Neener's Travel Blog

South East Asia Missionary Life Some of the trivial and strange things that have come to be normal life over the past few months. That moment when: - you can't remember the last meal you had without rice - toilet paper is no longer a necessity - traffic back home will never seem bad again - you discover that it is possible to live without wifi - you run out of water - you've had more bucket showers than real showers in the past month - electricity just decides to go out sometimes - you prefer to go to the market than an actual store - you can't remember the last time you sat in the front seat of a car - it's been an even longer time since you actually drove a car - two outfits are all you need to get through three weeks - you only shower once a week (it's cold in Darjeeling!) - or you want to shower once an hour (it's HOT everywhere else!) - you can't go a day without a tea break (Morning tea - the best time of day!) - cars...

Wednesday, June 11, 2014 Well, debrief week has come and gone, full of meetings and packing and cramming in as many fun times in our last days together as possible.  It's been a good time of relaxing and reflection and planning for the future. We had this really great moment in one of our meetings where we all had a chance to encourage our fearless leader, our beloved Rachael.  It was Sarah's turn to say something and she got about a sentence into her encouragement and started to cry, and instantly about 7 of the rest of us also started to tear up.  "Girl's DTS!"  We laughed...and continued to cry. Our last required reading for DTS was the book Re-Entry by Peter Jordan.  It talks about coming home after missions and the problems that we might encounter.  And there are a lot.  After reading it, I am now prepared for a lot of things, and I was already convicted about some attitudes of mine. I have to apologize for a post that I made near the beg...

Sunday, April 27, 2014 We had a week back in Thailand between locations.  On our first weekend here, some of us went on a day tour and it probably ended up being my favorite day in Thailand.  We had a wonderful adventure travelling to a floating market, the bridge on the River Kwai and an elephant camp where we got to play with elephants in the river and ride on them.  It was so much fun - we got to sit on the elephants trunks and the elephants would throw us into the water and we got to aim their trunks and spray people! We had a couple days of prep and then headed out for Camp Zoe, at a golf resort about 3 hours from Bangkok.  We took about 50 kids with us and had about 30 volunteers.  We spent 3 full days and 2 half days there.  We did worship and teachings with the kids, and tons of fun activities to keep the kids busy.  Icebreaker games, team building (they were split into 4 teams for competition over the weekend), Capture the Flag, Crazy Nigh...

Thursday, March 27, 2014 These past few weeks have absolutely flown by and I can't believe we leave for Cambodia in two days!  It's been so crazy busy around here lately, it's probably a miracle that I'm not dead, or least mostly dead.  I am exhausted in every way possible though.  Physically, emotionally... just when I think I couldn't possibly give any more, more is required of me.  God is the only reason I haven't cracked, the one thing keeping me together, I know that.  But to be honest a tiny part of me blames him just a little bit.  Sometimes I feel like he's just requiring far too much of me, more than I can humanly give. I've been learning a lot these past few weeks, and God is showing me all sorts of amazing things.  My understanding of worship was brought to a whole new level.  It is awesome (in the true sense of the word) how holy and worthy God is of our whole hearted worship.  I was struck by the scene in the throne room in R...

Monday, March 3, 2014 It is one thing to hear about things and to know they are happening; it is a completely different thing to be right in the middle of it and see it with your own eyes. Pattaya was quite the experience.  I am so glad it happened, but honestly I'm glad we only spent 4 days there.  We had some truly powerful times of prayer and evangelism, and my heart was just breaking the whole time. We did a couple nights of evangelism, going out in groups of three, and I was involved in talking to an Indian couple working in Pattaya, a young woman tourist from Russia, and a Thai prostitute.  The Russian woman was so wonderful to talk to.  We talked about her life back in Russia, travel (places we had been and wanted to go), and other random things.  Then we asked if we could pray for her. "Why?" she asked. "Because God loves you." "Me?"  She pointed to herself and looked absolutely shocked. "Yes, God loves you!" "You know...

Thursday, February 27, 2014 Well, it has been insanely hectic lately! Alright, last week's lectures were about the Fear of The Lord.  Which is so much less complicated and scary than we make it out to be.  But I think much more serious and important than it has come to be in our lives.  Fear of The Lord is not about being terrified of him - how can we be afraid of our loving Father and Savior?  How can we have relationship with someone that scares us?  It's about being in awe of him and having deep reverence for our King.  God is truly amazing and we should be awe of his power every second of the day!  Fear of The Lord is about giving him control of all areas of our life.  ALL areas.  Every single one.  Even that one little part that we would really like to just take care of ourselves.  He's the Creator and King of the universe, I'm pretty sure he can handle my life. So, I've been working on total surrender.  I've been wo...

