Valuable...

This precious little girl is always with her mom at a little corner stand we go by every day.  One day she was playing with a can by the street, and I took these photos.  I gave copies of the prints to her mom and she was so happy. I've made a little friend, her mom always smiles and waves at me, and the little girl blows kisses.  Friendship doesn't need a language... <3

Viva!

Remember that great apartment I was telling you about?  Here are some photos!  

We live on the 7th floor of this building, the one with the green netting on the balcony. See that small box on the bamboo pole?  That is our receiver for nearby wifi. That's where we can sometimes receive your nice emails!  ...when it is working correctly. :)  The reason I haven't posted photos in a while is that the signal has been too weak to upload photos recently.

This is our friendly guard station and gate.  But, what I really want to point out is the wiring to our building... do you see it? :)

I also took some photos of the inside, but I cannot seem to find them now in my photos.  I did have a card corrupt, so I may have lost them.  I will upload more photos when I can, but I thought I'd take advantage of the fast internet this afternoon and at least get these three posted.  


...Ok, two days later I have more photos of the apartment.  I'll just add them here to keep them all in one place.  As you can see, God blessed us with a really nice place to live!

 The view from our Kitchen balcony!

Our room...

As you can see, we have a lot of nice space!

So you see your Christmas photo on the wall? :)

Guest room!!!  Come and visit!! :)

Developments...

Phew!  I have taken WAY too long to write another blog post!  For a period of time, we did not have internet.  In that time, I started teaching English three days a week at an orphanage about an hour outside the city for summer school.  That has been keeping me pretty exhausted! But, let me bring you up to speed:

1 - God dropped an amazing apartment right into our laps!  We had been searching and searching, and to make a long story short, we couldn't find anything that was within our wishlist and budget.  (I felt like I was on the show, "International Househunters" - Where is HGTV when you need them?? :) )  But, we finally asked the right people, who told us the right price, who showed us the right apartment, in the right location, and we are VERY blessed to have found a great place for a great price!  God is good!

2 - We found a great church to plug into!  It is an English speaking church, which we felt was important to be fed on Sundays in our heart language.  The people are very friendly, love Jesus, and are active in outreach!  We have already joined in with many opportunities!

3 - I started teaching summer school!  This was HUGE that God brought a "purpose" to my time here (at least for the next two months).  And the children really bless my heart.  They come to one orphanage from 6 or 7 different orphanages in the area for English, Myanmar, and Guitar lessons.  I teach the beginner English class.  At the beginning of March, my class consisted of 60 or so students, but two more teachers came, so now I only have about 20 middle school age girls.  At the start of the day, they spend time praising, and it really blesses my heart to see their love for the Father.

I will try to post some photos soon that apply to these three updates, but at least I can catch you up to date somewhat.  Things are going well for us.  We really feel blessed to be here!  Thanks for being interested in our lives here!

Distribution!

We returned to the little village this week, 4x6, laminated photos in hand.  Again upon arriving, the group, mostly women and children, had already gathered and were eagerly waiting to see their simple portraits revealed.  They all sat quietly in the little house, while we one-by-one stuck each portrait with sticky tack to a dilapidated white board.  After each photo was attached to the white board and I stepped away to get the next one, they would all clap and smile.  I was so humbled by this immense portrayal of gratitude for something, in my mind, so small.

  

So then, there the photos hung throughout the next couple of hours.  Each in our group got up and spoke, some, like me, through an interpreter.  We shared our hearts, our stories, and also sang some songs and played some games.  One Myanmar girl helped lead them in a game similar to "London Bridges"... a little bit similar.  It looked like a lot of fun!

I shared some of my story, and Jason also taught a short English lesson and song which they thoroughly enjoyed!

Then it was time to give the photos out.  Oh my, I was certainly in for a blessing.  They took them down one at a time, and I also gave out one group photo for each person as they came up to receive their portrait.  It was like an award ceremony.  I will try as long as I live to remember to be so grateful for the "little" things in my life!

Appreciative...

Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to go with a team out to a poor village to do a portrait shoot for the local families.  I won't post a lot of photos from the village (I didn't take many) out of respect for the people.  But, I want to tell you about this amazing time of outreach!

