Spared

I am so thankful to be alive today! Last night I heard and saw a tornado pass over my house...

About 5:30 last night, the tornado sirens went off. I was home alone when my sister, the "weather woman" called to warn me, but we just laughed about it and shrugged it off.

A few minutes later I was not laughing anymore. I turned on the news just to check the warnings, and it said, "The tornado is headed right for Dexter, MI. Take cover immediately." I kept checking the windows looking worriedly at the quickly blackening sky. When I heard the faint sound of the tornado roar in the feild/lake in front of our house, I headed for cover.

We have a 2 story house, but no basement. The safest place in our house is a concrete enclosed creepy crawl space under our porch. I sad huddled in the corner there, constantly talking to my mom, dad and sister on the phone. My dad was on his way home from work and saw it coming down the road. My mom was still in town. I could hear the storm worsening, the violent wind swirling around. I'd forgotten in the panic of taking cover to close the windows in the house! I knew it would make a horrible mess! Later, my dad said that it was actually a good thing that the windows were open because if everything was closed up, the pressure could have blown out the windows.

From under the porch I could hear what I thought was things flying around the house. I heard sounds that sounded like the front door bursting open and dishes falling off the shelves. It turned out to only be the fierce 1-1 1/2 hail hitting the glass doors. Thankfully my car only came out with three small dents. Pretty unbelievable.

I was on the phone with my mom when the tornado passed over the house. I screamed, "Mom, it's coming! It's coming! IT'S HERE!!!" My poor mom couldn't do anything about it! She probably thought I was going to get blown away! Well, I thought I was too! I prayed, hard. That was the most scared I had ever been, listening to the horrifying "train" tornado sound over my house, hearing the house popping and cracking and things flying around. I didn't know what I would find when I walked out of the porch. I was afraid the house would collapse and I would be stuck. Scary.

The train sound gradually got farther and farther away and I realized it had only passed by, not hit our house. The house diagonal from ours was hit and the next neighboorhood over was also hit, but it just bounced right over ours! Thirteen homes in my town were flattened and 100 had serious damage. Amazingly there were no deaths! Surveying the damage around town this morning was awful. Some homes are totally wiped out, some are without roofs, some without their second stories and enormous uprooted trees make some streets unpassable.

My dad says we will probably be without power for the next few days. As I went out this morning we saw a caravan of 20 electrical trucks, all coming down our road to help with the damage. It's an awful situation that is going to take a long time to clean up, but it's cool to see the community come together and help each other. We can't see any news because of the power outage, but I guess it's been all over the local and even national news.

The sun rose this morning as if nothing had happened. As the fog lifted, the evidence of the tornado sunk it. Ironically, my mom, sister and I are headed for Mexico tonight. We feel guilty leaving the war-zone of Dexter.

I keep thinking, wow, God must have something big to do through my life! He has protected me so much in the past few years when various times, things could have turned out so badly! Today I am counting my blessings!

That's a Wrap

I made it back to the States! 5 flights, two days and two nights made me really appreciate my bed at home :) So far jetlag hasn't slowed me down too much. I think it's going to take some adjusting back into American culture...I was a bit overwhelmed with all the choices at Meijer when I went to by some things, haha, but everything else seems pretty much how I left it.

All the travel time gave me plenty of time to reflect on my time in Thailand. Here are some of the things I learned:

In living with the missionary family this week, I learned how awesome it is to see a married couple doing ministry together. Both the husband and the wife were working towards the same goal and the same mission. I also learned that missionary life can be very normal. God gives us each a calling. The specific calling is different for each person, shown sometimes through the opening and closing of doors. The calling on my life is to be done wherever I am. A missionary is just someone who does that work in a different place. Really, wherever I am, I should be doing that same work, whether in Korea, Thailand or America. I used to wish I had different gifts, personality or abilities, but God has given me exactly what I need to accomplish His calling. Saying mine aren't good enough would be insulting Him.

It was interesting to see various different ministries last week, both big and small. I saw that it doesn't matter the size or appearance. The most important thing is that it starts with one. It starts with one person mentoring/discipling another until the disciple is ready to disciple another. Though it seems like a small impact, the ripple effect could be huge. People are people. No matter where in the world I go, people are hurting and in need of a savior. Rather than glazing the surface with many, it's more important to invest first in one.

