Just in case...

you are wondering why I'm not resuming regular blogging or if I blogged at all, these are just quick notes.

For one, if you are a regular reader, you may already know that our laptop went bananas. It happened again last week, when a hands me down laptop's crashed again. These laptops are five years old.
Another reason, we recently moved to a new house. Together with Narlin and the kids, we are veyr busy doing a lot of repair works and clearing up.

Also, our Telephone/DSL was disconnected. We failed to pay for our phone bills. The need to pay for our visa expenses urgently came last week. Obviously, this is our priority right now. Needless to say, we can't stay here without it.

Our support money at this point is very limited. And huge expenses like homeschooling and visa drain our financial resources. Consequently, we may not be able to pay our other bills unless money comes.

Being busy and no internet connection means limited posting. But after these glitches are over, I'll be back!

By the way, today is Narlin's birthday.

Of cyclones and typhoons

I received two emails lately and I will share them with you. First is an email from a fellow worker whom I had the privilege of meeting here in Mae Sai last year. Here is part of his email.

Greetings from Bangkok, I fly back to Yangon early tomorrow morning for the second time in week. Please pray for me and numerous workers who are feeling a little bit tired from all this. I hope to rent a cell phone when I arrive. It's only $3000 to purchase a sim card there. I know you are thinking...wow, what a deal!! The 86 Nissam Salone [sic] that I rented last year was priced at $18,000. Insanity?! That's life under a military government whose Generals have absolute control over Myanmar's 52 million.

Our friend, home village was destroyed but PTL they are all okay. She was just there two weeks before the Cyclone struck sharing the gospel of Jesus to her friends in the Buddhist monastery. She told us of our there were many crocodile farms down there and now all the crocs are free. Our friend plans to wrestle the crocs to protect his daughter and niece. He's 73 now and still is in good shape!

Even though there is incredibly terrific news coming out of Myanmar in the past few months, it is horrifying to hear that 90% of the 200k that have died were children and elderly. They couldn't swim and the tidal surge was 12 ft high along the coast.

Here is another email I received from my sister who is living in the northern the Philippines.

It was a rainy Saturday morning of May 17. Mar and I, along with a couple we are trying to help workout their marriage, were traveling to Dagupan--I would go to my masteral class and the three to Baguio for the counseling. After sending the couple to the counselor and showing them their housing, Mar immediately returned to Dagupan and texted me in my class that we had to go home because the weather was getting worse. I excused myself from the class at 4 pm and rushed to the terminal where he was waiting. As soon as I arrived, the passenger van went.

And then, happened one of the most terrifying experiences in our lives. We were caught in the middle of a strong storm. Roofs were flying all over, huts and small houses were being carried by the wind, trees were uprooted and electrical posts fell across the street and tricycles blown to the field. I thought, the van we were in will be blown to the cliff. Mar and I were praying. The wind was so low and strong with heavy rains. Then I sang, "I will soar with you above the storm. Father you are king over the floods and I will be still and know you are God."

The usual travel of 4 hours has become 12 long hours of agony in fear. We were stranded at the town before Alaminos. At 2 in the morning, when the rain stopped, we decided to start walking home. I had goose bumps as I saw all the destruction. We had to jump over and crawl under the trees and grope in the dark. But God is so good. Pastor Jay brought his motorcycle and meet us along the way. 3 big persons riding on a small motorcycle. At 5 in the morning, we reached home.

The next morning, we saw the church's school without roof. The library was empty as the young people tried to save some of the books from the rain. The office was wet all over.

It is another experience that calls us to trust in the Lord. In less than 3 weeks the school is about to open. The authorities said it will take about 10 days before the electricity will resume. We need your prayer.

Long silence

I know it has been a while since my last post here. However, many things have been happening to our family and us lately.

Nanay Linda (Narlin’s mom) came about a month ago. It has been a joyous day for us especially to our children. It has been more than two years the last time they saw their Lola (grandmother). We are now enjoying good Filipino foods that taste right. Thai food is great but after a while, you starting to miss the dishes you use to eat. Nanay Linda also bought for us a satellite disk. She was bored watching TV shows that she could not understand. Now we can watch programs from back home also with HBO, ESPN, CNN, among others. I just do not know if it is good or bad in the end. You see, before the satellite, we do not watch TV at all.

We had a one-week English Camp. 32 young people participated from Burma and from here in Thailand. However, a rumor that the Myanmar government would close the border on May 9 because of the plebiscite we ended the camp abruptly on Friday afternoon. The government deliberately sowed confusion and planted fear to the Burmese people living in Mae Sai so that they all should go back to vote in the plebiscite. They eventually did not close the border.

Most of our waking hours are spent in repairing, painting and cleaning the house we are moving to next month. Narlin and I together with our kids and friend have been doing the work of a carpenter, painter, electrician and janitor. The house is in such a bad shape that we have to work in it full time or we might risk moving to the house that is unsafe to live in. Now, this is the reason that my time online has been very limited.

Moreover, we have been affected indirectly with the Cyclone that occurred in Burma. No, we experienced neither physical discomfort or weather disturbance but the emotional and spiritual anguish we feel for the people of Myanmar have been very intense. Some of our friends whom we have been working just few months ago are in Yangon. They went home to take care of some personal concerns. The cyclone caught up with them and they could not come back here sooner. Our Pastor whose family is in Yangon also went there for a relief mission. Many of us desire to go there to help in anyway but were not allowed by the government. Please continue to pray for the Myanmar people.

