The Dog and the Airplane

Well, as many of you know, I am now home. What many of you don't know was the adventure it took to get me here.

Getting on the plane that would take me from Paris to Washington D.C. was nothing more to me than what getting in a car would be to you. I wasn't expecting anything exciting to take place and was looking forward to some sleep. The novelty of flying has completely worn away for me.

Well, after boarding the plane and finding my seat (yess an aisle seat!!) the lady who had the seat next to me arrived on the plane. I got up so she could comfortably get herself situated. The first thing she sat down on the seat was a big tote bag with a... dog in it. Yes... a real live dog. I was thinking, "hmm... ok weird... but... no problem.... I mean... I like dogs... right?"

After getting up and down a few times so that she could be situated and to let the rest of the people in my row in I was finally settling down and aside from a slight smell from the dog I really couldn't see a problem with the situation. That was... until the flight attendant informed 'dog-lady' (i will call her that.... and it is in no way meant to be a bad name.... i promise!) that the dog had to go into a different carrier that was more sanitary and what not. Well she had the other carrier in the over-head bin so I got up once again so she could move the dog and get situated. Well, this being the fifth or sixth time I had to get up... I casually scanned the seats surrounding me to see if there were any other... seating options. The row of 4 seats behind me only had one woman in it... perfect! I was all over that! I could just envision myself stretching out and sleeping while flying over the atlantic, relaxing and enjoying some movies....

After getting all my stuff together and moving to the other seat and getting comfortable.. another person got the same idea as me and decided to crash my dreams of luxury and relaxation. I still had more room than I would have had next to the dog-lady and... no smelly dog. Okay whatever... no problem. Well... two minutes later I found myself moving seats again as an announcement came through that another flight had been diverted and we were going to take on their passengers. (We had still not taken off at this point. )

Back to sitting next to the 'dog-lady'.

Finally we take off and the first hour or so of the flight was pretty normal. I talked a bit with the 'dog-lady'
and found out that 'they' were going to her parents house in Florida. She was excited because her mom was baking a turkey for the dog. Yep. Now, don't get me wrong... she was a very nice woman... just slightly... overly-attached to her dog. I heard all about the inconveniences flying with a dog brought her. She scoffed at the idea of sedating him so he could fly like all the other dogs...in the baggage compartment. Hehe. I thought this was incredibly amusing.

Soon she had to go to the bathroom, so I got up once again. She got into the isle and turned to me and asked me to listen for the dog.. and should I hear him wake up... could I please scratch his ear? Haha. Yes-sir this flight was full of lovely surprises and could have been on an episode for a sitcom.

The rest of the flight followed suite.... and was only complemented by my seat cushion that refused to stay on the seat. It would constantly slide down and off beneath me. The flight attendant assured me this was normal. (After spending over 70 hours in an airplane in the last 4 months I can assure you... this is not normal.. but...hey, who am I to talk?)

The guy behind me was really cute and asked to use my pen twice. None of the movies were really any good... and at one point I switched it to French without knowing it and seriously doubted my sanity.

Home Again

This whole transition to being home is.... kinda hard....


I had an eventful ride home on the planes... hehe more on that in the next post....


Anyway... its 3am... im wide awake.. and eating. haha

Its Been A Long Time Coming

Hey Everyone….

I know it’s been a LOOONG time since I have blogged, I am very sorry. I was in a country where I couldn’t access my blog site. Now I am in France and I will do my best to keep up with my blog and update you all on everything that has been happening.

Well, right now I am in Massy, France. It is about half and hour outside of Paris. Unfortunately France is experiencing a transportation strike because of some new changes the President has introduced. I am hoping the strike ends soon so that I can catch a train into Paris (as of now… practically none of the mass-transit system is running, and the people I am staying with do not own a car) but... I must be patient. The people I am staying with here (Steve and Yvonne) have said we could borrow a car this weekend from their friends and maybe go to see some sites. That should be fun.

Well… since it has been a few weeks that I have updated my blog… let my try to fill you in on my time in Laos.

