Scotland Times - Day 33 - 6-23-11

Hello everyone!

Long time no see/talk/whatever. Sorry about the delay. Been a bit busy the last few weeks, so I believe an update is needed.

The past few weeks have been exciting for sure! I have been busy finishing up the final design work for the website, photoshot a wedding, saw castles, and went to another country for a conference... so here's a bit of more details in week format...

3 weeks ago...
Hello, it was my birthday! Big 25. Quarter of a century old. I was treated to an awesome day with the Martin's, the family I currently reside with, at my first castle outing. It was pretty legit. I also got to go inside it, with all the cool chambers and such. Oh and there were gargoyle statues with their heads lopped off. Oh and a weird glowing knight asking if I would pick the correct Grail. Okay so that last one didn't happen (except in Indiana Jones). But hey, it was cool! So that week was full of the kinda normal stuff, with finishing up the final touches of the website after having a meeting with all of the main website-savvy peoples from each of the 5 churches, redesigned the logo, and edited a little bit more of the pics I've taken (but taken a whole lot more). Sorry I haven't updated more photos, when you work on the computer for half the day you kinda get burned out and want to maybe... I don't know... take a walk on a beach, enjoy the sunshine, read a book. Which are all of the things I did on the one or two super nice days here in Banff. Woot! Anywho, we also did some fun stuff with the youth, and I got to be a part of their saturday BBQ extravaganza. Honestly, I've been doing a lot of stuff with the youth, and seeing some amazing things happen through them. We've seen several come to the Lord and many more just seeing what true community and freedom in Christ looks like. On Sunday the 5th I actually got to shoot my first wedding (so now I could say I'm an international wedding photographer? Yes.) with Andy Martin, the dad of above-mentioned family I'm staying with. Fun and random, the wedding took place mid church service (yes, it was planned that way).

2 weeks ago...
Sunday the 11th the pastor from the Elgin church (Norman, I know, ironic name right?) came and picked me up to take me to Elgin, a 2ish hour drive away from Banff, to stay with him and his wife for a week. Really, for me this week was to get to experience new places. We went and saw castles, road tripped with others to the west coast of Scotland for a day to see God's amazing creations, which included but not limited to, lochs (lakes), forest covered mountains, and coffee. Yes, I said coffee. It should always be included under "God's amazing creations". Anywho, yes I did see Loch Ness, and no, Nessie didn't come out to play this time. I was so ready to wrestle him/her/it, but the taunting I gave must have scared the big baby away. Sissy. Annnnnyways... got to also experience some old cathedrals and a garden area called "Biblical Garden". It had an amazing garden with several bible story inspired stone sculptures (some better than others, some were just goofy). Also got to do an outreach with Team Challenge in Buckie with Bob Mings, a Texan missionary. It was a good time. I was really inspired by what Team Challenge does and loved the heart behind it (they reach out to addicts and such). Did I get to go see some more castles... YEAH I DID! I'm quite the explorer (and when I say explorer, I mean I will even break the rules to get a better shot, like when the sign says "do not cross over rope", to me its just an invitation). I also got to help fix a few people's computer problems and got to take part in some worship team practice. A good time.

1 week ago - Wednesday, June 22nd
So you may be thinking, "Matt, you've gone so many places, surely you are ready to settle down." Well if you were thinking that, you are just wrong. This week and a half will be spent with Joe Ewen in Jeffreysbaai (Jeffrey's Bay or J-Bay, for short), South Africa. Oh it feels so good to step back into good ol' Africa. It seems like only 2 years since I last touched Africa soul. Oh wait, it was 2 years ago. Oh Uganda... good times. But nooooowwww, I'm in South Africa! Exciting! I've been wanting to check out South Africa for a while, I've heard great things. Well I was right. We flew out Sunday the 12th, arrived the 13th after an overnight flight from Paris to Johannesburg, and got a ride from the Port Elizabeth airport to Jeffreysbaai to meet some new amazing people. The apostolic-prophetic conference that Joe (and later joined by Floyd McClung) won't start till thursday the 16th, so the next few days was spent getting ready with greeting new people from the training school where Joe spoke at for 2 days and the fantastic people at Global Challenge, a super cool missions organization/house-church movement. I met some of the nicest people here, and the view is also not half-bad (its a few blocks away from the beach, where the Billabong Surfing competition is held every July due to its ridiculous nice and long waves. Some stretched even a quarter-mile (I believe)). Its even more amazing at sunrise. Also amazing was the fact that Nikki Johnson, Brooks Grigsby, and Lennell Perry drove 8 hours along one of the most beautiful stretch of road from Cape Town to see me! For those who do not know them, they are amazing people that are from Antioch Norman that I also went through the training school with. Also I might also be dating one of them (name starting with a N :) ) Love it! So on the days they were here, I stayed with them at a campsite in J-Bay. Such an amazing time with them! They also joined me at the conference on thursday and friday, so they also experienced some amazing teachings on the prophetic and the apostolic. They had to get back to Cape Town, so they left early in the morning Saturday. Also exciting was the fact that I accidently booked my flights the exact flights and times as Joe did, but on the next day. So that means Joe flew out Monday, I flew out Tuesday. So for my extra day there I designed a logo for a new business Global Challenge was setting up dealing with screenprinting, which I also got to check out, and afterwards went to some new friends' house and had mexican food. Good stuff. It was also bittersweet to leave South Africa, but I imagine I will return there someday to see my new lifelong friends.

