One Last Christmas Story

Back into the swing of things...writing for the Dordt Diamond again :-)

       I want to tell you a story of how my family Christmas went this year: After a nice dinner together, we all gathered in the living room to open gifts. Each of us would open one gift at a time and continue to rotate through youngest to oldest. After each gift was opened, the appropriate words of gratitude were given and even “This is exactly what I needed!” or “I’m so excited to go try this out!” Every receiver of gifts made sure the giver heard how thankful he or she was.  
       After all the gifts were opened, it was time for my favorite part of the night. We get to hide our new gifts! Some of us have gotten pretty good at finding the most creative spots that no one will ever be able to find them again. It’s so fun. After that, we all gathered for one last glass of eggnog and made sure that each of our gift givers had heard how thankful we were for the gifts we received from them. We went to bed dreaming of creative places where we might hide our gifts next Christmas.
       Does this story seem absurd? Well, good because it’s definitely not true—at least not about our Christmas gifts. In case my satirical writing isn’t as well-written as intended, I’ll try to be a little clearer. How often do we say thankyou to God for all the gifts He has given us? For friends and family, for our education, for our financial blessings, for our ease of access to church or other means of spiritual growth, for our abundance of clothing and food …the list goes on and on. 

      After returning from developing countries, I am frequently asked the question: “So I bet you’ve thanked God for the blessings you have back here, huh?” What am I supposed to say to that? Yes, I have, but is that all that I need—a renewed desire to say thankyou? What about showing my thankfulness? I hope you can tell from my story, it is quite the contradiction when we say thankyou but don’t actually use our God-given blessings. I guess actions really do speak louder than words. If I tell my mom how excited I am to get a new sweater but it stays in my closet all winter long, will she believe me? If I tell God how thankful I am for my financial security but I keep all the money to myself, failing to trust that God will provide, will He believe me? 

      God has given each of us specific gifts for a specific reason. I was not randomly born into a relatively wealthy family. I did not just happen to grow up in America rather than Haiti. God, by His grace, has chosen to give me these specific blessings for a reason. I don’t know about you, but I intend to actually show God how thankful I am by putting these gifts into use. Easier said than done? Probably—but that’s where total surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit comes in. With God, ALL things are possible. 
Consider it a belated New Year’s Resolution.

Videos from Laos

I tried uploading more videos while I was in Laos and it never worked, so here's a bunch. 

Hope they work now! :]

This is the typical way of passing in busy traffic.

Sorry this is crooked...this is when we made spring rolls one night with everyone.

This is on our bike ride to the cave. You can kinda see the scenery...

And this is my little adventure near the cave... :]

What I learned!

Goodness, a lot can happen in a week! It's weird to think that I was driving home from the Seattle airport at this time last Saturday. I wanted to post a blog so I can remember what God taught me during my time in Laos. (This is more for my own documenting, but maybe it'll interest others too...?)

I learned more specific ways to intercede in prayer for both missionaries & non-believers.

I learned the importance of "sitting" with Jesus in order to have the strength to stand & walk with Him, too. Not only did He teach me this through a great little book on Ephesians called Sit, Walk, Stand, but He also helped me recognize how dry/empty I feel when I haven't spent time with Him. There were some days that I didn't get to spend time with Him like I'd hoped, and I didn't like that feeling. It wasn't a guilty conscience feeling like I used to get when I was a little. It was more of a feeling you get when you haven't talked to someone in a really long time. (Except in this case, it had only been a day or two since spending time with Jesus...)

I found even more ways of how blessed I am--particularly in education. I've been able to consider even more why God has chosen to give me those specific gifts and how I can show true thankfulness by blessing others with those gifts rather than simply saying "Thank You."

I found once again that it is God and God alone who gives me the desire to do what pleases Him. (Phil. 2:13) He definitely gave me the desire to come back and get back to productivity again & more doing. 


I was reminded how blessed I am to have the relationship I have with my sister. That we can have fun together & laugh together, but also have deep conversations about Jesus & life & family & friends & guys & money & politics & careers & our callings & passions. We encourage each other & hold each other accountable & call each other out on things. Yep, my sister's the best. :]

Every other time I've gone on a trip, I'd been so busy building a school in Central America or doing touristy things, that I never really got around to thinking about anyone back home. This trip was a little different. Not only was I less busy, but I guess you could say that after nearly 3 weeks of absolutely no communication with Matt, I was pretty super excited to see him again. ;] Which made me think of a sermon I heard last semester about my excitement to see Jesus again someday. I learned what it feels like to have great anticipation to see someone again and it made me desire to long for Jesus like that even more.

