Back To The Islands (by Jimmy Buffett)

Sorry it's been so long ... I have a feeling the delay between postings is going to become a regular occurrance. Trust me though, I'm doing the best I can.
I have safely returned to the far side of the world. I've now been here almost five days, and it feels like a month! ... in a good way :) I've gotten to briefly explore a new country as well as experience a new part of a familiar country. I've reconnected with old friends and quickly made new ones. At this rate, I anticipate a rather fun, exciting, productive, and definately HOT next five months or so!
I'm hoping to get some of the pictures I've taken the past few days onto my link here soon, so check back often if they're not on yet. So, until the pictures are up, I'll just fill you in a little bit about what's been going on. I have to start by simply saying that it's SO good to be back in the islands again!!! The smells, the sights, the tastes, the sounds ... it's like returning to a dream. I don't imagine I'll become fluent, or even conversational, in the language in my short time here, but it's fun to see what's already starting to come back to me from nearly seven years ago.
The weather's been fantastic. It's only rained once ... unfortunately it was when there were some guests here and we were going to take a boat to a jungle hike with a waterfall and a natural pool at the end (you'll be able to see this in the pictures I'll put up soon), but we weren't able to go because the rain made the trail too muddy. Other then that, it's been hot and beautiful! I've even managed to get a little tan and a little sunburn while still maintaining some of my pasty-white, scandinavian skin :)
In the short time I've been here, we've had two groups come to the beach in which I'll be spending most of my time while I'm here. The first group was 30 local junior highers from an international school here along with four of their teachers and their principal. The second group was an Australian dad and his two sons on holiday. We've done leadership initiative games, jungle hikes, boat trips, swimming, and I've been helping out a little bit in building an earthen (thanks, kraM) oven on the beach to make pizzas and bread and what-not. At this pace, there won't be much down-time ... but with the things I'll be doing here, that's not a bad thing :)
Well, lunch is ready and then I'm off to an afternoon meeting with the guys. Thank you again for supporting me financially, through prayer, and through love and friendship to make my time here possible. Thanks for continuing to check my blog too :) And remember, comments are always nice!!!

Don't Chu-Know (by Jimmy Buffett)

For those of you who don't already know, there's a play in St. Paul this weekend that I'm in. I was originally supposed to play the part of Jesus, like I have the past couple of years at my Uncle's church in New Jersey, but due to some last minute changes for some of the actors involved we had to do some role switching and I've been "demoted", as it were, to Thomas. My best friend and two other very close friends are also in the play with me. It's an original play consisting of a series of monologues and is entitled "Who Crusified Christ". It's being held at Mounds Park United Methodist Church just off I-94 near downtown St. Paul. The shows begin at 7pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 13, 14, and 15 and runs about an hour long. There's no cost and we'd love for you to come out and check it out ... bring some friends with you! :) For anyone in the area, I hope to see you there. For those of you not able to make it, know you will be missed.

Directions:
94 East to Mounds Blvd, Right on Mounds, Left on 3rd Street, Right on Cypress, and left on Euchlid. The church's phone number is 651-774-8736.

Songlines (frequent refernce throughout Jimmy Buffett's songs and writings)

Most of you probably aren't aware of the fact that each of my blog titles, as well as the name of this blog page, are all either song titles or song references. "The Far Side Of The World" is the title track to one of Jimmy Buffett's more recent albums, only a couple years old. I just thought I'd give you a little insight into my personal world of music by sharing the lyrics of this song for you. Granted, the song is more specifically refering to Jimmy's time in Africa over the 2001 New Year, I think you'll understand why I love this song so much and found it to be an appropriate title for my site and, to a certain extent, for my life:

Ramadan is over,
The new moon's shown her face,
I'm halfway round the planet,
In a most unlikely place.

Following my song lines
Past bamboo shacks and shops
Behind a jeepney packed like sardines,
With bananas piled on top.