Sunday, February 16, 2014 "This is an easy week," they said.  "A very straightforward topic," they said. But this is DTS.  Nothing is ever that easy or straightforward. I will admit, this week was easier than some of our others have been.  Less emotional perhaps.  But, wow, was it ever a lot to think about.  It brought up a lot and I'll be turning these ideas over for months. This week was World Issues week.  We had three topics in three days: refugees, orphans and women.  We heard about refugees on our first day. Did you know: There are 15.4 million refugees worldwide.  When you include internally displaced people, that number grows to 45.2 million. 80% of the world's refugees are hosted by developing nations. (I was in the group that presented a report on refugees at the end of the week, so after our class on Monday and researching on Thursday, I am basically an expert.) The needs of refugees are what you expect - shelter, food, ...

Monday, February 10, 2014 My previous post was a short story I wrote based on my first couple weeks here - the journey I went through with God in that time, and some pictures he gave to me during an intense time of forgiveness and breakthrough. And now, for the announcement of our outreach locations!! We will be spending the first two weeks of outreach in BATTAMBANG, CAMBODIA.  Then we will be coming back for a week to SOMEWHERE IN THAILAND that is close to our current location.  Then we will be splitting into our Music DTS and Children at Risk DTS groups.  For four weeks, Music will go to Kolkata, and CAR will be going to DARJEELING, INDIA (think northern India, up in the mountains!).  Then, all together again, we will go to SOMEWHERE IN MALAYSIA.  We are so excited to be traveling to so many different places! This has been a pretty intense week.  With a topic like Intercession and Spiritual Warfare, though, I guess that's to be expected.  (Ok...

She peeled her face off the concrete alleyway, bits of gravel embedded into her cheek.  She blinked her gritty eyes and squinted into the pale light of early morning, trying to bring the world into focus.  Beginning to sit up, a wave of nausea roiled in her stomach, making her collapse back onto her face.  A headache like an ax cleaving through her skull pounded in her temples.  Taking a slow, deep breath, she pushed herself up to her knees; the alleyway whirled around her from the effects of the previous nights orgy.  Come to think of it, she had no clue how she had ended up out here.  But that wasn't a first. Then, all of a sudden, it was coming and there was nothing she could do to stop it.  She leaned over and puked her guts out, retching until there was nothing left.  She didn't notice that her backpack was beside her until she had quite sufficiently covered it in vomit.  Perfect.  It probably wasn't disgusting enough already; it ...

Sunday, February 2, 2014 God asks that we be wholeheartedly devoted to him.  Such devotion comes with a price though - obedience to his word.  However, a relationship with God is like marriage.  There is a price that comes with marriage - commitment to one person for eternity, not straying, not sinning against that person.  But is that really even a cost, when you get to spend the rest of your life with the person you love?  Those are just things you automatically want to do, and the reward so outweighs the "cost". This past week was very intense.  All I've been able to say about DTS so far is that it is good, but hard.  Very hard, but very good.  Nothing easy, no real breaks.  Just constant intensity.  Our topic this past week was Repentance and Forgiveness.  We spent the week discussing how God desires a personal relationship with him and what is required from us for that to happen is whole-hearted devotion.  Sin gets in ...

Saturday, January 25, 2014 It turns out there is no warm up phase to DTS or any fluffy topics to ease you in.  It is intense right from the get-go.  But, as LJ (one of our lovely DTS staff) said, God was ready to do this with me.  There has been immense change in my life in these past few days.  God has healed my heart in so many ways.  I'm being super vague about it right now, because I feel really inspired to write a short story about it - I feel that will explain it better.  I will say, though, that God has really shown me how much he loves me, and the love of the King of kings is a beautiful thing. As far as working in the community, this week has been incredible!  On Tuesday we did an after school program in the slum.  I was in the arts and crafts group.  We made friendship bracelets and colored the armor of God.  It was difficult, not knowing any Thai.  I didn't even know any of the rudimentary key phrases like I knew in S...

Sunday, January 19, 2014 I have officially been in Thailand for a week!  More than a week actually.  It's kind of weird to think about.  It feels like it's flown by, but also like I've been here forever. Our first week was very easy as they allowed us to settle into life in Thailand.  We did three days of personality/unity training - learning about ourselves and others, what ways to communicate best with different personality types and appreciating each other's strengths.  It's been fun getting to know each other better and getting to see right off the bat how we're likely to operate in a team (and under stress). We went to visit the community that we'll be volunteering in, running an after school program with the kids.  It's a slum community, made up largely of Cambodian refugees.  We met the woman who has started the ministry in this community, and she reminded me so much of Norma in Costa Rica.  I saw a lot of similarities between Guarari...

