s predicament until my massage guy started doing it to me. I heard my back crack in at least four places.

After all the bizarre contortions, the massage guys began on our feet. It felt nice but it was hard not to laugh out loud as I recalled my unorthodox lap massage. It was just another random day in Asia.

Basketball and Mole Goatees

2010-07-16T11:22:00.000-10:00

I've been in Asia for almost two weeks. We've been extremely busy so time is flying by. I will be sending out an update email soon but here are some of my observations from this time around. We've gotten to play basketball some. In spite of the sweltering heat, it's been fun! We played with guys and they were even nicer than American guys. I was pleasantly surprised at how often they passed me the ball. The girl who took us to play basketball was a lot of fun. We were able to share some with her and she seemed interested. Afterwards, we played basketball again and I stuffed her twice. I later realized that this may not have been the best idea as I was trying to introduce her to the love of the Big Guy.

A weird trend I am noticing here is what I like to call a mole goatee. A guy will have a large mole on his face and he will shave everywhere except for where the mole is. We are talking about inches of hair, here! Eww!

A trend I like here is folding bicycles. I'm tempted to get one but I am not sure what the airline policies are on them. We'll see if I can resist the temptation. Be looking for an email update soon.

Post Directly From Asia

2010-07-04T03:24:00.000-10:00

I forgot that I would be able to write in my blog while in Hong Kong. Here's how my trip has gone so far.

We left Maui at 9am and spent several hours in Honolulu. It ended up not feeling too long. Then we had an 8 hour flight to Osaka, Japan. I ended up sitting with my students, Maddie and Shannon so it was pretty fun. We arrived in Japan around 6pm and had to figure out how to find our airline-appointed hotel for the night. It turned out to be very simple since it was actually attached to the airport itself. We wheeled our luggage on carts straight from baggage claim to our rooms. It was pretty crazy! My student, Grace's sister met us there. Her English name is also Grace so I called her Grace Number 2. Thankfully Grace Number 2 spoke Japanese. This was a great help when we attempted to order dinner in the airport. We had thought about taking a bus to town to see the sights but it would have been $20 round trip each just to get there. I didn't realize quite how expensive Japan was. We ended up retreating to our rooms for an early night's sleep. This was probably the best choice.

In the morning we flew to Hong Kong. It was only a 3 hour flight but none of us were seated together. I sat in the middle seat between two Japanese men. Even though the flight was shorter, it was not as much fun because I had to sit by myself. When we got to Hong Kong, we were met by Will, our contact. It was nice to see a familiar face. He got Joey and most of the team bus tickets and they all road back to that big Asian country.

Me, Grace and Johanna had to stay in Hong Kong to get visas for them. Because we arrived on a Saturday, we had to spend two nights and wait until Monday when the visa office is open, to apply for their visas. It's been cool being a tourist for a bit but it feels weird. I really just want to get these visas so we can start doing what we came to Asia to do.

I had booked our hostel online. It was $50 a night for three people when most other places were double or triple that. We are on a budget so it seemed like a good choice. The pictures online didn't look too nice but I figured we'd survive. It was tough to figure out how to get in the place to begin with. The bottom floor is dingy shops owned by Pakistani men. Luckily and unluckily they were very friendly and directed us to the entrance. It turns out the building houses numerous hostels and guest houses as well as families primarily from Muslim and African countries. It took some detective work but we found the office for our hostel on the 13th floor. Then we went down a rickety elevator to the 7th floor. Thankfully our room was behind two locked doors. We walked past a sign that said there was only hot water for showers between specific hours. Our three person room was about the size of three double beds. The bathroom was only slightly bigger than a bathtub and has sliding glass doors like a bathtub. Lucky for us the doors are frosted and have an Asian woman painted on them. The toilet, sink and shower head are all inside. It's pretty much awesome!

We got in touch with Bryan Ho, who was one of my brothers best friends in high school. He and his wife live in Hong Kong. We agreed to meet at 8pm. While we waited, Grace, Johanna and I explored the area around our hostel. It is in a very busy part of town. We met up with the Hos and went to a night market. None of us bought anything but it was fun to look around. Then we had dinner at a little place in the market. Grace was fading so we took her back to the hostel. It was fun to show Bryan and Melissa how sketchy our hostel was. They also enjoyed the bathroom. Johanna is from Germany and we found out Germany was playing Argentina at 10pm. Bryan and Melissa wanted to watch it too so we looked for a bar but they were all charging a cover. We ended up watching it in the middle of a mall on a giant screen with about 300 other people. Other than having to stand, it was a fun way to watch the game. I am not that into soccer but it is growing on me since 4 of my girls are really into it. This game was actually really awesome and I am glad Johanna's team won.

In the morning we went to a church we found on the internet. It was an international church and the pastor who spoke was German. He and Johanna talked afterward and we found out he was also in our organization in the past. He prayed for our visas. Later we ate Dim sum, which I love! It's a Hong Kong specialty where you eat small amounts of a lot of things. Then we explored their version of a walk of fame. The only celebrity names I knew were Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Then we went to the longest outdoor covered escalator system. It was awesome! It was like if San Francisco had escalators and moving walkways to get you up its steep hills. There were tons of cool shops and restaurants along the way.

Then at night we watched the laser light show at the harbor. Most of the buildings are lit up and the lights change in a sort of choreographed "dance" to classical music. It was pretty cool and reminded me of fireworks. This is fitting since it is fourth of July here. Now we are exhausted from all our walking and ready to rejoin our group. I miss the other students. I feel a bit like a mother away from some of her kids. Please pray everything goes well with the visas and we will all be reunited soon!

I am leaving for Asia in the Morning

2010-06-30T23:29:00.000-10:00

I figured it would be nice to get one more blog out before I leave for Asia. I can't write in it myself while I am gone but my friend, Sarah will be posting on it for me so keep checking back.

Update on Daniel's visa
It's been nothing but drama trying to get a visa for our Indian student. We are now on our second visa company and have had a serious FedEx-related set-back. His passport went through the destination city- L.A. and on to Memphis and back to L.A. We had some serious time constraints that meant any delay would mess up everything.

Now his visa is processing but since we leave tomorrow, he will not be able to travel with us. We are praying his visa will be granted and he can join us soon. Please pray. Please also pray for Johanna and Grace as we attempt to get their visas in Hong Kong.

This week has been packed. We've had lectures on post-modernism Monday morning, Tuesday morning and night and this morning. We've also had staff meetings, base clean-up and team bonding time. I definitely don't feel rested going into this trip but I am very excited. We jump right into our work when we get to Asia. I should be leading an English corner within days of arriving. I don't mind because I love this stuff.

I should probably continue to pack and then go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Normally when I travel I stay up really late and sleep on all my flights. This time I am in charge of 8 other people so I need to be nice and coherent in the morning. We'll see how that goes.

I hate visas!

2010-06-26T19:48:00.000-10:00

I have been super busy and we had to fast from electronic media last week. This two things have combined to explain the tardiness of this blog entry.

Most DTS schools are marked by some sort of issues. Usually it is immaturity and poor decision making by the students. Our students are amazing but we've been bogged down logistically to the extreme! Our first hurdle was finances. Up until the final deadline, it was not even guaranteed that my co-leader would be going. He got his money on the last day possible and we found a way for all our team members to go. It was somewhat miraculous, definitely nerve-wracking and totally glorifying to God.

Our current hurdle is visas. Other teams have used a service on the internet that takes your visa application and passport to the consulate and gets you a visa. They have had pretty good luck so far. We did not. I am currently asking the Lord to forgive me for my hatred towards Jeff, the visa guy. First we found out that our Americans' visas would all cost $10 more a piece because the price literally changed between the time our passports and paperwork were mailed and when they arrived at the company. The annoying part was that they weren't able to tell us in advance so we had to go to the trouble of paypaling the money. Then we find out that they our foreign students don't have the kind of visas for the US that they "need." Then we have to send them a letter on our letterhead that says they are going to school in the USA. We also had to fax all their flight info. Another hassle.

After we fax this in, they tell us that our Canadian needs to prove she is actually in America. In order to do this, we had to take Sarah and her identification to a notary to prove she is indeed here. So weird! Then they tell us that our paperwork for our Korean and our German is wrong but that they are processing our Indian. They try to convince us to change the paperwork and let them try again. We decide they have not proven speedy or trustworthy so we will take our chances elsewhere.

They processed our Americans and Canadian. Then they told us our Indian got rejected. We looked into our options and we can get visas for the German and the Koren in Hong Kong. Because of India's relationship to the country we are going to, it is impossible to get him a visa there. We have one last hope for Daniel, our Indian's visa. We found a company that said they can do it in time for a price. Please pray that this works out. We all want him to go so bad. If it all works out, the visa will come Wednesday and we leave Thursday morning. Talk about cutting it close!

Despite daily talks and emails to Jeff the visa guy and daily discouragements in that department, God has been so good to us. I sent out an email prayer request about the visas and one of my long-time supporters has offered to pay the cost of our two nights and three days in Hong Kong as we get the visas for our German and our Korean. This is a huge blessing as our team is already going out short on funds so that everyone could go. I feel like this will all work out in the end but I definitely need your prayers.

One of our students, Grace has also had some bad news. Her uncle who lives in the USA was visting her family in Korea. While there, he fell off a ladder and went in to a coma. On Thursday he died. This is sad of course but also presents tons of problems as he has died in a country where he is not a citizen. There is a chance that Grace's family will be responsible for his $100,000 medical bill. Also Grace's dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer a few weeks ago. He had surgery and it seemed okay. The same day she found out about her uncle, she found that her dad's cancer was worse than they thought and it had spread to the muscle. The doctors think they got most of it with surgery but are still deciding treatment as it is a fast growing cancer. Poor Grace is so far away. She is praying about whether or not she is supposed to go home. Please pray for her family.

And just when I start to feel overwhelmed by all these logistical problems, I hear of something so terrible that my troubles pale in comparison. I just found out sad news from the church I grew up in. An 18 year-old kid, Bryan Evans was on our church's annual youth trip when he died in his sleep. He had diabetes and I assume his death had something to do with that. How tragic! He was an only child who had just graduated high school. I can't imagine how terrible that was for the other high school kids to find him dead like that. What a nightmare! My heart goes out to his friends and family. I didn't really know him myself though I knew who he was and I think I babysat him at a church retreat years ago. From what I hear, he was a great guy and he loved the Lord. Please pray for all the people who loved him.

What a perspective!

2010-06-16T23:19:00.001-10:00

I have been feeling a bit weary and run-down lately. There is a lot on my plate and even though much of what I am doing brings me tremendous joy, the tedium of logistics puts me in a "poor me" mood. I don't think this in itself is sin but it definitely doesn't help anything. I just ran across the following video which totally put me in my place. The man in the video died about a month ago from colon cancer. The video brought me to tears as I was tremendously moved by his unwavering faith in the Lord. My logistical problems pale in comparison to what this man suffered and yet he chose to continue to trust in the Lord. I hope you find his story as humbling and inspiring as I did. And you might want to keep the tissues handy.

The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

Restful? Weekend

2010-06-15T21:57:00.000-10:00

It is only Tuesday and it has already been a crazy week. We have been running into a lot of problems with our visas for Asia. It seems like every day the company we are using asks us for more information. It's hard to not get frustrated but I think it will all work out in the end. We've also had a lot of financial struggles. My co-leader only got his money to go today. Wheww! I am so thankful. Two of our students still need money for Friday's deadline. I have enough for my plane ticket and nothing more. Please keep praying.

This weekend was pretty rough. It started pretty well with three of my students bribing me to take them to watch World Cup soccer at our local student's house. I don't do well waking up in the 6's on a weekend but I love my girls and they bribed me with homemade breakfast. I tried to watch some of the pre-game but I am not particularly interested in soccer. I ended up going back to sleep for a few hours in the guest bedroom. I watched the second half of the USA game. I think I'd rather play soccer than watch it. If it had been college football, it would have been a whole other story. It was nice to hang out with my girls in a real non-YWAM house. We ended up staying there for like seven hours.

Then I went back to the base to get ready for a girls' night across the island in Kihei with a bunch of current and former girl staff. There were plenty of delicious treats but my stomach was already feeling weird. I tried to socialize for a bit but I couldn't deny the pain in my stomach. When we moved into another room to play games, I asked my friend, Jess if I could lay down somewhere for a while. She let me lay in her bed and gave me the remote control so I could watch cable. The conditions were not bad at all. Unfortunately I just felt awful. I ended up throwing up about four times. I forgot how absolutely terrible it is to throw up. How do bulimics do it?

I did feel thankful that I was in a real house in a comfortable bed watching Bridezillas in between my trips to the bathroom that was conveniently attached to the bedroom. It was better than being at the base. I was sad to miss the girl bonding and goodies but my stomach hurt to bad to fake being okay. Also my face was whiter than I have ever seen it. My friend Kristy took one look at me and told me I looked weird. At least she was honest. When it was time to go home I still looked terrible and felt terrible. I laid in the back of my friend's car whimpering in the fetal position. It was not pretty. Another friend drove my car up to the base for me where I spent the night throwing up. It was less cushy since I have to go outside to go back into the house to use the bathroom. I contemplated sleeping on the couches in the living room but a dead rat was once found between the cushions. I was sick but not crazy.

I was afraid I would never get better. I can't imagine how people go through long illnesses. I am such a wuss. In the morning I felt weak and my stomach was not to be trusted. I slept in and didn't go to church. One of my friends brought me Sprite and saltines and did my laundry for me. By nighttime I felt like myself and was able to crack jokes again. It was a pretty sucky way to spend my weekend but I was very thankful for my good friends who took care of me. One of my friends said it was the only way I would have truly rested. Maybe she was right. Hopefully next time I rest, it will involve less puking.

Money, Money, Money

2010-06-08T15:44:00.000-10:00

Asia is coming up in 23 days and there are still financial needs on my team. Several of the students still need money and my co-leader and I do as well. I have received $800 of the $2500 I need for outreach. Please pray that all the money comes in. If you want to donate electronically , you can click on the paypal link on this page or go to my website www.lizhightower.com to donate using a check. I can provide tax receipts, so let me know if you are interested. Thanks for your continued prayers and support for my ministry.

Exhausted

2010-06-08T15:36:00.000-10:00

The title of this post is an accurate reflection of how I feel. There are different stages when you are DTS staff and I am at the exhausted stage. We are at that point where outreach to Asia is frighteningly close and yet we still have a very full schedule. It's hard to get everything done. Due to a miscommunication, I had to spend all of Monday morning getting our visas ready to send out. We wanted to send them out that day but their photos had not been developed and therefore the whole package couldn't be sent. It was quite frustrating. Luckily I was able to finish it up and have it mailed off today. Please pray that it all happens in a timely fashion so we get them back before we have to leave. I am loving my students but the logistical details are threatening to drown me. In an effort to continue looking to the positive, I will tell of the fun part of my weekend.

One of our students, Shannon has lived on Maui since she was two. We don't get a lot of local students, though we'd definitely love to have them. Shannon has been such a blessing in sharing her home and family with us. Her parents are out of town so on Saturday night we had a girls' night at her parents' house. I was a little apprehensive about fronting all the money for pizza and snacks. I was afraid I would get stuck paying for it all. It ended up perfectly. We had enough snacks and I only had to pay $5 just like everyone else. Yay! We gorged ourselves on snacks and then played my favorite game, Loaded Questions. There were too many people to play it correctly so we just tried to make each other laugh. It totally worked.

After playing LQ, some of us went in Shannon's hot tub. YWAM makes everyone a little weird about wearing bikinis since we have so many rules about where and when you can wear them. It's funny to see how awkward we can be about it even when it's just a bunch of girls. I am not sure the hot tub was a good idea for me this time. The weekend before I had burned my stomach in a weird stripe. (Don't ask.) Being in the hot tub totally made it start peeling. Ewww. I am really hoping the stripes aren't permanent.

After hot tub fun, we continued to gorge ourselves and watched "The Devil Wears Prada." It was so nice to be in a real house hanging out. I also really enjoy spending time with the students. I can really see myself becoming friends with them after our co-leader/student relationship is over. I am also so thankful for my car. It is so much easier to spend time with my students when we can get off base and go somewhere fun on the island. I've even been taking one student to breakfast every Friday morning before worship. Those of you who know me should be super impressed that I am waking up that early.

So it's crazy but fun. There's nothing I would rather be doing right now than walking beside these students as God draws them closer and closer to Himself. And I am so grateful for the privilege of taking them to Asia!

From L-R, My student, Catie, my staff friend, Daena and my student, Shannon sippin' frosties in my car

Yet Another Tale from the Nude Beach

2010-05-30T23:26:00.000-10:00

I hate when I haven't posted in a while because I feel like I have so much to talk about and I must mention it all. This creates painfully long blog entries that maybe only Luke Sexson will read. So, I will try to hit the high points without a tremendous amount of detail.

Money Problems
YWAM Maui has been going through some lean financial times for the last few months. We've cut the budgets of all the departments and got rid of unnecessary expenditures. In the past, our base could afford to be forgiving if someone couldn't pay their tuition or outreach fees on time. This is no longer the case. Three of our students, Myles, Chris and Victoria do not have all the money they need for lecture phase. This Friday was the deadline for all the money for lecture phase to be in. Tomorrow there will be an announcement about whether they have to go home or not. This is a really big deal.