Today
So after returning yesterday (June 22nd) from South Africa and catching up on the sleep I didn't get on the plane rides (which by the way, was upgraded to first class on one of them, for no apparent reason other than the fact that I have FAVOR!!! Ba-zing!), I am back at the church now starting the last 2 weeks in Scotland with a new logo project, inputing more information into the church website about the churches, and beginning to get a few things ready for my next trip to the Dominican Republic that I am co-leading in the beginning of August. My goal for these last few weeks in Scotland is to take in the last bit of time I have here and make the best of it; not checking out. Yup.

So thats an update for you guys. Hope all is well, wherever you may be. I'll be updating at least once more, maybe more before I head back to the states.

As always, here are a few pics (from South Africa)...

Driving into Jeffreysbaai, amazing sky! (No editing done other than spot cleanup from window)

Joe speaking at the training school.

Nikki checking out the millions of shells on the shore during our sunrise walk on the beach.

Sunrise on the beach.

At "The Mexican" restaurant with Brooks and Lennell for dinner just after they arrived.

Scotland Day 18, 6-8-11 video update

Scotland Times - Day 12 - 6-2-11 Quick video update

A quick video update from my iPhone in Banff, on the coast.

Scotland Times - Day 10 - 5-31-11

Fit Like everyone!

Wow what a week it has been! It feels like I have been here a month, and that's a good thing! Just to let you all know that all is well, no illnesses, no injuries, and no destruction on my part done. Ha!

So in a nutshell, here is what has been going on...

Wednesday the 25th: Went to the church, started working on the church website (riverside.churchinsight.com) and got some ideas for what it would look like. I also created a new logo for them, which was okayed by Joe and I think looks great. After work went with Andy and Marion to the Adult lifegroup, which was fun, different from back home, but still a great time. We stayed there till around 11:30. Did I mention the sun goes down around 10:30 here? Crazy stuff!

Thursday the 26th: Went to the church, continued work on the website. I'm actually starting to understand how this website creator works, its not exactly from scratch or using dreamweaver, so it is taking a while to get used to. This evening I went to the youth lifegroup (basically its the youth leaders all meeting together for lifegroup aka similar to Lifegroup leaders lifegroup back home). We did more of a study and discussion over a few chapters of Acts, and had yummy snacks while there.

Friday the 27th: Went to the church, worked, then off to Joe's for a dinner with Joe, Yvonne (Joe's wife), Jimmy Seibert, his 2 boys, and Robert Fuller (he co-wrote Jesus is the Lord, which he would sing on Sunday). The Antioch Waco guys got in around 1:30 pm. I was late due to the fact I was walking from the church to his house, normally taking around 15 minutes (according to google maps), but I continued on the wrong road which turned into a 45 minute walk to Joe's. Fun stuff. But I did see the school here in Banff and another nice neighborhood. Did I mention it was raining lightly the entire walk. Yeah, it was. Ha! After that we went to a church leaders meeting in which Jimmy spoke. Fun stuff.

The weekend (28th-31st) was a blast. I walked down to see the yearly arts festival here in Banff with the Martin's (Andy had a photography booth where he had cards and framed photos to buy), then headed over to the local golf course to meet up with Jimmy and his youngest, Daniel. The main reason they are even here is because Daniel is in the World Junior Golf Tournament here in Scotland. So he's kind of good. Okay, he's really good. I took some photos of him playing. The biggest problem for me was that I didn't eat breakfast or lunch, so I was pretty tired by the end of the 18 holes (4-5 hours). Yup.

By the way, the weather here is amazing, and so different. It could be nice and sunny, then immediately have wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour, then nice again, then downpour, the five minutes later be sunny again. If I was any type of weather, I would be Scotland weather, random and full of surprises.

Next up we went to the church for the youth night, called "Youth Extreme". 6 kids came to the Lord! Awesome. Jimmy spoke on "Who is God, Who am I, and What is my Purpose". I'm not sure why I just capitalized most of that. Oh well... A good night.

