Christmas greetings 2009

Below is my holiday greetings letter for family and friends. I thought it'd be relevant to post on this blog as an update of my "sabai sabai life." Enjoy for yourself a merry Christmas, no matter where you might be.

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Dear family and friends,

It's almost time to flip my 2009 calendar to its final page, and if December is like the other months of this year, it will have passed by before I realize it. I guess that makes now the prime time to write an update on what has transpired in one year's time. Without further ado, here is this year's version of "Things you should know about my life since the last time I wrote this letter."

1. At the end of December 2008, I got to make a little checkmark on my list of lifelong goals by completing my first marathon. The months of training (including weekly long runs that started before 5:30AM) helped me regain both discipline and joy in my running. Two downsides of running the marathon in Chiang Mai were the 4AM start time for the race and the lack of crowd support. Two benefits were the very flat course and the opportunity to place well with a smaller field of runners. I managed to nab the fifth place trophy in the men's 18-39 age division with a time of 3 hours and 35 minutes. Would I do it again? Definitely.

2. Again this year I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to some unique places while living in Thailand. In January, I enjoyed a week in Cambodia, traveling through the capital city Phnom Penh as well as the massive temple ruins of Angkor Wat. In April, I spent a little time traveling in Laos, including the beautifully tucked away Luang Prabang, a World Heritage City. On my final visa run in June, I flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with just a few days to explore the city.

3. The early months of 2009 were full of big changes that challenged me to rely more fully on God. I formally decided in January that I would return to Wisconsin after my second year in Thailand instead of staying on for a third year with the mission. In February, my girlfriend and I parted ways after almost two years together. In March, one of our students at the Bible Institute died in a tragic motorbike accident in his hometown. On the first of May, the Thailand mission received news that it would no longer be financially supported by the stateside church synod, which has strong implications for the future of the mission work in Thailand. These were all things that have necessitated time for adjustment, but I take comfort that I have seen the LORD working through all these things to His glory. If our God is one who can use even these tough times to carry out His good plan, then He certainly is a God worthy of my praise!

4. Since the end of July, I've been finding novelty in my reintroduction to life in the U.S.A. I didn't waste much time getting two "necessities" that I never had in America prior: a cell phone and a car. For the first time, I also have to cook and clean for myself in my Milwaukee apartment. All of these are good additions to making me feel like a more responsible adult. Wow, can I really start calling myself an adult?!

5. There are plenty of things I miss about life in Chiang Mai. I miss my Honda Dreams motorbike, inexpensive Thai massages, the ultimate frisbee club team, and warm soy milk and pumpkin juice. I especially miss my Christian brothers and sisters still living on that side of the world, and saying those goodbyes was one of the most difficult things I've ever experienced. On the other hand, there are plenty of great things to keep me occupied in Milwaukee: I'm still able to ride the same bike I've had since about the age of 10; the city has a great network of parkways for running and exploring; and I'm able to tickle my fancy for singing through having joined the Lutheran Chorale of Milwaukee.

6. My job as an ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee has helped solidify to me that working with international education is something I really enjoy. I teach a small but very diverse group of language students, and I learn a great deal from them as I help them improve their ability to communicate in English. Some of my favorite perks to the job are the access to a great library system, a free coffee machine at the college, the morning chapel service each day, having a job within a 15 minute walk from my apartment, and the daily interaction with so many uniquely gifted people.

7. I love being back with family and friends in Wisconsin. It seems that every week I run into a few more people that I haven't seen in years, whether it's friends from the hometown area, college, or camp. Living far away from loved ones is not easy; it really is a sacrifice. I'm doing my best to cherish the time I do get to spend with my family and friends, and I continue to keep close in prayer those who aren't near enough to spend time with regularly.

Altogether it's been a year that has helped me grow tremendously in my relationship with my LORD and in my relationship with those around me. I have learned a lot about myself in the process, and I know that I'm continually a work in progress. There are plenty of hopes and dreams I have for 2010, but I'm striving to live each day with joy in the knowledge that God's grace is already sufficient for me, and that living for Him foremost is far better than living for myself. May God's grace richly bless your life, health, and prosperity in the coming year.

