safari in the orient

A recent discovery: a wild safari zoo in our city! July 24 was one of my teammates' birthays and he requested we spend his birthday at the safari! So Tuesday we hired a driver to take us to the zoo. I felt like I was back in Animal Kingdom. We got our own individual car and a worker drove us through the park in about an hour. They even let the best English speaker come along as our tour guide.

waiting to get in the car, it was raining but we didn't care!

Hughes using the fishing pole with a slab of meat for the tigers

The tour guide told us we could pay for a bag of apples to feed bears. Of course we did it. We threw apples out to the bears and I got really nervous when they got close to us! They stood up and were taller than the car. Listen for the tour guide saying "when the bear eat a apple, he look like a baby" in the cutest accent!

We got out of the car and fed the giraffes. Who knew they had such long tongues?

being excited about hanging with giraffes

my favorite picture of the day

Okay, last video. We paid about $20 to buy two live chickens to throw to these tigers. They came close to our car and as you'll see, I get really nervous at the end of the video!

Finishing up my last few days in EA before heading home for the summer! Saying goodbye to all of my friends and eating a lot of good food. Now I've got to pack!

waiting quietly

I've been in East Asia for a year? I can't begin to swallow that. A week from today I will be headed to America for the summer and couldn't be more excited to see my family and friends! These last few weeks we have been having a lot of fun and staying busy. I've been to two weddings, and I'm preparing for a my new roommate to move in! Sadly one of my roommates, Meg, went back to America early for a wedding. But this also means my new roommate Sam will move in to our apartment this week. When we come back to EA in August, our apartment will be settled for us to walk back in!

Here's some pictures of my life lately...

Haviland and a sweet baby we found on campus

me and Hav checking out the panders

some of our Auburn friends who came for the summer

just hanging out

Owen, Charlie, Meg, Haviland and me with the pandas

Meg's last day in China :(

soaking up the EA air full of lilies and pink caterpillars

it's graduation time around here!

my friends Eric and Maggie's wedding

Sam and me with the happy couple at the reception

squeezing little Maddox

me and Hughes and Meg in the old town, shopping!

wedding #2, Ross and Christi

saying their vows!

kids learning to roller blade downtown

Meg's last day, I love her a lot and miss her already!

so our city REALLY is this foggy.

Dancing with the Sharks, a bar with a huge shark tank!

My prayer for this week... "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken." Psalm 62:5-6

That is my desire! All of my hope and trust would rest in him as I return to America for the summer. All of my worries about asking people for money to stay another year...about trusting God's plan for me in EA...about seeing old friends...I praise God that he promises to go before me and with me. I won't let fear control my life.

"No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail on you or abandon you." Joshua 1:5

(I like to insert my name wherever there is "you")

In this passage, God was talking to Joshua  and challenging him to his new job of leading  2 million people into unknown territory. He is the same God to me today as he was to Moses. And he never changes!

simple faith

I love listening to podcasts and sermons from pastors in America but some of the wisest words I've heard come from my friends in East Asia. Although my friends may have started to believe in God this year or possibly last year, sometimes they have the most inspiring words of encouragement and wisdom. Each of them have simple faith, much different than me at times.

While talking about the names of God, I studied "Adonai" with a friend. Adonai means God is the lord and master of your life. We have to submit to him.

Friend #1 said, "Many people believe in God but they do not sacrifice anything in their life or follow the words in the Bible."

Friend #2 told me how she was talking to a classmate about God. Her classmate asked her, "Will I lose myself if I believe in God?" 

My friend said, "Only the master knows our function and tells us what we should do."

Friend #3 talking about how the government does not agree with her believe.

She said, "I do not fear what they will do to me. I will do what I think is right which is to love God and do what he says."

Friend #4 discussing suffering.

She said, "I'm thankful that God will test me...so that I can grow closer to him."

Friend #5. I asked her how believing in God has changed her life.

She said, "He has shown me what is wrong and right. Now I know the difference. And he is the one managing my life."

And I'm supposed to be the one teaching them? More than often, they are teaching me more than I could ever teach them!

book club

Just finished reading a book (yes, I've started reading now) after two of my friends- Anne Marie and Beth- suggested it. They both agreed that A Severe Mercy is one of their favorite books so I was interested to find out why. Sheldon Vanauken writes about his relationship with his wife, his friendship with C.S. Lewis and the tragedy he has experienced in life. Both him and his wife convert to Christianity later in their marriage. The book walked me through all of the emotions and thoughts they struggled with to begin believing in God and also as they dealt with hardship in their marriage. In one of the 18 letters between Lewis and Vanauken, Lewis wrote this...

"Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been, or would not always be, purely aquatic creatures? Then, if we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest?

It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggests that we were created for eternity."

You may need to reread that. Just one more time. I know I did. But that quote has really stuck in my mind. After many conversations with students in here who have little hope about life on earth or life after death, I am clearly reminded we are not made for this world! No doubt about it.

Oh and less than a month until I'm HOME! I can't believe it.

got to see the pandas over the weekend for the first time!

sometimes taxi drivers just hate us

so happy this girl is here!!