Day 12: Beautiful Rest (12 Days of Beauty)

The final day of beauty. Our last day of work before Christmas. We are looking forward to a few days of rest.

It has been a particular encouragement to me this Christmas to reflect on the wonder of the incarnation - God become flesh and dwelling among us. I think there is a temptation to fast-forward to Calvary, and for good reason. Calvary is central to our faith.

But there was a period of time between Christmas and Calvary where God himself lived among us. Emmanuel, God with us. May you all have a blessed Christmas, and may you find rest in the arms of our God who is ever-present and closer than our own breath.

Blessings,

Evan

Day 11: Christmas Wishes From Canada

You are beautiful. Our friends, family and ministry partners... you are the best! We've already received many lovely emails of Christmas wishes and today we got our first Christmas card from Canada!

We could not do what we are called to without your support. Even if it's just sending us a quick message to say you are thinking of us, it means so much to us out here. Thank you.

Day 10: Beautiful Diversity (12 Days of Beauty)

Today was the "office Christmas lunch". Most people work from home or from remote locations so we don't get a chance to meet up very often. In at least a couple of cases, this was the first time we'd met certain people at all!

We piled into a couple of cars and headed down some side streets until we came to a stop in front of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it (actually we did blink, missed it and had to backtrack) restaurant hidden on the side of the street. From the number of people there it was clear that enough customers are able to find the place to keep them in business!

As we sat around the table, Bonnie and I realized that we were the only westerners in our group. It was humbling and inspiring, because we far too often see our own culture as the "established" church and other cultures as "people we send missionaries to". Even when we know better, it's hard to train your mind to think differently.

The truth is that the Gospel does not belong to us; it belongs to all who hear it and choose to be part of the Kingdom of God. We represented a number of different nationalities at lunch today but only one Kingdom.

Evan

P.S. We sometimes feel we say too much about the food, so I tried not to make that the focus this time but yes, the food was incredible. :)

Day 9: Communion and Community (12 Days of Beauty)

As Evan mentioned yesterday, we have some friends visiting our country for Christmas from a nearby country. It being Sunday, they joined us for a service at the church we regularly attend. At the end we saw that another couple from our organization was in town and visited the same church! Small world.

We partake in communion (or the Eucharist) every Sunday morning. When you are in a new place it is so comforting to share this. To be reminded that no matter where we've come from or where we've gone to, we are one body. 

Being a part of an international organization we really get to feel this when we travel. Despite the different working conditions and challenges, when we meet with colleagues, even for purely professional reasons, we all know that we are working toward a common goal. It is so beautiful to be a part of a community like that.

Day 8: Beautiful Friends (12 Days of Beauty)

I'm writing this on a boat after a wonderful evening out with friends who are stationed elsewhere in Asia and were passing through.

It's amazing to know that we have friends and colleagues who are partners with us in the work we're doing all over the world. Sitting around a table and sharing our experiences is such an encouragement and inspiration.

We are thankful today for the beauty of these encounters.

Evan

Day 7: Art (12 Days of Beauty)

The Beauty of art. In this case, I don't just mean classic fine art. There is something about public art that is also important. As much as I adore meandering through art galleries to gaze at Van Goghs and Rembrandts, public art is so much more accessible and often meant to provoke thought or at least make you smile.

One of our favourite outdoor dinner spots is littered with art. (Don't worry, I won't write about food again.) It's big and weird and creative. I love it! There are so many pieces that I keep noticing ones I hadn't seen before. Here are some:

Episode 6: The Beauty Awakens (12 Days of Beauty)

One of the adjustments we needed to make when we left our "old life" behind was a drastic change in income. There have been a lot of times we have looked wistfully at things and thought "yeah, that was another life". Don't imagine this to be a complaint - our quality of life is the best it has ever been and we are incredibly happy with our decision, we don't lack for anything. I am only pointing out that it is different.

The difference is a little more pronounced living in a bigger city than it was in our previous assignment; there are a lot of luxuries available here if you have the money. That's why today was really quite special. Some family members gave us a gift to be used to take ourselves out, so out we went!

There is a movie theatre here that is more than just "going to a movie", but more of a complete experience. For about an hour before the movie you can sit in the lounge and enjoy complimentary gourmet snacks, juice and tea before going in and taking your place. Our "seat" in this case, was a large "day bed", where Bonnie and I could cuddle up under the blankets to watch the new Star Wars.