Love,
Eric

Another Reason to Celebrate

Last April I wrote about Thailand's Songkran holiday and how it rather inconveniently coincided with the Christian Easter holiday. Here in the U.S., this past Saturday brought about another unusual collision of holiday cultures: Halloween and Reformation Day.

The Halloween decorations started going up around the neighborhood a few weeks ago. Maybe two years away from the holiday caused me to be caught off-guard and a bit stunned by the gory and gruesome displays of "festiveness," or maybe I just have some especially graphic neighbors living down the street. The holiday's fascination of witchcraft, the living dead, and demons does not gel with what I constitute as "whatever is true... noble... pure... lovely... admirable... excellent or praiseworthy," so I'd just as soon not dwell on those things.

There is something I appreciate and enjoy about Halloween, though, and it's the concept that one can be transformed into someone or something different. What a unique little cultural expedition our October 31st brings each year, as costume-clad children take a basket around their neighborhood and receive treats in return! It sounds just as unique to me as Thai people celebrating New Year in April by having a three-day long water throwing festival in the city streets.

The theme of transformation is also central to the day's other holiday, Reformation. To celebrate this holiday, my international students have been working through a unit on the life of Martin Luther and to what the word "Lutheran" refers. Also, on Sunday I had the pleasure of attending and singing in a special district-wide Reformation service attended by hundreds of other Christians. I'm thankful for this time of year as a reminder of the imperfections of the church on earth, both in the past and in the present, and how that just brings us more acutely aware of this world's need for a Savior, found in the God-man Jesus Christ. I’m thankful that God’s Word is truly our great heritage, and shall be ours forever. And the more we’re in the Word, the more it transforms us.

That's a transformation that cannot be held to a once per year celebration. It's a transformation to celebrate each morning as we wake up and ask God to give us the strength to live lives worthy of His calling.

Happy Transformation Day!

Mile Marker 110

Yesterday was a very special day for me.

Some work-related travel took me across the state of Wisconsin on Interstate 94, up to West St. Paul, before returning to Milwaukee. It was while passing mile marker 110 on the highway that I saw snow for the first time in over two and a half years.

At first it was just small portions of white in the grassy median of the highway. While continuing on the highway, the amount of snow increased until in some places I saw fields of white. The most beautiful part was that these fields were accompanied by trees at the peak of their autumn reds, oranges, and yellows.

While I took this all in, I wondered how many drivers around me were muttering to themselves about how it's too early to have snow on the ground. I also thought of my expatriate friends in Chiang Mai and how many of them, like me, probably would have appreciated this sight.

I drove more than 10 hours yesterday -- it was a long day with a lot of mile markers passed along the way. Mile marker 110 made it worth the day.

Trade-Ins

I've surpassed the two-month mark of being back in Wisconsin now. That's enough time to begin to find some normalcy in daily living. As the daily habits of life in Chiang Mai have faded, I've traded in for some new ones in Milwaukee. Here are a few:

Trade-In #1: No more delicious Thai cooking made for me every day. Instead, I've had to cook regularly for myself for the first time since...well, since I was born. I've had enough opportunity to witness the art of good cooking, and now it's my turn to give it a shot. So far so good: I've only eaten one store-bought frozen meal in my two months back.

Trade-In #2: No more convenience store iced coffee for me. Instead, my place of employment has a hot coffee machine always ready to serve, and for free! I generally find myself drinking one tall mug in the morning during classes, and then again one tall mug during the afternoon classes. Hey, it's probably healthier (or shall I say less detrimental to my health) than 7-11 and Jiffy iced coffee!

Trade-In #3: No more living in a foreign language environment. Sure, I've heard a bit of Spanish spoken in the neighborhood, and the church down the street has a Chinese service, but I'm not tired at the end of the day anymore merely due to my brain having been constantly processing foreign language input. I try to keep up with foreign languages by watching the Spanish channels on TV, as well as switching off each day reading in Thai and Spanish.

