The Far Side Of The World

This is the End (the Doors)

2007-12-23T15:02:00.000-06:00

This is my final blog. I'm done. I quit. I give up. I'm outta here! I won't be checking my messages on here and I won't be coming back on here. There's nothing good to say any more so I'm not going to say anything at all.
Fare thee well!

Don't Think Twice, it's Alright (by Bob Dylan)

2007-11-14T12:37:00.000-06:00

Closure is a beautiful and painful thing. When people talk about experiencing a crossroads in life, I always picture a simple 4-way stop on a dirt road in the middle of a big, open prairie with a few random trees dispersed throughout. Unfortunately, life isn't always that clean and easy. Sometimes life's crossroads consist of a 20-way intersection mostly involving tons of high-speed traffic whizzing through! I recently got clobbered by a massive semi going well over the speed limit while attempting to maneuver the current crossroads I'm facing. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if this semi ever slows down and stops dragging me and if I'll be able to pick myself back up and make it through the intersection.

Broken (by Jack Johnson)

2007-10-17T13:44:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been over a month since my last posting - and it'll probably be a while before my next. I'm sorry. Between work, school, relationships, and the whole shebang, life just feels a bit overwhelming and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to deal with it all. This blog is pretty far down on my list of priorities right now, so it's going to have to suffer the consequences of my current situation. That doesn't mean I'm abandoning it altogether - I'll still try to write in it once a week or so - but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if a month or two goes by without anything from me. So, I just wanted to give that heads-up.

PEACE!

Not Saying Goodbye (by Edie Brickell)

2007-09-11T11:26:00.001-05:00

My last two or three blogs have been short, heavy, and ambiguous. For that I am sorry. I've been suffering great heartache at the loss of an extremely special and loving relationship. It's bizarre how God grants us such wonderful gifts and then, in certain situations, takes them back from us. I'm struggling to understand all that is going on and how I'm supposed to process, manage, learn, and grow from all of this. I trust that God is strengthening my relationship with him through my weakness and sorrow. I can see that he is calling me to love him first and with all of my heart. For my entire life I have been learning to give all of who I am to God, save for one part - my relationships; he's finally calling me out and asking for this final piece of who I am. You'd think this would be a wonderful feeling - a feeling of release and peace that God is finally getting everything he deserves from me. If only it were that easy. If only the process was that beautiful. Like cleaning out a closet, sometimes you have to create an absolute disaster before you're able to start cleaning. I've been going through that disaster, and I will continue to sift through the wreckage for quite some time as I attempt to clean out my heart and my life, getting things in order to fully and completely hand it over to God. But I'm trying. The toughest lesson to learn seems to be how to truly give someone up to God without letting them out of your life. One thing's for sure - I'm not saying goodbye!

Tailspin (by The Jayhawks)

2007-09-04T08:49:00.000-05:00

It's a lot easier to express myself during the down phases of my life when I live 10,000 miles away from everyone who reads this. I'm trying to figure out if life feels like it's going into a tailspin (a feeling I've experienced more than a handful of times in my life) or if it's simply run full-force into a thick, brick wall - but either way, things are less than ideal right now. The thing that sucks the most is that I'm not sure how to deal with it all, I'm very much not in a place where I want to talk about it, and I certainly don't want to pretend everything is hunky-dory. That makes it very difficult to write a blog. So, for now, please bare with me while I potentially go from week to week with little or nothing to say. I'll do my best to keep you posted and we'll see what turns up on here.

Tangled Up In Blue (by Bob Dylan)

2007-08-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

Forgive me for not updating this in a couple of weeks. Things have been crazy at work, I just got sick, and frankly there's just too much going on inside my head and heart to write any of it down - at least in a public venue. So, for now, have a little patience with me please.

Judgement Day (by Jackie Greene)

2007-08-14T12:17:00.000-05:00

Raise your hand if you hate terrorism. Raise your hand if you hate the death and destruction from planes crashing into buildings, car bombs, and suicide bombers. Raise your hand if you hate terrorists. Raise your hand if you hate Muslims. Raise your hand if you love Jesus. Keep in mind, you can't justifiably raise your hand for all of these - you have to choose.

I've been getting so many emails lately with pictures and stories and videos of these radical Muslims who have cried out for the blood of our leaders, our soldiers, and even us. Included in these emails are blatant expressions of hatred toward all Muslims - and most, if not all, of these emails have been sent to me by Christians. This absolutely breaks my heart! I understand that Jesus was asking something extremely difficult from us when he told us to love and pray for our enemies, but could we at least TRY to do what he commanded of us?!

Let me do another survey:
Raise your hand if you know of a Christian who has ever lied. Raise your hand if you know of a Christian who has ever committed adultery. Raise your hand if you know of a Christian who has ever passed judgement upon someone else. Raise your hand if you know of a Christian who has ever hated anyone. Unless you're lying to yourself (in which case, if you're a follower of Christ, you'd fall in the first category), you should have raised your hand for each and every one of these. In fact, if we go back into history we can even raise our hands at knowing Christians who have mercilessly slaughtered people (namely Muslims - how ironic!) in the name of Christ during the Crusades (and even more recently than that). So does that mean that Muslims and everyone else should disrespect the Bible? Does that mean that Christianity is a violent and hateful religion? Does that meant that Jesus preached messages of murder and war? NO! It means that people are dumb and do stupid things even when they're taught to love and respect others.

I'm ranting, that's obvious - sorry. It's just that it breaks my heart to no end when I hear people who supposedly are followers of Jesus Christ who jump onto the hilltops to tell the world how much they hate Muslims, terrorists, homosexuals, global warming advocates, Democrats, Communists, or anyone else for that matter. My challenge to all you "Christians" out there is to pick up your Bible every once in a while and try actually reading and living it!

Matthew 5:43-48
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the terrorists/Muslims/homosexuals/global warming advocates/Democrats/Communists/etc* do the same? . . . Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

*words in italics changed for cultural relevance

We All Move On (by The Samples)

2007-08-06T12:57:00.000-05:00

In response to the disaster of the 35W bridge collapse on August 1, 2007, two major politicians, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, are both recorded to have said, "This is America - this type of thing shouldn't happen here." How dare they say something so asinine! Who are we to expect that nothing bad should ever happen to us?! Why are places like Indonesia more deserving of all their disasters than America? There is something every American - especially our politicians - need to wake up to: Regardless of what state, country, or hemisphere we live in, we are all residents of a fallen, sinful world! Pain and suffering, tragedies and disasters, darkness and evil are all a package deal where we live - get used to it! And for those who like to take situations like this and use it as ammunition against God, you need to wake up, open your eyes, and shake off your pessimistic attitude! If you want to know where God is in the midst of all this, watch the news and talk to your neighbor, co-worker, family, and friends who crossed that bridge at 6pm every day and are still here to ask "why am I still alive?"

The sad fact of all of this is that we must move on. We must learn from what has happened. Maybe the lesson we need to learn is how to prevent disasters like this. Perhaps the lesson is that we need to treat each day as a blessing and a gift from God because we're not promised tomorrow. Or maybe the lesson is that there may not be time to wait in realizing who Jesus is and how crucial it is to allow him into your life and live for him. I don't know what lesson you're supposed to learn from this, but I do know that if we don't learn, grow, and move forward the deaths and uprooted lives from the collapse of the 35W bridge will be a pointless waste. Honor and respect the lives that were lost and the workers who are exhausting themselves and risking their own lives by making right in your own life what has gotten out of alignment - you may not have tomorrow.

*In loving memory of the lives lost on August 1, 2007 in the Mississippi River

The News (by Jack Johnson)

2007-07-25T14:11:00.000-05:00

I've had many people asking me about my most recent trip to the far side of the world along with my team. I've been able to share a little bit through here as well as a little bit face-to-face with a few people. As much as I'd love to sit down one-on-one with every person I know and get into great detail about my experiences (and I'll do my best to actually do that with those who would genuinely be interested), it's just not always that feasible of an option.

This is why I'm inviting you to come to Wooddale Church this Sunday, July 29 at 1:30pm for a full-team report-back from our trip. There will be a whole lot more than just our report-back going on throughout the day, some of which will involve our team and a lot of which will involve other teams and individuals who will be sharing about what God is doing throughout the world right now.

It promises to be an awesome day - especially at the evening service, The Gathering, at 7pm. There will be good food, fun videos, amazing stories, and tons of cool cross-cultural artifacts on display. I hope everyone in town will make a point to put this on your calendar and come to hear about the opportunities God has blessed us with and share in our experiences together.

If you have any questions or anything, send me an email - JeffreyGrounds@gmail.com - and I'll happily fill you in on any additional details you may need.

Good Guys Win (by Jimmy Buffett)

2007-07-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

I've been back a week as of today (Monday, July 23). I have to admit, it's weird to make such a fuss about having been gone for only two weeks. However, God has certainly done a whole lot more with a whole lot less time! It was an interesting dichotomy between how wonderful it was to be back to some of the places I love with some of the people I had grown so close to while at the same time being a bit frustrated and disappointed at having such a short amount of time back. What's especially surprising to me is how the jet lag has been hitting me. I sleep fine but I keep hitting a wall every afternoon/evening. Hopefully I'll be all caught up soon.

Traveling with a team was filled with surprises for me. It's been so long since I've traveled with so many people. Isn't it strange how after so many years of traveling alone and desiring to have travel companions that I would have struggles with traveling with a team? I've gotten so accustomed to traveling alone that I had to relearn how to travel with others once again. As is true with so many things in life, it was filled with so many pros and cons.

On the one hand, I had to deal with being responsible for a group of people who, for the most part, were inexperienced in traveling and were unfamiliar with the far side of the world and all that's involved in getting around, communicating, and dealing with cultural differences. Add to that the fact that the dynamics of traveling with a group provides so many more opportunities for Satan to use his favorite weapon against me: discouragement.

On the other hand, traveling with this team allowed me to see God at work in some truly awesome ways! I was blessed to be able to watch most of my team members, a few in particular, grow in their faith and experience God like never before in their life. One team member has a distinct new level of maturity and confidence in who he is in Christ; another team member is struggling with how to manage her newly recognized spiritual gift of compassion - a real blessing in disguise; still another team member emerged as a clear and distinct prayer warrior, instilled with a bold confidence in who God is and just how powerful and loving He is! And this is only a quarter of the team.

My trip was filled with blessings and discouragements and I can only hope and pray that I wasn't too much of a distraction for my team and the work God was doing in and through them. He is very clearly continuing to work in their lives now that we're back in MN - for some team members this is more of a struggle than would be expected. Please continue to pray for this team and all the goings on in their hearts, minds, souls, and lives. And, of course, continue to pray for the people who's lives we encountered while on the far side of the world. God is doing a mighty work in a global way!

What a Long, Strange Trip it's Been (lyrics by Jim Morrison)

2007-07-15T16:36:00.000-05:00

We have all made it safely to the point of beginning our journey back to MN from the far side of the world. Yesterday was a good day of fun, rest, and relaxation - for me it was a good time of revisiting old hangout places that have been much missed. Unfortunately, there is no time to get into any detail about the ways in which God has worked so immensely in each of our lives over the past 16 days. Each individual has their own story to tell and their own ways of expressing their experiences - frankly, it's not my place to rob them of that opportunity to share those things with you. What I can tell you is that there have been revelations, struggles, tears of joy, tears of heartache, old friendships revisited and new friendships formed; most of all, God has been realized by many and shared with even more. Keep us in your prayers as we begin our long journey back from the far side of the world. There will be stories to tell, pictures to share, and transformed hearts to witness upon our return. Thank you for all you have done in contributing to what God has been at work doing in and through each of us. We look forward to sharing these things with you one-on-one as well as at our report-back at Wooddale on July 29.

At the End of the Day (by The Samples)

2007-07-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

We're there! Well, pretty much. We've made it to the far side of the world (and if you don't mind my saying so, it's good to be back!) and are about to take a five-hour nap before hopping on the train to the ferry terminal and over to our final destination. Our first flight was long, but manageable. There were a couple of near-bouts with air-sickness, but we've all made it safe and sound and everyone is feeling healthy and glad to be here. It is yet to determine if we have a good night's sleep ahead of us, but we have a nice, quite area that is pretty much all to ourselves where we're able to spread out our sleeping pads and leave the cramped-up fetal-position style of sleeping on the plane behind us.

We've had no glitches so far and from here on out is the easy and familiar part for me. Frankly, I'm excited to be "home" again (which is exactly what it feels like)! In the morning we'll get up early, gather our belongings, and leave the comfort of air conditioning behind us for the hot and humid equatorial weather. Needless to say, it'll take a little getting used to, but I think the team is ready for it. They're gonna LOVE Base Camp =)

This will likely be the last blog posting for two weeks. We will be internet free once we step onto the ferry in the morning. Remember the travel policy in force here: No news is good news. In the case of any emergency we will be able to get word out to those necessary in a very short period of time - but I truly don't see that being a concern.

Please remember us in your prayers. This has been a good, yet uneventful trip thus far and we're anticipating a lot more of the good and a whole lot of "eventful" in the two weeks to come. We're excited, so I hope you're excited for us too. We are in good hands here - the best hands - God's hands! Find the same peace in that as we do.

I'm So Gone (by Jackie Greene)

2007-06-29T14:46:00.000-05:00

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go." Oh how I wish that were true! Packing for a two-and-a-half week long trip to a third-world country on the equator is a very easy thing to do: a couple of pants, a couple shorts, some underwear, a few shirts, sunblock, sunglasses, and some flip-flops; I mean come on, it doesn't get much easier than that?! Things start to get complicated when you're packing a bag full of camera equipment, supplies for the workers on the field, and various other supplies that are necessities for various external purposes. On top of all that, you've gotta love the last-minute tying of up loose ends at work, poorly scheduled pre-trip photography meetings and shoots, and preparing to return to a girlfriend I haven't seen in over two weeks and will be away from for an additional two-and-a-half weeks now. Ah, the stresses of life and travel - I thrive on it (at least the latter of the two)!