Sunday was church together, meaning all 5 of the Riverside church plants (Banff, Buckie, Elgin, Gardenstown and Aberdeen) came together to Banff Riverside church for sunday morning church. It was jam-packed! A couple of people came to the Lord as well, so thats good news! We immediately went from there and drove to Aberdeen for a chinese buffet, which was freakin delicious! Better than back home, I think. We then drove all the way to St. Andrews, and walked around the university, saw where Scottish Reformers George Wishart and Patrick Hamilton were buried (in the middle of a street, interesting enough), saw the first ever golf course (Scotland DID invent golf, ya know), then went down to the beach where the "Chariots of Fire" running scene was filmed. It was amazing. Beautiful, but windy, which actually made for some great photos! We went on to the place we were staying the night (Jimmy and the Waco gang actually would stay here for the week till the tournament is over). We went down to the coast nearby and took photos and enjoyed the beautiful rock formations and sunset there. (I'll add some photos at the end for your viewing pleasure)

Monday (30th) me and Joe headed back after seeing the Waco guys off. What an amazing time with those men, loved it! It was a long car ride, but it was good. Picked Joe's brain for a while on life things, the Lord things, and other thing... things. :) We toured Edinburgh for a few hours, saw some old churches and the castle there, met up with a local pastor for coffee, then headed out.

We got back to Banff around 5 after a 6 or so hour drive, had some dinner with Yvonne, then I headed back to the Martin's house where I chilled out with the family while Joe went to a church meeting in Elgin. I got to skype Jason Kennedy too that night. Funnnnnn fun!

Well today (31st) is a beautiful day, a bit warmer than it has been, sun is shining. I'm writing this blog, kicking out a few minor tweaks for the website design, answering some emails, adding books to my kindle, and just having a chill time at the church office. I'm unsure what this week will bring (other than my birthday on saturday), but its gonna be great I'm sure. God bless you guys and I hope all is well back home!

-Matt

Now a few pics...

Whilst out for golf, found a hidden bench with writing etched in it.

George Wishart, Scotland prophet and reformer, is buried in the middle of the road in St. Andrews.

Sunset pics out by the coast.

St. Andrews beach where the "Chariots of Fire" movie was filmed.

Edinburgh Castle (try scaling that with arrows flying at you!)

Scotland Times - Day 3 - 5-24-11

Good afternoon everybody!

So this is my first post for my Scotland trip, and it has literally been a little crazy getting here. So here is my story from the past few days:

So Sunday the 22nd was the bittersweet day of leaving Norman. Nikki and my sister Mary saw me off at the airport (so grateful for them!), and everything was going great. My first two flights went off without a hitch, from OKC to Detroit, then 50 minutes later took off from Detroit to Amsterdam. That flight was overnight, so I will continue that on the next day. Had a small breakfast and dinner this day, no lunch. Fun stuff!

Monday was certainly a heck of a day. After arriving in Amsterdam I had a 4 hour layover in the terminal, which I spent mostly napping and updating a few people to where I was. Yes, it was around a 6 hour time difference, but I thought it would be good to let people know about my progress. So then I got on the plane to Aberdeen, which was only supposed to take around an hour and 45 mins, but actually turned into a 3 hour flight that was diverted to Newcastle, Scotland. Aberdeen had some heavy winds, around 50-70 mile an hours, and Newcastle was decided to be the safest place to land. We also circled Aberdeen to see if the winds would die down, but that was an hour wasted in the sky. Anyways, we arrived in Newcastle, and KLM airlines set up a coach (tour bus) to take us to Aberdeen, a 6 hour drive. My worst fear is that without any internet, I couldn't use my phone to get ahold of Joe or anyone in Scotland. Thankfully, the man next to me on the coach let me use his phone and send an email to Joe to let him know about the delay.

As worried as I was getting, I knew that God had a bigger plan in the works, and right away on the bus I saw a full rainbow, and it was probably the most beautiful one I'd ever seen. As the rainbow was a symbol to Noah of God's promise to never flood the entire earth again, so it was a reminder for me of God's promise to take care of me. So filled with peace, I was able to catch the beautiful view of the Scotland countryside and ocean without any distractions from electronics, although the drunken guy on the bus continuously shouting obscenities about how unfair it was that all this was happening was quite frustrating. Anyways, we got to Aberdeen at 1:30 in the morning, and with great surprise and thankfulness, Joe came out of nowhere in the closed Airport with a hug. I was so relieved and glad that God had this all taken care of. And since it was so late, I crashed on Joe's couch after updating Nikki on the progress just before she got on her plane to Nepal. What an adventure, finally in Banff.

