The autobahn in Germany isn’t what i had imagined all those years when that Kraftwerk song filled my mind with an inane rhythm.  It just looks like an interstate in America, except that interstates have a pretty, grassy median separating traffic.  Most everybody seemed to be going around 120 – 140km/hour with the fastest being just when we entered from Holland with two Holland-plate cars seemingly chasing each other at around 200km.  That is fast.  The flatness of Holland gives way to gently rolling hills, and then more undulating countryside.  It was surprising to see so much greenery in Germany, with lots of cornfields providing a gentle covering, pleasing the eyes.

After being shocked at knowing that the toilets along the autobahn are the same as the ones in Cambodia (grass and trees and fences), ((later told that this is not common in Germany)), we make it to the campmeeting held at a youth hostel in Rohn.  After helping my ride friends set up their huge orange tent in the rain, i head for the main building where a room has been graciously provided – nice!  There are 3 bunk beds, with an elderly man in one, a young man in another, and then me.  This arrangement lasted from Sunday to Friday, when there were several South Americans who joined us.  The two roommates are nice, but i can only communicate with the older one by gestures.

…

in germanyRead More »

The ferry taking me to Holland is said to be the largest hydrofoil-style ship in the world.  It was comfortable, and i learned one important thing while on it.  In the section of seats where i was, there was a TV screen placed up and in front for all 40 or so people who could sit there.  I was reading the Japanese 1858 Great Controversy, but my eyes kept wandering upwards to the screen.  Amazing how much power the moving picture has over the mind.  It reminded me that sometimes even when you can see the live thing happening in front of you, the screen sometimes holds more attraction.  Probably it is because the pictures change frequently and quickly, always making one look forward to what will be displayed next. 

Why was this of interest to me? – Because it made me more determined than ever to put the Great Controversy book to an animated movie.  If even i want to look up at moving pictures of worthless things rather than keep my eyes focused on the printed page (and right now while i type this the scenery is moving by quickly while on a train in Germany, so i’m not concentrating wholly on the typing!), then i know for sure that other people who don’t even realize the value of these words from God would rather have some moving picture to keep their attention.  Lord, please give me wisdom in how to move forward in this project.  It is really too big for me, but then all of life is.  But with your Holy Spirit working on my heart, if i humble myself to be directed, i can become omnipotent!  Wow!

…

in hollandRead More »

I’ve never flown over Iran and some of those other countries before, so looking down from the airplane window was quite moving.  I was led to pray several times for the Christians that may be down there now, or that will be in the end times.  A few weeks earlier i had read about some noble woman in Pakistan who had accepted Christ in the 1960s, and her hardships and trials.  No doubt it would be even more difficult today.  How are we going to get the 3 Angels’ Messages to them?  Don’t they have a right to have a chance too?  If i was born and raised on the ground directly under this airplane, how would i ever even get the chance to hear the truth?  Many thots to crowd the mind…..

The scenery is just brown desert stretching in all directions, with a few low mountains here and there.   Seeing Mt. Ararat just like it was shown in the National Geographic magazine was cool.  It is beautiful, with a crown of snow even in the middle of July.  After crossing the Black Sea, the scenery changed from the rocky brown seen earlier (after the sandy brown of western Pakistan and then most of Iran), to a green that got darker and darker as we travelled over Europe.  It was interesting that anywhere you could see a little dab of lighter brown, or of green before, there would for sure be a village or town.  But now there was just greenery everywhere, and it looked like the people don’t live so recognizably solely in a village or town with others.

This was my first time flying in the daytime into England, and the lovely green and the very carefully deliniated boundary lines, usually with green bushes or trees, was interesting.  The streets and towns all looked to be carefully laid out and well-ordered.

…

in englandRead More »

My computer that i burned up in Burma, then got fixed in Bangkok, is on the fritz again.  Once in a while it will boot up when pressing down hard on the area between the touch pad and space bar.  It seems to be directly over the hard drive, so i’m thinking it’s some kind of problem with the connection to it.  On the internet i see where there is a Toshiba repair shop here in Pune so happily take it there.  The man runs the disk check program and looks at a few things, then says that this is an Asian-made computer, so he can’t fix it.  Hey man, tell me that at the first alright?  I do appreciate your trying to fix it for me tho 🙂

I go to the Marathi church on Spicer campus, and am allowed to give about an 8 minute testimony about the work i’m doing in spreading the 1858 Great Controversy.  The people seem genuinely interested.  There was a special appreciation ceremony for a student from Kenya who sold more Marathi SDA literature last year than anyone.  The main sermon was by the Literature Evangelism Director calling for more people to enter the LE work!  I was amazed how God worked it all out, for me to be there on just that day when everyone’s minds were directed to the LE work already, and that i could play a small part in it.  Thank you Lord.

