My birthday

August 15 was my birthday, I don't mind sharing that I am officially 43 years old. After living all these years, the Lord has given me more than I can think of: a husband, a daughter, good health, and He even lets me serve him in many ways. Don't know how many more years I will live, but I am so blessed with what I have. If the Lord were to take me home to be with him, I trust that He will also take care of all that He has given me.


Celebrating my 43rd birthday at my mother-in-law's house.


Kioni and daddy


Cousin Ethan looked on while Kioni helped me blow the candles out.


You could tell Kioni really wanted that ice-cream cake, but she only took two bites. She does not like sweets much.

Faithfulness reminded

Today a report in Foxnews.com once again remind us of how God has provided for us in the selling of our townhome:

WASHINGTON — Sales of previously owned homes plunged in July to the lowest level in 2 1/2 years and the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a new record high, fresh signs that the housing market has lost steam.

The National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that sales of existing homes and condominiums dropped by 4.1 percent in July from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.33 million. That was the lowest level since January 2004.

We sold our house in July in nine days, now the news went back and look at July and found out that most people had a hard time selling their house. What a wonderful thing God has done for us!

今天的新聞報導有這?一段報導：今年七月的舊樓出售準是兩年半來的最低點。這再一次提醒了我們神的信實。我們就是在七月售樓最低點的時候在九天?賣了房子。神的信實為我們行了奇事。

TV and other things

I love certain shows on US TV, like the Food channel, Court TV, etc, I start to miss those TV shows because I probably won't be watching for quite a long while. But I am sure I will find something good like that to watch in Cebu. It is funny how you can get use to certain shows, well, yes, hooked to certain shows, without even knowing it. I am glad that I am the type of person that could do two things at the same time. Watch TV and work on the computer, watch TV and knit, etc., so I can multiply my time. I tried to study for Hebrew final exam and watch TV at the same time when I was in seminary, that didn't work too well, I did not become a Hebrew expert, but I did pass the exam.

我還好

到了奶好家好幾天了，覺得還好。來之前好幾朋友家人跟我說與奶奶同住個多月不容易，我想是沒錯，但是奶奶是明理的人，我們又都坦誠相待，相信在相處上有甚麼困難我們會坦坦白白的說清楚，美國人在溝通上是較為直接，我在這?住了十年也學會了這一招了，所以希望在這個月內如果有甚?不高興的事，也可以開心見誠地講。到現在為止一切都還好，畢竟還在‘蜜月期‘之中。

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.

Does God Yell, “GOL”?

We at the Bush house have been watching quite a bit of the 2006 World Cup Soccer tournament. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat have been experienced by many, to include us (the fans). This couch-potato spectator sport has caused us, however, to think seriously about theology as we often feel the urge to pray in real time for our favorites teams. Therefore, we have contemplated a good dissertation topic for future study: Does God Yell, “GOL”?: The Divine Perspective on Lutheran and Catholic Football Squads. If you would like to contribute some additional topic suggestions or maybe even a resource or two for our study, please drop us a note.

Travel warning

The US Department of State issued a travel warning on June 16 for the Philippines in light of the various bombings in the past week.

"The Department of State urges American citizens to consider carefully the risks of travel to the Philippines and continues to warn against all but essential travel throughout the country in light of heightened threats to Westerners."

Now that does that mean to us, who are leaving in a few months for the Philippines? Do we know about the danger? Yes, we do. Though we were assured by the missionaries there that westerners in Cebu City are rarely a target, we have thought about the potential danger for being there. I am not too worried about myself, since I don't look "western" at all. However, Dan and Kioni look different. But am I being fearful for them? Not really. We are pretty clear that this is the place where God is sending us for the next two years. Exercise common sense, don't do stupid things, and we are going to put the rest in God's hands.

The safest place on earth is at the center of God's will.

One of those guys!

Amy: "You are one of those guys!"
Dr. Cook : "What one of those guys."
Amy: "Those guys who drive their motorcycles on the sidewalk." (Look closely in the photo how the pedestrian actually YEILDED to the guy on the scooter ON-A-SIDEWALK!)

I was talking about motorcycles in Taipei with Dr. Cook. We were in Taipei at the same time some 20 years ago, I believe we lived in the same 10-mile radius, but never found out until we started chatting a while back. What a small world!

My experience with motorcycles in Taipei was limited, other than on one occasion, riding with a guy friend for 3 minutes, he was showing off his brand new cool muscle bike, he insisted that I'd be his first passenger. Most of the time, I was just hoping they wouldn't kill me. It would not be cool if my mother receive a call saying that her daughter was killed in a motorcycle accident while walking on a sidewalk.

I had a very close encounter with a motorcycle within the first week after I arrived at Taipei. (For those who didn't know, I got my undergrad degree in National Taiwan University (Tai Da).) Just walking from campus along a narrow sidewalk to get some fruit, a motorcycle zoomed up from behind me. At first I heard a loud motor roaring towards me, not knowing what it could be, I turned around to check it out. Then I saw this long-legged guy on a scooter charging towards me in full speed. He had a helmet on, which I found out later was pretty unusual, so I could not see his face. In a split second, I hopped to the side of the sidewalk, but I was blocked by a line of at least 10-15 scooters that were parked on the sidewalk. I managed to squeeze in between two scooters, just in time for the motocycle to zoom by. That guy's long leg actually touched my skirt! That was close.

