It’s the start of the 4th year

It’s our third year together this Valentine’s Day and I still feel like it was yesterday that we were falling in love. I don’t think we ever stopped. It’s kind of strange that everything around us seems to be melting away, all statistics about falling out of love, marriages, couples that are not centered around God, etc. just seems to be pointing in the opposite direction, and I’m happy to say that I’d like to shatter every pessimism and every silly thing people can say about love and relationships. 

You CAN be in love for a long time and with God’s blessings and grace, you CAN still feel mushy, sappy and giddy inside for all different reasons. I can’t understand sometimes why people are so pessismistic about love these days. Perhaps there is so much in the world that is trying to prove otherwise: love doesn’t last, romance and puppy love only lasts for a season, etc. But I really think this is just a bunch of crap. Maybe because I’m an idealist romantic. 

But on this day, Valentine’s Day 3 years ago, was when me and my boyfriend have professed that we will try our hardest to love each other to the best of our ability (even though tough times). And the key thing here is that our love will hopefully mirror Godly love. Not that there is any love that can really capture how God loved us, but in that it can be translated to a dating relationship. This implies so many things that it can be hard to talk about this in full detail. But something along the lines of 1 Corinthians 13 outlines it pretty well. 

After a year of examining our relationship through these verses, we can say that we’ve grown a bit and we also need to improve a bit. We will never love each other perfectly because only God can do that for us, but it’s always something to work towards in that we could glorify His name in this way, to each other and to others. 

It’s funny how God can change everything about a relationship. I feel like I’ve fallen into a romantic comedy movie and enjoying every minute of it. So I must thank Him for His grace and mercy and for letting me be with a guy whom I can enjoy and love so much.

To buy or not to buy…

 

That is the question: 

Pros:

-sleek and smaller to carry around than my CLUNKY VAIO

-faster

-not as easily screw-up-able for a technology-dumb person like me

-LOOKS cooler

-has a camera

Cons:

-expensive

-have to get used to Mac OS

-EXPENSIVE

-EXPENSIVE EXPENSIVE

The only thing that’s holding me back: $$$$ and guilt for spending that much $$$ and the fact that I don’t have that much $$$

Sigh…

And then there was Haiti….

So my introduction to Haiti was a collage: the sight of people everywhere, the feel of humidity and warm sun on my skin and the smell of burnt garbage and gasoline. I have seen 3rd world countries in pictures and on video, but it doesn’t really make sense that these places exist until you actually go and see it for yourself. I can’t begin to imagine what every day life must be like and here are all these people selling us things like crackers and soda through the bus windows.

Quickly, the bus moves from paved roads to unpaved, rocky and bumpy roads with huge potholes and little lakes in the middle. There are no traffic lanes, barely any traffic lights and people pass and maneuver as they please on the potholed roads. I was thankful to God that our drivers knew what they were doing; I probably would’ve collided with 4-6 vehicles if given a chance to drive.

  In the midst of all the trash, the streets, the unfinished buildings, there were kids, people and animals. As we exited the capital city of Port Au Prince, the air became clearer and more animals were seen roaming freely in the field. The country side and ocean was calming and there would be an occasional village with SPEED BUMPS?! to slow us down. (so many speed bumps and no traffic lights, go figure..)

When we finally pulled into the Wesleyan Campus, our home for the next couple of days, I was ashamed to say that I was relieved we had high walls. I began to have the jitters about coming to a “dangerous 3rd world country” the night before I went on the trip. It was psychological, it was society impressioned, whatever it was, it hit me and I couldn’t stop. But God really taught me something new about depending on him because of this. 

The campus was right next to the sea and it included the pastor’s house, a couple of church buildings, other people’s houses and our guest houses. I was surprisingly impressed with the living condition even though an average comfortable American would probably be horrified. Yeah, it was slightly dirty, there were bugs and mice scurrying around, the water and bathrooms weren’t exactly clean, the beds were full of bugs and what not, but we had a sturdy roof over our heads and 3 meals a day which is substantially more than most of the people we passed on the road. For that, I was thankful. Perhaps I felt discomfort at times because of the water and the electricity going on and off I must admit, but I appreciated it so much more because of the instability. 

The first night the living room lightbulb was a little busted. But Madame Michelle, who was the cook, made us toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, talk about comfort food! We sat around in the semi-dark getting used to the unfamiliar surroundings. The roosters crowed about every 15-20 minutes reminding us that we were on their territory. 