I spend a few days with a family near the Union headquarters.  It is lots of fun to play with the kids, and i get quite lonely for Japan at nite when everyone has gone to bed.  The father’s belief on just about everything is the same as mine, and we have deep, interesting talks about the 3 Angels’ Messages etc.  He has had quite a hard time from his SDA brethren, but he still goes to church and works with and for them.  At the Salisbury Memorial Church i have the opportunity to give a 15 minute talk during the mission report time on Sabbath morning.  I give my talk, ending with the train story from chapter 30 of the 1858GC.  The people seem quite interested. 

…

in india 2006 – iiiRead More »

After nearly two months in this country, you think i’d have put up a detailed account of my experiences on this blog by now, right?  Accha (OK).

Landing at Chennai airport at 5:30am on April 25, it was a slightly pink sky that greeted me back to India after an 8 year absence.  I couldn’t believe the customs people didn’t want to go thru all my stuff, even thinking the guy waving me on must be looking for a bribe, but of course i don’t offer, and he still waves me thru anyway.  Whoa!  Maybe India HAS really changed in the last 8 years.  The airport is dumpier than probably any city’s with over 100,000 people in advanced countries, but we are in the 4th largest city in this country, with over 6,000,000 inhabitants.  The Thomas Cook exchange counter has bad rates, so i exchange the smallest thing i can find – a 1,000thb (baht) note.  I’ve been carrying 70Rs with me in Japan these last 8 years, and now i can finally put them to use!  Interesting how each country has its own dead leaders or poets or buildings that they like to call money….

Stepping out of the airport brought it all back to me – this is India!  Honking horns, nasty smells, people calling out to you to take you somewhere etc. etc.  I’ve been told that the train station is around 400m away, so head out in a likely direction.  After asking directions a few times, i see across the road on the other side of the thatch shanties, a station.  The man refuses my 10Rs (45Rupee=$1) note that i’ve been carefully saving for the last 8 years.  It is torn and is taped back together.  unnnnnn  I think i remember that’s why i took it back to Japan, because no one here would take it last time – ha! 

…

in india 2006 – iiRead More »

The Colombo, Sri Lanka airport is beautiful when you come in – high, glass walls, beautiful polished granite floors, moving sidewalks, spotless toilets.  I thot i was back in Japan.  Then i saw the sign on the wall: “Made possible by a loan from the Japan Government.”  That is just the main terminal wing, but when you get to the lobby and outside, you realize you are in 3rd World.  Immigration was interesting, as the officer changed his date stamper from the 6th to the 7th just before he took my passport 🙂

My friend has graciously driven his van to get me, and he takes me to his friend’s guest house where he kindly allows me free use of an empty room.  The room has its own shower, and i get an auspicious feeling when with just one whack of my shoe i knock a cockroach off the wall straight into the smallish drain hole in the floor.  Gone.  Maybe my cockroach destroying skills have improved since leaving Japan to the point where i can represent some country in the cockroach-extermination Olympics?  Is that on Animal Planet?

I’m awakened in the morning by a lady bringing me my breakfast – some kind of drink, and spicy garbanzos with rocks.  It is a rude awakening that i’m no longer in even 2nd world countries – this is really close to Indian style!  But it tastes quite nice (no, not the rocks, the beans in the rocks) until my taste buds are all worn out and quit making sense.

…

in sri lanka – 2006Read More »

Yesterday, the first day of the 45th year of my life, proved to be quite an interesting day.  India is many things – frustrating, hot, nasty, conniving, dirty, lying, noisy, tasty, hot, crowded, smelly, and did i mention “HOT”?  One thing it is not, and that is “boring”.  Open your window and see a world that is sometimes stranger than fiction; talk to someone and learn that logic plays no part in some people’s lives; smile at someone and say “hi” to get an almost-lifelong (it seems) “friend”.