They drove on the sidewalk because the road is jammed up, or not jammed up, it doesn't matter. Well, for one thing, there is no traffic lights to obey on the sidewalk. Dr. Cook even said this was the one "traffic law" that his friend told him when he first got his motorbike: "When the road is jammed up, use the sidewalk." (Now I wonder if that long-legged guy I encountered was him!) I was in awe when I saw for the first time a family of 5 all on one motorcycle making a turn on a busy street, with the mother holding a toddler and a huge watermelon! After a few years of seeing people carrying all sorts of cargos on their motorbikes, I was not surprised anymore.

Dr. Cook said since then the mayor of Taipei has cleaned up the messy traffic. I do hope so, since I have not been back since I graduated. There are many amazing things that Taiwanese do with their motorbikes or scooters. If China is the bicycle capital of the world, Taiwan is definitely the scooter capital of the universe.

Also check out You know you've been in Taiwan for too long when....

Where in the world

Now that the time for us to leave for the Philippines is drawing close, our friends and families start to realize that we indeed will be living on this land for the next two years! But where in the world will we be in the Philippines? For some of you who are geographacially challenged, you might even think, "Where in the world IS the Philippines?"

It is in South East Asia, to her north is China, south is Indonesia, and west are Myanmar (formerly Burma), Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. It consists of about 7,000 islands.
The Philippine Islands became a Spanish colony during the 16th century; they were ceded to the US in 1898 following the Spanish-American War. In 1935 the Philippines became a self-governing commonwealth. It has a population of 89,468,677 (July 2006 est.)
We are going to Cebu City, the second largest city in the Philippines, where Megellan landed. It is located in Cebu province in the middle of the country. (Click on map to enlarge.) To the south is the big island of Mindanao, where most of the country's Muslim population lives.

What is most well-known about the Philippines? Other than the large number of professionals and workers who live all over the world. Geographically, The deepest known spot on the planet, Challenger Deep, is found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, just east of the Philippine Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Sounding of the depths in the Mariana Trench measure 36,198 feet. This is approximately 7152 feet deeper than Mount Everest (29,022 feet)! Click on the map below to see a fly-by video of the Mariana Trench. They even found fish there! (Click here to see the fish video).
And of course, you can't talk about the Philippines without talking about the white sandy beaches.
Anyway, it is a hot and humid place that will give your books a good coating of mold. Will tell you more when we get there.

World minus America Cup Soccer

When the world (I am not exaggerating) is going crazy over FIFA 2006 World Cup Soccer, I cannot even find one channel in Direct TV (satellite TV) that airs a game during primetime! I was floored! I had to search all one hundred and some channels and eventually, found one airing Germany vs Poland, in Spanish. Yep, I had to go to a Spanish speaking channel in order to watch a game.
Last night when I was happy to see that they were showing Czech Republic vs the U.S. at 9:00pm on ESPN, but when I went to that channel at 9:00, they were showing college baseball, still in 8th inning. I sighed and Dan said, "Be patient, it will be over soon." Well, he doesn't understand, soccer fans cannot wait for a slow-moving-nobody-cares-about-but-Americans game to be over, in order to watch World Cup soccer, you are talking about WORLD CUP SOCCER. The baseball game lasted another half an hour before they put the soccer game on. If this happens in any other parts of the world, the TV station if not swamped with angry soccer fans, would have their phone lines jammed already.
Today I was talking with a student who is going to be a missionary in Eastern Europe, he said, "If you are going to be a missionary outside of America, you better know soccer."
He was right, only Americans don't care about soccer. Even with the U.S. team making it into Group E this year, Americans are mostly ignorant about what is going on in Germany right now. I told Dan that I feel isolated. Tomorrow when I go to work, NO ONE will talk with me about how Germany scored during the last two minutes. How they hit the crossbar of the goal twice in one attack, how the Polish was playing with one less man because of a red card. NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE will talk about it. Rather, if I am in Hong Kong, I would be walking into an elevator at work and everyone will be talking about it. Strangers are not strangers anymore because of soccer.
I am glad that I will be watching the 2008 Beijing Olypmics in the Philippines, and hopefully, I will be watching the next 2010 World Cup Soccer in SCOTLAND! Hurry!

Want and Need

I want so many things, why is that? Do I just turn my wants into needs and then convince myself that I actually need those things rather than just desiring them? I guess greed is the culprit, or just plain selfish, because I want to satisfy myself with all the stuff that I think I "need". This picture becomes painfully clear now that we are clearing our house to move out, we have so much STUFF! My goodness! I will try from now on not to accumulate anymore, I don't need all those things to live a productive life. OK, it is not too late to start getting rid of things, things I even think I need. After doing without for a while, I am sure I will realize that those are just things I want.

Litter OR Trash

While driving through Wisconsin to the UP in Michigan, a sign by the road says:
"Do not Litter OR Trash along the highway"
So you have to say both "litter" or "trash" in order to get the message through? That give "cheese-head" a new meaning.

SOLD!

Our house is sold! 9 days on the market, it is sold tonight!

The story goes like this:

Day 1 (Tuesday) - I told people about it, sent out an email to my co-workers at work. The real estate lady brought over some colourful flyers for potential buyers to take when they come to see the house.

Day 2 (Wednesday) - Late afternoon, someone made an appointment to look at our house tomorrow! Wow! We cleaned until 1:00 in the morning.