My first impression of Laos was that it was a lot like Mexico… lots of poor friendly people and lots of dirt. Over my time there however, my perspective changed and I began to fall in love with this amazing country.
transferring
I really cannot contain in words the things that have been opened in my heart upon visiting so many countries, and the impact that Laos had on me I am still only beginning to discover. It was my first experience in a communist country, and honestly, until you experience it, it’s hard to understand. In America, we don’t realize and appreciate our freedom. Instead we take it for granted, and in a way it can become a prison. We cannot easily imagine a life without this freedom, we cannot empathize with those who are not free, and our daily lives revolve solely around what we want them to. We are often imprisoned by our comfort, because it inhibits us from thinking about those who are not free. We forget that it is a gift, yet it is not one we deserve. Instead, it is one that we have been given, not so that we can abuse and forget its worth, but so that we can take the blessings it offers and the opportunities it gives, and reach out to those who would other ways never taste this beautiful thing called freedom.

I met so many awesome people on my trip through Laos. So many impressed themselves into my heart, and I will carry their memories always.

I will try to write more about my day-to-day activities soon. Keep me posted on what’s going on back home! Keep the people of Laos in your prayers.


The Blog posted previous to this one was written while I was in Laos and sent as an email to a friend. I hope you enjoy reading it… it may give you more of an idea on my time in Laos. I will try to post pictures when I get home in December.

Laos

Laos was seriously amazing. I really had
no idea places like this exsisted outside of National Geographic...
ah... typical American me hey? Its just been a beautiful eye opening
experience!! I went on a river boat one day and felt like I was in a
postcard. The smooth muddy water surrounded by steep banks covered in
exotic bushes and trees was only accented by local kids playing in
the river or people doing laundry in the river. It was amazing.

The food is good here... although I did start to get a slight bit
queasy the other day and was supprisingly excited about something
bland and somewhat American at a Lao Wedding I went to (its very
strange... they have this stew that is almost identical to any
American Beef Stew). I think as much as I want to say I love spicy
and exotic food all the time... i have my moments when I just want a
grilled-cheese sandwich haha.

Being in a Communist country is just... wow. It boggles my mind
some of the things I hear that go on... and I have to be careful what
words I use on email and stuff. Its seriously just so amazing.

sorry its been so loooong!!

Hey everyone,

I am so sorry it has been so long since I have updated my blog.... hope none of you worried! Everything is going fine here, and I am making some really good friends. One of the girls I have been spending heaps of time with lately is Shyla. She is from hawaii and just so much fun! She is joyful and open and today we went to kichijoji (the next train stop over) to go shopping together and last night we watched a movie. She is so sweet. I needed a friend here and God provided.

I will give you a quick update as to whats going on here in Mitaka (the town I am staying in)...

Yesterday was our big haloween outreach and it was amazing how many people showed up!! One of the stinters gave his testimony and afterwards everyone broke up into groups of about six to discuss a few questions relating to the message. In every group there was at least one staffer to help guide discussion and answer questions. I was with Shyla and about 6 other students. The last discussion question was: Do you want to know more about having a relationship with Jesus? Why or why not?"

When we got to the end it was amazing that almost every single one of the students wanted to know more. As we had more conversation we got to the point of asking if anyone wanted to ask Jesus into their hearts. Two girls said yes!!

Shy and I took them upstairs where it wasnt so loud and led them to Christ. It was pretty much amazing. I remember thinking when they said yes, "really?! wait...what...wow... what do I do again...?!!?" It was so cool though. When I asked them how they felt, one of them said (pointing to her heart with a contemplative smile on her face), "I feel a freedom, a freedom from something" and the other said, "I feel very glad, much more glad then yesterday." They both nodded in agreement with eachother smiling. As we continued to explain more about the family they just joined they were bubbling with curiosity and everytime we told them something new their eyes would get wide with amazement and they would say with joy, "really?!?! Wow!! So amazing!" Hehe it was so cute! They really loved that we were all sisters, and one girl who said she had been seeking God for awhile was really deeply struck by the idea that God would never ever leave her. It was truly a beautiful thing.

I am about ready to head off onto another part of my big adventure...Laos. Im very very sad to leave here... I have made so many good friends and will miss Japan so much.

