a picture is worth a thousand words

One of the best gifts that my mom gave me in preparation for this trip is a small cannon camera. Having a point and click camera at your disposal is a great thing! Growing up, my mom always had a camera nearby, and it may seem a little hypocritical on my part now to say, but always having a camera when you're somewhere new is a good thing! Hypocritical because I have probably asked her to put the camera away a million times! I do have one of the more fancy digital slr cameras, but this little cannon has already proved to be a worthy tool on this trip. This has been a week for photos and travel as we have started to get our bearings here, and have been venturing out a little. Some of these photos were taken with my iPhone, and that's the reason some may be a little blurry.

These photos are from a nearby beach and lighthouse that we hiked to the other day.

A secluded beach that our hike brought us to

Old stairs heading up the mountain to the light house

The light house on top of the mountain

A view from the light house

 Another one of my guilty pleasures besides Oreos is coffee! We purchased a coffee maker the other day and I am a new man. I already have a favorite coffee cup that I picked up at a really fun restaurant the other day. I love the comic strip, Peanuts. Here in South East Asia they have a Charlie Brown Cafe. Awesomeness! Couldn't resist drinking a cup while I was there too. Thought it was neat that they put a picture of a Peanuts character in the foam of your drink. Here are a couple of photos from our trip there...

The other day, two teammates of mine took me to a night market, which is also know as a pasar malam. Here is where the local community comes together, and they have one just about every night of the week in one location or another. You can find any and all fruit, local food, clothes, toys, black market dvds, and the list goes on... Such a neat thing to witness the South East Asian culture come together. I will be going to these often to get food and it will help with language learning! This is kind of what it looks like from the street level.

The tents at the night market were not high enough for my height. I think I hit my head at least 10 times that night.

This man was selling the honey right as the bees were making it. 

We have had the opportunity to go and see so many things since we have been here. It is hard to believe that it has been a month already. We are meeting new friends every day. Please continue to lift us up as we are the hands and feet here in South East Asia. Also, please email me to let me know how I can continue to pray for you as well.

A great friend of mine asked me to read 2 Samuel 22:29-31 today. A lot of Truth there! David proclaims, "For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God - his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shied for all those who take refuge in him." I found peace in these words of truth today. There are so many attributes of God, "This God," that I can take comfort and find refuge in. "His ways are perfect," makes me want to forget about my ways and be a part of His story.