The movie was fantastic, the food was incredible and the theatre was luxurious; but the real beauty today was our family members back home who were thinking of us and decided we needed this.

Evan

Day 5: In Pursuit of the Perfect Puff (12 Days of Beauty)

Sometime in the last week, we wandered past a shop that had signs for delicious looking giant cream puffs. We were on our way somewhere and couldn't get them at the time but we knew we wanted to try them soon.

Yesterday we were back at the same mall that we had seen them. Or so we thought. We scoured the floor with all the little bake shops where we had been but to no avail. Store directories and Google couldn't help us. We had failed in our quest.

After more in-depth searching, we found reference to the shop online! It is a chain and has more than one shop in Bangkok. Tonight we found them.

It was was totally worth it! These aren't your normal little profiteroles. These are huge Japanese style flavoured cream or custard filled pastries. Absolutely beautiful. I chose the chocolate filled one this time and the first bite brought me memories of going to the malt shop in KP mall with my folks when I was a kid. By the end the light chocolate cream tasted more like a frothy mousse.

Evan went with the salted caramel. Meh. I'm looking forward to trying the matcha next. I think Evan might go with the macadamia one.

Hopefully I'll write about something other than food soon.

Day 4: A Night at the Embassy (12 Days of Beauty)

One of the things Bonnie and I are very thankful for is our small group from our church out here. We meet in the group leaders' home which happens to be on the grounds of the British Embassy, as they are stationed here with the embassy.

The evening usually involves a certain amount of snacking (tea and scones, anyone?) as well as a Bible study, fellowship and a chance to pray for each other. Tonight was no different and we had a great time studying some seasonally appropriate prophecies about the coming of the Messiah.

Regardless of the setting, we are still a pretty international group and it is beautiful to be able to sit down with people from all different backgrounds, cultures and walks of life and just enjoy being the Body. You can go in and out of any nation or embassy you'd like, but when you're meeting together like this you know you're in the Kingdom.

Evan

Day 3: Homemade Cheese (12 Days of Beauty)

It's Monday. It's been busy and stressful. Didn't really feel very beautiful...

But...

Evan made ricotta for dinner.

He's discovered how easy it is to make homemade ricotta so we have it every once in a while. Today it was featured with "nachos". I made beans (from dry pintos to spiced mash!), guacamole, fresh cilantro tomatoes and we found some lovely corn tortilla chips. I am sometimes impressed with what we can do with local ingredients and limited cooking options to come up with comfort food. 

So, at least our dinner was beautiful! And delicious.

Day 2: The Light Shines in the Darkness (12 Days of Beauty)

It was not difficult to find beauty today; the challenge was finding the time to step back and appreciate it. Our church out here held its annual carol service tonight and we really enjoyed it. Before the final song everyone's candle was lit and we filed out of the church to stand in the courtyard to sing "Silent Night".

One of the readings from the service was (naturally) 1 John, and I am always captivated by the imagery: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." (Sometimes that is rendered "understand", rather than "overcome", depending on your translation.) Standing out in the night, holding our candles, that verse seemed so very true. At Christmas we hold out our lights, lit from a flame that has been passed on from generation to generation since the events of John 1.

This light has never been extinguished, never been overcome. Sometimes it is a lone candle in a sea of darkness and sometimes there are countless little flames joined together to fill the sky. Tonight we were able to join with a couple hundred fellow believers from all over the world to hold our candles together in the night. It was humbling, moving and above all, beautiful.

Evan

Day 1: International Pie Day (12 Days of Beauty)

This morning, Evan and I helped to make approximately 500 mincemeat pies. I've never even eaten a mincemeat pie before. Which is not even meat, by the way, it's a mix of dried fruit and nuts. But my mom did teach us how to make pie. Thanks mom!

That's me in the blue apron.

That was one of the really cool things; you didn't have to be a British Pro Baker to be a part of today's pie extravaganza, as we were led by a wonderful lady whose ministry is teaching baking to former sex workers to give them a chance at a new life. She is really great at this kind of thing. Very patient, giving clear instructions and praising our efforts despite our imperfections.

There were well over a dozen folks working in that hot little church kitchen and I counted at least 8 different countries of origin. It was wonderful to meet and work (and sweat) with so many interesting people. It was beautiful. We were the UN of baking! (Actually, one of the ladies works with the World Food Federation that is a part of the United Nations. No joke.)

