Saturday morning (Friday night to you) we had time to at the host home to sleep in and unpack. Our family was so prepared for us: hangers ready for our clothes, shelves cleared for us to use. We had a big breakfast. Friday night I tried some of everything because I thought we were supposed to and now I may have a reputation as a big eater. Oops. :) Of course, Luke is the one Isaac calls the vacuum cleaner. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, sausages, grapes, milk, juice, and a bread like french bread with fruit and nuts in it and a cheese spread on it. I was very nervous about the sausages since I don't like them at home, but this was good and very different than ours. We sat around the table and talked and looked at the pictures I brought. The pictures were great to start conversation about family, church, Knoxville, etc. The sunsphere was hard to explain. Isaac said Jessica looks like Pocahotas! :) The girls enjoyed Samantha's myspace and seeing the pictures of Disney World. It is neat to talk with Christians in other places about their vision for the church. Incredible.
After breakfast we played a board game--blokus--which is a simple game but was hard for us at first. It's like tetris, but backwards.
The view from the balcony is amazing. Seoul is a tall city, they build up where we build out. From the 22nd floor I got great pictures of the area we're in.
Isaac asked how many people go to our church. He said "that's all? we have over 200 kids. We take our shoes off when we go in. That's 400 shoes!!"I don't think I could ever explain how welcoming the family has been. At the desk in our room was a basket with bottled water, candy, chocolate and kleenexes. As soon as we got there, Sayone put our flowers in water and put mine on the desk also. Isaac told us we can use the phone and internet (though I'm not comfortable doing that here--privacy is a rare thing here it seems.) Sayone gave us their phone number to give to our parents. They are great. We are very blessed to be with this family, and the girls, Hanul (sky) and Sarang (love) are precious!
Isaac and Sayone are teaching us to use chopsticks. We practiced with "trainer chopsticks" kind of like the plastic silverware we have for toddlers.
For lunch we had fruit and bolgogi. I was a little nervous again. 1-lunch was not far removed from a big breakfast. 2-I don't really like beef. But again, I kind of liked it. (I don't know if I really like it or if it's so many people are praying specifically for me and the food.)
Then we went to church to start working. Today was very hard for me. I flet like I never knew what was going on. We walked into the cafe thinking we were going to find out the plan for the day and stepped right into the action. Todd and Leeanne had gone early and a woman came by who had never heard the gospel. Todd and Pastor Won shared with her and she prayed to receive Christ right then. Then someone else came and someone else...as the rest of us arrived we were given an English/Hangul version of the "Steps to Peace with God" presentation and told to look over it quickly. Before we really knew what was happening, church members were bringing people in from the street and having us talk to them. We would read the English side and lead them through a prayer. We saw many decisions, but still I struggled with why we are here. The church members are really the workers. I think we--the Americans--are just drawing people here. I know that is important, but I felt somewhat useless at times.
I also wish we could spend more time with the team. I'm used to ending mission trip days by sharing stories of each other's day and being able to talk things through and pray together. Here, they take us back to our host home as soon as activities are finished. I know they are doing it out of consideration to us, to make sure we rest, but I would give anything for some time with Leeanne and Leah.
We spent the afternoon in the cafe talking to people as they were brought in. Then we had dinner at the church--another big meal. We were talking about how much we have eaten since we've been in Seoul and how stuffed we constantly are when a man came and told us to go downstairs for dinner. We had salad, soup, rice, spaghetti (with corn in it), and what I thought was chicken until someone later asked me how I liked the pork. Also, where we make sure everyone has a drink before the meal begins, here a drink seems to be an after thought. That is very different for people used to a lot of beverages and who are a little unsure about the food.
After dinner we had a time of games for youth. Everything is already planned out; we just participated with the students. The students are in a program to learn English, so our main role was to be the "native speaker" in certain word games.