We have two teams going to a large Asian country. If we lose some of these people, there is a good chance that we will only have one team going to Asia. This will greatly change the team dynamics we've been trying to create. Luckily it is a small school and I know all the students well. There are several other people who have paid for their lecture phase but still need significant amounts of money towards their outreach. If they don't get that money in, they will not get to go to Asia. The work we are doing in Asia needs as many students to go there as possible. Please pray that this all works out.

Nude Beach
In lighter news, I took four of the girl students to Big Beach on Saturday. This is one of my favorite beaches on the island even though it's pretty far away. It almost never rains and is beautiful with blue water and a long stretch of sandy beach. There is also a powerful shore break. This is when the waves crash really hard in a shallow area near where the ocean meets the sand. I like to watch unsuspecting tourists get pummeled by the shore break. (As long as they don't get hurt, of course.)

There is also a nude beach called Little Beach that is just on the other side of a large rocky cliff. Another thing I like to do is swim from Big Beach to Little Beach so I can see the nude people from a safe distance. I like to watch how weird they are but I don't want to see details. From about 100 yards out, you can do just that. People who hang out at nude beaches are weird and participate in some strange naked activities like yoga, sit-ups and abnormally wide-legged stances. This is all hilarious to watch from a safe detail-less distance. I decided that I wanted to swim over to Little Beach and I took two of the students, Grace and Johanna along with me. Our plan was to swim over, gawk at the nudes and swim back. It's a bit of a long swim and we were tired when we finally got in view of the nudes.

We treaded water and giggled at the nude people's antics for a while. When we were ready to leave, we were faced with a tough decision: swim back the long way to the non-nude Big Beach or make the easier swim to the shore of the detail-filled Little Beach and climb over the rocks to get back to the beach where people had some sense of decency. We decided we could try the shorter swim onto the nude-filled shore of Little Beach as long as we stayed close to the rock divider between the beaches and kept our eyes averted from potential details. We started swimming back and quickly came upon a guy surfer wearing a rash guard (ie: surfing shirt). Grace said, "At least he is wearing a shirt." Then I said, "There's no guarantee he is wearing pants." I was right, the dude was not wearing anything but the rash guard. What a weirdo? Why wear a top and no bottoms? Luckily the only detail I saw was his butt.

We tried to quickly swim in but the waves were a bit strong. At one point the surfer caught a wave and it looked like he might hit us. Luckily I didn't look directly at him. As we were getting out, Johanna cut her foot so we had to go to the lifeguard stand. They joked with us about going to the nude beach. They told us they'd had to rescue nude people before and even did CPR on a naked guy, who ended up dying. What a undignified way to die!

My Team

2010-05-19T23:34:00.000-10:00

We now have our teams for Asia. We are both going to the same large Asian country. We'll be in the same place some but not the entire time. My team has six students and two leaders. My co-leader is Joey Brunette, who I have known for about four years now. He was here during the last school I staffed so he knows a bit of my history. I also did my SBFM with his sister and was on staff with some of his cousins.

Me and Joey looking pumped

Our team has a married couple, Chris and Victoria who are from Louisiana/Florida, as well as Daniel from India, Johanna from Germany, Maddie from Washington and Sarah from Alberta, Canada. They are a really fun group. I am especially excited to go to Asia with a Sarah. Everyone knows how much I enjoy the company of a good Sarah, especially while traveling.

I am excited for all the God is going to do through us. We are going to rock Asia!

Beachin' It

2010-05-19T23:28:00.000-10:00

I have been meaning to write this post for a few days now. I guess it is better late than never. The school is going well. I recently asked a friend why it seems so much easier this time and she reminded me how crazy and out of the ordinary my last school was. The students are so much fun and a joy to be around. They are growing so much in their faith and knowledge of the Lord and I am growing too.

Our school leaders have tried to create opportunities for fun outings on the weekends. There are so many amazing things to see on Maui but it's difficult for students when they don't have cars. Last weekend we went to Ka'anapali, which is the tourist side of the island. This is the place people think I live in Maui with fabulous beaches and resorts. This is not true. I definitely like going over there to play tourist. When I was on staff before, my friend, Amy and I would hitch all the way over there. It usually took about 3 hitches and 2 hours to get there but it was worth it to pretend we were on vacation.

This time most of the students and some of the staff went. When we got there, we saw a large cloud of black smoke and heard fire trucks. The outdoor restaurant at the Westin had caught on fire. All the grass canopies above the tables were burned up and still smoldering when we joined the gawkers.

We all hung out on the beach and had a great time. There is a part of the beach called Black Rock where you can jump off cliffs into the ocean. I didn't jump but I did get some good pictures of people jumping. Nick, one of the leaders, ended up splitting his board shorts when he jumped. Then he walked down the beach unashamed with his butt exposed to the world. It was pretty hilarious! Overall it was a lot of fun.

Reliving the Crazy Past

2010-05-11T00:16:00.000-10:00

I was planning on waking up at 5am tomorrow to go to a spin class at the gym. But since it is already technically tomorrow (midnight) and I can't fall asleep, I definitely won't be attending the spin class. I managed to get up and go to the class last week (small miracle if you know how much I hate getting up in the fives) After the class, I just felt exhausted so I decided I wouldn't go if I didn't get to sleep before 10.

Since I can't sleep, I decided to reread my blog from the last time I DTS staffed. You're welcome to do the same. It's archived on the left from May 2006-November 2006. I have been thinking about that time a lot since I am DTS staffing again right now. It was really interesting to read what I was thinking and feeling at the time. I wish I had my journal from that time but the blog is better than nothing. After reading over the whole thing, I realize how crazy hard that time was but also how sweet. Part of me wishes I could go back to that time. The most interesting post to me was when I already had Dengue fever but was trying to pretend it wasn't true. I wrote that Rachel and Matt had it and that I was feeling sick but it was probably a sinus infection. Then the next post is days later after I was able to get out of bed after being sick with Dengue.

This DTS is going well but it is almost too well. I don't feel stretched and pulled like I did before. I think my comfort makes me less reliant on God, which I don't like. I am trying not to do things in my own strength, but it is a struggle. In the last school I staffed, it was literally impossible for me to handle all that happened using my own strength. I need to learn to rely on God more in the every day and not just in crisis. I really am thankful that my students are less needy and high maintenance this time but I miss that feeling of "what's going to happen next?" that I felt almost daily back in 2006. Who knew I would ever say that? I guess I should be careful what I wish for.

Party at the Food Bank

2010-05-09T20:44:00.001-10:00

This Saturday our whole DTS, students and staff volunteered at the Maui Food Bank. We got there around 5:30pm for the final shift of their annual food drive. There were tons of people there. Several groups consisted of teenagers and a trying to be hip, goatee-wearing adult which immediately identified them as church youth groups. It was pretty chaotic and we didn't really know where to go. We were quickly split up and my group was assigned to unload boxes and bags of food into shopping carts. I had never seen that much SPAM and Vienna sausages in my life!!! I am sure much of the food came from people's pantries and people in Hawaii LOVE SPAM! They even serve it at McDonald's.

Unloading boxes and bags of canned goods was kind of a random task but we tried to make it fun. We would race to try to grab the bags and then rip them open as fast as we could. The whole place was kind of like an organized chaos. Some guy shoved a shopping cart into me and I totally backed myself up into an elderly woman. The whole time we were working, we were cracking jokes, which made the time pass by quickly. My students are really fun and it was awesome to bond with them during the time.

After we finished one truckload of food, we got to take a snack break. It was kind of funny since we hadn't worked particularly hard or for particularly long. I enjoyed my gatorade and cheez-its, nonetheless. After our break, the second truck arrived and it was back to taking potted meat products out of bags and depositing them into our shopping cart.

The second truck was unloaded pretty quickly. Then some tall guy in a Christian T-shirt told us to go get pizza. Who doesn't love pizza? We started running towards the pizza, when some man with a bullhorn told us, "No pizza. You're not finished." What a letdown! We felt like gluttons but we'd only been running towards the pizza because Christian T-shirt man had gotten us all pumped up about it. So we walked back into the warehouse with our tails between our legs. We ended up cleaning up for about five minutes and then were told we could get pizza. It felt like a trick, so we slowly walked out to the tents where the pizza was. This time we did actually get to eat it. After working at the food bank, I went over to my friend's house to watch Betty White on SNL. A good end to a good day!

Bikes, Soccer and Rats, Oh My

2010-05-03T07:34:00.001-10:00

I had an eventful Saturday. I went on a bike ride for the first time in about four months. I love to bike in Houston but I don’t like it as much in Maui. For one thing, it is always very windy and for those of you who’ve ever tried to bike in the wind, you know it is no fun. Also the roads are a bit dangerous, especially the ones near our base. There are several points where the shoulder is only a couple feet away from the edge of a cliff. With all these tourists driving their Jeeps, Sebrings and Mustang convertibles, one wrong move could bump me off the edge into the ocean far below. So, on Saturday I packed my bike in my car and drove to my friend, Kristy’s to start our bike ride. Her house is not on a windy cliff-filled road, so it’s a lot less dangerous area. Kristy dressed like she was going to the beach with casual clothes,flip flops and no helmet. I, trying to show off how hardcore I am about biking, wore a helmet, black spandex shorts (under my basketball shorts- I am not THAT hardcore) and my bike shoes. I have clip-in pedals that connect my fancy shoes to my fancy pedals.

Kristy and I rode to a nearby beach and sat and talked. It was fun to catch up and the ride there was a breeze. The ride back was not as we rode against the wind. We finally made it back to Kristy’s. Her house has a short but steep driveway. As I was riding up, I realized that I didn’t have the momentum to make it all the way to the top of the driveway. I realized that I needed to quickly unclip my feet from my pedals. I got my right foot out but there was no hope for my left. I made a strange high pitched sound and down I went, still attached to my bike. It took me a while to get untangled and once Kristy saw that I was okay she laughed at me the way my little stunt deserved. I felt pretty dumb but at least Kristy got a good laugh. I am a little sore and bruised but nothing permanently damaged except possibly my pride.

Later in the day, I decided to go play soccer. A bunch of people from YWAM go play soccer every Saturday and I had been meaning to go for a while. Just like the book, “Stuff White People Like” says, I like the idea of soccer. I am not particularly good at it but I would like to be. Basketball is more my game but there don’t seem to be as many opportunities to play basketball as there are to play soccer. Some of my students were playing so I figured it was a good idea to try to bond with them through athletic activity. I strategically placed myself on defense so I wouldn’t have to worry too much about my ball handling skills. I can kick but I don’t always know where it is going to go. Luckily our goalie was 6’9” so there was a large margin for error. It ended up being a lot of fun. I have such a low opinion of my soccer skills that whenever I mess up, I don’t really care and whenever I do well, I get so excited. I am no David Beckham, but at least I didn’t make a fool of myself.

Later that night, I watched a TV show with a friend until 11pm. Then I went into our kitchen to wash my dish. When I turned on the light, a big rat was staring at me as if I were the one trespassing in his kitchen and not the other way around. I didn’t want to scream and wake up the whole house but I definitely made a weird little yelp that was probably similar to the sound I made earlier that day when I fell with my bike. I didn’t know what to do. At that same time, I saw a giant cockroach. I tried to hit the less creepy enemy with a spoon but missed the roach and scared the rat. The vermin ran towards the front door, which was unfortunately where I was headed. I heard a little yelp and later figured out it was a housemate who’d been coming in the door at the wrong time. I didn’t feel safe walking out to my room in the direction the rat had gone. There were no boys around so I grabbed one of the DTS girls, Catie. She is like 5 feet tall but fearless. She checked the area for me and gave me the all clear to go outside to my room. It was hard to sleep after that as I continued to imagine the rat falling on my face during the night. Ewww! Please pray that we can end our rat problem. This is disgusting! The rat incident put a damper on an otherwise pretty good Saturday.

Radical Revelations

2010-05-01T15:11:00.000-10:00

This week has been very intense. My friend/mentor, Maria Daughtry came and spoke for this first week of lecture on "Hearing the Voice of God." This is a pretty intense topic and God really did a lot in my heart during this week. I feel like it was like a jump start to my faith in a really good way. I can hear the Lord's voice louder than I have been able to in a really long time. It looks like many of the students felt the same way.

Even though I normally keep this blog more on the humorous side but with this post I would like to share some of what I feel God's been teaching me lately. I hope it convicts and blesses you as much as it has done for me.

I have also been reading the book, CRAZY LOVE by Francis Chan. I highly recommend it! I feel that God's been speaking to me through this book, for sure. This week Maria prayed for all of us. The words she got for me were how I follow God but I always have to talk about all the pros and the cons and what I will need, etc. The picture she got was like I am scaling a cliff and I make it to the top just fine on my own strength. I am feeling good about myself and then God shows me a giant mountain He wants me to climb. I immediately tell Him why it's impossible and how I will need this and that. He just tells me to trust Him. For anyone who knows me well, this is totally me. I want to follow God but I get nervous and caught up in all the details and potential problems. God wants me to just say, "Yes" to him right away and trust that he will figure out all the details. Then today when I was reading Crazy Love, I was convicted about this all over again.

Francis Chan talks of the story in the 9th chapter of Luke where Jesus calls his twelve disciples together to go out and preach and heal people. He specifically tells them not to bring food, money, extra clothes, etc. He wants them to trust that He will provide all they need. I can totally picture myself as one of Jesus' disciples. I would be the one saying, "But Jesus, wouldn't it be easier to minister to people if I could just bring extra deodorant and a change of clothes?" "Wouldn't bringing my computer be nice so we could communicate with people back home?" I need to have the kind of faith that the disciples had to simply follow Jesus and trust that He will provide all I need.

Another part of the book that totally convicted me was based on 2 Corinthians 8:13-15. "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."

This passage totally convicted me! Everyone on our base raises support for their living expenses and staff fees. No one gets paid and all must rely on friends, family, churches and sometimes strangers for money to live on here. People do this to varying degrees of success. Some people have $1000 + in committed monthly support and others have less than $100. I think the prevailing attitude around here is that it is your right to live at the highest standard of living you can on your support. If you get a lot, you can spend a lot on clothes, coffee, etc. This is not all bad. But I think sometimes those of us who are a little more financially stable (and I mean a little bit), can forget the principle of sacrificial giving to those around us who we may eat with, minister with, or share a room with. I was getting pretty content with my giving. I tithe the support I get and then the rest goes to monthly expenses. I feel God calling me to give more sacrificially to my fellow missionaries. So what if it means I can't buy that frappaccino at Starbucks? What's more important, my comfort or the very basic needs of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?

Pray for NASA

2010-04-25T22:15:00.000-10:00

This post isn't really related to my ministry in Maui/Asia but is an issue near and dear to my heart. I grew up in Clear Lake, a suburb of Houston that developed around NASA. Most of my friends' parents worked for NASA or Exxon. I knew several kids whose dads were astronauts and one of those astronauts was even my Sunday school teacher. A large percentage of people who go to the church I grew up in work for NASA. Some of my supporters, family friends, church friends and high school classmates work there right now. My best friend, Sarah and her husband, John both work in mission control.

I say all that to show that I have a close connection with NASA. As far as I know, Obama has cut funding to some of NASA's programs. Unless something changes, NASA will only work on the International Space Station, no longer launching its own shuttles but paying Russia to essentially hitchhike on theirs. If this happens, many people that I care about will lose their jobs. I feel especially bad for Sarah who basically has her dream job now and has never wanted to do anything else. Please pray for all the people who work at NASA. Pray for peace for them and their families as their jobs are in limbo. Pray that Obama will do the right thing concerning NASA, whatever that may be.

Thanks

Beginning Again

2010-04-21T16:26:00.001-10:00

I think this past opening night was my seventh in my YWAM career. They don't really ever get old. Opening Night is our big celebration to welcome the students to our base. Usually there is no real theme to the event but the staff makes a funny video to introduce themselves. The videos are hilarious to those of us who know them but often the students don't get the inside jokes. We tried to lessen the awkward feeling the students inevitably get from being in a new place with strange people telling inside jokes. We gave the night an Academy Awards theme. We had the staff dress in fancy clothes and the DTS staff, like myself went over the top in thrift store finery. To give you an idea, my dress was black velvet with rhinestones and the biggest, poufiest shoulder pads I had seen since the 1980's. We laid out a red carpet and tried to decorate our venue in star-studded fashion. We even had red carpet interviews against a YWAM background. I think people had fun. I made a video montage of pictures that made it look like all the DTS had starred in obscure made-up movies like "Little Trouble, Big Sandwich." People seemed to enjoy it.

It was pretty surreal for me to realize that I was committing myself again to the crazy 24/7 job of DTS staff. It is both an amazing privilege and a difficult sacrifice. Part of that sacrifice began at the end of the night when Exodus was announced. Exodus is something our base does to start each DTS. It's basically a multi-day camping trip that helps the students break down barriers and get to know each other better. I've been on two of these before and I don't particularly enjoy them but I understand their purpose.

The students and staff are limited in what they can bring with them on Exodus. We could only bring: one shirt, one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, one sweatshirt, one pair of socks, one pair of shoes, one pair of sandals, Bible, journal, pen, swimsuit, hat, sunscreen, backpack, sleeping bag and camera. Note that I did not list toothbrush or deodorant. The deodorant is the one thing that bothers me the most. I hate the smell of B.O, especially if it is coming from me! I am always tempted to cheat since the staff's bags are not checked but I know it is wrong, so I don't.