Day 3 (Thursday) - They cancelled the showing right before the scheduled time, they changed their mind on the price range. We were disappointed. But then in the afternoon, we got another phone call asking for another showing that night!
In the mean time, I was putting flyers up around campus, but only 5 were allowed. Therefore, I was wrecking my brain trying to think where else should I post something. Well, yes, there is an e-classifieds on the Trinity International University website, but I know not many people know about that site, but hey, something is better than nothing. Later that day, another party called and came to see the house. Good. We went out for our 10th wedding anniversary dinner, so we can get away from the house for a 7:30pm - 8:30pm showing.

Day 4 (Friday) - No activity, no offer, no phone calls. The real estate lady brought over some more flyer packets, because I wanted to post some colourful ones on campus. We told her we are leaving for a trip next Thursday, so if someone wants to see the house, feel free to let them come. She said, "Maybe the house will be sold by then." Dan said to her, "I hope you are a prophet!" She walked away with a smile.

Day 5 (Saturday) - No activity, we went to the park with Kioni.

Day 6 (Sunday) - Went to church, had a restful day. The phone did not ring.

Day 7 (Monday)- I went to work, 4 Trinity related people asked about the house while I was at work. By 4:30pm, I was wrapping up for the day when the phone rang, I thought to myself: "This will be my last phone call of the day."

"I teach at Trinity College. I am looking into buying a house this summer. I saw your ad in the e-classifieds in the Trinity webiste. I would like to know more about your house."
"Well, are you on campus?"
"Yes, I am."
"I have colour photos of the house, if you would like to take a walk to my office, I will show you some photos and talk more about the house."
10 minutes later, he was sitting in my office. We talked about half an hour, from the house to taking a year of sabbatical to go teach overseas! Obviously, our conversation went beyond the townhouse.
"I will ask my real estate agent to set an appointment to look at the house."
"Sure, but don't feel pressured into buying a house. Make sure you feel comfortable when you walk into the house, and can see yourself living in it."

Day 8 (Tuesday) - Our real estate agent called and said there was another showing request at 2:00pm. It was right in the middle of Kioni nap time. Dan scrambled to find a place to let Kioni sleep. After several phone calls, Dan found Iris Feinberg who was available at home. They went over for a few hours. Kioni took a shorter than normal nap. But the house was available to show.

Day 9 (Wednesday) - We were invited to Donna and Ernie Manges' home for dinner. While we were eating dinner, Dan got a message. It is our real estate lady. I thought it was a call for another showing. I thought to myself, it was good that we cleaned up the house before we leave. After hanging up the phone with the real estate lady, Dan said with a smile. "We got an offer!" What?!? Several phone calls for negotiation and the deal is done! (The offer was made by the person whom saw the house yesterday afternoon.)

During the last phone call, the real estate lady said, "The buyer likes your lights." But we are not selling the lights, those are custom made mission style lights. So we credited him $500 to go and buy light fixtures. Dan asked if he can find out the name of the buyer, when Dan told me the name, I was floored - it was the Trinity professor!

We could not believe what God has done for us. He has shown us in so many ways that he wants us to be in Cebu as soon as possible. Using people saying things to us that was prophetic, even though that person had no clue what they were talking about. He let us share this great news while we are with friends. The Manges are not just friends, they are fellow missionaries teaching in Cebu Graduate School of Theology who are on leave! What a wonderful thing to share this piece of great news with them while visiting them. Ernie Manges prayed before we ate, Dan made a comment about him not praying for the selling of the house. Little did Dan know at that time that a decision was already made in the buyer's mind, there was no need to pray for the selling of the house anymore.

We signed some papers tonight, the house is set to close by July 28 (my sister's birthday). I will decide on a date to resign my position, we will have to start packing and ready to go to Michigan.

God is able! There are six other units that are of the same price range as ours selling in our subdivision. Some have been there for months. But ours is sold in 9 days! Dan said it right, other people do not have God as their real estate agent!

There is nothing more I can say, other than that our God is able and powerful. He provides in ways that we cannot even imagine. What else can we do than to praise him!

Almost there

We are almost there, we are at 90% of our monthly support pledge! We thought it is going to be a long time before we reached it, but before we know it, we are at 90%. That is just 9 months after we started having any fund-raising activities. And during these 9 months, Dan spent 6 months writing his thesis and took his comphrensive exam and I did not do much at all for support raising. All that is to say are two things:

1) God is powerful and he does provide as he has promised
2) God's people are willing to sacrifice

We are grateful for God's provision through his people, during this process, it just shows how alive and great our God is. If he can raise the funding for us like this, we are fully convinced that he is going to sell our house for us. People of God who are reading this post, please pray that God will sell our house quickly, just like how he has send in the funding.

10th Anniversary

Went out to dinner at "The Melting Pot". Kind of a new experience, but crazy expensive, do not recommend it. Oh, we are underdressed also, and it took us three hours to finish the "experience". I guess I am just too cheap to eat like that.

Who is your real estate agent?

We are tired this morning because we cleaned the house until almost 1:00am last night. Our real estate agent company called yesterday afternoon saying that someone wanted to look at our house. We didn't think it will be that soon when someone responded, with the house on the market less than 36 hours, we were going to have our first showing! So we put Kioni to bed and started cleaning, last minute painting, stuffing things in the closets, but still have to keep the closets relatively tidy, etc.. When all else fails, there is always the garage. People don't care much about your garage being a bit messy.

