Life is full of learning, changing, being stagnate, backsliding, repentance and growth. I have talked a couple of times about how I have a lot of fear and that the L0rd is walking me into freedom. At training camp he gave me a glimpse of what he was going to be doing, and then in Nepal he brought me through another breakthrough. That will probably be a point that I look back on in my life as a significant change, but G0d is at work all the time and I love seeing the little things he shows me.
I was on the beach a couple days ago, reading a book called A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken, and the L0rd showed me one of those tidbits. The book is a true story about how the author and his wife came to know the L0rd from being agnostics. He describes a lot about how he made the decision, but there came a point before he fully gave his life over to Chr!st that he noticed something. He could not go back. He could not go back to his old way of thinking. He had actually encountered the person J3sus Chr!st and he changes things.
Sitting on the beach, reading this, the L0rd spoke to me about how I wasn’t going back. I couldn’t go back to my old way of thinking – of living in fear. The change? I encountered J3sus in a new, profound, and powerful way. Power is not always big and loud (I think some of the most powerful things aren’t). I love my savior and I’m not going back. It is a change and it is a choice – everyday.
In other news, teaching English has been good. We’ve had our ups and downs with teaching, but we’ve continued to build relationships and make some friends. The past two days have been our off days and since it’s our last week (how is it that time already?!) we wanted to do some site seeing here in Nha Trang.
On Sunday we went to an amusement park called Vinpearl Land and it’s basically Vietnam’s version of Disneyland. What?! We went with a student that we have gotten to know and had a great time. There was a water park, roller coasters, arcade games, aquarium (which we didn’t have time to go to), live music, and just a fun atmosphere. Kaiti and I have been talking about Disneyland basically since we began the race so it was awesome being able to go to a version of it (and for a lot cheaper than Disneyland).
Then on Monday we went island hopping with our host, a couple other friends, and Amanda who is the squad leader with us this last week. A boat took us around to four islands near Nha Trang and we jumped off the boat, swam around in the water, got some sun, sang/danced to some karaoke on the boat, and played some volleyball.
I am really going to miss Nha Trang. I am going to miss our host, Bi, who is an angel and looks out for us, cares for us, and is so funny! I am going to miss the students that we have gotten to know. We still have a week, though, so I am thankful for that. Life is full and life is good. Even through some of the rough times we’ve had this month I can confidently say that life is good.
Also, we sang in a wedding on Sunday at church…..no big deal! Our first wedding on the race and they have us sing in it. I love life!
Until next time,
Malia