Before this, we took a tour of the campus and got a full-on gorgeous view of the sun setting into the mountains and the ocean dead ahead. A couple of neighborhood kids came out to check us out because they were curious. This is our first encounter with our beloved Reginald, the one kid whom every member of the team adored. I quickly learned that the language barrier was going to be a continued difficulty on this trip. The few team members who had French, Creole, Spanish or some combination of these had an advantage over communication. The rest of us were forced to say “i don’t understand” a lot in Creole. 

That night I had the HARDEST time sleeping. Maybe it was because I was on a different bed, a different country, a different environment, whatever it was, my mind was playing games on me. I hated it. Sometimes I wish I could switch it off. I prayed, I sang praise songs in my head including “You Never Let Go” and still I ended up waking every few minutes or hours and tossing and turning. My roomate talked in her sleep a lot which didn’t help. She was also probably feeling anxiety because it was our first night. The roosters seemed to stalk around right outside our window cock-a-doodle-dooing right when we were about to fall asleep.

Surprisingly, we made it out the next morning with more or less enough sleep.  It was nice and breezy in the morning. Supposedly, it had poured the night before but I didn’t hear it. All of my team members agreed that we must extinguish the chickens walking around, no one really slept that well. At 9 am, we were bracing ourselves for the wild and crazy kids from the neighborhood of Percin.

Prior to leaving for the trip, we were warned about their behaviors and what we should do around them. Much to the team’s surprise (even the ones who knew the kids already), there was a neat and orderly line of kids in their Sunday best. The line was also ordered from shortest to tallest. The kids were beaming at us and staring as they marched into the building. We were astonished but pleasantly surprised. The drill sergeant who got them to be so orderly got them to sing a couple of praise songs in Creole. Ah, how great the sound of praises to God, no matter what language it was in. We also taught them a song: “Jesus’ love is bubbling over” translated to Creole. It was reminiscent of Jamaica. 

We then taught them and gave them gospel bracelets to make. The first bead was yellow and represented heaven. The second black for sin, third red for Jesus’ blood, fourth white for our sins are washed clean and finally green for our continued growth in God after our salvation. And there was our easy-digestible, easy-to-translate, kid-friendly version of evangelism. Did it strike a chord? Many of the kids remembered the beads and what they stood for even after a couple of days. Hopefully the message remains more clear in their hearts.

After playing the hokie pokie and heads, shoulders, knees and toes with them, they went back home. We visited their church in the afternoon.  This was our first look at the city of Percin. I was a little taken aback by the living conditions but felt very at home in the church. This little girl ran around and picked her nose every 2 minutes and then put her hands in her mouth. She was the most adorable little thing ever. They were taking part in communion and singing praise songs. The kids also sang afterward as well. The church got stuffy and hot very fast.

We also passed out food to the kids as part of a community lunch ordeal. It was sad that we couldn’t give food to everyone. Surprisingly, it was nice and orderly passing it out to the kids. Then when we started to run out, it started to be a little more chaotic.  Afterwards, we took some time to retreat and relax for the night.

The next morning the kids arrived at 9 am for game day. We had jump ropes, soccer, bubbles, paper bag puppets and more random stuff. The kids fought viciously for the bubbles which were the hot commodity. We had to do away with them fast. I was wondering around and figuring out what I should do with the kids. I played some hand games with a little girl at first and helped other girls played jump rope.

But after a while, I found myself being surrounded and followed by a bunch of little girls. I was surprised, but flattered that they were fighting to hold my hand and they were apparently amused at following me around. We played that for a bit. I ran around with them, got quickly tired and that was the gist of my interactions with them. 

In the afternoon, the older teenagers came to make jewelry with us. My interactions with the teenage girls weren’t as pleasant, so I ended up talking to Kamy for a bit. Kamy spoke very good English and it felt at times that he was evangelizing to me or at least a really Godly man. We spoke about God’s love and also about the Haitian people. He told me it was very hard for Haitians to find good jobs, at least the ones who have the skills to get the jobs. He felt as if there was a roof as to how far he can go. In America, it seems that if you work hard and try your best, there’s nothing to stop you. Guess that is not the case in haiti. I can imagine how frustrating it must be to know this. 

At night, for the night before and that night, we tried to show a movie for the community, but failed both times. First time, the electricity was off. Second time, we were missing a wire. Third time (the day after), we couldn’t take off a parental control on the DVD player. It sucked, but we had fun playing with the kids. The guys there however were a little bit of a nuisance, using the little English they knew to start hitting on us girls with “I love you baby” and “you’re so beautiful” and to some, “will you marry me?” But despite all of this, I could pick up a kid and try to surround myself with them, and hope they won’t try being shady around me. Ever seen kids viiously attacking each other and stealing and biting each other for glowsticks? I have….(we passed out glowsticks for one movie night, that was a trip). 

