I never thought this moment would come! Right now I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop in our city! In less than 15 hours I’ll be waking up to move my heavy bags to the airport, and start the 24 hour journey back home!!! It still doesn’t feel quite real yet! I almost didn’t think [...]
This morning I decided to take a few minutes to reflect a little. My bags are almost packed, the apartment is looking empty, we’ve said goodbye to most of our friends. This is the end of my first season in Asia. I am feeling both happiness and sadness at the moment. When I think about [...]
Last night was crazy! My team and I were scrubbing last minute cubbies and packing last minute boxes. Everything we knew as ours suddenly was put in boxes designated for the next years team. We took turns talking about different memories we had and laughing together. It was all a ploy to keep from bursting [...]
As I sit typing I feel the gentle swaying of an aftershock in my building. The past 10 days have been surreal. In the city where we are, which was very close to the earthquake, there was very little in the way of injuries and damage. I know of no deaths or collapsed buildings. But [...]
Last night I was hanging out with Leo for the last time. We’re sipping tea, the conversation is dragging, and I ask if Leo and his friend want to play cards. His friend seemed excited, but Leo could could only muster up a “sure, if you guys want to.” It was obvious something was on [...]
Cameras were flashing from every direction as a crowd of about 25 exited local people surrounded me! Someone in the crowd shouted, “Where are you from”! I replayed, I’m an American, and at once they all started shouting, “America!” over and over again. Then almost all of them started to have a picture taken with [...]
The whole country is in mourning. At lunch yesterday we had 3 minutes of silence during the time of last week's earthquake. My eyes were tearing up picturing the millions of people, just one week ago, screaming and running in panic. I could imagine people being buried under buildings as they collapsed. My heart is [...]
As I laid in my bed, my heart began to race. Feeling another tremor, I silently prayed that God’s hand would be on us. The unknowing of where and when an aftershock could strike was almost worse than experiencing one. Getting a peaceful nights sleep hasn’t been easy for anyone in this city. It all [...]
Caley stopped by at about seven to hang out with us for a little while. She sheepishly asked me, “What does God think of bad woman? Is there a story in His book that talks about them?” Just to make sure I understood what she meant, I asked her, “Do you mean prostitutes?” She gave [...]
As I write this there is only nine days left until I fly back to the Beautiful USA! I cannot even tell you how excited I am to be coming back. But at the same time I am heartbroken to have to say good-bye to all of my friends. It is strange how your body [...]