WE ARE IN ZAMBIA!!
i can't write too much, only that i love it here. africa is so cool. that is probably a completely insensitive thing to say because it is a continent filled with sickness, poverty, and warfare, however.... my week here has been really cool.
to me it feels like camping in the bush. beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and STARS!!! wow.. absolutely stunning.
the kids here are so cool, too. absolutely adorable. we are in ndola right now and we are heading to livingstone for kids camp on sunday.
church was also beautiful. i could listen to them sing forever! the harmony is beautiful.
SORRY, gotta go! time's up!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
and we're off!
so i'm at the airport - sydney has free internet access, bless them! this gave me one last chance to email a happy birthday wish to my father, and post a goodbye blog! (two things i meant to do before we left, but of course, i'm not organized enough to get things done)
we are flying from syd to singapore, which is a 9hr flight, i believe; then after 3 hrs in singapore a 10 hr flight to joburg (johannasburg, but everyone is calling it joburg - i love it, it makes me sound so familiar
with it or something - a real world traveller!) and then another flight up to ndola. we're all praying that our luggage gets thru joburg, because apparently
that is the no.1 most likely airport to have your luggage stolen.
no surprises there..
anyhow, please pray with us
gotta go, or i'll be left behind
bye for a few weeks!!
much love!
we are flying from syd to singapore, which is a 9hr flight, i believe; then after 3 hrs in singapore a 10 hr flight to joburg (johannasburg, but everyone is calling it joburg - i love it, it makes me sound so familiar
with it or something - a real world traveller!) and then another flight up to ndola. we're all praying that our luggage gets thru joburg, because apparently
that is the no.1 most likely airport to have your luggage stolen.
no surprises there..
anyhow, please pray with us
gotta go, or i'll be left behind
bye for a few weeks!!
much love!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Back in the West...though Australia's not really west, is it?
Well...we are in Australia. I've been feeling a lot of things in the past couple of weeks. A lot of good things, some bittersweet. I'm guessing a lot of what I write will be similar to what Becky has already said, but I really do want to share what I've been thinking and feeling lately. So bear with me.
To put it in one sentence, we really grew to love being in the Philippines. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who'd have seen us our first few weeks there would have never thought it possible - even we didn't think that we'd be sorry to go, quite honestly. I've never been more happy to be proven very wrong. I'm happy that I'm sad, if that makes any sense.
So having said all that, landing in Australia on June 9th ended up in an interesting mix of thoughts and feelings. For the first couple of days, I just couldn't get used to seeing tall white people everywhere - blond hair, red hair, blue eyes, green eyes, pale pale skin. Coming from 2 months in a country where I was a white giant with pretty eyes, it was rather refreshing to walk down the street and not have every eye on me. And everybody speaks English, obviously. I kind of got that same "i'm-the-same-as-everyone-else-here" vibe that I get every time my family goes back to the States on furlough, only this time it was even more so, having come from an Asian country.
But I do miss being surrounded with Filipinos, at the same time. Isn't that weird? I really do. I miss so much about the Philippines, even things that drove me crazy when I was there. I guess the times when I've most noticed the differences is the past two Sundays, when I've gone to church. Man...just to refresh your memory, our church in the Philippines was unlike any other church we've been to - choreographed dancing, lots and lots of worship, very expressive, very charismatic. It totally threw me and Becky for a loop our first Sunday in Manila, but since then, during our two months, we managed to find a comfortable groove in worshiping with our GK family. No, we never actually danced, but we still came to enjoy the worship services very much.
So coming back to a typical Western church service, what I would normally be used to, has just been odd, because for the first time in my life, i'm not used to it! Everything seems so...short...and toned down, and quiet. Especially quiet. I just feel like saying "Come on, people, belt it out!" Haha, I guess you never realize how much impact a place has had on you until you leave it. I know that sounds so corny, but sue me, life is corny and there's nothing that will change that.
Sydney has been great so far. We had a great day walking around the city yesterday (check out Becky's new blog below mine). Today we went to church with the Starks and then in the afternoon we met the other members of the Zambia team, and we began training. Lots of orientation, very thorough and helpful. The kind of orientation that Becky and I both agreed would have been really helpful to have before coming to the Philippines. Oh, well, what's done is done. Our "assignment" for this first day was to not take a shower tonight or tomorrow morning before starting training again. Interesting, and I have a bad feeling about what point they're trying to drive home.