So this morning, though tired, I could not sleep.
I had the following conversation with Dan:

"I couldn't sleep."
"Are you excited that someone is coming to see our house?"
"No, I am worried that our house won't sell."
"Why don't you think it will sell."
"I looked it up on the internet, there are at least 6 other units selling at the same price range in our subdivision."
"OK... but I bet they don't have God as their real estate agent!"

Now, that's faith in action. Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary, it is good to know that I am married to a man of great faith.

House on the market

We finally put our house on the market. It is a big step for us because it indicates that we are soon leaving the country! It is a complex feeling, worried if the house doesn't sell, since the real estate lady said there are many houses on the market now. But once it is sold, then I will quit my work at Trinity, I will miss my friends so much. Afterall, I have worked here for 4 years and have built up relationships here.

Selling of the house also means that our adventure and ministry to the Philippines will start, which is exciting and challenging at the same time. Much anticipation, much to learn.

A new phase of life always has two sides to it, no matter what we will be encountering in the future, we just have to make sure we are in the center of God's will, and we will be fine.

Skype

Wow, what were we thinking, it took us so long to decide to download it, and now we have it, and we wonder why we did have it earlier! Yep, I am talking about the voice and video over the Internet thingy called Skype. Absolutely amazing invention for poor people who are like us. All that are needed are for the parties who are conversing to:

1) download Skype for free
Don't worry about those SkypeIn and SkypeOut things on the website, those are for people who don't have Internet access but would still like to call you.
2) have internet connection and be online
3) make sure your computer has a microphone and a speaker, which most laptops have those built in already

Then you can call people who have also downloaded Skype anywhere in the world and start chatting as long as you want FOR FREE. To add some fun, plug in a webcam and you can show you call them first thing in the morning and you are still in your PJ!

What's the catch? I guess since quite a number of people still do not have Internet access, or are not that desperate to talk to people using the computer (like my mother), but still prefer picking a phone with a land line or mobile phone, then you can subscribe to the SkypeIn or SkypeOut thing, that's where it costs money.

I know I might sound a bit too excited about this 'new technology' which is not that new for some technological advanced folks, but if you are not in that catagory, this is really something to be excited about. I was skeptical for a long while, we finally downloaded it last night and 'called' a missionary friend in the Philippines. We saw him and him us, and we talked a little bit. Chuck, our friend said, 'Skype is a true life-saver for us missionaries, all of us here have Skype."

Hey, if you want to talk to us for free while we are in the Philippines, download Skype and call us when you see that we are online, yes, you will see an icon indicating we are online. For my friends in Hong Kong, you can talk to us for free while we are still in the U.S., try it out, it is great.

Finally!

With Trinity granting this degree to Dan, Trinity is telling him that he has 'mastered' theology, at least in the area of Systematic Theology. We'll see how true it is when he starts to teach in Cebu Graduate School of Theology. Dan's mother came in a wheelchair: bad-because she was in a car accident and had a big old cast on her leg after knee surgery, recovery could be slow and painful. Good-because of her, we got handicapped parking everywhere we go. You know how it was like trying to find a parking spot during graduation, we had no problem at all, right at the front door, there they are, handicapped spots.

When I was a little girl

When I was a little girl
I imagined flying up to the stars
I thought if I could reach the diamonds
I would stay on those sparkling islands

When I was a little girl
I considered what life was all about
I pondered why the ant-like people
Toiled aimlessly in sweat and soil
Why were there deep lines on their faces
Why were there tears on their lashes

When I was a little girl
I speculated if the clouds would be a good hideout
I wondered why the universe so vast
What possibly was behind this mysterious mass

When I was a little girl
I asked who governed the moon
Why did it come up only when dark
Why did the sun appear to make its mark

When I was a little girl
My heart was a puzzle
There were so many pieces missing
I questioned why people talked about blessings

Many years later
A Prince found all the pieces
Without me knowing
He quietly completed the puzzle
He then declared: Everything's settled

He is from where the diamonds decorate the heavens
Where the moon meets the sun
The clouds were His pillows
He is the only Son

He chose to forgo
All that He had for me
A little girl whose heart was a hopeless puzzle
But now it's complete and free

Shower Ministry

Anne Perdicaris is a TEDS graduate, we became friends in the course of her taking Field Education courses. Anne is now serving in Athens, Greece at the Athens Refugee Center sharing the gospel of Jesus with refugees, many from Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq. There are increasing number of refugees that are from Africa also. Most of them are Muslims. In her recent newsletter, I read this most amazing story about their "shower ministry", I would like to share it with you, maybe God will bless you through Anne's words and her work in Athens. The following are Anne's own words:

It seems like just yesterday that I arrived in Athens, but time is quickly flying by. My prayer is that every day, I’ll allow the Holy Spirit to keep me near to our Lord, and to work in and through me to show the many refugees at the Athens Refugee Center (ARC) how they can have that same nearness with Him.

There’s so much to tell you about what God is doing at the ARC, so much evidence of Christ being shared and so many remarkable, touching incidents that occur here.

One of these happened a week or so ago during the ARC’s “shower ministry.” This ministry allows the refugee men—many of whom aren’t privy to showers of their own—to clean off the grime of living, working, and often sleeping on Athens’ very dirty streets.

To you and I, cleaning up is a given, a basic need, but for the refugees, the 7-minute stream of hot water that the ARC provides is nothing short of a luxury.

