explorin' the grand canyon of asia.

rode a train for 8 hours and saw some pretty beautiful countryside...

peanut butter pumpkin bread helped make those 8 hours go by a bit faster.

best little sketch hole-in-the-wall you can imagine. 

on our way to see the canyon: 2 hours up windy curvy roads--they even passed out vom-bags just incase...

majestic mountains (we climbed to the tops!)

exploring the gorge below.

thankful for this reminder of faithfulness.

explorin' and posin' (everytime we pose for a picture, bunches of asians snap our pic too...)

a little glimpse of fall.

roomie love!

bros lookin hardcore.

because who wouldn't want this as a snack after hiking 8 km?

glory! glory!

finished our weekend with a 12 hour train-ride back...might've been the most culturally real thing i've done yet. here was my seat buddy.

promises to cling to.

living in a place that is so far from comfortable and different than normal, i regularly seem to evaluate what i truly believe. so often i forget the identity i have been given as a daughter of the king, and i stray from the truth of His promises. one of my first weeks here i made a list of His unwavering promises that i must cling to and know as true...it's been a neat exercise to turn to these again and again, remembering WHOSE and WHO i am. hope you might enjoy being reminded of these truths and can cling to these promises wherever He might have you:

• God is FOR me (romans 6:23).
• His Spirit intercedes for me (romans 8:26).
• He works all things for my good and His GLORY (romans 8:28).
• His ways are higher than mine (isaiah 55:8-9).
• when I have merely plans, He has PURPOSE (proverbs 19:21).
• He goes before me and will not forsake me (deuteronomy 31:8)
• He has called us to nations and will go with us (matthew 28:18-20).
• He calls us BELOVED children and has LAVISHED grace upon us (1 john 3:1)
• He WILL answer what we ask of Him in prayer (john 14:14, 15:16, 16:24)
• He promises streams of LIVING water to flow forth from our hearts (john 7:38)
• He formed me and created me in His image: fearfully and wonderfully (psalm 139:13-16).
• His word guides me to purity (psalm 119:9).
• He WILL be exalted among all nations (psalm 46:1)

watermelon tasting.

i keep thinking the "weird" of this place is becoming normal...and then something so absurd happens, i know i'll never really get used to it! today's moment happened at the grocery. going to the grocery in america is usually pretty average, easy, and unsurprising. the grocery is asia is about the exact opposite: saleswomen shout at you on every aisle to buy their product, chips have flavors like 'spicy shrimp', and it is rare to feel successful upon completing your shopping.

i was shopping for our family dinner and simply needed some watermelon to use for our fruit kabobs. turns out this grocery only had GIANT watermelons that certainly wouldn't have survived the scoot ride home. i mustered up the courage to gesture and ask if i could buy only half of a watermelon (another thing i'm learning about this place: rules are more of suggestions and asking gets you pretty far)! i successfully communicated my request, and my new fruit lady friend disappears to cut my watermelon.

when she returned holding the dripping, juicy melon, i'm so pleased to see she has half, and it looks like i can buy it. she begins shouting to me in her local dialect (of which i know ZERO), so i just keep telling her "wo yao" (i want it). next thing i know my new friend sticks her FAR from clean fingers straight into the watermelon, snatches a bite, and shoves it into my mouth...dirty fingers and all. laughing in shock, i taste the watermelon and try to ignore the dirt kernels crunching alongside. my little friend was so pleased that i liked it and seemed pleased with herself for allowing me a taste. it was a perfectly asian moment where i had to laugh instead of cry, because what can you even do? and in that moment be thankful that although i live in a place of utter chaos, i am developing a weird love of the absurdity. fortunately the melon was good and our kabobs were a hit!