Project 12: July

July!

My birthday! That was the main event! I <3 my birthday. You know how everyone is sad on December 26^th, the day after Christmas? Well, that is me on July 24^th, the day after my birthday. ;)

My birthday was filled with a lot of fun, laughter and four year olds!

Ministry Happenings:

Dave and I hosted small group again this month and it was such a blessing. I can’t even begin to express how much my heart was encouraged by studying the Bible and praying with my brother and sisters in Christ.

School – July proved to be a lot better month than June did for school. The kids know the rules and can understand them now and they know basic English to communicate. Now that routines are established I am really trying to focus in on the gospel and on sharing as many Bible stories as I can.

I had a student quit and was asked if I wanted a new student. After praying and thinking about it I declined. I want to use the last two months I have with the kids to zone in on the gospel rather than trying to get one student caught up on two months of missed school. It is hard to make a decision like that.

I’m still teaching the 7^th grade girls Bible class. We just finished two books on beauty and the body and now we are studying women in the Bible.

I know in Dave’s class the junior high students are asking lots of questions so please be in prayer for him that He can answer from a Biblical perspective. 

Notable Events:

Pam and Zama celebrated their 10 year anniverasy and the entire school wore purple. It was an exciting day for everyone. Dave and I offered to watch Zak and Kyron so they could go on a date and we just love having them over! 

We made animal pancakes and Kyron and I made her name using washi tape. After we wrote her name she looked at me and said "What about the washing part?" I was confused for a minute and then I just cracked up! It does have the word 'wash' in it! Clever little girl she is! 

Tea with the ladies from church – once a month ladies from our church get together for tea and pastries. It is nice to connect with other Christians and … pastries!

Hledan Center – Okay! So there is this fancy fancy mall right on our corner but they haven’t opened since we have moved here because of paper work or something dumb like that. Well, they finally opened! The mall has two important things: a spa and the western grocery store I shop at will be opening on August 21^st. That means I won’t have to leave my block for groceries. I’m so excited! The spa in there is amazing I actually went two days in a row. I’ll have to post about that some time because it was really fun!

Soccer – the guy teacher and students from school played a big soccer game on a Saturday. I did not go because I was sick and tired but Dave had a great time and they won so that is always fun.

ChaungTha Beach - Dave and I had a 3 day weekend so we headed for the beach. I'll be sharing more on that soon. 

Sight Seeing – We visited an Anglican church downtown. It was really pretty!

New Restaurants

I always thing we don’t try new places but then I look at my daily journal and think WHOAH! We tried a lot of new places! 

The Press – A new coffee shop near downton Yangon. They have the best mocha I have ever had (beats Starbucks any day) and they have good wifi! That is how I have been blogging. I work in batches and schedule them on Sunday.

Easy – A coffee shop I discovered that is very near my apartment! They also have good wifi and I have been there a couple of times as well.  I’m so thankful for the wifi that is close by!

Masters – a 3^rd coffee shop we discovered. It is also super close to our house! It does not have wifi but they do have really good food and they also have a lot of board games! The coffeehouse is actually a ministry where they teach English to locals for free but share the gospel with the teaching as well.

Pepperonis – A pizza place! The pizza was decent but what I loved was how clean the compound was plus they had beautiful views of Shwedagon – the largest pagoda in SE Asia.

Golden Pho – A new Vietnamese restaurant. It’s really close to The Press coffee shop so I call that a double win. This restaurant has yummy noodles, pho, rice egg rolls and sugar cane juice! Which I drank as a child all the time growing up so it was such a yummy treat!

IT Food Centre – Okay! There is a restaurant we walk by every day and Dave and I have commented how unsanitary it looks. Well, my co-worker knows I love naan and rotti (Indian breads) and she said she wanted to take us somewhere where we could get just that and lo and behold it was this place. 

I was sure I was going to get diarrhea but I didn’t you guys! AND the food was so yummy! Like so good! I’m so thankful my co-teacher took us there and we plan on taking our families when they come and visit.

KFC – Okay, we didn’t eat here but the first American fast food chain came to Myanmar – KFC! Dave and I were in the area so we thought we would stop by but there were more than 100+ people in line. And let’s be real – I’m not waiting 2 hours for KFC.

Myanmar Restaurant to Trusty 999 Shan Noodles – One day after church Dave and I set out to find a Myanmar restaurant that had great reviews. We walked and walked and walked and let me just tell you that hungry + Myamar heat + not finding a restaurant makes for a real case of hanger! We ended up going to our trusty 999 Shan Noodle shop for a big yummy bowl of spicy noodles! We go there a lot! It’s my favorite place.

Books Read

I read books this month you guys!

I finished the Old Testament, which is huge for me! I also read 'Dawn of Liberty' by Michael Phillips which is the 4th book in The Secret of the Rose series. This book had a whopping 576 pages so it took me a while but it was so so worth it.  I highly recommend this series of books. It shares a lot about WWII but more importantly it talks about God being our Father in a way that has revolutionized how I see God as my Father. Read it! 

Here is Dave’s list from June and July. He was disappointed I left his list off from last month so I told him I’d add it in this month.

June:

Basic Christianity by John Stott – 174 p

Don’t Make me Count to Three by Ginger Hubbard – 155 p.

Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo – 270 p.

A Wrinkle in Time by madeleine Lengle – 232 p.

Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkinson – 126 p.

Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling – 173 p.

Rooms by James Rubart (audio book)

July:

I’m Glad you Asked by Boa and Moody - 277 p.

Speare by Bronze Bow – 255 p.

Love one Another by Gloria Chisholm – 131 p.

To Fly Again by Gracia Burnham – 202 p.

The Kings Fifth by Scott Odell – 264 p.

Seeking Allah Finding Jesus by Nabeel Quireshi (audio book)
The Seven Secrets of Highy Effective Families by Stephen Covey (audio book)

How was July for you friend?! I guess the question now is how is August going???