the beach

Day 2

This is the beach. It is about a 2 minute bike ride from my house.

I know, rough.

Did I mention that it is virtually uninhabited between the hours of 8am and 4pm? The Vietnamese don't want to be tan so they typically only go to the beach early in the morning and in the evenings.












Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

one a day

Alright everyone...here's the latest challenge that I have posed to myself...

Post one picture on the blog everyday for 2 weeks straight. I figured it would be a good insight into my daily life here. The ins and outs of my daily life are sometimes lost in my haphazard (at best) posting schedule. So, I thought...that I'll give this challenge a go!

On your mark, get set, go!

Wish me luck!

Day 1: My desk and beautiful coworker. Here it is, the place where most of my emails/skype calles/blog updates/etc. originate from. Hmm...it looks a bit empty, I think I need to work on that...maybe add some pictures?














Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

5am

The sunrise this morning was incredible, truly incredible. Believe it or not, I see the sunrise about 6 mornings a week! With the schedule change of transitioning full time to AOG World Relief, I have had to fit in my daily bike rides early early in the morning. It was a difficult transition at first, but I have come to love the early morning ritual.

Today’s sunrise was even more spectacular than usual. One thing that I love about Vietnam is how big the sky is here. And, of course, I know…the sky isn’t really bigger here….but you can see a lot more of it at once. Not as much vertical competition in this city as in others that I have lived in ☺ All that to say, this morning I was left breathless as pinks, oranges, reds, light blue and black were painted literally-panoramically around me…with the full moon in one direction and the coming sun in the opposite.

As I rode in wonder, I found myself thanking God for such a beautiful start to the day.

The colors changed moment by moment. The sky went from multi-colored to solid, brilliant blue within a matter of minutes.

It got me thinking…it got me thinking how the sunrise is one of the best physical representations of time that we have.

The persistence of time- it goes on whether we like it or not. It goes on whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. It goes on whether we “see” it or not. It goes on.

The sunrise this morning made me thinking about how quickly things change. It made me think how things change whether choose for them to…or not. It made me think how things change even if we aren’t conscious of them. It made me think how sometimes there isn’t much power over change. It made me think how sometimes there isn’t much power over circumstance.

But.

We can choose our response.

In the glory of the sunrise this morning…it would be easy to be sad that it didn’t last longer. It would be easy to be sad when it was over (when the colors resolved to blue). It would be easy to miss it (with the aid of the ‘snooze’ option).

And. None of those options are necessarily bad or wrong.

But.

I have been trying to live differently. Like I have said many times before, I am trying to be fully present. I saw that option starkly offered before me this morning amidst the changing colors.

So, as a representation of a much larger life decision that I am trying to daily live in.

I just enjoyed.
I just enjoyed watching the colors.
I just enjoyed the encroaching heat of the day.
And at the end, I was grateful to have witnessed such a beautiful start to the morning.

Here and now.

Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

Change

There has been a lot of it lately.

Why don’t I just re-introduce myself. Its been awhile and a lot has changed…it will catch us all up to speed.

Hi, my name is Kait! I live in Danang Vietnam and work full-time for the NGO- AOG World Relief. It is an incredible organization of which I have the privilege of being a Project Manager in. I started working part time with AOGWR back in September, 2 weeks ago I just transitioned to full time!

In a nutshell, we do all sorts of community development; on a more detailed level we have a child sponsorship of about 1,200 kids, we are involve in over 100 different villages-providing clean water filtration systems, micro-enterprise livestock projects, uniform/backpack distribution, etc. We do relief work. We have programs for both women and men- “Shine” and “Strengths” that impart value, purpose and worth into people’s lives. We host teams who come and volunteer. We provide for medical surgeries ranging from heart to cleft pallet repair.

One of our biggest, current projects is a coffee shop. We are working on opening up a coffee shop this year that will serve as vocational training for at-risk-youth. We desire to be a part of the efforts combating human trafficking. After some initial research, we feel like our part to play, in the here and now is prevention. Education is power. Education and vocational training both act as buffers against trafficking. We finished a new training room about a month ago and just weeks ago re-modeled our kitchen to better suit teaching. We are on our way…

I just moved into a new house with two of my roommates from the old house-Audrey and Robin. We live about a 5 minute walk from the beach!