I often take so much for granted.  The living conditions of this little village were just heartbreaking.  We went to a brother's house who reaches out to these people.  He had gathered a small group of families and children in his tiny home.  They were eager and waiting for us!  A couple of the ladies in our group set up a hair and make-up station, while the brother who lived there started singing songs with the children.  When each family group was ready, they came out to a crude "portrait studio" which we set up in the yard outside.  A local helper positioned the people, explaining in their language how to pose.  They liked to look distinguished and serious in their photos.  It was quite an exciting experience for me as a photographer to learn their culture in this way.  It was humbling also to see how much it meant to them to get their portrait taken.  I am reminded of how often I am not appreciative for the "little" things in my life that would mean SO much to these people.

These are the families we took photos of, mixed with those of us that came to show them some love.  The guy in the hat with a camera is the man who sets up these trips, and he taught me so much about how they operate!  He allowed me to do all of the portrait shooting, and was just so gracious in letting me learn!


Today, I have edited the portraits, and will set out in hopes of finding a print shop where I can get them printed and laminated.  The lamination will help preserve the photos against the tropical elements here.  Next week we plan to return and distribute the photos.  Many will also bring lessons next week.  I believe Jason may do a simple English lesson, and a health professional here will talk about basic hygiene.  I'm so excited because we can come along side a brother already in the village and help build relationships with these people.

Adventuring!

Normally to get around, we take a taxi here in Yangon.  The taxis are somewhat inexpensive (under $4 to go anywhere in the city) and we can usually convey to the driver where we need to go.  Yesterday, however, we had the luxury of walking a few miles from downtown past the main Buddhist pagoda (The Shwedagon Pagoda) and met up with some friends in another part of the city for dinner.  Here are a couple of snapshots I got along our walk, and the view of the pagoda from the restaurant.

 This was a busy market outside of the pagoda.

This adorable little girl was so happy and just would not stop smiling and laughing! I asked the woman holding her if I could take her photo, and obviously the baby didn't object either. :)

A sad, but beautiful place.

Adjusting...

This post has been simmering in my mind for a good week now.  All the new sights, tastes, and smells caught me off guard quite a bit.  I guess they call it culture "shock" for a reason!  As I stood in my hotel room  the second or third day we were here, looking down on the bustling life below, so different to what I'm used to, I started to think...  It was starting to set in, how out of place I felt, and so alone.  My mind started to give in to the thoughts, you know, the dangerous ones:  "I don't belong here", "This land is weird with many odd ways of doing things",  "I don't think I can survive living here!"  "I'm not like them, and I don't like the way they live", etc... I started to try and convince myself of the importance of learning some of the language, the customs, and yes, even learning to enjoy the strange smelling food... All of a sudden a sense of despair overcame me.  How could I do that?  How could I adjust enough to come along side these "strange" people?  How could I eat their food, learn their language, live along side them in conditions that made me pull back in disgust?  (I'm being honest here, I'm not proud of my lack of empathy...)  A new wave of feeling came over me - guilt.  How could I be so spoiled, so cold towards these people who have a fraction of what you have been blessed with?  How can you stand yourself, gagging at the smell of the only meal that person might be able to afford all day?  Shame.  And so the roller coaster continued for a few days - feeling alone, repulsed by offending smells and tastes and strange behavior, feeling despair at how to adjust, how to live along side them, and then guilt for having such a struggle.  Then, it happened.  Not as a Paul-on-the-road-to-Damascus moment, but as a slow churning in my mind and spirit - God seemed to impress on me something amazing.  Jesus - He came to earth - to a "strange" new place.  He tells us that "our ways are not His ways, nor our thoughts His thoughts".  He didn't come and live in the wealthiest mansion available, or eat only the food he liked...  No, He came to serve, not to be served, He came and humbled himself, being found as a man - a human, dirty, "strange" human being!  He BECAME one of us, to give up His rights and privileges all to show us the way to relationship with the Father. Wow.  Am I still struggling with adjusting? - oh YES!  But, do I have a whole deeper sense of thankfulness to Jesus for what He did for me? - oh YES!  What an amazing lesson of love and sacrifice!  May I keep Jesus' sacrifice in mind next time I am given the opportunity to show love to these people, as much as I am able!