I can't speak for the rest of the team, however. One of the problems with traveling often is that it becomes easier and easier to put off the important things until the last minute. When you're going to a new place and you're not used to traveling it's so much easier to dwell on the details and plan and prepare so much further in advance. I like to think that the rest of the team has been packed and ready to go for days, maybe even weeks already! All I know is that I'm getting up at about 5:00am tomorrow (assuming I go to sleep at all) and meeting the crew at the airport at 6:30am and by that time anything we've forgotten or over-packed will be too late.

The flight to Chicago is the one I'm really not looking forward to; it's just too short! It's too long to enjoy and too short to sleep (although God knows I'll try). For the longest time I was under the impression that we were flying non-stop to Singapore from Chicago - that would've been a 22-hour flight! Sadly, I've come to discover we actually stop in Hong Kong on the way. The good news is that I've never been to Hong Kong, so you can bet I'll be heading through customs in the three hour period between flights =) Although our beloved 22-hour flight is being chopped up by a stop in Hong Kong, I still look forward to the potential amount of sleep I'll be getting on the roughly 16-hour long flight. I hope the others can sleep on planes as well as I can =)

Remember, those long stretches of time when there is nothing but silence coming from this blog page it is simply because we are having too good of a time to take a break and write anything. I don't anticipate writing again before we get into Singapore. After that, it'll likely be sometime in the middle of July when we are beginning our trek back from our ethno-tours that I'll be revisiting the information super-highway and making a pit-stop on this blog site. Keep your eyes open and check back soon.

Traveling Light (by Widespread Panic)

2007-06-27T13:46:00.000-05:00

What a crazy several weeks. I'm knee-deep in what is likely to be the busiest, craziest, loneliest, funnest three weeks of 2007. I'm back in MN for three days right now between trips. I just got back from a rather a-typical vacation week for me - in Delaware. Granted DE is hardly the adventure capitol of the US, let alone the world, I got to experience first-hand how true it is that our company is what makes the difference. For five full days I got to hang out with my old climbing buddies from out in CO. We hit the climbing gym, did a ton of jet-skiing, a little water-skiing, watched some movies, took it easy, and we definitely ate, drank, and had a marry ol' time as my buddy, Fu, got hitched. Time with these guys is always a good time!

Now I'm back, recovering from being gone a week and preparing to be gone for two and a half more. I think I'm beginning to feel the burden of responsibility. It's about as much fun as I had anticipated. Needless to say, I'm ready to go back home to the far side of the world. Although, I have to admit that traveling is so much easier when I do it alone. I'm not used to explaining to others the details of how to pack, dress, travel, communicate, eat, and generally live in another culture - I typically just kinda do it. But it's good. I have a great team and everyone brings something precious to the table. Tonight (Wednesday) is our prayer send-off and I'm excited to have this time with everyone together with the focus of committing ourselves, our team, and our ministry up to the Lord.

So, there's a lot to do now. I need to pack, finish up several key communication projects here at work, organize photos I took from Fu's wedding, smooth over some photography scheduling upon my return, and make sure everything is in order with my team. I've never been so excited about a 22-hour flight - I'm gonna do some serious sleeping!

Great is Your Faithfulness (by The Newsboys)

2007-06-20T09:37:00.001-05:00

For those who don't already know, June 30 I will be leaving the states again; this time for a significantly shorter amount of time (17 days) and with a lot more people - 13 of us, to be exact. This team that I'm taking back home to Indo with me include my co-leader, Julie, and a team of 11 others: Phyliss, Becky, Amanda, Erica, Kristen, Tonya, Emilee, Ed, Al, Adam, and Thad.

Our team has been through extensive training and I feel is very well prepared for this trip. All we have left to do is packing and some final logistical details of getting everyone to the airport and on the plane. We have had our final training meeting and our last official time together before meeting at the airport will be on Wednesday night, June 27 at Wooddale Church from 6:30-7:30pm for a prayer send-off (all are welcome to come).

Please keep posted to this blog for updates on our team as we travel. I have done a lot of traveling in my life and I have always functioned with the philosophy "no news is good news." This is important to keep in mind as most of our time away will be spent with no internet connection. I pretty much expect to update this when we land in Singapore on July 1st and again in Singapore on the 15th or so, the day before we fly back.

Remember us in your prayers. Pray for us individually and pray for us as a team. Here are some specific requests to remember to lift up to the Lord:
- Keep focused on God above all else
- The Holy Spirit is at work and we desire to follow where He is leading
- Travel safety
- Good health
- Team cohesiveness
- Patience with each other and with the new culture
- FUN!

The Christian (by Jimmy Buffett)

2007-06-15T08:44:00.000-05:00

I think I've thought for too long that the job of Christians was to correct lost people like Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, and agnostics. Perhaps my paradigm is shifting or perhaps it just a matter of clarity, but it's no wonder Christians are so looked down upon; with this mentality it seems equivalent to belittling others in telling them where they've failed and how wrong and bad they are. It seems to me that it is rather a matter of showing them something (or someONE, rather) they've never known. I heard an analogy today that seemed apt:

"A child walked up to his dad and told him there are men on Mars. The dad's reaction should be to throw his son down on the couch, whip out an astronomy book, and start shoving his face in the book, telling him how wrong he is, right? Hardly! The dad lovingly shows patience at the fact that his son simply doesn't know the truth yet. Maybe he'll come to understand later that day or maybe he'll come to understand in a few years - what's most important is that the son comes to realize for himself on his own terms what the truth is."

Another story I heard this week was of a woman who bought a new puppy and was told that in order for the puppy to live a long, healthy life she was to feed him a tablespoon of Castor Oil every day. So, every day she would chase the puppy down, hold him around the neck while forcing his mouth open, and would shove the Castor Oil down his throat. Every day the puppy would run and hide, kicking and yelping as the woman would regularly shove the Castor Oil down his throat - until one day when the woman found the puppy had knocked the bottle over, spilling it all over the kitchen floor, standing in the middle of it lapping it all up. The puppy didn't hate the Castor Oil; he hated the methodology of having been force fed it!

"Religion", as it were, is a barricade all-too-often. Nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus teach about a religion. There is no record of Jesus telling people to become a Christian. "Christianity" is of man - Jesus calls us to the Kingdom of God. It's not about doing the right things, it's not about following the rules, it's not about having a certain label or title - it's about knowing Jesus and loving him, plain and simple! Why is that so hard for us to understand and accept?

School's Out For the Summer (by Alice Cooper)

2007-06-08T16:24:00.000-05:00

That's right, I'M DONE! And good riddance too! Unfortunately, school has left its residual affect on me - I'm sick. My head is all clogged up, my throat hurts, I'm starting to get sleep deprived and I just want to sleep - sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep! But, of course, I've booked myself too solid for that to be an option. I have date night tonight, a sunrise photo shoot in the morning, three photography meetings all day tomorrow, and another photo shoot that will either be tomorrow at sunset or Sunday at sunrise. At least my schedule is getting overloaded with something I actually enjoy doing. If I can just get myself healthy and possibly even in shape again, this could actually be a good summer!

Oh, and I'm heading out to Delaware in less than two weeks. It'll be SO great to reconnect with old friends and have some time to let loose and have some fun. I'm ready for it!

I Want to Break Free (by Queen)

2007-06-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

I'm only one week away from being done with school, less than three weeks away from flying out east to visit my buddy Mikey to celebrate his wedding along with some other old Colorado friends, and four weeks away from heading back home to Indonesia for a little over two weeks. The week and a half between school and my next trip will be spent doing as many photo shoots as possible to help build and expand my portfolio and increase my networking. It looks like June is going to be a busy month - in a good way! Once school is done, I have about five weeks of bliss ahead of me! Sadly, my girl will be doing her own traveling for several weeks beginning June 13. That means that, as usual, I'll be experiencing my traveling and photography highs on my own. As much as I'd rather share the experiences and excitement, the Lord knows I'm in desperate need of a month of traveling like what's ahead of me. I'm almost there!!!

Nothing Lasts for Long (by The Samples)

2007-05-25T12:23:00.000-05:00

I'm not cut out for school.

Spit On a Stranger (by Nickel Creek)

2007-05-21T09:06:00.000-05:00

I think I've spent too much of my adult life trying to learn to be tolerant of the poor, of other religions and worldviews, of social outcasts, and of people who suffer from broken homes and relationships; there's a whole other grouping of people of whom I have completely overlooked and have recently discovered I have absolutely no patience, tolerance, or respect for: The rich, spoiled brats of this world!

I spent last week (May 13-19) helping my buddy Jason out with his ministry, Good Neighbors, Inc., in south-eastern Kentucky. This was my first chance to see his two-year-old business/ministry first-hand. On one side of the coin, Jason has grown in his faith and maturity by leaps and bounds since I first met him back in junior high. I've seen him make a lot of mistakes in his life and put himself before God and others for a long time. It's an awesome thing to see him so focused on others and care so little about "things" like he used to. However, the other side of the coin reveals that he still has a whole lot more growth and learning in his theology as well as how to run a ministry. There's great potential in him; my prayer is that he'll utilize and live up to it.

My week in Kentucky with Jason and Good Neighbors, Inc. was shared with a team of 24 students and faculty from Minnehaha Academy. I pretty much left junior highers in my past when I left my volunteer staff position in the Wooddale Junior High Ministry back in 2002. Needless to say, I didn't care too much for being a part of this group - my focus was on being there to help Jason in whatever ways he needed me, not to be a chaperon for the little kiddies.
I did a good job of avoiding the team the first half of the week. I was able to focus on Jason and the business and still allow some time to get my studying done. However, apparently 9th grade kids are drawn to people who try to avoid them. By the end of the week, I couldn't shake most of them. Admittedly, there were a couple of cool ones, but there was one in particular who wore me to the core! I don't think I will ever forget the name Christine Gremillion. I can honestly say I have never met a single person in my life who comes close to being as spoiled, selfish, obnoxious, whiney, and downright annoying as this girl. Her parents have done an absolutely horrible job of raising her. In a team of people doing various construction work - whole lot of manual labor - Christine clearly worked two or three times as hard as the hardest worker, only all her energy was spent complaining, threatening, and avoiding work. Frankly, I could go on and on and on about this girl, but in an effort to restrain myself I'll leave it at this.
My purpose for brining this up is that I have learned that I have an extreme shortness of tolerance and patience for people like this. I simply can't handle people who think that everyone and everything exists for their personal betterment. This is what drives me crazy about America and the state it's in and the direction it's heading. Where did all the discipline go? What happened to community and respect for one another? What happened to respect?! I know these things still exist, but there's no denying that these are dying characteristics of our country. Frankly, I weep for the future of our kids, our society, and our country.

Oh, and on a side note, my first draft of my first term paper in seminary (well, this time around at least) is due on Friday night. Why does school have to be so difficult and time-consuming?!?!

Thirsty in the Rain (by Keller Williams)

2007-05-11T09:17:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, I'm a traveling snob. I'm heading to Kentucky on Sunday and I'm distracted from being excited about it by the fact that it's a week's vacation that will be spent inside the boarders of the United States. Needless to say, I'm getting the itch to see and experience new countries, new continents, and new adventures. However, I don't doubt that this week in KY will be a good one. I'll just have to suck it up and be patient until I can head back to my old home on the far side of the world once again this July.

A couple of years ago, one of my best friends started a ministry to the Appalachian people in Kentucky. I've seen him a couple of times since he moved there and have heard a lot about this business, but this will be my first time interacting with it and seeing it for myself. A group of junior highers from Minnehaha are heading down there to do some service projects. We'll be building rooms on houses, fixing places up, and helping in other various ways to prevent people on the brink of welfare from falling into that abyss.

This should be a good week of getting out of MN, visiting an old friend, serving the Lord and His people, getting caught up (and hopefully ahead) on school work as my class is coming to a close in a few weeks, and hopefully even get a little sun! My three biggest concerns are (in no particular order) rest, finances, and studying. I need to stay on top of each of those.

Oh, and I'll be bringing my camera along too, so hopefully I'll capture some golden photos!!!

Nothing (by Edie Brickell)

2007-05-04T09:20:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time I had more people reading this thing than I ever realized. When I returned from my travels last year I had people coming up to me that I had never met before, telling me how they've been reading my blog regularly. Now, I know of about two or three people. Sadly, I'm a person who needs feedback to make sure that anything I'm saying or doing matters or is even being received. Without it, I feel like I'm back at WBCS, the Bethel College radio station I used to work at, where there were literally no people listening and I knew that every word I spoke into the microphone and every song I played were for my ears only.

I don't say these things to whine and complain, but rather to make a point. I feel like I have nothing to say lately. I feel like my new-found consistency with writing in here every week is futile and pointless. If no one is reading this, and if I can't seem to find anything worth reading anyways, what's the point? I'm seriously considering putting this blog into hibernation and pulling it out exclusively for my travels, when people's interest in this website tends to peak.

If you have any thoughts one way or the other, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, I'll take the silence to be an affirmation of my inclination.