Trade-In #4: The daily namasakan (worship) and Bible study opportunities I was richly blessed with while living in the tight-knit church mission setting have morphed into daily chapel at the college and new opportunities for Bible study there. One of the things that I've welcomed back is the singing of traditional worship hymns. I've also joined the Lutheran Chorale of Milwaukee, which has been the largest choral group I've been a part of since the days of the traveling A Cappella choir in high school.

Trade-In #5: I do miss my motorbike, but I'm very pleased with my current transportation situation. Many places, including my job, the grocery store, and a place of worship, are all easily within walking distance. I can ride my bike to get to many more places. I even have my own set of four wheels to get me further out of town when necessary.

Trade-In #6: Flip-flops are no longer my only footwear. Now I have to wear “real shoes” to work, and I don’t get to take them off once I get to the door. Plus, the weather won’t allow me to wear flip-flops year-round in this neck of the woods. It’s still September and I’m already finding it necessary to wear a hat and gloves in the mornings and evenings. It may be a really rough winter for me!

Indeed, there is an awful lot that I miss about Thailand. There are plenty of things that can have no substitute. And that's fine, because the people, places, and things that stand out in my mind about Thailand will continue to be outstanding to me throughout my lifetime. It's similar to the impressions that Lake Mills, Eau Claire, Costa Rica, and camp have made on my life. All of these places are my home, and I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Love,
Eric

Getting The Picture

There's a little confession I should make.  For the past five months, the pictures and video clips you've seen on this blog were not up to date pictures taken from my camera.  My digital camera has been M.I.A. since disappearing from my backpack on a long and windy (but beautiful) bus trip through the mountain passes to the city of Luang Prabang.  It's been through the use of other people's cameras that I've been able to get the pictures to you (this blog entry is no different).

Now approaching one month since my departure from Thailand, I have to rely not only on others' cameras for a picture, but now the pictures I do see of Thailand are of a place that I'm no longer seeing with my own eyes.

Really, the transition of moving "out of the picture" has been a long one that began back in January when I officially decided not to return for a third year with the mission.  Since then, it was a gradual process of transitioning my work role so that at the time of departure, there would be none of my job responsibilities remaining that were still dependent on my presence.  My notions of how to achieve this were of course subject to God's timing, and His timing blew mine out of the water.  I didn't expect to have to say so many goodbyes to others before goodbyes were said to me.  I didn't know I'd be moving out of the dorm a month before leaving Thailand to make room for someone else as part of the downsizing of rented facilities for the mission (though I'm certainly thankful how God used that to prepare me to leave).  And I didn't know that no matter how hard I tried to prepare myself mentally and spiritually to make my exit from Chiang Mai, the final moments with my Christian family there could still be so bittersweet as they passed by.

On the flip side, the past month has been great to get back "into the picture" of life here in Wisconsin.  It's been a mix of taking care of the big-ticket items like moving into a new place, securing a means of transportation, and piecing together a plan for employment, along with spending time with family and taking excursions nearly every weekend to visit with friends.  I am very happy that I'm relearning how great Wisconsin summer culture is: from the outdoor concerts and picnics, to spending time out on the lakes and rivers, to the brats and burgers (and Sundrop) consumed.

As I continue my transition back to life here, I am thankful that I have many pictures to remind me of the blessings that God brought into my life through Thailand.  I am grateful that my video camera was repairable (after having fallen into a swamp with it last summer while trying to cross a makeshift bridge made of two bamboo shoots), so I'll be able to view and edit videos I took in my first year in Thailand and continue to post items to this blog that will help put together a picture of life in Thailand.  And I'm looking forward to using this blog to my give my friends in Thailand a picture of what's going on here in Wisconsin.

Until then, God's blessings to you.

-Eric

In First Person

Below is an article I recently wrote for my final mission e-newsletter with the Thailand mission. I thought it would be something relevant to include on this blog as well. Enjoy!

"He must become greater; I must become less." - John 3:30

For the first time in writing updates for the past two years, it's time to use the word "I."

That's not to say that I haven't been writing mission updates from my own vantage point. In fact, it's just the opposite. I have been present for the joyful baptisms, the exciting outreach opportunities to share the gospel with people who had never heard it before, the jubilant desire of new Christians to share the love of God with everyone they know, the ordination of the mission's first national pastors, the prayerful commitment of national workers to carry out the Great Commission despite great financial strain, etc. In short, I am a witness to the powerful work of our Almighty Lord.