Almost done for the day!

Oh, perhaps you are wondering why we were making 500 mincemeat pies! They are a Christmas tradition in the UK and our church is having a Christmas Carol service tomorrow night that includes the pies as well as another long-standing British Christmas tradition, mulled wine. 

Tune in again tomorrow to read more about the carol service! Probably.

~ Bonnie

12 Days of Beauty

This Christmas we are taking up a challenge and we would encourage you to do the same!

Christmas looks so different in varying parts of the world. In Manitoba Christmas always came with cold weather, short days and glistening white snow. In the Philippines Christmas started in September and, though distinctly lacking in snow, was celebrated with a fervor that would make even Hallmark executives blush.

Where we are now, though, Christmas feels very far away. Oh, we can step into any department store and see extravagant holiday displays, but among the palm trees, shrines, high-rises and smog it's hard to imagine either a quiet manger or a fat old man climbing down a chimney.

Whether we're overwhelmed by "Christmas cheer" or desperately looking for any signs of the season, we're a far cry from that mundane night of quiet shepherding that was interrupted by a terrifying messenger bringing "good news of great joy that will be for all the people".

And so, the challenge:

For 12 days, from December 12th - 23rd, Bonnie and I will be watching for signs of beauty, for echoes of the divine authorship of this universe we live in. Each day we will find one beautiful thing to blog about right here. By spending the days leading up to Christmas on a quest for beauty we hope to focus ourselves on the incredible good news that was announced that first Christmas.

Our challenge to you is to join us and do your own "12 Days of Beauty". You'll be done by Christmas Eve so you can enjoy everything that Christmas has to offer, but in the crazy, mad, hectic lead up, keep your eyes open for beauty - whether it's a kind act, a moving piece of art, something in nature, or anything at all - and then spend a few minutes each day to take note of something about that day's beauty.

We're blogging ours, but you could scrawl it on a post-it note, put it in your Facebook status, tweet it (hey, you can write 140 characters each day, right?) or even just spend a few quiet minutes contemplating it. Our hope is that as we approach Christmas together our hearts and eyes would be tuned to really experience the beauty of what that angel announced so many years ago: the incredible, unimaginably good news of God entering into our world.

Evan

Worship and Mission

“Missions exists because worship doesn’t” is an oft-repeated quote from John Piper (and right now my Calvinist friends are both excited and apprehensive that I have quoted Piper). With apologies to those friends, I must say that this quote has perplexed and confused me. In fairness, I think the fault does not truly lie at Dr. Piper’s feet.

“Missions” and “worship” are both terms that come to us heavy with meaning; 140 characters or less will never be enough to clearly say what we mean by them. So let me craft my own soundbite: “Mission is not only worship; it is the ultimate act of worship.” 63 characters! Marvel at the strength of my Twitter-Fu. Alas, my would-be viral tweet suffers from the same affliction as Dr. Piper’s. These words simply cannot convey adequate meaning in such a short soundbite. When we speak of “worship” the image that most comes to mind is the “Praise and Worship” portion of a Christian gathering. We have come to conflate the two ideas almost entirely: praise = worship. This is not so much untrue as it is incomplete; our English word “worship” does triple-duty as the translation for three different Greek words. The “worship” part of “Praise and Worship” represents one of those - an absolutely necessary piece - but without any consideration of the other two. Having done some digging to pull some context for Dr. Piper’s quote I found that, while it did not explicitly affirm this limited definition of “worship”, it also did nothing to point the reader toward a more comprehensive understanding of the term. I’m fairly certain that Dr. Piper does, in fact, have a much larger theology behind his use of this term; I merely point out that it is not unpacked within the soundbite or the larger context from which it was pulled. Obviously, I’m not qualified to speak in depth about Greek translations, for that I refer you to Dr. Alan Kreider’s excellent book, “Worship and Mission after Christendom”. I have only very recently cracked the spine on that volume myself but even a few pages in it does a better job of exploring those ideas than I could in a thousand blog posts (which I doubt even our most loyal readers would be willing to slog through). Thankfully, I can sum up my position with one passage of Scripture: Isaiah 58. It’s a familiar passage; Jesus himself quoted from it (along with Isaiah 61) when proclaiming his mission in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4). Essentially God says to Israel through the prophet, “You go through all the right motions and say all the right things but that is not what I am asking from you, nor does it please me. I want you to worship me by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and freeing the oppressed. You worship me by joining in my mission.” The apostle Paul says as much when he asks us in Romans 12 to offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” as our act of worship. Throughout the Scriptures we see a God who loves mercy, who hates injustice and who is on the side of the oppressed. What truer expression of worship could there be than to live as reflections of Him and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we can know what kind of people He asks us to be? In the intervening years this aspect of worship has become more and more the realm of “extraordinary” people of faith. We marvel at the love of Mother Teresa and we thrill ourselves with stories of great daring by our heroes in the faith, but instead of joining wholeheartedly in the mission of God we delegate our call - a call to radical lives of Christlike sacrifice - to a subcategory we call “missions”. In doing so, I fear we have lost much of what it means to worship with our whole selves - and, to be clear, being a "missionary" doesn't put me any further ahead in that regard. I propose that if we truly worshiped the way the early church did, there wouldn’t be anything left to call “missions” because it would be as natural to us as breathing. Huh. I guess “missions exists because worship doesn’t” after all. Evan

