Summer as a Young Life leader

                                                  Frontier Ranch

The Blue Fox girls on western night

About to tackle the ropes course!

Me and  fellow leader Jossie before the obstacle course

Our cabin volleyball uniforms
We were the gentle ladies

                                                 Wilderness Ranch
                                       Backpacking trip in Colorado

Me and my pack

Peaking "Finger Mesa"

My two Spring Woods girls

Round 3 Chee Hee!

That big Asian country just keeps growing on me. Hightower and I leave Saturday for another adventure in Guangzhou! We will be there for 5 weeks. We will be meeting a team from Maui and working with them to teach english, study our favorite book and of course visit my favorite orphans. I'm so excited to continue growing the friendships I have made there over the past year. I have been so blessed to be part of the things that are happening in that city. We have seen several brother and sisters come into the family and huge changes at the orphanage! Please keep us in prayer

Just a little glimpse

Guangzhou, China

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Pokhara, Nepal

Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia

Kevin the traveling gnome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jakarta Airport, I hate you!

We had an 8 hour layover in the Jakarta Airport over night and it was my least favorite part of this trip. So it starts out me and Bri are looking for a place we can lay down and get some sleep. They have benches that have a big bar in the middle of them so that you can't lay down on them. Every single bench is like that! So we end up finding a nice piece of concrete floor in a dark corner with out much traffic. We put out our sleeping bags and went to sleep. I was also really sick at the time I had the flu or something. So not only did I wake up with a pounding headache 2 hours later but for some reason Justin Beiber was on repeat in the background .Who plays Justin Beiber at 4 in the morning!? My head hurt so bad I couldn't lay down so I sat, I watched the Dunkin Doughnuts open up, I watched a bunch of people staring at us. Its like they never saw people sleeping in an airport before. Then I had a coughing attack but I had no more water so I went to the Dunkin Doughnuts lady to try to get some orange juice, it was about 5 in the morning at this point. But I had no Indonesian money because everything was closed. I offered the woman every currency in my wallet which at that point was about 3 or 4 but she just kept looking at me like I was crazy and wouldn't give me any juice. And all this time Bri was fast asleep unaware of my growing hatred. It was a rough part of the trip and neddless to say I was quite cranky for awhile but it can't be all good all the time and I survived. But I still hate Jakarta Airport!

Bangladesh

Wow Bangladesh was a trip! You think you're more or less prepared for anything and then ...WHAM... you're not. My heart was broken over the poverty and heaviness of the Islamic culture. There were some more prominent changes that needed to be made to be culturally appropriate which took me a bit outside my comfort zone. From the way we dressed as women to not interacting with men in public (which includes high fives, hugs or grabbing an arm while dodging traffic of a male team member) to the fact that white people are a rare sight so you are constantly being stared at. But people are people wherever you go, sometimes you want to punch the creepy guy on the bus but then the simplest smile of a child warms your heart and the rest of it doesn't matter anymore.

We were there for two ministry days. One day I went to a slum ministry that they help with. They have a study hall room for kids to do homework, a small clinic and a pre-school. Needless to say I loved it! I love kids because kids love to laugh, I love to laugh and laughter knows no language barrier. I've also heard it's the best medicine but I suppose that could be debated. Then another day we did a prayer walk in Dhaka because there was a big Muslim pilgrimage that took place over the weekend. An estimated 5 million people attended last year and more were expected this year. It was an unbelievable sight!

The Big C

Sorry its been awhile but I'm back! The second time you go to a country is a totally different experience. I got to see friends that I met last time and I felt so cool when they were so excited and surprised to see me. I got my hair washed again and it was just as amazing as I remembered! But one of the best parts was when i went to an english corner/ bible study at a factory. I was able to use the stuff I learned in SBFM to answer some of the questions that this guy had. It was so awesome, I'm glad to know all that hard work paid off! It was a great visit and I hope to be able to go back for future visits. It's so strange to me that in a country that has attempted to eradicate the very idea of God, I find it to be one of the easiest places to talk to people about Him. This is one of the last countries I ever wanted to go to but somehow its people have found a place in my heart forever.