It has been a blessing and privilege to see the Lord's grace and favor so evident in the lives of people I have come to know and love these past two years. I have been refreshed in spiritual living through walking with my brothers and sisters in the faith, both nationals as well as the foreign mission team. I have been challenged in my understanding of living my life for Jesus as I've seen faith expressed in many unique and beautiful ways. And I have been emboldened in my resolve to share God's love with others, as I've witnessed others boldly doing the same for family and friends still living in spiritual darkness.

As I return home, knowing that I will treasure all these things in my heart for the rest of my lifetime, I can't help but give thanks to God for the opportunity he has given me to be a witness to His work in Thailand. In coming here to serve Him, He, in fact, continued to serve me. How great is our God and worthy of praise!

In Christ,

Eric

Malaysia

A few weeks ago, I had to leave the country to renew my visa for one final time.  Since my one-year visa is now expired, traveling overland would stamp me in for just two weeks in Thailand, which wouldn't have been enough time for me.  By flying into the country I received a full month tourist visa, which was perfect timing for my travel needs.  The cheapest and most interesting means to make this happen?  A two-night trip to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

I spent less than 48 hours in Kuala Lumpur, which certainly isn't enough time to say that I've successfully experienced Malaysia, but I was happy with what I was able to see.  I was fortunate to sit next to a friendly tour guide on my bus ride from the airport into the city, so I got some good advice of how to make way around town and make the most of my time.  It was also really nice to have booked a guesthouse in advance, so there was no guesswork upon arriving into the city in the early evening hours (which is a nice change of pace from my normal travel habits).  I stayed in the Chinatown area, a hub for tourists with plenty of street markets and eateries.

The next morning, I woke up early and had my greatest success story of the day by navigating the underground subway to find the Petronas Towers, which are currently the tallest buildings in the world.  The tour up the sky bridge is free, but the tickets go quickly, and there are limits to the number of people who can go up, so one must get there early in order to be able to go up the towers.  The towers open for tour at 9AM, with the ticket gate opening at 8:30.  Thanks to the advice of my tour guide friend from the bus, I got there around 7:15AM, which was perfect as a line was already starting to form and I ended up being the last person to get a ticket for the highly coveted 9AM tour.  The elevator ride up to the 41st floor to the skybridge and the view seen from there was nothing life-changing, but it's fun to be able to say that I've been in the tallest buildings in the world now.

My productivity in seeing the sites diminished a bit after this, as I decided to walk from place to place and my navigation skills in the big city were not very good.  There was a noticeable difference in the architecture, with many domed roofs reflecting a more Islamic feel in the city.  I walked in some of the main plaza areas, through the national mosque grounds (though I couldn't enter because I was a "non-Muslim tourist"), the national museum, a beautiful gardens area, and through the main commercial district.

The food was a mix of a lot of Indian food and a lot of Chinese food, as these two ethnic groups make up a sizable portion of the Malaysian population.  I kept seeing a restaurant called "Kenny Rogers Roasters" all over the place in the city, so I decided to dine there for a dinner meal.  I wondered why the country of Malaysia would have such a special affection for Kenny Rogers, but have since heard that it is a chain restaurant in some places in the U.S. as well.

On my final evening there I realized that I would have more than enough ringgit (Malaysian currency) to spare, so I went to one of the little shops in Chinatown that offered to do an "ear-wax candle."  I didn't exactly know what I was getting myself into but had heard about it and was willing to give it a try.  Basically they stuck what I think was something like a candle in my ear, lit the candle, and somehow that was supposed to suck out the wax in my ear.  There are supposed to be several health benefits to the process, but I didn't receive any miraculous renewed clarity in my hearing so I'm not fully convinced about the whole ordeal.

My time in KL was up before I knew it, and I was welcomed back to the airport in Chiang Mai by a health worker in a strange jumpsuit and mask giving everyone two squirts of his sanitary hand spray.  Ah, the joys of international travel in the midst of a flu pandemic.

Peace (and good health) be yours,

Eric