We have two more days in Sydney, and then on Wednesday we head to Zambia! We'll probably blog before then. We seem to be getting back into the groove a little bit. Anywho, thanks for listening to my scattered thoughts. Enjoy the lovely pictures Becky posted below!
-Kendra
To put it in one sentence, we really grew to love being in the Philippines. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who'd have seen us our first few weeks there would have never thought it possible - even we didn't think that we'd be sorry to go, quite honestly. I've never been more happy to be proven very wrong. I'm happy that I'm sad, if that makes any sense.
So having said all that, landing in Australia on June 9th ended up in an interesting mix of thoughts and feelings. For the first couple of days, I just couldn't get used to seeing tall white people everywhere - blond hair, red hair, blue eyes, green eyes, pale pale skin. Coming from 2 months in a country where I was a white giant with pretty eyes, it was rather refreshing to walk down the street and not have every eye on me. And everybody speaks English, obviously. I kind of got that same "i'm-the-same-as-everyone-else-here" vibe that I get every time my family goes back to the States on furlough, only this time it was even more so, having come from an Asian country.
But I do miss being surrounded with Filipinos, at the same time. Isn't that weird? I really do. I miss so much about the Philippines, even things that drove me crazy when I was there. I guess the times when I've most noticed the differences is the past two Sundays, when I've gone to church. Man...just to refresh your memory, our church in the Philippines was unlike any other church we've been to - choreographed dancing, lots and lots of worship, very expressive, very charismatic. It totally threw me and Becky for a loop our first Sunday in Manila, but since then, during our two months, we managed to find a comfortable groove in worshiping with our GK family. No, we never actually danced, but we still came to enjoy the worship services very much.
So coming back to a typical Western church service, what I would normally be used to, has just been odd, because for the first time in my life, i'm not used to it! Everything seems so...short...and toned down, and quiet. Especially quiet. I just feel like saying "Come on, people, belt it out!" Haha, I guess you never realize how much impact a place has had on you until you leave it. I know that sounds so corny, but sue me, life is corny and there's nothing that will change that.
Sydney has been great so far. We had a great day walking around the city yesterday (check out Becky's new blog below mine). Today we went to church with the Starks and then in the afternoon we met the other members of the Zambia team, and we began training. Lots of orientation, very thorough and helpful. The kind of orientation that Becky and I both agreed would have been really helpful to have before coming to the Philippines. Oh, well, what's done is done. Our "assignment" for this first day was to not take a shower tonight or tomorrow morning before starting training again. Interesting, and I have a bad feeling about what point they're trying to drive home.
We have two more days in Sydney, and then on Wednesday we head to Zambia! We'll probably blog before then. We seem to be getting back into the groove a little bit. Anywho, thanks for listening to my scattered thoughts. Enjoy the lovely pictures Becky posted below!
-Kendra
Saturday, June 21, 2008
everything i know about sydney i learned from finding nemo
i think our negligence in blogging in the philippines has caused us to lose some readers
COME BACK!!! I'M SORRY!! i'll try harder, i promise!!
PLUS, you will soon be experiencing a bit of africa with us! we leave for africa on wednesday and we'll be there for 6 weeks. when i'm not scared about getting some horrible disease, i am VERY excited about getting to experience africa!!
anyhow, we arrived in sydney on friday. we are staying with the starks, a missionary family from washington state. brian and melanie are actually the ones organizing the zambia trip, and who are going to be training the team starting tomorrow. they are a fun family, and we feel welcomed :)
i must say, i like sydney VERY much. my one day that i got to explore was an absolutely gorgeous sunshiny day. i also got to meet up with old friends of mine from greece!! one of my best friends growing up, christina, and her sister, joana, moved here 5 years ago and were able to show us around sydney on saturday. i love reuniting with old friends! it's funny how time changes people, and yet how some things never change :)
one last thing i'll say before i get some rest is that i never cared much about sydney's opera house. thought it was just an odd looking building. but let me tell you, when i saw it in person it is just spectacular! i think it is SO cool. took a whole bunch of photos of it from a whole bunch of angles, both in the sunshiny day, as well as lit up at night! i know, i'm such a tourist. i usually don't like to be all touristy, but since my time in sydney is so limited i hadn't the time to play it cool.