So today the 24th, I got cleaned up and shaved as Andy, one of the worship leaders from the Riverside Christian Church that Joe oversees in Banff, came to pick me up and take me to his house, where I'll be staying for the first week at least. This is due to several out of town visitors to Joe's house, such as his daughter and Jimmy Seibert and his boys this coming weekend. We had a half hour chat with coffee, then went and talked photography and worked with him doing some photo editing from the wedding he recently shot over the past weekend. He owns his own photo company, started it within the last year, so getting to teach him a few tricks with photoshop helped him to speed up his work. We then went out and met his wife at the church at a small diner for sandwiches. I got a spiced chicken sandwich with pea and ham soup, which, although sounds disgusting, was actually really good! We then took a walk near the oceanfront and I shot some photos, told some stories, headed back to the house for coffee and then we just chilled out. I worked on photos and this blog, and Andy went on to work more on his wedding photos and his wife started dinner and read some. They also have a fascination here in Scotland with Meerkats, which is due to a commercial and website, similar to our Geico gekko commercials and the old Taco Bell dog. Interesting. Reminded me of Lion King 1 and a half. Tonight is a worship meeting at one of the churches for the weekend (they are having all 5 churches in the region together for a celebration in which Jimmy Seibert will speak at). So I'm excited for that.

Well, fun stuff. There's an update. And here are a couple more photos...

The Coast

Me (notice where the glare is, Bringin "The US" in the house! Ha!)

Thailand, Day 23 - March 30, 2010

So today is my last day in Thailand. Its been filled with new friendships, encouraging words, small disasters, struggles, stressful times, laughter, corruption, and beauty. I have mixed feelings returning, which makes me think about the word "home", and what it really means. Jon, jokingly, said "Home is where the heart is", but in fact, spoke for the first time truth. Home is where our passion is, it is what we live for, a life hopefully worthy dying for, and vice versa. My heart is in the love of Christ, so my home is there also, and what an amazing place to rest my head. So all in all, my home is where God will place me next, the passion that he places on my heart and location I eventually am sent to go, whether thats back in Norman, Thailand, Uganda, or even Switzerland. I dont know just yet. So here I am, sitting at a computer at a pastor friend of Jon's house sipping some coffee, awaiting another 4 hours till we take a taxi to the airport, get through long lines for international flights, get my seat number with Jon and fly back to LA, the city of Angels, hopping, of course, in-between in Taipei, Taiwan. So here is a rundown of the last 10 days.

Day 13 and 14 were spent heading to the village, and that sunday Jon preached a short sermon using 2 translators from English to Thai to the local dialect on the difference between a Christian and a Disciple of Christ. It was very interesting. we got back to Scott's house in Chiang Mai that evening after some bumpy rides in the mountains and rested with some dinner on the side.

Day 15 was our last day in Shiang Mai, and it was actually kinda sad and boring. We loved our stay here. While Jon made some final arrangements with Sangla and some others, I stayed home and read, watched a few movies, and got packed for our bus ride. Sangla and her nieces came and we said goodbye to Scott and Ike, thanking them for letting us stay for the last week with them, then had a last meal with the ladies, which turned out to be the same place we ate at when we got to Shiang Mai a few weeks ago. Kinda circular. Anyways, we got on an overnight bus to head to the border of Thailand and Cambodia.

Day 16 was Cambodia day, which turned from excitement to discouragement due to the corruption at the border. In legitimate exchange places, they give you less than they say, and steal half your money. Then the whole getting a visa thing and booking a taxi ride through a "service" (ironic word in this case), and booking a hotel tainted the whole experience for me. We had spent nearly $100 before we even crossed the border. Anyways, we finally got a taxi with a Holland guy, and made our way to Siam Reap with very little air conditioning and room to move. Siam Reap is a highly traveled tourist area that people go to see the ancient city/temples of Angkor Wat, a place that was made completely out of hand carved stone carried from about 30 miles away, taking 200 ish years to carve. Crazy. It was magnificent! I remembered seeing at least one of the temples in Indiana Jones. Anyways, we went back to our "mirage hotel" (we thought it didn't exist at first, due to the untrustworthiness of the people at the border, so we nicknamed it this) completely exhausted and booked our ticket out for tomorrow. We were going to stay another day, but the above mentioned tainted-ness I got from the border made me want to leave asap. Jon just told me to laugh about it, its all we could do. I didn't, but we would switch places in this laughing activity soon.

Day 17 was another travel day, this time out of the hot hell-hole of a country Cambodia (I nearly kissed the ground after going again over the border to Thailand) and we took a "bus" (this is what they told us, but it was actually a full sized van that carried way too many people without any A/C) with some strangers, and headed to Koh Chang, which holds the resort island of Trat. We couldn't wait. Literally. Every dumb stop that we stopped at was agitating to me, a waste of time, but we became good friends with a couple of Swiss girls we sat next to in the bus, whom were awesome and also were great to keep our minds off how slow it was to get to our destination and how hot it was in the van. We got on the ferry around 7pm and headed to our "amazing" resort hotel, which we immediately planned to look for something better the next day.