We woke up really early to pack a lunch. Then we headed to a local park to play games. We formed three different "tribes" and made up names and cheers. My team was called CaHaGerTex because we had people from Canada, California, Hawaii, Germany and Texas. We ended up winning probably because we did a human pyramid. Everyone loves a human pyramid. After establishing our tribes, the students then went on a scavenger hunt throughout the island to give the students a chance to get to know each other and the island. They had to hitchhike everywhere to complete their assigned tasks, which was a stretch for some. One group got picked up by someone early on who took them to all the stops and took their pictures for them. Obviously they were the first group to arrive.

The staff met up with the students at the final stop, Iao Valley. We ate lunch and then all had a quiet time with God. It's easy to feel God's presence in such a picturesque place. After Iao Valley, we drove to our campsite and set up camp. The last time I went on Exodus, four years ago, we slept under a tarp. This time we slept in tents because there had been too many centipede bites in the past. I was grateful for this minor improvement in accommodation.

We had to eat Ramen noodles for lunch and dinner. Unfortunately I hate Ramen noodles and having that for two meals a day was not my idea of fun. We also had plain oatmeal for breakfast to spice things up. We had to use the same bowl and chopsticks for every meal. It's funny to see how much my attitude can be based on what I eat. Eating Ramen and oatmeal made mealtime borderline disgusting when I usually enjoy eating. In addition to eating bland foods, we spent the time getting to know each other better and spending time with God. It was good but I really wanted deodorant. One of the funniest things was when we had a contest to open a coconut. Myles, a fellow Texan made our team win by a mile. He smashed the coconut repeatedly on a rock and just ripped the thing apart. You'd never guess he'd never opened a coconut before.

We ended up spending two nights out there dirty and deodorant-less. Afterward, we drove to my church for Love Feast- a fancy dinner to bless the students. It is always such a relief for the students to be back in civilization and eating delicious food instead of Ramen. I was so grateful to be back. My friends had brought me deodorant, toothbrush, snacks and perfume. It made me feel loved.

Island Hopping

2010-04-15T22:37:00.002-10:00

I am writing this on my Blackberry at the Maui airport. This is not the ideal blog writing scenario but my friends are late to pick me up and I am bored.
I am getting back from my mini-trip to Hilo. My cousin, David lives there and his mom and our Aunt Nancy came for a visit. This is probably the worst time they could come: me with no extra money for a plane ticket and the Dts students arriving and our school about to start. My cousin tried to convince me to come via facebook and clearly it worked since I went. Luckily the money part worked out due to contributions from my cousin, aunts and parents. It turned out that I had a day off while the aunts would be in Hilo so I asked my bosses if I could go over for about 2 and a half days. They said yes and off I went.

My cousin, David decided we should surprise the aunts, which was a great idea. I pretended to ask them to help me read a map and they were surprised to see me standing there. My plane had come in about thirty minutes before theirs so David picked me up to plan. While we were deciding on the tourist scenario, David's seven year old son, Rowan said, "They are going to figure out you are not a tourist when you get in the car." He didn't understand that they might recognize me since they'd known me since I was born.

Hilo is pretty different from Maui. The area David lives in is a bit similar to the town I live in now. There is lots of rain and lots of vegetation. But where David's part of the Big Island looks like something out of The Lord of the Rings, Maui mainly looks like the Hawaii you see on TV: sandy beaches and sunshine. It was interesting to see all the differences. My favorite place we went had a huge waterfall and was near a giant Banyan tree. We have a big Banyan tree in Maui but this one was unattended so you could climb in it. It was really cool.

My cousin's house was really spacious and I am pretty sure it was bigger than the house I currently live in with 30 people. My only complaint about the accommodations was the loud roosters crowing at all hours of the day and night. They must not have good internal clocks because it definitely wasn't sunrise when they were loudly and obnoxiously crowing.

Quickly my trip was over and I headed back to Maui. Some of the students had already arrived when I got there. Tomorrow we are going on Exodus, our get to know you camping trip. I'll be out of technological contact for a few days but I am sure I will have great stories when I get back.

Staff Conference Extravaganza

2010-04-08T22:55:00.002-10:00

For the last two days we've had something called, "Staff Conference." It's a quarterly event where we go over rules, regulations and procedures, as well as bond as a staff. Yesterday we sat through about 3 1/2 hours of presentation on our base's rules, support raising, YWAM International, our base's statistics and more. Luckily most of it was pretty interesting. Then after we had lunch, we were divided into three teams to compete in a serious of relays. It reminded me a bit of Young Life and I was prepared since I was wearing my Young Life shirt.

I was on a team with Joey, Fritz, Daena, Larry, Timi and Simon. We only had two girls, which is a bit of an advantage in physical competition, I have to admit. The relays were old favorites like wheelbarrow race, crab walk, dizzy bat, egg toss, etc. It was nice to see people in a different environment. I didn't realize some people were hiding such mad crab walking skills. I knew that I was competitive but I didn't realize how many others on staff are very competitive as well. At one point we attempted to play this really bizarre game. I don't remember what it was called, but I will describe it.

My team formed a circle holding hands. At this point we'd lost the other girl as she had to go prepare dinner. So it was just me and the boys. Timi had egg all over his hands so it was pretty disgusting to hold his hand. The egg goo did make them stick together a bit, which was good for the objective of the game. As my team stood in a circle holding hands, someone from the other team had to say some sort of cheesy line I can't recall and they were allowed in the circle. Then, they had to say another cheesy line and attempt to leave the circle. The game was chaos! As the only girl, I was an obvious target for escape. Apparently they hadn't factored in my years of boxing out for a rebound in basketball coupled with my fierce competitive nature. I honestly don't remember what actually happened, but my teammates were very impressed. The problem with the game is that the person trying to escape always ended up in a tangled heap that consisted of me and my teammates. There seemed to be no time limit for their escape and we turned into a giant writhing pile of bodies until someone said stop. At one point my wrist started to twist the wrong way. I decided a broken wrist was not worth it and decided to let go. The game was funny to watch, I am sure but painful to be a part of. I never really did get the point.

The last event was something we often subject our students to. It's a relay where you have to eat foods that other cultures like but we often think are gross. It is good preparation for outreach where you often have to eat food you wouldn't choose to eat. I am not the best at this sort of game. In this version, each team member had to choose something out of the bag and eat it. Everyone had to go at least once but there were three "lifelines" where someone could help their teammate eat. Some of the items were gross and some just difficult or time-consuming to eat. I went first and got some disgusting fried seaweed. I hate seaweed but I couldn't let my team down. I almost puked but I got it down. Later I helped a teammate eat a Snickers so I could get the seaweed taste out of my mouth. In the end my team dominated and won the grand prize- 30 candy bars.

Today we had more meetings about the DTS and SFMI- our Surfer's for Missions program. Then we had a beach day. We went to Kihei, which is almost always sunny. Today was one of the few exceptions. We even changed beaches midway to escape the blowing sand. We ended up in a grassy park next to the beach. It was fun but extremely windy. Overall it was a good staff conference. I feel more informed and more bonded. I am pretty sure that was the whole point.

Transition Time....Again!

2010-04-03T13:53:00.002-10:00

The last two weeks have been quite interesting. The students left for Asia about a week ago so it was a crazy week leading up to their departure. I finished the curriculum for English teaching that I had been working on for about a month. I am anxious to see how it works overseas.

This past week we've started training for DTS staff. This involves getting to know each other better, praying for our future students and planning the overall DTS. We will continue to do this next week as well.

I don't have a whole lot to say in this blog post but I wanted to mention that I put a tour of the house I currently live in on my website. Go to www.lizhightower.com and click on Maui videos. I should be moving to a better room shortly but you can see some of our base and my living conditions for the past two months.

Important Speaking Engagement

2010-03-24T15:59:00.002-10:00

I got booked for a pretty important speaking engagement this past Monday. It was at Doris Todd, a local Christian school here. They were having a spiritual emphasis week and wanted people from our base to come share about missions. It was my job to introduce the topic and give an overview of missions in general and what we do at YWAM Maui. I had about 45 minutes to fill and three videos to show the group of about 75 students in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade.

My friend, Jill and I came prepared with candy. I know kids and they love candy. If we started to bomb, I knew our whole talk could be redeemed by simply throwing candy at them. The kids all began to file in and stare at us. Then an elderly lady on a piano led them in songs and pledges. They did the United States pledge and the Hawaiian pledge, which seemed perfectly normal to me since we pledged to the American flag and the Texas flag every morning when I was a teacher. Although the Texas pledge is in English, unlike the Hawaiian pledge, which is in Hawaiian. Maybe we Texans should come up with our own language. After the country and state pledges, we pledged to the Christian flag (didn't know such a thing existed) and to the Bible. Each pledge had a song to accompany it. It was quite a production.

After the pledges, it was our turn to talk. We had problems getting my laptop to work with the projector, so two of the male teachers transferred files from my computer to theirs to make it work. This meant I had to kill time. Luckily I have a lot of experience talking to children these ages. I asked if they knew what missionaries were and one of the kids had the right answer and was rewarded with candy. I then asked the kids to name famous missionaries and several of them had good answers. One of the kids said Jesus, which is somewhat accurate so I had to give him candy. Our base director's son was in there and he named his dad and Loren Cunningham as famous missionaries. It was really cute.

Then I asked the kids to tell me any foreign countries they'd been to. I don't think the Kindergarten students really understood what country meant since they answered things like, California, New York City, Washington and my personal favorite, Disneyworld! Finally we got one of the videos to work and we got them to pay attention by telling them that we'd have questions after that they could answer for candy. The video was a bit above their heads but they were able to answer our questions. Then I showed a powerpoint on China and let them ask questions. I was supposed to show a video on Borneo but it wouldn't play so we extended the question and answer period a bit. Their questions were pretty interesting. They seemed especially intrigued by the pictures in the slide show that showed my friends eating a scorpion.

Overall it was fun and made me miss being a teacher. I just love school and kids. Maybe they'll have me back for another speaking engagement.

Sweet Dreams

2010-03-24T14:18:00.001-10:00

Here is me in my little kid bed the night before my big kid test!

The GRE

2010-03-20T22:24:00.002-10:00

So, I finally took the dreaded GRE. I studied for about a month beforehand. Much of the Math was concepts I hadn’t thought about in years and many of the words were so obscure I feared they were made up. After figuring out my strengths and weaknesses, I resolved to study Kaplan’s recommended vocabulary and specific math concepts that I had forgotten. Unfortunately a month wasn’t enough time to learn everything but I am not sure I could have handled studying much more.

I had to fly to Honolulu from Maui since the test is not offered on Maui. Fortunately my friend, Maria Daughtry and her family work on the YWAM base there. Maria and her mom, Olga Durand picked me up in Maria’s station wagon. When I looked in the backseat, I was surprised to find two sleeping little boys, Maria’s son, Kieva and his friend Shawn. Not wanting to wake them, I crawled over Kieva and positioned myself right between the two of them. It was hard not to laugh as I settled in. The funniest part was when Shawn woke up and gave me the strangest look. He had awakened from his nap to find a random lady sitting next to him.

We got back to the YWAM base and Maria and Olga took me to see where I would be taking my test. The good thing about this test being in Honolulu, besides being able to hang out with my friend, Maria, is that University of Hawaii, the testing site, is literally a ten minute walk from the YWAM base. We found the room where the test would be held, which made me feel better. I didn’t want to be running around lost on the day of the test. Then we walked back to the base to hang out. I wanted to get to bed at a reasonable hour but ended up going to sleep close to midnight. My bed for the night was on loan from Maria’s son, Kieva and had some pretty amazing Transformers bedding. I found it pretty amusing that I spent the night before my grad school test warm and cozy in a 4 year-old’s Transformers sheets.

I ended up getting a good nine hours of sleep. When I woke up, I made myself some scrambled eggs since that’s what my mom always made me when I was a kid. She didn’t make it every morning, just the mornings when my brother or I had a standardized test. Other days we fended for ourselves with cereal and toaster strudel. I think I equate eggs with test readiness so I really needed to eat them in order to feel confident that I could do my best.

I walked over to the campus a bit early. My test was scheduled for 12:30 and I was supposed to get there 30 minutes early. I explored the University of Hawaii campus a bit while I waited. It felt a lot different than the University of Texas, where I got my degree. The buildings were not nearly as nice, though there were many interesting and exotic trees. It looked like the entire place had been renovated in the sixties or seventies and then left alone. It could definitely use some updating. The students looked so young to me, which I couldn’t understand until I came to the painful realization that I am 10-11 years older than most of them. Despite all this, it felt really good to be on a college campus. I have always loved school from preschool to elementary school to middle school to high school to college. I have a feeling that if I do end up going to grad school, I will really like that too.

Since I had some time on my hands, I got some lunch from Subway and sat down to watch The Price is Right on a big screen in one of the common areas. When it was time for my test, I went up to the room I’d scouted out the day before. There were two women waiting and no one who seemed to be in charge. One of the women, a large eccentric looking, older lady from Hilo, asked what test I was there for. It turns out she was also there to take the GRE. She started grilling me about how much I had studied. I told her I had studied for about a month. She said she didn’t study at all so it would be a true test of her abilities. Didn’t seem too smart to me. If I am going to spend $160 on a test, you can bet I will try my best to not have to take it more than once.

We were led back into a room one by one. They had us show our I.D. and took our picture. We also had to copy a paragraph that said we wouldn’t tell anyone about the test or they would cut off one of our fingers. Okay, I made that last part up but the paragraph was pretty serious. The directions said to copy the paragraph in our own handwriting but not print. I hadn’t used cursive in years and copying the short paragraph took painfully long since I was out of practice. I also had to sign in and out. Then a nice lady took me into a computer lab with security cameras lining the ceiling. She gave me some ear plugs and wished me good luck.

The test was computerized, which was a bit strange. I think I would have done slightly better if it had been pen and paper. I equate pen and paper with serious. With all the games I play and quizzes I have taken on the computer, it was hard not to just answer quickly without thinking too long. I had to write essays, answer verbal questions and answer math questions. I got my score right away, which was a huge perk for taking it on a computer. I got a 1260 out of 1600. I definitely didn’t ace it but from what I have read, it’s more than enough to get me into grad school. I am glad I no longer have to study for it. Unfortunately there is still work ahead of me as I now have to apply to grad school. Ugh. I sure hope I end up going after all this.

Gas costs $4 a gallon!

2010-03-16T19:35:00.002-10:00

I am trying to give my passengers a subtle hint.

Study Break

2010-03-14T15:31:00.002-10:00

I am currently cramming for the GRE. For those of you not familiar with this test, it is required to enter most graduate school programs. I am a pretty good standardized test taker so I had originally considered just taking it without studying. I am so glad I didn't. This test is pretty difficult as it covers math I haven't even thought about in years as well as vocabulary words that are so obscure that I am afraid they are made up. The test also has a writing portion that scares me less than the other two since I am fairly up to date on standard writing conventions. So, I am currently studying geometry and algebra as well as making tons of vocabulary flash cards with the hope that even a few of the words and their definitions will stick before I take the test this Friday. Please pray for me.

This week I got to hang out at the pool of one of the nicest hotels on the island. My friend, Holly works there and invited me to come enjoy the pool's splendor. Guests must wear a wristband at the pool to prove that they are indeed worthy of its perks and Holly was able to get me and my friend, Abbey wristbands so we could use the pool legitimately. I decided to bring Abbey along because she's one of my best friends here and could definitely use the time away from her two children under the age of two.

When we arrived at the pool, I am pretty sure I spotted Hank Azaria, the popular character actor and voice of Apu and half the characters on The Simpsons. He had a baby in a sling across his chest and was talking on a cell phone. As he turned away from us, some guy appeared from the bushes and snapped his picture. So, I am pretty sure it was him. Both Abbey and I were looking pretty pasty from our general lack of sun exposure. We spent the first hour or so lounging by the pool and pretending to be wealthy.

After that I wanted to make the most of the pool's amenities. We went down the water slides and rode on the water elevator, a strange contraption that I don't think I could adequately describe. Apparently the "ride" cost the hotel more than a million dollars. It's an interesting concept but I don't think it was worth that much money. We also hung out in a hot tub and swam around a bit. We stayed away from the rope swing since my friend, Sarah Olthuis had lost her top on it once.

Overall it was really fun to relax and feel like a tourist for a bit. We ended up staying a little too long and I had to race back to teach the DTS team how to teach English. Although our time there was too short, it was definitely a blessing just to get away for a little while.

What I Am Up To

2010-03-05T11:06:00.002-10:00

I thought it might be a good idea to let people know what I am doing out here in Hawaii now that I've been here for about a month.

English Lessons
My main objective is to make an English teaching curriculum for our DTS teams to take to Asia. I've already come up with about 30 lessons that use meaty Bible verses and groups of rhyming words found within those verses. I am going to create another set of lessons that don't use Bible verses to be used in places where we can't be so obvious. I have also started compiling a guide I like to call, "Ahhhh... I'm teaching English!!???" This is for those times in any foreign country when you are suddenly told you need to teach English to people of unknown ability. Another thing I am working on is compiling a long list of language learning games that can be played in English classes and English corners. I am currently sifting through the copious amounts of material on the internet to find activities that fit with our students and teaching opportunities.

Growth Group
One of my goals while in Maui is to disciple the younger girl staff here. As one of the older people here, I think it's important to try to help the younger girls. I just took over the weekly small group and our first meeting went pretty well. Everyone seems to want the same thing and the girls seem really fun. The fact that I provided ice cream probably didn't hurt either.