Just last week I got back from a 10 day trip to Cambodia. It was a multi-purpose trip: firstly, I had to leave the county because my visa expired (I had to leave the country and come back in). Secondly, I attended the meetings of an anti-trafficking coalition that we are a part of. It was a wonderful trip. It was a rejuvenating and inspiring trip. I was able to see some really great projects that have been set in place to help rescued girls and women…talk about life-giving work.

The next couple months will be quite the adventure- in the mix…various friends and family that will come to visit, a trip to Singapore and a trip to Thailand.

Please check out the new AOGWR website- www.aogwr.org

Cheers to new beginnings ☺

Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

"But the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, 'Life! life! eternal life!'"

*warning-I think this post is a bit preachy...and if it is such, know that it is only directed at myself. Think of this as a glimpse into the types of conversations Kait has with herself :)

I have found myself a bit discouraged as of late...consequently...these two questions have come to my mind...

Do I live in want?

or

Do I live in faith?

I never have really thought of them as opposite standing questions...but in the past week I have come to see them as such. Recently I have been reading a lot from Paul...and it seems many times, from many different letters...his message is "you have everything you need-go live!". It is a an admonition that my dad often reminds me of "Kait, you are ok. You have everything you need."

"You have everything you need."

You see, if I claim the faith that I profess to be true, then I am saying that in accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ I have accepted the gift of eternal life. ETERNAL LIFE! Not temporary life in the here and now, not life on earth, not life for as long as I can imagine...eternal, never-ending, infinity...life.

Not only that (lest some say "eternal life sounds more like eternal hell") I believe that the life on this earth will pass and those that accept what Jesus did on the cross will carry over into heaven. Into life restored as it was initially created. Now, I won't claim to know what heaven will be like...but I do know that the Bible talks about it being better than anything we can imagine. Let me tell you, I can imagine some pretty incredible things...and so...it will be EVEN more so!

In light of Jesus' sacrifice and consequent gift that He offers everyone, in light of my acceptance of that gift and expectancy of life lived now and forever...I, in a sense, am living in a game whose final score is already known. I am living in a story that will for sure end in "happily ever after". In light of all that...I have everything I need.

Sure, life might not be fun at times. It might be hard, be painful, be confusing, etc. but I know the final score. I know the end result. There is no wondering if the current pain will win, if the confusion will win, if the hurt will win...because I know, at some point it will pass!

I am sorry, I know this all sounds preachy...but I have just really been challenged to think about the way that I am living. I think I so often live as though the final result is still up in the air. I have found myself living in want-allowing the bumps of life to make me think that I DON'T have everything I need. But. That. Is. A. Lie. I have everything I need.

Sure, life does hurt and its ok to hurt. Sure, life is hard and its totally ok to acknowledge that its hard. But there is hope...there is always hope because ultimately, I have everything I need.

These excerpts from Pilgrim's Progress really struck me this week:

- In light of other influences trying to convince Pilgrim that he was in want...
"But the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, 'Life! life! eternal life!'"

- A conversation that Pilgrim has with one of his companions while in the dungeon of Doubting Castle (after having been captured by Giant Despair)...

"Pilgrim: Brother, what shall we do? The life we now live is miserable. For my part I know not whether it is best to live, or to die.

Hopeful: My brother, remember how valiant thou has been heretofore? Apollyan could not crush thee, nor could all that though didst hear, or see, or feel, in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. What hardship, terror and amazement hast thou already gone through...remember how thou playedst the man at Vanity Fair, and was neither afraid of the chain, nor cage, nor yet of bloody death?...

Now a little before it was day, good Christian (Pilgrim), as one half amazed, broke out in this passionate speech: What a fool am I, to live in a stinking dungeon when I may as well walk with liberty. I have a key in my bosom called Promise, that will open any lock in Doubting Castle."

And so...I am choosing to live in faith.
I have everything I need.

Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

Piglets

* This is another article that I wrote for AOG World Relief*

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘piglet’? Maybe you think…cute or dirty or ‘oink” or smelly or funny or bacon. Surely, many different images, ideas and thoughts come to mind. Let me ask you this though…do you ever think ‘life changing’?

