Two sisters

Written on June 5, 1985, homework for a class in the Foreign Language and Literature Department in National Taiwan University.

Amy and Annie are two sisters born from the same womb and raised in the same family, yet they differ so much! Amy is the elder sister and she is 347 days older than Annie. They are so close, in each and every way.

When they were still in primary school, people asked their mother if they were twins, since they looked very much alike in their similar dresses. Now that they have grown up, they still look a little bit alike despite of what they wear. They are both in university now, one in Taiwan and one in Hong Kong. Annie s a hard-working student, always get pretty good grades comparing to Amy, but maybe just because she is smarter. Amy, one the other hand, is keen on day-dreaming.

Though Annie is the younger sister, she is about 4 cm taller than Amy. Due to her height, she is an important player in the university's basketball team. She also dances and is active in field and track. While Amy is almost 'stagnant' in her activities, she just recently starts to developing an interest in swimming. before that, she only had her waist twisted in physical education classes.

Amy does not like to go out much, she can stay at home all day long, watching television, reading novels, doing some cleaning and helping her mother to prepare dinner. Annie will only do so when she is too tired to go out or is ordered to stay home. In their mother's eye, Amy is a more 'dependable' person because she stays home always and helps out. Annie is very pleased to have such a sister because her 'burden' is lightened.

Their mother cannot find out the reason, still, why the two daughters are so different. However, she thinks that they make an excellent pair because she has two daughters who are so different, one is the "home-staying" kind, while the other is "out-going".

新電腦

第一次用中文在新買的蘋果電腦上網打中文，不像以往那樣要裝這個軟件，那個軟件，中文直接打就是了，真方便容易，怪不得阿晶從來對傳"蘋果福音"義無反顧，十多年來從不厭倦，反而越來越有勁。
今天在神學院好忙，新接任的同事第一天上班，加上我的車前天因‘血管栓塞’而在街上‘心臟病‘發，最後幾天上班要請幾個同事接送，痳煩了一點，但是我看這是神輕易地幫我們決定了我們要賣的是那一輛車連修車師傅也不願意修了，所以我們把它捐了給一所大教會，他們看看是否能修，能修就修好之後賣出去不，能修就是不能修了。
明天同事早上七時來接我，要睡了，不能繼續貪玩了。

Last week at work

This week will be my last week at work, it is a strange feeling to be here and know that in just three and a half days, I will not have to go to work anymore, an activities that I have been engaging in for the past 4 years. This is not a particulary long record for working, but my work is so involved with students, listening to their stories about how God is leading them to seminary and to possible future ministries. I will miss this kind of interaction a lot.

Life will be drastically different in just a few days from now, I am going to enter in another line of 'work' - being a full-time mom and wife. Let's see how it turns out.

The World's Top Airlines

Not many Americans have heard of Cathay Pacific Airways. But in Asia or among frequent international travellers, Cathay is big name. Why? Go to Skytrax and you will find out. There are only four 5-star airlines: Cathay Pacific Airways (a Hong Kong based airline, celebrating their 60th anniversary this year), Malaysian Airlines, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines. I am not surprised that among the four, three are South-asian airlines. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore are all economically strong and service oriented, with businessmen flying all over the world, it is not surprising that they do so well. On the other hand, though economically strong, none of the airlines from the United States
We are going to fly Cathay Pacific when going from Vancouver to Hong Kong and to Cebu. No, we did not pay extra for it, we went to a cheap ticket site to book our tickets, and it turned out, we are flying on Cathay! We are glad to fly Cathay because they are named 1st place in 2005 as the best airline, though this year, British Airways (a 4-star airline) took over their place, Cathay is still in 3rd place.

	AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2006
	Rank	Airline	2005
	1	British Airways	5th
	2	Qantas Airways	2nd
	3	Cathay Pacific	1st
	4	Thai Airways	7th
	5	Emirates	3rd
	6	Qatar Airways	8th
	7	Singapore Airlines	4th
	8	A N A	10th
	9	Malaysia Airlines	6th
	10	China Airlines	16th
	? Skytrax Research

Thank you notes

These are the thank you emails that I received after a broadcast email was sent out to Trinity faculty, graduate students and staff on July 12, 2006 concerning my resignation. I want to record these notes because these are the reasons why it makes it easy to get up early every morning to go to work. I love the students and the interactions that we have. I thank God for giving me this unique opportunity to help His servants-in-training in a very special way. I will continue to add on to this page if there are more thank you notes that come in.

