commitment

travel is good. it opens ones eyes to truth displayed in different forms and gives an appreciation for new and old things both. it is non-committal - you can have a profound conversation or experience with someone you will never hear of again. you can pick up and leave when you get bored or uncomfortable. you can stay no longer than necessary in one place to remain unknown. there is a sense of freedom in this, and it is good in it's place.

flipside: this non-committal lifestyle makes our committal nature emerge to reveal our love of marriage - union based heartily on commitment, hardcore; our love of community - commitment to being a part of something larger than oneself and allowing that self to be known in one place, both consuming and producing; and a love of one God who remains good always, and committing to His goodness, period.

there is a sense of risk in this that surpasses any mountain trek, bungee jump, or romance fling. commitment, it turns out, is quite the adventure.

koh tao: singing praises

"Oh Lord, how many are your works! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your possessions. There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, animals both small and great... I will sing to the Lord for as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." Psalm 104:24-25, 33

It's hard for me to literally sing praise to God while 18 metres under aqua-glowing seas - but the innumerable creatures that inhabit these parts have no problem with it. Sapphire-jeweled sea urchins, perfectly-painted fish of mind blowing variety in saturated color, and creamy-purple coral were just a few members of the choir. Scuba diving has been the best apologetics course I've had.

After floating through canyons that above sea would produce a surge of fear/adrenaline, I slowly and weightlessly floated up towards the sun. Images of the Grand Canyon, powerful Yosemite waterfalls, and dozens of flowers we've stopped to smell in these past months come to my mind -- my mind was already overwhelmed with the abundance in just the state of California -- now this?! "Oh Lord, how varied are your works!!" privileged, we are, to experience God through so many of His works of absolute wonder.

laos, part deux

first, they loaded as many bags of rice as could be squeezed between and on top of the passengers' baggage, beneath the bus. then, they packed at least two-thousand brown eggs in open black crates (no doubt the collective product of luang probang's entire gaggle - or is it cackle?- of chickens) onto the top of the public bus. lastly, they managed to heave a 250cc honda dirtbike onto the roof, next to the eggs. the inside of the bus was comparatively empty. tracy and i each spread out onto two seats, riding comfortable the six-plus hours over the mountains and through the hills to vang vieng. our en-route entertainment was a loud rivalry of volume between the lao pop playing on the bus overhead speakers and the slightly different lao pop playing through the phone of a local teenager. i am convinced that she was selectively deaf to the first and considered her own music a contribution to the local mood. grace was sufficient.
vang vieng was a strange specimen. the exterior of the town was unsurprisingly laotian, with food markets, lush rice paddies, and children splashing happily in irrigation ditches. the interior of the town, on the other hand, ran next to an abandoned, overgrown airstrip laid and left by american forces during the secret war against the lao communist party in the sixties, and consisted of dozens of restaurants serving western food, each of which were (randomly) showing episodes of "friends" from every different season, no doubt in the hope that westerners would feel attracted to the familiar characters and theme song. they were right. in every "friends-featuring" restaurant 3 to 12 sunburned westerners sat eating pizza and self-treating their varying levels of homesickness and longing for familiarity.
tracy and i laughed and shook our heads at this spectacle; at the pathetic-ness of all these people travelling so far only to spend their time on what can be lazily enjoyed at home. then we stopped in, ordered some greasy fare, and watched an episode. it was delightful.
we made a valiant effort to volunteer at an organic farm on the outskirts of town. tracy helped to teach some local village children the wonders and ecstasies of microsoft word, we both helped to fill the troughs with greens for their milking goats, and to rope in customers to their poorly located food and drink stand "for a good cause". but in the end, the farm was a bit of a disappointment, in its almost complete lack of coordination and organization. the idea of it is good, despite the reality of it.
we biked the rutted roads connecting vang vieng to its small neighboring villages, swam in a small, brilliant blue lagoon until a monsoon swept in, and finally bid adieu to the city by floating down the brown waters of its arteriole(?) river, the namsong.
vientiane, the capital city, was our last, brief stop in the...the...mmm...laos is a hard country to describe with one or two adjectives. up and coming? maybe not. joyful and free? no. uncertainly independent? perhaps. though, this is hardly the way to characterize a country at which we've only just glanced. judgment is sometimes best in suspension. the place, by and large, felt a bit ominous to us.
we did, however, have a stellar italian dinner in the capital - ravioli, lasagna, and a long-craved-for cheese platter (there was nothing dark about this meal).
before we opened the door to leave laos, we visited the national museum, where we learned about the heinous, gruesome imperialism of everything western, and about the impeccable and virtuous heroism of every comrade in the history of the lao communist party. we sneaked out the fire escape of that place, and then crawled out of the country. thai visas renewed, we balled our way, again, through the night, back into the land of thai. it felt like a home-away-from-home coming. bangkok, chumphon, kno tao...ahh, kno tao.