here are some of my shots:
don't you wish you were in that sailboat underneath the bridge? i know i do
shot of downtown. both of these were taken while standing at the opera house
joana and christina, my old friends :)
kendra lookin all funky
the bridge at dusk; not bad, eh?
and finally, the opera house
a few things you can pray with me about:
AFRICA - the main thing in my mind is staying healthy, tho i'm sure that once i'm there i will love being there. pray that the malaria pills don't make us too sick, because we will have to be taking those every day and we've heard they can have some unpleasant side effects..
FUTURE PLANS - kendra and i are both thinking alot about this lately. school, no school, work, something else? at the moment, your guess is as good as mine. for me, i'm trying to figure out when/how i could possibly make it back to the philippines. maybe uni in australia.. who knows!! the options are endless..
COME BACK!!! I'M SORRY!! i'll try harder, i promise!!
PLUS, you will soon be experiencing a bit of africa with us! we leave for africa on wednesday and we'll be there for 6 weeks. when i'm not scared about getting some horrible disease, i am VERY excited about getting to experience africa!!
anyhow, we arrived in sydney on friday. we are staying with the starks, a missionary family from washington state. brian and melanie are actually the ones organizing the zambia trip, and who are going to be training the team starting tomorrow. they are a fun family, and we feel welcomed :)
i must say, i like sydney VERY much. my one day that i got to explore was an absolutely gorgeous sunshiny day. i also got to meet up with old friends of mine from greece!! one of my best friends growing up, christina, and her sister, joana, moved here 5 years ago and were able to show us around sydney on saturday. i love reuniting with old friends! it's funny how time changes people, and yet how some things never change :)
one last thing i'll say before i get some rest is that i never cared much about sydney's opera house. thought it was just an odd looking building. but let me tell you, when i saw it in person it is just spectacular! i think it is SO cool. took a whole bunch of photos of it from a whole bunch of angles, both in the sunshiny day, as well as lit up at night! i know, i'm such a tourist. i usually don't like to be all touristy, but since my time in sydney is so limited i hadn't the time to play it cool.
here are some of my shots:
don't you wish you were in that sailboat underneath the bridge? i know i do
shot of downtown. both of these were taken while standing at the opera house
joana and christina, my old friends :)
kendra lookin all funky
the bridge at dusk; not bad, eh?
and finally, the opera house
a few things you can pray with me about:
AFRICA - the main thing in my mind is staying healthy, tho i'm sure that once i'm there i will love being there. pray that the malaria pills don't make us too sick, because we will have to be taking those every day and we've heard they can have some unpleasant side effects..
FUTURE PLANS - kendra and i are both thinking alot about this lately. school, no school, work, something else? at the moment, your guess is as good as mine. for me, i'm trying to figure out when/how i could possibly make it back to the philippines. maybe uni in australia.. who knows!! the options are endless..
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
what's past is past....here we are in the NOW
ok friends, i KNOW it's been forever since i've updated, but the longer i don't write, the harder it gets. too much to update on. i'm sorry, but the past is past and that's where it will stay. what i will say is that we've left the philippines. if anyone has been in contact with us over the past 2 months you would see the absolute miraculous change that occured from the time we arrived to the time of leaving the philippines. when we first arrived all we could see was the cockroaches, our tiny room, the dirt, the heat - the discomforts. the complete culture-shock experience. now, i'm not saying this was just us unwilling to adapt to our circumstances; this was just real culture shock. but how awful would it have been for us to leave a country after two months, and be glad to have it behind us. i am so thankful that did not happen. it was our second month that began the change. it was still hot as hades, the country is still infested with ipis (cockroaches) and mosquitoes and other unwanted creatures, and there were still some uncomfortable things, but that is when (thank God) we no longer focused on those things. leaving the philippines was sad because, for me at least, i had just finally begun to no longer feel like a guest, but part of the family. it would take too long to explain everything and share all the things that i would like to share about my experience, and i am very sorry that i wasn't better at recording my experiences online. thankfully i have journalled more in my 2 months in the philippines than i have in my entire life. that doesn't help you readers, much but... all i can say is that i am genuinely sorry that by my own negligence (laziness) you missed out on my philippines experience. anyhow so i've left the country where we dance during church worship; where everyone is family; where the entire neighborhood know my name; where the kids come out yelling "ate becky" ("sister becky"). we've left our new brothers and sisters behind, as well our goddaugther (that's right, we're godmothers now!) i'll move on from here by saying that i GENUINELY hope i get to go back one day. these are relationships i don't want to forget.
