A Year to the Day

Dear World,

I'm sitting here quietly writing this a year to the day since the last time I've posted anything to this blog. I hadn't realized it'd been that long. The past year just flew by as it was packed full of teaching. This past year I taught one semester in Yuli Taiwan and the other semester in Dajia Taiwan. It's been a long yet short year.

The reason I'm posting something today isn't because it's been so long since the last time. It's because I actually have something to share. I have something that my little sister reminded me that I want to remind all my Christian brothers and sisters about. 

This past year I've been able to participate in many wonderful opportunities. Really, as I look over the past 3-4 years of my life, it's been pretty amazing some of the opportunities God brought along. At the same time I've had to give up or pass by other opportunities. There have been many things I've had to say "No" to that I wanted to say "Yes" to. There have been many times I'd throw a pity party because I missed out on things that I really didn't want to miss out on.

I'm home for summer break right now and I was talking to my sister. She mentioned that her two best friends were going on a trip together to Ireland - a place the three of them shared a deep love for. I asked if she would go too and she explained why she couldn't. I was very upset. My sister had been friends with both these two gals before the two gals had met each other. When the two gals eventually met I watched as the one gal slowly dominated the friendship, hogging my sister's other friend and often snubbing my sister (probably more through carelessness than maliciousness). Now the two of them were living out my sister's dream of seeing Ireland without her. I was very upset that she couldn't go and I told my sister so.

Her response was very humbling. She said, "Well, God has something better."

I thought back over the past year and remembered all the times that I'd griped an complained about the things I couldn't do. All the times I'd held pity parties because of things I'd missed out on. And then I thought about all the things I was able to do. I mean, I've been living on a tropical island playing games with kids for the past year and a half! I was living a really awesome life! I remember several times I'd be strolling down a street or biking through one of the back roads and watching the Taiwanese families gathered around a barbecue pit or a group of older ladies practicing dancing or some kids playing a game and feeling the wind and smelling the air and thinking "I get to live in a foreign country! How awesome is that?!"

I've had to sacrifice, but weren't all those sacrifices worth it? The intangible pay off was more than I could ever imagine. No, I can't do everything; but for every opportunity I have to say "No" to, it's because God has something better. And I just wanted to remind y'all of that.

Until next time,

SingingGem

Updates

Dear World,

Hello there! It's been awhile. I've been busy. For those that may or may not have been wondering where I've been, read on!

January:
I heard about an opening to teach English in Taiwan with an organization I'd been interested in for 3 years (but previously had been unable to work with as I had other commitments). I applied, but the position was filled by someone else.

February:
I was contacted by the organization and informed that another two positions had opened up and they needed teachers to fill them asap and was I still interested? I took the weekend to pray about it, and when I called back to say yes, I was told I'd be leaving in a week. Thankfully due to scheduling tickets, it turned out to be 10 days. Those 10 days were a whirlwind of packing and preparing for 5 months in Taiwan.

I fit all my stuff for 5 months into one checked luggage, a carry-on, and a backpack.

March-April:
I arrived in Taiwan 11-something at night on February 28th. Friday March 1st my teammate (whom I'd met in the airport 20 or so hours before) arrived in the town we'd be teaching in and met the principal and several other staff at the primary school we'd be teaching at. Saturday March 2nd we were taken on a tour of the other 5 schools we would be teaching at. Sunday March 3rd we spent the day with the PTA. Monday March 4th we started teaching. My teammate Janna taught 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades and I taught 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades in 6 different schools.

My teammate, Janna, and our host family, the Huangs.

May:
We both continued to teach, but halfway through the month my teammate became suddenly ill and unable to walk due to swelling in her knee and foot. When the local doctors were unable to help her, she was moved to Taipei to see some doctors there. While her condition started to improve, her recovery was (and still is) slow. After she left, I took over a few of her classes at the various schools.

The kids at our church in Taiwan singing for Mother's day.

June:
Due to the slowness of her recovery, it was decided that Janna would be returning to America early. I continued to teach. On the weekends I would visit other teaching teams working with the same organization. (The organization I work for has teams of teachers in 9 different locations in Taiwan - my location being the smallest with only 2 teachers, the largest location being a team of 8 teachers). June 28th was the last day of school.

Kelli from the Chiayi team getting some freshly juiced fruit juice at night market in Douliu.

July:
July 2nd at 9 am I boarded a plane to fly back to America. Due to the 13 hour time change, I arrived home July 2nd at 4:30 pm after 20-something hours of traveling (changing planes twice). I was able to surprise my brother, Grandfather, and several church friends due to my early arrival home. (Due to my decision to return for another year of teaching, I was told I did not need to stay for the July summer camps.)

