What is Moments?

Hello from Vietnam!  I feel out of touch with you all since I have been unable to access my blog while in China.  So here is a post that I wrote in Mongolia, and I will post again soon to tell you some about my time in China and Vietnam.

     Lately Kara, Sarah and I have defaulted to flipping through hotel and airplane magazines to find inspiration for our blog post titles.  On Air China, flying from Ulaanbaator, Mongolia, to Beijing, China, the following title fell to me:  "What is Moments?"  As I thought about this, it led me to ask another profound question:  "What is history?"  And here, when one is part of a group of 6 young travellers, one can never be too sure!  Sometimes, when we are tired, we just make it up for fun.  Sometimes, when people are too convincing, we aren't sure if they are telling the truth or not!  What is history?  Here are some possibilities!

History 101:  Lesson 1
     Our guest house room in Ulaanbaator displayed a picture of a Mongolian shooting an arrow as he galloped along on his steed.  The other day Sarah was lying on the floor looking at it, and she thought it was very unrealistic.  The bow had no string, there was no arrow on the picture, and who would keep up that pose for so long after the arrow was already gone?!  Goodness, this lifestyle was part of an era far before flash photography!!
     Kara, being tired and hence in the perfect mood for making up history, was also lying on the floor gazing at the picture.  "Well, Sarah, if you weren't so judgmental and took a moment to hear the real story behind this, you would understand..."  And thus began another 'history lesson.'  Apparently, a blind man had painted this picture.  You see, it was a "Mongolian tradition" to take blind men to their battles.  And this blind man received his sight for all of a couple seconds, whereupon this is what he saw.  Then afterwards, he received sight just long enough to paint the picture for posterity to admire.  So, really, one can't be judgmental because one cannot argue with what he saw!  Also, as a side note, one can tell the importance of a battle based on how many blind men are present.  The battle that this blind man was part of was a six-blinder, meaning there were six blind men present.  A one-blinder is a mere tribal raid, and a seven-blinder is like World War II reenacted!

History 101:  Lesson 2
     This lesson takes place a couple days later.  This evening we took a taxi to a place in Hanoi, Vietnam.  We fit all six of us into a five-person taxi with our driver.  It was quite the experience--a truly historical moment.  Plus, it saved us $3!  On the way back we all piled into one taxi again.  However, this time the driver wouldn't take all of us at once.  So Eric, Kara and I rolled out into another taxi, where the driver kept looking at us and laughing.  Apparently we went even beyond native expectations of space efficiency :)  And this last lesson is True Story!  Moral of the story:  there are limits!

2010 VISION

     The Mongolian church has what they call 2010 vision:  by 2020 they want to see 10% of Mongolia discipled for Christ.  According to current statistics, they are at 2-3%.  This does not seem very hopeful, yet the church is still praying and striving towards this goal.
     This put my own complacency and apathy to shame.  Even in the face of great odds, they continue to pray and maintain their vision because they follow a God who also has a great vision and plan for this world.
     And God is at work here.  There is evidence of a Nestorian/Christian presence in North-west China as early as 600 A.D., though overall Christianity has had a slow start.  In the 1200s, when Kublai Khan ruled Mongolia, he called for Western missionaries to come evangelize his empire.  Unfortunately, few Christians came.   Much later, during the time of Communism, no churches existed in Mongolia except for several Russian Orthodox.
     Still, the good news has filtered in throughout the years.  Mule-train drivers stopped at Gladys Aylward's Inn of the Sixth Happiness and brought the stories they heard into Mongolia.  In 1990, the first Mongolian translation of the Bible arrived in Mongolia, and the Old Testament was completed some 10 years later.  Children are exposed to the gospel in schools like the one where I helped teach English for the past two days.  Not to mention the really neat fact that this school, which teaches the typical subjects as well as English, worldview, and character-building, was started by a Mongolian woman.  Once again, I am impressed by the initiative and vision of these people.

     As I think about this, I am reminded of Isaiah 26, which says "Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord."  The unbelieving do not see or appreciate the work of God that is taking place under their very noses.  They are blind and deaf to it!  Yet, "whoever is of God hears the words of God" (John 8:47).
     Help me to see with your eyes Lord Jesus, and develop better vision!... vision only to see and appreciate what you are doing, but also how I can take part in it.
I am so blessed by this opportunity to travel and see what God is doing around the world!  I hope that your vision will be expanded and developed through these updates too.  Again, thank you to everyone who is participating in this adventure with me through prayer and or/finances.  I have not yet raised the complete amount for my GlobeTREK expenses yet, so if you still want to donate and 'get some skin involved,' you are more than welcome too!  Also, if there are ways that I can pray for you, or if anything I've written challenges you or interests you, let me know as well!  My email is titus33sinnersaved@yahoo.com