We went back to the homes around 10pm (9 am in Knoxville). Samantha and I practiced "Behold the Lamb" for Sunday's service. Sorry to the people on the 21st floor. We forgot we weren't on ground level when we were practicing the jumps. Oops. When we were practicing I didn't know what Isaac and Sayone were thinking. They walked out of the room and I thought we'd done something bad. Then they came back with cameras.
Hanul showed me her "passport" for Bible school, so I showed her mine. Then we compared dollars to won. Even with the language barrier it was good. She got up and left and I thought maybe she was frustrated with the barrier. Then she came back in with her coin collection and showed me coins from the Phillipines, China and Australia.
I am exhausted, but still a little surprised that it's just 11:30 on a mission trip and we're ready for bed.
More later...
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Trip Updates #2--Thursday/Friday
My first flight! When we all met at the airport and Todd handed me my ticket, I asked my mom if we could put it in my baby book with my other firsts. :) My sweet parents stood outside the security gates and watched and waved until they couldn't see us anymore. And Karen, wow, she brought us each a bag full of our favorite homemade treats and a card of encouragement. I was at the airport with people from church, but really it just felt like family.
So I really enjoyed my first flight. It lasted all of 25 minutes. I was amazed at how slow everything seemed to go by. You know in the car how everything is just zooming past? I just kept thinking about perspective. How the higher we climbed the more we saw and yet the slower it moved and more controlled it appeared. Our perspective on the ground is so small, but God has it all under control. (A little Twila Paris anyone?)
As we were getting ready to land, the lady I sat with and I started talking about our destinations. When she heard what we were doing she pulled out some paper and wrote "Erin-Korea" and told me she would be praying for me.
The Atlanta airport was cool. Our layover was less than an hour, but we rode the "airport subway"--I don't know what it's really called. FYI: when the announcer says to "hold on" you should.
There were many Asian families waiting to board our flight. I don't know what I expected our flight to be like, but for some reason I was surprised by how many Koreans were on the flight. As we were waiting I thought how it could be possible, and so like God, that we could be flying with people we will talk to in Seoul. We could possible share the gospel with someone from the flight days after we land. The announcements and menus were in English and Hangul. The only Hangul word I picked out the whole flight was the word for "thank you" (calm salm nee dah). But I was still proud. "Hey! I know that word!"
The flight from Atlanta to Seoul was completely different than the flight out of Knoxville. The plane was huge! Three aisles of three seats and I was right in the center. Luke on the right of me, sleepy-drooling-likes-to-lean-over-boy on my left. (He woke up about 10 hours into the flight and turned out to be a really cool guy.) Each seat could start and stop the movie of its choice whenever or even play computer games on the touch screen. The food was good and the flight attendants amazing.
When we weren't watching movies, we could watch the progress of our plane on a map. I thought we'd fly across the states, but instead we flew north through Canada. We watched our plane on the map as we entered Manitoba--"Hello Leah!"--and even took pictures of the screen then. About 4:30 pm Knoxville time the coolest thing happened--we flew over the Northwest Territorities close to the North Pole. The shades on the windows were pulled down by our seats, but we walked to the window at the back kitchen and looked out at snow, ice and clouds for as far as you could see. It was amazing!!
About 6:30 pm Knoxville time we crossed the Beaufort Sea and again went to the back window to take pictures. You could so clearly see the ice floating in the water. And again, amazing! Most of the team was crowded up to a window that is about 4 inches wide and 12 inches high. People seemed confused that we would be so excited about the view and take pictures and video, but how could you not be amazed by the diversity, originality, and just "bigness" of creation?
We had our snack on the plane--a boiled egg-cucumber-cream cheese sandwich. Sounds weird, but it was pretty good.
Side note: the Miami Heat dancers were on our flight.
About 8:15 pm Knoxville time we flew over the Siberian Sea into Russia. It is so incredible to look out and see a place you've only before seen on a globe. Later I got the most amazing pictures of mountains in Russia.