oh yeah. our camera is, no more. we'll have to amp up the organic memory. God is still with us, we are certain.

Laos part 1

i think i use my watch as much for the DATE as for the TIME. in this case, it was about visa expiration and our trip into laos was due. packed like sardines in a 'minibus' we ventured out from our latest hometown of pai. 9pm - 4am on the windy roads brought us to the border along with several other confused travelers, "what is a good price?' "where do we get the boat?" what is UP with the exchange rate?" (8700 kip for $1). the plan for us (despite my hesitance) was the 2 day "slow boat" down the mekong river to luang probang. we were delighted to agree with our new formed motley group of travellers that we had gotten the best seats in the house - atop bags of rice in the front of the boat atop a platform where we could sprawl out, hang out, share stories and play games. we consisted of Nadine - australian seasoned vagabonder\Continent jumper and like-minded discoverer; nate - L.A. college funny-man, a novice traveler with great responses and easy laugh; jean baptiste (J.B.) - french policeman concentrating hard to keep up with our fast english but up for any adventure, a natural athlete; brad and mirium - aussie couple with fun and interesting travel stories including a week of bonding with elephants; and pablo - quick-witted argentinian with a way of saying things ('don't say my name, i want to forget who i am right now," he says after getting a bum-deal in the village of pak beng), on a journey to find airplane crash remnants in northern laos and vietnam. we bonded for a few days in luang probang, then scattered. different combos of us joined and rejoined throughout our 3 days there. together we experienced a magical turquoise waterfall, mobs of soliciting tuk-tuk drivers, good food (delicious "mekong weed"), pick up soccer with hard-playing lao kids, surreal bowling, and new friendship.

pai in the sky

we've been savoring a humble slice of pai for the past 4 or 5 days, launching from our modest, riverside bamboongalow into the surrounding mountains and villages, creating and discovering adventure. "pai is what chiang mai was ten years ago," is the refrain repeatedly sung by the growing chorus of tourists we meet. it feels pretty local here. we know a few of the neighborhood shopkeepers by name, and continue to accidentally make friends with others afoot. it's hard not to start feeling like old friends when we keep turning up in the same places as these other travellers, and keep sharing the same experiences with them. it only takes a few days in a place like this to start experiencing community. some friendships are destined, however brief.
unlike chiang mai, we can walk the streets of the whole city before breakfast, if we want to. we don't want to, though. we prefer motorbikes - for only $2.50 a day! we've buzzed giddily around to sink our heads into all of the local wonders: great, foggy waterfalls with slick, smooth rock slides that drain into deep pools; a sprawling canyon with trails winding in every direction, and with a dazzling sunset view; expansive, terraced, water-filled rice paddies with bright green strands beginning to emerge; deep, cathedral-like caves with dark rivers bubbling through them, thousands of swallows swirling at their mouths, and centuries-old coffins tucked eerily into dark corners. we could almost hear the distant sounds of dwarves singing and of their hammers ringing in the deep - "we must awake ere break of day to reach the pale, enchanted gold..." i'm pretty certain gollum tried to pinch my wallet, my precious wallet, while we were floating on our bamboo raft through the darkness. it was otherworldly. it was middle-earthly.