Oh! and I remembered how much I love singing little kid songs along with other great praise songs again :] I did a lot of riding around the city on the back of Christa's motorbike, and it gave me a bunch of time to sing "This Little Light of Mine" and "Our God is an Awesome God" and "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and all different sorts. It definitely didn't sound as good as the songs on my CD's in the car but I sure enjoyed it. ;]

There's a grasshopper in my stomach

Christa's been telling me the whole time I've been here that I have to try fried grasshopper, and yesterday I finally did. But that would be out of chronological order if I told you the story now, so you'll have to wait. First things first.

The best I could do without four arms and a pig's nose.

   My motorbike taxi didn't come until after 8:40 when Julia finally called him. I think he knew he was in trouble because he ran a few red lights and honked like crazy the whole way to Kirsten & Heather's hotel. So I ended up being not that late. We hopped right on a tuk-tuk and had a 45 minute drive to Buddha Park. This place was made by some weirdo that supposedly fell in some hole and from there decided to combine Buddhism & Hinduism. So all the statues at this park are kinda a mixture of the two I guess. They were fun to try to copy though.
    After Buddha Park, we grabbed a quick lunch & then met Christa at her school to go to class with her. Her students were assigned to write down 5 questions they could ask Heather, Kirsten & I, so they were split into three groups and we rotated through each one. The first question I was asked--"Would you like some Beerlao?" Another asked--"Why are you so beautiful?" I didn't know how to answer that one, but Christa helped me out with her usual reply of "Because I eat a lot of ice cream!" It was fun though and the students enjoyed it too. After class, they all pulled out their camera phones and made us feel like we were from Hollywood.
    After class, we relaxed at home for a while and then all of us--Heather, Kirsten, Christa, Julia, Sone, Nuey, & I--all helped make supper--fried & fresh spring rolls! So good :] Then we played Last Word game. Wednesday morning, we all left for the bus to Vang Vieng before 9:00, but the bus didn't actually leave until after 10:30 and then it broke down for a while, so we didn't get there until around 3:30. So it turned into a long day of traveling. On the way, Christa was looking in her purse and remembered she had a surprise for me. So she told me to open my mouth and close my eyes. So of course I, ignorantly trusting my big sister completely, opened my mouth wide to await some wonderful surprise--nope, it was a nasty grasshopper!! The taste wasn't bad at all--it was basically fried with seasoning, but the feeling of each leg and antennae on my tongue was super gross. But I did finally eat one. Christa just ate them like popcorn.
Since it was too late to kayak or do anything else once we got to Vang Vieng, we just made our way around to various restaurants for a snack, drinks, and supper throughout the night. We also went on a little hike to a cave, but it was closed. Our night ended with a game of Hearts and of course ice cream before the usual fairly early bedtime. Kirsten & Heather have been extremely generous in paying for nearly everything for Christa & I. They have definitely been a blessing (and for reasons beyond financial :] )

Of course, pictures never do justice...

    This morning after breakfast, we rented bikes and headed out to Phu Kham Cave & Blue Lagoon. It was a 7 km bike on super rocky roads, but still very nice. The view was incredible, too! :] We got back around 11 and went to our favorite restaurant with the best scenery & no loud Friends or Family Guy shows playing. Christa & I left shortly after 1:30 in a mini bus and actually got back to Vientiane by 5:30. All our other trips between VV & Vientiane are supposed to be 4 hours but end up being closer to 5 or 6, so this was very nice. Tonight, Christa & I just had a simple supper and just finished a weird movie. Tonight is my last sleep in Laos! I'm looking forward to going back and seeing everyone again!! And just getting back into a routine/being productive again. :] The time with Christa (and Heather & Kirsten) has been really great, and I'm glad I feel like it's been long enough rather than wishing I had more time.
     This is probably my last post of the trip! Tomorrow I don't think Christa & I have much planned. Then with my extra Saturday in Seoul, Heather set it up for me to meet one of her friends to show me around the city for a few hours. So that'll be really nice to help the 10 hour layover pass more quickly. I say extra Saturday because I leave Seoul Saturday evening at 6:30 and land Saturday morning in Seattle at 11:30ish. So I getta do part of my Saturday over again.