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On (By Jimmy Buffett)

2007-04-27T09:01:00.000-05:00

Can evil and good coexist? Can one entity be made up of both good and evil at the same time? Some people say that evil is the absence of good. If you work off this definition, the two must be mutually exclusive and cannot occupy the same entity at the same time. Or could it be that something is good some of the time and evil other parts of the time, but never both at the same time. It's an important philosophical question to ask, especially in today's world where the conflict between good and evil seems more prevalent than ever (which, I'm sure, is something every generation has said).
In light of recent events (and, if I were to analyze my past, I'm sure it goes beyond only recent events), I have to argue that evil and good can in fact coexist within the same entity. I am, of course, talking about technology. It seems that life is made so much easier and more enjoyable with it and that it provides much good for our daily lives ... yet technology sucks!
Most people know that I hate cell phones, yet I can't hardly function without my iPod. Computers, particularly PCs, cause more daily frustration than probably any other man-made object, yet we use them on a virtually consistent basis ... I wouldn't be able to write this and send it out for the world to read if it wasn't for computers. Technology has freed us and shackled us in chains at the same time. But then, I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said a million times before.
My reasoning for writing this blog is due to a personal frustration that I guess I just needed to vent about. I've been exploring the world of photography over the past year and have put a lot of time, money, and energy into it. I've taken hundreds, if not thousands, of photos in the past several months to a year, and I've stored them all on my external hard drive since my piddly PC laptop can't seem to hold more than a few pictures. Well, I accidentally bumped my external hard drive the other day, sending it a whopping 2-3 feet to the plush, carpeted floor. The result: a decision ... 1) throw the hard drive away with all the photos on it, 2) spend around $100 to find out if any of the photos can be saved (and possibly find out that the answer will be "no", after which I'm simply out that $100), or spend between $1600-$2200 to get these photos back. Sadly, my budget is focusing more around the $16-$22 mark!
My level of frustration and disdain at this pathetic piece of technology that can hold more memory than my brain while not being able to withstand being knocked around a little is nearly to the point of being comfortably numb and apathetic ... but it's not quite there yet. I'm about ready to boycott all technology, move to Lancaster County, and become Amish! But, of course, we all know that's not going to happen ... there aren't big enough mountains in Lancaster County. So I guess that technology wins again!

So Hard to Find My Way (by Jackie Greene)

2007-04-20T09:07:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, it's a lot harder to vent, open up, and expresses my stresses, confusions, and concerns on here when I have the potential of running into my readers on any given day. It's much "safer" when I'm 10,000 miles away from anyone and everyone.

Having said that, I'm feeling in over my head, to say the least. I'm not going to pretend that I have anything more going on in my life than anyone else, but I do know that I'm not doing a good job of keeping up and balancing everything. I am so scared that I'm going to do exactly what I did the last two times I attempted graduate school ... fail! And I'm feeling more and more like I'm on that track every day. It seems as though the things that keep balance in my psychological, physical, and social life (relationships, photography, running, climbing, SLEEPING) only get in the way and drag down my academic life. However, if I don't include those necessary aspects of life, I don't do well with school either because I feel so stressed and out of whack. It's a catch-22. I'll be amazed if I manage to get the mandatory B- or better in this class. If I don't, I'm officially free from school ... and from my job! If I do maintain the necessary minimum GPA, that just means that I have a potential additional 3-4 more years of suffering through this hell. AND THIS IS ONLY ONE CLASS!!!!

Life was so much easier when I was a Colorado snowboarding bum!

Reasons Why (by Nickel Creek)

2007-04-13T09:05:00.000-05:00

Prioritizing life can be such a headache. You'd think that people's schedules would be filled with things they love and are good at doing. I mean, why would anyone fill their time with responsibilities they aren't passionate about?! Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the way life works. It's annoying!

My life currently consists primarily of work, school, relationships, and photography. Of course, other things creep in from time to time like sleeping, eating, transportation, shopping, car repairs, down-time, etc. Then there are the things I'd love to do but don't have the time or money to do ... things like traveling, painting, biking, road-trips, surfing, scuba diving, snowboarding, rock climbing, exercising, going out on the town, etc. How do you fit it all in? How do you sacrifice the things you love for the things you like ... or worse, for the things you need but don't necessarily even enjoy?!

One of my big dilemmas right now is actually a pretty nice dilemma to have ... it involves traveling. For the first time in my life I'm working at a job that's full-time with a salary and benefits and the whole shebang. As wonderful as that is, it also means limited vacation. I know, I know, welcome to the real world, right? Well, I have a week where I'm visiting one of my best friends for his wedding ... that's a given. I've been trying to decide what to do with my other week off. I was thinking of going back to Cuba or maybe up to Alaska to do some camping or something. As it turns out, one of my other best friends is in need of some help with his missions business and wants me to fly down to Kentucky to help him out for a week. So, I can either have a traveling adventure on my own or a working vacation with one of my best friends.

My dad has told me on several occasions that every decision you make involves a sacrifice. We sacrifice time to have money, or money to have time. We sacrifice going someplace on vacation to go to another place instead. We sacrifice having one relationship in order to have another. Life is full of decisions ... and the worst part is, there aren't always right/wrong decisions. Sometimes a decision is perfectly fine no matter which one you make ... we just need to decide what we're willing to sacrifice.

Good Friday

2007-04-06T09:50:00.001-05:00

Last night, for the 28th time, I got to hear my dad preach the annual Maundy Thursday sermon ... my favorite service of the year. This remembrance of the last supper and the betrayal and trial of Jesus is the pinnacle sermon of the year. Nothing else in all of the Christian faith amounts to anything without this, the last supper and crucifixion of Christ. I love this sermon because it always brings me back to the cross. In my heart, I get to see and hear the beating, the flogging, the screams, the blood, the mocking, the spitting, the crying, the laughing, and the suffering of my savior ... and I'm reminded that he chose to endure all of that for ME (and for YOU).

There was a passage that was read during the sermon last night that I've heard many times in my life, but penetrated my heart like never before:

(NIV) Matthew 26:50, "Friend, do what you came for."

This year is the fourth year in a row that I have had the privilege of doing an Easter play. The first two years I played the role of Jesus, last year I was doubting Thomas, and this year I'm portraying Judas. For a while, I joked around a lot about having been "demoted" from Jesus down to Judas, but after last night's sermon I have a new perspective.

Growing up, I didn't have many friends. Throughout junior high and senior high I really only had one friend. I believe that God blessed me with Steve, my best friend of 19 years now, to show me the significance of the friendship Jesus offers. It is because of these two relationships in my life that I count friendship to be one of, if not THE, most valuable and precious things in this world.

When I heard the words, "Friend, do what you came for" last night, a new light was given on who Judas was and what he must have gone through. Judas never thought in his wildest imagination that there was any way Jesus would or could actually die. Judas loved Jesus and knew him to be the savior. His intentions weren't to send Jesus to his death, but rather to speed up the process of Jesus' reign and force him to stand up to those in opposition to him and bring down the tyrant rule of the Romans.

Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew the pain, suffering, and humiliation he was about to endure, and he knew Judas was going to start the chain of effects. After pleading with God to prevent that night from happening, after being so terrified that his body couldn't handle his fear and he began to sweat blood through his pours, after needing God the Father to send down angles to comfort and calm him down so he wouldn't die before facing the cross, he stood face to face with Judas and called him "Friend". Jesus had already forgiven Judas for his act of ultimate betrayal ... if only Judas had listened, realized, and accepted that forgiveness!

So today, on the greatest of all Fridays, there is one word that speaks to me and brings clarity to what this weekend and what the Christian faith is all about: FRIEND

Weight of the World (by The Samples)

2007-03-30T08:42:00.000-05:00

The first week of online seminary has proven to be manageable yet stressful. For the most part, it seems as though there are enough small chunks each week that I ought to be able to stay ahead of the game and keep my head above water. However, I get the distinct feeling that it's a lot more complicated than I'm realizing and there are some significant factors that I'm missing. This uncertainty, mixed with the confusion of trying to understand the overall structure of doing a degree online, is causing a fair amount of stress. I understand that I'm less than a week into my current educational experience, but balancing work, school, photography, relationships, sleep, exercise, and social life is already proving to be a trick I don't think I'm as good as as I once was.

One of the things I've been intentional about is trying to find key people to help keep me in check and on task without "coming down on me" if I begin to slide. That's a difficult balancing act in and of itself. I hope I have the discipline to keep from falling into my typical procrastinating ways.

On a totally separate note, I have another headache that I'm going to try to turn into an opportunity for the readers of this blog (the few that remain). I'm trying to find a label to put on my photos and, ultimately, a website I'd like to design. "Jeff Anderson Photography" is just WAY too generic for my taste. Besides, there are more Jeff Anderson's out there than I care to admit. My main focus is travel photography, but I'm attempting to venture into portrait-style photography as well. I thought of using my middle name and came up with GroundsEffect Photography, but it's been pointed out to me that, especially if you don't know my middle name, it just looks like bad grammar. So this is where you all come in:

I'm going to attempt a competition here where I'm requesting submission of name ideas for me. You can give as many suggestions as you'd like. I'm looking for something that is unique, creative, applicable to my photography, and clearly "Jeff Anderson". Whomever comes up with a name that I decide to go with will be able to choose one of my photos and I'll print and frame it for you. You can choose the size of the print, but you'll have to keep into account the type of camera that was used and the number of pixels of that given camera. If it's from my smaller camera, the prints will lose their detail around 8x10. The photos from my newer camera can potentially be larger if you choose one of those.

I hope this makes sense and I hope I get some response/interest. Now get your creative juices flowing and let me hear what you've got!

Come Monday (by Jimmy Buffett)

2007-03-23T08:46:00.000-05:00

A year ago, my life was in a completely different place than it's at now. This time last year I was gallivanting around the far side of the world, at the beginning of an amazing adventure that was nothing more than a beautiful mystery to me. Now, instead of living out of my backpack, traveling from country to country, continent to continent, encountering new cultures, making new friends, and reconnecting with old friends, I'm back where I started. I'm living in the same place and, in a lot of ways, doing the same things.

However, because of the experiences I've been through and the people who have touched my life over the past year, I'm in the same place doing the same things with a new direction and a new intentionality. Come Monday, I'm heading back to school. I'll be starting a very long and challenging journey towards a Master of Arts in Global Leadership at Fuller Seminary. Needless to say, my life is about to make some drastic changes.

The degree I'm pursuing is an online degree. This means I don't have to sit through any boring or confusing lectures, but it also means I have to do a TON of reading ... not exactly my forte. I will need to restructure my life to prioritize accordingly. That means figuring out where things like work, school, relationships, photography, social life, etc. all come into play in relation to each other. Areas of my life will suffer, people will likely get let down, I will likely burn myself out from time to time (especially at the beginning), and hopefully I'll be able to endure this time and will be a better person because of it all. Time will tell, I suppose.

F-Stop Blues (by Jack Johnson)

2007-03-16T09:05:00.000-05:00

I'm stepping out and taking some chances with a new "hobby". I put the word hobby in quotes because I'm approaching it with an attitude that it will develope into something more than just that. I received a lot of unsolicited, positive comments about some of my photographs during my travels in 2006 that I decided to try to do something about it. I've recently purchased a new camera and am attempting to recollect my former knowledge of photography. I'm playing around with some "photo shoots" with friends and trying to see if the eye that I had for composition over on the far side of the world will work here in the U.S. as well. As it turns out, after submitting a couple of my photos into a photography competition, my photo "Three Generations of Beauty" was accepted and is going to be published in a coffee table book of various photographers. As a result of that, my photo has advanced to the next stages of this particular competition. I can't honestly say that I have high expectations, but I'm really hoping this helps me gain some exposure (no pun intended) and recognition. Time will tell.

Unfortunately, with a new job and school coming up in a little over a week (class starts March 26), I haven't had the time I've needed to get my existing photographs in order. I'm working on making them available to view through this blog. Some of my photos are accessable already, but they're more of a concophany of random snapshots than a proper display of my portfolio. I'm hoping to remedy that in the weeks and months to come, as well as to continue to add to it. Until I get that cleaned up the way I want it to be, a grouping of my photos are available to view in my Myspace page (see link on left margin) for those of you who are Myspacers. In the meantime, I'm always open to suggestions, criticisms, jobs, and connections. Hobbies like this tend to be more enjoyable when there are others who appreciate the efforts and results of the labor.

In the next several weeks, I intend to get a little deeper on this topic (assuming there's some progression with it) as well as with my newest attempt at seminary, my new job, and my upcoming travels around the country and the world. So stick around and share the love!

Changes (by David Bowie)

2007-03-09T09:50:00.000-06:00

A lot has happened in my life in the last three months since my previous blog posting. I've moved, I left my job of almost three years, I started a new job at a familiar place, I'm going to be in another play, I began dating a beautiful and adventurous woman, I've become intentional about pursuing some level of involvement with photography, I'm heading back to school, and I've decided to lead a team of 15 people to my old home back on the far side of the world this summer ... just to name a few things.

Life changes have a way of being beautiful, exciting, terrifying, and confusing all at the same time. There's a certain peace and comfort in living paycheck to paycheck, job to job, even country to country. You wouldn't think that having routine and a healthy paycheck would be a scary thing, but we have a tendency to be afraid of what we don't understand. But change is good. It keeps us on our toes. It forces us to grow. It allows us to see the same world and the same life from completely different perspectives. To endure the growing pains that come with change is simply a fact of life that we need to endure (it's totally unintentional, but we should play a game and see how many 80s television shows I mention in this blog. It's already been two in this sentence alone!).

With all the new responsibilities that come with the changes my life is currently facing, I don't see how practical it will be to improve the frequency in which I update my blog page. However, my intentions are good and I will do my best to update more frequently and simply keep the postings shorter. What I need from you is encouragement and even some occasional nagging to stick to this and keep updating my life for you to read. I just need to know that anyone is still reading this thing!

I Heard I Was in Town (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-12-17T14:25:00.000-06:00

I’ve been asked a few questions many times since I’ve returned from the far side of the world. Questions like, “Are you going to keep updating your blog now that you’re back?” Or, “How was your time overseas?” And, “How is it being back?” These are surprisingly difficult questions for me to answer. There’s so much behind any short answer that I find it kinda frustrating to even attempt to respond. And then there’s the fact that most people, when they ask, tend to be asking out of common courtesy and with the desire for a quick, short answer like, “Great!” But that just doesn’t cut it for me. If I’m going to address what I experienced, what I’m dealing with now, or what my plans are for the future, I need to do so fully and completely. Thus the reason I’m finally back online and updating this way overdue blog posting.