The Beautiful City: A Retrospective

We're back in Canada now, recovering from jet lag and lack of sleep. After 46 consecutive posts we're finally off the "blog-a-day" treadmill, but that doesn't mean we're going to stop writing! So for today, here are some thoughts and photos from the places we visited.

For much of my life I didn't really care for cities. Although my family travelled a great deal and I had the chance to see much of the world, I always preferred to be "closer to nature". I liked small towns like the ones I had grown up in.

So I was a bit surprised at one point on this last trip to hear myself say to those around me as we drove through Manila, "I love cities." I do? Since when? Along with everyone else in the car I was all ears to hear my explanation on this one. It went a little bit like this...

Natural beauty is incredible. Majestic mountains, rushing streams, trees reaching heavenward... how can concrete, glass and steel compete with that? They don't; a city's beauty is another sort of thing entirely.

A city cannot help but be a reflection of the people who inhabit it. Cities take aspects of culture, of values, of the best of us and the worst of us, and they magnify these things and carve them into stone and concrete. Whatever else a city might be, it is a product of the people who live in it. If there are beautiful spaces in that city, it is because someone took the time and effort to make them beautiful. If the city struggles, it reflects the very human struggles of those who inhabit it.

We had the opportunity to spend time in three cities on this trip: Davao, Manila and Bangkok. Each of these cities has many stories to tell; each has its own character, its own feel. A city is more than its buildings, its parks, its traffic; a city is the people who live there. A city is a celebration of the everyday; smells of food wafting from stalls and restaurants along the street, public transit that runs on time (or doesn't), vendors hawking their wares... a city is all of this and more. To find beauty in the city is to find beauty in God's greatest masterpiece, His most treasured creation, that fragile creature made in His image.

I guess I really do love cities. Huh. Who knew?

Evan

 

(Click "Read more" to view additional photos) 

Day Forty-Six: The Long, Long Way Home

The alarm went off at 2:30 AM today. We packed up the last few things, checked out and got in a taxi to the airport. By the time we get to bed again, we'll have been up for somewhere around 34 hours; thanks to the time changes, it will all be on May 4.

As I write this, we are somewhere over the Pacific, taking advantage of the in flight wifi. I need things like that on long trips like this. Airplane seats aren't comfortable for anyone, let alone tall people, and with my fractured tailbone still mending this is not going to be an easy day. 

But this is "Beauty in Mission", not Lamentations :), so where's the beauty?

For that, I direct you to the previous 45 posts and pose the question: was it worth it? 

For us, it doesn't even need a second thought. These 34 hours are nothing compared to the beauty we have observed and been invited to participate in. As always, the invitation is open to all - join us in beauty, join us in mission, join us in any way you want to, you are welcome!

Evan

Day Forty-Five: Communion

Today was our last full day in Asia, our flight home leaves at 7 AM tomorrow. We once again attended the morning service at Christ Church, a beautiful 110-yr-old Anglican church in the heart of Bangkok.

The congregation is very multi-cultural, representing many different countries and ethnicities. As we joined together, though, taking the bread and wine, we were reminded that in Christ we are one body. As Bonnie and I leave Asia (hoping to return soon!) it was meaningful to us that one of the last things we did in Bangkok was to take communion with our fellow believers here.