Pressure Points

I'm waiting for a motorbike "taxi" to come pick me up at 8am. It's exactly 8 now, but Lao time could mean anytime before 8:30 probably. :]

Yesterday morning, Christa & I went for a run and then met Kirsten & Heather at their hotel downtown around 9:15. We went to the same restaurant for breakfast that Christa & I went to two Friday's ago--with the mango sticky rice pancakes and sep lai Lao coffee. Then we hit up some of the main tourist attractions in Vientiane--another temple [see picture 1] and their national monument [see picture 2]. Our daily dose of ice cream was had at a cute little British/Lao place called Love Life. We had a late lunch at Kop Chai Deu (Thank You Very Much). Kirsten, Heather & I are all enjoying the food, but Christa said it just doesn't compare to homemade Lao food--which we'll be having tonight for supper here at home. We also stopped by the Morning Market for a few minutes and then we were going to go to the National Museum but it was still closed for New Years so we got massages instead. Which in my case, third time is not a charm. My goodness, my masseuse was amazingly strong for her size and for some reason thought I would enjoy having my pressure points pressured to near torturous [is that a word?] degrees. Just ask the other three girls--I had nail marks on my hands where she squeezed the pressure point between your thumb & forefinger. What's the word for OW...or maybe "Uncle!" in Lao?  Thankfully, there's only so many pressure points on one's body, so the rest of the massage was fairly enjoyable. :]
    After massages, we booked our bus tickets for Vang Vieng tomorrow and Kirsten & Heather booked some excursions for Luang Probang, which is another tourist place 12 hours north of here (but probably 3-4 hours on American roads) that they are going on to Thursday after Christa & I head back to Vientiane for me to leave on Friday. Then we went to the Night Market, which would be trip number 4 for me. I don't think I've gone shopping that many times all last year other than Wal-Mart. :] And final thing of the night was a nicer Lao restaurant which was also sep lai lai. 
   It is now 8:20 and the motor bike is still not here. Christa is at school, and I am going to meet Heather & Kirsten so we can go to Buddha Park for the morning and then head to Christa's afternoon class to talk with her students. It's been great having them here and getting to know them better. It makes me really thankful for all the Geels get-togethers and that us 2nd cousins are probably closer than a lot of other first cousins.

Happy New Year!!

   As I write this, I can hear some guy yelling at the top of his lungs some karaoke song. One of Lao people's favorite past times, I think. Beautiful. :]
   Anyway, Vang Viang was fun! Our trip there went longer than usual and was super dusty, but we made it. When we got there, we had lunch, checked into our hotel, and then went tubing down the river. Vang Viang is kind of the college (or college wannabe's) stop in Laos. Basically, everyone goes tubing down the river to stop at the all the bars and get drunk. So for the first part, we had to dodge a few water bottles tied to strings being thrown at us for us to grab on to so they could tow us to shore and drink with them. But once we got past all that, it was nice & relaxing. Christa & I played Would You Rather for a while. Which by the way, did you all know that Christa once kissed a baboon's backside? True story. She'll tell you it isn't, but don't believe her.
   After tubing, we showered, and then went for mango sticky rice. Then we didn't really have anything else to do, so why not get another massage? :] Then we had a later supper of yumma Hawaiian pizza and pretty early to bed again. The next morning we had Lao tea at a cute little restaurant and then one of Christa's students picked us up to go to her house in a nearby village maybe 10 minutes away. They were very happy to have us there and were very hospitable and generous. We also got to walk down by river with the student and her mom. We left their house around 11:30 and had about an hour to spare before our bus left, so we went to another restaurant for mint lemon drinks and worked on perfecting our Lao nyims. (smiles) Here are the results: 

   Our bus ride back was a little better. We got home around 7 & Christa went to buy some Pad Thai for supper. Then around 8:30, we left for the airport to pick up Heather. Her flight was delayed about an hour, so Christa & I played MASH to pass the time. Turns out I'm going to be a rat scientist & my husband a garbage man. We're going to live in a mansion with 11 children and live happily ever after. :]
   So believe it or not, Christa & I actually stayed up with Heather to welcome in the New Year. It wasn't anything too exciting, but for usually going to bed before 10 so far on this trip, I felt pretty accomplished. :] This morning, we skyped our parents who were still stuck in 2011. Then we made pancakes and left by 10:30 for the airport to pick up Kirsten. From there, we headed to their hotel and then did a little sightseeing of nearby temples. Then we got some authentic Lao food before heading back to the hotel for coffee at 3--it made it feel like a real Geels get-together. :]
   We went to the foreigner's church at 4:30 and out for supper at a Turkish restaurant after with some of Christa's friends from church. Heather & Kirsten have a tradition of eating ice cream every day that they are traveling, so after some major convincing on their part, Christa & I finally obliged to this. The ice cream places were all closed for New Year's but we found a place to get some ice cream bars, and then headed back. Now time for bed! :]