Of course, as a woman, I’m not out and about when the shower ministry is in gear. Instead, I’m in the ARC’s office, getting ready to teach the new believers’ class. But I can hear the whole process through the thin walls: the missionary guys warmly welcoming the refugee men, the refugees’ grateful murmurs as they take a towel and soap, the whoosh of the shower jets, and the genuine glee and gratitude that the men express as they leave the ARC and step out onto the street clean, with renewed dignity.

One man who came to the shower ministry, perhaps an African from Somalia, seemed to glow with gratitude after his shower. "Very nice,” I heard him gush to one of the male missionaries. “I’ll never forget it! Yes, I'm clean now, very nice."

Last week, my roommate Susie told me that a Somalian mother and her children (the same family that I told you about in my last letter) wanted to use the showers. I thought to myself, can you imagine the shame it must cause this woman to ask strangers—foreigners and folks whom your own religion considers to be “unclean” (as some Muslims believe non-Muslims to be) to use their shower?

But the woman came, looking world-weary, toting her garbage bag of possessions, trailed by her thin, solemn-eyed, very perceptive children. As Susie turned the showers on, I was surprised to hear something that I never thought I’d hear: children’s laughter, and singing in the shower! These kids, so sad and serious, were laughing and singing in the shower, delighted at being clean again, and perhaps delighted at having this one element of their normal life restored, if even for 10 minutes one afternoon.

I stepped out of the office to see the kids getting dressed in the new clothes that Susie had given them. Iman, the little daughter, was thrilled with her new Halloween-themed socks. She leaned over, giggling, and looked at us from her upside-down position—the sort of playful gesture that any normal little girl might do, and suddenly little Iman and her family became much more human to me. I saw how giving a cup of cold water—or, in this case, a warm shower and clean clothes—in Jesus’ name, can restore life to weary, hopeless people. The mother hugged us tightly as she left, reminding me again of how so little can mean so much to those in need. Please, pray for Iman and her family. Pray that she and her mother and siblings will find physical and emotional rest and security in Greece. And, that they will find ultimate peace and healing, and new life, in Christ.

Coming to an end

The semester is coming to an end, a student just asked me what am I going to do on my 'summer vacation', I told her I don't have a summer vacation, she was shocked to learn that I have to work through summer. The end of the Spring semester is the busiest time for me. Reading through about 200 sets of paperwork from students is not exactly a small project, but I do it twice every semester. Professors will have papers to grade, unlike me, they will have a summer break to catch their breath.

My time at Trinity is also coming to an end. Not only that, we will go all the way over the big pond to the Philippines. People always ask me if I am excited. I don't know how to reply. Yes, I am excited that we are going to launch into a new phase of our lives, doing new ministries, and for me, being able to stay home with Kioni and not having to shoulder the responsibility of being the bread-winner anymore. I am excited about all the new changes that are coming our way.

However, I am not that naive about ministering and living cross-culturally. I have done it once 10 years ago, adapting cross-culturally, I have to say is not on my list of 'favourite things to do'. There are many challenges that I would rather not have, but looking back, they have built my character and patience in ways I did not know before. It seems like whenever I get too comfortable, God always moves me out of my comfort zone. He did it to some people, but for others, He will keep them where they are all their lives. I don't quite understand that, but God is God, what can you say.

I am also starting to feel a bit sad about leaving Trinity, because I am going to miss the interactions with students, the administrative assistant ladies whom I become close to, faculty members whom I have gotten to become friends with. I will miss all these. However, as a follower of Christ, I am glad to go where God is leading us to.

I pray what will NOT come to an end is the relationships that I have developed at Trinity. I am thankful for emails, the Internet and blogs, as evil as many people think they are, they do bring people together. I have a track record of keeping in contact with my Hong Kong friends through emails, even after 10 years physical absence in my home church in Hong Kong. Much have changed in 10 years, but friendship does not change, feelings do not change.

OK, got to stop, something is bothering my eyes......

God Sighting in a Bottle of Tylenol

It seems like Kioni gets sick whenever we go out of town. We visited Park Hills Evangelical Free Church in Freeport, IL, two hours east of our home this past weekend. Freeport is a good size town, with a population of 26,443. On our drive there we made note of how the town is dotted with numerous churches of various denominations.

While in Freeport we stayed with the senior pastor and his family. But that night Kioni got sick, screamed many times because she felt congested, and threw up all over me at 2:30 AM. We didn't know the town and didn't want to wake up our hosts for help, so we just suffered though the night as a miserable trinity. (The pastor and his wife don't have small children, so they wouldn't have had the drugs we needed anyway.)

The next morning, Kioni felt a little better. Yet she wasn't up to going to church, so Dan went to the church alone to share our ministry, while Kioni and I stayed back at the pastor's home alone. A few hours later, Dan came back and we packed up and began our trek back to Mundelein.

On the way out of Freeport, we decided to stop by a pharmacy to pick up a bottle of Children's Tylenol for Kioni. The pharmacy at Cubs Food was the first one we came across. Dan went in by himself to get the Tylenol. When he came out, he told me the amazing story that follows.