here are some photos:
our goddaughter, shekinah, and her parents, pastor val and nanay
our friends :)
(arris, me, drick, jc, kendra, ate arn, with ivy and belle peeking from the back)
we have THOUSANDS of photos from the philippines...most of them are like this! filipinos just looove the camera...so do we :)
(jc, belle, kendra, drick, me, ivy)
our last of several goodbye parties, with just a few of our closest friends
(from the left: ate arn, jc, drick, kendra, me, pastor val, aris, nanay, shekinah, (bottom) ivy, and belle, and pastor's mother)
very fond memories attached to all of our photos and all of these friends. i might have to come back with another blog about the philippines, but for now, moving on from philippines....
we've been in australia for the past 8 days we're visiting a church here that works with refugees. i am once again able to see how different refugee ministry can be; we, of course, have worked with the refmin in athens, then we were in vienna working with that refmin team, and now here in melbourne it is again completely different. different people groups, different ministries. here there are several large flats that i was told houses 5000 people. these refugees come from africa mainly, etheopia, somalia, eritrea, sudan, etc. the way i understand it, is refugees flee their country into refugee camps in kenya and the such places, and wait their turn to be given assylum. that way, australia only allows in refugees who have already been accepted for assylum. it's planned and deliberate. it's not exactly like australia is an easy place to get to. outside of new zealand, it's a 12 hour plane ride to the next closest country.
that's my feeble understanding of it.
anyhow, we've gone with our dear friend louise to visit some families and had some lovely dinners. (etheopian food is DELICIOUS and fun to eat :)
unlike the arc and the oasis (in athens and vienna) where the refugees come to us, in melbourne we go to them. visit their homes, build relationships. that is how their ministry goes. there are also homework groups, breakfast clubs, a day for art, and a sewing group as well for the kids. i got really excited about the sewing group and hope to bring the idea back to greece. we'll see how that goes :)
so, since the ministry is really a long term investment in relationships, and we are only here for 10 days, we have only gotten a small taste of what refmin is like here. we have still been enjoying the people here, the city, normal food (no white rice or dried fish!!), and we've had a break from sweating!! it's winter here!! i can't get over winter in june... everything is backwards. the seasons, the cars, the road. i keep looking the wrong direction when i cross the road - good thing they stop for people here, or i'd be in trouble.
oh, big news: i got shot. that's right, three times in the shoulder.
in preparation for going to africa i got yellowfever, tetanus, malaria/mumps/rubella vaccinations. this is big news because i've never gotten any vaccinations before. never. the doctor at the travel clinic that we visited didn't like that and tried to stack up the vaccinations on me. when he could only talk me into these 5 he said i got off lightly. the whole ordeal kinda stressed me out. not the actual action of getting the shots, just..the whole thing, deciding what to get, what not to get, not really knowing what i actually need. i don't know anything about this kind of thing but there are others who have BIG opinions on these things. i just don't know who to believe.
anyhow, i have been whining about the shots ever since i got them (yesterday). my arm is sore and i am guessing next week i will be feeling miserable (two of them were live vaccines and the dr said i can expect to not feel so good in a few days; fever and such, my immune system fighting the viruses) SIGH...well it's over with now.
anyhow, i will post a few pics of here and leave it at that. we leave for sydney tomorrow, and i will (hopefully) blog again there :)
us and dear louise
kendra and esther dancing to keep warm
ATTACK!!