we're now preparing to pull up the shallow roots we have sunk down into pai, and travel through the night, like refugees, to the border of laos, where computing the exchange rate will require greater math skills than we've had to employ for some time. we are still growing.

new vision

we met someone who knew someone who believed strongly in the value of the good work being done by someone in a small village in northern thailand. each connection, we are certain, was ordained in another sphere. brother lek is the kind-hearted, english-speaking son of the someone last mentioned: pastor chet sirikiatkit, a joyfully hard-working servant of God, who shepherds a small church in baan khai with the tireless support of his kind wife. we travelled with lek and his fiance, jum, up to baan khai, where we were immersed in the grace of his parent's hospitality.
they quickly and affectionately adopted us as their own children, insisting that we call them ohpa and oha, their laho tribes' names for dad and mom. we were glad to do so, for even despite the language barrier, we felt very much at home with them. lek and jum were exceptional translators, to our benefit and delight.

oha spared no energy or expense in preparing superb laho and thai dishes for us, serving us their own home-grown black chicken, bamboo, sugar cane, rice, and a variety of herbs and spices, along with a host of delicious local specialties. the laho words we spoke most frequently all related to the preparation, consumption, enjoyment, and completion of meals - "meh ja. bv uh ja!" we spent a lot of time laughing, eating, talking, gesturing, and praying together. did i mention laughing? yeah...much laughing.
we were also introduced to the great work they are doing - the great burden they have - for the poor and orphaned children of the region. drugs, alcohol, HIV, and a variety of other things have broken families apart, leaving many children destitute and without hope. lek's parents are earnestly, generously sharing what little resources they have to begin to meet this need. they have taken a great and courageous stride of faith in starting this orphanage, and have a broad vision for it to be a self-sustaining entity at some point in the future.
they were very hesitant to share the needs of this place with us, not wanting to "put a burden on your shoulders," but tracy and i were overwhelmed with the appropriateness and goodness of this pursuit, and feel compelled and eager to come up under this burden with them; to share it with them. there are countless needs and opportunities for service and partnership in mission around the world, but we are particularly moved by the personal goals and sacrifices made by these servants, and feel strongly led to contribute our resources to their work. we are committed, in prayer and in material resource, to this partnership. we also joyfully invite all who feel similarly led to join us in this. ohpa and oha extend their generous welcome to you as well!
"dachimahe - you are welcome!"

more chiang mai

for the last week or so we've been getting ourselves acquainted with thai culture in chiang mai and around. one thing this means is local (street) food for which we've had to learn the phrase "what the heck do you call this?" deliciously questionable things wrapped in banana leaves and roasted for 10 baht - can't beat it! to quickly summarize what we've been up to:
-- walking, sampling, walking, sampling, walking... diarrhea medication.
-- bartering and laughing
-- trekking into n. thailand hill tribes, swimming in waterfalls along the way, sleeping in bamboo huts, and playing the dice game "farkle" with our thai tour guides, neung and singha, who absolutely LOVED it (thanks to grandma and grandpa R.!).
-- squatty potties and mastering the sprayer method.
--showering more in one day that we did in any given week during our travels in the U.S.
--clambering through a jungle on a steep muddy trail -- atop an elephant.
--late night talks with our brit and frenchman fellow travellers, tom and kevin.
-- zipping around on a moped on streets filled with whole families on motorbikes, and where stoplights and roadlines are optional.... on the superhighway... in a monsoon.

**this is where we thank the moms for their prayers.

--visiting cornerstone christian counseling center and gathering food for thought regarding mental health in missions. helping their on-site maintenance/security guard, thop, paint his living quarters, which was in great need.
--celebrating the mark of the beginning of the 28th year of ADAM we wish we could have had you all here to eat his favorite Mediterranean cuisine and mosey about the night bazaar.

for now, we are off to near chiang rai to help with an orphanage that is just getting off the ground. we think of so many of our friends and family here and are growing fonder as we are absent from you!