Dan picked out the Children's Tylenol, but because it had something special in it, it was kept behind the pharmacy counter. By asking for it, Dan caught the attention of the pharmacist. In the process of paying for it, the pharmacist took the medication and scanned it and then took a card out from his wallet and ran it though the register. To Dan, it seemed that perhaps the card was something special needed to activate the register or to login the pharmacist as the presiding cashier. When Dan went to present his credit card to the pharmacist to pay for the medicine, the pharmacist handed Dan the Tylenol in a small bag nicely stapled and accompanied the gesture with the startling statement, "Good luck in the Philippines!"

Dumbfounded, Dan stood there for a moment and then asked, "How do you know we are going to the Philippines." The pharmacist replied, "A few years ago, we had a couple who were from the Philippines stayed with us a couple of months." This, however, didn't explain his knowledge of our trip. But then he came clean, "I was in the first service at Park Hills Church this morning. But I didn't have the opportunity to talk to you after you shared your mission to the Philippines. In fact, I exited out of another door, since I needed to go home quickly so I could report here to work this afternoon."

It then dawned on Dan that the card that the pharmacist had pulled out of his own wallet was not an activation or log-in card. Rather it was his own personal credit card. The pharmacist had purchased the Children's Tylenol for us and stapled the receipt to the bag.

I was in absolutely astounded as I listened to Dan tell the story. Through Kioni's sickness, God showed us, even in the smallest area of life, that He was still sovereign and was still taking care of us through his people. Think of all the 'coincidences' that happened: (1) Kioni got sick when we were in a strange town. (2) We picked the first pharmacy that we came across, which (2) just happened to be supervised by someone that had gone to one of the many churches in Freeport, and (3) the church he went to just happened to be the one where Dan shared the ministry that morning. (4) The pharmacist wasn't obliged to pay for Kioni's medicine, but the Spirit moved his heart towards us in charity. And (5) before Dan even had the opportunity to say a word, or even notice what was taking place, the transaction was complete. The funny thing is that the pharmacist didn't even utter a word to Dan until he handed him the medicine, certainly he must have been setting Dan up and got a big kick out of the shock and awe on Dan's face when out of the blue he made his pronouncement, "Good luck in the Philippines!"

Do you still think daily events are just random occurrences? It's when we pay attention that we see who God truly is. Are you paying attention?

Past, Present, Future

Since I have started auditing the Chinese Church History course this Spring semester, every Monday when I left the two and a half hour class, I left with a heavy heart, I would find myself arriving home without knowing how I got there, which is quite scary. Not that Dr. Cook did not do a good job explaining the subject, quite to the contrary, he is doing such a good job that the history comes alive, everything suddenly means so much to me, and THAT is what is weighing on me. The past 200 years of Chinese history was nothing but a vast display of chaos and hopelessness. I can't help but ask where is China going in the future with this much baggage on her back?
I came to partial realization of my identity as a Chinese on June 4th, 1989, when the tanks rolled into Tienanmen Square, I found myself weeping uncontrollably in front of the TV. I remember my mom looking at me with a strange expression on her face, then she said, "It's OK, the tanks are not in Hong Kong." I was there for every single protest rally and memorial service, until I got married and left Hong Kong in 1996. (There were rumors that some secret service people video-recorded those rallies to see who were in there, so I am not worried that this exposure will cause my name to be listed on a certain blacklist, because if they indeed did that, they already know who I am. If this rumor is just a rumor, then, oh well, as Forrest Gump said, "stupid is as stupid does.")
Growing up in Hong Kong, I never felt oppressed as someone living in a colony. The British has brought countless good things into Hong Kong, an excellent law system, sound civil education, laissez faire policy, and using English as the official language has no doubt helped Hong Kong advanced to the status of a major international city. One thing that was never stressed in the classroom though, and understandably so, was that we were Chinese. We were taught that we were 'citizens of Hong Kong'. This made perfect sense since those of us who were born in Hong Kong held British passports with a big old UK seal right in the middle. Inside, where it said 'Nationality', it was printed 'British'.
At the time when I was born, China had just gone through the Great Leap Forward, where millions and millions of people died of starvation. There was virtually no news coming out from China, except 'rumors' of people dying. Not only did we not know what was going on in China, it did not seem like we cared, even though one of my father's older sisters, whom refused to flee to Hong Kong in 1949, was still in China. It was not until at least 10 years after her death that we learned that she was sent to a labour camp in Xinjiang. With her being the daughter of a wealthy landlord, I will not be surprised if she was put into the catagory of 'extreme rightist', which guaranteed her life and the lives that were connected to her (her husband's and two sons') extraordinary difficult, however, starvation took her life first. I need to find out more about her life from her two sons, whom eventually fled China by swimming to Hong Kong for days in the South China Sea, fighting off sharks. They are now in their 50s, living comfortably in Hong Kong.
My father often told us that the communists took EVERYTHING away from them. My paternal grandfather was a landlord and a businessman, he was an extremely wealthy man with seven wives, the seventh one being my grandmother. He owned blocks and blocks of prime real estates in Guangzhou, my father still remembers the huge house they lived in. My maternal grandfather was a chic entrepreneur, he owned a construction company in Shanghai, extravagant business luncheons and parties were everyday events for him. (Later while in Hong Kong, he disapproved of my father pursuing my mother, saying, "The tip I give to waiters in a meal is more than what that guy (my father) made in a month!" My mother verifies that it was true. My father at that time worked in my grandfather's construction company. Don't you think it should have prompted my grandfather to consider paying his employees better?
When the communists took over in 1949, both grandfathers lost all that they had. My paternal grandmother fled to Hong Kong on foot with seven kids in tow and with practically no money. At that time, my paternal grandfather had already past away. My father remembers the hardships they had to endure when they struggled just to stay alive after arriving in Hong Kong. My maternal grandfather was able to go to Hong Kong with some money and opened up a construction company again in a much smaller scale. My mother was born in Hong Kong into this relatively well to do family. So she has less things to say about the communist. However, she did go to a Kuomintang school, so she got some 'education' as to who the communists were also.
When China finally opened up, my father was the first one in his family to go visit. The reason being most of my uncles were in the Royal Police Force, and my oldest uncle was actually in the political section of the police force, namely, they kept the communists' activities in check! They were afraid to go back, I guess the memories of the how everything was seized from them was still fresh in their minds. My parents, my younger brother and I boarded a big ship in Hong Kong, overnight we arrived in a port in Guangzhou, that was August of 1980. In the warm summer morning mist, we stood on the deck overlooking China, it was the first time (except my father) that we saw China. The first words my father said were, "This place has not changed in 30 years!" As I look at the land, I was thinking, 'This is my root. But how can it be? How can it look so different from Hong Kong!"
Did not think too much about that trip after we went back to Hong Kong, I only remembered how inexpensive everything was, how dull their clothing colours were, and how lack of smile everyone was. Though there were 'Friendship Stores' everywhere, people who worked there were hardly 'friendly'. I was not interested in knowing my 'roots', not interested in learning about China at that time. Afterall, my life in Hong Kong was great, there was no need to go back to my roots and explore them. We have a new life in Hong Kong, we are a new generation. I did not consider China as my mother-land until that earth-shaking event in 1989. It was impressed upon my heart from the images on TV that those people in Tienanmen Square and I are both Chinese.
The Chinese Church History class has moved into the time period when my grandparents were adults living in China, and my father was already born. I wonder what they were thinking in this chaotic period of time. Did they see that their lives were going to be changed so drastically? Did they even think for one moment that what they had built up will be yanked right out from their hands soon?
Attending this class has given me an unsettling desire to dig out as much as I can from my father, what happened when he was a teenager in China, what did he experienced, what does it mean for him to live under the communist's rule now in Hong Kong. I wanted to find out from my mother what did her father say about his life as an entrepreneur in Shanghai, what were the definitive events that made him decide that he had to leave Shanghai and everything that he had built up with his own hands. How has all these affect the way my parents live their lives? How does that affect us, their children? And how are we, my sister, my brother and I, are going to teach our children about our family, and about China. I want to be able to understand the past, so I can look into the future.
The future has become a bit complicated though now that I am not a 'British' anymore, rather an 'American'. It's ironical, isn't it? I am never officially a 'Chinese'. Though I know full well my identity in Christ, I have never come to full grasp of my identity on earth.
I never liked history, never understood it, never treasured it. Now I can see why people study history, and why people like Dr. Cook are crazy about it. We study history because the past is the present, and the future too.
P.S. My dear blog readers who are from Mainland China, it is a privilege to know you, I have learned from you how China has evolved all these years, and what China is like at the present time. This is a lesson that I will never learn from my family since they are not there to witness all the tremendous changes. The purpose of this post is not to criticize China, rather, recording the point of view that my parents have presented to me towards the life under the early communist rule in China.

