Starting from the left to right, then top to bottom. First Row. Second Row. Third Row.
* The first picture is Team Horizon, all nice and dirty after a day of fertilizing on the plantation
*This is my dearest puppy Samson. The Lord knows how much I love animals and has blessed me every month with an animal to call my own
*This is the shed we worked on for a large part of the month (in actuality the boys did most of the work…it was only a two man job). The shed that was there before was so flimsy the boys literally picked it up and tossed it to the side. Now it is sturdy and looks like this.
*This is the pond next to our house
*We set off this lantern as a team to christen our time together as a new team. TEAM HORIZON!
* A monkey hanging out on one of the palm oil trees outside our window
* One of several burn piles we made. See in Malaysia, instead of paying for a disposal man to come and pick up your trash, you just burn it in your own backyard
* This is one of the many bird houses around our house. They build these buildings so that birds come and make their nests inside and then they sell the nests for 100s of dollars. (you may be wondering what people do with the nests, well they eat them because they believe it makes their skin nice…that's one expensive meal).
*This is a view of the plantation from the back of a truck on our first day to work
*Our whole team up in the Gua Madu caves. If you didn't know, Malaysia is known for its limestones caves. Or at least that's what I say because they are literally everywhere you look!
*Getting some puppy lovin' from my main man Samson…one of our hosts dogs
*Aunty Kim, Uncle, and their son James looking out at the Cameron Tea Plantation
*Lynn and I about to enjoy Roti [closest resemblance to a crepe and we'd put either banana or coconut butter, also known as Kaya, inside] and Neslo [iced coffee with milo, very similar to ovaltine] at our favorite/ only Indian restaurant
*Mangostien. My favorite fruit in Asia. Looks like a white booger or a brain when you open it up…but tastes soooooo good!
*Our team leading worship at one of the 3 church services we attended each week. This night we were at Pastor Ezekiel and Aura's church.
*A close up view of the tea leaves at the Cameron Highlands tea plantation
*Team Horizon in front of the grand view of the plantation
*Our "living room," which also doubled as our team time area. It was such a blessing to have couches (the first time for me on the race) as well as a nice area to sit besides our bed. This month we were certainly blessed with SPACE!
This entire collage is from our trip to Singapore
*The view from Merlion Park. In the background you can see the famous Singapore Flyer
*Lynn and Ashley sporting the latest Chinese headwear…we discovered this in our venture through Chinatown
*Another snapshot of Singapore scenary. The famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel with a ship on top is to the left while the city skyland is to the right.
*The singles crew trying our luck at an ice cream vendor stand. It was ice cream wrapped in sweet bread…verdict: never get again.
*Josh taking comedic liberty at the statue of the famous Merlion
*Lynn and I poking our heads out from our beds on the sleeper train to Singapore. It was most similar to a sardine can; only enough room for one person
*Another cubby hole…our sleeping cubicle at our hostel. This trip was the most alone time/ sleeping seperation we've had the whole race…what a nice blessing
*Lynn, Josh, Ashley, and I enjoy our "yum-tastes-like-home" starbucks
*The entrance tower of the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore
This is a collage from our Christmas Eve Potluck Dinner. We hosted a big dinner at the church and invited people from the church as well as our hosts family and friends
*Ashley, Lynn and I wrapped in our 100 feet long paper chain
*A picture of the church after we had finished decorating it. We made it a winter wonderland; unlike anything they had ever seen before
*Our team singing all the Christmas carol classics: Dashing Through the Snow, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and Silent Night; as well as some other treasured "American folk" favorites such as: Home on the Range and Take Me Out to the Ball Game. I'm sure your Christmas was filled with a similar medley.
*Our official cooking station for the potluck dinner. We had one oven for 3 dishes that needed to be warmed
*It's not Christmas without a family photo. Here is our team with our hosts and one of our favorite workers, Guna
*We even got the blessing of having a Christmas tree this Christmas. Here is another view of the church, but from the vantage point of the pulpit
*Part of my team caught in the moment just living life and loving on one another as we waited 2 hours past our invitation time to start eating our Christmas Eve dinner…so hungry
*A picture of the spread for our yummy Christmas Eve dinner. Some of the more notable items include: my famous pineapple stuffing, of course, purple bbq chicken, chicken feet curry, and it-wouldn't-be-Asia-if-we didn't-have rice.
*Our team teaching the electric slide to our guests. We didn't have the original song so we made do with the close resemblance, Wagon Wheel.
This is a collage of Christmas day. We were asked to put on a performance, play games with the kids, and then pass out presents to everyone who came
*This first picture is actually from a couple days before the actual day of Christmas. We went to a small Malay Christian village to help encourage them in their faith (they had given up a lot to become practing Christians so it meant a lot for us to come and spend time with them). We were asked to sing Christmas carols (on the spot), play games, and serve lunch to the people. This picture is of the meal we helped pass out. And I have to say for the first time ever, I heard the hunter get thanked for helping provide the meal: and if you were wondering, wild boar was the special of the day.
*This is a picture of the Christmas stockings I made for my team. It's not Christmas if the stockings aren't hung with care
*An "in action" shot of our team reenacting the Nativity Story from Luke. Hannah and Timothy were Mary and Joseph. Josh and I were the shepards. Gene was the Angel Gabriel; and Lynn and Ashley were the host of angels.
*Here are some of the children who peformed on Christmas day. This particular group played guitar, piano, and sang! The group after them wowed us with their Gangnam Style performance. As you can tell, it was quite the show.
*Team Horizon on top of Prayer Mountain on Christmas Day!
*Hannah passing out Christmas presents to all the kids as they went back home for the rest of the day
*All the shoes that accumulated outside the church door during our Christmas program
*One of the kids playing underneath the Christmas tree among all the presents. It was a sweet reminder to me that it wasn't the presents that really mattered (because all these were, were boxes wrapped in paper but with nothing inside), it was just being around people who were willing to show their love
*Alex, our Christmas elf, getting the kids excited about Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas
Another collage of Christmas day. There was just so much fun I couldn't pack it into just one collage
*I finally found a santa hat to rock on Christmas day….although it soon became a game to see which kid could steal my hat first….so this is the only picture I managed to get with the hat still on
*Mary and Joseph really getting into character.
*One of the kids admiring the Christmas tree. We can forget how magnificent things can be, until we see how they look through a child's eyes
*Josh playing games with a bunch of the kids
*My Christmas Day Dinner! Unfortunately, it didn't taste as good as it may look. I actually didn't eat any of it but was still really thankful we went to that restaurant because everything was made from Bamboo (it looked so cool!)
*Lynn and Hannah with one of the singing groups.
*Alex, the organizer of the Christmas Day program, handing out balloons to the youngest children
*Ashley, Josh, and I excited to hand out the kids Christmas baggies. Unfortunately for them, they each had a bag of Durian chips inside (Durian is the King fruit of Malaysia but smells and tastes like butt to Americans)
*The boy I gave my heart to this Christmas. I never even learned his name, but it was love at first site. I mean look at that smile! What a cutie!