Day 18 was fun in the sun, Jon rented a bike, taught one of the girls how to drive it in the mountainous island, while I read and went out into the nice blue ocean. It was pretty hot, so sunscreen was a great idea. We found another place to stay, got a taxi over, and had dinner later that evening. We basically did everything with these girls, and it was fun learning some German/Swiss-German and hearing stories back home and imagining how good the chocolate tastes.

Day 19 was the "small disaster" as I mentioned before, Haha! Which is also the day I switched places with Jon in laughing about bad things because its all we can do. It was a rainy day, which kept us from snorkeling, and so we chilled out and read a lot. Random - oh how cheap and amazing those fruit shakes were... mmm. Okay so we thought hey, lets go on a joy ride to the villages on the south side of the island. Sounded good. About a half mile down the road, going about 30 down a hill our motorbike decided it didn't like people riding on it anymore, and so tapping the hand break to slow down sent all sliding (even the bike) about 20 yards from our side of the road into the ditch on the other side, mostly on our backs, in front of a truck that thankfully stopped, otherwise we probably wouldn't be alive to tell our story. We got cut up a bit, but a lot less than we should have, and got back to our resort to clean up... pictures soon to follow our our beaten bodies. Thank God we were alive and no broken bones. All I could do was laugh about how this really did JUST happen, how it felt like it was slow motion, not a thought of "Im gonna die" going through my head, but mostly "now, should I stay on my stomach? No, I should flip on my back" and "I wonder when and how Im going to stop sliding..." We got cleaned up, hydrogen peroxided up, bandaged up, and showed up to show the girls. They were pretty surprised, and thankful we weren't any worse than we were. Good stuff.

Well Day 20 was a bit of a sad day to see the girl's go, even on a sunny day which was supposed to be rain. Due to our injuries, we wouldn't dare touch the salty water of that ocean, so all we could do was lay around in a bit of pain and read, maybe get a bit of sun too. It was a long day of relaxing, happy we didn't feel like we were actually lazy, but that we didn't have anything to actually get done that day. A day of beginning to heal.

Day 21 was our day to head back to Bangkok, which we got a taxi out of the resort, met another girl-to-be-friend named Kari and headed back to the mainland. Got an actual bus, and took our 6 hour ride to Bangkok, our last stop before heading back "home". It was on that bus we met two more girls, English teachers in Korea, one from England and the other from Canada, and we hung out with them till we left to Jon's pastor friend's, Mai, house to stay the night. It was great fun hanging out with them.

As you may have noticed, this last week was focused more on a vacation-like time after completing what we had set out to accomplish. So Day 22 we got up early to go golfing with Mai, and then filmed Jon later in the afternoon for his voiceover in the video Im making for him. Lastly, we went at night to the huge prostitution area of Bangkok, made up mostly "massage parlors" and bars. We were sneaky to get a few video shots, being told to be very careful because we could get it taken away, but I wished we got more. But we got enough, I think and we are finished with filming for the trip. Yay.

Today, Day 23, we leave here at 5pm on a jetplane, don't know when I'll be back again. But I sure do want to. We actually get a taxi ride out around 1:30pm. We leave March 30th, and due to time change, we get to LA on the 30th, just 3 hours later! Its crazy how a 16 hour of flying turns into 3 due to flying against the sun. Going back... to the future. Haha. Technically Day 24 will be me flying to Denver in the morning and then to OKC, arriving at 4pm-ish, if all goes according to schedule.

So I will miss Thailand for all its beauty and the relationships we have formed, but I'm excited to get back to the States for the same reason. I miss all you guys, and know that I love you and hope to see you all very soon.

Over and out,
Matt

Thailand, Day 13 - March 20, 2010

Wow what a great week. Well I keep getting behind on this, but lets rundown the days, shall we?

So Day 6 ended with us all going to this beautiful lake and eating picnic style with the girls, getting all the shots for the supporters and group shots of all the girls together. It was a fun night, I learned a bit more Thai from some of the girls.

So the next 3 days are a bit of a blur, due to some sort of stomach bug that made my stomach shrink in size due to diarrhea. Which is in fact, not fun. It was hard to keep anything down, and given the food is spicy didn't help at all. Church was Day 7, which was interesting in its own little way, a bit prosperity gospel-ish (ugh!). We did go up to the mountain on Day 8 and filmed a Buddhist temple, which was quite beautiful. Got some good shots for the video there. After endless nights of getting up and 'emptying' my already empty stomach, Day 9 I finally went and got some meds, which didn't help so much that day, but did help the next day. Day 9 also consisted of filming the girls, interviewing them and making sure Hannah House is what they truly want to do.

