Spectacular Singapore Sojourn (part I)

Last week Wednesday, I got back from five days in Singapore! I had such an amazing time with my friend Ying-Ying! I met her at an English teacher`s Christian conference in Japan last year. She was teaching in Fukushima, but after the earthquake and nuclear disaster she had to go home to Singapore, but she invited me to come for a visit. I stayed with her family, her mom, dad, older brother, and younger brother in their apartment. Here`s something funny. The shortened names of the siblings, in order of oldest to youngest, was Yang, Ying, and Yung. I always thought that was just a stereotype of Chinese, naming their children similar like that. It wasn`t too confusing, though. I knew Ying-Ying, of course, and it was easy to remember that Yung, (pronounced Young), was the youngest. So that just left Yang to be the eldest. The confusing part was their second names, so I didn`t even try to memorize those, except for Ying-Ying, because hers is repetitive. Just remember Ying to the power of 2, Ying-Ying!

A little bit of background. Singapore is a small island nation on the tip of the Malaysian peninsula (which is south of Thailand), and actually contains the southern most point in Asia, so it`s quite tropical. It`s about 710 square kilometers in size, or 441 square miles. Basically, if there was no traffic, you could drive from one end of Singapore to the other in less than an hour. It`s one of the few remaining “city states” left in the world, though it wasn`t always it`s own nation.

As with most Southeast Asian countries, Singapore was a European colony for awhile, specifically a British colony from about 1819 to World War II, so nearly everyone (except the really old folks) speak English. After that, they were taken over by the Japanese from 1942-1945 and treated very badly. After the war, it returned to British control, but in 1963 merged with Malaysia. Due to religious, ethnic, and political unrest, that was pretty short lived. Singapore was predominately Chinese in ethnicity, British in administration/system (school, postal, medical, banks, etc), very diverse in religion (Christianity, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist), very wealthy and capitalist in its economics and moderate in it`s politics. Malaysia, on the other hand, was predominately Malay in ethnicity, Southeast Asian/Dutch in administration, Muslim in religion, poor and socialist in economics, and conservative in it`s politics. The two countries just couldn`t get along. So Singapore officially became it`s own nation on August 9, 1965.

All young men in Singapore have to serve 2 years in the military. That`s because they only have a population of 3 million, 5 million if you count the foreign workers. They are the richest nation in Southeast Asia with the best natural port, surrounded by poorer militant Muslim nations. That makes them a little nervous. These days when ports aren`t so important, they make most of their money through finance (banking; some call them the Swiss bank of Southeast Asia) though they also have one of the largest airlines in Asia, Singapore Airlines, which flies people all over the world. Also a good portion of their economy is in tourism.

Singapore is called the “garden city” because of all the flowers growing in the streets, and the “fine.” This last has three meanings. 1.) Fine as in “good.” 2.) Fine as in “fine weather.” And 3.) Fine as is “to pay a fine.” You get a heavy fine for littering, driving your car on the wrong day, chewing gum (you actually can`t purchase chewing gum in Singapore), eating in the subway station or train, and many more things. They don`t have room for litter or junk, so they want to stay as clean and beautiful as possible. They also have very strict rules about who can own a car, what kind of car, and when it can be driven. That`s because they are so small and if everyone drove, no one could get anywhere. Fortunately they have an excellent mass transportation system, even better than taxis, because the taxi lines are so long.

I arrived on July 1st, Friday afternoon around 5:00. Like Thailand, (and most of Southeast Asia, I suppose), Singapore is famous for it`s orchids. Here are some at the airport to greet me:



We dropped off my things at Ying-Ying`s apartment. As I mentioned before, they have a population of 3 million citizens and 2 million foreign workers. There is a huge housing shortage problem, particularly for the foreigners. Recently, the government has been trying to improve that by building lots of low-cost high rise apartments. That`s where she lives. It was a nice place, though a bit small for a family of five, maybe. She has her own room but her younger and older brother share. Her older brother is about 32. In America, it would be very strange for a 32-year-old male, even unmarried, to live with his parents still, but in such a small place it is a necessity. Housing and cars are super expensive. Ying-Ying said if you own both, you`re basically in debt your whole life. Her three bedroom apartment cost $400,000, just to give you an idea.

Here`s a funny poster in Ying-Ying`s room. I thought it was really cute. It says, “Don`t worry, I will pray for you.”