On the second day, the morning was a game day. It was less intense because there were less kids, but still I found myself herding a bunch of kids and they grabbed me and dragged me around, which I liked. That afternoon, we went to a community day at the local soccer field. Haitian people are very serious about their soccer. We played praise songs as well and that was a beautiful thing. We talked again with the community members and passed out trophies to the two teams. (this is the night that the DVD didn’t work because of the parental control)

The next morning we said goodbye to the kids in Percin. Much tears and hugging and pictures occurred. And we gave clothes, bras and other things and left it at the church. I wanted to take some of the kids along, but knew that wasn’t the best idea. We headed out to Port Au Prince and arrived at the missionary guest house in the Nazarene campus. Compared to the house in Petit Guave, this guest house was REALLY nice. We had running HOT water and a porch with a perfect view of Port au Prince. The way up to the house showed us some of the richer and nicer houses in Haiti. The disparity was discouraging and disheartening. Some people had these really nice houses and the walls around them were high. 

That night we heard Thony’s testimony and it blew me away. He talked about how God had worked in his life to lead him to where he was today. When he was younger, the situation got worse and eventually his family would go days without eating. But somehow God always provided for him, whether through neighbors bringing him food or money flowing out of a pipe (once). Then, his love for school got him to be sponsored by a missionary to go to school. He eventually went to the US to study and talked about his encounters with racism in college. It was disappointing that people in the US, especially a religious institution, could treat international people with any negative feelings. Anyway, his testimony touched me so much that I could see myself doing something like that: working with a community in need in another country and with an organization that has lots of resources to help. It’s still in the works… (this thought of mine)

Before that we did some souvenir shopping where I bought a painting for ET and a flower vase for my room for $17  US dollars. 

The next day, we headed to the airport and said our goodbyes. I must say that God has taught me a lot on this trip. More on this later in the next post…

The Road Trip Chronicles – 2008 Edition

The First Day: Dec. 26th, 2008, Monday

Departed: 6:30 am from Azalea Rd, Rockville, MD

Arrived: 8:00 pm, Molly and Ken’s in Jacksonville, FL

Food log: Pizza Hut, random snacks, homemade Pho made by Molly/Molly’s mom

We did lots of driving on this day. Took a rest stop at Rom Chan’s parents’ house for a quick breakfast before heading towards Jax. When we arrived at Molly and Ken’s, there were already many people there. We watched Siritta and Nich’s engagement video and mingled for about 2 hours. Played Taboo, chilled, practiced p&w for Saturday night….guys slept downstairs, girls slept upstairs. Rom and Asaph’s airbed mattress deflated in the morning. Li Wei, Martha and Siritta kept on snoring all night. All of us didn’t sleep too well….

Day 2: Dec. 27, 2008, Saturday

Departed: 10:00 am for an outing in Jax

Food log: cereal, Chick fil a, pizza and snacks at St. Augustine, Sonic’s, Cambodian congee made by Molly/Molly’s mom

Girl’s Outing: While Siritta, Molly and Martha got their nails done, Li Wei and I walked around the 0utdoor mall and had a nice heart to heart. It was beautiful, warm and perfect. All we were missing were our boyfriends..haha. Afterwards, we followed Molly around to do some errands, she bought some Juicy Couture sunglasses. I bought some business casual khaki flats. We ate at Chick-Fil-A where the service was impeccable and everyone indulged themselves on 860 calorie Peppermint milkshakes. The boys were playing football at the time. Paul got busted in the jaw…I think Asaph and Rom weren’t playing because of injuries. 

Lighthouse at St. Augustine: Paid $9 to climb a lighthouse, lots of fun, and wasn’t that bad! The view was beautiful, we could see the harbor and the sunset. Walked through a museum and did some silly stuff. Then Rom, Asaph and I got lost in a trail. 

Shops in St. Augustine: The city of St. Augustine is supposedly the oldest city in the US (according to Ken). There was a long street of little antique/tourist shops that we walked through. Passed a lot of gorgeous architecture and lighted parks. No one really bought anything, except food. It would take at least a day to look through all of the stores here. 