Blog Post 1 Monday, January 13, 2014 The Beginning I'm in Thailand!  I left on Wednesday, January 8th at 1:30pm and flew to San Francisco.  I stayed the night in a hotel, and got to Facetime with my family.  Mandie (our dog) was very confused by my face and voice, but lack of physical presence.  I left the next morning at 11:00 for Tokyo, and then went from Tokyo to Bangkok.  The time change became very confusing for my mind and body.  I arrived at around midnight on Saturday. We live in sort of a middle class village.  The houses are absolutely beautiful, and are much nicer accommodations than we all were expecting.  Our classroom is about a five minute walk, near the entrance of our village. We have 12 girls on our DTS - no boys!  All of us are used to hanging out with mostly guys, so we were a bit apprehensive about it to begin with, but we all get along great already.  It's been a lot of fun getting to know each other in the...

For the past month I have been getting asked the same questions over and over.  And over.  Andoverandoverandover.  I always try to answer them as nicely and truthfully as possible.  And believe me, the hundredth time I got asked these questions, I had to try really hard. So here is an outlet for all my sarcasm.  And the whole truth.  Because honestly, I dumbed it down for most people. 1) Are you ready? What is that supposed to mean?  Mentally?  Physically?  Emotionally?  Spiritually?  Because no.  No to all the things.  I'm not ready.  How am I supposed to prepare for such an experience?  It's going to be different from anything I've ever done, so how could I possibly prepare?  And physically ready is also a no.  I will likely not pack until the day before I leave.  So just assume that I am not ready in any way. 2) How many people are going to be on your DTS? (and other specific questions abo...

On Friday, November 29, 2013 I was officially accepted to the CARM DTS in Bangkok, Thailand!  I saw the email and said, "Huh."  A little underwhelming of a response, I know.  But I had just been so stressed out for so long, being unable to make plans for my trip and frustration had been building.  So seeing my acceptance was more of an exasperated "Finally!", than a "Yay, I get to go!".  Of course, the news started to sink in throughout the day and I began to get excited about going to Thailand for five months.  At least I was excited when I wasn't looking at the overload of information and extensive lists of things to do, sending me into full on panic attacks. Then I had to figure out how and where and when to apply for my visa.  We conveniently have a Thai Consulate right in Edmonton, so the how and where was very simple.  The when on the other hand - not so much.  My work schedule, which includes three respite families and Famoso, is d...

Ark International emailed today saying that my complete application, references and all, had been received today.  They're sending it off to the leadership team today and will be speaking to me within the next few days about their response.  They said they've already been praying for me.  Which is very touching.  We could all use a little more prayer in our lives, I think. So I guess I'll know for sure in a couple days whether I'll be heading to Thailand in January or not!  I've been talking about it for so long like I'm definitely going; I'm a little nervous to hear back.  Right now I'm just praying for the wisdom of the leadership team in their selection of DTS students and their response to me.  It's all in God's hands from here.

I finally sent in my application yesterday!  Filling that thing out was quite the process.  Besides all the expected personal information, there was the infamous Question 12... Questions about my past, personal life, and my faith. 12. Questions Please prayerfully answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper:   (a) Please describe your conversion experience and your present relationship with God (no more than one page). (b) Describe your childhood and growing up years. (c) How would you describe the relationships within your family? (d) Does your family know of your desire to do a DTS/apply for a DTS? Are they supportive of your desire to do this school? (e) What areas of your character are you presently seeking God to further develop and improve? (f) What do you perceive are your greatest strengths and your greatest vulnerabilities? (g) Have you ever served cross culturally? When and where? Please share how this experience ...

Well, hello my old blog.  It's been a while.  Over three years.  THREE YEARS.  It is incomprehensible to me that it's been that long since my trip.  I met some of my all time favorite people on that trip and I am so happy to say that we still (sort of) keep in touch.  And when we see each other, it really is like no time at all has passed. I'd recently been considering starting up this blog again just for kicks, because sometimes I like to rant about things and why not share that with all you lovely people?  Also because recently I've been going through a lot of things - growing up and becoming an adult is hard.  Lots of things happen.  Lots of decisions are made.  And most importantly, lots of things are learned.  More than ever, life has felt like a journey now, and it's interesting to take a moment to look back and see how far I've come.  It hasn't always been forward motion, nor has it been a walk in the park, but it...