First, we grabbed dinner at a “Hawker Center,” the Singapore version of local street food:



At first I thought she was saying “Hooker!” Singaporian`s speak with a British accent. I remember the first time I met a Singaporean in Japan, he was Chinese with a British accent. I honestly can`t think of anything hotter than that.

Here`s what we ate. Chinese rice porridge, some type of fried dumpling covered in sesame seeds that was uniquely Singaporean, a traditional egg and pork Chinese dish I had in China but that was seasoned differently (in Singapore we had two, one with chilly sauce and one with salt) and lime juice:



Next, we went up in the Singapore Flyer, the world`s largest Ferris Wheel, for a nightscape. After that, we tried to catch the free “Wonderful show” in the events plaza, but we were at the wrong angle. But we got to see some beautiful night views. Here`s me sitting in front of the Marina Bay Sands hotel:



See the submarine thing on top? That`s actually a big park with a giant swimming pool. But it costs a lot of money to go up, so we didn`t. Here`s Ying Ying and me in front of the events plaza:



And us in front of the “double helix bridge” (thus named because it looks like a strand of DNA).



Here's a "magic moving building" that has metal tiles on it`s outside that move with the wind, giving it a watery,rippling appearance:



We got back to her apartment about 11:00 and I crashed. I slept on a futon on the floor in her room under the air conditioner. Most Singaporeans sleep on futons. It was quite nice.

Saturday, we had Indian curry with milk tea for breakfast, which upset Ying-Ying and my stomach`s a bit since we weren`t used to that much spice so early. People in Singapore dip flat bread (nan) into the curry with forks instead of their hands like in India (or curry and rice and dahl with their hands), while in Japan they eat it with rice and spoons. (I don`t think you can eat curry with chopsticks.) Then we went to Merlion Park to see the huge Merlion statue. What`s a merlion? Well, the name Singapore actually means “lion city” in Malay, because the legend goes that when a Malaysian prince “discovered” the island in the 1200s, he saw a lion and considered that auspicious. Actually, he probably saw a tiger, since lions have never lived on Singapore. It`s too hot. But before that, the country was a little fishing village。So a “merlion” combines a lion with a fish. It was designed in 1964 by an artist named Fraser Brunner to be Singapore`s mascot.

Here`s me beside the statue:



And here`s me at an interesting angle “drinking” from it:



We met this lady from Vietnam. She`s wearing traditional clothes. Here we are, standing in front of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel:



And me and Ying-Ying standing in front of an art museum shaped like a durian fruit. More about durians later. It`s the national fruit of Singapore, though they grow all over Southeast Asia:



The famous, historic Fullterton hotel from old British colonial days:



We went for a little stroll around the old town. We met some Japanese tourists and snacked on coconut ice cream. After that, we went back to Ying-Ying`s apartment because on Saturdays, her grandmother comes over and cooks a big lunch. Here are the clothes waving from all the apartment windows like flags in the heat of the day:



So much food! Curry and pork and chicken soup and fish and lychee fruit and Chinese herbal tea. Here`s a picture (the fruit is in the glass bowls):



Have I mentioned that Chinese people love to eat? I don`t think the Japanese do. The Japanese only THINK they like food, same for Koreans. They`re definitely not up there with the Italians and Americans and Chinese. You can tell a culture likes to eat if they`re constantly urging you to eat more, putting more food on your plate, saying they`re full but then eating more. Japanese don`t do that. The Japanese always make statements like "How are you so thin when you eat so much? Are you sure you can eat that all by yourself?" The Chinese say, "Oh, you`re so skinny! Don`t you like to eat? Come on, have some more, how about this? I don`t think you`ve tried that yet."

We were planning to go to rural Pula Ubin island that day, but because it was already the middle of the afternoon, we took a gondola to Sentosa island instead. Here`s a picture from the gondola, or ropeway:



Sentosa is called “Asia`s playground” because it has so many attractions, including Universal Studios, beaches, dolphin lagoon, indoor skydiving (hard to explain; basically a giant tube with high-powered fans that make you fly), 4D theaters, and a lot more. First, we went to the butterfly garden:



There was only one room of butterflies. The rest were insects and butterflies tacked to paper, which is beautiful, but kind of sad:



We went on a nature hike, but it was so hot we ended pretty soon and headed for the beach. Here`s the beautiful tropical sunset:



The military was practicing for national day on August 9th. Here are the helicopters flying the Singapore flag, red with a white crescent moon and stars:



The moon symbolizes the rising nation, the stars are the cultures: Chinese, Malay, Indian, and European. Red is for strength, white for purity.

