Blessed By The Son In The Sun

A few pics to show some of my adventure during the month of February in Southeast Asia. Had a great time eating at many western restaurants, shopping, going to an aquarium, watching an American movie in English, riding an elephant, drinking from a fresh coconut, getting attacked by pigeons (read in the post below), walking on the beach, swimming, renewing friendships, and being blessed by a group from AK as they came to minister to us. I heard many encouraging testimonies of what Father is doing all around East Asia. We also had the privilege of being ministered to by the musical duo of Shane and Shane. They do one M trip a year and they chose to come and minister to us. We were blessed by their worshipful songs and their presence. I came away refreshed, renewed, and challenged to come back to my city with a new fervor in sharing the Son. Enjoy the pics!

Riding an Elephant!!!

Me and My New Friend!!!

Enjoying Hard Rock Cafe'!!!

Lovin' the Coconuts!!!

Attacked By Pigeons

Going to another country does not exempt me from having dumb things happen. While in Southeast Asia, Matilda and I were going to a museum. As we were lost, we began looking for a place with directions. We found this little map on the side of a building and were looking to find the way to the museum. A lady approached with a TON of pigeons around her. She proceeded to walk over to us and the pigeons followed. She crammed three bags of pigeon seed (I'm assuming) into my hand and three into Matilda's. She said to throw the seed out for the birds. Well, Matilda was the smart one and threw all of her bags down and ran like crazy. I, on the other hand, was a little slower in understanding that the pigeons would attack. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by pigeons. They were under my feet, flying around me and one even landed on my hand. The pigeon proceeded to scratch me as I tried to fling it off (imagine that). I was trying to throw the seed out, but just dropped the rest that I had and ran away from them. Then, the woman follows us and tells us that we owe her for the pigeon seed. We refused the charge due to the circumstances and the fact that she never told us of her intention. Later, as we drove by in a taxi, another clueless foreigner was having the same argument. The moral of the story is: "Don't take pigeon seed from strangers."

Back to the 80's

I never thought I would have to come to Asia to experience the art of Karaoke. Well, I have been smitten. Give me my own microphone with music and words and watch out! Wilberta, Matilda, and I went to Karaoke with Sophie and her husband Wayne. You can rent a room with a couple of couches, tables, a TV, a Karaoke computer (for lack of a better term), and two microphones. Renting the room also included snacks: sodas, dried figs, peas, peanuts, and an unidentified substance that I did not venture to place in my mouth. We spent about three and a half hours singing, laughing, and building relationships with our new friends.

We all chose some songs to sing and kind of mixed the Mandarin and English up a bit. I felt like I had slipped back into the 80's for a short time as we found many songs from this era. It is amazing how long time can pass since hearing a song, but once it starts playing, the words come right back. I chose a few like, "My Girl," "Beat It," "Billie Jean," and "Copacabana." It was quite amusing to say the least. The videos that went along with it were varied with some being the original artists singing and some were of Chinese singers performing the songs. Who would have ever thought that Karaoke and friendship would go together so well.

As I am growing to love my new friends, I long for them to know the greatest Friend they could ever have. Hoping they will one day be among the multitudes that will surround the throne and sing to the One who is truly worthy of our praise.