vacation!

This week I am on a family vacation. My brother and his wife dance on cruise ships. I made a plan for Kenyon and I to take a cruise to see them without even knowing where the cruise was going. I found out when the paid invoice was returned to me. We are going to Cozumel, Mexico; the Cayman Islands; and Ochos Rios, Jamaica. I've never been to Jamaica before. I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully our plans will not be interrupted by this terrible hurricane season. My brother made a joke that we may be stranded as refugees somewhere together. Ha! Not funny!

Confession: Undecided

I have voted in every presidential election and just about every local election since I was of legal age to vote. I have been a long standing advocate for voting, saying things like, "people die for this right! Don't take it for granted! And if you don't vote, don't complain later."

I have a confession to make - this year I am completely unmotivated to vote. This has never happened to me before, but I just don't feel there is anyone running who represents things that matter to me. I am not excited about any candidate. For the first time ever I am in the undecided category. It is a difficult place for me to be. I don't know if I'll have an answer until the end.

Confession: I am an undecided voter!

It's a small world after all

Even little boys in Thailand want to be Superman.

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Interesting International Facts: money exchange

I'm in Cambodia right now. One of the things I like about Cambodia is that money exchange isn't necessary - they use dollars. Hallelujah!!
I have no idea why, but I like it.
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Moscow, Russia

I was scheduled to be in Moscow in October. We had an event scheduled to mobilize and equip Pastor's to respond to the ever increasing AIDS epidemic in their country. Due to the political unrest in that part of the world we have postponed the event.

Last year, when I first took this job there was an event scheduled in India in Oct. Things didn't feel right and they weren't working out according to plan. I didn't feel confident enough to postpone or cancel it. It was a disaster and we are still trying to clean up the pieces.

Earlier this year there was an event scheduled in Kenya. To everyone's surprise the Presidential election there turned violent. The staff on the ground were hopeful it would come to a peaceful solution quickly. They are Kenyans and they assured me it would not effect our event. I trusted them in spite of my better judgment and things did NOT resolve quickly so the week prior to the event we were scrambling to get everything set up in a new country - Uganda.

I have nearly a year of experience under my belt. This time, I am trusting my gut in spite of what the field partners are saying. We are postponing the event and will revisit this early next year. My gut tells me this conflict will get worse before it gets better. It would be foolish to proceed. Especially since other groups who have done the same were shut down by Russian police as soon as the event started, some were taken to jail, electricity shut off, etc - clear
intimidation. It is not on my wish list to end up in a Russian prison, or really prison anywhere. This wasn't a popular decision, but I believe it was the best decision given the current political climate.

Pray for the former soviet countries, there is a fight for freedom going on in that region of the world. Many of the smaller countries are not big enough to defend themselves and based on allegiances, this fight has the potential to engage the world in the conflict. May there be a peaceful resolution very soon!

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