I wanted to let you know that you will be sorely missed. I am thrilled for you and Dan as you move ahead with this opportunity, but we will miss your smile, calmness and clarity around the campus and in the FE office especially. Thank you for all your hard work these last few years. Of course, I have to admit we will also miss seeing Kioni in the halls occasionally and watching her grow to a sweet little girl. May God bless you and Dan greatly in your ministry there in the Phillipines. Be sure to keep in touch from time to time and let me know how you are doing.
~ Miriam Parent, associate professor of pastoral counseling and psychology at TEDS

I don't expect you to remember me, but I just to thank you for the counsel and encouragment you gave me over the years at TEDS. All the best to you and Dan as you leave for the Philippines.
~ Jeff Lehn, MDIV student

I just got the notice that you and Dan will be soon leaving us. Before you go, I thought I would just say thank you. Your work in the Field Ed office was INCREDIBLY helpful to me. I'm not much for administrative responsibilities, but your organization, work, and suggestions thoroughly helped me fulfill all of my Field Ed requirements. Seriously, you were great at what you did, and I have full assurance that you will continue to be great wherever God may lead you. God bless both you and Dan on this exciting next step of your life's journey. Who knows, maybe I'll swing by the Philippines one of these days and drop by? Wouldn't that be cool? Thanks again!!
~ Andrew Kim, MDIV student

I will be in TN at a conference so I will not get to say good bye for now in person, but it has been awesome getting to know you. I know the Lord will take care of you along your journey and we will meet again in glory if not sooner. Stay in touch, send us your ministry letters and we will forward you ours. Perhaps we will visit you one day!
~ Garrett Lafferty, MDIV student

I'm so happy for you and your family, but so sad to see you go too. I'm trusting that the Lord has wonderful things for you in Cebu and beyond. I know that the Lord will be with you, working through you, and giving you the joy that passes all understanding as you continue to follow His lead. Kioni is so adorable. She is so very blessed to have you as her mom. You will continue to be in my prayers. I love your new family website! Please contact me any time. I'm honored and thankful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to get to know you before sending you away.
Richest blessings,
Love,
~ Ingrid Faro, MDIV student

I was sorry to hear that you will be leaving Supervised Ministries. And yet, I am so excited about the opportunities you and your family will have in the ministry to which God has called you. We wish you the very best, and will be in prayer for you safe travel to and ministry in your new venue.
~ Torrey Zimmerman, MDIV student

You are the best! Thank you for all that you do! I looked on your webpage the other day and found myself just absorbed in all that you both have done (and are doing) and how much of a grand adventure you are headed towards!
You will be missed!
~ Gayle Hannan, Office of Extension & Affiliated Education

It's been months now since we spoke and you told me of your plans to serve oversees. The time has come! I was forwarded the announcement from Trinity saying that your last day is the 21st. I just wanted to join in saying how very much I appreciated working with you over the years and pray for God's blessing on all of you as you move into a new field of service. Thank you for all the help you were to me and to the Elmbrook students that I worked with...we both worked with!
Blessings in Christ,
~ Nancy Leafblad, previous Extension Site Coordinator at Elmbrook Church, WI

Broadcast Email

The following broadcast email was sent out this morning announcing my resignation as the Field Education Coordinator at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

To: All Graduate Students, Faculty & Staff
From: Phil Sell, Supervised Ministries ( psell@tiu.edu )

It is with sadness and excitement that we announce that Amy Bush will be leaving her position as the TEDS Field Education Coordinator after serving three and a half years in the position. Her husband, Dan (a TEDS ThM grad), has accepted a two-year teaching position in Cebu Graduate School of Theology in Cebu, Philippines. They are going with EFCA - International Missions.

Amy looks forward to staying home with their two-year-old daughter, Kioni, and will continue with her translation work at Third Millennium Ministries. If time allows, she will also be teaching at EFCP (EFC Philippines) Bible College and seeking to become involved in evangelism in local universities.

Please stop by the Rodine Conference Room for cake and punch on Monday, July 17, 3:30-4:30, to say goodbye and good luck to Amy.

Her final day at Trinity is July 21. You are welcomed to write to her at thebushes@gmail.com. They also have a family website: www.bush-family.info.

Amy has been a great teammate to work with and has had a very significant ministry to students beyond issues of field education. She will be missed, but we are anticipating that God will use her and Dan fruitfully in the Philippines.

Kumon, Suzuki and Einstein

Mr. Kumon and Mr. Suzuki, two Japanese men have suddenly come into my attention in the past few months. As you might already know that Kioni is enrolled in Kumon Reading for three months now and is making good progress. We heard only good things about the Suzuki method also, and since there are Suzuki piano and violin teachers right in Cebu, we are considering, if Kioni is interested, enrolling her in piano or violin lessons. OK, we are not crazy parents who try to push Kioni to her limit. She has shown lots of interests in music and is crazy about 'playing' the piano. In the Suzuki method, they usually start the kids at around age 3 to 4. OK, who are these guys and why are their impacts?