Training
I have been able to help one of our outreach teams get ready to teach English. I spoke to them about the country they are going to and last week I did a mock English lesson with them. For this next week they have a homework assignment to come up with their own English lesson and I am going to randomly choose a few of them to teach in front of the group. It was fun to share with them and they seemed interested in what I had to say.

Randomness
I have also been using my editing skills around the base to help with various things. I have proofread support letters and college essays. And now, after seeing some of our promotional materials full of run-on sentences and bad grammar, I have appointed myself as an editor. I just don't want our base to look bad and I am a stickler for that kind of stuff. I've also been helping my friends, Abbey and Wil out. They have two children under two years old so they really have their hands full.

Overall I feel useful here and glad that I can help out. I am unsure of exactly what I will be doing in April since a lot of stuff is still up in the air. I am trying to just be open to wherever God sees fit to use me.

"TsuNotmi

2010-03-01T11:10:00.000-10:00

Hey Beloved Blog Readers,
I still exist. It’s about time for one of these. I might as well tell you about our “tsunami” scare this weekend.

On Saturday morning, I was supposed to go surfing with some friends and some of the DTS students. In the middle of the night I woke up to use the restroom and checked the time on my phone. I noticed that I had several messages starting at 3am. One of my friends had texted me that a tsunami was supposed to hit Hawaii around 11am. Since it was still early I decided to just try to go back to sleep. Around 8am, I started hearing people in our kitchen since my room shares a wall with it. I checked my phone again and I had several missed calls and texts from people warning me of the tsunami.

I stumbled into the kitchen, half asleep and asked what was going on. We started checking the internet and saw that a tsunami was supposed to hit. I called my friend, Kristy to make sure she’d heard and tell her that it looked like we wouldn’t be surfing. She was already in the know after being awakened to a tsunami siren at 6am. She lives in Paia, which is right on the coast. The police started evacuating all the people on the coast. Kristy and all our students and staff in Paia came up to our base in Haiku. Our house quickly began to look like a refugee camp. It reminded me of my experience during Hurricane Ike.

Our base is pretty high up and not very close to the ocean so we knew we were safe. We didn’t know what to do so we started playing horseshoes in the yard. Apparently I am awful at horseshoes but it was still a good way to pass some time as we awaited impending doom.

Someone got the idea that we should find a place to watch the tsunami. Someone suggested we go to Pauwela Point, a cliff nearby. Kristy called her parents to see if it was a good idea only to find that they were already there. Most parents are more cautious than their kids but definitely not Kristy’s parents. A bunch of us piled in the back of a pickup truck and headed to Pauwela Point. There were tons of other people there, sitting in lawn chairs and drinking beer. It was like an impromptu tailgate party.

We sat out there for several hours calling home periodically to find out the tsunami’s progress. The whales were definitely acting strange but other than that nothing seemed out of place. Finally after we’d stayed long after the predicted impact time, we decided to go back home. It was pretty anticlimactic, which was good and bad. I am glad nothing really bad happened but it would have been cool to see a huge wave. The only bad thing that happened was that a lot of people got really sunburned waiting outside trying to see the tsunami. I like to call it a “tsunami burn.” I had put sunscreen on my face but I did get an odd oval-shaped burn on my leg from sitting cross-legged so long. I’m thinking of calling FEMA to demand some aloe vera gel.

Blessings of the Automotive Kind

2010-02-14T14:15:00.000-10:00

I am typing this on my Blackberry, which is not ideal but my computer is having some issues so this is the best way for me to make a blog post right now.

I wanted to share a bit about my car blessing. I recently received a bonus from the school district I worked for last year. It was based on my students' performance on last year's standardized tests. Apparently they did pretty well, because after the government stole 1/3 of it, I still had a decent chunk of money. This was a huge blessing because I really wanted to get a car when I returned to Maui.

Wasting no time, I bought a car on Friday. It is a bluish green 2000 Toyota Corolla. I actually used to have a white 2000 Corolla so I am pretty familiar with this model. I brought Jason, a friend who's good with cars to inspect it, hoping to avoid the drama I had with my Ford Explorer.

The woman who sold it to me was a Christian and familiar with YWAM. She was happy to sell it to me. So far, I have already driven it a lot. It's a bit of a novelty so I don't mind doing favors for people even if I have to go out of my way a bit.

I am so thankful for this blessing! I hope I can be a good steward of this gift during my time here.

Torn in Three Directions

2010-02-07T19:10:00.003-10:00

Lately I have realized that I feel torn in three different directions. I understand that there are a lot worse problems than having three places you feel like you belong in simultaneously but nevertheless, this is my dilemma. Being back in Houston reminds me of the life I created for myself last time I was here. When I lived and taught elementary school here, I was self-sufficient and made a life for myself. This was different from the other times I lived in Houston post-college. Those were transitional times where I lived with my parents and didn't have a career-type job. I think living as an adult here for those two years has made it harder to be away. I really love my friends here and a lot of what Houston has to offer. It truly feels like home.

I also really miss my Young Life kids. I have been able to see a lot of them in the past week or so and it makes me remember how much I enjoyed volunteering with them. They keep asking why I left them, which makes me feel good and bad at the same time. There is only one girl Young Life leader at the high school right now and I definitely see where I could come back and be a leader to fill a need. But deep down inside, I know that God has other plans for me right now.

Going to Asia also made me see another place I could be used in ministry. A big part of what we do there is English teaching and with my education background, I know I could bring a lot to the team. The people there right now are working hard but they could definitely use the help. I really like how relational the ministry is and I feel pretty comfortable being there. So yet again I can see where I would fill a need but know that this is not where God is calling me right now.

And so, despite the need in these other ministries and my ability to fill those needs, I feel called back to YWAM Maui at least through September. I am excited about this as I love the people in Maui, the work we do and oh yeah, it's kind of pretty. I know there is a place for me there and that I have gifts to contribute. It's just hard to know that there are other places and other ministry opportunities that I am passionate about and I just can't be in three places at once. Thankfully I trust that the Lord knows where I should be serving.

Newsletter Nuisance

2010-01-31T19:02:00.002-10:00

I recently decided it was about time to put out a newsletter. This little idea turned out to be a lot more work than I had anticipated.

I actually like designing and writing so that part of the process wasn't too bad. I still haven't figured out what is the best software for newsletters. I found a Microsoft Word template I could tolerate and went with that. I had fun adding pictures and personalizing it and I decided on one page, in color front and back. I assumed it wouldn't be too expensive to get it printed since people print things in color all the time. I was wrong.

First I went to Kinkos where they were going to charge me $1 per page. Printing 100 newsletters would cost $100! That's outrageous, especially for someone who lives on support. I knew Office Max had a print service and I assumed it would be cheaper than Kinkos. I was wrong again. It was the same price. I decided it would be a better use of my money to buy a printer and print them myself. It would cost roughly the same amount and at least I would get a printer out of the deal. I talked with a salesperson who told me the pros and cons of all the models. I picked one out and with extra ink and paper, it came out to a little over $100.

I took it all home and got started printing. Unfortunately I did not think about ink usage when I designed my newsletter. The primary color on the newsletter is a yellowish cream. This meant that my yellow ink cartridge was out long before my newsletter had finished printing. Whoever wrote on the ink cartridge package that it would print 350 sheets was clearly a bold-faced liar. It was more like 30 sheets. I ended up going back to Office Max for more ink about halfway through the job.

I finally got the newsletters printed...well 67 of them. I couldn't even send them to everyone I had originally intended but the idea of spending more time and more money printing out 33 more did not sound appealing. After I printed them all, I showed them to my parents. My dad seemed genuinely impressed with them and I was feeling pretty good. That is, until my Mom burst my bubble by pointing out a misspelling. Now, I can be a spelling snob and am definitely a grammar snob. My mom, on the other hand, is a self-professed lousy speller and the fact that she was the one who pointed it out, really irked me. And she was right. Spellcheck had failed me! I couldn't bear to have my spelling error sent out for people to mock like Elaine's nip in her Christmas card photo on Seinfeld. I had to fix it and I sure as heck wasn't going to reprint those bad boys. So, I printed out 67 correctly spelled words in the same font and size as the misspelled one. Then I proceeded to use a glue stick to glue the replacement words atop the misspelled words. It doesn't look as polished as before but I prefer that to a misspelling.

I took me a couple hours to address and stuff envelopes but now the newsletters are in the mail. If you are one of the fortunate people to receive one of these, know that a lot of hard work and hard-earned cash went into their production. Don't use them to line the litter box or make paper airplanes with them. I hope you enjoy them and maybe for my next newsletter I will learn how to be more cost-effective and also not use as much yellow in the background.

This one's for you, Trina Warrenton

2010-01-26T07:53:00.002-10:00

The title of this entry comes from the fact that every time Trina did something slightly embarrassing in China, she would say, "Now, don't put this in your blog." Well Trina, you've now officially made it into my blog.

Trina and Elizabeth's Massages

On my last day in China, Trina and I decided to get massages. We saw a place that looked pretty nice and only charged about $10 U.S. Trina and Merry went the day before to make appointments. Well, they thought they had made appointments but really couldn't be sure since the people working there spoke no English.

So, we showed up at the time of our appointment to find that the workers are all having lunch. So much for an appointment! They ushered us to some seats and had us take off our shoes and socks and put on some red plastic sandals. Then they served us some tea. All the while they are speaking to us in Chinese, while we just nodded and smiled.

Then they escorted us to a room with two beds. They were actually massage tables covered with gaudy gold bedding but the overall look of the room was not too bad. They gestured for us to put our purses away in some locking drawers that covered one entire wall of the room. Then they showed us a shower and a wooden box the size of a confessional booth. I had no idea what they wanted from me. I was just there for a massage. Trina has had more massages than me and said that they wanted us to shower and then go into the box, which was apparently a sauna. They gave me a shower cap and I went into the shower while Trina was taken to another room for her shower/sauna. I rinsed off in the shower, still not sure of what was expected of me. The gesturing of the workers made me assume that I was supposed to come out in only my towel and put my clothes in one of the locking bins on the wall. I refused to take off my underwear and then wrapped myself in the towel.

I am then ushered towards the sauna. It is really small and confined in there. They made me sit in the sweltering heat for at least 30 minutes, though it felt like longer. The workers kept gesturing for me to take off my towel, but that felt super awkward so it stayed tightly wrapped around me. They continued to refill my tea and gave me magazines to read. Unfortunately the magazines were all in Chinese, which I cannot read a single character of. I looked at the pictures and longed for a magazine I could understand. I am sure that would have made the time spent in the hot box seem shorter.

Finally, when I was close to screaming for them to let me out, I was released. When I came out I was given some underwear that seemed to be made out of the same material as those hats surgeons wear at the hospital. Awkward! At this same time, Trina was already laid out on the gold-covered massage table. Her masseuse was trying to tug her towel and underwear down as Trina fought her for decencies sake. Luckily I was too confused about the thin, paper underwear I'd been given, to see anything that was going on with Trina.

I went into the bathroom and took another mandatory rinse off. One good thing about my schphitz was that it had helped to clear my sinuses. I emerged from the bathroom in my towel and laid down on the massage table. I quickly realized what Trina was talking about as my new paper underwear was pulled half down by my masseuse. What kind of massage was this going to be? I tried to talk to Trina but these ladies had strong hands and it took all I had not to scream when she was kneading my back like a loaf of bread. She also massaged the exposed half of my butt, which was especially awkward since I am ticklish there. After the whole thing was over, I definitely felt as if I'd been put through a ringer.

Trina and I got dressed and sat down to another cup of tea. We paid our bill and left feeling like our muscles had turned to putty. It may have been a bit weird but $10 for an hour and a half massage really can't be beat.

A Day in the Life

2010-01-12T17:03:00.000-10:00

Here’s an example of one of my days here in Asia. I met with my friend, Marcia who I met when I was here a year and a half ago. I met her in an English corner and we became fast friends. She was unemployed at the time so my friend, Sarah and I spent about five days in a row with her. She is a lot of fun and I think we would be friends in regular life. She is not a part of the C club and is in fact a part of another C club- the one Fidel is also a part of. Even though she knows why I am here, she likes to hang out with me and practice her English.

She’d been out of town so Sunday was my first chance to hang out with her. She met me at the metro station and introduced me to her co-worker, Andy. They took me to a restaurant for dumplings. The food was pretty good but Marcia kept trying to get me to eat more. Andy’s English was pretty good so it was easy to talk to him. After our meal, Marcia took me to this trendy little bookstore. It had a lot of fun things but much of it was American-comparable prices. I did find these little round buttons that look like eyes to put on my purse. It now looks like my purse is alive. Take that, pick-pocketers!

Then Marcia took me to her apartment. It was a pretty cute place and Marcia’s bed had a mosquito net canopy. I don’t know how necessary that is in the winter. When I arrived in the apartment she gave me some tiny slippers to wear. I hope she didn’t notice my heels hanging off the back. She served me the most random snack ever; tea, an apple, walnuts and a Dixie cup of the kind of wine that comes in a box. I was glad for the apple since they are really good here and it’s one of the few words I know in the language.

Then Marcia showed me pictures on her computer of her recent trip up north. It looked unbearably cold there but there was a palace made of ice, which was pretty cool. Then, she began showing me pictures of myself on her computer. Apparently she had gone on to my facebook and copied some of my pictures onto her computer. There were pictures of my Bangladesh team, me and my family, me in weddings, etc. I’m not going to lie; it was super weird! How often do you go to the house of someone you knew for a week over a year ago and find a shrine to yourself on their computer? I know I am pretty awesome but this was over the top. I really didn’t know what to say. Then she showed me pictures of my friend, Sarah who’d accompanied me on my last trip. She had also raided her facebook. She also had pictures she stole from other friends from English corner. This made it a little less weird…a little.

After we hung out, I went across town to a study. It was great because there were 14 locals there. The message was really good and only a few of them are in the club so I am thankful everyone heard the message. It was so much fun that many people stayed past 10pm. It didn’t hurt that Will and Amanda’s baby was there. Even though the local people refer to him a Bucket, instead of Beckett, they absolutely adore him. Everyone wants to hold him and look at him.

So this was my day. It was really fun and really random- just the way I like it.

Asia Update #1

2010-01-06T17:50:00.000-10:00

I made it safely to my destination. It's crazy how many people I know are here at this time. It makes it a lot easier to be in a foreign country. I've only been here two full days so I haven't done a ton yet. On Sunday night, there was a B. Study held at our friends' place here. There were 13 locals, some who were in the club and some who were not. It was really neat to see something we'd just dreamed about when we came here a year and a half ago, actually happening. Yesterday was the scheduled day off for the week. So, even though I'd only been here one day, I already had the day off. We went to IKEA to get some furnishings for the new apartment our boys are moving into. Then we went to Starbucks. Such Americans! They have free wifi there so it is a hot spot for foreigners.

After Starbucks, my friend, Jasmine took me and Ben and Bryan to a park. It took several subway transfers to get there and then a crazy motorcycle ride. Sorry mom! The park was huge and you could rent bikes for less than $1 U.S. Jasmine and I rode commuter bikes while the boys rode these weird mountain bikes that looked like a cheap version of high tech. Poor Ben didn't realize his chain was completely rusted until it was too late to turn back. The park had a long series of paved paths perfect for bike riding. It was a lot of fun. There were some fairly steep hills where I wished I was on my road bike instead of a bike with no gears. We raced around the park yelling hello to all the people. I am sure they thought we were just a bunch of crazy Americans. Overall it was a lot of fun.

At night we were supposed to have a study at our house but only two people showed up. Apparently Monday nights are bad because it's the first day of the work week and many people work until 7pm. We had fun socializing with the two people who did come. We tried to explain the concept of Mexican food to them but it was quite difficult. Tonight we have an English class at a factory. I will be teaching this and I am excited. I've never been in a factory before.

The rest of my trip will be a combination of B studies and English teaching as well as hanging out with the people we meet. I am hoping to meet up with Marcia, a friend I met last time, when she returns from a trip. I will also be helping the family that lives here full-time with homeschooling. One of their children is in second grade and I am pretty familiar with that age from teaching third. I am also going to hang out some with my friend, Amanda who recently had a baby. She says she's missed hanging out with girlfriends. Anyway, it's going well so far and I can tell the time will pass by quickly. Continue to think about me. Thanks.

texting from hong kong

2010-01-01T21:41:00.000-10:00

i am in hong kong right now typing this on my kindle. it's pretty cool except i cant figure out how to capitalize. i dont want to leave a long text message style post so i will just give a mini update the day in hong kong was fun and jet lag doesnt seem too bad.we are about to take the train to our final destination. yay

Running...or not

2009-12-29T17:18:00.004-10:00

So, I've decided to start running. I feel that this decision has been a long time coming. I've tried to run on and off for years but I want to make a real attempt at making this a lifestyle. Feel free to nag me in the next few months about whether I am going through with this or not.

I've been thinking about this for a while. Apparently my brother has been running half marathons in Iraq. If they run it at the same time as a U.S. marathon, like the famed Boston marathon, they can send in their times and get a free t-shirt. I figure if my brother can run in Iraq, I should be able to get off my lazy butt and run here in the U.S. I actually like working out and doing athletic activities but my gym access is limited and there aren't too many adult sports leagues for me to join with my traveling. I like riding my bike but the Maui winds are killer. Running seems like a good option. You can pretty much do it anywhere and all you need are some shoes. I went to the local sporting goods store to find some but I kept getting swayed by appearance and couldn't figure out which ones to get. I decided to go to this specialty running store where their employees are fit experts and really seem to know what they are talking about.

