Foursquare Missionary to Africa

Here is a blog worth taking some time to view. Great pictures and simple perspective from (other) foursquare missionaries. Greg and Margaret Fisher have been missionaries to East Africa for 16 years and are now making a transition back to the States - check them out when you get the chance.

Tags:

• Foursquare
• missionaries

Software for missionaries

This blog is mostly for other missionaries who might be reading this at Missionary-blogs.com. With the start of the new year, I'm sure many of you ( like myself) are scurrying about trying to get your financial information in order for 2006. Whether it's gathering information from the past year for taxes, or just trying to start fresh with a new budget for the upcoming year, sometimes the task of financial organization can be overwhelming. (Gosh, I really sound like a commercial don't I ?) Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know about a free program that I recently found. Donor Manager is a program written by a missionary for missionaries in order to assist with fundraising and financial tracking. I've just started inputting my information, and it seems very helpful so far (also, very user friendly) and I'm actually excited to sit down and work on finances now! The features are many and I would do the program an injustice by trying to name them all.... So check it out for your self! Hope it helps you as much as it has me!

Since I'm already doing "advertisements", I thought I'd share about e-books as well. We weren't able to bring many books with us when we came overseas, but e-books have allowed us to delve into a good book and escape a little from the pressures of life on the field. With a quick download of Microsoft Reader or Adobe Reader (both free programs) you can read most e-books on your computer or pda. Of course, you can purchase e-books from many sources, but there are thousands of free e-books available from places like Gutenburg.org.(And let's be honest, who doesn't prefer free?) I've heard people say, "I just couldn't stand reading a book on a screen". I have to admit I used to be one of those people, but I've really become accostomed to it. Just this year I've read Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Little Men, and Jo's Boys in e-book format. Many Christian classics are available in free e-book format as well, like The Confessions of St. Augustine, The Imitation of Christ, and Concerning Christian Liberty to name a few. So give it a try !

Tags:

• software
• missionaries

"Forever China In a Corner of Thailand"

I just ran across this excellent Time: Asia article about Doi Mae Salong. It gives a great description of the feel and history of Doi Mae Salong "proper". Of course, we actually live on the outskirts of town in an Akha village, but it's still a very interesting part of our experience here. Sometimes when Paul and I are coming down the mountain, it feels like we're re-entering Thailand after being in the "little China" that is Doi Mae Salong.

Tags:

• travel
• Thailand

Back in the saddle

Well, we finally shook off some of our crazy-ness (see our prayer request) and are back in the village. It feels wonderful to have an Akha meal (four-bowl of rice minimum) again and it's good to see all of the friends we have made this last year one more time before we head back to the states.
My computer is, as we tell our Akha friends, "in the hospital". The hard drive is gone. However, by a miraculous opportunity (it booted up twice after its initial problems) I was able to back up most of my data onto the external hard drive that FBCI so generously gave us.
After all we went through in "the modern world" it's actually quite a relief to get back to "the simpler life" (blogging on a cell phone in a bamboo hut - I guess we have limits on how "simple" we get). We ate dinner with Lydia and some of the village women and just laughed and laughed. Mostly about language (Lydia has known us so long now she claims to speak "lots" of English, but we've never heard her say a word) and silly things like fear of the dark and eating too much food. We've dealt with a lot lately and it's really nice that we are at the point in language (even though our pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar have a long way to go) where we can get some comfort from our Akha friends.
Well, our Akha pastor is dragging us up at 5:30 tomorrow morning (it's about 10:30 pm now) for a Bible study from Romans - at least that's the best we could understand from him - so I better wrap this up. Pray that we have understanding and alertness, it's hard to sit through conversations in another language at any time - much more so at 5:00 in the morning! See (many of) you all soon!

Tags:

• hardware

Narnia was just the beginning...

Most of our contact with the Western world is through media, and the loudest voices seem to attack the foundations of Christianity. However, we have found yet another example of how powerful the truth is. We were just perusing the missionary-blogs website and came across a blog advertising a new movie coming out January 20th in America. The movie is called "End of the Spear" and is from the story of missionaries who worked with a tribe in Ecuador. We were so moved just by watching the 30 second trailer. The filming is beautiful, the music is reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's The Mission soundtrack, and the storyline (even from a non-missionary perspective) is powerful.

Narnia (a thinly veiled allegory of the Redemption of Christ) and The Passion of the Christ were two recent blockbusters that have brought Christ into the focus of the movie industry. Why the sudden interest? To watch a movie is to engage in a story, and the story of Christ is the story we were created to live.

End of the Spear is opening in theaters all over America on January 20th. It is produced by Every Tribe Entertainment which has already produced one movie based on Jim Elliott and the Auca tribe of South America (not to be confused with the Akha tribe of Southeast Asia). They are currently in pre-production of a new film called Chandra's Mirror. We encourage you to support this effort and to learn more about the heritage of Christian Missions.

Tags:

• movies
• culture

Travel Plans

A year ago we prepared to move to Thailand "for a long time". Since "a long time" is a very difficult period to plan for (how many pairs of socks do you pack for "a long time"?) we received a wonderful piece of advice: "plan on going for a year". Well, our year is up and our return ticket is waiting for us so we're heading back to the United States to visit friends and family and to reflect on this first year in Thailand.

Now that we have more understanding of the Thai calendar (school dates, breaks, etc.) and what it is like to live here in Thailand we will certainly do things differently in the future. We will be getting our work permits when we return which will allow us to renew our visas in Thailand, also we will not have to leave the country every three months to get our passports stamped which will save in time and travel costs. We will get Thai drivers licenses (so we can fly within Thailand without our passports - the US license and International Driving Permit have been fine for driving in Thailand so far) and have opened a Thai bank account to manage some of our finances from here.

We are moving forward as we become more familiar with Thailand and the way things work here. This trip to the States, however, is coming at the perfect time for us. Despite the wonderful support team around us (here in Chiang Rai with the Akha and with Foursquare friends in Thailand) we have been doing a lot of this "on our own". A time in the states where we know (culturally) how to behave and what to do will be a much welcomed mental change for us, and we hope to take that time of refreshing back to our work with language and learning when we return.

We have changed so much in the last year. We have eaten things that we cannot even describe. We speak (some) Akha. We even speak a little Thai. We drive on the left side of the road in the right side of the car. We've become more compassionate about the social needs of those around us.
But for all that change, we are still looking forward to Chipotle burritos, Red Robin hamburgers and steak fries, snowy mountains, watching an NFL football game live, speaking English and high quality cheese.

Tags:

• travel

Happy New Year!

Well, it's 11:38 pm as I write this. If we were in America, right now we would be gathering with friends, probably pouring some sparkling cider and turning on the TV to watch the ball drop. But this night, we are observing a much quieter night. Of course, we are staying up until the stroke of midnight, but instead of games and snacks, we are keeping ourselves awake by watching Star Trek puttering around on our computers!
I went into this holiday season with very strict expectations of how traditions should be observed. I have to admit that our recent holidays were hardly within my expectations, but oddly enough I'm not disappointed. I guess, I secretly thought that after you took away all the American traditions that I know and love, the holidays would seem empty, but just the opposite has occurred. Each holiday has come alive on it's own merit. The birth of Jesus is just as powerful without eggnog and New Years is a wonderful time to remember our new life in Christ whether we have sparkling cider or not!

Tags:

• missions
• holidays
• worldview