I was finally able to fall asleep at 10:15 pm Knoxville time. I slept less than an hour and woke up as we were flying into China.
Even though it feels like all you do on an international flight is eat, I realized when we were eating dinner at 11:45 pm Knoxville time (12:45 pm Seoul time) that with the time zones we completely missed a time for breakfast.
We landed at Incheon Airport at 2:45 pm here. (1:45 am Knoxville.) Pastor Won, his family and some men from the church me us there. They had a van waiting for our luggage and taxis waiting for us. We drove to the church and so many people were waiting for us. They stood in front of the church and greeted us almost like celebrities, shaking our hands and hugging us. One girl said, "I've seen your picture!" and hugged me. The church has a cafe upstairs and auditorium downstairs. We sat down at the cafe tables and immediately people were asking what they could get us. We went downstairs and Pastor Won had us introduce ourselves. We took turns walking from our seat to Pastor Won; he would hand us the microphone and have us introduce ourselves. Then a child would bring us flowers, gorgeous bouquets. They handed out schedules and then we met our host families. Samantha and I are staying with a sweet couple (who speak English!) and their two amazing little girls who are letting us sleep in their princess bunk beds and use their Little Mermaid bathroom-a bathroom just like ours, but with a fancier toilet. Isaac, our host "dad" even gave us key cards to the house to use this week. The "houses" are what we would call apartments. We are on the 22nd floor. We can walk to the church in about 2 minutes and Todd and Leeanne are on the 20th floor. After getting situated in our host homes, Pastor Won's family, Isaac and two other men from the church took us to eat at a traditional Korean restaurant--"the Tree"--take off your shoes and eat with chopsticks. If I had to eat with chopsticks everyday, I'd starve. Ms. Won asked the waitress to bring forks for us, but mainly I think she was worried I wouldn't get any food. Isaac told us to expect appetizer, main dish and dessert. Food was continually brought to our table, one dish after another, dishes taken as soon as they were empty to make room for the next. We thought we were almost done--we were full--and we heard it was time for main dished. We lost count. We had, I think, four soups. I ate two or three kinds of kimchee. I have now tasted sushi. I still haven't swallowed sushi.
After dinner we had a short meeting as a team and then went back to our host homes to get ready for bed. (At that point we had been up for about 25 hours and had eaten the biggest meal of our lives at what was 6:30 am to our bodies.) Samantha and I were getting our pajamas out when Isaac yelled "Erin! Samantha! What do you think?" And then he came to our room wearing University of Tennessee pajamas.
The girls are precious! Even though they mostly speak Hangul, they want to play with us and have been bringing us stickers. The youngest is maybe three years old. We played for a few minutes before bed and it was just neat how she didn't seem to notice I was different or spoke another language. Smile--and Disney princesses--are pretty much universal. Before bed the girls came in and told me in English "Good night. God bless you. We love you."
So, our first 28 hours or actually covered 2 days and was very eventful and interesting.
More later...
So I really enjoyed my first flight. It lasted all of 25 minutes. I was amazed at how slow everything seemed to go by. You know in the car how everything is just zooming past? I just kept thinking about perspective. How the higher we climbed the more we saw and yet the slower it moved and more controlled it appeared. Our perspective on the ground is so small, but God has it all under control. (A little Twila Paris anyone?)
As we were getting ready to land, the lady I sat with and I started talking about our destinations. When she heard what we were doing she pulled out some paper and wrote "Erin-Korea" and told me she would be praying for me.
The Atlanta airport was cool. Our layover was less than an hour, but we rode the "airport subway"--I don't know what it's really called. FYI: when the announcer says to "hold on" you should.
There were many Asian families waiting to board our flight. I don't know what I expected our flight to be like, but for some reason I was surprised by how many Koreans were on the flight. As we were waiting I thought how it could be possible, and so like God, that we could be flying with people we will talk to in Seoul. We could possible share the gospel with someone from the flight days after we land. The announcements and menus were in English and Hangul. The only Hangul word I picked out the whole flight was the word for "thank you" (calm salm nee dah). But I was still proud. "Hey! I know that word!"