I ran away from politics,
It's too bizarre at home.
Away I flew, tuned into blue
Maybe Amsterdam or Rome

Awakened by a stewardess,
With Spain somewhere below.
On the threshold of adventure,
God I do love this job so.

So while I make my move
On this big board game
Up and down that Spanish highway,
Some things remain the same.
Girls meet boys
and the boys tease girls
I'm heading out this morning,
For the Far Side of the World.

Oh I believe in song lines
Obvious and not
I've ridden them like camels
To some most peculiar spots.

They run across the oceans
Through mountains and saloons
Tonight out through the dessert
Where I sit atop this dune.

I was destined for this vantage point
Though it's so far from the sea
I've lived it in the pages of Saint-Exupery

From Paris to Tunisia
Casablanca to Dakar
I was riding long before I flew
Through the wind and sand and stars.

Caravan
Ride that hump
And Timbuktu, a jillion bugs
Sleeping bags and battle flags
Are coiled and curled
That's the way you travel
To the far side of the world!

Sunset framed by lightening bolts
Burns a lasting memory
And a string of tiny twinkling lights
adorn a sausage tree.
While the embers from the log fire
They flicker, fly, and twirl
And drift off toward the cosmos
From the Far Side of the World.
Well it's Christmas and my birthday
and so to that extent
The Masai not the wise men
Are circling my tent.
I teach them how to play guitar
They show me how to dance
We have rum from the Caribbean
And Burgundy from France.

New Year's Eve in Zanzibar
With Babu and his boys
High up on the rooftop
You can relish all the noise.

They are dancing on the tables
People bouncing like gazelles
Two 0-0-1 is ushered in
With air-raid horns and bells.

Time to sing time to dance
Living out my second chance.

Cobras and sleeping bags are coiled and curled
That's the way it happens
On the Far Side of the World.

Back at home, it's afternoon
Six thousand miles away.
It will still be there when I get through
Attending this soiree

There are jobs and chores and questions
And plates I need to twirl,
But tonight I'll take my chances,
On the Far Side of the World.
Yes that's the way it happens
On the Far Side of the World.

Take The Long Way Home (by Supertramp)