SNL, a modification on FNL: Youth group consisted of worship, an icebreaker activity, a stellar performance by the Jabbawockees and a short message….followed by drinks at Sonics, an elephant gift exchange at Molly’s (more silliness) and a jam session to end the night…slept at 2 a.m.

Day 3: Dec. 28, 2008, Sunday

Departed: 6:30 am from Molly and Ken’s

Arrived: 10:30 am Pu Kevin Kane’s Church

Food Log: McDonald’s breakfast, meat on a stick, barbeque, papaya salad, a sweet Cambodian dessert, Thai dinner at Ai Mei’s (lots of curry, pad thai’s and thai ice teas!)

The airbed didn’t deflate this time, we left early in the morning and stopped by a McDonald’s for a quick bite. This is where I discovered that Molly’s new Juicy Couture sunglasses were in my bag. We decided that we had to make a stop back in Jacksonville. No, I did NOT steal them. 

We arrived at Pu Kevin Kane’s church service only slightly late. It was entertaining, fun, and we sang in 3 different languages: English, Khmer and Laotian. It was amusing. Then Pu Kevin preached about being a Maryartha which spoke deeply to me. I’ve been meditating and thinking about Mary and Martha all semester. He continually reminded me that it’s important to have a balance of both: service and kneeling before the Lord. Still need to work on this I guess. After the service, we noticed that there was a gospel service right after, so we stayed for the worship. Asaph had somewhat of a culture shock, but Li Wei, Rom and I are used to the gospel style of worship. Amen and Hallelujah’s were shouted in between every word, I missed my gospel choir folks. 

Afterwards, we went to a beautiful park where there was a lake, barbeque, swing benches and palm trees. The food was delicious, we celebrated a birthday, there was a wedding happening in the pavilion next to us. We walked around the lake and sat on the swinging bench. After that, we went to see the sunset at Treasure Island with Pu Kevin. Craig joined us towards the end, there was more silliness and lots of picture taking again. 

We went putt putting after it was dark, for a discounted price!! Apparently, I suck at putt putt. Asaph won, Rom was second and Craig was third. The holes were designed really well and we had a chance to feed baby alligators. It was kind of weird, they gave us 4 pieces of plastic mock-meat pieces and we had to attach them to fishing rods. The gators slowly crept toward the bait and jumped out viciously. 

We were hungry so we all went to dinner with Pu Kevin and his people at Ai Mei’s, a Thai restaurant. Pu Kevin knew the owners and he also paid for all of us. We were stuffed from the food. After that, we went back to Pu Kevin’s house to hang out. Li Wei and Asaph were on facebook and gchat while Rom and I played Wii Mario Kart with the kids. Rom is too competitive and had to stand up to play with them. It was fun nonetheless. We slept at around 12 am or 1 am. 

Day 4: Dec. 29, 2008, Monday

Departed: 7 am from Pu Kevin’s in St. Petersburg, FL

Arrived: 12 pm at Molly’s workplace in downtown Jacksonville

Departed: 2 pm from downtown Jacksonville

Arrived: 6 pm Lee and Mike Lo’s household in Decatur (ATL), GA

Food log: sandwiches at European Street Cafe, Indian buffet (what was it called again?) 

In the morning, Pu Kevin came with us to an alligator park. We walked around and took lots of pictures, yet no gators were in sight. We left demoralized and headed over to Jax again. I returned Molly’s sunglasses and we had a nice lunch with her. Then, we hit the road to GA. The sky was cloudy when we left, and when we arrived in GA, we immediately felt the 30 degree drop in temperature. 

Lee and Mike seemed so bundled up. It was a cold night, but we made our way to the Indian buffet, where I didn’t eat much, and Asaph felt pretty stuffed after one plate. Jennifer, Lee’s friend, came to dinner with us. She and Rom made Asaph laugh so hard that he almost threw up. Good times. 

Mike has amazing guitar skills, I’d like him to play at my wedding (along with Grayson). His Taylor was also $1000, makes me dream about a potential new guitar. We jammed for a little bit. The girls slept at Jennifer’s apartment and the guys slept at Lee and Mike’s. Asaph didn’t sleep too well because he kept on rolling inwards because of the couch. Li wei and I had air mattresses and were quite comfy. Jennifer’s apartment was so modern and intriguing. It was cute. We had a nice talk after dinner where she encouraged and inspired me to live even more Godlier than I am now. Asaph and Rom taped a road trip edition of Cribs, this is after Jennifer left the apartment in the morning. Good times again. 