Russian Roulette

     Our time in Russia so far has been like roulette... I can never be quite sure what will happen next!  It also started with a tortuous day of travel, which didn't kill us but could have done us in!  Here is an overview of this past Monday:
* 6:30 am waking up to Deb at our door, ready to pick us up to drive to train station
* 7-8 ride on train to train station
* 8-8:30 waiting at train station
* 8:30-10 on train to Frankfurt
* 10-noon at airport, signing in, getting patted down at security (so farI've been patted down before every flight on GlobeTREK!  Maybe it has to do with my insulin pump)
* 12-2pm flight to Riga, Latvia.  I intended to read some of my textbooks on the flight, but I slept instead.  I woke up in time to see the Latvian coast before we landed.  It is beautiful!!!  It reminded me of God's power:  of His voice which breaks the cedars and of His power which preappoints the boundaries of the waters--thus far and no farther!  An interesting thought as I look at the meandering coastline.
* 2-3 An hour lost to time change.
* 3-5 in Riga airport.  We bought lunch, and some of us played card games
* 6-8 flight on Baltic Air from Riga to Moscow
* 8-9 hour lost to time change
* 9 Moscow airport!  We stopped for schwarma, and then boarded the train for our hotel.
* 10-12  Getting lost trying to find our hotel, watched by carvings of ancient tsars and saints from the walls in the city.  Thankfully Moscow is an incredible city, so I didn't mind getting lost too much.
* 12-1:30  Getting settled into our hostel room.  We needed our passports to sign in for the night.  A picture of Putin solemnly stared down at us from the wall as we filled out the forms.  Then we settled into our rooms.  Eric and Andrew got a room with several old men, grandmothers, and children.  The rest of us shared a room of bunkbeds with four other girls.

    Our time in Moscow included a lot of getting lost, what with a foreign language and alphabet.  However, we did bump into some interesting sights, including the Kremlin, Red Square, St Basil's Cathedral, and an international school where we shared about Prairie.  And we got to see a lot of subway stations... which was actually pretty cool, too.  Moscow's subway stations are complex, far-reaching, and quite efficient.  Under the Soviet Union, gold and decorations were stripped from churches and used in the stations.  The underground network of subways also served a back-up bunker during the war.

So... even if we are not quite out of Russia yet, we are still surviving!  Now we are spending some time with a family here, so we aren't as lost as we have been :)  I'm looking forward to the rest of our time here, and I'll let you know about it soon.

Some of this and that from the Latvian airport

Hello from Latvia!
The GlobeTREK team is now en route to Russia from Germany.  I am looking forward to this next part of the journey, with good memories of my time in Germany.  Here are a couple highlights:

* Volunteering at a pregnancy center where we sorted newborn clothes

*  Worshipping in a German church on Sunday morning, where I also played the piano for the singing during the service.  It is amazing to be able to worship with different cultures and language groups, united with a common song of praise to God!

*  Taking a boat down the Rhine river and admiring the beautiful German scenery

*  Learning important beverage tips... such as the danger of tea.  Oh, you didn't know that tea was dangerous?  Then you mustn't have heard of the poor Indian man.  He drowned one night in his "tea pee."  :)

*  Learning about some of Germany's history and culture.  On Saturday we had a 'tourist day', and visited Heidelberg.  From the castle there I could see a panorama of the city.  While we did not pay for a tour of the castle, a tour guide came by at an opportune moment and so I eaves-dropped a little and found out why all the churches faced one way, except for one church that faced perpendicular.  Apparently, all churches face the rising sun, with the steeple toward the setting sun.  However, in the late 1600s, a major flood destroyed much of Heidelberg.  After the flood, the Catholics built the Church of the Holy Ghost, which faces toward Rome.  This was a call for the people to return to the true, Catholic Church.  They did not want the people's rebelliousness to bring more judgment on the town!

*  Lastly, we attended the English church in the evening, which reaches out to the US military families from the large military base in Ramstein.  A young man sang a special song before the message, which really spoke to my heart.  I have the link below for you to listen as well.  For me, it summarized my desire to see Christ exalted around the world.  I also thought it was neat that the song voices Prairie Bible Institute's motto:  To Know Christ and Make Him Known.  May this be true in your life and mine!

LIFT UP THE CROSS by the Crist family          http://youtube/98AlLSDK3XM

Hello from Germany!

Hello from Germany!
Our trip started out with the reminder that while man may plan his steps, it is the Lord who directs our paths.  Andrew and Deb had booked a flight for noon on Tuesday, but despite various confirmations from the airlines, they found out the night before that they didn't actually have a seat on board.  So they ended up flying out at 4:30 in the morning instead!  The rest of us left at 3 in the afternoon for our 7:30pm flight.  I flew out much encouraged by the support shown for the GlobeTREK team by the students at Prairie as well as the community at the Prairie Tabernacle.

The flight included a couple of firsts for me:
first flight outside of the Americas
first 9-hour flight
first 8 hour time-zone change

Today these verses stood out to me as I did my devotions:
"But we have these treasures in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us...  Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit...  Now The Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of The Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of The Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from The Lord, who is the Spirit."  2 Corinthians 4:7; 3:4-6, 17-18

These verses stood out to me as an encouragement in the face of all the things I don't know and can't control or understand.  The last couple verses are also so powerful and meaningful to me in light of where I am at in this GlobeTREK adventure.  I go, beholding God's glory in a variety of ways and contexts, and anticipating how we will use this to transform me more into the image of my Savior.  Already I have been blessed by meeting with the missionaries here in Germany and worshipping on Wednesday night with the American community at the army base here.  As for tomorrow, I look forward to helping out at a crisis pregnancy center here and handing out tracts in a neighborhood.  And now... time for bed.  I don't feel too done in by the time change yet, but let's not push it! :)

GlobeTREK before GlobeTREK officially starts