My consultant was named Frankie. He asked me how much running I do. I said, "It's more like how much running do I want to start doing." I told him I wouldn't be doing more than 10 miles. This is a safe bet since I have never run farther than a 5K in my life. Frankie, the running shoe expert, had me put my foot on this special floor that showed the shape of my foot. Then he had me walk down a little corridor in the middle of the store and then run down it while he watched me. A little weird, but I did it. He said my feet curve in when I run so I need a shoe with support on the inside. He had me put on different shoes and run so he could see how they fit. Again, I felt a bit awkward especially when people would inadvertantly cross into the path of my mini-run.

I ended up finding some shoes that felt like I wasn't wearing shoes. This is a good thing. I always wish someone else could feel what my feet are feeling in shoes and tell me if they fit. I don't necessarily trust myself. Apparently these shoes with extra support will stabilize my feet so running will feel better. They aren't too bad looking and while expensive, they weren't the most expensive ones in the place. There's something about having them tell you which ones are right for you that makes it feel worth the extra money. I also liked how Frankie unlaced each trial pair, put them on my feet and laced them back up. They don't do that for you at the local Academy or Sports Authority and their employees would probably think you are a freak if you asked them to.

I asked the cashier as I was checking out if they could call me a couple times a week to see if I was actually running. She said they didn't provide that service right now but that it was a good idea. I am hoping the cost of the shoes and the fact that they're supposed to be the best ones for me will help motivate/guilt me into sticking with running.

The day after I bought the magic running shoes, I figured I'd better go for a run. I tend to try to go too far, too fast, too soon. This run was no different. I walked to a nearby greenbelt to run the 5K loop there. I ran a few blocks and felt like my lungs were going to explode. I hadn't factored in the cooler temperatures here and my recent lack of physical activity. I figured I was being too ambitious and decided to run a block, walk a block. I'd like to say I was doing intervals but it was really just me being lazy. I think I walked more than ran though I definitely didn't exert myself to the max. I could have run more. The outside of my knee started hurting about halfway through my intervals. I think I might not have the best running form and may be putting undue pressure on that part of my knee. Despite this knee pain, I do want to keep running. I will try again tomorrow to see if stretching before helps.

One of my friends told me she ran for years and hated it but recently started to really like it. This is coming from someone who even ran a marathon. I am hoping she's right. I want to stick with it and give it a chance even if I hate it. I will keep you posted on my progress.

This Christmas

2009-12-25T18:04:00.002-10:00

Today was Christmas. It was a pretty good Christmas overall, though it would have been improved by having my brother in the United States and not in Iraq. We did get to talk to him on the web-cam, which was an awesome blessing. I got to joke around with him a bit. I miss our witty banter. I can't wait to see him when he comes home for two weeks in January!

I had Christmas morning with my just me and my parents. It was definitely not as much fun as when Andrew was there. I did get good presents, no duds. My best gift was a Kindle from my parents. For those of you not as techie or nerdy as me, a Kindle is an electronic book. It is designed to be as close to a book as possible. I've already downloaded some books and started reading. It's perfect for overseas because it can hold up to 1000 books. I am excited to take it on my next trip.

My grandparents came over later, along with my aunt and uncle and cousin. We cooked all morning. I got to practice the potato peeling skills I acquired by working in the kitchen the last 3 months. We had three types of potatoes since my family loves them so much. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore. After the dishes were done, we opened presents. I only got two presents from my relatives, which were both pretty decent. There have been a lot of awkward ones in the past so this was a relief. The rest of my gifts were money, which is always welcome.

After presents, my cousin, Roy and I went to the movies. The first theater we tried was absolute chaos; full parking lot, people everywhere and all the good movies were sold out. We went to a little art house theater instead and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen but worth watching.

So all in all, a good day.

Happy to be Home

2009-12-19T17:47:00.004-10:00

I love Maui but I am happy to be back in Houston. Maui is an awesome place that hundreds of thousands of tourists visit each year. Houston doesn't receive the same acclaim. I mean, who would come to Houston on vacation? And yet, I love this place and I have missed it very much in these last three months. Because of this, I have decided to create a "Top Ten Things I Love About Houston" list in no particular order.

1. Bike Riding- In Houston, many people ride bikes. From kids with training wheels to grandmas on cruisers to spandex-clad athletes with clip-in pedals; there are tons of bikers on the streets at any given time. There is a big bike ride every year that goes for 150 miles from Houston to Austin. Many people participate in it, including me and train for it throughout the year. Because of this, there are organized training rides almost every weekend within about 30 miles of Houston. I love organized rides because I can ride a lot farther and a lot longer with other people around me. They also feed you all along the way and I love to eat for fuel. In Maui,I have only found 3 organized rides for the whole year and one is "Cycle to the Sun" where you ride uphill about 25 miles to the top of Haleakala, Maui's dormant volcano. No thank you. In Maui, there are some people who bike but you have to be pretty hardcore to go very far. This is because of the crazy wind that draws the world-class windsurfers. At certain times of day and in certain directions, it's almost impossible to keep your pedals moving against the wind. The first time I tried to pedal against the wind, I gave up and got a hitch home in the back of a pick-up truck.

2. Clean Houses- Houses in Houston tend to be cleaner than in Maui. They also all have air conditioning (partially because you would die in the summers without it.) In Maui, the air conditioning comes in the form of open windows. For much of the year, the wind mentioned above provides more than enough relief from the heat. There are certain times when the wind doesn't cut it though and you feel like you are actually being baked inside your home. Because of the abundance of open windows and wind, there is a fine red dirt that settles all over everything in a house. The houses in Maui also tend to be a bit more run down (not all of them but most of the ones I frequent). In Houston you are not likely to see someone passively living with termites and a hole in the floor. In Maui, this isn't too uncommon.

3. Shopping- Since Houston has over 2 million people, there is also an abundance of stores for all those people to shop at. We have all the chain stores as well as some fun local shops. You can find almost anything you could possibly want. This is not the case in Maui. For starters there is no Target. I know that sounds like a bad dream, but it's true. The only Target substitutes are Wal-Mart and the Big K. Neither of which even comes close to Target. In Houston, I personally know the locations of at least 8 different Targets. In Maui there is no Bed, Bath and Beyond, Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Marshalls, Best Buy, etc. Most stuff has to be ordered off the internet and there is often an extra charge to ship to Hawaii.

4. Friends- I have plenty of friends in Maui but they tend to come and go. In the couple months before I came back to Maui this time, a bunch of my favorite people left. Bad timing! Then, several people left right after I got there. I tried not to take it personal. I only have one friend in Maui who owns a house. Everyone else is prone to coming and going so it's hard to count on any of them being there when I am. In Houston, several of my friends own homes and have good jobs here. They plan on staying here indefinitely. This is really nice and makes my group of friends in Houston feel a bit more solid.

5. Texas Pride- I have missed this a lot. Hawaiians have a lot of pride, which I respect. Being an outsider, though means that some of that pride is negatively directed at me. They have bumper stickers that say "We grew here. You flew here." And the thing is that they are right. There also stickers that say 100% Hawaiian. Now I can never become a true Hawaiian but I am a true Texan. Maybe I could make some "I arrived here. You drive here." bumper stickers. I really don't have to though since Texans already have a lot of pride. There are even bumper stickers that say, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could." There are Texas flags flying everywhere and many businesses incorporate Texas into their company name or logo. And of course, everyone knows that Texas is bigger than France.

6. Mexican People and Black People- I don't know if this is racist since I like these groups. Oh well, I do miss them. In Hawaii, there are very few Mexican or black people. There are plenty of Asians, though. I've always enjoyed black people since I was a little kid. We had a housekeeper/babysitter who watched me and my brother on Saturdays when we were kids. Her name was Betty and she was so loving. I adored her and I think it instilled in me a lifelong love for black people. I also enjoy Mexican people. The school I worked at was predominately Hispanic and I got used to hearing Spanish all the time. I also think Mexican is my favorite genre of food. In Texas there is a Mexican food restaurant on almost every corner. This is not the case in Maui.

7. Driving- In Maui there are no freeways and the highest speed limit you will find is 55mph. I also don't always have a car in Maui. In Texas, you really can't survive without a car and there are plenty of wide freeways with 70mph speed limits to satisfy one's need for speed. I also really like road trips. There are plenty you can take from Texas. I used to go to Louisiana almost every weekend. In Maui, it's a lot like being in a small town you can't leave since it is surrounded by ocean. Sometimes I get that island fever and just want to get off the island.

8. Family- Most of my family lives in Texas so I get to see them a lot more when I am here. When I am not in Texas, I miss shopping with my mom, biking with my dad, playing with my nephew, laughing with my brother and hanging out with my sister-in-law. There's definitely something special about being near those people who love you no matter what.

9. TV and Cable- In Maui, I don't usually get to have a TV. I'm not addicted to TV but I definitely enjoy it. Cable is especially fun since I can watch 5 college football games on one Saturday. It's nice just to veg in front of the TV for a while or get together with friends to make fun of reality TV. It's easy to get out of the loop with no news or movie previews to watch.

10. Nightlife- In Maui, pretty much all the fun to be had happens during daylight hours. There are incredible beaches to lay out on, clear blue water to snorkel in and tropical trails to hike on. But at night, everything pretty much shuts down. Very few places are open after nine, let alone after midnight. The typical night is spent hanging out and watching movies at someone's house. In Houston there is plenty to do at night. I like to go bowling, play trivia at a local bar, go to a concert, go to a sporting event, etc. There are a lot of choices.

It may have sounded like I was dogging Maui in this post. I truly love Maui and the work I do there. However, Houston is my home and I will always love it (lack of natural beauty and all.)

Hawaiian Holidays

2009-12-07T16:29:00.003-10:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...or not. In Hawaii, there is no drastic weather change. It's pretty much warm year round. But as common during the holiday season, the waves have gotten bigger. The talk all over the island is of "Jaws" the giant wave that only breaks a few times a year. It's one of the biggest waves in the world and it breaks right by our YWAM base.

There are some signs of Christmas even here in the tropics. The other day I stumbled onto a Christmas hula. I mean, how often do you see that? It was in front of a coffee shop and it seemed like a dance recital but all the dances were island-style. They had lots of different costumes, most of which exposed their midriffs. The kids ranged in age from about 4 to 18. It was mostly girls but there was a ridiculously cute little boy who did a boy hula. I almost kidnapped him; he was THAT cute! He did a dance with two 12-15 year old obese boys which made him look even cuter and smaller. He had some good moves and could gyrate his body better than I could ever hope to. All the songs were Hawaiian Christmas songs with ukulele accompaniment. We were only going to stay a few minutes but were soon entranced.

I also went to a Christmas party at the Mormon church. We've been meeting with some Mormons to learn about their beliefs. It gets a bit taxing at times since they act like robots when talking about matters of faith. I enjoy our small talk with them much more. The Christmas party was more of a social event so they seemed more relaxed and less robotic. The food was good and the people were very nice. They had a white elephant gift party and the missionaries let my friend, Max and I take their turns picking gifts. I got a book by Glenn Beck, who I'd been talking about only minutes earlier. Pretty cool! They even had Santa come and about 20 kids quickly lined up for a turn in the old guy's lap. Unfortunately our ride had to leave before I got a chance to sit on his lap. Darn!

So, there is a bit of holiday spirit here but I am anxious to get back to the mainland where it really feels like Christmas. I am excited to see my family and friends.

Thanksgiving: Korean and Regular

2009-11-30T00:27:00.003-10:00

This was a good Thanksgiving holiday. I ate an abnormal amount of food, watched an abnormal amount of football and slept an abnormal amount of hours. It was awesome! On Wednesday we had our last lecture for the week, which was on church history. Then, that night our base had its Thanksgiving. This is so the families on the base can have theirs on the actual day. This was my third Thanksgiving on the base and it was really nice. There were about 60 people, many who were from other countries. I love sharing Thanksgiving with people who've never experienced it before. I made sure to sit by Deborah from China to see what she thought of it all.

The staff had set up a beautiful spread outside under tents. There were Christmas lights, table cloths and tons of delicious food. Unfortunately there was also tons of wind and rain, which meant we all got wet. There was a turkey carving contest between the older men of the base. One of the guys, Fritz began his carving with a huge Samurai knife. It was pretty funny. They were also all wearing chef hats, which made me laugh. After the turkey carving, the rain was getting too many people wet so we took half the tables inside so that the other tables could reap the full benefit of the tent.

Despite the change of venue, we managed to enjoy our meal. Even though the head cook was Canadian, she managed to pull off an excellent American Thanksgiving. The sweet potato casserole was the best I've ever eaten. I heard it was made by some Swiss people who'd never even heard of it before. The food was very good and there was plenty of it. I tried to convince Deborah that we ate the gourd table decorations as a tradition but she was on to my schemes.

After the meal, one of the staff girls gave a marvelous rendition of the pilgrim story. I don't think I could properly describe its hilarity in this blog. Then we sang the National anthem. After that, the Swedish guys got up and sang their national anthem. They were followed by the Swiss guys who sang and then passed out Swiss chocolate. Then everyone tried to goad the Ingrids from Norway to sing their national anthem. One Ingrid claimed they didn't have one. In the end, they did come up and represent with their song. I tried to get the dozen or so Canadians to get up and sing, "Oh, Canada," but they were all unpatriotic wusses. All in all I had good company, good food and several national anthems. A good Thanksgiving for sure.

The next day, I went to another Thanksgiving celebration at a local Korean church where some of my fellow students help with the Sunday school class. It was a sort of thank you for the volunteers but they encouraged them to bring friends. I like Koreans and I like free food so clearly I was down. We socialized for a bit and then ate...a lot. There was a mix of Korean and American food. I was afraid they would stuff the turkey with kimchi (fermented cabbage) but thankfully the two items were served separately. I passed on the kimchi. The food was good and the hosts were very gracious.

After lunch, we went into a large empty room. A woman performed a traditional Korean dance with full make-up and costume. It was really neat. Then a couple of our boys sang a song in English and Korean. It was pretty funny to watch them stumble over the Korean words. The people of the church were super appreciative and almost moved to tears by the fact that they sang Korean. Then they had a lady do some sort of traditional drum routine. That lady had some serious talent and some serious rhythm. It was really impressive. Then one of our girls, Michelle did a dance and another girl, Chelsea sang. It was also really nice.

I made it home in time to watch my Texas Longhorns beat a surprisingly good A&M team. Now if only Alabama or Florida had lost! That would have made it the best Thanksgiving!

Testimony Night

2009-11-21T10:50:00.002-10:00

Tuesday night was Testimony Night. This is when our returning DTS students share with the base about their outreaches. I always love testimony nights because they give us all a chance to hear what God is doing in other parts of the world. When you are on staff at the base and not going overseas, it is easy to lose sight of why we do all that we do. All the people who work on the base help to facilitate the sending of teams to other countries and are extremely necessary. Testimony nights help us to remember that.

For this DTS, we sent teams to Borneo and Bangladesh. A couple students from each team told a little about what they did in their respective countries. The Bangladesh team had a hard time. I understand this since I have been there and know it can be a very difficult place. Many of the team members got sick and several developed severe food allergies to things that had never given them problems before. Thankfully no one got Dengue this time. In Bangladesh it used to take 10 years+ for someone to become a Christian, but now they are seeing people come to the Lord in less than five. This is a big deal because in order to become a Christian in Bangladesh, one often has to sacrifice their relationship with their friends and family and sometimes can lead to their death. Often they become an outcast. It's hard to fathom here in the United States where change of religion doesn't often result in those sorts of consequences.

The Borneo team seemed to have a little more fun. They got to be a part of a healing of a woman who had had a stroke. The members of both teams clearly grew a lot and were so inspiring to those of us listening to what they had to say. I was really blessed.

Missing Houston?

2009-11-16T23:56:00.000-10:00

Lately I have been feeling homesick for Houston. I understand that this may seem crazy since I happen to live in a popular vacation destination, but I still miss Houston. I think this is because I had really established a life there before I left. I had a good job, a car, good roommates, awesome friends, family nearby and I was getting deeper with my Young Life kids.

I feel confident that I am where I am supposed to be right now but it's still hard to be away from home. I'm also trying to figure out what's next for me. I have some ideas about what I want to do but I want to make sure I'm doing what God wants me to do. And so, I keep praying.

I also just found out some sad news about one of my former students, "D". He is a fifth grader now and he was caught with drugs at school. I don't have all the details but I think he's been sent to some sort of juvenile hall type place. The whole thing just breaks my heart. I truly care about all my students and hate to see anything bad happen to them. And D really isn't a bad kid but he does come from a rough area and I'm sure he has plenty of bad influences. Some of his family members are a bit rough but they genuinely love their kids. He has family that loves him and he still made this bad choice. What hope is there for my former students who don't have loving adults in their lives? I can only pray.

A family of color

2009-11-10T13:25:00.003-10:00

I have been super busy lately. Last weekend I went to Oahu to celebrate my friends' birthdays. Both Rachel Snyder and Maria Daughtry have the same birthday so we had to do something fun to celebrate. I have also been working really hard on my Buddhism project that was due on Monday. I am actually doing my presentation on it tonight. So with my trip and all my studying, I have slacked off on my blog. I want to write about some things that stuck out to me in our lectures last week.