Day 5: December 30, 2008, Tuesday

Departed: 9 am from Jennifer’s apartment in Decatur, GA

Arrived: 10:30 am at Raymond and Carlene’s apartment near downtown ATL

Departed: 2-3pm from Carlene’s in GA

Arrived: 6-7pm at Sobe’s house in Charlotte, NC

Food log: Brunch at Carlene’s (sausage and eggs, fried plaintains, salad, bread rolls, and more YUMMM), ice cream at Coldstone’s, dinner at TinTin’s Hibachi and Sushi place

We were fed well at Carlene’s and Li Wei, Rom and I were reminded of Jamaica. The kids were really shy at first, but once I brought out my guitar, they began fighting over it. We watched a funny video that looked so hypnotizing (they were repeating sounds of the alphabet, so freaky!) Carlene walked us around Vinings downtown shops. More fun times, just walking around and being stupid. Taking pictures, watching a train go by and eating Coldstone’s ice cream (Thanks Rom!) 

Afterwards, we were pooped, said our goodbyes and slept soundly in the car while Asaph drove. We arrived at Sobe’s and chilled at his place a while before we headed to downtown Charlotte. It was biting cold at this time. We ate at the place where Sobe’s “friend” works, she wasn’t there sadly. Asaph tried to get on a policeman’s segway. We ate hibachi and Rom and Sobe downed a shot of thousand island sauce. Then we walked around downtown some more, got some Starbucks, headed back to the car. Sobe then drove us to a boardwalk and we walked around in the cold, broke the law by jumping into a fenced playground area that was already closed. Sobe dared Rom to streak and jump into the lake. 

Afterwards, we headed back and talked, played guitar for 6 hours or so, until 4 am. It was encouraging and convicting where we shared all of our testimonies about how we came to be believers. Sobe and his sister shared some woes about their spiritual battles. Asaph was falling asleep, we woke him up to go to Waffle House at 5 am. Everyone was quite delirious and crazy. Joe, Rom and Sobe’s friend from SEAC, came to join us. We ate and laughed and acted stupid again, good times. 

Then, we went to bed at 6 am. 

Day 6: December 31, 2008, Wednesday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LI WEI!

Departed: Noon from Sobe’s house in Charlotte, NC

Arrived: 5 pm at Rom Chan’s parent’s house in Richmond, VA

Food log: Chick Fil A, breakfast from Sobe’s house (fruits), Me Kong Vietnamese cuisine (with a free glass of champagne), more food at Bhunnat’s house

We woke around 11 am and had our long goodbyes at Sobe’s. Li Wei drove, aggressively, towards Richmond. We stopped at Chick Fil A to take a food break. Then, drove on towards Richmond. We ate at Me Kong with Rom’s parents, Arun and Bopta. Had our fill on very little because we’ve already ate so much during the trip. They gave us a free glass of champagne, Asaph and Li wei almost got away with being over 21. Rom’s dad drank 3 glasses of champagne and a Corona and was glowing red the whole time. 

Afterwards, we went over to Sopheap and Bhunnat’s house for New Year’s Eve party. This was arranged very last minute, we were going to go to Mary’s parents’ house, but eventually ended up elsewhere. The house was gorgeous and nicely decorated inside. We took a tour and oo’ed and ahh’ed at everything. People slowly started to come and we mingled. The boys watched themselves play in past b-ball tournaments while the girls had some nice heart to hearts. We played a round of mafia where Sokha and I were mafias. We lost . 

We watched the ball drop on B&S’s REALLY nice clear flat screen TV. Cheered, and talked some more. The girls were upstairs in the stuffed animal room sharing their stories about their guys and proposal stories. The boys interrupted half way because they were bored. We left at around 3 am and were knocked out immediately. 

Day 7: January 1, 2009, Thursday

Departed: 10:30 am from Richmond, VA

Arrived: 12:40 pm in Rockville, MD

Food log: Cambodian congee by Rom’s mom, New Fortune dim sum

We woke up at 8:30 am and got ready to go to visit Bopta’s grandmother at the nursing home. We arrived there and she was grateful to tears that we were visiting her again. This time, she seemed more awake and alert. We shared a Bible verse, then left. After we walked out of the room, I said that we should’ve played some songs for her on the guitar. Rom said that’s a good idea since he forgot to give her the card we made for her. So we went back, played 4 songs and sang to her for a bit, then left again. 

We were all knocked out in the car while Rom sped back to MD. Sadly, we didn’t catch my family at New Fortune, so we ate dim sum on our own. Then, the road trip crew parted ways…….

THE END