Interesting and Incredible

It's been an "interesting" week since I last wrote on the blog. (You know we say "interesting" when we kind of want to say bad, but we don't really want to come right out and say it.) After the tooth extraction, Tuesday wasn't too bad, but Wednesday I started feeling funky. I had gone to teach music to the kids then I came home, drank some lunch and took a nap because I was feeling a little strange. When I got up, I actually threw up, and spent the rest of the next two days laying low trying to figure out what was going on with me. Friday morning, I mustered enough strength to get on a van and do a visa run to the northern border. This was a necessity if I wanted to legally stay in the country past Sunday, so I made myself do it. An incredible day in so many ways, not least of which was the company I kept. On the day tour were 9 others plus the Thai driver and tour guide. The 9 included an Australian couple in their early 20's, a Malaysian woman in her 50's, a Chinese couple who were studying in Malaysia (they were in their early 20's as well), a Spanish couple on their honeymoon, an Irish gal and her Scottish friend who grew up together and were now traveling for several months before heading to New Zealand to work in January. The road was long, bumpy, and windy, and it felt like our driver was on some kind of challenge show to see who could drive the fastest. (He won!) He weaved in and out of traffic from 7:30 in the morning 'til 9:30 that night, and I wasn't far from throwing up most of the day. This, coupled with the constant aching of the socket where my tooth had once been, made the day incredible! Thankfully, Saturday was a little more low key and I hustled off to the dentist by mid-day to get the hole checked out. After hearing that it was healing nicely and the pain was just part of the pleasure, I rested a bit easier. Sunday was another great day to be with the folks at the house church and now this morning I'm off to the western Thai border with Myanmar to spend the week with some refugee children. I don't really know what I'll be doing, just whatever needs doing probably, so I would really appreciate your prayers for a fruitful time. Back in Taiwan, I've heard from several of my colleagues that my replacement teacher got fired for dropping the f-bomb on one of my classes. Although I am unhappy about that, I sort of feel a little sense of "I told everyone it was hard" and I know but for the grace of God, that could have/would have been me. So, pray for my kids in Taiwan. They need some extra love from their substitutes until Serena finds them a more permanent teacher. The good thing is I know the sub and he's a loving Christian, Chinese-American guy who plays piano on the worship team at church in Hsinchu, so he and I have already been talking about the personality of my classes and I think he'll be a good person for them. I pray he enjoys it so much he wants to stay on for several months and help stabilize the situation. One last quick word on my Friday activities...I went on this "tour" as I've already said because I needed a new visa stamped into my passport. However, since it's cheaper to jump onto a real day tour than it is to have someone drive me to the border, I had to be a real tourist as part of this larger group, none of whom wished to cross the border into Burma and get a new visa. So, I had the interesting experience of walking onto a bridge, stepping into a cramped office past border police with guns, and going through the process of entering another country. I started it and felt the surge of excitement of doing something unknown, before my tour guide showed up just in time to assure me it was o.k. to leave my passport with the border police while I walked into Burma for 15 minutes. He said, "They don't want you just to take your passport back without seeing their country." If he hadn't have been there, I would have felt very uneasy about leaving my passport in the hands of a border guard. It was strange, anyway. However, I trusted him, we walked into Burma and down these steps into an alley of merchants, one of which held a sizable collection of black market DVD's and CD's. This was the tour guides store of choice, so I followed him in there. (Incidentally, his name was "Net", shortened from "Nest" which was a nickname from "Nestle" cause he drank so much of that milk when he was little.) I got a copy of "Raisin in the Sun" which I highly recommend for it's acting and plot and a copy of "Baby Mama" which is commendable for a whole lot of other reasons, mostly because you'll laugh out loud at Amy Pohler's comedic timing. I also added my long time favorite movie, "Shawshank Redemption" to the bag of contraband, and all of this for about 3 U.S. dollars. Gotta love creative economies, eh? Ten minutes later, we walked back up the steps, onto the bridge, across to the opposite side of the road and into a different office where a young woman handed me my passport and I went back to the Thai side to gain entry back into this country. What a trip!! Also, on Friday's tour, we enjoyed a boat ride up the Makong River (which comes out of China) to see the Golden Triangle, Burma, Laos and Thailand. We didn't get off the boat in Burma, but we got 30 minutes in Laos, which was full of crafts stalls and begging children. It wasn't too hot, but it was dirty and sad, so I was happy to get back on the rickety barge and head back to Thailand. I don't see many begging children/people in Thailand, but in Burma and in Laos there were many little ones with their hands out. "God, watch over them and keep them as they live their precious little lives vulnerably amongst strangers." Thanks for lifting up the children of the world. Jesus loves them. All of them. (I'm singing "Jesus loves the little children" in my head right now. Can you tell?)


On the boat tour there was an "impressive"
shot of this deity.

And not far away was this small Christian
church on top of a building. Sort of sizes up
the challenge for Christians living in a
predominantly Buddhist culture.

Fishing huts built right on the river.
Great commute.

Landing in Laos, the tour guide said,
"Just get out and walk straight to the stairs.
The platform only holds 10 people."

Standing on the bridge looking at Burma
on the right and Thailand on the left.

Walking into Burma
(officially called Myanmar.)

Birds eye view of The Golden Triangle.
You can see where the three rivers
converge in the middle of the picture.

This little guy wanted to get into the van.
We stopped in a village to see the Long-Neck
women and he was escaping his dad.

So, I'll close and go pack a bag for todays adventure. Thanks for your prayers as I continue to live out these days here in Asia. Your interest and prayer support are so valuable to me, so thank you for being prayerful people. I'll be praying for you as you engage this week in conversations regarding the election. It's going to be another "interesting" week.

Until next time,
LC from TH