Afghanistan

Of the 19 countries, autonomous region of Tibet, and occupied territory of Palestine that I have been to, Afghanistan provided the heaviest amount of culture shock that I have ever experienced. It was literally as if I had stepped back hundreds of years in time. Right when I crossed the river from Tajikistan into Afghanistan, everything changed. The lush, green pastures and rolling hills turned into flat desert as far as I could see. Camels wondered in the desert, women completely covered themselves in berkas, and a Afghan man stole my sunglasses right off my face. The people were great, other than the thief of course. We actually got into a bit of a "situation" in which some Afghan men helped us get back across the border. What we saw in Afghanistan was an incredible cultural experience, but an even more incredible harvest experience. That land is a wide opened territory for the Gospel. The Afghan people are slowly coming out of an era of bondage in which terrorism reigned. This place needs the good news of Jesus Christ.

Tajikistan

The differences that we experienced in Tajikistan were felt as soon as we stepped off of the plane. It was blazing hot. Gold toothed men crammed themselves around a single doorway, attempting to get into the airport. They were wearing layers of clothing with sports jackets over it all. I was dieing of heat in an Underarmor t-shirt. Once we got into the airport, we had to get a visa to remain in the country. We did not see any signs or anything at all for that matter except for the line to get your passport checked. So we tried to just walk into Tajikistan. That didn't go over so well without a visa. They ushered us to an unmarked room...the only room in the airport. There were no windows, no chairs, no lights...just a desk in the middle of the room with a few pieces of paper on it. A Tajik man stood behind the desk and questioned us about what we needed. We gave him our passports and he slapped visas on them. We paid is US currency...of which he pocketed a nice amount I'm sure...and get into Tajikistan for 7 days. Some amazing things happened to us in Tajikistan. We stayed in the capital city, Dushanbe. Dushanbe was filled with cops. They were everywhere you looked. This was unsettling at first, but eventually we got used to it. The first hotel we stayed at was called the Vaskh, run by fierce Soviet babushkas. The room was terrible and the shower produced brown liquid when turned on. However, right across the street was a huge fountain and outdoor eating where we had kabobs, salad, and bread almost every night. Oh, and of course RC Cola. RC has a monopoly in Tajikistan. That's all they drink..and they love it. And we loved it too. We went on walks into the valleys outside of Dushanbe and saw incredible sights. Talked to a man who knew no English about his days in the Tajik army, killing Russians, met a little boy names Muhomad who thought we were from Los Angeles, and made some friends from Afghanistan who were studying in Tajikistan. We also saw a 70+ year old man walking around a grown bear on a leash. Two of my favorite memories of Tajikistan happened very close to eachother. We found a Christian book store and purchased many of our souveniers from them. We communicated that we would like to go to church with them and they gave us a map. We eventually found it and we got to meet some amazing people. We met a 19 year old boy who is studying to be a pastor and a 20 year old Russian girl who teaches the chrildren's Sunday school class. It was amazing to see a fully functioning church, completely led by locals, in the middle of Dushanbe. On our way back from our visit, we stopped by a large river and swam with some Tajik boys. I watched a kid fish with little more than a stick and walk away with more fish than he knew what to do with. It was an incredibly relaxing time as we rested in the river.

Russia

After leaving Dublin, we had brief stays in Liverpool, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. The Lord worked things out in amazing ways for us to get through those places. We landed in Riga, Latvia at around midnight and had no idea what to do. We got on a random bus and got off at what seemed to be downtown. There was no one on the streets, and nothing to do. We knew that we had to get to Estonia the next day, so we thought we might be able to get a bus...or else we were sleeping on the streets. We turned a corner and found the bus station. We caught the last bus to Estonia that night...it left 1o minutes after we got there. We then decided to catch a ferry to Helsinki, Finland. Latvia and Estonia were bazzar places. It was like stepping into some sort of twilight zone where people slept in until 10 (when everything opened) and bright colors didn't exist. These were obviously cold war countries.

We jumped on a train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, Russia. The ride was long (6 hours) and nothing overly exciting happened. A young Russian guy offered to buy me Vodka. He had already had 7-8 glasses himself. I graciously declined.

Once we got to S. Petersburg we had to immediatly catch a night train to Moscow. Russia was not an English friendly place at all. Thankfully, we met a guy named Andrew (picture above) who helped us get the ticket. There is no way that we could have figured it out without him. He was amazing to help us like he did. We still keep in contact with him.

We spent 3 days in Moscos and got to see almost all of the Kremlin. We went through some sticky dealings to purchase our airline ticket to Tajikistan, but we eventaully got it. The best pary about Moscow was the 2 free nights we got at the Courtyard Marriott. We had not slept in a bed for 5 nights or showered in 5 days. It was very nice to be able to relax before we hit the real 3rd worldly part of our trip. We watched the US tie Italy in a WC match late one night. We were hooked by now. The World Cup would continually captivate us throughout the trip.