Let’s start with the first question … the one about the blog. Well, the fact that I’m writing this right now kind of answers that question. But, to provide more depth to explain my absence over the past months and my intentions for the future, I need to answer the question about how it is to be back.
When I returned to Minnesota, I was expecting reverse culture-shock. Unfortunately, the expectation of it didn’t help to alleviate it. I was hit somewhat hard right away and it really hasn’t subsided, rather it has gone through stages. To begin with, I had to deal with the general discomfort with being back. For me, the more I travel outside the states and the longer periods of time in which I do such traveling, the less I feel like I fit in or belong when I return. The American culture begins to feel more and more foreign to me. It’s not easy when people who have known me within a given context for most of my life see me in the exact same context only to watch me struggle and feel like I don’t belong. It makes me feel guilty at times … I worry that they think it’s personal towards them.
The second stage I went through was trying to cope with the individualism and, subsequently, lack of community here in the states. In places like Asia, community is the core of society. To drop in on a friend unexpectedly is an honorable thing to do. Doors are not only left unlocked, they’re typically left open for people to come and go as they please. If you mistakenly wander into the home of someone you don’t know, instead of being chased out of the house you are greeted with hot tea and a welcoming smile. No one wears a watch … not because they don’t respect time, but because they respect people more. It’s more important who you’re with at the moment than when and where you’re supposed to be next. Whole islands will routinely stop everything they’re doing around 3pm every day to meet together to play and watch sports. Not because they have to, but because it’s a time for everyone to be together. There’s no daycare or babysitting, the children simply play together and the community cares for and disciplines them. If you haven’t experienced this kind of community, you can never understand the love, warmth, and sense of acceptance that comes from living in this type of environment. To face the sharp contrast of the American society just … well … it hurts! I can’t begin to explain the feelings of isolation and seeming abandonment that comes with the return.
Not that the first two stages are past, but now I’m facing a new stage. When I was on the far side of the world I experienced an amazing gift from the Lord: TIME. I can’t say I’ve ever had a time in my life where I have felt like I have done more to serve the Lord than while I was over there. My days were spent in prayer, getting to know God better, relationship building, directly sharing the words and love of Christ with non-believers, encouraging and building up missionaries, supporting short-term team members, and helping to lighten the load of the nationals. To be honest, at times it was exhausting work … and God still provided for me the time to take naps on a hammock, swim in the ocean, read books, have conversations with friends simply to pass the time, and even sit and enjoy the sunset … I mean REALLY enjoy the sunset … on an almost daily basis. Somehow, there was time in the days to take a step back and see, feel, hear, and experience God and his amazing creation. Sadly, all of that seems lost to me here … it always has. And now, I’m facing it full force …which brings me back to the question about the blog.
It’s been my desire to keep updating this site, and it still is my desire. I’ve wondered for a very long time whether or not anyone ever even reads any of this. The funny thing is, I’ve had all sorts of people who have come up to me over the past month or so, many of which I don’t even know, and tell me how much they’ve enjoyed reading my blogs and following along in my journeys. It’s been an amazing encouragement. So, with that said, my intention remains to keep updating my blogs. However, I need to be candid about how the busyness of life has left me tired and unmotivated. I’m attempting to make a few necessary changes to help turn things around, but I can’t say for sure whether or not I’ll be able to overcome the struggles I’m facing. For now, simply know that it is my desire to continue writing in here and I will do my best to do so.

Okay, so I haven’t addressed the question of “How was your time overseas?” Hopefully the details I’ve given regarding some of my struggles has provided some insight as to how my time away was. In a word, it was amazing! In a phrase, it was life-changing. It will forever be a milestone in my life to which I will always compare dates and experiences to (“I met her when I got back from living on the far side of the world.” … “I got that job several months after I returned.” … “I lived there a couple years before I traveled around the other side of the planet” … etc.). For now, this brief synopsis will have to suffice. It’s taken me this long to get this much of an update, and to get into the question of how my time overseas was will take quite a bit more time. So I shall save it for another blog, motivating me to write once again and leaving you wanting more.

One Particular Harbour (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-10-26T03:06:00.000-05:00

When I got my NWA Frequent Flyer number, I remember thinking that I was going to continue to save up all my miles until I finally had enough for a free trip to Australia. There was nowhere in the world I wanted to visit more, and this was my ultimate dream trip that was finally going to become a reality. That was back in 1986 when I was 8 years old. Last month that dream became a reality … 20 years later!
I was on the plane from Singapore to Sydney when I finally saw it. I remember looking out the window of the plane and seeing the vast expanse of ocean that separates Indonesia from the land down under, returning to my movie that I was watching, and looking out the window a short while later to see land … the land I’d been longing to see for over 20 years. I was finally looking upon Australia with my own eyes. And that’s when it hit me like a freight train … this was more than a visit to a new country, more than a visit to a new continent, more than a holiday, more than a ministry, more than the opportunity to see my parents for the first time in over five months … this was a dream come true! Those don’t happen every day.
Leaving my movie behind, I sat there staring out the window in complete awe. I was looking upon the Outback with my own two eyes. Little could compare to what my heart and mind were experiencing at that moment. I was truly on the far side of the world, and there was nowhere I wanted to be more! What I didn’t know was that this was only the beginning of how God was going to bless me over the next month.
When I landed, I picked up my bags and went through customs. On the other side, I was greeted by my dad and mom, holding a balloon that said, “Welcome to Australia” with a cartoon koala and kangaroo in front of the Sydney Opera House. Having not seen them in over five months, I was greeted with the best hugs I can remember ever having! After getting a piece of luggage I had accidentally left on the airplane, we hopped into the car and began to drive around Sydney.
Having been to Sydney enough times to know the streets better than some locals, the next few days were spent with my parents acting as my own personal tour guides. We took a cruise on the Sydney Harbour, past the Sydney Opera House, under the Harbour Bridge, and around to various parts of Sydney for some unique views of the area. We drove west into the Blue Mountains and drove through some great little towns and saw some amazing views on some small hikes. And we drove along the coast and checked out Bondi Beach where I bought the surfboard and wetty I’ve been wanting for so many years. We took my new set to Manly Beach where I got to head out and catch a few waves on my new stick. It was cold, but well worth it!
While we were in Sydney we also connected with an old friend of mine a couple times. After I was on the expedition in Indonesia back in 1999, one of the members and I managed to keep occasional contact via email. I remembered that several years ago she was living somewhere in Oz, so I sent her an email to see if she was still there and living anywhere near where I was traveling. Sure enough, she’s been living in Sydney and we were able to reconnect. It was so much fun getting to reminisce and catch up with someone who had actually been a part of that chapter of my life.
From Sydney, my parents and I flew down to Melbourne (pronounced Melbun … don’t judge, look how we pronounce Las Angeles) where, for the first time ever, my mom, dad, and I all worked and even spoke at the same conference. Granted, my time speaking was about ten minutes long to a group of about 20 whereas my mom spoke for closer to a half an hour to a group of 100+ and my dad spoke a number of times for up to 45 minutes each time to groups of around 1000. But still, we were all there, all working, and all speaking. My main job was to set up a table to promote the Ethno-Tours I’ve been a part of for the past five months. The hope is to grow awareness in Oz of what God is doing through these Ethno-Tours and get some churches to send some groups. This would bring more tourists which would allow access to more islands, homes, and lives as well as potentially provide more year-round trips instead of being limited to the U.S. summers. Time will tell if the Holy Spirit moves through anyone I came in contact with.
While in Melbourne, I got to spend some long overdue quality time with my parents, perfect my left-side driving skills, make some new friends, and reunite with some old ones. A classmate of mine from Bethel is now living in Melbourne with her husband (also a Bethel graduate). Not only did I get advice as to where to go and what to do while there, I also was given a free place to stay after my parents left. I left Oz for New Zealand five days after my parents headed back to the states, so this was a great chance to hang out with some old friends, get to know some of their friends and local hang-out spots, and see more of Melbourne and the surrounding area.
My time in Melbourne was really pretty busy and fun. One of the stops we made was at an animal sanctuary. I got to cozy up with a lovable wallaby and get up close and personal with kangaroo, echidnas, koalas, wombats, at a plethora of other animals known only to Oz. I hung out in the CBD (Central Business District) with a handful of times, including once with a Welch friend I made while rock climbing in Chiang Mai and also hung out with in Singapore for a day or two. I even established my own little hangout spot that has the BEST kangaroo fillets EVER! Hands down my new favorite meal!!!
Before I left Oz, I took a little over a day to drive out west for a night so I could spend my final day driving the Great Ocean Road. On this drive, I not only saw some of the most beautiful coastline I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes, but I also made some new friends from America that I kept running into and eventually hung out with for the better part of the day. It was really nice to have someone to share the experience with.
Sadly, after that day it was time to get on yet another plane and fly east to Auckland. Sure, it was bittersweet because you can’t get too upset at the reality of flying to New Zealand, but leaving Oz was one of the harder experiences of my life. The fact of the matter is, it was easier to board the plane to the land of the kiwis knowing that I was stopping back in Oz in a connection on my way back to Singapore. What was difficult was deciding whether or not to get back on that plane from Sydney to Singapore two weeks later. I sincerely weighed my options and came to the conclusion that God has put two key elements in my life to return to MN to that were worth getting back on that plane. Otherwise, I’d be writing this from somewhere in the land Down Under right now.

If the Phone Doesn't Ring, it's Me (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-09-27T00:06:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven’t written in a while. I’ve been busy traveling, connecting with old friends, making new friends, and trying to be successful in some new forms on ministry for me. But I can assure you that even though you haven’t heard from me in a while, I’m still thriving and having the time of my life. Let me try to get you a little up to speed.

Thailand was a pretty unique experience. It was mostly quite quiet and low-key. The first of my two weeks there was mainly spent relaxing and hanging out during the day at the home of Krista Engebretson, a Westwood missionary teaching at a missionary kid’s school in Chiang Mai, and her roommate, Holly. Part of me was worried that I was wasting my time in Thailand by hanging out in a house the whole time. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was having my own unique cultural experience. First of all, I was getting some much needed rest after four months virtually non-stop in the islands on the ethno-tours. Second, I was engaging into the life of a missionary teacher in northern Thailand. And third, I was reminiscing back to my own experience of living and teaching in Guatemala several years ago. I was also able to use that time to engage in some quality relationship building communication. I know that my time in Chiang Mai with Krista and her friends/co-workers was definitely a blessing and a ministry to me … I can only hope that I had something to offer to her and them.
Now, for those in my life who understand and encourage my passion for nature, culture, and adventure, I’d like to make mention of some of the other things I did beyond hanging out inside on my own. In the first week I was there, I was taken out around town by Krista and Holly at night to various restaurants and local cultural marketplaces. Sometimes just the three of us and other times with some of their friends whom I got to know fairly well. The one full weekend I was there, a group of 12 of us drove about two hours out of town to a reservoir where we took a couple boats to a floating resort where we relaxed and played for 24 hours. It was a GREAT time! The last couple days I was in Thailand, I spent one day rock climbing with a group of other travelers and another day with another group of travelers where we did a jungle hike, a village visit, a bamboo rafting ride, and elephant rides. Oh, and the very last day I was there I got to eat a fried cricket and bamboo worm. I highly recommend the experience!

I spent a couple days in Singapore between Thailand and Australia. During that time, I had a flat all to myself since my friend who lives there was out of town for a couple days. It was a blessing to have my own place of solitude to rejuvenate myself. But I also got to reconnect with a friend I made while climbing in Thailand who was passing through Singapore on her way to Melbourne (we’re getting together this weekend again) and I got to visit another friend at work on her birthday. My days in Singapore were fun, relaxing, and busy!

Now I’ve been in Oz for the last week with my parents. It was so exciting to get to see them for the first time in five months. They arrived a few hours before me and were there to welcome me with a “Welcome to Australia” balloon as I passed through customs. We spent just under four days touring around Sydney as my parents acted as my tour guides. We took a boat tour around the Sydney Harbor where we went past the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, among other amazingly beautiful and iconic landmarks. One day my parents took me to Bondi Beach where I finally bough the surfboard I’ve been wanting for so long. We then drove down to Manly Beach where I got my one chance to actually use the board. It was a pretty amazing experience to be catching a few waves in Australia! I could get used to it, frankly! I was also able to reconnect with an old friend, Charlene, who I met while I was on the expedition in Indonesia back in ’99. Two times my parents and I got to grab something to eat and sit and talk for several hours as I was able to pick up on a nearly forgotten friendship. She, along with the friend I made in Thailand, are now both in Melbourne. Along with a fellow college classmate who’s now living here with her husband, I officially have a total of four friends in Melbourne that I will be reconnecting with. Small world, isn’t it?
For the most part, Melbourne is a time for me to work. It’s kind of cool to realize that both my parents are speaking at a conference where I’m promoting the work going on in Indo. The three of us are all working the same conference together … that’s a first! But it hasn’t been ALL work. The first full day we were here we met up with my former classmate, Taniel. She took us to a place called the Healsville Sanctuary. It was there that I finally got to see dingos and kangaroos and wombats and koalas and wallabies and so many more native Australian animals. I even got to pet a wombat and practically cuddle with a wallaby that didn’t want to stop licking my hand. It was the cutest thing ever … I wanted to take it home with me!!! I’m sure my kitty, Yampa, would’ve loved the new playmate. I still have nearly a week left here and a lot of friends to connect up with, so hopefully I’ll have a lot more experiences to have and stories to tell.

