East Meets West-The Risen Son

No raindrops or whiskers! THEY ARE ALL BOOKS!

BAIT of SATAN

In my July update, I had a list of my top 5 favorite books. I’ve read a few more since then, and here’s more to add to that list (in no particular order)! I’ve also included snapshots of each one, just in case you ever want to look for it at your nearby bookstore! The first three titles are books that helped to disciple me. I would say that the last 2 titles are simply classics!

#1-The Bait of Satan by John Bevere. This book helped me to understand offense to be free from it, and how to walk in God’s agape love, not my own (conditional) love. John’s teaching has helped me to handle offense the right way, and how this strengthened my walk with God.

#2-Intimate Friendship with God by Joy Dawson. I’ve read this book so many times over the past 10 years, but its solid teachings continue to push me to honor God. It’s about understanding the fear of the Lord. Good stuff!

Intimate Friendship with God

#3-A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. This is a short, simple (98-pgs.) story on brokenness. It wraps around the lives of King Saul, David and Absalom. This book made me look at my heart and how I can be blind to my own motives. Another powerful lesson here!

A Tale of Three Kings

#4-The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. I’m sure that many of you read it. I read the Modern English version . It was my first time, and wow, it is probably one of the best that I’ve ever read.

The Pilgrim's Progress

#5-Just As I Am by Billy Graham. I started to read this a few days ago, and it’s 754 pages! I really admire Billy Graham, and autobiographies are so much fun to read! I’m on the chapter, “Called to Preach”, so I’m right where his story picks up!

Just As I Am

Here’s to My Favorite Things! Happy Reading!

After two 8-hour flights, two 8-hour bus rides and several hours of in-between layovers, I landed in Slovakia last week to begin my time here in Banska Bystrica. I was going to teach in the DTS on right relationships with God and with one another. I had a wonderful time in class.

Here are some simple highlights:

• I ate Slovak bread every morning for breakfast. It’s so flavorful & filling. The texture and taste is similar to sour dough bread. It’s one of the best things that I’m taking away from here.
• Most shops close at 5 pm M-Sat. One evening, I went to a cafe which closed at 7 pm. After that, the streets were dark and empty, which I am totally unaccustomed to.
• I visited my first-ever CASTLE! It was like being taken back to Robin Hood days, or something like that. The guide said that there were about 50 rooms (bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms), 3 kitchens and I’m not sure how many bathrooms. I have lots of pictures in my FB album, titled “Slovakia castle” HERE
• Their main meal is lunch; it’s usually a hot meal, including starch and meat. I normally ordered fish (this is a land-locked country, so portions are smaller here).
• They have so many assorted cakes here: “doughy”, flaky, tarts, creme-filled and more. I had it twice, and really enjoyed myself!
• There are church buildings here that are over 400 years old (and many even older than that!)
• It’s 10 C, which is about 50 F! Very cold for an island girl like me!
• They have T Mobile, McDonalds and Subway…just a few signs of the American influence here. But overall, it’s a quite homogenous culture here.
  

  Going to the Orava Castle!

  

  In front of one of the cathedrals in Banska Bystrica

Slovakia is a country in Central Europe and part of the European Union; its population is approximately 5.4 million people. Next week, I’ll be going there for 10 days to teach in YWAM’s Discipleship Training School. I’m very excited to meet our fellow YWAM workers, as well as the youth of this country.
When I was in Albania in 2007, I became very interested in the Balkans region because it is very different in its people and history. I had always hoped that I could return to Europe again, whether in the Balkans region or Central or Eastern Europe. This trip is the answer to my prayer! I want to bless the people of Slovakia, and encourage them with the Word of God, and I know that they will be a blessing to me as I learn about what God is doing in their nation.
I’ll be teaching on: Conviction vs. Condemnation; Forgiveness; Giving Up Rights; Temptation; Resentment & bitterness. I have teaching notes that I have developed over the years, but I know that my teaching is only as powerful as what I have walked out myself. Please pray that my teaching time will be used mightily to impart to the students the heart of our Loving Father in Heaven. If you would like to partner financially with me to help cover some of my travel expenses, that would be a huge blessing as well. The information is found on my Support Me tab at the top. God bless you all!

pop. 5,432,000 people; capital, Bratislava

This evening I went to dinner with a few friends. As we were leaving the YWAM center, there was a taxi at our door who had just dropped off someone at our center. Well, this taxi happened to be a ‘company taxi’ that was under contract from a nearby mall; to be exact, it was the same mall that we were going to for dinner! It seemed like we had great timing with this surprise taxi.

I went to the driver and asked if he could give us a ride, knowing that we were going in the same direction as him. We excitedly got into the taxi, sat back and enjoyed the smooth ride, in the air conditioned vehicle. However, as he drove, he explained that he would not give us an official receipt from the company that he was working under. He would simply charge us half of the normal price that is charged when the ride is official and documented. Since he was simply returning to his work headquarters at the mall, he offered to give us a discount and he would, essentially, just pocket the cash. But I knew that our taxi ride would be ‘under the table’. So essentially, while he is on the company’s time, he would simply pocket the taxi fare and not acknowledge our ride. Thus, the company would not ever know about it, and the company would not get their fair share of the income.