Day 10 and 11 kinda squash together because Im a bit behind on journaling, and so I will give the basics... we went into town, fished (I caught a 55-60 pounder.)hung out with the girls a bit more, went to a movie theater and watched Dear John (eh), and had dinner at Sangla's place again. It was yummy fish. Oh yeah, we kinda road elephants. Yeah thats right, the big things with long trunks and dumbo ears. It was fun.

Day 12, Me and John went into town to prepare for the evening, in which we would have the girls and their parents over for dinner, worship, bible teaching, prayer, and an introduction of Hannah House to the parents. It was a good night, having everyone over and just having a great time of community. After the girls left, we watched a movie, then hit the hay.

Today, Day 13, we are leaving at 10am to get Sangla and head to two of the girl's village and stay there the night, then preach tomorrow morning, and head back to town after that. Im not sure what to expect, but I do expect to get some awesome shots.

Cambodia next week.

Well thats all I got for now, till next time. This trip is almost over.

-Matt

Thailand, Day 6 - March 13, 2010

Swah De Cup. (Thai - Hello.) (Im sure my spelling is wrong on that, but thats how I spell it to say it...)

So this is my first blog for my time in Thailand. Here's a quick rundown of what Im doing over here...

First and foremost, I'm here because God told me to, and followed through by providing EVERYTHING I needed to go. I'm here with a missionary named Jonathan Hawk, and he is starting a house for college aged girls to get out of poverty (and before they get into the sex trade or prostitution) and putting them through either Bible school or college (whichever they choose) and giving room and board while his co-leader in the ministry, Sangla, whom is Thai, will look over the girls and disciple them. Its really amazing what they are doing.

For Jonathan, this is one of the last trips he will be taking to Thailand in about a year or so. Given that, he is here with me for 3 weeks to do a lot of relational and business stuff for the ministry. We are also meeting up with the girls (actually tonight) and learning their stories (for the first time for me, most of them he already knows really well). Which also means we will be doing a lot of fun things that he wants to do or take me to do.

For me, I will be filming and photographing the girls (interview style) and taking several other shots for a short film/movie for him to take to several churches and whatnot to raise funds for the building as well as supporting the girls. Its really something I love to do (the filming and photographing aspect in general) and Im excited for the next few days when we start it all up.

So anyways, a rundown of what the last 6 days have been like...

I left America on the 8th around 6:45 am and got to California around 10am, met up with Jonathan and Sangla (she was in the states to visit and talk and several places about Hannah House, this ministry they are starting) there, then flew for around 14 hours to finally get into Bangkok. Yes, we were only flying for about 20 hours total, but due to time changes, I left on a monday and arrived early early wednesday morning in Thailand (I wonder where Tuesday went... haha!). So we slept at a pastor's house in Bangkok, and the next day we took a 10 hour bus ride from Bankok (Southern Thailand) to Shiang Mai (Northern Thailand). It was long, but got some sleep and watched some insanely colorful (literally and figuratively) Thai movies and some Thai music videos. All I gotta say is... yeaaaaaaah. Anyways. So we got to another missionaries house, which is where we are staying most of the time to sleep. So that covers about 3 days.

So day 4, we got up still jetlagged, and we had breakfast and went to meet up with Sangla's family, where we are going with them to the jungle to have a sort of family vacation; camping, fishing, hunting, hanging out. It was a lot of fun and Jonathan is slowly teaching me Thai and helping me translate the rest. I sure do wish I knew more Thai. Anyways, so we traveled for about 2 hours and set up camp across the river (yes we had to cross the river to get to our "campsite", and we went fishing and ate dinner. The Thai guys shot some birds, a few squirrels and some other stuff. It was bad fishing, not a whole lot of catches other than some small ones. Soooo we went to bed in under the stars... and the bug net in our sleeping bags.









Day 5 consisted of us going to another part of the river downstream and trying to find some fish. Me and Jonathan tried to do so too, and floated a bit too far downstream into some really light rapids, but trying to get to shore was a struggle; that river was pushing really strong. I got cut up a bit by the rocks but its all good. I also found out that Thai people love white skin, especially the ladies... haha. Not kidding actually. They do joke about that a bit, due to my blinding white skin (hey, its cold in oklahoma right now, and I don't fake bake, baby!). They want to trade skin, is what they say. Haha. Okay that was a bit off subject... so we didn't find much fish out there either, so we headed back to camp and ate lunch, then packed up everything and headed back to town. Me and Jonathan went to Sangla's cousins house after picking up some groceries at a Cosco/Sam's type of store (it was suprising for me too when I went in the first time) and had showers there after the girls did and went to have dinner with her fam again. By the way, all the food? Deliteful! Sooo good, and its pretty spicy too. We traveled back afterwards in the dark on the motorcyle carrying groceries and our bags for the day (we got creative fitting it all on, including two 1 gallon containers of orange juice and milk on my lap, which got painful when going over the humps) for a 30 minute trip home. We got in and basically fell right asleep from exhaustion.