Never Satisfied (by Jackie Greene)

2006-09-06T03:41:00.000-05:00

I recently heard a quote that said something like, “Life doesn’t wait for us to get back on our feet … it’s happening right now.” It’s amazing how quickly time moves on at such a consistent pace without ever slowing down or taking a rest. On my birthday this year, I was on an airplane from my first part of my time on the far side of the world and I was trying to figure out how three weeks could have happened as quickly as it did. But, at least I had the next four months with the second part of my time on the far side of the world to look forward to. And now, in what almost seems like the blink of an eye, here I sit in Thailand reflecting on the past four months, wondering how so much anticipation and curiosity could become memories so fast. And now, I look forward to the next two months as I bounce around throughout south east Asia and the massive islands of the southern hemisphere, trying to brace myself for the moment just around the corner when those two will become another part of my collective past.
So far I’ve been witness and participant to ministries to two distinctive religious people groups from the top of the world to the depths of the sea. I’ve been exposed to the concept and reality of witnessing to the lost by actually WITNESSING, and not through the self-gratifying work service projects that have become the norm in the upper middle class white suburbia of America. God has blessed me through interacting with his people and his nature, exposing me to personal highs and painful lows, and has taken His time in refining my life to become more of the person He wants me to be (although He’s got His work cut out for Him and has a LONG way to go before He’s finished with me!). And now it’s on to the next page in this chapter of my life. It’s time to visit new places, meet new people, experience new ministries, and allow God to continue the work He’s begun in me.
Thailand is a beautiful place with wonderful people, like most other parts of the world I’ve interacted with. When I first began planning my time here, it was mainly for personal reasons and included everything from heading to the southern part of the country to go scuba diving to heading out of country to places like Cambodia and Laos. However, that’s not why God wanted me here. Whether it’s for me to show support and encouragement or for me to be the one to learn and grow from her, my time in Thailand has changed to spending my time with a Westwood missionary who’s at the beginning of her third year here. On different levels I’ve been fortunate enough to see Carol Messerli be a blessing to me and to other missionaries as she’s done missionary care with Wooddale. My hope and prayer are that I can offer something similar while I’m here in Thailand. It’s a new kind of ministry for me and I’m excited to see how God uses me.
From here I go on to even further ministry ventures as I do marketing and promotions for the work I’ve been doing over the past four months. I get to attend a conference where I’ll have a display set up for people to stop and learn about how God’s working in south east Asia and then I’ll travel around from church to church to share more one-on-one. New people, new countries, new cultures, and new ministries … God’s keeping me on my toes! But He’s also providing for me along the way. I’ve made new friends in two different countries so far, I’m getting to know a new friend I’d only previously met once over lunch during a brief homestay in Minnesota a year ago, I’m reconnecting with my parents on the far side of the world, I’m spending time with old friends on their home turf for the first time ever, and I’m making all sorts of new friends through some unique networking.
So, now I have two months of new adventures to look forward and anticipate. I have a challenge that comes with that, though. Someone very close to me recently gave me the assignment of keeping focused on the here-and-now, not allowing the questions of what’s to come get in the way of enjoying, appreciating, and growing from the experiences I’m in the middle of right now. Ironically, it’s a promise I made to myself before I left back in March … to not pay any more attention to the future then is necessary but, instead, to focus on what’s going on at the moment and savor it for all it’s worth. Even so, I already know that come early November I’ll be reflecting back on this moment and I’ll wonder how the past two months went by with the speed in which they did. But then, I’ll have new adventures to look forward to and will need to put my attention and energy on staying focused on those moments as they happen. It’s a never ending battle … and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Piece of Work (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-08-23T08:41:00.000-05:00

It's amazing what you notice in this world if you take a moment to stop and pay attention. A good friend of mine once told me that you can't truly appreciate life until you've taken a day to sit under a tree and look at a single leaf for hours on end ... just studying the colors, the veins, the patterns, the texture, and all the little details that make a leaf as beautiful as it is. It reminds me of the differences between adults and little children. While adults in today's world hurry through a busy life, always complaining that there's never enough time and literally dying because of stress, children are watching ants crossing a hot sidewalk or watching the pods of a dandylion float away in the breeze after they blow on it. I could get a glimps of what my friend was talking about when I looked at his pictures after spending nearly half a year hiking the Appelachian Trail or when I visited Arches National Monument with him. So many of his pictures were of lizards or animals or individual flowers while so many of mine are of landscapes and mountains. It's good to look at the big picture and see where you're at in comparison with the rest of the world, but sometimes it's good to just take a seat under that tree and spend the day looking at that leaf.
Yesterday I left my final island stay early because I got sick. I came back home so I could get some rest and try to get better by the time this last group leaves so I could conduct their debrief for them. Instead of heading back to the house I'm living at, I decided to go to the office instead. The office has a bed, bathroom, and AC just like at home, but at the office there are people who I could count on if I needed them as I tried to rest up and get better. When I went to bed last night in the creature comforts of the office as opposed to the comparatively impoverished dwellings of the island stays, I saw some things that caught me a little off guard. Sure the cat I saw digging through the garbage outside and the giant cockroaches I saw crawling around were quite par for the course no matter where I sleep these days. But, the mouse I saw crawling around on the counter and the spider that was quite literally the size of my hand that was chilling on the kitchen table were a bit more out of the ordinary. The mouse got away before I had a chance to chase it out, which is fine since I don't really have a problem with mice. However, when I saw the spider, once I regained my composer I took the time to try to get a couple of good pictures of it before I killed it (okay, I really do hate spiders, so it's death was really quite emminant). Frankly, I was surprised I slept as well as I did last night in the middle of "the zoo", as my mom referred to it.
Tonight was a little different though. There's one other creature that scurries around and calls out to me no matter where I go that I'm actually quite fond of ... the cicak (chichuck), or a type of gecko. It was pointed out to me once how the cicak proves God's existance because of how masterfully it's made. It can carry it's own weight, vertically or even upside down, on virtually any surface ... something man has attempted to duplicate on countless occassions and has always failed. I saw a tiny cicak in the bathtub tonight ... it was smaller than half my pinky finger. I managed to pick it up and it just sat on my finger, allowing me to look at it like my friend looked at that leaf. Sadly, I didn't spend several hours taking it all in, but in the few minutes I took to get to know my new little friend, I got to notice quite a bit. I was able to see his little chest quickly collapsing and expanding in steady beats as he nervously breathed in and out. I saw those little fingers that so miraculously cling to the walls and ceilings everywhere I go. I learned that he has no eyelids, so instead of blinking he's constantly licking his own eyes one at a time. I learned that he had to face an internal struggle between being afraid of this giant potential preditor and basking in the warmth of my skin.
My good friend who told me his secret of appreciating life through the careful study of a single leaf is dealing with his own internal struggle of not wanting to believe in a God who can allow pain and suffering yet finding it difficult to refute the existance of a higher being when he examines that leaf. Admittedly, it breaks my heart that I can do my part to help lead what were once total strangers to the Lord (those total strangers are now my good friends!), but I can't lead the people who mean the most to me to my Savior. But, that's not the point of what I'm writing ... I just wanted to write this out because I didn't have my camera with me to take a picture of that little cicak. I guess sometimes a camera just gets in the way of truly capturing God's beauty, eh?! :)

Window on the World (by Jimmy Buffett) or I've Been Everywhere, Man (by Johnny Cash)

2006-08-09T08:51:00.000-05:00

There’s a debate between my dad and me as to exactly how old I was when I first visited Maine, my 50th state. I think it was when I was 16 while he says I was 15. I’m pretty sure I drove while I was there which would’ve made me 16, but we were in a rental car which means that it was illegal either way, so chances are I’m remembering it wrong and he is right (which he often is!) and I was actually 15. Either way, my traveling lifestyle started at a rather young age if I averaged 3 and a third states per year for the first decade and a half of my life.
It was right around that same time of my life that I got my first taste of a new continent. Europe, to be exact. I got to visit Scotland and England with my parents and my paternal grandma, Mimi. She’s 96 now (or is she 97 already?!) and our visit to her homeland together was the last time she was able to return to her place of birth and prime development. She showed us where she was born, where she grew up, where she went to school, where her father was buried (it was the first time she had ever seen his grave). It was an experience I will cherish for all my life. As well as being a treasured part of my adolescence and familial heritage, it enlightened me to world travel on a new scale … and I was hooked!
I know this sounds almost sick to most people who only dream of seeing more of the world then the city or state in which they grew up, but since that first European visit I’ve averaged going there about once every four years. It almost feels like a familiar hangout spot for me. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point. At the ripe old age of 28, including one time when I simply connected through Amsterdam on my way back to the states from India, I have visited Europe a grand total of five times (I think that’s right) and Asia a total of four times. Having been to three continents, and my fourth one a matter of weeks away, I have been blessed with the opportunity to visit all 50 states, seven Canadian provinces, and 27 countries (three more to come before November).
Two of the things that come as a result of traveling like this are jealousy/competition, and big dreams. One of my greatest accomplishments is that I managed to beat my parents, my traveling gurus, to Spain, Iceland, and Cuba … and they STILL haven’t made it to Iceland or Cuba!!! They got to Spain about a month after I was there (WHEW! That was close!!!). However, my greatest jealousy lies in the accomplishment my parents achieved when they visited their seventh continent, Antarctica! Maybe it’s because most people expect your 50th state to be Alaska while mine was Maine, but it is my personal goal to hit all seven continents, like my parents, only to make Antarctica number 6. This is all just a dream at this point, but it’s in the forefront of my mind. There are still two other continents to visit and TONS of countries I’ve never been to. That’s another problem with traveling a lot … it’s easy to focus more on where else there is to go rather then where you’ve been. However, it’s where you’ve been that make up who you are ;)

In no particular order:
1. Canada
2. Mexico
3. Guatemala
4. United States
5. Costa Rica
6. Holland
7. England
8. Scotland
9. Iceland
10. Lichtenstein
11. France
12. Spain
13. Germany
14. Italy
15. Switzerland
16. Czech Republic
17. Austria
18. Russia
19. Romania
20. Philippines
21. Cuba
22. Singapore
23. Japan
24. Indonesia
25. India
26. Malaysia
27. El Salvador

September/October 2006
28. Thailand
29. Australia
30. New Zealand

Waiting for the Next Explosion (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-08-08T08:02:00.000-05:00

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and now more terrorist attacks … things really aren’t looking very promising lately. I’ve had some people email me and ask me if I’m still alive after they heard word of these natural disasters that have been occurring over here (I like to respond to emails like that and tell people that I died … it keeps people on their toes!), and now I have people warning me about the restrictions and dangers of flying. There are two things I want to make sure everyone is aware of:
1) I appreciate your thoughts, love, and concern!
2) I’m not about to let some crazy earthquake, volcano, tsunami, or even terrorists bring me down and bring an end to this adventure I call life ... it’s going to take the hand of God Himself for me to move on from this life and stand in His presence (it’s a little pact I made with God when I was younger … long story).

Now, it’s true that I may get hurt along the way, but that’s usually my own doing. I’m the one danger in my life that I can’t get away from. Other then that, know that I’m safe and having a grand ol’ time (even when things are tough). And when it comes to the obstacles of dealing with airline issues in the aftermath of terrorist threats, just know that I’ve done my share of traveling and I know how to find loop holes, work the system, and in a worst case scenario, I can be patient.

Altered Boy (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-08-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

Here I sit in the dark with my friends and their families. It’s an interesting dynamic in one sense. The sense of community here is an aspect of this culture in which America could learn quite a bit. It seems most everywhere I go I see neighborhoods, villages, and islands where everyone knows each other and depends upon one another. Back in America it’s hard to make new friends, find love, or feel safe in most communities. It’s been years since I’ve lived anywhere where I knew my next door neighbor at all, let alone have I been friends with or even interacted with any of them on a regular basis. But here, community is everything … and it’s contagious! The three guys that run this company were best friends back in college … and each of their wives where in that same circle of friends. It was a small community in which they all got married and moved to the far side of the world together. Right now one family is back in the states (leaving me in a house all by myself) and half of another family is back there too. That leaves one full family, one father/husband that’s here alone, and one bachelor (me). So, here I sit in the dark during one of many power outages with a family that is mostly blood but entirely connected at the heart as we celebrate the birthday of the father/husband formerly mentioned. It is most certainly a birthday to remember.
Since I last wrote in here, quite a bit has happened in my life. The most significant experience was having Steve, my best friend, come spend a week and a half here with me. God has continuously shown me how loving and creative He is. Steve was exactly what I needed in the middle of a personal season of discouragement. Admittedly, I expected the mere presence of Steve to be enough to bring me out of my funk and give me the encouragement and energy to carry on. Seeing him as he pulled up to the jetty on the boat was a memory that I will cherish and carry with me for the rest of my life, and the high that hit me at that moment continued for at least a few days … but Steve wasn’t what my life was lacking. What God did, however, was use Steve as a tool, the only tool that would really work for me during my discouragement, to lead me back to leaning upon the Lord. There was no one else on this planet with whom I could have shared what I was going through and have pray for me like Steve. It took his understanding of who I am and how I deal with things as well as his heart, friendship, and voice of prayer to call upon the Holy Spirit to descend upon me to renew my strength. And it has taken the realization of his continued prayers for me, along with the prayers of so many others, to give my heart a renewed strength, peace, and focus. I still struggle to experience the joy I first felt upon my arrival here, but I once again have the patience, peace, and endurance that comes from the Lord on a daily basis that allows me to carry on.
There have been a total of nine different islands that have been visited throughout this “summer” … some of them I have visited more than once, only one of the nine did I not get to experience. Having visited eight islands with nine different groups, I’ve come to understand how crucial rest is within ministry. At one point I was determined to attend every island, but during my nearly week-long “vacation” in Singapore with two different groups that were en route back to the states, I realized that I needed to take a break and miss out on one of the island stays. Part of me regrets this decision, but I know it was a gift from God to give me the rest I needed. I have become known here as the professional napper. There have been times at Base Camp where I’ve taken naps that have lasted four hours or longer. Just last night I slept until noon. My body is wiped out and I’m not shy to sleep every chance I can get! Still, it saddens my heart to realize that there is only one group left and two more islands left to visit. The greatest encouragement is that the two islands consist of an island I’ve already visited and has been my absolute favorite island (seriously, I could live there … these people are some of the greatest people I’ve met throughout my world travels!) and the other island hasn’t been visited by this organization since they were forced to flee in the middle of the night for their own safety several years ago. God has been doing some great work in both these islands and I’m incredibly blessed to be able to be a part of this next group. I’m stoked!!! But then, it’s over.
I have a couple different times where I’ll be back between travels where I may be able to attend a follow-up visit, and I plan on coming back for about two weeks after I finish up in Australia and New Zealand. The funny thing is, my biggest concern at this point is money. I have a connection here with this country, the people, the organization with which I’ve been working, and the team with whom I’ve been living that would make it easy to stay. If it weren’t for the fact that I have no way to make money while I’m here, I dare say I wouldn’t leave. But, it seems to me that God is calling me back to the states. Maybe it’s to raise money to come back. Maybe it’s to realize that God is calling me to something more than just staying in one place. Maybe it’s to find a partner with whom I can travel and serve. Whatever the reason, I’m heading back to the states the beginning of November. In some ways it feels like my seven and a half months is coming to a close … in another sense it feels like my adventure is about to begin, going to at least three new countries and serving at a totally different capacity through networking and promoting. The question remains where I will live, how I’ll make money, what will happen to me relationally, and where God is going to take my life in general. I suppose that’s just a part of the adventurous journey of life though. I still have three months to wait and see where the Lord will take my life upon my return. I’ll let you know what happens as soon as I know anything!