I have a few prayer requests as well... the last few days I have been feeling a little down. I also am having a hard time getting a good sleeping schedual down, and I keep having bad dreams. I think I am a bit anxious about a few things. I also am having a hard time being away from home in the light of dad stepping down from church. I wish I could call everyone... I am pretty sure I will be able to tomorrow though... and I am very happy about that!!!

love you all

Raining

Hey everyone!

Its raining here today... I love the rain.. for the most part that is. You see, while I usually am an avid fan of rain in any form on any day... I have encountered problems involving umbrellas, bikes, slippery streets, and wet pants. The thing is.... they dont mix. It would have been funny and expected had this resulted in some kind of typical "emily disaster..." but nothing funny came out of it, and instead I found it frusterating to get my pants stuck in the gears when they are wet... becasue then when i rolled them up my leg got real wet, riding through small spaces with an umbrella was a hassle... and I decided it wasnt worth the trouble... so I got wet... and then, I was running quite late... and not being able to go fast was... somewhat..annoying. LOL. Oh well. Life goes on hey?

I do have a funny story for you all though. Yesterday I was having kind of a bum afternoon, I diddnt have anything to do, no one was home, and I diddnt have any bokos to read... bleh...and I was in a bad mood to top it off...lol.

Soooo, when It came time for me to ride to the student center for the thursday night service, I got on my bike and like usual began the 15min ride downtown. Well, someone almost cut me off on a bike and that set me to giggling, then a ways down the road something hysterical happened..... I almost hit somone!!!

Now there are certain "rules of the road" that all bikers in Japan must follow. While I have no clear way to explain them to you... they are just... known. One of the more obvious ones, and easiest to explain is that you ALWAYS look for bikers when stepping around a building or out of one or something... I mean... duh!

Well, the guy in my story apparently forgot this all too important rule and decided to live life on the wild side (or he got stuck in never-never land and forgot how to escape) He stepped out right in front of me, I slammed on my breaks (they are squeaky), he jumps looks at me, makes the funniest face imaginable, and I swearve around him while he tries desperatly to get out of the way. Did I mention he was coming out of a police building....hehe...


Well, I was laughing the rest of the night. It was pretty funny.


Miss you all. More stories later!!


Mom and dad, thanks so much for the updates, it sounds like your trip to mammoth went good??? I had no idea the fires were so bad there... I am very out of the loop.


love ya!

sharing

today i went with one of the American sinter teams to a university near-by to share the gospel with students there. although i was a bit apprehensive, everyone seemed so calm and excited that curiosity got the best of me and i found myself ready for whatever was coming my way.

upon arriving at the university i learned that it was a foreign language university, and that there were students from all over the world attending, although most of the students were Japanese. i was teamed up with Laura, the girl who i have been hanging with the last few days and we decided to grab some lunch at the cafeteria and have a chat before going out to talk with students. it was really neat because she invited me to ask any question i wanted about life as a stinter, and anything about the ministry or working in japan. it was such an amazing opportunity to hear her honest answers and talk to her a bit about what it was like to serve here in japan.

after lunch we cleared the table and walked around the cafeteria. we found two girls sitting at a table and went to go talk to them. although they had to leave strait away, over the next few hours we found ourselves engaged in heaps of engaging conversations about the gospel with the most open girls i have ever tried to share Christ with.

a typical conversation went like this:

after finding one or two girls sitting somewhere not really doing anything, Laura and i would walk up and say...

"do you speak English?"
if they said yes we would explain that we were on exchange with our international christian circle (club)and then from there either make some more small talk (dad... you should be proud i used the farm method) or ask them what they thought about or knew about Christianity.


the interesting thing is that most Japanese have never heard the gospel, and it was amazing to me how open they were and how easy it was to talk to them. in America i often feel as though i am fighting to keep the attention of those i am talking to and desperately trying to keep them from labeling me as another one of those "religious nuts" and totally discard everything i said to them. it was so refreshing!!

i even got to go through a bilingual version of the 4 spiritual laws with one girl who seemed very interested in Christianity and a relationship with god. we invited her to the Halloween outreach this week.

tomorrow i am going to a ladies college. i don't know what to expect and apart of me is... wondering....a whole 'nother day of evangelism...hmmmm... but today's experience of talking to 9 girls didn't drain me as much as talking to one would back home.


I'm still really enjoying japan... its so awesome here. i wish i was going to be here for longer....