No more fun?

What am I doing? Not even thinking about this very important day of the year! Therefore, nothing is planned. I used to love this day, you can pull all the pranks you want and people will just laugh and say, 'Yeh, I forgot it's April Fool's Day." They never get mad, what a great way to have some fun.
A fellow blogger pulled a pretty good one on his faithful readers. You have to know Jeff to see why all these people cried and lament about the 'news' that he put forth in his blog.
Maybe next year when I can map out all the important fun days, I can plan something fun. There is always hope.

Afterthought of a lecture

I am auditing a Chinese Church History class at TEDS, taught by Dr. Richard Cook. The class took a field trip to Marquette University for this year's Casper Lecture. Speaker Dr. Jonathan Spence gave an informative and inspiring lecture on "Thinking it Through: Chinese and Catholics in the Seventeenth Century".
The purpose of my writing is not about what I have learn from Spence, (though I do have something to say about the lecture, well, I always have something to say about anything), rather, what I have learned about myself after the lecture.
Last night's lecture was the first time in two years and two months that I was out by myself, without Kioni and Dan, doing something that I enjoyed.
After the lecture, several of us rode back to Trinity in a van, during the course of conversation, systematic theology came up, we explained to an auditing student, Rebecca, (a lady from the community), what systematic theology was and other issues about studying theology. We also talked about our experiences with Mainland Chinese scholars and our time spent in China, etc. We had a wonderful time.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the non-theology related conversations we had with the ladies at work. What I have forgotten was that I can still think academically and talk theology even though I graduated from seminary 10 years ago and haven't been "in the loop" all these years.
This field trip was more than just a lecture to me, in fact, going back to the classroom this semester unearthed the desire to learn, a desire so strong that led me to go to seminary in the first place. I have, unknowingly and gradually, let this desire sank to the bottom of my heart, buried it deep all these years, thinking I have other more important duties to fulfill, namely, to put Dan through school and to be a mother to Kioni.
Dr. Cook's passion for Chinese Church History, classroom interactions with fellow students and the readings all help me discover something inside that I have long forgotten.
I thank Dr. Cook for offering this class, it attracted my attention, so much so that I actually took time off of work to audit ( I have to thank my boss for letting me take the time off!) I am also glad that Dr. Cook arranged for us to go to this lecture, which leads me to rediscover the part of my 'brain' that I have forgotten exists.
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Another milestone reached