Someday I Will (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-06-24T05:18:00.000-05:00

A while back my dad wrote a book entitled When God Says No. Unfortunately, the Billy Graham Crusade messed things up when they thought the title was too negative and they changed it to Praying to a God You Can Trust. I say it’s unfortunate because it’s the former of the two titles that has had such an impact on my heart, often bringing to mind that simple phrase, “When God says no”. I have found many times in my life where I have prayed a specific prayer that it seems God is saying “No”, and sometimes that’s exactly what He’s saying. However, on more occasions then I could possibly count, I clearly haven’t been listening carefully enough. Because, had I been listening more carefully I would’ve realized that God wasn’t saying “No”, but rather, “I’ve got a better idea!” I seem to be in the midst of one of those times right now.
Back in 1985 my parents were wise enough to enroll me in the Northwest Airlines Frequent Flyer Program. Since then, I’ve been saving up my miles. I’ve used a few of those miles here and there for some special trips (like when I flew down to West Palm Beach, FL to see Jimmy Buffett in concert for the first time … and in his home town no less!), but for the most part I’ve just kept saving them. At first I didn’t know what I was saving them for, but as the miles began to build up I realized that I wanted to use them to go to Australia … the cost: 100,000 F.F. miles. Well, I’ve had those miles for quite some time now, but the opportunity to use them just never seemed to present itself. For the better part of a decade now, I’ve been praying to add Australia to my list of countries and continents that I’ve been to, but there was always some obstacle in my way. I come to find now, that what seemed to be a “No” from God was simply a “I’ve got a better idea!”
As most of you know, I’ve been spending the last two months here on the far side of the world working with some friends who run an ethno-tourist company. Unfortunately, most to all of their ethno-tourists come from North America. This creates two significant problems. First, it means that any time these guys want to visit their supporters they have to spend several days traveling half way around the world at an incredible financial cost. Second, since most of the ethno-tourists are college-age and young adults, the only time they have off where they can spend two to three weeks of traveling is in the summertime. This creates a bulk of the year that is essentially downtime … a loss of significant opportunity cost.
On my way to the airport to come over here, my parents, my best friend, and I stopped at a deli for lunch. As we were sitting and talking, I found out that my parents were scheduled to be in Australia just after my time over here was up. So, half jokingly, I asked them if I could go with them. I didn’t really get a straight answer, but with only a glimmer of hope the answer didn’t seem too promising. The proposal was all but brushed off until I got over here and began to do some serious thinking. I scheduled my time to be completed here at the beginning of September while my parents were scheduled to come to this side of the planet towards the middle/end of September. Was there a reason beyond purely personal and selfish longing to go to Australia with them? What about the gap of time between my scheduled departure and their scheduled arrival? Is there anything in the midst of all this in which God was at work and wanted me to be a part of it?
When it comes to traveling and geography, I have this way of thinking that is unlike most other people. For example, when I went to Germany to see one of my very best friends get married a few years past, I decided to spend a couple weeks afterwards backpacking in some countries I had yet to visit. So, I found myself on a train in Frankfurt early one morning on my way to Paris. From there, I decided that, because of a song by, you guessed it, Jimmy Buffett entitled “The Coast Of Marsailles”, I would take a train down to the French Riviera and, as the song says, sit on the coast of Marsailles. From there, after a night of sleeping on the beach because I didn’t want to “waste” the money on a hostile, I headed down to Barcelona for a few days. My line of thinking from there was, “I’m in Europe and when I was in Bali a few years past I made some friends from England … I should go visit them since I’m already here (in Europe).” So, I gave them a call, bought a plane ticket on Ryan Air, and flew up to England to visit some old friends for a few days. That’s just how my mind works. Some people will visit friends because they happen to be in their neighborhood, others because they’re in their city, others still because they happen to be in their state. Me, I visit people because I’m in their hemisphere! Thus was my line of thinking when I started thinking about visiting Australia. If I’m going to be that close, I might as well visit my friends in New Zealand, right?!
The more I thought about it and the more I prayed about it, the more things started to come to my mind and seemingly fall into place. I spoke with my friends here that I’m working with to make sure it was even something they were interested in, and they thought it’d be a great idea to travel down under and try to do some networking for their business. We made contact with the head of the conference my dad is to speak at as well as with my friend in New Zealand and both seem very excited about the idea of hearing about the work God is doing up in these parts and how they might get connected. I’ve run into a few “speed bumps” along the way, such as financial issues, but the Lord seems to be at work in smoothing out the rest of the journey. Nothing is finalized by any means at this point, but here’s what it looks like God has in store for the end of my journey over here on the far side of the world:
To wrap up my experiences here, there is a scheduled debriefing time with one of my “bosses” here. The hope/plan as of now is to do that debrief time at the end of August in Bali after the last ethno-tour group departs. Admittedly, there would be some surfing and scuba diving as a part of this debrief time. From there, I would head up to Thailand to visit a missionary friend of mine from Westwood for a week or two. This would sufficiently and appropriately fill in that early September gap until I head down to Australia to meet up with my parents for the conferences. There, I will set up a booth and have my dad promote me from the stage to have people come over and here about the work God is doing where I am now. The idea with this is that churches from all over the country would be coming to me instead of me traveling to all of them. After a couple weeks in Australia, I will head New Zealand to spend a couple weeks with my friend. I would meet with his church as well as connect with some other churches in the country with which my friend has connections to, sharing with them the same information I will have shared in Australia. From there, I would head back to the states with a few personal days of checking out Tokyo, Japan … someplace I’ve only seen from inside the airport.
So, the question that is left to answer from all this is why? What’s the purpose? Well, the answer is simple. The organization here would not only expand their number of ethno-tour groups throughout the year, they would also have a shorter and cheaper distance to travel to connect with some of their supporters. Plus, the same restrictions of the college-age and young adults only being able to get time off in the summer would allow for ethno-tours to come year-round during the US and Australian summers.
What can I say, God is creative! I could never have come up with something so masterful on my own, nor could I have ever anticipated such a purposeful and substantial reasoning for my first trip down under. Not only that, but it allows me to use my F.F. miles for one of my two backup plans: 1) Fly to Tanzania, Africa to scuba dive in Lake Tanganyika and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, or 2) Fly down to Argentina where I can find a relatively inexpensive cruise to Antarctica that I can join. We’ll see what the Lord has in mind, because His ideas tend to be exponentially better than mine!

The Missionary (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-06-24T04:55:00.000-05:00

Some of you … well, let’s face it, pretty much ALL of you … have been wanting to know exactly what I’ve been doing while I’ve been over here on the far side of the world. Admittedly, it’s hard to sum it all up. Each day has it’s own uniqueness. Each island I visit has it’s own character and personality. I live on “Island Time” here (which most of you probably understand because I tend to live on Island Time back in the states too, which drives most of you crazy!) which means that any schedule is open to change … and the schedules certainly do change! So, there’s not much consistency or normality to which to summarize exactly what I’m doing here. But, I’ll try none-the-less … just for you ;)
First, let me just say that my overall time here has been a rollercoaster of emotions, relationships, spiritual growth, spiritual warfare, and cultural adaptation. I have spent time at home in the city, out at base camp, vacationing in Singapore, and living out in the homes on various islands. Each occasion offers it’s own rewards and challenges. But, since the second half of my time over here as begun and it looks to be the busiest half with the most amount of travel, work, and island-stays, I will focus primarily on my times in the islands … especially since this is what it’s all about anyways.
Before ever going to visit any islands, the new group of ethno-tourists are brought to Base Camp where there are usually a couple days of acclimating to jetlag and having some meetings to prepare them for their work on the islands. During these meetings, they are taught about cultural awareness and appropriateness, typical religious beliefs of the islanders, and proper use of our national guides who do our translating.
The islands vary from being a few minutes away from Base Camp to up to a couple of hours away. Sometimes we take a ferry if it’s far enough away, but typically we take a long, wooden boat in which we are typically pretty cramped and often have the spray of the crashing swells against the bow and hull soaking us. There is typically a welcome party when we reach the jetty of the village to which we will be staying. The party generally consists of a group of women dressed in traditional clothing and playing hand-held drums while singing a welcome song. They continue to play and sing as we file everyone out of the boat and distribute the luggage accordingly. From there, we are paraded down the jetty to land and escorted to the local government building … typically no more than a few rooms big. There, we are officially welcomed by the local officials and distributed to the homes in which we will be spending the next three nights.
There are generally three or four tourists in a home including a guide. The entire first day is spent talking with our host families, along with any of the number of other neighbors who tend to wander in and out of the house, learning their names, relationship with one another, and asking general questions about life, culture, religion, and relationships.
Our meals are generally sitting on the floor and eating with our right hand … and let me tell you, eating with your hand, especially only one hand, is a true art form! The food always consists of white rice and some kind of fish. Often times there is chicken too, and there are usually some spices that are either already in the food or on the side that we can add. Many of the tourists can’t handle the spiciness of their food … personally, I love it! One thing to note is that the chicken that we eat was generally running around in front of the house earlier that day and the fish was likely caught no more than a day earlier. The food typically looks very unappetizing, especially when the fish is almost literally staring back up at you as you’re eating it. It’s a lot like those old cartoons where the cat takes a whole fish, sticks it in it’s mouth, and pulls it out with only the head, tail, and bones remaining. If you eat it right, that’s exactly what this fish looks like when we’re done eating. As repulsive as the food looks though, it’s generally quite delicious … at least, once you’ve gotten used to it.
The second day can be spent doing anything including talking, fishing, walking, playing sports, riding in boats, or doing whatever else our host family might suggest. Some families are more active and involved then others, so that plays a big factor. On one island, they have regular sailboat races and they invited the guys of our group to participate. That was quite an amazing experience! Certainly not a typical island event for us though. Usually the sports begin around 4pm and most of the village is involved. These villages are very communal in all their activities. It’s really quite sad to think of how individualistic America has become compared to the biblical ways these locals live in being the communal beings God created us to be. As a general rule, I don’t know who my next door neighbor is when I’m living back in the states, whereas these people are instinctively meeting together at the same place and at the same time every day as an entire village. We have a lot we can learn from these people!
One thing I should mention is that there are two bucket baths per day. It is required that we take one first thing in the morning and then one again in the evening after the sports. In the heat of the day we get sweaty and stinky enough, but when we’ve been playing volleyball or football (soccer for those back home) or any of their other sports, it’s easy to get pretty soaked with sweat and ripe smelling. Thus, the cultural two bucket baths per day. It’s really quite interesting the way these people don’t hesitate to throw their garbage on the ground or in the water yet they demand the cleanliness of regular washing.
The conversations we have with our families and the other islanders tend to get pretty deep and purposeful as early as the second day. What’s amazing is that their religion and culture are directly tied together, so there’s no stigma against talking directly and intentionally about their beliefs. As ethno-tourists, that’s why we’re there. So, as a result, we learn a lot about their beliefs and understandings and are able to share with them some of what we believe and why. This is truly the most amazing part of our times on the islands. By the second night our evening conversations often allow themselves to get fairly intense, although sometimes the people we’re with never allow us to go very deep at all. One of the key things we focus on is figuring out who’s a true seeker and spending most of our time with them. There’s no point in forcing a conversation with someone who isn’t interested in hearing or talking.
Day three will often be the day that we do our CD (Community Development) project. This can be anything from building a road to teaching English. Sometimes it’s just us tourists who are doing the work while other times half of the village will join in and help us. We like it when the latter of these two happens! We’ll usually do the CD project in the morning and then go back home for lunch. It’s not uncommon to take a nap after lunch for two main reasons: 1) It’s easy to exhaust ourselves and the evil one often uses fatigue to keep us from being focused enough to have conversations later on that night, and 2) Many of the locals will also be napping in the early afternoon because the heat of the day demands it. From there, it’s sports again in the later afternoon and then dinner.
After dinner, most of the islands will give us a goodbye party. The party can involve our host families dressing us up in their best traditional clothing. We are seated at the seats of honor and will watch their presentations on a stage they may have made in the few days we were there. They will have traditional dances, singing, speeches, and playing of their traditional handheld drums. Sometimes they’ll end the night by blaring the music and having a free-for-all dance with the whole village. Some of these parties will last a couple hours while others go well into the night. These are a ton of fun, but often prevent us from having time for last night conversations … so they are bitter-sweet experiences.
The next morning we have breakfast, pack our belongings, and meet as a big group. We say our goodbyes and are escorted back down the jetty on which we arrived. Sometimes it will be escorted by the drums that welcomed us while other times it will simply be a conversational stroll with our new friends. Regardless, the feel always changes between our welcome and our farewell from being greeted by strangers to being sent off by friends … sometimes with tears in our eyes. It’s amazing how close you can get to people, even people who don’t speak your same language, in a matter of a few short days. As we get on board our boat and motor away, there is a traditional Anderson goodbye as both the tourists on the boat and our new friends back on the jetty will wave frantically at each other until they are no longer in sight.
We often talk about our new friends the entire ride back to Base Camp, as well as discussions about how excited we are to be sleeping in a bed as opposed to the floor and taking an actual shower instead of a bucket bath. When we get back to Base Camp we have a day, maybe two, of debriefing from the previous island and preparation for our second island. Each tour will consist of two island stays, each three nights long, and generally each very unique from the other. During our time in between, we do our best to process what we’ve just experienced in the recent days past, prepare as best we can for what we’re about to experience in the days to come, and find a healthy balance between rest and play during the time in between.