Everything in my life right now is kind of on hold. Waiting is one of the hardest things for a Christian to do because it makes us feel so helpless. Well wishing people keep asking what I will do now, and honestly I don't know. I am applying to jobs but really it's out of my hands and into God's. I'm learning that waiting should be an active process. It's not sitting back and doing nothing, but it's allowing God to change me while I'm waiting. Waiting allows, or rather forces, me to rely on the power of prayer. And that is a good thing!

Thanks to everyone who continued to read throughout the last year and half. I hope my jumbled thoughts gave you some insight into my time in Korea. I've enjoyed writing so much that even though I'm back in the States, I may continue to occasionally write about my relfections on life. Signing off from Korea and signing in from America...That's a wrap!

A Glimpse of Thailand

Third Son

I am staying with a missionary family this week in Thailand. The family has been here about a year and a half. Danny is from America, Sue is from Korea and they have two children, 7 and 10. They are an awesome family and it's been so much fun spending time with them. I've forgotten how goofy little boys can be :) This family is just beginning a new ministry. They are setting up a children's home for tribal teens. The home will be in this city, it will have 12-13 students and it will focus on discipleship and quality education.

These children are from the Kachin tribe. Kachin people are from Burma, a country right over the mountain. Because of the war torn nation, the people have been walking over the border at night, into Thailand. They don't look like the ethnic Thai people and have been disrciminated ever since they have been arriving for the last 40 years!

Their village contains about 100 homes made of woven wood, grass roofs, or concrete. The houses sit on stilts because of both the flooding and insects. The village has trouble with running water and generally these children cannot take a shower, even though the red dirt and dust covers their bodies. The church on the top of the hill,is where we met.

The missionary family and their one staff member (who is one of the tribal people) held interviews to see that the students are ready to leave their families and come live in the city for a better opportunity at life. The schools near this village are very poor and without a way out of their poverty, these students will only follow in their parents' footsteps.

The students were 16-20 years old. They were excited about an opportunity to live in the city, recieve a good education, learn about the Bible, be discipled and have a chance to make it in life. It was amazing to me how trusting the parents were. Because the staff member is a kachin person, I think they are more willing to trust, but still... The parents are so desperate for their children to get a good education and get out of the village, that they freely let their children go to the city to live in the children's home. For the children and the parents, this is a dream come true that has been long prayed for.

Thank goodness this is a strong Christian organization with the best intentions. I can now see though, how easily human trafficking can happen. An organization comes to a remote village, promising education or jobs in the city. The parents are so desperate and excited about an opportunity that they freely let their children go with the unknown group. It's scary how fast and innocently it could happen. Thank goodness for this missionary family's staff member, who is a Kachin that can assure the village that this one is a genuine opportunity.

The most touching interview was of a boy who was only 16 years old. He was one of seven children, the third boy. The older two boys in his family were working in the city at restaurants in order to make enough money for this boy to go to college. This 16 year old is expected to go to college, study something that will get him a good job (even though he had a dream to go to Bible college) and support his family for the rest of his life. The burden was so obvious, weighing on him, deciding his every decision. Sadly, this is reality for a lot of the world. How blessed I am to be able to choose what to major in, which job to take and decide where I want to live.

Two nights I was able to stay in a hotel with the the staff member, who is also Kachin. Through asking questions (of course :)) I was able to hear her story. Her father was part of the rebel military when she grew up in Burma. Her family was chased out of the country because of her father's military agenda. She was only 7 and remembers only bits and peices of the night they fled. She said they rode by horse from house to house, somewhat like the undreground railroad, with people lying about their whereabouts. She then came to Thailand, and has lived here ever since, forced to learn a new language and attend Thai schools, yet being discriminated against the whole way. Though she is well educated and recieved a master's degree from the USA, she is still turned down jobs simply because she is a minority.

I love hearing people's stories. Everyone has a story. Everyone wants their story to be told. I like this quote I read on the way here, "People's stories give us eyes other than our own with which to see the world...enlarge my heart with a story and change me by the characters I meet there."

First Few Days at the Hill Tribe