The flight from Atlanta to Seoul was completely different than the flight out of Knoxville. The plane was huge! Three aisles of three seats and I was right in the center. Luke on the right of me, sleepy-drooling-likes-to-lean-over-boy on my left. (He woke up about 10 hours into the flight and turned out to be a really cool guy.) Each seat could start and stop the movie of its choice whenever or even play computer games on the touch screen. The food was good and the flight attendants amazing.
When we weren't watching movies, we could watch the progress of our plane on a map. I thought we'd fly across the states, but instead we flew north through Canada. We watched our plane on the map as we entered Manitoba--"Hello Leah!"--and even took pictures of the screen then. About 4:30 pm Knoxville time the coolest thing happened--we flew over the Northwest Territorities close to the North Pole. The shades on the windows were pulled down by our seats, but we walked to the window at the back kitchen and looked out at snow, ice and clouds for as far as you could see. It was amazing!!
About 6:30 pm Knoxville time we crossed the Beaufort Sea and again went to the back window to take pictures. You could so clearly see the ice floating in the water. And again, amazing! Most of the team was crowded up to a window that is about 4 inches wide and 12 inches high. People seemed confused that we would be so excited about the view and take pictures and video, but how could you not be amazed by the diversity, originality, and just "bigness" of creation?
We had our snack on the plane--a boiled egg-cucumber-cream cheese sandwich. Sounds weird, but it was pretty good.
Side note: the Miami Heat dancers were on our flight.
About 8:15 pm Knoxville time we flew over the Siberian Sea into Russia. It is so incredible to look out and see a place you've only before seen on a globe. Later I got the most amazing pictures of mountains in Russia.
I was finally able to fall asleep at 10:15 pm Knoxville time. I slept less than an hour and woke up as we were flying into China.
Even though it feels like all you do on an international flight is eat, I realized when we were eating dinner at 11:45 pm Knoxville time (12:45 pm Seoul time) that with the time zones we completely missed a time for breakfast.
We landed at Incheon Airport at 2:45 pm here. (1:45 am Knoxville.) Pastor Won, his family and some men from the church me us there. They had a van waiting for our luggage and taxis waiting for us. We drove to the church and so many people were waiting for us. They stood in front of the church and greeted us almost like celebrities, shaking our hands and hugging us. One girl said, "I've seen your picture!" and hugged me. The church has a cafe upstairs and auditorium downstairs. We sat down at the cafe tables and immediately people were asking what they could get us. We went downstairs and Pastor Won had us introduce ourselves. We took turns walking from our seat to Pastor Won; he would hand us the microphone and have us introduce ourselves. Then a child would bring us flowers, gorgeous bouquets. They handed out schedules and then we met our host families. Samantha and I are staying with a sweet couple (who speak English!) and their two amazing little girls who are letting us sleep in their princess bunk beds and use their Little Mermaid bathroom-a bathroom just like ours, but with a fancier toilet. Isaac, our host "dad" even gave us key cards to the house to use this week. The "houses" are what we would call apartments. We are on the 22nd floor. We can walk to the church in about 2 minutes and Todd and Leeanne are on the 20th floor. After getting situated in our host homes, Pastor Won's family, Isaac and two other men from the church took us to eat at a traditional Korean restaurant--"the Tree"--take off your shoes and eat with chopsticks. If I had to eat with chopsticks everyday, I'd starve. Ms. Won asked the waitress to bring forks for us, but mainly I think she was worried I wouldn't get any food. Isaac told us to expect appetizer, main dish and dessert. Food was continually brought to our table, one dish after another, dishes taken as soon as they were empty to make room for the next. We thought we were almost done--we were full--and we heard it was time for main dished. We lost count. We had, I think, four soups. I ate two or three kinds of kimchee. I have now tasted sushi. I still haven't swallowed sushi.
