Thursday Tidings

Happy Thursday!  We have been staying busy teaching and spending time at the children's home.  We also spent some time this week learning a song in Burmese that we have to sing for teacher appreciation day tomorrow. 🙈

The kids loved all the clothes that we brought with us. They had so much fun deciding who should get what and were very sweet to make sure everyone had something. 

Sarah enjoyed her first motorcycle ride this week!  

The kids have been walking us home every night. The first day, a few came with us but by tonight, more than half of the kids came along. 

Week In Review

We have had a busy couple of weeks since arriving in Myanmar.  Some of our favorite cultural experiences from this past week were: riding around town in a taxi, eating lunch at an authentic Burmese restaurant, and going to a Mizo church service.

We are halfway through our second week of teaching English, piano and violin.  The enthusiasm and commitment the students have to learning English and music is very encouraging.  

The biggest highlight from this week was visiting the children's home up the street. The kids are so sweet and we enjoyed getting to know them.  

  Both Sarah and I were sad last night when we realized we will be leaving here in just over a week.  We have both been learning and growing so much just from these past few weeks and are excited about all we still have to learn in the coming week. 

The Battle of the Ants

Over the past week, we have had some ants around... In the kitchen, in the living room and yesterday, randomly crawling all over a suitcase that was apparently in their way. What's wrong with a few ants, right?  It's a guarantee given the climate that we are in. However, last night things changed!  

Sarah and I brought a few items from the states with us as thank you gifts. Part of the gifts were some cookies from Trader Joe'swhich we safely stored in a bag in the cupboard when we arrived.

Last night I went to get something out of the cupboard, when I noticed a few ants on the shelf. "I'll just get rid of these little ants", I smugly thought to myself. As I removed the bag of cookies from the shelf I realized that there were several more ants under and on the bag. Upon closer inspection, I also realized that several of the ants had little pieces of cookies and were proudly carting them back to their ant castle. At this point I became quite upset, those little guys had completely ruined any chances of us giving away the cookies. They were not only on the outside of the bag but had worked their way through the closed bag, the box, and inside packaging to get at the cookies. 

I looked around wondering how on earth I would get rid of all these ants when I noticed something that I had completely missed last week. There, on the desk, was a beautiful, full bottle of ant killer spray.  Let me tell you, I went to town!  I sprayed the cupboard, I sprayed the windows, I sprayed the kitchen. Basically anywhere I had seen an ant in the past week I sprayed that ant spray. 

As I went to bed last night I thought about how we've lived for a week with those ants being part of our lives when all along we could have gotten rid of the problem by simply using the weapon that was in front of us the whole time. That led me to think of how often we do that in our christian lives. When situations or obstacles come up, we become discouraged or angry and try to solve the problems ourselves, when in reality, all we need to do is use the weapon that God has already provided for us. 

"For the weapons of our warfare are... mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."

Hopefully you don't have any ants, figuratively or literally, that need getting rid of today but if and when you do, don't forget to use the correct weapons!  

P. S. I highly recommend whatever this brand is. 👆🏽

Arrival

Sarah and I arrived safely in Myanmar this past Thursday; we were thrilled that all our luggage made it safely as well!  We were able to relax and spend a few days adjusting to the time zone. 

Today we started English, piano and violin classes.  We were also able to visit the children's home this evening. We are excited to spend time there getting to know the kids and helping out as much as possible.  

The excitement is real! 

Travel Daze

It has been a busy few days but we have enjoyed making sure everything was set for our trip. We made it to Chicago safely and are eagerly awaiting the next leg of our journey. 

Packing  up all the supplies for the orphanage! 

Ready to go!  

Sarah's first flight!  She loved it!  

Next stop, Tokyo! Only 6,274 miles away. ☺️

Why Myanmar?

Earlier this year I started planning a trip to Honduras when a few months later, the entire plan fell through.  It was disappointing, but I figured God had something better planned. After a few more weeks, the Lord opened the opportunity for me to go to Myanmar.  Everything fell into place so quickly and it was clear that this was the next step for my life.  I was even more delighted when things worked out for Sarah to be able to come as well.

 We are so excited to go to Myanmar and can't wait to share all the details of our trip with you all!