After three days in Bangkok, it’s time to move on. The TCLC has major centers of work in three areas of the country. Bangkok is the central area of Thailand, and now we’re moving on to Phuket in the southern section of Thailand. All the logistics of travel and accommodations in-country have been arranged by… Continue reading Phuket
Category: Change
Representing
The nature of my work is fluid. A jack of all trades and master of none. A chameleon of sorts, able and willing to accommodate myself to a variety of situations and needs. Not perfectly, of course, but still it’s a gift I have been given that has served me well in a variety of… Continue reading Representing
Taiwan Workgroup Meeting
Last week was the annual Southeast Asia Workgroup meeting. All the workers in Southeast Asia are gathered together at LCMS headquarters in Chiayi, Taiwan for a week of training and other matters. It’s a time for learning as well as reconnecting with our fellow workers to receive updates on the work they’re doing in their… Continue reading Taiwan Workgroup Meeting
Almost Normal
Flexibility is the key to living overseas regardless of what brings you out of your homeland and to a new place, people, language and culture. Medan is still very much a developing city. Infrastructure in things we take for granted in the States like sidewalks is still very elusive. Other things are more familiar. There… Continue reading Almost Normal
Welcoming
When you live overseas you develop an awareness of newcomers and other folks making the transition from other lives and places to this new one. While we work hard to interact with locals, it’s just a reality that ex-pats also keep tabs on one another and we hear about new arrivals. SungHo is one of… Continue reading Welcoming
Transience
One of the many books we read before deploying overseas talked about the difficult nature of relationships amongst ex-pats. While it can be easier to make friends overseas, when people of a similar cultural background are fewer and more inclined to seek one another out, those relationships may not last very long. At least in… Continue reading Transience
It’s the Little Things
It’s the little things, people say. It sounds trite but that doesn’t mean it isn’t often true. Big events stand out more. We anticipate them more. Spend more on them. Expect more out of them. But it’s the little things that fill each day of our lives and can make those days and those lives… Continue reading It’s the Little Things
Home
And just like that, it’s over. The planning and anticipation of the past year is over all too soon. The weeks fly by. Faces and smiles and tears blur together in a Impressionist reverie. Was it all real? When we arrived in the States we were amazed at how natural it felt. Granted, we’ve only… Continue reading Home
Discerning
I think back to them still, more than two months after first meeting them. Who could have predicted such an encounter and opportunity? Who could have foreseen the Holy Spirit’s web of connectivity being spun in time and space and lives? My seminary classmate who invited me out to his community in central Colorado likely… Continue reading Discerning
Homeward Bound
Concluding our time in the Los Angeles area we next headed north. Homeward, as it were. As close to home as we’ve ever known. Nearly eleven years spent in the idyllic locale of Santa Barbara, California. The American Riviera. An exquisite, beautiful bubble of wealth mixed with a healthy strain of surf culture. It’s where… Continue reading Homeward Bound
The Nelson Family Indonesia 