Ireland

My first stop this summer was in Dublin, Ireland. We did not spend a lot of time in Dublin (only 1 day), but we walked around the whole city and took in many sights. Neither Geth or I had slept for around 40 hours, so we took a nap on the lawn of St. Patrick's Cathedral. We were travelling during the World Cup, so we got fish and chips that night and watched Italy play CR. We tried to watch as much of the cup as possible. We ended up sleeping on the floor in the Dublin airport that night...we had an early flight to catch to Liverpool, England.

Summer '06

So, as usual, I completely neglected my blog as I traveled all summer. If anyone at all out there happens to read this blog, you would know that this is a common practice. But (watch out cyberspace), I am back in the states now and plan to be a little more frequent with some posts. I am going to write down some thoughts on the summer and stories about places I went, and talk about stuff I have been reading or working on for classes. We'll see how it goes....

The Lamb and the Fuhrer

In sticking with the Great Conversations series and my new found interest in Ravi Zacharias, I just finished reading The Lamb and the Fuhrer. In this book, Ravi portrays what a conversation between Jesus and Adolf Hitler might be like. Although there is much in this work that I would like to comment on, I would like to focus on one idea presented. A third character, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is involved in much of the conversation. The scene occurs shortly after Hitler took his own life and he is now in a courtroom of sorts listening to the accusations brought against him. Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who plotted an attempt to assassinate Hitler. The attempt was unsuccessful, and Hitler had Dietrich killed. A question that Ravi presents before the dialogue even begins is, "What would Jesus have said when ethics comes into conflict with an ethic that chose to kill to stop the killing?" A professor of OT survey my freshman year proposed almost the same question. I did not have a sufficient answer. I still don't know if I do. Here is what the book proposes... Hitler turns to Dietrich and says, "So you accuse me of killing, but you yourself had no hesitancy to kill. Jesus, how can he be one of Yours if he too violated the image of God by attempting to kill me?" I will sum up Dietrich's answer in the words Ravi speaks for him... "The masquerade of evil was being played out. I had to chose whether to stand by or stand my ground...The person who stands his or her ground is not the one whose untimate criterion is his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue. The only person who stands his ground is the one who is ready to sacrifice all things when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and exclusive allegiance to God...My decision to eliminate you was born not for any personal reasons...When you silenced those who spoke out for the preservation of life, you crossed a line. That is not God's way; that is not the way of allowing us to be truly human...First you took sole and complete authority over law. Then [...] for the extermination of life. Then you silenced anyone who questioned your authority." "Any direction I looked for a solution, the answer became the taking of a life-either yours or standing back and letting the innocent continue to be killed. It was not so much that the choice was evil but that to leave the situation unchecked was evil...In the complexities of life you start with the sacredness of life, and as evil invades and powers seduce, there emerges a hierarchy of choices. I rested in God's power to raise the dead and on my willingness to protect human life as not merely a political ideology." Jesus says to Hitler, "Your first question should have been, 'How does one difine life?' How one defines ethics is based on how one defines life itself...I am life. I created life in humanity. You are made in the image of God, made to conform to Me, the image of His Son. I am ultimate reality and everything contrary is spurious." It is the hierarchy of choices that always troubled me. I have my own questions and opinions....what are yours????

The Lotus and the Cross

Ravi Zacharias has written a book entitled The Lotus and the Cross. This book involved a hypothetical situation where Jesus carries on a converstaing with Buddha. The story centers on a girl named Priya who has prostituted herself and whose life is in shambles. Priya is searching for meaning in life and a remedy for her pain when she encounters Jesus and Buddha on a private boat ride. The purpose of the book is to highlight the differences between Buddhism and Christianity without bringing offense. One of the main ideas that Ravi tries to get across is that Gautama teaches that there is no such thing as the "self". The "person" is just an illusion that we need to see beyond and realize that there is no real self. But Jesus points out that love is particular. God gave His son that WHOSOEVER believes in Him will have eternal life. Gautama also states that "Everything is impermanent" to which Jesus asks, "Even that statement?" Ravi exposes that Buddhism has no final word to rely on since it holds everything as impermanent. At the end of this dialogue, Jesus asks Gautama what he can offer to Priya. Gautama answers by saying that he offers the Tripple Gem:

• The Buddha - Enlightenment
• The Dhamma - the Teaching
• The Sangha - the Community

Then Jesus asks Gautama to look at them one at a time.

• The Buddha - Buddha no longer exists, neither does Priya. Therefore, the first gem is nonexistance.
• The Dhamma - There is no eternal word to preserve, no absolute to be guided by.
• The Sangha - A community consisting of those who believe that no self exists and who strive toward not desiring anything, including friendships and family, which make up their community.

Then Jesus tells Pryia what He offers her, The Pearl of Great Price. Christ offers Himself. The illustration at the end of the book(read it to find out!!)sums up the book and truly displays the differences between Buddhism and Christianity. This was a well written book. What I enjoyed most was how Ravi filled Jesus' dialogue with stories from Scripture. When Christ spoke, He would tell stories from His earthly ministry. Christ uses narrative from Scripture in His "apologetic" to illustrate and personalize the message to Pryia. Yes!!!