So Day 6 (today, Im writing at 2:30 pm here), We got up and had a few hours to spend with Jesus and read and pray, good stuff, then left to go fishing at a lake in town. I caught two fish (basically because Jonathan wanted me to reel them in, so it was a group effort really) that were about 20 to 30 pounds each. AWESOME! After that we headed home at about 1pm and have been having a little while of downtime before picking up a few of the girls from school and then meeting the rest to go to dinner for tonight. They are about to be on break from school so its one of the last time to do this sort of thing before a few of them go back home to their villages. Then... the night bizaar to pick up some clothes that I didn't pack to last me for this trip and see all the really cheap merch. Yeah baby! Who said being a missionary wasn't fun?! Haha. Anyways, so I have internet access here at the house, so Ill try to update a lot more often. Thanks for all the prayer back home and I hope all is well. Love you all!

In Him,
Matt Murnan

August 3, Day 34

Hello to all you Bzungu (Mzungu plural) reading back home,

Thanks for all your prayers and such, I really appreciate it. There has been minimal sickness, but some hard labor going on, but its so awesome to be here. Like a dream come true. I haven't been able to do any blogging the last couple of weeks due to activities outside the norm, as well as a full internet cafe when I last tried, so wasn't able to do it. So here are some updates from the last few weeks.

1. For us on the slum team, our projects have been going great. Today we gave out a loan to a momma in the slums to expand her business and be successful, not worrying about the next meal for her and her children. Also we started doing planned day care, in which two of us head each day's activities, full of fun and educational stuff for the kids that might never be able to go to school due to expense for all levels of schooling. The activites mix fun and exciting with educational and spiritual parts, like songs, games, coloring, letters, numbers, art, and stuff like that. I have my first day to lead with a girl named Caitlin on wednesday, Im thinking singing with guitar, art therapy activity, and whatever she has up her sleeve. So good.

2. We all went to Bagali Falls, in which most of our team river rafted on some awesome rapids (I did it last year) and also bungee jumped about 100 feet off the Nile river (Awesome, but I didn't have the cash for it). Such an awesome experience for us that didn't go too, we traveled into the close town of Jinga and looked around town, visited an amazing local artist, had some great coffee and had great conversations. I read a lot too on this visit. It was great to just relax from a long time working hard, but never a break from loving hard! :)

3. Last saturday we got up early around 4:30 to travel into a remote village for 5 days. This village, home of Julius, one of our Ugandan leaders (someday senator in Uganda), is freakin amazing. Around the small village is a huge banana plantation, and I've now tasted the best of the best when it comes to bananas and matooke (food, basically green bananas that are mashed into something like a thick mashed potatoes, with yellow color). Its so amazing being here. We hiked two mountains while we were here. It was so great, one of my favorite days. Sleeping on the ground every night and long drops only for bathrooms wasn't so fun, but made me greatful for beds and toilets. Ha! Oh and showers... hot showers... I will be more greatful for now on.

4. Leaving the village we went to an island resort for a day and night (dont worry, it was only about $20 US for dinner, lodging, and breakfast). It was an amazing day and night. I swam with a bunch of others, and taught Mugabe to swim for the first time. So fun.

5. Ive probably only showered 4 times since Ive been here, just FYI. Awesome!

So thats about all the major stuff. I cant wait to update again with what God is doing here and in me. And I cant wait to show all the tight pics I've taken. Now to head to the kids house! Peace and love in Jesus!

Matt

July 17, Day 17

Hello everyone from Uganda!

Everything is great here, minus the fact that it took 30 minutes to get to this page to post a blog, lol. Well, what to tell? We got through another week of hard work, aggressive traffic, and rarely eating meat. Today one of the kids at the slums stole on of our girl's camera, but we found out the culprit's name and it looks like we will be getting that back soon, so thats great. She was not too happy about that happening, of course.

A few things that happened this week;

1. I went to the hospital again, this time to the broken bones/amputation and also other surgeries. It was quite a sight to see. I saw open wounds like broken legs and what happens to a girl that gets robbed and is shot. One girl we met had a C-Section, and she showed that to us (just me from the volunteer team was there, by the way, and 2 leaders), and it was open, no stitches. And this is at the biggest and main hospital in the capital. Yeaaaahhh. She had me feel her stomach (around the cut, not on it, that would be gross!) and she was having tons of pain. It was very warm, and there was this churning feeling. Wierd.

2. We finished the 1 room house, and had a welcome party for the Mamma (Flavia is her name) and her two daughters. Her dream was realized through this house and her having her own land. She got out of the slums and has her own business. Pretty exciting for her. She was soooo happy and greatful!