Our speaker was a guy named Ray, who used to be a college professor and who's traveled all over. He had a lot of wisdom to share as he taught us about Cross-Cultural Communications. One point he made was that Christians are so quick to tell people not to get abortions, but what are they doing to help those babies? He told stories of working in inner-city Chicago and how people would have given up their babies for adoption to good Christian people, if there had been some willing to adopt them. He said often Christians want to adopt from other countries but not our country. This is especially true of minority children. Christians need to stand up and give these kids good homes.

Ray definitely has an authority in this area since he has 7 adopted kids of his own. He has also placed about 24 kids into homes without going through an agency. One really cool thing about Ray's family is that it's multi-ethnic. He calls it a "family of color." I may not get them all right but he has a daughter from Eastern Europe, a son from the Philippines, a child from Ecuador, 3 African American kids and one native American kid. It's really inspiring. One really cool thing is that his two oldest kids now have adopted families of their own. They too, chose not to have biological children and instead adopted kids of varying nationalities as well. This shows that they believed in what their parents did in raising them and wanted to give that to other kids in need. So cool!

It's also pretty cool that Ray never had to go through an expensive adoption agency. Adoptions, especially overseas, can cost tens of thousands of dollars. People would often just give him kids. I would like to adopt someday and would definitely prefer that someone give me a kid instead of paying thousands for one. I am so inspired by Ray's story.

Feelin' Halloweeny

2009-11-01T16:11:00.003-10:00

I have recently emerged from a media fast, which gives me a valid excuse for not writing blog entries. Our whole school did a media fast for a week, which meant we were not allowed to go on the internet for anything other than research for a project we're doing. We couldn't listen to music, watch movies or watch TV. It was pretty tough. I've decided I just love media! Even though it was painful at times, it's always good to take a break from things that have become habitual for you.

There's a lot I could write about in this blog entry but I will try to stick to one topic- Halloween. Living with a bunch of Christians from different backgrounds reminds me of how different we can all be. I have loved Halloween since I was a kid. My parents always let me and my brother trick or treat around our neighborhood. I loved dressing up and I loved candy so it pretty much seemed like a win/win situation. Let's be honest, I still like dressing up and eating candy. I know that some people use Halloween as some sort of demonic holiday but I'm just in it for the candy and the costumes.

Some of the people here were not allowed to participate in Halloween as a child and see the holiday as evil. They try to pretend it's not happening and hide indoors from the festivities. I like to do something fun and Halloweeny on the big day. When I lived here before I ran into the same problem of many people around me saying that Halloween was evil and implying that I'm sinful for wanting to celebrate it. In those days, our town, Paia did nothing and the crazy Halloween fun was on the other side of the island. What a difference three years has made!

Now Paia is the party town and I could hear people partying late into the night. Some of my friends and I walked around our town in the early evening. There were little kids everywhere trick-or-treating at the local businesses. It was pretty adorable. A lot of the people in our town are hippies so it was interesting to see what their kids were dressed up as. I expected a lot of nature-inspired homemade costumes, but surprisingly enough, most were standard store-bought super heroes and princesses. Their parents' wore a variety of costumes with giant exposed pregnant bellies seeming to be a trend.

We went to some friends' house to watch Dark Knight and hang out. This was a good movie choice because it was suspenseful but not too scary. After the movie, we had to walk through town to get home. The atmosphere had definitely changed. There were few families around and a lot of rowdy adults. Music was blaring from various businesses and people were dancing in the streets. There were some interesting costumes:Little Bo Peep and her sheep, Jesus Christ on a cross (which I found offensive), a duo dressed as gold and a digger (pretty clever), a lot of fairy type creatures and women in slutty gear. We even saw a fake cop frisking someone. Awkward! We were even offered a free tarot card reading as we walked by a shop. It was interesting to say the least.

I had fun and it felt pretty Halloweeny so I was satisfied. It was a shame I didn't get to showcase my creativity this year. I definitely missed competing at the costume contest at school. I enjoyed looking at my friends' facebook pictures of their Halloween costumes. My favorite was my friend Carrie who dressed her toddler daughter up as Nacho Libre, complete with mustache. It was priceless. I can't wait until I have my own kids so I can dress them up.

Wonderful Wipeouts

2009-10-19T21:26:00.003-10:00

So, in case anyone is wondering, (This is presupposing people even read my blog which I am not really sure if they do) it turns out that I did have strep throat so I feel even more justified in spending the $200 to get checked out and get antibiotics.

This weekend I was feeling pretty much fully recovered. My friend, Kristy left for the Philippines today so I wanted to spend some time with her on Saturday. This, of course, was after I woke up at 6am to watch the UT/OU college football game. It was kind of a strange game but at least my team won.

Kristy wanted to go to Makena beach, which is one of Maui's premier beaches. It's really beautiful with a huge rock wall that's a deep reddish brown that contrasts stunningly with the blue water and tan sand. Little do many people know, but on the other side of the rock wall is an unofficial nude beach. That is a story for another time.

This is only the second time I have really gone to the beach since I have been here. I often go to the beach by my house to read my Bible and journal. I don't really count this as going to the beach since I don't wear my bathing suit or actually go in the water at all. Kristy is a real surfer not an occasional surfer like me. As we were putting our stuff down on the sand, I asked Kristy if we were far enough from the water's edge. She assured me we were given the water mark on the sand and I took her surfer, water knowledgeable opinion seriously. We were still setting up our stuff on the beach, when a rogue wave came and attacked our belongings. Apparently Kristy's surfer sense was not as reliable as we both had thought. Luckily I had placed my valuables farther from the ocean and was able to snatch them up quickly. Our only real casualties were a couple of wet/sandy towels.

Now Makena beach is beautiful but it is also a little dangerous for those not experienced with the ocean. It has a shore break, which is where big waves break right onto the shore. Saturday it was very big and I estimate some of the waves reached at least six feet tall. The lifeguards even used their megaphones to warn inexperienced people to not go out into the water. This was the perfect set-up for one of my favorite pastimes here: watching tourists get pounded by waves. Kristy and I kept our eyes on the people who looked the most inexperienced and just waited for them to do something stupid. It didn't take long.

A couple was in the water who definitely didn't look too savvy. The woman of the couple looked like your average frumpy 60 year old but her male counterpart was a bit more interesting. Kristy initially thought he was covered in sand but it turned out to be hair. Ewww! And he was covered with it. He wasn't fat but his body was very strange. He seemed to have loose skin hanging in weird places, an unfortunate byproduct of being old. He also accentuated his weird body by wearing a little black speedo bathing suit. Double ewww!

So, Kristy and I watched as this couple attempted to get out of the ocean. The most dangerous times for tourists are entering and leaving the ocean. This is when we pay attention. The couple decided to be bold and attempt to body surf. Body surfing is often harder than it looks, especially when a six foot wave is threatening to slam you into the sand. We saw the couple at the top of the wave. Then, we saw white foam and misc. body parts tumbling about like a washing machine. After a few seconds, the couple emerged stumbling and sputtering. They lurched toward the sand and stood looking at the waves and breathing deeply as they recovered. Kristy and started laughing hysterically until the man started to rid himself of the sand. He reached his hands deep into his black speedo and fished out handful after handful of sand. What a disgusting conclusion to a wonderful wipeout! Yuck!

Being Taken Care Of

2009-10-14T17:40:00.002-10:00

So, I may or may not have strep throat. I woke up on Monday morning with a killer sore throat and tonsils that looked like they were covered in snow. I slept through our morning worship but made it to the day's lectures. I took a bunch of Tylenol but my throat, ears and body hurt. Later that day I was supposed to wash the lunch and dinner dishes but my partner, Max graciously told me I didn't have to. I spent most of the afternoon sleeping, calling my nurse mom and looking up my condition on web MD. I pretty much laid around for the rest of the day.

The next morning my throat still hurt. I started to get worried it was strep throat, which is contagious. I live with a bunch of people in a small space and some of my fellow students have small kids. I didn't want to get anyone sick so I made a doctor appointment. I was supposed to make dinner that night but my partner, Michelle offered to do it by herself. Luckily there wasn't too much to do. After taking yet another nap, I went to the doctor. She was nice and said I might have strep. She did a throat culture, gave me antibiotics and sent me on my way. Unfortunately the whole experience cost me $200. I do feel better that I did see a doctor and got medicine, though. I would have felt really bad if I got anyone else sick. When I got back home, they didn't make me go to our nightly activity. I got to rest more.

One thing I have noticed from my brief illness is that people are a lot nicer here than at my old job. I guess this is to be expected from a bunch of Christians but it's still touching. There were times at my old job when I would be really sick and ask to go home and get denied. Also people didn't really cut you any slack if you were sick. My friends cared but not many other people. Here, people went out of their way to help me, asking if there was anything they could do, getting me orange juice, taking over my responsibilities, etc. I wish everyone was like these people. I think the world would be a much nicer place.

2009-10-04T10:43:00.003-10:00

I have recently acquired a new hobby: watching humorous documentaries. I've watched some good ones in the past like "American Mullet" and "Hands on a Hardbody." But now it has become more of a regular thing. I have netflix and it has a feature where you can watch some things instantly on your computer. This is where I have been finding most of these entertaining documentaries.

The first one we watched was about "little people" otherwise known as dwarfs. One of the little people in the video did a bit of little person stand-up comedy which was pretty funny.

Then I found one called, "Monster Camp." It was about those people who play Dungeons and Dragons and World of Warcraft all day. Apparently someone in Seattle created a live action fantasy game called Nero. The documentary was all about the people who play it. The players looked like the dorkiest people from drama and ROTC. They were the kind of people who dress up for Renaissance fairs and like to have fake sword fights. The game itself was super complicated and involved throwing "spells" at each other and hitting each other with swords made out of funnoodle material. The people were clearly very into it and had their own lingo. They had also created personas with fanciful names and costumes. It was basically an extreme nerd fest and really funny to watch. You can check out their website here.

After this delightful documentary, we watched one about the people trying to break the world record score on Donkey Kong. It was called "The King of Kong." This one featured the underground classic video game subculture. They had their own hero, the reigning Donkey Kong champion who was treated like a cross between a god and a celebrity. He clearly reveled in the attention his fans gave him. The documentary story line centers around a newcomer trying to break the Donkey Kong record. You definitely find yourself rooting against the vampire-haired, egotistical champion and rooting for the meek family man who is challenging his record.

I also watched "Word Wars." This is about people who are Scrabble champions. Although predominantly male, the Scrabble champions they profiled were far more different from each other than I would expect. They profiled the reigning champion, a hippieish family man who does lots of tai chi and eastern meditation practices. They also show a Rastafarian looking guy who lives with his mom in the projects. That guy spouted out profanity nonstop, smokes weed on camera and also goes to Tijuana to do some shady things in the middle of a competition. He also goes to the local elementary school to run a Scrabble club and act as a motivational speaker. Then there's an awkward weaselish man who divulges intimate details of his gross intestinal medical problems on camera. He calls himself G.I. Joe because of his problems in his G.I. tract and even has shirts made with this nickname on them.

Overall, I enjoy watching these documentaries. I don't think I'd want to watch them by myself because much of the fun is remarking to a friend how crazy these people are. It's a lot of fun.

Car Drama

2009-09-30T15:38:00.003-10:00

The last time I lived in Maui, I bought a 1993 Ford Explorer the first week I arrived. I had a guy (who may or may not have actually known about cars) give it a cursory once over. He thought it was pretty good and I liked the price, so I went for it. I had really good intentions in buying the car. I figured I could fit a lot of people in it so they wouldn't have to hitch. I had also created a basketball team and a volleyball team and figured we could use the Explorer as our team vehicle to travel to and from games. Despite all my good intentions, the Exploder broke down after only about two and a half months. It was the transmission and it was going to cost more than I could afford to spend. It sat in front of our house for months until one of my friends offered to take it off my hands. I left the country and only found out what happened to the car when I got back three months later. A few of my friends had been in it, driving across the island when the hood flew up. They crashed into a telephone pole and abandoned the car to hitch back home. They came back about a week later and the car was gone.

When I got back from Bangladesh, I had a notice from some towing company that they had my gray VW rabbit. I don't know how a green Ford Explorer turns into a gray VW rabbit but it was no longer my problem since I had passed the responsibility on to my friend. She called the tow yard and they told her they knew nothing of a gray VW rabbit or my green Ford Explorer.

At home I could never survive without a car but on Maui, it is definitely possible. I also have enough friends here with cars that if I am patient and flexible I can pretty much do what I need to do without hitchhiking. We also have town runs where they take a van into town so we can go to Wal-Mart, Borders,etc.

So, I can live without a car. But I want one! I want the freedom to go where I want when I want. But despite this deep longing, I am wary of rushing into a car after my previous car experience here on Maui. I have been habitually checking craigslist and local newspapers for cars. I don't have a lot of money to spend so my options are limited. Maui is also a lot different from Houston as far as buying a used car goes. I have seen ads that say things like "doesn't go in reverse," "Not running but a real cherry car," "blown head gasket," "windows don't roll down," etc. Also cars are worth more here. People try to sell Toyota trucks for premium prices even though they are 20+ years old.

I found a website online that gives you a reliability rating for used car of various makes, models and years. This gives me piece of mind knowing how a car is likely to hold up. This can't factor in human abuse but it helps. So, I found an add for a 1994 Nissan Sentra with 187,000 miles. At home I would never drive such a clunker, but I am in Maui and it only costs $800. I call the owner on the phone and it turns out he owns "Maui Cruisers." It's the cheapest rental car on the island because its cars look very local with peeling paint and random quirks. He sounded like quite the character on the phone and we arranged to meet the next day.

I got my friend, Kristy to drive me to see the car. It was in a seedy part of the island in what looked like a junkyard with about 10 Nissan Sentras parked there. The only two people we could see were some sketchy-looking local guys. We pulled up and asked the guys where Paul was. They gestured towards a car with its hood up and a stereo blaring Elvis. From underneath the car comes Paul, an older white guy or haole(non-native), he is filthy, covered in grease. He begins to tell us about his business and his cars but only after disappearing under the broken down car for a few more minutes while Kristy and I waited around awkwardly. When he was telling us about the cars, I noticed that he was missing the tip of his index finger, nail and all. This discovery definitely added to the weirdness of the experience.

He showed me the car from the ad and it became clear why no photo was posted. It had the typical Maui paint job- black with peeling white patches from too much time in the sun. This combined with its overall boxy exterior was pretty much a deal breaker before I got in. I may be a missionary, but I still have my self-respect. He showed us the engine, which he insisted he'd serviced regularly. He seemed to know what he was talking about but that didn't change the fact that the battery was held in by what looked like an old extension cord. He also told us that the odometer had stopped working so he thought the car had 200,000 miles or so. Why did he put the odometer reading on the ad if he knew it was wrong?

Kristy and I took it for a test drive mainly because it seemed weird not to. It was during the test drive that we found out that the spedometer doesn't work either. The car also made some strange noises and seemed to have a problem with its shocks. I wasn't going to pay $800 for something that felt like it could fall apart any minute. The seller was persuasive and a bit forceful so I was nervous about what to tell him. When we got back, I said it wasn't quite what I was looking for. He told me that was very diplomatic of me. I felt lucky to get out of there.

And so...I am still carless.

Getting into the Swing of Things

2009-09-25T18:21:00.002-10:00

I have been in school for two weeks now. It's a lot of working but it's interesting and not too bad if you manage your time. I've been trying to balance work and play by going to parties. I think I have been to about four so far and I have a girls' night tomorrow, which I think should count as a party, right? We had a going away party for Rachel Cordy on Wednesday night. I got to see my friend, Sara Montiero for the fourth time in about six days. She too is part of the party circuit. I brought my wii fit and other wii paraphernalia from home. It is a bit heavy so I had to bring it to Kristy's in a rolling carry-on suitcase. I felt super dorky wheeling that thing through town. Luckily Kristy drove me back. We busted out the wii and it was good fun. It was pretty much my friend, Kristy and me with a bunch of boys. It was fun to watch them doing slalom skiing and the ski jump. They kept trying to one up each other.

This week in class, we've been discussing the state of the world and it is pretty intense and can feel really bleak at times. To make matters worse, last night we watched Schindler's List and talked about it. Everyone was so affected by it that after the movie, no one talked for about five minutes and we all just stared straight ahead in silence. Thankfully many people know about the atrocities of the Holocaust but today we talked about massacres in Cambodia, Russia, C hna and lots of other places that are less publicized. Our speaker showed us the images of some of the victims of the killing fields in Cambodia, which really made the awful statistics come to life. It was hard to hear all that but I am glad I did, so maybe I can help us to not be doomed to repeat it.

On a lighter note, I've done some decorating in my room to make it nicer. I put up pictures of my loved ones all over the wall by my bed. My fellow student, Maria calls it my yearbook on the wall and I think that's a pretty accurate description. I bought a lava lamp foolishly thinking it would give off enough light to read by. It does not. It makes my room looking very psychedelic, though. I also have purple Christmas lights around my bed adding to the psychedelic effect. It's not at all the way I would decorate at home but it's more like I live in a dilapidated dorm room, so it works here. This weekend I want to take a video of my house so all can see its condition. It will be a treat.

Washin' Feet

2009-09-15T21:32:00.003-10:00

Today it really felt like I was starting school for real. We got our schedule of assignments and I have a lot to do. I already started reading some. I am trying to fight my natural tendency towards procrastination. We have several things due each week so I really can't wait until the end to do it all.