Under our comprehensive child sponsorship program there is a livestock component. This aspect of the program gives one female piglet to the family of each child being sponsored. The piglet comes with the responsibility of raising and breeding as well as eventually paying forward two healthy pigs to a neighbor (the same responsibility of paying it forward is expected then from the neighbors). Through the breeding of the piglet, families are able to generate an income. It’s the age-old story of giving a man a fishing rod rather than giving him food for a day. The livestock program is an empowering program that enables a family to generate income for themselves as well as help their surrounding neighbors.

About 50 pigs were handed out in the Dai Hung village a little over a month ago. Though each pig is precious and each pig is life changing…there were two in particular that we wanted to check up on when we re-visited the village last week.

A church in Australia raised the funds to hand out this particular lot of pigs…and when the word ‘church’ is used it isn’t just in reference to the adults. Two of the pigs handed out last month were funded by the kids of this church in Australia. Those two pigs were the ones that we wanted to check up on!

The first pig, affectionately named “Be Be” was given to a family with 6 kids. When we saw it last week, it was doing quite well having gained 5 kilos in 1 month! It happily grunted and sat in a pen as we came and observed. We weren’t the only ones to come and observe though-shortly after our arrival about 15 family and neighbors came and watched! Imagine, about 20 people in a small home all because of a pig! When the mother of the home was asked, “What will you are able to do now that you have a pig?” She responded saying that she will be able to help her family but also stated how excited she was that this pig would allow her to help someone else.

We found the second pig doing just as well, bigger in fact than the first one! The mother of this household has three children and was also left with her brother’s two children. Though life is difficult, hope and resiliency remain etched on her face. She spoke of looking forward to the pig growing bigger and eventually changing her family’s economic state.

“Piglet”- cute or life changing? You tell me. Not to say that a piglet can’t be both, only to point out the power behind such a small animal. It has the potential to generate income, to empower a family and to weave a community together in a web of mutual help- all of that from a pig.

breathing

The ability to breath is an incredible thing. Truly. Yet, when was the last time you stopped to think about it? Isn’t it amazing that something so central to life…something so central to every second of our existence can remain so far from our thoughts?

I have found a new appreciation for breathing-sounds funny, right? My attention and conscious thought was drawn to the act of breathing all last week…consequently I am more grateful and aware of it.

Monday of last week started like any other day but about half way through I noticed a pressure on my chest. It felt as though someone was sitting on me and my body responded in spasms of pain if I dared breathe too deeply. I remember thinking that it was a very odd thing but tried not to spend too much time on the issue. The pain and pressure persisted on and off throughout the week. I had been hoping that it was just a weird fluke thing and that it would take care of itself.

Thursday evening came around and I was scheduled to start a brand new class. Not a new course, mind you, a new class- 16 brand new to English 3-5 year olds. With 15 minutes left to go, I turned to my TA and told her that I could not finish as my breathing had gotten to the point of short gasps accompanied by tremendous pain.

I called a friend who picked me up and took me to the hospital. While there they did an x-ray and EKG, both of which yielded nothing. I returned home very discouraged and in a lot of pain. Three of my housemates were sitting around the kitchen table and quickly sat me down to be prayed over. During the prayer time, I experienced significant release in my chest and was able to breathe much more deeply than I had in hours.

We prayed for about an hour and then went to bed. That night was rough. I hardly slept and any little movement sent my back, chest and sides into spasms. Two of my housemates came into my room early, sat with me and prayed. Within about an hour’s time, there were 10 people in my room. Ten beautiful people who had come to pray healing over me. After we prayed for a bit someone said that they felt the need to worship so what did we do? We went and grabbed the keyboard from Audrey’s room and had a worship service right there and then in my room 

Essentially, I think the chest pains were a panic attack like I have never experienced before. Through the prayers and petitions of my beautiful brothers and sisters, those both physically present and present in spirit, I was freed. I went from being bed-ridden, hardly able to move…to within a matter of hours, showering and going out for lunch.

Isn’t that what the church is all about?
People gathering together to call on the power and authority of the Lord.
People living life alongside one another.
People being healed.
People being freed.
More of the Kingdom of Heaven being brought to earth.

So…breathing. I am a fan.

And this Easter I awoke with a new gratitude for resurrection. Last week felt like a slow death, but the body of believers that surrounded me embodied Jesus. They called me out of death and into new life.

He has risen.
He has risen INDEED.

Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait