Tibet, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo, Honolulu, Kahului, L.A, Milwaukee, and finally HOME!


Ok, so I'm finally home, and there is lots of updating to do! First of all, this picture is Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, where the Dali Llama

Out trip to Tibet was amazing, but tough. Tibet is basically a really cold desert, and there is literally nothing there except for a few small villages and Lhasa. We would drive for 6 to 8 hours a day before we came to any towns, which usually consisted of a small inn, a few houses and a Buddhist monastary. These towns were usually pretty depressing, and the people have no way of making a living except by hearding yak or begging from tourists.

Lhasa, on the other hand, is a suprisingly modern city. There are high rise bluildings, paved roads, and even Dico's, an amazing fried chicken fast food joint. Lhasa is a very "spiritual" city; and the Tibetian people are extremely devout in their Buddhist beliefs. They are constantly spinning prayer wheels, prostrating themselves and visiting temples in order to gain favor with the gods and reach nirvana. On one hand, it's sad to see them waste so much time worshipping false idols, but it was also challenging to me. If these people can be so devoted to false gods, shouldn't I be even more devoted to the one true God? Tibet was a great opprotunity for me to be challenged in my faith, and also to pray and bring the presence of God into a place that desprately needs Him.

After two weeks in Tibet, we came back to Kathmandu for about 5 days before we started back to Maui. It was an exciting but sad few days because one of our leaders, Jonathan Libag, didn't come home with us. He is staying in Nepal until the middle of July, then heading back to his home in the Phillipines. I was sad to leave him in Nepal, but I'm sure I'll see him again one day.

Our trip back was interesting. We flew from Kathmandu to Bangkok, then had a 15 hour layover. We stayed in the airport for the layover, and it was reallllly long. From there, we flew to Taipei, then to Tokyo, then an 8 hour flight to Honolulu, then a little puddle jump over to Maui.

It was really good to get back to Maui. We had a week of debriefing and hanging out with the team that went to Borneo, which was really nice. They had a good outreach too, and it was encouraging to hear that they're all doing pretty good. We had our graduation dinner on Friday, and then people started heading home. It's kind of wierd to leave the people who you've literally shared everything with for the last six months. I definately miss them, and I've been doing a lot of talking on the phone in the last few days. It does feel good to get home, though, because I get to see friends and family. I think now I appreciate how blessed I am and how fortunate I've been my entire life. A huge thanks to everyone who prayed for and supported me, this last half year would not have been possible without you.

I'll continue to update this blog and let all y'all knkow what I'm up to next, so keep checking it!

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