We ended with a show called “Songs of the Sea,” featuring Singapore folk songs, fire, light, and water special effects. I`ve never seen water used as a screen before! It was pretty cool. Here's the opening song:



Here are the words:

Singapura, Singapura,
Sunny island set in the sea.
Singapura, Singapura
Pretty flowers bloom for you and me.

And here's the finale:


Here`s another merlion on Sentosa, lit up for the night:



We took public transportation back to her apartment and got to sleep around midnight. And that was all for Friday and Saturday! I`ll write more later.

25th Birthday Bash!

Wow, it`s been a long time since I blogged! I`ve been so busy! I just got back from five days in Singapore, and before that I had my 25th birthday on June 26th! Let me tell you about that first.

I can`t believe I`m a quarter of century old! But considering I`ve done more in the last 25 years than most people get to do in their entire lifetimes, I really don`t have anything to complain about. On Saturday, July 25th, I went with my friends Gale, Shino, and Shino`s boyfriend Daiki to the world-famous Toba aquarium, reportedly the second best aquarium in Japan. Shino and Daiki drove me there, and Gale met us at the aquarium.

Here`s my birthday picture at the aquarium, taken by the staff. They didn`t charge us just to take it with my camera:



First we saw a sea lion show, though I don`t like the way the Japanese treat their animals. The show was based on the legend of the “peach boy.” He and his friendly sea lion had to get their giant Toba pearl back from the evil oni (demon) and his sea lion by having a sea lion competition. It was pretty dumb. Why do the Japanese have to have a story for everything? The animals were totally clueless because they weren`t getting the right cues and did everything wrong, and then the trainers got mad and pulled on their flippers and yelled at them. They shut the poor penguin in the pearl box for about 30 minutes as part of the show. And they wonder why the animals don`t behave.

The penguins in the parade weren`t happy either. They were frightened of all the people and kept snapping at each other. It was really hot. Poor penguins! At least the baby in the bucket was cute.



Speaking of poor creatures, the crabs shaped like tanks kept flipping over. I wonder if they do that in nature? Sort of defeats the purpose of having an armored shell. I suspect they flip when trying to climb up the glass.

The trainers did a better job with the walrus show. They were funny and quite playful, blowing on harmonicas, smacking the trainers with their fins and pretending to laugh.



Here`s some baby beavers, though because of the glass you can`t see them so well:



Here`s an interesting goldfish exhibit:



Toba aquarium is probably most famous for their Dugong, an endangered animal somewhat like a manatee. Here he is eating:



The finless dolphin was also cute. He would come right up to the glass to observe us:





And here`s me beside a Harris Hawk. I have no idea what the guy was doing carrying a Harris Hawk around an aquarium, but it was interesting!



Shino bought me a really nice pearl bracelet made of local “reject” pearls. Only 10% of produced peals are considered “jewelry grade,” but these came pretty close. You had to look carefully to notice that each one either wasn`t perfectly round or was slightly discolored. But because they were “reject” pearls, they only cost 500 yen, or about $5.00. I`m glad they were cheap, because I think I lost the bracelet in Singapore!

We left around 4:00 to check out the famous wedded rocks of Ise. In Japan, they symbolize marriage. Lots of people marry there, and there`s no other rocks like that in Japan. Here`s Daiki and Shino beside them:



And all of us together:



For dinner, we ate curry at my favorite Indian restaurant. So good!

On Sunday, I went to church. Pastor Toshi talked about the Lord being our shepherd, since four mysterious sheep suddenly appeared in the cabbage field next to Max Value Supermarket. I fed them a carrot the other day, but I didn`t realize there was an electric fence, so I got shocked a little. They`re cute sheep, but we have no idea where they came from or who owns them. The only place in Japan that I`ve heard of that has sheep is Hokkaido, the northern most island. After church, and they had a little party for me afterwards with sandwiches and regular cake. Here we are all together, Pastor Toshi taking the picture:



In the evening, my Pilipino friend Karen came over and we had ice cream cake. I`ve always wanted ice cream cake for my birthday, but I didn`t think it right of me to ask anyone to buy it, so I bought it for myself from Baskin Robbins, the only good ice cream place in Japan. It was expensive, but really good!



She also got me these clothes because she said I need to start "dressing like a lady." I think she means that I usually dress like a boy. I suppose for the most part, that`s true.