Went with some friends to Cow Appreciation day at Chick-fil-A

Future plans:
I'll be in America until sometime end of August or early September. I will return to Taiwan to teach until June or July of next year. I will not be able to come home for any holidays. I am excited to see what God has in store for the coming year.

Hoping to write more in the coming year.
Blessings,
SingingGem

Its the End of the World!

Dear World,

I'm sorry, but it's the end of you. I tried to log onto Tumblr to post something funny one of my friends had said, and TUMBLR WAS OFFLINE!!! The entire website was just gone. POOF! Vanished. It is the end of the world. Now how am I supposed to make my friends laugh? I NEED my Tumblr!

Well, now that I've gotten that little rant out of my system, I think it's time for an update. I noticed today that I posted three times in November! I think that's actually a record for me - let me check... Yep! New record! The most times I've posted in a month was three times!

Wow... My life is kinda depressing. It revolves around some offline website where I post funny quotes, and I don't have more than three profound things to say in a month, and usually less. One of my friends today was also mentioning how boring his life is. He was tweeting about how he'd been looking through the past year on his Facebook timeline. Poor guy.

Wait a second... Why is he saying his life is boring? He did lots of adventurous stuff this year! He took a step of faith moving to a new place before God had provided a job for him. Then he got learn more how to lean on God to supply his needs. (Which, of course, God has faithfully done for him.) He got to make a lot of new friends and meet many new brothers and sisters in the Lord. He had an amazing year!

Me on the other hand, not so amazing. Oh wait... there was that month long trip that I took (yeah, long and exhausting, but still amazing). And then the training in film production was also pretty cool. And Thanksgiving? Nothing happened, but there were some really amazing times of reflection.

Alright, alright, so maybe it isn't so much that I have a boring life. Maybe it's not the end of the world if Tumblr goes offline for a day. Maybe it's just that I don't have the right perspective. Maybe it's just an opportunity. An opportunity to catch up on a good book. Or an opportunity to have a family game night. Or an opportunity to finish working on a Christmas project. Or an opportunity to call up a friend I haven't seen in ages. Or... Oh! Oh! I know! An opportunity to write a blog post! Oh wait... that's what I'm already doing.

Well, I hope this post has been entertaining. Mostly though, I hope it makes you remember to evaluate your perspective every once in awhile. Someone once told me that if I go into something with a bad attitude, of course it's going to be bad, but that if I choose to have a good attitude about it, it may just turn out to be pretty good. I think that was my dad, maybe mom, but in either case I have found it to be true. (I have also found that I need near constant reminding about it, so maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there like me who just needed this little reminder.)

Anyway, I hope you all have a merry Christmas! Enjoy the season, keep your family close, and remember the reason for all the warm fuzzies: because this is the time of year we celebrate our Savior's birth.

Merry Christmas,
SingingGem

Giving Thanks

Dear World,

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I should have posted something sooner in observation of the holiday, but didn't think about it. Maybe I'll be on top of things for Christmas. Maybe.

This year, like most years, I flipped through a list of things I was thankful for as I encountered them throughout the day. I woke up thankful for soft mattresses and warm blankets. I logged onto Facebook and was thankful for my friends and family (both those with, and those without Facebook). I took a picture and was thankful for my camera. I played with the dog and was thankful for her. I washed the dishes and was thankful for running water. I wished we'd used paper plates and was thankful for the beautiful pattern on the "new" ones we'd inherited from Granny. But this year I also felt sincerely grateful for bad hair days.

I love my hair and love when it does what I want it to. But sometimes it decides to be... "artistic" and try doing things it's own way. Thanksgiving day, I felt thankful for bad hair days. We are to give thanks in all thing right? So that includes the little irritating inconveniences too. Like bad hair days.

I had an analogy brewing earlier. About how I'm trying to shape my hair into something beautiful (like what God is trying to do with my life). And how when my hair resists I have to pin it back with more or stronger hair clips or use hair spray (in either case, it's less comfortable) and how when I resist God's direction He has to use more forceful means to get me to follow Him, etc... But I got distracted in the middle of my musings and that's as far as the analogy making got.

Grateful for the season,

SingingGem

 

I Can See Clearly Now!