"The body of Christ, broken for you. The blood of Christ, shed for you." It is as true in Bangkok as it is in Winnipeg, and the believers here are no less our brothers and sisters than those at home. It was a beautiful lesson to leave with.

Evan

Day Forty-Four: Complimentary Upgrade

With Evan's birthday coming up, his mom helped us get a bit of a nicer hotel for our last weekend in Asia. We still only spent about as much as an average business hotel in North America but you get more 'bang for your buck' in Asia. Since we made the reservation, we have really been looking forward to this weekend.

As we were going up the lift, our concierge turned to us and said, "Oh, by the way, our hotel is fully booked so we've upgraded you to a Deluxe Suite."

Oh, my goodness... I'm not sure I've ever stayed in a place this nice! At least, never a room as posh as this one. Now I wish we had more time here! With a couple of days left in our trip, we enjoy the simple beauty of an unexpected upgrade.

Bedroom and fancy bathroom

Living room and work station

Pool with a glass wall overlooking the city

View from our room

Thanks Evan's mom! 

Now if only we could get upgraded on our flight...

~ Bonnie

Day Forty-Three: Serving

Today was the fourth day of meetings but the first day of Asia Shared Services Team meetings. (Not sure who let that acronym slide.) ASST is a group of service domain leaders who meet regularly (often over the Internet) to discuss what is happening across Asia in regards to their scope of service. This includes domains like IT, HR, Publishing, Training and mine, Funding Management. There are more but you get the idea. We also have Area Directors join us to give us their perspective on what is going on in their regions.

One of our group exercises today was to brainstorm what made our team unique. There seemed to be an overall feeling of servant-hood. We really are here to serve. The specifics got much more detailed but it is pretty cool to be connected with others who just want to do good work for those around them and to honour God in the process.

Interconnectedness... Global < - > Grassroots

Punny helper spelling bee

~ Bonnie

Day Forty-Two: An Education

Today has been fantastic. We have learned so much, with meetings and sessions from 8 AM until 10 PM. This was the final day of the broader conference, so many of the participants have now gone home and a few of us are left for some meetings tomorrow and Saturday.

We were introduced to the organization's incoming executive director today and we really enjoyed hearing his passion, his strong missiological background and his sense of humour all coming through. There are exciting times ahead!

Our hearts and heads are full, but our eyes won't stay open anymore so we're off to bed.

Evan

They gave us Play-Doh. I gave them Einstein.

Our new director shared an alternate translation of a well-known passage.

Understanding the stages of language use.

Day Forty-One: Local Leadership

Second day of InterMission Asia. Today's theme was "Developing Local Leaders". Here we were hearing (and seeing) more about how Indonesia is developing leaders across the nation. A big part of their mission is working with and through the local churches. In fact, they have national partnership agreement to support this.

 

I also find it interesting that there has been a protestant church in Indonesia since the 1600's. The Bible has been available in Bahasa Indonesian for about as long as our English King James Version has been around. However, this one country has more than 10% of the world's 7000+ languages within its boarders. Of the 700+ languages, about 400 are still in need of scripture. Thankfully there are hundreds of people (mostly locals) working toward this goal. More importantly, they are partnering with local churches so that there are communities involved to support on-going "scripture engagement". Translating in a void doesn't always end with the most sustainable results.

It is very encouraging to know that local leaders are being sought after and that training them up is a priority at all levels in the organization. It is beautiful to see God transforming lives and carrying on His mission around Asia.

~ Bonnie 

Day Forty: "Drawing Together"

Today was the first full day of our meetings in Bangkok. For one of our activities, we had to create drawings of our worst case and best case scenarios for Bible movements within our areas, and another drawing to show what we'd need to do to achieve our best case scenario.

It was amazing to hear all the different ideas and to see people drawing those out and sharing their visions for their respective areas. We heard from people from so many different places and got a peek into their hearts for the areas they are working in.

Our drawings themselves may have been amateurish and clumsy, but the combination of passion, experience and intellect that people poured into them truly made them beautiful.

Evan

Day Thirty-Nine: Globalisation

Today was the beginning of the end. We are now at Baan Phu Waan, just outside of Bangkok, where our final conference of the trip is taking place.

After dinner was a 'meet and greet' with whoever was here already. People from all over Asia (and the globe) are gathering to learn more about and from each other. It was great to reconnect with colleagues we haven't seen for months or even years. And yet, we have a kinship that comes from working towards the same goals.