So all in all, it was a pretty great 25th birthday. I have made so many amazing friends in Japan. I will miss them!

Until next time, keep praying and loving, no matter what the cost,
L.J. Popp

Kumano and school taikusai

Wow, the last few weeks have been crazy! Friday, May 23rd, I left right after school for my Kumano writers’ meeting. (Our group is called MEWS, though I don’t remember what it stands for.) I arrived around 10:30pm at night to be picked up by my friend Marissa, a Kumano local. I stayed with her and her cute kitten Zepher.

The next morning we had breakfast at a café overlooking the famous shi-shi no ishi (lion rock) formation and the beautiful Kumano beach:



Jacinda, also coming from far away, arrived at the café with the other local, Susannah, around 10:00am. Then we enjoyed a lovely sightseeing tour of Dorokyo Gorge. It was raining, so we were lucky that the boat was covered. Here’s some pictures:

The boat:



The gorge:



About halfway through, we took a break on a little pebble beach between Nara and Mie prefectures. Here’s Marissa and me:



A waterfall on the way back:



And turtle rock:



This was the person who took our tickets when we got on the boat and said “arigato gozaimas” as we left:



She’s dressed like an “ohimesama” or daughter/wife of a shogun or samurai. (Imagine the woman from the famous Akirakurasawa film Rashomon and you’ll see what I mean.) They dressed that way when they traveled along the famous Kumano Kodo pilgrimage road that runs from Tokyo to the temple complex on Mt. Koya. The people who owned the boat must have also had some franchise on Kumano Kodo as well, because they kept encouraging us every chance they got to visit that place too.

Here’s a view of the boat and river from the mountain roads:



For lunch, we stopped at a quaint little restaurant. They served really good pasta, pizza and pie. But we were really freaked out, because there was a little girl who kept coming to our table. At first, she looked to be about two or three, but when she came back, we could have sworn she’d grown! We finally figured out that there were two little sisters, about a year apart, dressed identically, and they never came out at the same time! That and the misspelling of “float” as “froat” on the menu gave us a good laugh.

Next, we drove to the famous tiered rice fields. It was very misty and beautiful. Here are some pictures:





Then we finally got around to our writers’ meeting. I brought a submission to a contest, the first 20 pages of Treasure Traitor and the synopsis. Those girls are so helpful! They really made the first chapter more realistic and tactile.

The next day, we got up early and had a second meeting. This time I read the synopsis, and they really helped me work out a better ending and add more tension. Yea!

In the afternoon we went to Onigajo, or demon castle rock. Really beautiful place. Here’re some pictures:





The following Friday, my school had our taikusai, or track and field day. All the different classes compete against each other. (Unlike American high school students, Japanese students don’t get to choose what classes they want. They stay in the same classroom and have the same classmates all day like American elementary schools, and teachers come around to the various classes to teach the different subjects. I really don’t like that system, because it means that a student really good at a certain subject might get stuck in a really dumb class, and a student who might need a little extra help in one subject has to struggle to keep up with everyone else. Also, there’s no freedom of choice.)

And something really hilarious, the warm up. Yes, Japanese students do this same warm up every single day of their lives in P.E. and before sports, and they’ve been doing it for the past 60 years. Some schools require it in the morning before first class. Some companies even do it! I can`t show you the video though, because it shows the students` faces. Can you imagine grown men jumping up and down? It’s funny to see 800 kids all doing it together.

I just wandered around for most of the day, talking to students and taking pictures. The most amazing event was how they could all jump rope together more than twenty times in a row.

At the end of the day, there was the “folk dansu,” performed the third year students, which I also participated in along with a few other teachers. First we did a Russian folk dance, then a modern Japanese dance, then an American modern dance. A student took some videos for me, but of course I can`t show them.

I was planning to stay home the next day, Saturday, and rest, but the weather was so beautiful and I was feeling down, so I went to the beach. I heard of a really nice one about two hours away in Kashgojima called shirohama, which means “white sand,” but by the time I got there around noon, the ferry to the island was already gone. (I assumed the ferry came every hour, but apparently it only went twice a day.) So I went to asogohara beach in Ugata instead. That was interesting, because I didn’t realize it until I got there, but that was the same beach where we had the welcome party when I first arrived in Japan. All things come around. This time, it was nicer too, without the sand blowing everywhere or jelly fish stinging. Here’s a picture of the beach:

There was hardly anyone there, since swimming season doesn’t officially start in Japan until July 1st. Just surfers in wetsuits. But I wasn’t afraid of the water!