Dear World,

My glasses broke today. One of the ear pieces snapped off. My first reaction was mild sorrow and slight irritation. I'm fine now though. Anyway, to share what happened:

I'm sitting at the table, looking blankly at my now broken glasses. Step one: call the ophthalmology office and learn what my options are. Step two: decide which option is the best. Step three: follow through on decision. I go to the phone to call the ophthalmologist and figure out what my options are. I spoke to a lady who informed me the optician would have to see the glasses to evaluate if the were repairable or not. So I decided to drive down to the office and talk with the optician. 

Because I'm nearsighted, I had to dig out my old glasses to drive down there. The optician mentioned one option would be to switch the lenses with my current prescription into the frames from my previous prescription, but she couldn't do it at this branch - I would have to drive out to the other office to get it done. This seemed to be the cheapest option. This took care of steps one and two. So after she got me a temporary ear piece for my regular prescription, I drove with my normal glasses down to the other office to get step three taken care of.

By this time I was starting to get a headache from switching between no glasses, to current prescription, to old prescription, to no glasses, to current prescription, to... you get the idea. Thankfully the main office lab was able to switch the lenses with minimal trouble. There was something technical about the shapes being different and having to heat the frames to shape them or something... but it all worked out.

I have to laugh no since it's almost like I got my own little object lesson from a conference I'd been to on Saturday. It was a conference for the young adult Christian homeschoolers in my state. The speaker shared about worldviews. About how important it is to see the world through the right worldview.

Well, right about now I'm getting writer's block. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's just that I don't know how to say it. So I'm just gonna cut to the chase: It hurts to see through the wrong prescription lens - whether it's glasses or your worldview. So make sure your vision is correct, both literal and metaphorical.
Anyway, there's a mini-analogy along with a personal update. Two birds with one stone - booyah!

Goodnight,
SingingGem

Voting Without Fear

Dear World,

Here in the United States, it's election year. Mom keeps saying this is a big election, I keep telling her that all of them are. But truth be told, I find myself becoming more and more anxious over each Presidential election. I know in my head that the anxiety is useless, but that doesn't really stop it from washing over me.

Today I watched the most recent Blimey Cow (aka Messy Mondays) video on YouTube. One of the things Jordan said really encouraged me:
“I guess I just don’t understand the Christians that get so fearful during election time. As if life hangs in the balance. It’s like they think the country is the only thing protecting them from persecution or death or something. If you need to pledge allegiance to a nation for your safety and security, your God isn’t big enough.” 
It was a good reminder that, ultimately, God is in control. Two things really jumped out at me from this quote:

1. "It’s like they think the country is the only thing protecting them from persecution or death or something."
Is it really such a bad thing if we do come under persecution? Don't get me wrong! I love the thought of a persecution free life. But at the same time, persecution is a gift. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven..." Matthew 5:10-12 [emphasis added]. We are commanded to rejoice in persecution.

2. "If you need to pledge allegiance to a nation for your safety and security, your God isn’t big enough." 
Why put your confidence in politics and politicians when God is the one who is really in control? Romans 13:1 talks about how it is God who allows those in leadership to rule, "...For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." It doesn't matter who is ruling the nation, because ultimately God is ruling the ruler. Proverbs 21:1 states that, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." 

Now please don't use this as an excuse to be lazy. It is still important to get involved in politics. Because we have been given the right to vote, we are held responsible to do our part in electing a God-honoring President. You know that Spiderman quote about the person who is given many gifts having lots of responsibility? Guess what, the Bible came up with that idea first, "...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required..." (Luke 12:48) If we are given the power of deciding who is President, then we are partly responsible for who is elected. 

So bottom line, what am I trying to say? Voting is a big deal. We are blessed to live in a country that allows us to dictate who dictates us. Go vote! But once you've voted, don't become fearful about the results. Once we have fulfilled our responsibilities, the rest is in God's hands. And He doesn't make mistakes.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding dwell in your hearts richly as you seek to follow and honor Him.

Voting tomorrow,
SingingGem

I'm Alive! (barely)

Dear World...
I just commented on a friend's blog telling her that she needed to post again since it's been way too long since she posted anything... and then I felt like a hypocrite so I decided to come over to my blog and post something.
First, I've been busy. Actually, that's an understatement. I've been out of town and have been in 5 different towns (two of them twice at different times) located in 4 different states in the past 3 weeks - and that's only counting the places I stayed overnight. I've had some whirlwind traveling this month.
Second, I've got some things on my mind that I'm mulling over right now. I hope to turn one or two of them into blog posts eventually. But other things are calling for my attention right now (namely, my sister... she wants help with something).
TTYL,
SingingGem