I stayed in India for 4 months in 1998, helping a self-supporting pastor, and helping set up the accounting books for an orphange.  Many things i had learned up to then in schools and life were proven wrong by staying here, and i had a terrible time trying to regain my confidence in people again, (and in keeping additional hair from falling out 🙂  Actually, the hair outage stopped after 3 days of seaweed eating in Korea, and the human-confidence factor was restored about 1 day after returning to Japan.

So this time, what will happen?  I made it here on Tuesday, and had some experiences Wednesday, but yesterday was super interesting.  First, my friend came to visit in my hotel room in the morning, bringing some lovely chapati and okra with just one hot pepper in it.  I have a supply of food with me, so spread some peanut butter on the chapati, and ate a few handfuls of raisins, had a sesame-sugar (jiggery) combination brought from Sri Lanka, and topped everything with a Vitamin C tablet.  “Hotel” has a nice ring, and may raise some eyebrows about missionaries living high, but at 200Rs. (4.5dollars), i could live much more cheaply here than staying in a normal apt. in most developed countries.

…

in india 2006Read More »

Well, Thailand has come to be my 3rd home it seems.  It is great to be able to stay in a country that is free to the spread of the gospel, has a free visa chop at the airport, has caring SDAs who will help support your work by giving a place to stay, has most of the things needed to live comfortably like doctors, raisins, computers etc., and that is centrally located so that transportation fares to other SE Asian countries are low.  Thank you Thailand!  Thank you Thailanders!!

Arriving from the airport, i head straight for Pantip with my computer.  90 minutes of poking, and mostly just changing out memory cards finally leads the repairman to say the control chip seems to be the problem, and that i need to bring it to the shop next door the next day.  It will start when you press down hard on the keyboard around the F,V,C area.  But otherwise, nothing happens when you press the power switch.

The next day finds me of course at the repair shop with my precious Toshiba.  It is quite a lonely feeling handing it over, and knowing i’ll be without for up to one week.  An even worse feeling is knowing it’s probably going to cost a lot to get it working properly again 🙁

…

in thailand 2006 – ivRead More »

Coming in from Cambodia was strange, as all of us whities got shunted off to one place (Poi Pet) where we had to wait over 2 hours for our bus to come.  I knew the casino bus was running to Bangkok for a cheaper price, but knowing how things often don’t go as expected, i decided to play it safe and take one company all the way to my final destination.  Mistake this time.  Oh well, i arrive in Bangkok probably around 3 or 4 hours later than necessary, and in the middle of a demonstration against the current prime minister.  Just glad to catch a bus to the Chinese Church, where the pastor insists i stay with his family instead of in the primary room at church.  It sleeps very well, except that the covering sheet is more like a quilt, and causes a bit of sweat in the 29degree Bangkok nites.  Having a real bed to sleep on is quite a luxury, thank you pastor 🙂

Wanting to sleep, but knowing that things need to get done, i wash the red Cambodian dirt out of all my things, and go to Khao San area to get a visa for M, then over to Pantip plaza and get some CD-Rs to burn the movie i hope to make of some of my travels.  I’m really looking forward to meeting the two young men who come to English lessons, and who join readily in Bible reading and singing worship songs, but only one of them is here tonite.  I go out to eat with the Filipino teacher, and when it is time to pay, he acts like he will pay it all.  I insist on paying my part, and then he says “It’s my birthday”, so i happily pay for both of us, even buying a little sweet and giving it to him.  After taking a bite or two, he says laughingly, “It’s a joke, it’s not really my birthday”.  This is one of the rudest, most unchristlike things i’ve seen on my whole trip.  (No, he didn’t offer to pay either.)  I tell him that we as Christians must always speak the truth, because the liars will be outside the New Jerusalem.  He just smiles.  I forgive him, and pray that he repents.

…

in thailand 2006 – iiiRead More »

Somehow we find the bus on the Cambodian side taking us to Phnom Penh, and here another little miracle occurs.  For some reason, the seat next to me is the last one empty. (didn’t i wash a bit just yesterday?!)  A large man seats next to me, but then a small lady gets up near the front, and they exchange seats.  We don’t talk for around the first half of the trip, but then strike up a conversation, and i show her pics from the Philippines (her country), and after she says she is Christian (RCC), i show her the GC anime.  She remarks that it is very nice, and she wants to go to heaven too.  She gladly accepts the English GC book i offer her, and reads the 1st chapter right there.  Praise God!  Of all the 40 riders on that bus, God put probably the only one interested in the truth right next to me.  She didn’t crinkle her nose either, and in fact, asked me why i didn’t have a companion, so i guess my body odor was not the reason for the empty seat – haha.