Dan just finished his ThM thesis oral defense, he passed! It was a two hour defense with Dr. Vanhoozer and Dr. McCall. He will have about half a day of clean up work to do on the thesis as requested by the professors, then he will be officially done with the thesis. All that is left is waiting for the result of the comprehensive exam. He came home after the oral defense, feeling a bit lost, everything, as far as his ThM program is concerned, is almost done. Sure he still have lots of things to do in other aspects in his life, but the ThM is done.
For me, it is a huge relief. We are, again, waiting for Kioni to wake up, then we will go to Cheesecaske Factory for an early dinner to celebrate this date that we have anticipated for so long. I take today off, need to stay home with Kioni when Dan was at school.

Thank you, Lighthouse.

What a wonderful day we had a Lighthouse Community Fellowship today! We not only received a warm welcome as the missionaries they are supporting, we also have gifts to remind us how great God has been to us through his faithful people. Marian, chairperson of the Mission committee, welcomed us into the church with beautiful corsages. Kioni was then escorted to the nursery, where they have lots of toys for her to play with. Then right at the beginning of the service, the children came holding colourful paper flowers that they made, they also held up cardboards saying, "Welcome to Lighthouse Community Fellowship, Mr. and Mrs. Bush and Kioni." I was so moved that I got tears in my eyes. Then the children walked up to us one by one to give us the flowers! Wow! I bundled them up, knowing that Kioni would absolutely love this beautiful bouquet of flowers.
After the service is over, we were invited to lunch at Ken's house with the Missions Committee. We had a great time learning more about each other. I found this group of Christians so down to earth, caring and interested in our missions that I caught myself thanking God over and over for bringing these people into our lives. Kioni was given a Noah's Ark pop-up book and a hand-made bunny toy as presents.

The big surprise came after lunch and the 'out-of-this-world' tiramisu was consumed. Mirian pointed at the center-piece, which is a beautiful vase with an incrediable flower arrangement in it and said, "Amy, this is for you." My mouth dropped. Then she said, I made this vase. For those who are artistically challenged, I mean she MADE the vase, yes, she painted it by hand and put it in her own kiln!

At the time when we were most discouraged, (when we were at only 23%), God sent this church to us and lifted our spirits. He again sent them to let us know when we are in the Philippines, our brothers and sisters in Lighthouse will be praying for us. How do I know they will actually pray for us? Well, friends, you will have to meet them to know.

Mr. Rahman, when I see you in heaven...

"Abdul Rahman, 41, has been charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under this country's (Afganistan) Islamic laws. His trial started last week and he confessed to becoming a Christian 16 years ago. If convicted, he could be executed.
But prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari said questions have been raised about his mental fitness.
"We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person," he told The Associated Press." (Fox News)
Police arrested him last month after discovering him in possession of a Bible during questioning over a dispute for custody of his two daughters. Prosecutors have offered to drop the charges if Rahman converts back to Islam, but he has refused." (AP, photo by AP)
He doesn't talk like a 'normal' person? Well, so are many Christians who are touched by God's grace and love. Tell me who in their right minds would quit their good paying jobs and comfortable lifestyles to enter seminary so that they could be better equipped to serve Jesus' church? I see hundreds of them in the four years I have been in TEDS working as a Field Education Coordinator. Not to mentioned I did just that myself 13 years ago, and Dan started on the same path 4 years ago. Tell me who would pour out their resources and pray for those whom they might never meet, simply hoping that the good news that Jesus Christ brought 2000 years ago would reach them? Tell me who in their right mind would hang on to a God whom he cannot touch nor see even as the risk of his own life? Plenty. Plenty of people are acting like they have 'mental problems'. All because of someone named Jesus Christ. Are we all crazy?
What is this Afghan man trying to do? What good does it do to his daughters if he is put to death? I can almost hear people crying out, "It is just a religion, pick one that benefits you, choose a god who can save your life, so you can still live and be a father to your daughters!"
When I told my non-believing parents I was going to attend seminary, my father did not even want to talk about it, my mother broke down and cried. They didn't understand why I had to "go that far". If only they knew, what I did was nothing comparing to the thousands of Christians who put their life at risk for the sake of Jesus Christ every day, some paid the ultimate price.
"Hundreds of men and women are in prison serving sentences that range from a few months to life. They are not criminals who have robbed or murdered other citizens but Christians who were put on trial for their faith in Christ and found guilty. They could have avoided prison by simply denying allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, they are literally “doing time for God.”" (Voice of the Martyrs)
Don't know how this trial will turn out. No matter what the outcome is, I want to remember this face, I would like to meet Mr. Rahman in person when we enter into the glory of God someday. I want to tell him I saw him on American TV saying, "I am a Christian, I believe in the Trinity." He did not look scared, he was smiling joyfully. The only explaination I could have for someone who is facing possible death to act that way, is that he has a life so abundant, a promise so true, and a hope so great that he is at total peace. What happened to Mr. Rahman reminds me of the lyric of this song:
My peace I give unto you
It's a peace that the world cannot give
It's a peace that the world cannot understand
Peace to love
Peace to give
My peace I give unto you