After dinner we had a short meeting as a team and then went back to our host homes to get ready for bed. (At that point we had been up for about 25 hours and had eaten the biggest meal of our lives at what was 6:30 am to our bodies.) Samantha and I were getting our pajamas out when Isaac yelled "Erin! Samantha! What do you think?" And then he came to our room wearing University of Tennessee pajamas.
The girls are precious! Even though they mostly speak Hangul, they want to play with us and have been bringing us stickers. The youngest is maybe three years old. We played for a few minutes before bed and it was just neat how she didn't seem to notice I was different or spoke another language. Smile--and Disney princesses--are pretty much universal. Before bed the girls came in and told me in English "Good night. God bless you. We love you."
So, our first 28 hours or actually covered 2 days and was very eventful and interesting.
More later...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Trip Updates
Thursday, June 5, 6:55 am Knoxville/7:55 pm Seoul
Leaving for the airport. South Korea, here we come!
Leaving for the airport. South Korea, here we come!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
South Korea 2008
The purpose of our trip to South Korea is simply to help the people of Calvary Baptist in Seoul as they share the gospel with their city. We will be presenting the gospel in homes as well as working with students, kids & parents. Pastor Wan and the congregation of Calvary have done so much already for this week; we get to step in and be part of the harvest.
Thursday June 5
9:21 am Knoxville/10:21 pm Seoul
Fly from Knoxville to Atlanta (Delta 4666)
11:20 am Knoxville/12:20 am (Friday) Seoul
Fly from Atlanta to Seoul (Delta 91)
Friday June 6
3:10 pm Seoul/2:10 am Knoxville
Arrive in Seoul
meet the families; rest from flight
Saturday June 7
work with students
Sunday June 8
work with students
worship service at Calvary Baptist, Seoul
worship service at West Lonsdale Baptist, Knoxville
I'm not sure what time the service at Calvary will start, but as you pray for us keep in mind that an 11 o'clock service in Seoul takes place at 10 o'clock Saturday night Knoxville time. Todd will be preaching with an interpreter. Kellie, Leah, Samantha & me might be performing "Behold the Lamb," and our group may perform "Everything."
The service at West Lonsdale begins at 10:15 am Knoxville time, which will be 11:15 pm in Seoul. We will be 'attending' the service through webcams! Technology's kind of cool, huh?
Monday June 9-Wednesday June 11
We will be having Back Yard Bible Clubs. The plan, for now, is for Leah, Luke, Aaron, Samantha, Kellie & Robert to work with the kids through crafts and skits & stories with interpreters while Todd, Leeanne, Jeff, Anthony & me talk with parents through interpreters.
Thursday June 12
We get to be tourists. The only place I know for sure we will be seeing is the DMZ. The rest of the day is a surprise.
Friday June 13
6:05 pm Seoul/5:05 am Knoxville
Fly from Seoul to Atlanta (Delta 92)
7:00 pm Knoxville/8:00 am (Saturday) Seoul
Arrive in Atlanta
9:35 pm Knoxville/10:35 am (Saturday) Seoul
Fly from Atlanta to Knoxville (Delta 2048)
10:30 pm Knoxville
Arrive in Knoxville
The Itinerary:
Thursday June 5
9:21 am Knoxville/10:21 pm Seoul
Fly from Knoxville to Atlanta (Delta 4666)
11:20 am Knoxville/12:20 am (Friday) Seoul
Fly from Atlanta to Seoul (Delta 91)
Friday June 6
3:10 pm Seoul/2:10 am Knoxville
Arrive in Seoul
meet the families; rest from flight
Saturday June 7
work with students
Sunday June 8
work with students
worship service at Calvary Baptist, Seoul
worship service at West Lonsdale Baptist, Knoxville
I'm not sure what time the service at Calvary will start, but as you pray for us keep in mind that an 11 o'clock service in Seoul takes place at 10 o'clock Saturday night Knoxville time. Todd will be preaching with an interpreter. Kellie, Leah, Samantha & me might be performing "Behold the Lamb," and our group may perform "Everything."