To clarify, I asked him, “So you’re not able to issue us an official receipt?” He said, “No ma’am.” And he went on to explain that it was okay because the vehicle was his own private car. I told him, “Never mind, we’ll just get off and take a jeepney to the mall.” My conscience was bothered just knowing that we would be contributing to this dishonest business practice.

When he tried to encourage that we would get nearly 50% off for this unofficial ride, I told my co-staff, “My conscience is worth more than that.“  If we had taken this ‘under the table’ type of taxi ride, the cost would have been just about USD $2.50. Very cheap. But I would not be able to sleep, knowing that I am participating in a type of bribery or corruption.

So we got out of the taxi and got onto the next jeepney. We exited the comforts of the quiet, air-conditioned, private taxi to ride in the loud, open-air, public jeepney. But my heart was filled with peace for the remainder of the evening.

Philippine jeepney

The on-line dictionary says that a delicacy is a choice or expensive food.

Last night at about 9:30 PM, I was walking on our YWAM center’s rooftop. Whether it’s night or day, our rooftop gives us an amazing panoramic view of metro-Manila. In the dark of the evening, I saw two of my filipino co-staff eating their late night, bed-time snack: balut. It is a fertilized, boiled duck egg; sometimes it can be up to 16 days old.

One of them said to me, “This is so good. I love to eat it.” Balut: pasty, soupy and a bit crunchy in some areas (depending on the age of the duck).

No Hawaiian poki here. Just cheese n crackers.

Filipino's delicacy

This morning, our YWAM center had “Exploring Worship”. Instead of singing songs to the Lord, each of us brought an offering of food, creating our own “Banquet Table”. As we feasted on the abundance of food varieties, I went for the cheese & crackers. Cheese is such a simple, yet rare item for me here in the Philippines. Cheese: creamy and smooth, with a bite-zing-zest to it.

Delicacies quickly change when we cross borders! What are your delicacies?

Our panoramic view

Witnessing for Jesus

Last Friday, our YWAM center went to a nearby park named Marikina City Freedom Park. It is near the local city hall, universities and marketplace, all which make for a great spot for Gospel evangelism! About 40 of us headed there with sign boards saying, “Trust Jesus”, “One Way Up-Jesus”, “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?”, “Jesus said Go and sin no more”, “Prepare to meet thy God” and many more. Similar to election time in Hawaii when many people wave signs to support their candidates, we also hit the streets with signboards to point people to Jesus.

Going two-by-twos, I partnered with our School of Evangelism student (from Mongolia) named Ichko. She & I stopped about 8 different times to talk to groups of people in this park.

God’s Word is powerful indeed. With each group, I asked them what they thought happens to people after they die. Some said, “There’s heaven and hell” and others said, “I don’t know.” When we started to talk about heaven, many said that they did not know how to get there. With all of the different groups, I used the 10 Commandments before sharing about Jesus, knowing that the (breaking of the) Law carries us right to Jesus! God is a brilliant architect!

More than a sign-board

SPLIT-SECOND REVELATION: With one girl that I talked to, I was only 1 minute into our conversation and had just said, “The Bible says that if we are guilty of breaking just one law…” Suddenly, she let out a loud sigh, gasped and gulped. I stopped talking and said to her, “What’s wrong? Are you ok?” She looked at me and said, “Oh no, I broke many of the commandments.” Her countenance changed and she was downcast for the remainder of our talk together because her conscience was bearing witness to God’s law. I later finished our conversation by telling her about Jesus’ work on the Cross for every person. Although she did not receive salvation at that moment, she was pondering the message of the Gospel.

I am in awe again and again at how God works in people’s lives. He is powerfully moving!

Mac & I went to grab a bite to eat at the mall on Wednesday. He suggested Wendy’s, so I said OK. Knowing that this would be my first time to eat one of their burgers, I went for one that had other fillings that would satisfy my taste buds. That mushroom-bacon burger sure was delicious! I wasn’t disappointed at all, and in fact, I’m eager to explore this burger world that has been so foreign to me all of my life! Next stop: BK’s burger! Never had one of theirs either! Yes, I expect that I’ll be having many “American Firsts” while living here in the Philippines!

Aloha everyone! Well I decided to start up a blog to share more about my life here in the Philippines. I’m new at this and eager to learn more about the blog world! :0)

My Top 5 List:

I just thought that I’d share with you two of my Top 5 Lists. The first list is about my top 5 favorite things about the Philippines. After living in the Philippines for nearly five years, I reflect on the many things that are special for me here. The first thing is the food (especially the seafood): it’s delicious; I really savor eating kinilaw (raw fish with onions, reminds me of Hawaiian-style poke). I also like the foot spas here; the detailed attention from these employees is tops for me. Along with that, I love the people of the Philippines. They are kind, caring and enjoy life.  Part of being a staff at YWAM Antipolo involves living in-community with everyone: sometimes up to 65 people, including our students. I enjoy being a part of this family! The fourth thing that I like is the traditional dances & costumes of the Philippines. When I watch my co-staff dance “pandanggo sa ilaw” (the dance with the candles–you can google this one) or any other native dance, I sit in awe at how beautiful their dances are.  I’ve seen these dances so many times, but each time, it seems new to me all over again! My fifth thing that is special for me here is the nipa hut or bahay kubo (native house made of bamboo). It’s one of my favorite ways to unwind and relax; we have one of these nipa huts on the roof top of our YWAM center. I attached a picture of it above. I am so glad that God called me to this country! Thank you Lord!