We were relieved to hear that all of our colleagues in Nepal are accounted for and doing ok. Still, join with us in praying after the devastation. Disasters like this feel so much closer to home when you know people there and have it on your radar to visit them. We could have been there. We will go there. These are the realities of living away from the safety of the Canadian Shield.

We are both very much looking forward to this week of getting to know our fellow Kingdom builders better and hoping to learn to serve them well.

~ Bonnie

Day Thirty-Eight: Familiar in the Foreign

Today we went to IKEA! We had no idea Bangkok even had one until our friend in Manila told us about it. It's not central at all but there is a huge mall there so we went on an adventure.

I think it was about 13 BTS (sky train) stops away and then a 20 minute shuttle bus. It took us over an hour to get there but we really enjoyed watching the city go by. We realize that Bangkok is not for everyone but we've totally fallen in love with this city.

Much of it is completely foreign. Most of the signage is in Thai, culture is different, it's WAY bigger than Winnipeg or Davao, street food is still a little daunting... a lot of the food we get is so spicy it feels like your face will melt off... and yet... IKEA... Sometimes to manage the culture shock of a new place, having something familiar to experience can be the break one needs. 

Speaking of which, the Mega Banana* mall where the IKEA is also has an ice skating rink. We can even do some winter stuff! 

Don't get me wrong, we love the Thai culture and are not generally the type to want all of our Western comforts all the time, but it does help to ease into a new locale.

~ Bonnie

*It's actually "Mega Bangna" but I kept reading "Mega Banana" so that is what I call it.

Day Thirty-Seven: Beautiful Manila?

I have a confession to make: I have had a bit of a bad attitude about Manila. As much as we love the Philippines, and Davao in particular, I have kind of dreaded having to go to Manila. The past few days, though, have really softened my heart towards this city.

We've been staying with one of my colleagues and his family (fellow Canadians!) at their home here in Manila for the past few days. They've shown us a side of Manila that we haven't really seen before. These people really love Manila and they have opened our eyes to beauty here that we would not have known about.

As we move today from Manila back to Bangkok, I am grateful for the opportunity to say goodbye to Manila with much more affection than I have had for this place in the past.

Evan

Day Thirty-Six: High School Theatre

The very first time we were in Manila, we were invited to a play at Faith Academy. Again, we happen to be in town when they are putting on a musical. We've now seen "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "Into the Woods" at this missions high school.

Besides bringing back fond memories of my own high school's productions, it is really beautiful to see these kids getting the opportunity to be involved in high quality events. Being an "MK" (missionary kid) in Manila sure has its perks!

~ Bonnie

Day Thirty-Five: Presence

Today we had meetings in Manila. I had a very excellent day.

The drive in to Ortigas Centre

Much like my time with Beth (see Monday's post) the meeting I had this morning with my team member Jean, was very encouraging. Besides doing stellar work in my department, she's been getting involved in the spiritual lives of those around her. She's part of a weekly in-depth Bible study at the office as well as doing additional mentoring with some of the ladies. It is so awesome to hear that my group is really getting involved in their communities. Above and beyond!

Unfortunately, Jean will be retiring next year and finding a replacement to fill her stunning shoes has been weighing on my mind. Done! It's not official but I think we have found the ideal candidate. Now we just have to go through all the appropriate channels and work out a time line. I did not expect issue to resolve so quickly.

My office space for the day

Since my "promotion" I've been struggling with my role in leadership. It has been getting better and today I got to meet with a leadership coach in our organization. She is a lovely lady and is willing to work with me through this learning process. This was another inspiring meeting.

Sometimes people see the travel budget that the organization uses and they think it excessive. If you've never worked in a global setting where team mates, supervisors and other colleagues are spread around the world, then it is really hard to understand the incredible value of face to face meetings. I didn't use to. Now I do. In Asia especially where relationships are far more important than tasks. To get work done efficiently and even correctly, one must know whom one is working with. Being present is vital. Maybe we should rename the "travel" budget line to "relationship building".

~ Bonnie

Some Bibles

Day Thirty-Four: Industrious

When we were talking language lessons in Cebuano early in our time in the Philippines, one of our first vocabulary words was "kugihan". This means industrious. It seemed a strange word to learn at the time but we soon saw how cultural it is. People here deal with a lot and don't always get the same opportunities we would in Canada. Still, they manage to find ways to survive. Like selling peanuts in traffic.

~Bonnie