The service at West Lonsdale begins at 10:15 am Knoxville time, which will be 11:15 pm in Seoul. We will be 'attending' the service through webcams! Technology's kind of cool, huh?
Monday June 9-Wednesday June 11
We will be having Back Yard Bible Clubs. The plan, for now, is for Leah, Luke, Aaron, Samantha, Kellie & Robert to work with the kids through crafts and skits & stories with interpreters while Todd, Leeanne, Jeff, Anthony & me talk with parents through interpreters.
Thursday June 12
We get to be tourists. The only place I know for sure we will be seeing is the DMZ. The rest of the day is a surprise.
Friday June 13
6:05 pm Seoul/5:05 am Knoxville
Fly from Seoul to Atlanta (Delta 92)
7:00 pm Knoxville/8:00 am (Saturday) Seoul
Arrive in Atlanta
9:35 pm Knoxville/10:35 am (Saturday) Seoul
Fly from Atlanta to Knoxville (Delta 2048)
10:30 pm Knoxville
Arrive in Knoxville
Wow.
In two days I will be on the other side of the world.
When I got to work this morning, one of my co-workers asked me if I was excited.
"Yes!!"
Then she asked if I was nervous.
"Yes!!"
I'm very excited about the mission trip part of this trip. I'm a little nervous about the staying-in-a-foreign-country-with-people-I-don't-know-who-speak-another-language part of this trip.
Two thoughts calm me: 1. They are probably just as nervous to have someone they don't know staying with them. 2. They are really just brothers and sisters in Christ that I haven't met yet.
Brandon Heath has a new song out that begins "comfortable, don't get comfortable" and later on says "you're gonna live like you used to dream." I had that song on my mind last night as I was cluttering my apartment with my "packing piles." I got in the car this morning and the first thing I heard..."comfortable, don't get comfortable." And then Jars of Clay's "Love in Any Language"...and then the morning guy commenting on the significance of that song for people on international missions trips...and then the Newboys' "He Reigns" ("...the song of Asian believers, filled with God's holy fire; it's every tribe, every tongue, every nation; a love song born of a grateful choir...") and then I just had to say "I get it. Thank You."
This trip has been so much harder to prepare for than any in the past. Most of the mission trips I've been on have been the bring-your-old-clothes-to-work-in type. This trip is more the need-to-look-nice-everyday-but-be-able-to-work-with-kids-and-always-be-prepared-to-leave-your-shoes-at-the-door type. And there are so many little details. Like finding out if your insurance is international. Needing a converter for electric outlets. Getting used to wearing a watch again (my time piece, the cell phone, would just be a paper weight in Korea.) And not knowing what the food will be like. (Just in case, my suitcase has a stash of power bars, granola bars, and dried fruit. Just in case.)
I hope to be able to update my blog while I'm there, but it's another unknown. I may be able to update everyday, or I may not be able to until I get home. Just keep checking.
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Sunsphere
The other day I had (another) training day downtown. Usually when I work at a branch, I drive to a park and eat lunch there; when I'm in training I eat lunch with a friend. I was in this training with a friend, but she only had to come to the after-lunch sessions, so I was on my own. I decided eating in my car in the parking garage would be better than the break room in the "training basement." I was a little disappointed I couldn't go to a park and thought I'd only have a view of cars and concrete. Boy, was I wrong! I got into my car, opened my lunch box, looked up and there was the sunsphere. I've seen the sunsphere a hundred times (even once from the inside), but I had never seen it like this. The garage was bordered by a half wall of concrete topped with a decorative rod-iron gate. The design of the gate in front of my car included a circle that perfectly framed the sunsphere. That in itself was cool, but then I started really looking at the sunsphere. And it was amazing. Every panel was reflecting the view below. At different angles, each panel was showing a different place, like a sphere made of security cameras. Side by side were views of roads, grassy areas, of buildings and construction sites. I could have watched it all day--I felt like I could see the whole city just by looking up.