It's still a bit odd being back. A guy here bought my friend, Ashley's car when she left the island. I keep seeing it and it makes me miss her a lot. At every group function, I cling to the people I know. I am sure this will pass as I get to know more people but for now, it feels like the right thing to do.

Tonight we had Love Feast. This is a YWAM Maui tradition. When DTS students first arrive, they get a grand welcoming ceremony complete with traditional Hawaiian leis. At the ceremony, they are told that the next day they have to go on a minimalist camping trip of indeterminable length. And they are not allowed to bring toothbrushes, deodorant, change of clothes, etc. I watched their faces this time when they found out how little they could bring. Priceless! So, the students go on what we call "Exodus" and spend three days and two nights roughing it and bonding in ways they couldn't have done if they were still all clean and smelling nice.

Just when they can't bear their own stench any longer, we bus them up to a church where all the staff and us SBFM students are waiting clean and in Aloha attire aka nice clothes. We cheer them into a clean room set up for a banquet. The contrast is extreme. I remember how amazing and surreal it felt when I was in DTS, to come into this clean room with all these clean people when I was just filthy. It was pretty humbling.

Everyone has a big meal and enjoys being out of the wilderness. Then, there is a time where the DTS staff washes their students' feet. It is very powerful. When I first became a Christian, I thought foot washing was weird and gross. Why would anyone want to wash someone else's feet? I later understood the significance of Jesus washing the disciples' dirty, smelly sandal-wearing feet. He was showing that despite being God, He was there to serve His disciples. After my own Exodus, I remember how humbling it was to have someone clean my feet when they were at their dirtiest. It was very powerful.

This time our SBFM staff washed our feet. It was a great gesture but not quite as powerful since I had taken a shower about an hour before. My feet were washed by D, who is from Chna and serving with SBFM so that she will be able to replicate it on her base in Chna. She knew of my heart to go there so it was definitely meaningful to have her wash my feet and thank me for loving her country.

Being at love feast again after being away for a few years, brought back tons of memories. When I came back on staff, for every school, we each picked a DTS student whose feet we would wash after Exodus. Whenever possible, I chose the Asian girl students. With so many blond haired white girls in the schools, I figured the Asian girls would be easier to spot. I felt these foot washing times were also meaningful though not as much as when I was a leader in a DTS. I washed two girls' feet that time. One, E, was quite the fireball who'd begged to be allowed to go home several times during Exodus. As I washed her feet, she just broke down and sobbed. It was a very powerful moment. Unfortunately this memory is bittersweet because she ended up being sent home for discipline problems and a broken leg.

The other person whose feet I washed, K, also bawled like a baby during the process. She was quite the handful but completed her DTS and outreach with plenty of highs and lows. She was a girl who'd come from so much shame and chaos and I really grew to love her. She was also blessed with so many gifts. She constantly battled between right and wrong in her life. For most of DTS, the right and good side won. We were all so scared for her to go back home and our fears proved founded when she got pregnant the week she returned.

As I watched the foot washing this time, I was reminded of my two former students and was literally very close to tears. Then I saw another one of my students, Rachel, for whom DTS and SBFM were life altering experiences. She has grown into a really solid woman of God and a strong leader. In fact, she is currently a leader in this DTS. I saw her washing her students' feet and was almost moved to tears for another reason- pride.

The funny thing about YWAM is that for some people the experience here changes them positively for life, in ways they couldn't possibly imagine. God can use this time to mold them into the people He wants them to be, if they are willing. But for others, the experience feels significant at the time but doesn't stick in the end. It is truly heartbreaking for me to think of students like E and K but then I remember students like Rachel and I remember why we do this. And it is all worth it.

Aloha Maui

2009-09-13T14:43:00.002-10:00

I've been back in Maui almost a week now and I am not quite sure how I feel. I definitely have mixed emotions. I am glad to be back but I was more established in Houston than I've ever been so uprooting this time was more difficult. I'd actually invested in where I was and in the people around me.

My fellow students seem nice but really young. My roommate, Ashley arrived today and complimented my Longhorn flag. Smart move, roomie! I think we should get along just fine. The other students have been busy hanging out with each other and traveling around the island. I am just not in the same phase as they are. I was actually on staff here and lived here for two years and this was before any of them were even involved with YWAM Maui. I have seen all the sights and I do enjoy them but I am in no real hurry to go out and see them. I also have friends on the island that I have known for years that I can hang out with. Luckily many of them have cars so I don't have to hitch.

Last night we had our opening ceremonies. It's so weird to be a student again. I did get to get leied, which is always fun. The DTS students are all super young and fresh faced. It brought back lots of memories from when I first came to this island. One of the students I took to Bangladesh will now be leading one of the teams this Fall. I am so proud of her! I spent opening night talking with her and the other people I've known for a while and eating all the yummy snacks. I have missed all the baked goods. I will have to be diligent in riding my bike as to not gain 20 lbs. Those snacks are way too good to pass up.

I'd forgotten how interesting the people in Maui are. I have seen quite a few hippies doing their thing. There were free tarot card readings offered at Borders and this old hippie lady literally ran to get in line. I have already seen two woman wearing bras as tops out in public. I've seen the tourists in their shiny Chrysler Sebring convertibles or Ford Mustang convertibles. I've seen the locals driving Maui cruisers. These are cars that look like they shouldn't run but miraculously do. Their paint jobs are marred by discolorations and rust and their seats are covered in faded Hawaiian prints. I've watched people surf and windsurf and I have seen large Hawaiian women selling coconuts and enormous jack fruit at the mall. And while I am glad to be back, it makes me miss all the people I met here who no longer live here. I am confronted by memories at every turn. I am thankful for this but I miss Amy Kirk, Sherry and Jono, Misti, Matt Laskey, Bethany, Josh and Ashley, Sarah Olthuis, Calla, Kera, Maria Daughtry. Heck, I even miss Wayne Bunting! There are others I miss but these are the ones I've been thinking of almost daily.

I have left enough people and situations to know that I am so lucky to have these incredible memories with these people. Many people don't have a single quality friend in their lives and I have been given them so lavishly. I'm truly thankful for all these people. I know I will make more friends while I am here, but it doesn't mean I don't miss the old ones.

Adventures in Selling My Car

2009-09-10T11:02:00.002-10:00

I have been back in Maui for two days now. It's crazy to think about how much has happened in my life in the almost exactly six years since I stepped foot on this island for the first time.

Since then, I have lived in Maui for two years, taught elementary school for two years, endured my brother being at war for almost 20 months and counting. I've been to New Zealand, Thailand, Bangladesh, Singapore, China, Cuba and five trips to Canada. I've been in six weddings and been on countless dates with random dudes. I also tried my best to help my best friend through her bout with breast cancer and am so thankful that she is now okay. I now have a nephew and my parents have their dream home. It's been a wild ride and it's pretty crazy to look back on all that has happened.

On a lighter note, I thought it might be humorous to tell you of my adventures in selling my car. This was my first real car selling experience. My only real experience buying a car from a private party was in Maui. And that was a disaster. In Maui the standards are much lower. In fact, the term, "Maui Cruiser" refers to an often junky, quirky car that may look like it is going to fall apart but still runs.

One of my friends bought a car that due to some sort of malfunction needed an igloo cooler in the backseat at all times to prop up the driver's seat. Another friend had to run the heater at all times or the car would overheat. This was Hellish (literally) in tropical Maui.

In Texas, the standards were higher. I didn't realize that I wouldn't get my title until a few weeks after I paid off my car. This meant I ended up only having a week to sell my car. If I had it to do over again, I would have gotten an estimate from CarMax the week before I wanted to sell it. They give you a price they are willing to pay and you have a week to accept or reject their offer. Then you know how much you could sell it for.

I set a price and then basically lowered it every two days. I got some nibbles but no one was serious about buying it. On Saturday, I had two prospective buyers, a nice family with three little blond girls and a fairly recent Indian immigrant named, Raman. Yes, like the noodles. The wife of the family took the car for a test drive and was very interested. She said she loved it and then her husband told her she needed to play it cool to properly negotiate. It was pretty funny. He offered me about $300 less than I was asking, which was pretty fair considering the Blue Book value. The only problem was that because of Labor Day weekend, the banks were closed and he had no way to get that much cash. I told him that I had another interested party and that if he could come up with the cash, then I would go with him.

Later that night, Raman came by and took the car for a test drive. He drove like a grandma. I don't know if he was nervous or if he always drives like the elderly. He was interested in the car too. I explained to him my situation with the other people. I told him how much they offered and when they could get me the money. He asked if I was trying to get into a bidding war. Then he offered $700 less than what they had offered and said that he too would have to wait until Tuesday to get the money. Ummmm....Wake up Raman! Why would I take $700 less when you can't get me the money any sooner? I'm pretty sure he thought I was bluffing about the other people. He said he would talk to his wife about it and see if he could get the money earlier. Then he emailed me and said that the Blue Book Value he found was $500 or so less than what I knew it to be. I emailed him back with the proper specs to put in but he was still confused and called me. I walked him through it over the phone until he was able to get the same figures. Raman was definitely getting on my nerves!

I decided to end my dealings with Raman and put my money (literally) on the blond family. The risky part of all of this was that I was leaving early Tuesday morning and no one in my family really had the time to keep showing the car to other people. On Monday, I got an estimate from CarMax as a back-up in case the family backed out. They offered me about $1200 less so I figured it was worth the gamble with the family. I had a good feeling about them and they seemed legit, although it was a bit stressful taking a chance.

So, I left my sister-in-law, Shella to make the transaction. They were supposed to meet on Tuesday but the scheduling fell through. I was especially nervous because I had foolishly already written their name on my title so I would probably have to take it to the DMV to fix it if they didn't buy it. Hard to do from Maui. So I prayed. And on Wednesday they finally rendezvoused and a cashier's check was exchanged. I was so relieved!

Then I received an email yesterday from the buyers that said that the brake lights weren't working. I wasn't aware of this and I felt awful about it. I offered to pay to fix them. Then today they emailed me and said they got it fixed easily and I didn't need to worry about it. Whew! This made me feel a lot better. And finally I can say that I have sold my car. Yay!

You'd think this would dissuade me from buying a car here in Maui, but I have been looking. I don't think it makes sense financially right now and my last experience with a car here was terrible. ie: 3 months with my Explorer before it died. I think it will have to take some serious signs from the Lord before I dabble in Maui car ownership. I don't think I am ready for an always on heater or a cooler propped seat.

Elderly nudists and other tales from the retirement community

2009-09-03T15:15:00.002-10:00

Today was a blog-worthy day. I felt a little like I was on a reality show. You know how they always do out of the ordinary things to spice up the show? ie: on Brooke Hogan's show she went out on a date with a girl as a dare and on Kathie Griffin's show she pretended to be interested in buying a multi-million dollar house but then low-balled it and almost got cussed out by a spicy Latina real estate agent. Stuff like that. Here were my reality show adventures.

I am currently trying to sell my car. I wasn't able to get my title until Monday so my window of opportunity is small. This morning I met up with a couple so they could test drive it. It felt a lot like a blind date. I waited at the gas station on Kirby and 59 where they'd arranged for us to meet. Little did any of us know that there are two Shell gas stations at Kirby and 59, just on opposite sides of the freeway. After we all waited about 15 minutes at different gas stations, we finally figured out the mistake and met up. The couple was super nice, Christian and knew about YWAM. Pretty random. They were looking for a car for their kids since the oldest one was turning 16. We had interesting conversations on the test drive and I really liked them. Unfortunately my car was not right for them. This felt like one of those dates I have been on where the guy is really nice and doing all the right things. We have good conversation and no awkward silences but in the end the spark was not there. Hopefully my next car sale/ blind date will go better.

The even more reality show type stunt occurred later in the day when I went to have dinner with my grandparents. They live in Houston and I have actually seen a lot of them lately since they stayed at my house for over a week looking after my post-operative mom. Well, my grandma looked after her. My grandpa just sat on the couch begging her to make fried chicken or give him ice cream. They really wanted me to come to their retirement community for dinner. They'd been asking me for a while and I kept putting them off because of my busy schedule. Time's running out so I finally consented. I had no idea what I was in store for.

The place they live in is pretty posh. It reminds me a lot of Del Boca Vista on Seinfeld except without the extreme Florida vibe or Jack Klampas and his astronaut pen. My grandparents have their own apartment with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. The whole complex is made up of internal hallways that connect the rooms and the amenities. You could do pretty much anything without leaving the property, or for that matter going outside. They have a bank, mini-grocery store, library, weight room, beauty salon, dining room and you don't even have to go outside to get to the pool and hot tub because they are indoors.

I had been to their place before but just straight up to their apartment. I'd never met any of their friends or seen much of the facilities. It was quite interesting. My grandma met me in the lobby and took me up to the lounge area outside the dining room. We sat down with a group of their friends who were enjoying Happy Hour. That's right, they have Happy Hour! I was privy to the latest Eagle's Trace (name of the place) gossip. Apparently a new couple has moved in and they are nudists. No kidding! Their comments about these people were just priceless. The rumor mill has it that they've already been seen sans clothing and people are not happy. The primary story is that the man was seen lounging by the pool "as naked as the day he was born." Supposedly someone brought him a towel to cover up with but not before enough people saw him to get the rumors flying. They started talking about how no one should be nude in public in their 80's and that this particular couple was especially unattractive.

I also found out a little bit about my grandparents' group of friends from our socializing during cocktail hour. One of the was a court reporter during the Nazi doctor trials at Nuremberg. I'd read the book she wrote, which was both sad and fascinating. She told me that her book had even been published in Bangladesh. Random. One of the men used to be a commercial pilot but now runs the community's TV station. Apparently it plays music, movies and news from the community. I suggested they do a story on the nudists.

It was so interesting to see my grandparents interacting socially with their own kind. One of the ladies made sure to get extra maraschino cherries in her drink to give to my grandpa. Always a hit with the ladies! He does still have a lot of hair and some of it still black. Their friends were all pretty fun and lively. They talked about how there were some people they didn't like there. It felt a little like high school. My grandma held my hand (which she never does) as we walked around. She was so proud of me and introduced me to everyone who passed and told them I was a missionary. It made me feel really loved.

Dinner was pretty nice. We had a choice of fish, chicken or lamb. I didn't quite understand how it all worked so I tried to follow the lead of my fellow diners. They all seemed to be getting soup, salad, an entree and dessert so I followed suit. I wasn't quite sure how it all worked. My tablemates were all pretty opinionated about the food and apparently filling out the comment cards is quite common and the kitchen really takes their opinions into account. I thought the food was pretty good. At the end, they only gave a bill to my grandparents and it was $17. That was kind of a lot just for me. If I had known the prices, I wouldn't have ordered as much. I was just copying the old people. My grandpa gave me a hard time about it and his friends laughed as they already know he's a tightwad. I offered to pay but my grandma wouldn't let me. I think they have some meal credits saved up from being at my house so long anyway. It's kind of like in college when I would skip meals in the dining hall so I could use the credits to buy random stuff from the store at Jester dormitory. After the meal, everyone was going to go watch Steel Magnolias. I do love that movie but wasn't sure I wanted to stay that long.

I went back to my grandparents' apartment to try to help them with an electronics problem. I am pretty handy at that stuff, at least for a girl. They hadn't been able to get their DVD player to work and thought they had tried everything. My grandma was especially frustrated because she wants to be better with technology but the learning curve is pretty steep when you are in your eighties. I looked at their TV and saw that there was a TV/AV button. I pushed it and voila! The DVD player worked. Then my grandpa only half playfully called my grandma, "stupid." This didn't seem fair since he hadn't known how to fix the problem either. It was humorously easy to fix.

Then I tried to make sure my grandma understood how to use the internet. She has taken a class on it but doesn't really see the need to use it. I want to communicate with them more but they are hard of hearing and kind of awkward on the phone. They don't communicate the way I do, ie: email, facebook. My grandma did have an email account and I was able to send her an old update while I was at their place. Then she said she wanted help using the printer my aunt and uncle had gave them. Luckily the hardware had been installed and the printer had been plugged into the computer. All I had to do was turn it on and press print. Another amusingly simple technological task. It's funny how natural that stuff comes to those of us who grew up with it compared with those who didn't.

Then my grandpa says "What's the channel where you can buy stuff?" He was watching TV so at first I thought he meant the home shopping network or something. Then I realized he was gesturing towards the computer. He said, "A buddy of mine bought a movie projector on one of those." Basically he wanted to know which website to go to in order to buy stuff online. It sounded like he thought there was just one place to buy anything. I didn't want to make him feel dumb even though he'd kind of done that to my grandma. I told them there are a lot of websites but he could try google or craigslist. I don't anticipate them ordering anything anytime soon. I can't imagine how they would get through the check-out process with their credit card.

All in all, it was very fun and amusing. I will definitely try to visit them in their element more when I can. I hear they have wii tournaments. Old people playing wii; now that's something I can get in to.

I am happy my grandparents have a place like this to live and good friends to enrich their lives. Maybe I can convince some friends to move into a place like that with me when we get old. My friend, Jocelyn and I were talking about this recently and how we would own the place; racing in our Rascal scooters and hustling people at shuffleboard. Now that's the life!

Travel Tips from someone who needs to take her own advice

2009-08-31T15:04:00.000-10:00

I was thinking about what I might want to write in my next blog entry. I have been doing a lot of traveling so I thought I could write about some of my traveling tips as a seasoned veteran. But of course, life doesn’t always go as planned. It’s pretty ironic that just when I am feeling confident enough in my traveling prowess to give others advice, that I would make a rookie traveling mistake that would prove to be a big hassle.