in the philippines we had cockroaches, mosquitoes, rat
that's right, my aussie friends, i went to a footy - kinda like american football, kinda like soccer, but it is the austalian football league. i am a fan of the carlton blues (only because i don't know what the shumack's and lou) we won by alot. i don't remember the score
ok, that's all for now. i am overwhelmed with things i COULD write, but if you have any specific questions about what's up with us, about the philippines, australia, or africa, feel free to ask. might help me narrow down the next blog.
til then, enjoy!
here are some photos:
our goddaughter, shekinah, and her parents, pastor val and nanay
our friends :)(arris, me, drick, jc, kendra, ate arn, with ivy and belle peeking from the back)
we have THOUSANDS of photos from the philippines...most of them are like this! filipinos just looove the camera...so do we :)(jc, belle, kendra, drick, me, ivy)
kuya arris (brother arris)
our last of several goodbye parties, with just a few of our closest friends(from the left: ate arn, jc, drick, kendra, me, pastor val, aris, nanay, shekinah, (bottom) ivy, and belle, and pastor's mother)
very fond memories attached to all of our photos and all of these friends. i might have to come back with another blog about the philippines, but for now, moving on from philippines....
we've been in australia for the past 8 days we're visiting a church here that works with refugees. i am once again able to see how different refugee ministry can be; we, of course, have worked with the refmin in athens, then we were in vienna working with that refmin team, and now here in melbourne it is again completely different. different people groups, different ministries. here there are several large flats that i was told houses 5000 people. these refugees come from africa mainly, etheopia, somalia, eritrea, sudan, etc. the way i understand it, is refugees flee their country into refugee camps in kenya and the such places, and wait their turn to be given assylum. that way, australia only allows in refugees who have already been accepted for assylum. it's planned and deliberate. it's not exactly like australia is an easy place to get to. outside of new zealand, it's a 12 hour plane ride to the next closest country.
that's my feeble understanding of it.
anyhow, we've gone with our dear friend louise to visit some families and had some lovely dinners. (etheopian food is DELICIOUS and fun to eat :)
unlike the arc and the oasis (in athens and vienna) where the refugees come to us, in melbourne we go to them. visit their homes, build relationships. that is how their ministry goes. there are also homework groups, breakfast clubs, a day for art, and a sewing group as well for the kids. i got really excited about the sewing group and hope to bring the idea back to greece. we'll see how that goes :)
so, since the ministry is really a long term investment in relationships, and we are only here for 10 days, we have only gotten a small taste of what refmin is like here. we have still been enjoying the people here, the city, normal food (no white rice or dried fish!!), and we've had a break from sweating!! it's winter here!! i can't get over winter in june... everything is backwards. the seasons, the cars, the road. i keep looking the wrong direction when i cross the road - good thing they stop for people here, or i'd be in trouble.
oh, big news: i got shot. that's right, three times in the shoulder.
in preparation for going to africa i got yellowfever, tetanus, malaria/mumps/rubella vaccinations. this is big news because i've never gotten any vaccinations before. never. the doctor at the travel clinic that we visited didn't like that and tried to stack up the vaccinations on me. when he could only talk me into these 5 he said i got off lightly. the whole ordeal kinda stressed me out. not the actual action of getting the shots, just..the whole thing, deciding what to get, what not to get, not really knowing what i actually need. i don't know anything about this kind of thing but there are others who have BIG opinions on these things. i just don't know who to believe.
anyhow, i have been whining about the shots ever since i got them (yesterday). my arm is sore and i am guessing next week i will be feeling miserable (two of them were live vaccines and the dr said i can expect to not feel so good in a few days; fever and such, my immune system fighting the viruses) SIGH...well it's over with now.
anyhow, i will post a few pics of here and leave it at that. we leave for sydney tomorrow, and i will (hopefully) blog again there :)
us and dear louise
kendra and esther dancing to keep warm
ATTACK!!in the philippines we had cockroaches, mosquitoes, rat
that's right, my aussie friends, i went to a footy - kinda like american football, kinda like soccer, but it is the austalian football league. i am a fan of the carlton blues (only because i don't know what the shumack's and lou) we won by alot. i don't remember the scoretil then, enjoy!
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