The guide is a rarity – a Cambodian who can speak pretty good English and is a bit funny to boot.  He rejects my request to let me off at the Japanese embassy, but the Filipino next to me encourages me to ask again, and explaining i have all my luggage with me already, he consents, saving me probably 3,000khr (75cents) and 20 minutes or more.  Thank you!!!  I walk straight to the internet cafe for a quick 30minuter.  No going out at nite, so have to do it now – 5:10pm.  8 1/2 hours from Saigon, probably doable in 4 hours by car if they were quick about working at the border.   It was interesting how things were quite green in Vietnam, and so brown and dried up in Cambodia.  Hope they can make it until the monsoons in July!

…

in cambodia 2006 – ivRead More »

First time ever into this country.  40usd for a visa is the most i’ve ever paid anywhere, but just glad to get it.

After the Cambodian system-less exit process, the Vietnamese process seems quite logical.  The first officials ask for money, even saying “money” to me, but i protest quietly that i have already paid $40 for a visa….  After about a minute, they wave me on, and i get ripped off about 50cents with another official, and then i’m in.

You would think that border towns would be bustling with activity, but perhaps because of past wars, there is nothing in sight.  Many motorbike touts are telling me “10 dollars”, and i’m replying “3”.  One of them stays with me, and finally, cursing under his breath it seemed, he took me to his taxi company.  I wait under a low, metal roof for around 20 – 30 minutes watching the women work at stripping the sugar cane, and the men laze around in hammocks, or smoke absent-headedly.

The other 3 riders insist i take the front seat, so after a small protest, i hop in.  It is a nice car, and we whiz past super-green rice and corn fields.  It is probably over 2km to the first town, so it’s a good thing i didn’t carry thru with my initial idea of walking to find a cheaper taxi.  2km doesn’t sound like much, but with a backpack, and no shade in a blazing sun, it probably would’ve raisined me.

…

in vietnam 2006Read More »

Now that my time in Cambodia is drawing to a close, i finally take the trouble to learn the money code is KHR.  USD is gladly accepted most everywhere too, and in fact, even the little market vendors will take usd, and will give khr in change.  The problem is, when you flash usd, the greed element kicks in on some people, and the khr that comes back is puny.  I find that compared to most poor countries tho, the Khmer are the best at not trying to cheat and take advantage 🙂

I really should do more computer work, writing people etc., but playing and talking with the house members seems important too, and besides, there are many power outages.  Nearly all morning is spent teaching, and then a little over an hour in the evening with the English kids – super enjoyable, and tiring in a good, “working tired” way.

Doing a lot of praying the nite before regarding how to teach the prophecies well has been rewarded with God leading me to tell plainly, and in a way connecting everything together that even i did not recognize until it happened.  I hope and pray everyone there will be able to understand, and remember what was studied today.  The final fulfillment of the 1260, 1290, and 1335 day prophecy is yet future, and is strongly inferred by Christ dying “in the middle of the week”.  When will the last part of the week be?  I don’t know, but do know that Jesus will confirm the covenant with the 144,000 for 3 1/2 years at the end time.  May i be true to you, and stand firmly for the truth dear Jesus!

…

in cambodia 2006 – iiiRead More »

Breakfast on the last day of January 2006 is a heaping plate of fried rice, with a side of peeled and sliced cucumber, and a sliced half of a tomato, mostly red.  It tastes good, but i’m getting tired of the same thing morning, noon, and nite.  A few coconut-flavored pnuts help out this meal a lot 🙂

After writing for this blog a while, i set out my excellent adventure.  A 15 minute walk takes me to the main hiway where i await a bike pulling a big flat bed that around 20-30 people sit on, or failing that, a motorbike-taxi.  A motorbike pulls over.  I show a 500riel note (around 15jpy) and he says “no”, and speeds off in the same direction i wished to go.  The next man is not super-thrilled, but he takes me.  Seems like since they are going to that place anyway, they would rather have 500 than nothing.  I’m told later that 500 is exactly right for that distance, 1,000 if you have them bring you all the way home.  I feel just a touch of pride that my savvy has made up for a bit of the extravagance of Saturday’s ride – haha.

…

in cambodia 2006 – iiRead More »