Until next time, keep praying and loving, no matter what the cost,
Laura

My maiko experience

Every girl in Japan`s gotta do this once! So it`s the ultimate in self-indulgence and vanity, but let`s face it: every girl wants to be a maiko for a day. A maiko is a geisha`s apprentice, all decked out with kimono and cherry blossoms and white makeup. A geisha, in contrast, is an older woman who typically wears much more natural and demure clothing and makeup.

Traditionally, the distinction came between unattached virgin students and experienced teachers consorted to a single man or attached to a geisha house or hot spring resort. Basically the Japanese version of courtesans. These days, maiko and geisha just host at parties and dance/play traditional music at festivals, though there might be some other stuff on the side that people don`t talk about. It is true that geisha even today usually don`t marry, and when they do, they usually stop being a geisha. A lot of girls apprentice as maiko but never become geisha. It`s a sort of Japanese charm school for some. They study traditional dance, music, games, Japanese culture, the art of conversation, modeling, sometimes tea ceremony, etc. They`re supposed to be “walking works of art and cultural heritage.”

I won`t go into the whole history of it; two useful books in English are Memoirs of a Geisha for understanding the history and A Geisha`s Journey for the modern practice. They`re two of my favorite books about Japan.

So I went to the shop Aya in Gion Corner in Kyoto with my friends Hisae and Junko from Fukushima. They stayed at my apartment after the earthquake two months ago for about two weeks and are now living in government housing in Kyoto looking for jobs. Great girls! I know you`re just dying for pictures, so here you go:

Putting on makeup and wig. (Usually maiko use their own hair, but for purposes of time they put a frame on my head and simply wrapped my hair around the frame, so that is, technically, my own hair sprayed black.)



Putting on the makeup and kimono took one hour. After that, we had about fifteen minutes with a professional photographer. Here are the best of those pictures:







Then we had ten minutes in the traditional garden to take our own photos:





Here`s a silly video of me trying to dance like the maiko I saw on stage with Mom:



If you want to see more of my maiko pictures, you can check out my facebook page where I have most of them posted. I`ve already taken up too much blog space with my own face for one day.

Then we waited fifteen minutes for the pictures to develop and for the photographer to make a CD. (They say to give the whole maiko experience about two hours.) Minus the CD, it was 120,000 yen, or $147.51. With the CD it was 140,000, or $172.10. Yeah, really expensive, I know, but I`ve been wanting to do it ever since I came to Japan. I`ll have the pictures forever, so I think it was worth it. There are more expensive packages where you can prance around Kyoto for an hour with a photographer following, but I thought that was just toooo much. I can only tolerate so much vanity in myself before I start getting sick of myself.

Next, we debated about whether to see the wisteria or Nijo Castle, and settled on Nijo Castle. I`m glad, because it was a World Heritage Site and really beautiful. Here`s us at the entrance:



And some of the beautiful gold work on the entrance arches:



We went inside but no pictures were allowed there. What beautiful art work! All the sliding doors were painted and the walls inlaid with gold foil. Talk about extravagance, especially by Japanese standards! It was ten times better than the Imperial palace, because guess who lived there? Mr. Infamous Shogun Tokagawa Iesu built it for himself as his secondary headquarters for controlling Japan behind the Emperor`s back. He and his family were the real power in Japan from about 1600-1868, and he wasn`t about to let anyone forget it. In every room there was a raised platform where he stood above everyone else, even the Emperor`s royal messenger! His rooms were painted with tigers and pine trees, symbols of longevity and strength, and the images went all the way to the ceiling, while the paintings in the official`s rooms cut off at face level. All the doorways the other officials had to enter through were very low, so they had to bow as they entered each room, but his doorway was much taller. He had body guard chambers in every room, and I couldn`t help but notice that in all the reconstructed sets his attendants were always female, bowing and scraping.

Also, when he wanted someone else`s home, he just took it. He had an entire ancient castle relocated to Kyoto, nearly destroying it in the process. While he was at his regular home in Tokyo, he required the strongest warrior from each samurai family in Kansai, fifty all together, to defend his palace. That kept the samurai from being able to mount a rebellion against him.

