6/3/14

Once again I’ll be catching you up on the past 10 days! Wow, how time flies!

Some general news is, my staple diet has been established. Stir fry and soba noodles. (I don’t know if you still get to call it stir fry if you are steaming rather than frying. In any case, you know what I mean.) The stir fry is made up of carrots, cabbage, onions and garlic. Easy, delicious and nutritious. The flavoring is sesame seeds and soy sauce. Pretty much the only other thing that I’ve cooked is some beans and rice. 

Here’s the exciting news: I took my first trip out of the city this last Friday. The Adventist director of the region treated me to a trip to a city that is about an hour and twenty minutes away by speed train. The speed train was cool. It travels about 200 kilometers per hour and is as smooth as can be. 

On the way, there was standing room only so I had to bend over to see the amazing green scenery whip by. After a few minutes of bending over though, I decided I’d wait for the ride back to soak in the good sites! The city was beautiful. Rocky hills covered in green jetted out between city buildings like camel humps. The hills here aren’t like the hills in Colorado that are generally shaped like triangles. Here they’re shaped like a huge scoop of ice cream plopped down down on an otherwise perfectly flat surface! 

Atop these hills were built different edifices. Some looked like mid evil military towers. Others were very traditional Chinese buildings with the swooping roof tops. 

I can’t tell you how many times I have felt like I’m on another planet here! For some reason I feel like I’m in some sci-fi movie, and have landed on some overly inhabited creation! 

The pastor and I dropped our few things off at a hotel and went out to explore the city a bit. After a delicious Chinese dinner we walked down to the river and took pictures. On the way back to the hotel we picked up a durian fruit. 

The durian fruit is one of those rare fruits that you either love or despise! It leaves very few people on the fence I’ve heard! It has an overpowering smell that we could immediately recognize when we walked into the market. The way that you determine if the fruit is ready for eating or not is by smelling it. The trick is smell each fruit without poking your nose or putting a hole in your hand! The fruit weighs about 10 pounds and is covered with hard spines. They come from Thailand and similar to jack fruit, they grow on trees. So, be careful when walking under a fruit tree in Thailand!! It might be the last thing you do! It is kind of like growing poky watermelons on tree. Harvest time must be interesting!

When we’d picked out a good one the produce person put some scissors in the bottom and split it a bit to give us a start on opening the fruit. 

When we got back to the hotel we popped the thing open and ate all of it in about 5 minutes! It was neat how the thing broke open. Quite easily the big pods opened, revealing light yellow flesh surrounding dark seeds. The texture of the flesh was silky and creamy. I’m not a coffee drinker but the flavor, for some reason, reminded me of something that you would find in a Starbucks coffee. Slightly bitter and very sweet and creamy. I can see why some people wouldn’t like it. The flavor is bold and unapologetic. However, I for one, would have to side with the people that love it!

By 8:15 the next morning we had eaten our breakfast and were on our way to the bus stop heading to meet with our brothers and sisters. I was excited to get to share the message that morning. 

The group was small, friendly and loved to sing. After singing several songs someone lead out in the reading and study of the book, the Desire of Ages. I pulled up the chapter on my iPad and read to myself as they read and discussed. It was a chapter on the paralytic of 18 years that Jesus healed on the Sabbath. It talked about how this man had been miraculously healed because he was willing to believe in Jesus word. If he had argued or waited to analyze the probability of His word he would have missed out on the power of faith and action. It also talked about the Pharisees that later found the man carrying his bed. Instead of being excited to see the man restored to health, they accuse him of breaking the Sabbath. They are stuck on a technicality based on a false understanding of what it means to keep the Sabbath, and therefore miss out on the miracle that has just happened. It showed how the Pharisees, due to their false religion, didn’t just miss out on this one miracle but far worse. They had missed out on finding the Savior! How many religious people today haven’t found the Savior? They have found rules but not the Ruler! They have found a way of life but not the One who is life! 

How many miracles do we miss out on today because they don’t fit our limited schematics of should I ask for this? and will God do this or that? etc…(OR: The dynamics need to be left with God instead of taking them into our own hands.) I know I have been guilty of this very thing. 

After reading the Desire of Ages it was my turn to share. I talked about the power of God to create something out of nothing. It ended with me encouraging them to not look to themselves when it comes to their life mission or their eternal salvation. If God promised it He will be the one to accomplish it! If we look to ourselves we will fail in our faith. But if we look toward God, our faith will have the victory. God spoke into the void and created the world. He can speak into your life and create purpose and salvation where now there may be only darkness and dread.

After lunch we came back together and I taught an impromptu class on how to make and give Bible studies! It was one of those moments where something seemingly random comes together so perfectly that you have to take a few seconds and whisper a prayer of thanksgiving to God, because you know that He had something to do with it! 

They were very grateful for the class and one of them in particular was writing everything thing down as fast as she could to be able to share it with three of her workers. She was actually the reason that we decided to do the class on the spur of the moment. She explained that she was teaching people how to cook at her bakery and sharing her faith with them at the same time. She explained that three of them were very interested but had absolutely no idea about God or the Bible. So during the class we created two Bible studies: One about God, and the other about the Bible. I’m excited to see what will happen by the next time I see her!

In the train, on the way back, I sat mesmerized by the strange looking mountains all jetting up around me. I was tired but glad to have had the opportunity of sharing something of value with these good people. 

The director wants to take me around to the other cities in his area so that I can share. “Your teaching is simple and comes from the Bible”, he told me. I am so glad that God is working out a way for me to share what He has taught me through His word and in my life. It feels like my missionary experience has now begun!