3. We went to prayer mountain last sunday evening, which was an amazing time with God and the others. It brought out a lot of frustrations as well as joy.

4. We had a soccer game with Come Lets Dance against the youth group at the church (which they cheated and brought professionals to play with them outside the church). We lost, but it was a ton of fun. I got to play for about half of the second half. Fun stuff. We are now at 2-1 on win-loss.

This is actually all I can think of, we have been hard at work over here though in the slums, at the farm, the kids house, and wherever we go. God is good and everyone is basically in good health. Praise God. Keep up the prayers. Half of my trip is nearly over. Ill see you guys at home soon.

(P.S. One of my pics I took is on the front cover of the summer CLD newsletter, sweeeet!)

(P.S.S. Im giving serious thought to moving to Colorado within the next year. We'll see.)

In Christ,

Matt Murnan

July 11, Day 11

Hello friends and family,

Oliotia from Uganda! I am enjoying the wonderful weather here, around 80 right now, and its considered hot. Today we took the kidz from the orphanage to a pool in Kumpala, the capital, about 15 minutes away from where we are staying in Nansana. The team is getting along great, and I am truly loving the country. Its different from last year, everything is more spaced out in time frames and we are getting a lot done. Here are a few things I can remember from the past week and a half that has happened or amazed me... or both!

- At least 2 kids were healed from the cancer ward after prayer. I took part in the prayer, God did the healing. Both were dealing with pains and cancer in the stomach. One of them was able to finally eat, and the other got up and was dancing around, he had a huge smile on his face. Praise Jesus!
- The Kids at the Orphanage (Kidz house) are doing great, and a majority of them are going to school, which is hard to come by in Uganda, it costs a lot. I got to look over a few of their books (grades) for the term, seems like they need a bit more studying :)
- We have slashed up some bush about 100 yards long and hoed the ground to make a road for the farm in the romote village. It was a lot of work, but it was great.
- We built a small 1 room house for a lady named Mamma Flavia in 4 days, with the help of some hired Ugandans, of course.
- We have worked in the slums, loved on the kids there, and have met several ladies that we will be pouring into in the next few weeks. Its been amazing hearing their stories and being able to pray for and with them.
- Morning devotion is awesome, and its getting better every morning. I got to lead one in worship so far. It was fun, but I haven't done it in a long time, so I was a bit rusty.

That is just a few things that is happening now. Its been great so far, and I love everything about it. It has been very busy and hard work, manual labor. I probably have lost a good 5 pounds already. The food is amazing, nothing processed, all fresh. Take that America! Ha. I will be adding pictures soon, hopefully a few before I get back. Thanks for the continuous prayers, and I hope to update again next week. Unfortunately last week I was unable to update because of time constraints and the fact there were no vacant computers to use at the internet cafe. Love you guys, peace out.

In Christ,
Matt Murnan

Uganda trip info

Hey everyone,

Thanks for taking interest in me and the trip Im taking. I look forward to sending updates to you all. I truly appreciate all the prayers (future and present) and funding any of you have or will be sending my way. Thank you.

First, God has blessed me with all the funds I needed last sunday, amazing! He took care of all the funding for the trip (~$4000), all the bills in the states, and all the traveling needed. So kudos, God. So my physical needs were all met, again I thank you guys for any help with that.

Second, prayer needs. Besides the obvious (safety), pray that God uses me and the rest of the team as His instruments to bring him glory, to whatever ends that may be. That we may have energy everyday to do what needs to be done, and to be content with what each day brings. Pray that we will rely on Him alone, and to then lean on eachother for anything that comes up. Pray that the people we will be coming in contact with, and that God softens their heart as we do our best to be a testimony of Love. Pray that we will leave all our expectations and comforts we normally have behind and to live a day at a time, enjoying the small things and knowing that our every action has consequences. Pray that we don't get distracted with any temptations, small things, spiritual warfare, lack of technology, discomforts, or homesickness.

I think thats about it for prayer requests. So yeah thats a lot, but still, I appreciate the prayers.

Lastly, THIS IS IMPORTANT! I have decided to have all my future updates on a blog. I may or may not update in any other way, so rely on this. There is a way to subscribe (the button that says "subscribe"), but there may be other things to that. Im not totally sure on that. But if you want to check back periodically, there might be some new news or maybe a few pics up, that just depends on the internet there. I may send out emails that tell you to check the site. Ill do my best to do that. Also, Ill try to update my status on facebook (add me if you haven't yet, I have to accept your friendship, and I leave monday, so do that asap) to send links to the blog. Sooo, your PRIMARY source of news will be on the BLOG. Here is the site address...

http://mattmurnan.blogspot.com/

I thank you guys again so much for everything. I know God is gonna be awesome in all this, and blessings be on each of you. Keep striving toward the Creator!

Love in Christ,

Matt Murnan