So, I'm back in the states ... but not before having gone through a series of unique experiences and ordeals. The journey home began by heading to Delhi to do some typical "touristy" stuff ... something I hate doing, but is an occasional necessity. I mean, how do you not visit the Taj Mahal?! I have to admit, it was absolutely beautiful and was a great experience! Granted they won't do the real thing justice, you should see the pictures from there (and perhaps you will!). It was a four hour drive to get there and nearly a five hour drive back with all the traffic! But, the night I got back from the Taj was when the craziness really began.
I've been to some very memorable airports in my life, but the one in Delhi I'll never forget! I wanted to get there two three hours early, but I wasn't able to make it until two hours early. Still more than enough time, right? Not in Delhi! It was SO crazy and busy there that it took me nearly 20 minutes just to get inside the building. Once inside, I had to go through security for my checked luggage, then I had to go and actually check my luggage and get my boarding pass. After that I had to wait in the immigration line. Of course, I ended up in the line that wasn't really a line and obviously took forever! By the time I finally got through the immigration line I had to wait in another sercurity check line. That one took nearly an hour! I finally made it through that one as my flight was boarding. By this time it was about an hour and a half into what literally ended up being the longest birthday of my life!
About eight hours later I was in Amsterdam at Schiphol Airport for a three or four hour layover. I made a friend while I was there, a fellow world traveler, so I was fortunate enough to have someone to talk to and share stories with. I'm always looking for new travel friends to assist me in my traveling creedo: "I'd much rather travel with someone else than alone, but I'd rather travel alone than not at all." Unfortunately, most of my travels in my life have been alone ... I'm working on changing that. Europe seems to be the easiest place to meet these kind of people. Regardless of where it is, the best place to meet new travel companions seems to be while traveling.
From Amsterdam I headed on another eight hour flight to Atlanta. Not a very exciting or memorable flight, but once I got to Atlanta I had a pretty cool experience ... I ran into a friend of mine there! The fact that I had a good three hours wait and happened to be departing one gate away from my friend who was departing only an hour before me was cool enough, but the details of the situation just lead me to believe this was another "God-thing". I think He's having fun with me lately, and I'm loving it! My friend and I got to hang out in the Continental President's Club and catch up about ministry, travel, family, friends, finances, and other things. The timing and everything was just too perfect :)
Having not slept much at all on either of the two previous flights, once I got on the flight home I was out cold in no time! What I didn't expect was for this last flight to nearly match the length of each of the previous two. When I woke up, we were just about to land ... in Wisconsin! Due to bad weather, the Minneapolis airport was shut down while we were in the air. We were diverted to La Crosse, WI to land and refuel. We must've been on the ground for at least an hour, maybe even two. It's kinda funny how a plane full of complete strangers who are comfortable having nothing to do with each other suddenly becomes full of random new "friends" in a situation like this. Being stranded on a foreign tarmak from where you're supposed to be has a way of bonding strangers in a unique way ... although, when you travel as much as I have, experiences like this don't seem all that unique. The funniest part was that I was in an exit row next to what I found out to be a woman who's basically afraid to fly ... not the best person to be in an exit row. She was a good sport though. She was especially grateful when we finally landed in Minneapolis after a short but rather turbulant flight from La Crosse shortly after 10pm ... a couple hours after we were supposed to be there.
I had a loving group of family and friends waiting for me at home to celebrate my birthday with me ... that is until it came to light that I wouldn't be making it there until nearly midnight. Personally, I'm impressed and flattered that they waited for me as long as they did! But my parents picked me up and drove me straight home so I could finally get a good night's sleep. I strolled into my house at about 11:30pm, finally ending my 28th birthday, 34.5 hours after it started in Delhi! So, next time you tell someone about how long your day was, think about how I celebrated April 6, 2006. It was a day literally full of it's ups and downs. I made new friends and connected with old ones. I traveled half way around the world and experienced what will most likely be the longest day, let alone the longest birthday, of my life. All in all, I'd say it was a good day though :)
I miss the far side of the world already, but it's good to be home ... especially knowing that I'm to return in a matter of days! I wonder what this next set of adventures will bring.

Good People (by Jack Johnson)

I've been meeting all sorts of amazing people on this trip. I've met some wonderful individuals who are making some amazing sacrifices to do the Lord's work here. I've made some potential ministry connections that will hopefully bring me back here someday. I made one friend in particular who will hopefully be a good friend for life. I've met some people who have such amazing hearts but don't have any clue who Jesus is. And I've met some people of whom I'll likely never see again but have left a lasting impression in my heart and in my life.
There has been little to no time spent here without the direct and intentional interaction with at least one of these people at a time. Granted, there have been moments, if not longer, of solitude within my heart, even if I was in the presence of others ... but those experiences are inevitable when traveling alone to a strange and new place. The thing I've been taught and have learned (thanks, Mom!) is to see those times of solitude, whether that solitude is physical or merely from within, and use it as an advantage rather then as a weakness. It's in those times of solitude that I have a chance to reflect on God and to grow in my experiences and relationships. But, for better or for worse, those times of solitude have been somewhat few and far between over the past several weeks. I've had too much time to engage with new people, new places, new cultures, new foods, and new ministries.
As great as it's been to get to know the local villagers, other mission workers, and random people from international students to auto shop workers, the ones I feel blessed to have gotten the chance to get to know the best are the family that invited me here. I've had the chance to stay up late and sit on the roof all day getting sunburned with their oldest daughter and one of her closest friends, I spent days hiking and driving thoughout the mountains talking about the culture and the ministry with the father, and I've gotten to enjoy the cooking and the quality taste in music of the mother, not to mention the occasional opportunity to give and receive a little crap from the youngest daughter (disclosing names for safety). This is one pretty cool family ... and it doesn't hurt that their Canadian too! I hope and expect that God has brought us together for a reason, and I hope and pray that this is the beginning of a pretty special and spirit-filled relationship.