So I was thinking...
I was expecting the boring and got the amazing. Isn't that just like God, showing up in the least expected places? I've seen downtown Knoxville too many times to count, but I saw it from a brand new perspective by not focusing on the city itself, but on what was above the city. Sound familiar? Focusing on Jesus brings a new perspective on "things below" (education, career, relationships, finances...), and a reminder that 'you ain't seen nothin' yet!'
(I have a great picture of the moment on my phone. I have no idea how to get it from the phone to a computer, so on my phone it stays.)
So I was thinking...
I was expecting the boring and got the amazing. Isn't that just like God, showing up in the least expected places? I've seen downtown Knoxville too many times to count, but I saw it from a brand new perspective by not focusing on the city itself, but on what was above the city. Sound familiar? Focusing on Jesus brings a new perspective on "things below" (education, career, relationships, finances...), and a reminder that 'you ain't seen nothin' yet!'
Colossians 3:2 "Set your mind on things above,
not on earthly things."
(I have a great picture of the moment on my phone. I have no idea how to get it from the phone to a computer, so on my phone it stays.)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Respect
I'm over whiny adults. When I worked at a school, I ate lunch with a group of teachers who talked a lot about how students don't show any respect for authority. "Because the teacher said so" was no longer a good enough reason to behave, to study, etc. We wondered where this lack of respect for authority all started. And then one day politics became the topic of conversation and I knew exactly where it started. As I sat and listened to a group of grown women call the president of our amazing country school-yard names, I thought "Hello! Where is our respect for authority?"
Here are some things we seem to need reminders of:
1. One man alone is not solely responsible for every situation in a country. It takes advisors, committees and counsel. One administration cannot work independent of the past administration; they build on each other.
2. We are adults. Our speech should reflect that. When you don't agree with your boss at work, do you call him names? Do you start a conversation about him with anyone who will listen so you can have one more chance to make your opinion known? Can we not voice concerns without resorting to the names we called our brothers and sisters in elementary school?
3. We have freedoms. Other countries would not even allow the freedom to be as disrespectful as we are. How lucky we are to even have a president and not a dictator daring us to speak ill of him.
4. There is a bigger picture. Are you paying more for gas and groceries? Me too. Have you been attacked by terrorists in your homeland? Didn't think so.
5. We are the envy of many. We take our citizenship for granted; others would give up everything for an opportunity to call themselves United States citizens. Those on the outside looking in clearly see what we've forgotten--that we are living in a great country!
Everyday I'm more proud of this country and more grateful to be a part of it. If you feel you need to complain about America, just know that you'll find no audience with me.
Here are some things we seem to need reminders of:
1. One man alone is not solely responsible for every situation in a country. It takes advisors, committees and counsel. One administration cannot work independent of the past administration; they build on each other.
2. We are adults. Our speech should reflect that. When you don't agree with your boss at work, do you call him names? Do you start a conversation about him with anyone who will listen so you can have one more chance to make your opinion known? Can we not voice concerns without resorting to the names we called our brothers and sisters in elementary school?
3. We have freedoms. Other countries would not even allow the freedom to be as disrespectful as we are. How lucky we are to even have a president and not a dictator daring us to speak ill of him.
4. There is a bigger picture. Are you paying more for gas and groceries? Me too. Have you been attacked by terrorists in your homeland? Didn't think so.
5. We are the envy of many. We take our citizenship for granted; others would give up everything for an opportunity to call themselves United States citizens. Those on the outside looking in clearly see what we've forgotten--that we are living in a great country!
Everyday I'm more proud of this country and more grateful to be a part of it. If you feel you need to complain about America, just know that you'll find no audience with me.
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