Back home in China and a new home in Taiwan

Hi all! Sorry it has been so long since my last update... a lot has been packed into a few short weeks. When you last heard from me I was getting ready to leave Thailand. I had an amazing last few days there, ending it all by making tacos from scratch for all my new friends at Step Ahead.

I decided to take one last full speed run into the ocean during my last sunset in Thailand, so we rode the motos down to the water. As we were situating our stuff, Derek says to me "hey is that jellyfish warning still going on?" I say "of course not! I've been swimming in here every day," as I turn to run into the water. As I'm swimming back to shore, I feel something touch my arm, I look down, and try to swim away, but too late, as a jellyfish the size of a basketball wrapped itself fully around both of my legs and stung. I was shocked at first and didn't know what to do, and then I kicked into gear, ran out of the water and started running up the beach to the hotel in front of me to find some medical attention. Thankfully, they were more than prepared, and had vinegar and some kind of plant smeared all over both my legs in no time. However, by the time we walked back to the truck, I had legitimate thunder thighs and when we reached the house, I could no longer fit into my pants. Thankfully the pharmacy had anti-swelling medicine and a few aspirin later, I was feeling good again. What a way to start out my twenty hour journey into China!!

The next morning I had all my stuff packed up and was ready to make the drive to Phuket, where I would get on a plane and fly to Malaysia for a 18 hour layover. Still pretty tender from my stings the day before, it was great to just sit and do nothing all day in the airport. When I finally arrived in Beijing, Aizhen, my best friend from Peking University in Beijing was there waiting for me. I had been a bit apprehensive about meeting each other again post-college, DTS, and whatnot, but thankfully, my prayers were answered and we picked up right where we left off... it was like I never left. The first night I was there we went out for Tsing Tao and Bbq, a daily staple of our days at PKU. My time there consisted of long days of reading, praying and pondering while Aizhen was working, and long, delicious meals with old friends at night. Twice we were even able to arrange it so the "fab four" (Aizhen, Demetrio, and Yang, my three best friends at University) could share meals again.

It was so amazing to be back in Beijing, so much had changed, but in another way, nothing had really changed... and it still felt like home. Aizhen introduced me to her roommate Templar's girlfriend, "Monkey," who had yet to find a job, so she spent a few days showing me some more unique places in Beijing to which I'd never been, such as a VERY nice vegetarian restaurant and the World Chocolate Park in the Olympic Village. She and I also went to see Avatar in 3-D. Too quickly though, my ten days in paradise came to an end and (after almost missing both of my flights) I arrived in Taiwan.

Things immediately were in hyper-drive as I prepared for SBS to start. I did have time, however, to meet up with some old friends, including Christine, a girl I met almost six years ago during my first trip to Taiwan... when it allllll began.

Classes started a little too quickly, but as incredibly busy and stressful these first few days have been, I can tell you here and now that it is ALL WORTH IT! We are just finishing up our first book of the semester, Galatians, which also happens to be one of my favorite books. What started out seeming like needless busy work has transformed into an understanding of the book, it's message, and it's history I have never before realized in many subsequent reads. God has been so good to me... bringing me in his own way to his own place. I have been told that for me, this is going to be both a time of extreme brokenness and a renewed, more pure joy, and I can already see that coming true. Never a student, I can see how this is going to break me down, so I will appreciate all the prayers you have to offer! However, I also see the joy coming... a close friend who has known me a long time told me the other day that he had not seen me this consistently just... happy for a long time, and it is really true. And I have only God to thank for that.

Aside from the new knowledge I'm gaining, my favorite part so far has been the people. We have an amazing school... the largest Taiwan has ever seen at about 85 including staff. Zack, Brandon (the guys from my DTS that came to visit in Khao Lak) and I have often been meeting up and talking about everything- God, life, and hopes and dreams for the future. A common topic of conversation between us has been community- due in large part to their recent 5 weeks with Benji as an "experiment in community" and some books we recently read in common such as Sex God by Rob Bell, Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, and In the Name of Jesus by Henry Nouwen, all of which I'd strongly recommend. All of this to say that we decided we were going to continue the experiment, and try to make this group of 85 people a "family" for the next nine months. The last night before SBS started, we got as many people together as possible and invited them over to my apartment where I cooked and we shared a long meal together, talking, laughing, and getting to know our new brothers and sisters. We agreed that we would do this every week, no matter what, and that we would try to have every single person from SBS over at least once during the nine months. This week we had another "family dinner" and had already doubled our numbers... cooking for so many people was quite a feat in our tiny kitchen, but it was again quite a success and I am already looking forward to next week's! (The pics on the right side are from this week's family night).