Hopefully this has answered more questions then it has brought to your mind, but if there are any specific, burning questions that have been brought to your heart or mind from reading this, please feel free to ask. That doesn’t mean I’ll answer it, necessarily … but I’ll certainly try!

God Don't Own A Car (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-06-06T08:09:00.000-05:00

And neither does my friend, Krista.
Sorry about the title, but it just seemed the most appropriate under the circumstances. I have a request for you all. I have a friend from Westwood, Krista, who has been serving our Lord in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the past couple years and is coming home for the summer. I had originally offered for her to use my van while I was out of the country, but things changed and I ended up selling my van to one of my best friends, Jason, who recently started his own non-profit organization in Kentucky through which he is also serving our Lord and was in need of a large vehicle … and I was in need of money. It seemed to work out pretty well for everyone but Krista. Now she’s coming home June 11 until August 6 or so and will have no mode of transportation while she’s home. I promised her I would see what I could do to help her find a vehicle she could either borrow, rent, or buy for the summer. Her exact words when she emailed me were, “I know beggars can’t be choosers, but … I would really like a small automatic car.” Keep in mind she was ready to drive around Evangeline, my beast of an ’86 Ford Econoline conversion van. The small automatic car is her preference, but she’ll count any running vehicle as a blessing from the Lord!
I’m hoping to get one more blog written before the end of this week because once this weekend comes I expect to be pretty non-stop busy and away from most internet opportunities until August (with an occasional day or two here and there where I don’t know how much I’ll be able to get done). So, if you think I was incommunicado before, my understanding is that that was nothing compared to what’s to come. That means that if you have any leads for Krista regarding a car for the summer, I’m not the right person to contact because I probably won’t get the message until it’s too late. Instead, could you please contact Mark Bendell at Westwood? The number there is 952-224-7300. And if you don’t have any leads for her, prayer would be super appreciated as well!
Thank you!!! And keep posted for more bloggings in the next couple days. I’ll try to add pictures too, but that seems to be easier said then done lately.

There's Nothing Soft About Hard Times (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-05-31T07:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the last couple of weeks have been interesting, to say the least. I’ve visited remote islands and villages, seen God at work, been attacked spiritually, felt inspired to write a book, battled depression, revisited the question of who I am, gotten sick, had some experiences on the high seas that I will count as some of my greater life adventures, visited an uninhabited tropical island paradise, and randomly stumbled across another boat I used to live on. Like I said, it’s been interesting.
Let’s start with the bad stuff. I don’t want to get too into this because I want to keep this somewhat manageable to read and I just simply don’t want to get too caught up in the negativity. For those who don’t know me well, I struggled with depression throughout my adolescence (like everyone else, I’m sure) and into my early adulthood. Some of those old feelings revisited me when I was blasted with feelings of inadequacies regarding my time and responsibilities here, the realization that the woman I loved and expected to spend the rest of my life with got married while I was doing my island stays, and having to face the fact that some of my character flaws were causing me to ware on the nerves of the people I was with. I have to be honest, I questioned my purpose here. Like when I was living in Guatemala, I struggle with feeling like I’m getting in the way more than helping out. I’m facing the realities that some of these things are spiritual attacks, some are realizations of changes that need to be made in my life, and some are a combination of the two. Prayer would be a wonderful gift from anyone willing to give it regarding these things!
During my attempt to escape my depression and to give the rest of the group a break from me, I finally finished one of the books I’ve been reading. Let me just say that this book did wonders for boosting my morale here. So much so that I couldn’t stop reading it and now, unfortunately, I’m done with it … I’m kinda sad about that. Being bummed about not being able to obtain my temporary escape through this book, I got the inspiration to write my own. I don’t know, this is probably just some dumb little passing phase, but the thought of writing a novel or something has always lingered in the back of my mind. I have no idea what I’m doing and, in all likelihood, this will never come to fruition, but it’s a new dream that seems to be stronger now then it’s ever been for some reason. We’ll see what happens with that.
Alright, so I had the ride of my life through the open sea. To be honest, I sincerely feared for my life. It was awesome!!! There were five of us in this little fiberglass dinghy that we took through these two meter high waves on an hour or two long ride to a remote island. Within the first minute of the ride we were all soaking wet from the waves crashing up over the bow, flooding our boat and drenching us. Our driver had to wear a dive mask so he could see where we were going. There were times when we got at least a couple feet of air, both the boat off the waves and us out of the boat. A couple of times we almost got tossed out the side of the boat when the currents shifted. As long as we hit the waves head on we were fine, but there were a couple of times when the waves hit us from the side and almost capsized us. Had that happened, who knows what would have happened to us. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! And to top it all off, our destination was this GORGEOUS remote island. We walked around the whole island and up onto a couple of the hills that are on the middle of it. From the hills you could see a 360 degree panorama of the island, the sea, and the islands that dotted the horizon surrounding us. The rocks, palm trees, grass, sand, and water on this island were simply amazing. This island has some serious potential. How amazing would it be to own this little piece of land in the middle of the sea? Hopefully we’ll find out someday soon. Check my picture link … I’ll try to show you some pictures of the island to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
Between the two island stays I was on over the past couple of weeks, we had a break at a small resort between the two islands. For all intents and purposes, we were in the middle of nowhere. I have the story of my experience at this resort all written up in my journal, but to save some time and energy here and to make this easier for you to read, I’ll cut to the chase. Upon our arrival there, I saw my old home … the AGAPE. Again, check out the pictures to see what I’m talking about. This is a boat that I lived on, along with the Lady O and the Lee Way (now the Picante), for nearly two and a half months back in 1999. In my mind, I KNEW I would NEVER see the Agape again. When I realized that I was actually looking at her again, my mind couldn’t get a grip on the reality of what was going on. I couldn’t put together a coherent sentence. I just kept grabbing random group members I was with and dragging them to the boat, saying “I used to live there! I used to live there!” When I was here in ’99, I took 13 rolls of film that, due to a sticky shutter I didn’t know about until I got home, never turned out. For six and a half years I’ve had no way to share my experience of a lifetime with anyone other than through my words … until now! I finally have more pictures then I know what to do with. I hope you enjoy them, because they’re worth more than gold to me!!!
Finally, what God is doing here. It’s both exciting and frustrating at the same time. I heard one person describe it this way:

God is doing some amazing work here. He’s at work in these people’s lives long before we ever come along and He’ll continue to do His work long after we leave. Some of these people have such a longing to know TRUTH. God will not deny Himself to these people who so vehemently seek Him, even if they don’t even fully realize that it’s Him they’re seeking. The greatest blessing we can experience is when God sends down an invitation to us to be used by Him to show the Truth to these people. When we allow Him to use us, it can be almost embarrassing how easy it is to show the Truth. The thing to remember is that it’s not us that’s showing It to them, but rather God who’s revealing Himself to them through us. We get no credit and no glory because we don’t deserve it, He does. But what we get is the greatest feeling man can experience: Being so fully blessed by God that it simply uncontrollably overflows.

Okay, I admit, the idea of what I just wrote came from someone else, but that’s totally my adlibbed paraphrasing there. You get the idea of what’s going on here though. The only thing that’s been so frustrating for me, though, has been that I haven’t really gotten that invitation yet … only the opportunity to see others so anxiously accept their invitations and to see how God uses those opportunities. I’ll tell you what though, it may not be as amazing as being directly used by God, but it’s still pretty cool to be indirectly connected to it and to get to hear the stories told first hand! I guess I’ll just have to stick around a little longer to see if I ever get that invitation. In the meantime, pray with me that I’ll be able to get just as excited by being used indirectly.
Finally (for now), many of you have been trying to find out how I’m being impacted by these recent earthquakes and talks of soon-to-come volcanic eruptions. To be honest, most of these events are first hitting my awareness when I get emails from people asking me if I’m still alive. I’m kind of shut out (somewhat intentionally) from the news of the rest of the world … including different parts of this part of the world. In regards to natural disasters, riots, terrorism, etc., the most life threatening experiences I’ve come across to date include such things as some small swells out in the ocean, a little rain, and the never ending threat of skin cancer via sunburn (I’ve managed to establish a halfway decent base tan though. I don’t look quite so Scandinavian any more … at least not by Minnesota standards. The locals still think I’m pretty white!). So, hopefully that puts your worried minds to rest. I appreciate the concern, but I’m in good hands over here!

Simply Complicated (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-05-15T01:31:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to realize that my blogs are getting pretty rediculously long. I know that if I were checking someone else's blog (with a few exceptions) and they were as long as mine are, I'd probably keep putting it off until I realized I stopped reading them. So, in the interest of those who actually check this page out, I'm going to make a conscious effort to keep these things a little shorter and sweeter. I always did have trouble knowing when I stop talking!

Bring Back The Magic (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-05-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

The last time I was over here I had a chance to spend a few days in Singapore on my way home. After being on the move and living on board a convoy of ships for nearly two and a half months I was pretty tired. Singapore was the first of two stop-overs on my way back home. With all my luggage and my travels home already begun, I decided to turn down the offer to stay with some friends and check out a new country and I continued on my journey home … a decision I have since regretted. The lesson I learned from that mistake: Never let a small amount of money or tiredness get in the way of experiencing a new country. Well, I finally got the chance to redeem myself. When I went to Italy as a teenager with my parents, we had the chance to visit Rome and nothing else or see more of the country and continent but miss out on Rome. My parents said something to me on that trip that they have since repeated many times: “Jeff, we know you, you’ll come back” … They know me well, don’t they?!
This trip to Singapore was to be a day trip to renew my visa. Those of you know me the best know that my plans don’t always go as they’re intended to. I went with a friend of mine, Jen, and we got there around noon. She’s been there many times before and this was my first significant amount of time there, so I asked her what we would do all day … she didn’t really have any solid answers. In fact, the night before she heard me comment about leaving as late at night as possible and she was trying to figure out what we’d do all day. Since she didn’t have any real ideas, I voted that we try to find Raffles Marina so I could try to connect up with Francis Lee, the president of Raffles Marina and the leader of the expedition I was on last time I was here.
After riding the MRT (Metro Rail Transit), grabbing some lunch, and hopping on a bus, we got to Raffles around 2pm. Francis was away, so I left him a note. Jen thought we were done there, but marinas are some of my favorite places in the world and I wanted to head down to the docks to check out all the yachts and live-aboards … reminisce of days gone by and dream of potential days to come out at sea! We went outside and down to the docks and were greeted by a sign that said no one was allowed on the docks unless they were a boat-owner or a member of the marina … neither of which we were. I told her I’d just tell them I was friends with Francis Lee if anyone were to question us and I walked down to the docks … with some hesitation, Jen followed (she’s a bit of a worrier). I pointed out to her one of the first boats I saw because it looked just like one of the boats I lived on during my expedition, but the name on it was the Picante which wasn’t the name of any of the ships on the convoy. We walked down a different dock and I was in heaven checking out all the sailing yachts! Then, as we approached the end of the dock, there she was … the Lady Olivia!!! I hadn’t seen her in over six years! The Lady Olivia, or Lady O as we called her, was actually the only ship I never slept on, but I did spend some time with her. As we got closer, we realized the engine was running and there was someone inside. This kinda freaked Jen out and she was ready to head back, but I just got that much more excited and wanted to see if it was anyone I knew. When we got close enough for me to see the face inside, I recognized him right away, although I couldn’t remember his name. He came outside and I reintroduced myself and asked him for his name again … Captain Steven! It was SO crazy for me to actually be leaning against the Lady O, talking to Steven once again. He caught me up on a handful of the expedition members and told me what they’ve been up to and what they’re doing now. I even got the contact information for a couple of my old friends.
After talking with Steven for about a half hour or so, he asked me if I remembered the Lee Way. I had totally forgotten that name until he said it. He pointed to the Picante and told me it had been sold after the expedition and had her name changed three times since. Jen and I walked over to her and the memories hit me like a tidal wave … this was the boat I had spent nearly the most amount of time living on and had some of my best memories from. This is the boat I had lived on for four days and nights without having any land in site, the boat I same off of in the middle of the open sea with a whale directly below during that same four day stint, the boat on which I had my regular shifts at the helm (of course, as the newbie I was given the graveyard shift), and the boat on which I spent nearly an entire day looking out into the open sea and just praised God for all the beauty I saw! I never thought I’d see her again. Long ago I had convinced myself that the memories of my time on the expedition here on the far side of the world would remain memories and would never revisit me again. It’s a lot like running into an old friend or seeing the house that you grew up in as a kid and fostered so many of your most precious memories. It was like coming home again.
Well, the rest of the day in Singapore was still a lot of fun, but what made it so much fun was the residual effect of the pure elation I felt from seeing Steven and my old sleeping quarters once again. We wandered around the docks a little longer and enjoyed the ships that were docked there. When I was finally able to pry myself away from the marina, we worked our way back to Orchard in the main part of the city where all the action is. We weren’t hungry for dinner yet, so we decided to go see a movie. By the time we were able to find the theater and pick a movie, it was already 7:15pm. What we didn’t factor in was what time the movie ended. When we got out and noticed the time, we realized we were going to be spending the night in Singapore. Fortunately, between the two of us, we have friends there and wouldn’t have trouble finding a place to crash.
Once we got our sleeping arrangements situated and let everyone back home know we weren’t coming back that night, we headed out to the HRC (Hard Rock Café) for a late dinner. We managed to order our food a good 10 minutes before the kitchen closed at 10:30pm. WHEW! While we were waiting for our food we got to talking with the servers (well, I got to talking with the servers. Jen was getting pretty tired). By the time we left the HRC around 11:45pm we must’ve spent nearly an hour talking with nearly every server there. They all wanted us to stick around for the live reggae band that was playing from midnight to 3am. As badly as I wanted to stay, we had some last-minute hosts who we didn’t want to disturb by coming in at 3:30am. So, we left our new friends, grabbed a cab, and made it to our home for the night around midnight where one of our hosts was kind enough to wait up for us. We were shown to our respective rooms and I was finding my way onboard the dreamland express around 1am. It made for a short night having a wakeup call at 6:45am (remember, I’m NOT a morning person!).
Barely functioning, we worked our way back home, making it back by 8:45am. All-in-all, as exhausting as it was, it was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time … and I’ve had some pretty amazing days lately! I decided not to head to the office and took the day off. Believe me, I was much more productive during my nap that afternoon then I would have been trying to do any work. Besides, I don’t foresee any rest between now and my return trip to Singapore in a month. I like to think I deserved this day!!!

