sending them off!

Tonight was the graduation for our Fall SBFM! While most of our fourteen students left Maui in December after the course's lecture phase, we still hold a graduation ceremony for both our returning outreach team, and the several other students that remained in Maui on staff at the base. It was a great night of food and fellowship, and of thanksgiving and worship to our Lord. My students are heading home already this weekend- it will be crazy to send them off after spending so many months together and sharing so many experiences!

Congratulations, Fall 2011 SBFM students!

we got seoul

Our all day layover in Seoul was fun, even though being on planes the night before and after made for a long trip home. More on settling in here in Maui later- like, when i have had time to do that a bit! For now, with my jet lag and all, the best i can do is share these few pics of Seoul, South Korea:)

It was a little crazy to go from weather in the upper 90ºF's to about 30ºF- but even so, we enjoyed the last bit of overseas adventure. After walking all day, it was actually a relief to collapse into our seats on the plane and know it was taking us home.

stand by for transit

Heading to the airport this evening for our flight out- we will be in transit for the next couple days. Our route home involves two overnight flights and an all day layover in Seoul, S. Korea. (We plan to take a train downtown and see the city a bit to pass the time- should be fun if we aren't exhausted.) Pleas pray for restful travel for me and my team -and grace with jet lag. Going east is always rough, and two consecutive nights on planes isn't ideal either:) Thanks!

Note: blog updates will be dropping off substantially for the next couple weeks while i am traveling to Maui and settling in there again. My "at home" mode usually finds me posting once a week or even every other week. Thanks for checking in on me and following these outreach travels!

iconic KL

After eating dinner as a team (at a hectic little curry eatery), a walk around downtown found me and my co-leader at KL's iconic Petronas Towers. What's a trip to Kuala Lumpur without seeing these sky scraping architectural marvels?

(And what's a trip to an iconic locale without a ridiculous self portrait?)

Back in Kuala Lumpur

We are back in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after an intense two weeks in Yangon, Myanmar. On this trip, KL has been our "in-between" place- a transit hub for us between outreach locations, and now a stop over before heading home in a few days.

Its turned out to be a real blessing to have these few days to rest, recover and sort ourselves out. Our bodies all kinda called it quits upon arrival here- as soon as we paused from charging through the last two weeks, we immediately collapsed into sinus congestion, sore throats and exhaustion. We were about flattened for two days. Now a couple good nights sleep and lots of hydration & ibuprofen later, we are doing well. We have also been spending time as a team talking through our experiences over the last few months. There is a lot to process- especially for the students. We are talking, discussing, and praying together, and setting apart time to really recognize all the Lord has done and thank Him for it. Its been a really profitable time for our team in every respect. We thought having several days here would be a slight excess, but it was just how it turned out with all our flights and such- but now i can see that the Lord knew how much this particular team would need this time to reflect and prepare for going home. Our stopover here has proven to be just right. Heading home in just two days ....

Of course, the flights home are rather long- and we have an all day layover in Seoul, Korea. Haha- but when its all done and said, we should be landing in Maui sometime on Tuesday morning. Until then, however, i am going to enjoy a final weekend in Asia:)

out and about in KL

We're back in KL and its really fun to be out and about- the first day or two when we got back from Myanmar, we were exhausted and didn't make it far afield... it's refreshing now to feel rested ...and take to the streets once again.

our Yangon Ohana

There is a church in Yangon called Every Nation which our teams have been working with for the past 7+ years. I visited myself in 2006 and was impressed by the diligence and discipleship within this church body. Returning now, more than a few years later, I find them continuing to thrive and grow in Christ. To serve the Every Nation family again was a joy and privilege.

We spent most of our days having appointments with young leaders in the church, to help teach and disciple them. A highlight for me was sitting down with a young woman i met on my first trip to Myanmar and teaching her how to effectively study and teach from the bible herself. What a privilege to provide this basic training to passionate believers that are serving their community and changing their nation!

I also had the opportunity to teach an afternoon class on how to recognize false belief systems and evaluate how they differ from Christianity and why these differences matter. I really enjoyed the class, and was challenged by an open Q&A time at the end. Who wants to stand up in front of a room full of people and on the spot field questions about the Trinity or the location of souls post-death/pre-judgement? Haha.

We led the weekly prayer meeting- a delight to fellowship with some of the young core church leaders and share in their heart for their nation. Myanmar is in a time of intense transition, and its a pivotal time to be lifting up this nation. Please be praying for freedom, development and for the Holy Spirit to lead the Church there. Every Nation is a wonderful hosting church, really our base's family in Yangon- your prayers for them and the nation of Myanmar are appreciated.

walking Yangon

We spent our first morning in Yangon walking around the city with several members of the church we are connected with there. We walked and prayed and heard an overview of the needs of the city and nation.

Vestiges of the colonial era are scattered throughout the city- especially downtown.

The medical field is in need of development- care is expensive and largely unmodernized.

(Would you trust the sanitation etc of this clinic offering xray & ultrasound?)

Distinctly Buddhist, the city is piled full of shrines and pagodas.

Shwe Dagon Pagoda, the largest shrine in the city, dominates Yangon's skyline.

Streets of Myanmar

Just a few images of the streets of Yangon, Myanmar- the city is built rather low, owing to building ordinances that prohibit buildings that would stand higher than the famous Shwe Dagon Pagoda (pictured in posts to follow).