Toru Kumon 公文 公 (March 26, 1914 - July 25, 1995) was a Japanese mathematics educator. The Kumon method is one of the largest math and languagetutoring systems in the world. There are over 3 million children studying under the Kumon Method in over 44 different countries. The Kumon Method of Learning was innovated in 1954 by an experienced teacher in Japan - Mr. Toru Kumon. It is tailored to suit each individual's needs and abilities by giving Kumon kids the freedom to progress by stages at their own pace. Kumon kids have been proven to acquire more self-motivation, confidence and improvement in their study habits with greater concentration power.

Shin'ichi Suzuki 鈴木鎮一 (October 17, 1898 - January 26, 1998) was the creator of the Suzuki method of teaching music. The Suzuki Method is based on the principle that all children possess ability and that this ability can be developed and enhanced through a nurturing environment. All children learn to speak their own language with relative ease and if the same natural learning process is applied in teaching other skills, these can be acquired as successfully. Suzuki referred to the process as the Mother Tongue Method and to the whole sysltem of pedagogy as Talent Education (才能教育).

What do these two Japaese men had to do with Albert Einstein (14 March, 1879 - 18 April 1955)? It turns out, Mr. Kumon and Mr. Suzuki were good friends, and Mr. Suzuki had spent several years under the guardianship of Albert Einstein while he was studying violin with Karl Klingler in Germany. Albert Einstein was quite a musician himself (see him played the violin below). He once said, "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.... I get most joy in life out of music." Isn't that interesting.

Bought a car in the Philippines

Yep, two months before we arrive, we bought a car. How? With lots of help from our missionary friends, and missionary friends of missionary friends.

An Australian missionary is leaving to go home, and he is selling the car. Our missions' office in Manila will help us with paying in advance. They will also arrange to ship the car to Cebu. (The car is in Manila right now, Manila and Cebu are on two different islands.) When we start having salary in September, we will pay them back.

Our American missionary friends will have their German missionary friends who are up in Manila to test drive the car and make sure it is in good condition. I feel good about having some Germans check the car out, you know, Germans and cars, great mix, even though they only ended up being third in World Cup Soccer.

This photo is not that great, but I will post a nicer ones once we arrive in Cebu. The current car owner put seat covers on the seats, so if you take the seat covers off, the seats look brand new. I plan on keeping the seat covers on, so when we sell it in two years, it will look nice still.

Since in the Philippines there is no seat belt law, you can fit 11 people in that car, or if the kids would sit on the floor at the back, you can fit 13. That means if my whole family come, all can fit into this car to go places.

OK, what car is it?

- 2002 Toyota Revo GSX ( Toyota Revo is exclusively sold in the Philippines)
- 36,000 kilometers (28,000 miles)
- automatic, 2.0 Liter
- petrol (not diesel)
- power all
- amazon green
- excellent condition
- luggage rack, front and back bull bar
- 2nd owner
- The current owner will put a new CD player in the car for us

Price: 495,000 Peso (USD 9,467.34 HKD 73,548.00)

It will cost us about USD 200 to ship from Manila to Cebu, and our missionary friends over there thinks that we got an extremely good deal.

We cannot help but say thanks to God our provider, He has prepared for us to go even to small details as having a car ready for us.

Like buying a Rolls Royce

Dan just called me after he bought some softwares from an Apple Store (computer, not fruit).He said, "I am excitied about what Mac has to offer. It is like buying a Rolls Royces!" Bare in mind we are not new Mac users, my first two computers are Macs, then the first computer we own after we were married was a Mac. However, we get drowned out by the PC world. After so many years, we have decided that enough is enough, we have to switch back to Mac to get a peace of mind and actually use the computers instead spending half the time calling the tech support people and blocking viruses. Though we have bought the softwares here, we will get the computers in Hong Kong, since without tax, they will be cheaper. And we won't have to carry them on the plane.

I wrote a sad email to Patrick Chan, who introduced me to Jesus and Mac, after Dan and I purchased our first PC, Patrick saved that email and fowarded it back to me a few days ago:

I wrote: Your persistance in spreading the gospel of Mac is just like your persistance in sharing the gospel of Christ to me years ago. I feel sorry for being the lost "sister in Mac". The first computer I bought was a Mac when I first got here, however, I was drowned by the "world" of PC, and am still lost. I don't know what to say about using Mac again, I think I might some day switch back, however, today is not the time. (Sounds familiar, "I will someday believe in Jesus, but not now.")

To tell you the truth, I think Patrick is in 7th heaven now that we are switching back to Mac. A lost sister and a lost brother in the PC world have finally turned around. It is time to rejoice.

House Sold

Things have been progressing pretty quickly in the Bush household. Other than the fact that we sold our house in a buyer's market within 9 days, our support came in faster than we anticipated, and we found good tickets flying eastward in September, we are now progressing well in our sorting and packing of household goods. Over the 4th of July weekend, since not many World Cup Soccer games are on, we were able to sort and pack quite a few boxes that will be shipped to Cebu. All of Dan's books are packed, plus all of our clothing are sorted. We still have lots of packing to do, but at least we are off to a good start.