As I begin to write this, I am sitting in a comfy lounge (literally what it is called) at the DFW airport. And I will be here until early tomorrow morning. I flew from Calgary to Dallas earlier today. I went to my next gate, checked the time of my next flight on the ticket and went off in search of food. I got some BBQ and sat down at a nearby gate to charge my laptop. When it was about 5 minutes until time to board (or so I thought) I headed to my gate. I realized there were not many people around so I asked the man at the counter about the flight. He asked me where I had been and told me that I just missed it. What I had thought was the boarding time, was the departure time. I felt so stupid and unseasoned. He issued me a standby ticket for the next flight, which unfortunately turned out to be sold out. And thus, I am sitting in the airport until my flight leaves at 6am tomorrow morning.

Thankfully, I am not being charged for this ticket and I have found this comfortable lounge to hunker down in and watch Dexter. Despite my latest foible, I do want to share some of what I’ve learned in my travels. These are things that work for me… well, most of the time.

I like to wear specific clothes when I am flying. I have noticed many different airplane clothing philosophies from the many hours I have spent at the airport today. Some people wear shorts and flip flops, others seem to dress as nice as possible with lots of make-up or a business suit, and some women wear those monochromatic velour sweat suits. I must admit that the sweat suits do look comfortable but I don’t think I am New Jersey enough to pull it off. Not even the Victoria’s Secret kind with “Pink” written on the butt. I prefer long pants of some kind; jeans are good. I have found that shorts are unacceptable due to the fact that airports and airplanes are kept at roughly the same temperature as the penguin area of the zoo. Some people like flip flops but I prefer close-toed shoes because they provide warmth and protection from the elements that may be found on the floor as you walk through security. Who knows where their feet have been and you don’t want to get athlete’s foot. It’s best to have shoes that slip on and off quickly to facilitate going through security quickly. Taking a long time or getting flustered will make you look like a dork. I don’t know why they are still making us take off our shoes. I am afraid at some point it will be acceptable to make us strip down completely naked to walk through the metal detector. We won’t be able to complain and it will just become the price you have to pay for traveling. I hope I am wrong because there are plenty of people at airports that I do not want to see nude. Ever…

In addition to jeans and closed toed shoes, I also bring a light jacket or sweater. This helps to insulate me from the above mentioned chilly airports and frigid planes. For entertainment, I always carry a backpack with my toys. As an adult, it is no longer Barbies I need to entertain myself but things like my laptop with DVDs, a book, Bible for when I want to be spiritual, iPod and sometimes my Nintendo DS. Though I don’t normally use all the play things, I do like to have options. If I am going on a long flight or an early morning flight, I like to bring a full-size pillow. No puny travel pillows for me. I also like to put a sheet or thin blanket inside the pillowcase. This provides an optimal sleeping arrangement as the large pillow can be squeezed and molded into a good sleeping position. This works best in conjunction with the window seat, which is the one I always choose. If you are in a big plane, you may have those headrests you can adjust to prevent your head from flopping from side to side. Those work well too. I am pretty much a professional at sleeping while traveling on a plane or bus. On rare occasions that I fear I will not be able to fall asleep, a little Benadryl goes a long way. Sleeping is my preferred activity on a plane since it is what makes time go by the fastest.

I was glad to have my full size pillow and sheet during my overnight in the Dallas airport. The sheet I brought was for a full size bed so I was able to cover myself and all my luggage with it as I slept. When I went to sleep, there were four other people who’d also found the comfy lounge. When I emerged from my yellow sheet cocoon, those four people were gone and there were about ten new people napping. It was a little disconcerting.

When I am flying, I also try not to drink much so I don’t have to use the airplane bathroom. Contrary to what Jerry Seinfeld thinks, those things are awkward and gross. It never fails that during the rare occasion that I do not have the window seat, my seatmate at the window will need to use the bathroom. This is always awkward since the person has to wake me up and then I can’t go back to sleep until they return, which always takes way longer than I’d like. At that point, at least in my mind, they no longer deserve a window seat because they can’t hold it. I’m tempted to commandeer their seat and fall asleep and hope they settle in mine understanding it’s the price they pay for having to use the restroom.

I always use the restroom right before and right after a flight and try not to drink too much in order not to use the bathroom on the plane. I can probably count the number of times I have used the bathroom on a plane in my entire life, on one hand. The system works, people.

These are just some of the things I do when traveling. They really do work for me. I broke one of my travel rules at the DFW airport and it’s why I had to spend the night in the comfy lounge and not in my comfy bed. My rule is to find my gate as quickly as possible during my layover as to assure that I don’t miss my plane. Then I double check the time before going off to find food. Then I return to my gate to wait so I can’t possibly miss my flight. This time I was charging my laptop a few gates away and could not see my gate. If I had been at my gate, I would have realized my mistake and not missed my flight. It looks like I need to stick to what works so I don’t end up spending the night in another airport that may or may not have a comfy lounge.

My friends need a vacation

2009-08-24T19:13:00.002-10:00

My friends, Sarah and Michael Musselman, are trying to win a luxury weekend away from their two young children. They are quality people and definitely deserve this. Please go to the following website:
http://www.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/1589
I voted and it took me literally three seconds. It's called "Doctor Dolce's Reconnection Cure for Weary Parents."

And on another note, I met a really fun girl on my mission trip this summer who has a blog. I find her pretty amusing, so you might want to check it out. She's a bit more popular than me, as you will quickly see and has as many as 50,000 people who read her blog. Basically she's my idol.

www.ihategreenbeans.com

Astros Game

2009-08-20T17:13:00.002-10:00

Today I went to my first Astros game of the season. I try to go to at least one per season, though I pretty much only go when I can get free tickets. Luckily I have some friends with free tickets from time to time so it works out well.

I am no baseball fanatic, though I have dated one. I don't get into all the stats and technical stuff. I don't even pay very close attention to the game. I do like the experience of going to a game. Unfortunately the Astros always seem to lose when I go to games. Clearly the players can sense that I am in the stands and in their extreme anxiousness to impress me, they get nervous and lose the game. I don't know how they know I am there (maybe from my facebook status) but this always seems to happen. Luckily I am not a diehard baseball fan because I can still have a good time when we lose. (This does not at all translate to Longhorn football. We lose, I am pissed.)

Today I went with my friend, Bethany (the procurer of the free tickets), her dad and then we were later joined by our friend, Bronson. We got there late which wasn't a big deal since we managed to get free parking. It was the first inning when we arrived and the Marlins scored right as we came in. I figured this was my curse at work again. We found our seats, which were in the club level and retailed for $50. Cha-ching! In the club level they have waiter-type people who take your order and bring you outrageously expensive tasty treats. I ordered the only real deal on the menu. It was a kids meal for $4 with a hot dog, juice box and animal crackers. Not enough food for a grown man but perfectly sufficient for me. I later bought cotton candy for $5 negating my savings on my meal.

Bronson arrived late and right as he sat down, the Astros scored a homerun. Apparently he is the opposite of me. Somehow he gives the Astros some sort of comfort by his very presence in the stadium and they perform well for him. The game was actually really fun to watch. There were homeruns, great catches and good pitching by our guy. It was good cheap fun. Apparently I need to go with Bronson more often. It is more fun when the Astros win.

One funny thing at the game was a sign in the outfield that said,
"www.astrosextrabases.com" I don't know about you but my friends and I saw one thing when we saw that sign... sex. It's right there in the middle of the web address. I tried to take a picture but didn't have enough zoom.

Hangin' with Halle Berry and Ricky Bobby

2009-08-16T20:47:00.005-10:00

It's 1:48am and I am still awake. Ever since I got back from Colorado, I have been staying up late. This is not really a problem because Maui time is five hours behind making it only 8:48pm there. And who goes to bed before 9? I am watching Forensic Files. It's this 30 minute show where they go over how they solved a violent crime with the tiniest pieces of evidence. People get convicted on fingerprints, tire treads, footprints, etc. It's pretty interesting and pretty creepy. I think it makes it a little more creepy that I am watching it after midnight. My parents were gone the last few days and watching Forensic Files didn't help me to feel at ease.

Yesterday I went for a bike ride on a trail near my house. There were a ton of people on the trail and at the nearby park. I saw a big group of people who seemed to be celebrating a family reunion. In the middle of the group was a circle of people doing the Halle Berry dance. I've included it below if you aren't familiar with it. Seeing this made me sad about leaving Houston. I don't think Hawaiians are really up to date with the latest dances. Without my Young Life kids how will I find out about dances like the Ricky Bobby, the Dougie or the Stanky Legg? Maybe at least this time when I am in Hawaii, I can learn the hula.

From Riches to Rags

2009-08-13T13:30:00.002-10:00

I am definitely going through a transitional time right now. The weird part about this transition is that it seems to come in phases. Right after school finished, nothing felt much different since I'd had the summer off last year. I traveled for Jesus and pleasure and hung out with friends just like last summer. One big transition during this time was moving into my parents' new house with them. It's been good overall and definitely a money saver but we all still relearning how to cohabitat.

Now it seems like am in a different transitional phase. I think it began when I got my last paycheck. One of the best parts of being a teacher is that you get paid in the summer when you are not working. They divide your paycheck up and spread it out over 52 weeks. Now I have received my last paycheck and no longer experience the joys of a steady income. It feels a little scary. I have done the whole missionary living on support thing before and I know it will all work out in the end. I think this time is harder because I just quit a job where I was making far more money than I ever have. My cost of living wasn't high and I was able to do just about anything I wanted to do without feeling the financial crunch. I learned to live more frugally the last time I was in ministry but I feel like having a "real job" made me unlearn some of thos lessons.

I've been raising support for my upcoming projects this summer and it's gone pretty well. But everything felt a lot more secure with the promise of future paychecks. Now that this is over and I feel I have lost a bit of my security. In the end I know the truth. Christ is my security and through Him and His people I will always be provided for financially for doing His work. Yet, He doesn't deposit a check into my account every two weeks like my teaching job.

I am about $1000 away from my fundraising goal of $6000. That's not too far at all. People have been super generous and for that I am so thankful. There are also several people who pledged support but haven't sent anything yet so I know more is coming. I am not where I want to be with monthly support at about $175 of the $400 I need for my time in SBFM. But from my previous experiences as a missionary, I know monthly support is something that builds the longer you are out in the field so I am confident it will increase over time. I'd hoped to sell my car before I left to give myself further cushion but apparently since I just paid it off, I won't get the title for about a month and at that point I will be gone.

So, I am trying my best to be frugal and not spend much money. It's not easy. I find the busier I am, the less money I spend. Well, with most of my friends at work all day and me with no job, there's really not much for me to do. I try to fill my time with free activities; in ways that are productive like spending time with God, working on my Chinese, reading books and working out and unproductive like watching TV and playing on the internet, esp. Facebook.

Even though I get frustrated that I can no longer just buy what I want , I think this time of more extreme frugality is good for me. I am learning to depend on God more and to seek out activities that are free or inexpensive. By the time I build up my support and feel less strapped, I will be wiser with my money.

The Secret World of Mexican Snow Cones

2009-08-11T17:44:00.002-10:00

Today I went back to the school that I worked at for the last two years. To work?, you ask. No, I went for the same reason I went to school as a teen, to see my friends. Today was a teacher work day and I went up to the school to help out where I could but also to catch up with my teacher friends. It ended up being a lot more fun than I thought. I've always enjoyed joking and socializing with my co-workers and this time I didn't have to spoil it by constantly thinking of the work I should have been doing in my classroom. I don't have a classroom!

Despite the freedom it provided, the fact that I didn't have a classroom made me a little sad. As much as I am excited for my next steps, I am still mourning the loss of things like school supplies, co-workers and funny comments from my students. It was a little weird to see someone new in my classroom. To combat the weirdness, I decided to avoid going past the room or talking to the "new me." Denial has always worked for me in the past.

All day I helped with random things like putting up bulletin board paper, setting up desks and chairs and hooking up my friends' computers. For a girl, I am better than average at the techie stuff so I was glad to be of service. It was also a lot easier to do the before school tasks knowing that I really only had to do what I felt like doing and there wasn't a huge list of things I needed to accomplish.

My old principal asked me why I wasn't helping the new teachers. I laughed her off and said it paid to be my friend. Seriously, though. Why would I help teachers I didn't know? I am certainly no saint and my primary purpose was not to lend a hand. My main reason for being there was to hang out with my friends and help them out a little bit. Let the new teachers fend for themselves. I know I had to.

After work, I went for snowcones with a couple of my co-workers. I was introduced to this particular snowcone place by my friend, Belinda. It felt a bit like the episode of Seinfeld where George goes to the club with all the models and gets in only because he's with one. Belinda's Mexican so she took me to a Mexican snow one place. I felt like I was only allowed to go because I was with Mexican people. This was a different snowcone place than I was used to.

After living in Austin, I felt confident in calling myself a snowcone connoisseur. Snow Beach, formerly located on Lamar near Barton Springs was the standard by which I measured all other snowcones. (You know you are at the right place if you see a white trailer with a fake purple snowcone wearing sunglasses on top.) The red rasberry with cream is to die for. The place is so popular that they furnish umbrellas for the people in line to hold to shield themselves from the sun. You feel stupid but it works. A snowcone there costs between $2.50-$5.00 depending on size and amount of cream.

I'd lamented that Houston did not have a Snow Beach equivalent. Finally this summer, some people put up a snowcone stand in my neighborhood. The ice is not as finely shaved as Snow Beach's but it decent and similar in price. It's also about 179 miles closer. And because my neighborhood is trendy, they even have a snowcone for dogs. Who buys their dog a snowcone? It's probably the same people buying the dog appetizers I saw advertised on TV.

Now back to my Mexican snowcone experience. This place was pretty big and pink with a little covered patio area with ceiling fans. (Note to snowcone place, in 100 degree weather like today, ceiling fans do not work.) Belinda said the place is hopping at nights and on the weekends with a long line of cars at the drive-thru. Yes, there is a drive-thru! I was shocked when I saw the price. Their snow cones ranged in price from 75 cents for a small (that's less than a dollar) to 2.50 for a giant one. This means I could get three small snowcones at this place for the price of one at the honky snow cone places. I was getting ripped off! The quality of the snow cone was good though the pointy top was disconcerting to someone who is used to a rounded top. I quickly adjusted, though. At 75 cents, I felt I was getting the deal of the century. Apparently I need to spend more time in the Mexican parts of town. I knew from the Wal-Mart parking lot that they had cheap puppies, tamales and fake Gucci purses, but cheap snowcones...that's something I could really get into.

Self-induced anti-social hibernation

2009-08-06T16:24:00.002-10:00

I am just coming out of what I have dubbed my "self-induced anti-social hibernation." I enjoyed my back to back week-long trips but they left me a little starved for alone time. Because of my need to just chill out and avoid human contact I have been making no attempt to hang out with anyone other than my parents, who I can't avoid since I live in their house. Tonight I went to church and was social without feeling like I was going to die or punch someone in the face. I feel this is a good sign that I am ready to return to being social. Overall I am a pretty social person and would almost always prefer to be with people than to be alone but I guess I just got a case of social overload.

I have a little over a month before I leave for Maui and not much planned other than a trip to Calgary at the end of this month. I am trying to figure out how to spend my days and how not to spend a lot of money since my last teacher paycheck was yesterday. I have decided to try to read my Bible/have quiet time, workout and practice my Chinese on Rosetta Stone everyday. So, far I have done it for two days. I am on a roll! I will be super spiritual, super hot and bilingual in no time!

I am also trying to read a lot, which I really enjoy. I am currently in the middle of several books that I just need to buckle down and finish. The most interesting to me right now is one called, "Doctors from Hell." It's a pretty harsh title, I know but an accurate one. It was actually written by a woman my grandparents know from their retirement community. She was a court reporter for the medical trials at Nurenburg. These were the trials for the Nazi doctors after World War 2. The book is very interesting and very sad. It's hard for me to believe that these atrocities could have been committed on human beings and that they were called Science. I find the whole Nazi regime fascinating and even used the Diary of Anne Frank in my third grade class. It gave me a lot of hope to see how strongly my students reacted to injustice. They just couldn't understand why something like that could happen and neither could I.

World War II makes me think about war in general. There are a lot of people who are outspoken in their hatred for all war. I feel that this is just ignorant. I know some of you may be strongly anti-war and I respect your right to an opinion but I just cannot agree. I am not for all wars or injust wars and I don't think the God of the Bible is either. But I think it is extremely difficult to argue against a war like WWII as a Christian or non Christian. The Bible is certainly not anti-war with Jesus commending a soldier's faith without condemning his profession as well as all the fighting in the Old Testament. But what the Nazis did was an afront to God's chosen people, the Jews. I can't imagine God wanting us to stand back as His chosen people were being slaughtered like animals.

I don't know how anti-war people believe we can stop horrors like the holocaust or the genocide going on today without violence. Peaceful protests and logic don't work on people who kill others in that way. I don't feel educated about the current war to say one way or another if it should have started and I know that with my brother being in the Army, it is hard for me to be unbiased. I do trust Andrew and support him in what he does. Right now a lot of what he is doing is helping rebuild areas that Saddam has destroyed and working with local leaders to help them get back on their feet. It sounds more like mission work than war. I wonder why the news doesn't talk about that stuff?

Sorry to be so randomly political. Maybe this is what happens to me when I seclude myself. I will stick to the funny stuff next time.