By the way, there are some new pictures I added to my “Islands” photo gallery … check it out if you haven’t already. I’ll try to add some pictures of the Lady Olivia and the Picante/Lee Way soon too!

Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-05-05T08:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I don’t know exactly what to expect in the days and weeks to come, but the next several weeks promise to be very busy. All I know for sure is that I’m going to be spending most of my time out in the islands experiencing and preparing to lead ethno-tours. I’ll be living in the homes of local villagers, eating their food, speaking their language, and generally living their life. This summer will be back to back to back short-term tourists coming out to experience ethno-tours for several weeks at a time. My goal and responsibility: to lead some of these groups. This first group I get to be just another tourist to get a first-hand understanding of what, exactly, I’ll be leading. Since I haven’t experienced this yet, I really don’t have too much more to say about it.
I can’t say whether or not I’m going to get to experience anything like this story first-hand, but I’ve already gotten to see God doing some amazing work through some of my co-workers. Apparently, a few years back there was an ethno-tour group that came out and decided that the night before they were to leave the islands and return to the city, they should do a drama to show the story of Christ. Well, this didn’t go over too well with the locals or the village leaders. As a result, out of concern for safety, the team had to leave the island in the middle of the night … this organization hasn’t returned since. The most frustrating part of the situation is that there were a few individuals who came to the Lord during that visit, yet because of this incident there was no one who could follow up with or disciple them … they were left alone, I’m sure with a lot of questions. Well, the other day two of my co-workers returned to the island to gauge the situation and, most importantly, to check on these newly saved individuals. The result of this visit: Those few people continued in their faith and were still hungry to learn more, the island leaders were no longer around and the village has been anxiously anticipating this groups return for some time now, and through prayer there was an individual who walked for the first time in over six months!!! God is doing some amazing work here … and thanks to many of my family and friends back home I’m able to be a part of His work – THANK YOU!!!!
In the next week I’ll be focusing on continuing my learning of the language here, becoming more comfortable with the locals and interacting with them, meeting and networking with more and more locals to establish new relationships, and preparing myself for these groups coming out and my time away for weeks at a time. Lord only knows when I’m going to get any rest again (I’m getting a peek into the life of my dad)!
I’ve been getting questions from some of you about what life is like here, what are some crazy foods I’ve been eating, who are some unique individuals I’ve met, and how I’m adjusting to life in another country. Well, I don’t really know how to explain it, but I really don’t feel like I have too much to tell. It’s not that I’m trying to hide anything from anyone, it’s just that it all feels so normal and comfortable. The food has been fantastic (so much for losing weight while I’m here … at this rate I’m going to be GAINING weight instead!), the people are great, and nothing really seems too unique or novel. There’s a certain peace about being here … I think it’s just that my time away was way overdue! Life here is just life, the way I like it. Maybe it’s just that I’ve done enough traveling in my life that countries like this are just all too familiar to me now. Most of the things that catch newcomers off-guard and lead them into culture shock are tried and true for me and I know what to expect and how to deal with them. The things that probably should be scary or exciting are just kinda routine. But don’t let me make it sound like it’s boring or unexciting. It’s a different kind of excitement. It’s like visiting an old home. It’s a type of “different” that’s familiar and comfortable. I guess the best way to describe it is that, for the first time in a long time, I have peace and joy in my heart. It feels good!!!!
For those of you who have been committed to reading my blog and especially to those of you who have sent me comments, I want to let you know how much I appreciate it. It’s nice to know that all my typing isn’t a waste of time. I’m sorry that I haven’t had any good way to respond to any of your comments and let you know that I’m actually reading them and appreciating them, but please know that each one has been an encouragement, given me perspective, made me think, made me laugh, or made me feel a little more connected to things back in the states … so thank you, very much!!!
Stay tuned … there’s more to come (and I’m still working on more pictures … it’s just hard with dialup).

I Have Found Me A Home (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-05-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, I’ve been busy the past couple of days … and the busy season hasn’t even begun yet! Let me give you a little synopsis of what my time here has been like and then I’ll give you some bullet-point highlights of what this last weekend held for me.
To begin with, I’m living in a fairly decent sized city … pretty modern, especially by the standards over here. I’m living with my host family, part of whom I’ve known for pretty much my whole life. There’s a team of a few families and I’m getting to know them all really pretty well … what an awesome team! Most of them have known each other for all of their adult lives and get along so well with their team dynamics. They’re fun people to hang out with when we’re not working too. Anyways, I digress … as a team, they own a sort of tourist business where they have property on a beach (you’ve seen pictures if you’ve checked out my link) which is an hour and a half boat ride from where we’re living. In the week and a half that I’ve been here, I’ve been out to the resort three times already. Part of my job while at the resort is simply to hang out with the guests when they want company and give them space when they don’t want company. Other then that, just make sure they’re happy and have everything they need as well as taking care of some general work projects around the resort. When I’m not at the resort or out on the water, I’m in the office in town working on a couple little projects the team has handed over to me to help get me transitioned into my work here as well as catch the business up on some overdue organization, so-to-speak.
Anyways, I hope that gives you a general yet somewhat clear idea of what life here as been like so far. Now, let me catch you up with what I’ve experienced over the past several days. To save you from my tendency to give way more detail than is necessary, I’m just going to give you some highlights. If you want to know more details, just drop me an email and let me know what you want to know more about … it may take me a while to get back to you, but I will eventually!
The guys have an accountability group that I’ve gotten to be a part of. It’s awesome to see how they confide in each other and support one another.
There was a full-team worship time where we spent several hours in intentional prayer and singing. Granted, it did go a bit later than our bodies would have preferred, but it was such an incredible time together with each other and with God.
I spent the weekend with a Young Life group from Singapore. What a great group of people! One of the girls actually was a Wooddaler briefly! I was momentarily surprised to find this out, but that quickly passed because I’ve come to realize that there’s nowhere on this planet that you can go to escape the potential of running into a Wooddaler. Anyone know an 18-year-old named Whitney Taylor? If so, let me know and I’ll tell her you say HI.
I did a couple of dives finally! First logged dives since 1999 … talk about being WAY overdue! The guys I’m working with are in the process of getting certified. There were only three of us that went out, one of which is still in the certification process and hasn’t done many dives at all. At nearly 3 meters, it was the best visibility he’d ever had and my worst! There was some cool stuff to see though.
Of the dives we did, we attempted a night dive in which the visibility was less than half a meter … we tried going down twice and each time we lost each other as soon as we went below the surface. I gave up and let the other two have their dive. After the current pulled us away from the island we were diving off of and we had to hang on to the side of the boat and have it drag us for about 10 minutes, I was too tired to deal with not being able to even see my dive buddy, let alone any coral or fish. But they had a great time and I got to do another dive a day and a half later.
I’ve got the WORST farmer’s tan! I’m slowly working on getting my body just a little burned at a time so it’ll slowly turn into a decent tan. I’m almost up to my shoulders on my arms now, but not quite. My neck is the best … SUPER dark tan on my neck and a typical pasty-white Scandinavian back.

Okay, that gives a pretty good update and hopefully a decent mental picture for you to have an idea of what my life is like here so far. Now, I’ve got a few simple prayer requests I figure I’d throw your way. Please pray:
-That I’ll be able to get a solid base-tan so that my skin won’t be so sensitive to the sun that I’m in nearly all day, every day … and that I won’t get skin cancer in the process!
-That whatever I have that resembles poison ivy is NOT poison ivy and goes away quickly!
-That I will continue to acclimate quickly to my responsibilities and to the expectations that are upon me here.
-That I won’t struggle too much with learning the language.
-That I’ll be able to find the means to continue my travels at the end of my time here by doing some networking for this business.
-That I don’t lose my focus on God during the busyness of trying to adjust to my new job.

There, that should be good enough for now. There’ll be plenty more to come for sure! Oh, one more thing … if there’s anything specific you’d like me to talk about in my blogs, add a comment or send me an email and let me know what you want to hear about. I’ll do my best to oblige!

Back To The Islands (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-04-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

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)

2006-04-13T00:38:00.000-05:00

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)

2006-04-10T23:30:00.000-05:00

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)

2006-04-07T22:49:00.000-05:00

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)

2006-04-02T12:15:00.000-05:00

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.

Incommunicado (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-03-27T11:13:00.000-06:00

I suspect that going a week at a time here and there without getting a chance to update this page is going to become a rather common occurrence ... especially when I'm up in the Himalayas with no electricity and certainly no internet! Yes, I finally made it to the mountains and got to experience what it's like to hike up roughly 6000 feet of altitude in three days with an overpacked, overweight backpack and nearly no time to acclimatize. I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there would have been no way I could have kept pace with Fu on the A.T. I guess I have quite a bit of training ahead of me for my next trekking experience ... whenever that might be.
The past week on the trial has taught me a lot of things:
1) I'm VERY out of shape!
2) God truly answers prayer in a very clear and very real way.
3) When God tells us that He will provide for us just enough of what we need each day, He's not kidding!
4) The beauty of God's creation knows no bounds.
5) This side of the world does crazy things to your dreams.
6) 14,000 feet seems to be a barrier I can't break ... YET!
7) There's a LOT of evil and spiritual warfare going on over here ... people need to start coming here to pray (seriously, if you're interested let me know)!
8) You don't need to be able to speak the same language to make a true friend.
9) I need a shower ... BAD!!!!
10) Monkeys really DO ride on dogs like in the Taco John's commercials ... and I have the picture to prove it :)
11) When you ride in a car on some of the narrowest, bumpiest, twisty-turny roads with a dropoff of hundreds/thousands of feet and no barrier to prevent you from going over ... riding on the roof is the only way to go!
12) I'm being prayed for (THANK YOU!!!!)
13) GOD IS GOOD!!!!!

And the list goes on. But for now, it's late and I'm tired. I anticipate more stories and certainly more pictures to come before too long. Please keep your comments coming, pray often, and know that I continue to be in good hands here on the far side of the world :)

Survive (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-03-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

I made it ... I survived. I'm sitting here on the far side of the world, just like I said I would. I left on March 16 and arrived on March 18 ... two and a half of the shortest days of my life (with some of the longest travel ever ... go figure)! Ironically, those two and a half short days were followed by one of the longest days of my life. I got to where I'm staying at 2:15am and was taking a ride on the dreamland express by 3am. I was up by 8:30am and spent a day touring around town and soaking in the culture. It's been a day of acclimation and I have a feeling that one day won't be enough. Chances are it's going to take the full three weeks to truly allow any sincere level of adjustment. But I say that in a very good way. The people are wonderful, the weather is warm, and I'm excited to see the high country. I've taken a few pictures, but for both safety and mere technical reasons I'm going to delay posting them online here. I'll try to get a few up before my temporary return. But for now, it's 8:30pm and suprisingly it's bedtime. Tomorrow is an early day with a 6am departure for the train station and voyage deeper into the unknown ... I can't wait!

Fair Thee Well (song reference by The Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan)

2006-03-16T13:37:00.000-06:00

The time has come and my flight is about to depart for the first leg of my six month adventure. I can't say for sure what's in store for me in the weeks and months ahead, but I know I'm ready for the ride. Right now I'm just trusting that my health, my travels, my packing, and my time on the far side of the world are in God's hands ... I can't think of any place else I would want it all.
One of the uncertainties I have is the frequency in which I'll be able to get online and update this page with enteries and pictures. If for some reason you don't hear from me for a while, trust that I'm safe and I'll be keeping my own personal log of my time away with which I'll update you upon my temporary return.
There's something exciting about not knowing what's around the corner. It's like riding a roller coaster with your eyes clenched shut and your hands in the air, knowing that you have no idea where the twists and turns will take you but having faith that the tracks are securely laid out ahead. It's taken quite a bit of perperation, but the roller coaster car has stopped in front of me and it's time for me to climb in. I hope you enjoy watching me as much as I know I know I'm going to enjoy being on the ride!
Now, it's time to hit the friendly skies. I'll see you on the flip side!

That's What Living Is To Me (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-03-06T13:51:00.001-06:00

My supervisor, Mark, shared Proverbs 16:9 with me when he found out I was going on these trips. This verse struck my heart and I decided I wanted to make it my cornerstone verse for this chapater of my life. As I was reading it, I came across one other part of the same chapter that I wanted to add to it. So, please familiarize yourself with Proverbs 16:3 & 9 and, if you wouldn't mind, encourage me to remember these verses in my heart as I embark on my travels to the far side of the world:
Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Feel free to throw more verses my way if you think of any that are particularly appropriate. To get things started, I'll go ahead and thank my mom for supplying me with the encouraging verse the last time I was at that end of the globe:
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

So, whatcha got for me?! :)

Changing Channels (by Jimmy Buffett)

2006-03-01T14:47:00.001-06:00

Well, it seems that it's time for yet another chapter in my life to end while another one begins. What chapter are we on now anyways? Well, regardless of the chapters that have been lived already, it's time to move ahead to a new one. So, what's the title of this one? We're going to go with "The Far Side Of The World". I get to experience a whole new culture and country with India as well as revisit my island friends back in Indonesia. After following the Lord's calling back to the plains of the midwest I'm finally getting the green light to go back home to both my mountains and my ocean. There are a lot of questions that come with these changes. Questions like, "What will I learn in India?", "Will Indonesia become a long-term move?", "Will I come back to Minnesota and Westwood or will I land somewhere new?" Well, for now, those are going to have to remain unanswered questions. But rest assured that as the answers come to me, I'll share them with you for as long as you're interested in hearing about them. I'll even show you a picture or two of my journey ... how's that sound?! So, as the channels of my life get changed, stay tuned because the show is about to begin!