What a jerk. In his lust for taking over Japan, he slaughtered everyone in Osaka and Nagoya Castle, declared himself a deity (descendant of the son goddess), massacred all the Christians, and outlawed any religion except ones that worshiped him (Buddhism and Shinto). He forbid all Japanese from ever leaving Japan, and expelled all foreigners (except the Dutch traders just visiting Nagasaki so that he could have their guns). That was his secret. He was one of the few rulers in Japan who had guns at the time, and that`s why he won all his battles. But you know what? A lot of Japanese think he was a hero because he “unified” Japan under one leader. Well, yeah, dictators tend to do that. I call him the “Japanese Hitler.” Killed about as many people.

His isolationist policy brought about one of the greatest economic depressions in Japanese history, and I think it played a role in Japan`s subsequent Imperialist policy from 1900-1945. The isolationism forced them into a very weak position with the West, being so far behind in technology, and when they finally caught up, they still saw the West as a threat. (Though, admittedly, that`s also largely because the West still treated them like a second-class nation and insisted on colonizing huge chunks of Asia. A lot of what Japan did building up to World War II was to create a “buffer zone” against the expanding communist USSR and a “co-prosperity” sphere to push out European colonial powers such as France and England from places like Vietnam and Hong Kong. But we won`t go into that because it`s a really long story.)

How do I know all this? Some of it I already knew from visiting other castles and reading Japanese history online, but I also splurged and bought the audio commentary for the castle which filled in the details I didn`t know. For instance, the palace wasn`t just used for the Tokagawas. In cases of invasion (which were common during the warring states period of Japan), the people of Kyoto stayed in the fortified castle. He might have been a jerk, but at least Tokagawa Iesu looked after his people.

Here's a nice view of the surrounding mountains from the top parapet of the castle:



And a pretty Japanese garden he kept out back. You can't really see them in this pictures, but in other places in the garden there were lots of pruned pine trees with super long branches:



For dinner, we went to a famous ramen (Chinese noodle) shop in Kyoto. Here`s what I ordered:



On the way back, we saw this pretty kimono on display at the train station. I took a picture of it for Mom, because it has musical notes and butterflies:



And that was my maiko experience in Kyoto!

Last of all, I wanted to share what's going on in my spiritual life this week. Here's something I wrote to my good friend Ying Ying in Singapore. I met her at a Christian conference in Fukushima. She used to teach there but her parents told her to come home after the earthquake. We write back and forth a lot:

"Thank you so much for the Laura Story music recommendation. I literally spent over an hour listening to her songs on youtube, bawling my eyes out. I'm not kidding! I was so starved for English worship music. Her testimony is so powerful too. Her husband has a brain tumor.

Honestly, in my own life, I haven't got anything that bad, but I feel broken right now. I'm so worried about my future and not knowing what I should do. It gnawed on me day and night, so that I couldn't eat and couldn't sleep. I had such a hard time giving it to God. I kept trying, but something still gnawed at me. After hearing that song "Blessings," I knelt on the floor of my living room and just cried and cried out to God. I told him to take the broken pieces of me and do what He wills. I had forgotten that God wants what's best for me, that His love is greater than any love I have for myself or anyone else can ever have for me. I need to spend more time thanking Him for that and praising Him.

I'm so excited! I'm making a new dedication to Christian fellowship. You asked how you can pray for me. Guidance and peace in my life would be good. I feel strongly somehow that God has a big plan for me as a missionary in Japan or another Asian country, but I don't know the how, when, where, or what yet. I also feel the strong pull to publish my Christian writing, but again it's a matter of how, when, where, and what. I also feel a strong pull to marry another missionary, to share the missionary joys and burdens and raise up an international family of adopted children within that Christian environment. Again, how, when, where, what. Waiting is so hard! I try to make a habit of going through the fruits of the Spirit in the morning to see which I need to ask God to help me with. I think, "love, I'm a pretty loving person, joy, I'm a pretty happy person, peace, I'm a pretty peaceful person, patience... yep, that would be it. God, give me patience today! I want it right now!"

I also struggle a lot with depression and anxiety. I always have since childhood. I've always felt unworthy and guilty. Living alone in a foreign country highly aggravates this. But I consider it a "thorn in the flesh," something God has allowed me to suffer through in order to make me more dependent on Him. I ask Him again and again to take it away, but He always says, "My grace is sufficient." Well, Amen. God's will be done."

Prayer Requests for this week: same thing I told Ying Ying! I think that letter about covered it.

Until next time, keep praying and loving, no matter what the cost,
L.J. Popp