We are also hearing about the strong typhoon that passed over the northern part of the Philippines. Narlin’s family are directly affected so are mine. Although fewer lives are lost compared to Myanmar, the devastation is almost the same. Houses are destroyed. Properties are lost. Normal lives are disrupted. Love ones are lost.

Regular posting will resume soon.

Songkran festival and others

Songkran is finally over. Mae Sai celebrated the water festival longer than Bangkok or Chiang Mai. It was an ingenious way to beat the oppressive summer heat. It was a lot of fun indeed. My family really enjoyed this Thai New Year celebration every year. However, Songkran is not only about having fun. Although I guess, most of the younger generations think that this is what it all about. Nonetheless, the sense of community is stronger during the festival. The religious significance had been obscured.

Songkran Festival is the traditional Thai New Year. This is the time for Thais to pay homage to Buddha images, clean their houses, and sprinkle water on their elders in a show of respect. Anyone who ventures out on the streets is likely to get a thorough dousing of water, all in good fun, but also quite welcome at the peak of the hot season.

And the others:

It has been tough to be left alone to take care of four children, one dog. In addition, I have to look after three houses and lately a duplex.

A team from Chiang Mai consists of four people (Indonesian, Korean and Danish couple) arrived last Monday. They are in Thailand for three-month training with Vineyard. They went to Burma for ministry exposure. Moreover, they decided to help us in improving the children’s home. They had been cleaning and painting the house. I supervised them with the project. And since they are leaving tomorrow, I will continue the job tomorrow with my children. It will be fun.

Furthermore, our Pastor asked me (on a short notice) to teach in our summer Bible camp for two days for three hours. Because of the Songkran Festival, most of our members found themselves with nothing to do for the more than a week. Thus our Pastor decided to go on with the summer Bible camp for church members. This camp is a tradition that we started last year and I hope it will continue.

I find it strange that some people enjoy teaching or talking for long hours. I find long talk exhausting. One hour of teaching is good enough for me. I am very tired and my throat is painful. I am glad that it is over and I am going to have a break tomorrow (at least from talking).

My younger sister is coming this Saturday with two short-term missionaries. She is the coordinator for the Asia Vision Short Term Mission in the Philippines. And we are part of the ministry that will host missionaries every year. They will work with us for a month in the nursery and will help us teach English in the community.

Narlin is coming back soon on April 25. It is just a few days of waiting but it seems forever. Life is doubly difficult when your other half is missing.

Theological Word of the Day: Monophysitism

Reclaiming the Mind Ministries has started a blog called Theological Word of the Day. And for me whose understanding of big theological words is (still) very limited, I find this very helpful. I appreciate the effort people put in this project. I put the widget on the sidebar, however, for my own benefit I am reposting the words here as well.

Monophysitism
noun (Greek mono-, one- + Greek phusis, nature)
The heretical belief that the two natures of Christ came together in the incarnation to make one new nature. Condemned in 451 at the council of Chalcedon. Chalcedon held that the two nature of Christ, human and divine, remain completely in tact in one person.

Temperature theology

Summer heat come in full force this year. The weather is oppressive and the humidity is punishing. And those are understatements.

To beat the hot season, the people here in Mae Sai begin the water festival earlier. Children and young people are starting to pour cold water towards the people passing by. And in spite of inconvenience of getting wet in your best clothes, I guess it is a good way to beat the oppressive heat.

Anyway around the blogosphere, many discussions are going on about the greatness and influence of modern theologians from different traditions. However, I think theologians are great only to those who find their writings meaningful and that is to those who share their basic presuppositions. For Asian Christians, western theology is extremely theoretical —lot of speculations but no spiritual implications. I cannot blame them though; they write theology primarily for the analytical mindset of the West.

Thus relating temperature with theology, Klaus Klostermaeir says,

Theology at 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade seems after all, different from theology at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Theology accompanied by tough chapattis and smoky tea seems different from theology with roast chicken and a glass of wine. Now, what is different, theos or theologian? The theologian at 70 degrees Fahrenheit is in a good position presumes God to be happy and contended, well-fed and rested, without needs of any kind. The theologian at 120 degrees Fahrenheit tries to imagine a God who is hungry and thirsty, who suffers and is sad, who sheds perspiration and knows despair.

Klaus Klostermaier, Hindu and Christian in Vrindahan (London: SCM, 1970), p. 40

Cool change

If you are a regular reader, perhaps you notice the change in the design of this blog. My son helped me in changing it (and I am impressed). The content has been changing a lot as well. My intent, at first, was to blog primarily about my personal theological reflections related to mission works. But as I find myself most of the time away from the computer, I thought I could not sustain it.

I actually created another blog about our family’s personal updates, stories and testimonies for our family and friends back home. However, the longer I do it the more I realized that it is pointless and cumbersome to run two blogs. I closed the other one a few months ago and decided to do the personal and family blogging also in here, which I have been doing a lot anyway lately.

It is also a joy to know that many of my “real” (as opposed to virtual) friends and co-workers are now finding their way here. A couple of my readers came to Thailand and I had the chance to meet them personally and in that case, virtual friends became real. I am praying that what you read here will be a blessing. I know we will have disagreements but I hope that it will be an opportunity to learn from one another, just leave your comments in the comment section and I will wrestle with the answers.