Hello from Home :)

Hi friends and many greetings from good old New Hampshire! I've been home for just over three weeks now, many thanks to all of you who prayed for safe travels. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I haven't told you anything about my last month yet...

I feel like the month of June just flew by. Lucas arrived late and tired on the 1st of the month and Macau was already getting extremely hot and humid. We didn't hide inside the air conditioning forever though- we had lots to see and do! We saw dragon boat races, museums, temples, and of course many glitzy casinos. We ate the famous egg tarts, pork buns, and even attended an eleven course Chinese banquet. My work was winding down at this point and it was nice to get a chance to revisit and say goodbye to all of my favorite places in Macau as well as to see some new ones. Many nights ended with a few games of cribbage and it was good to get the chance to just enjoy time with Lucas and my roommates. It was hard to say goodbye at the end of the month, both to my fantastic roommates Allison and Hanah, and also to my wonderful Bible study group. But it was time to be going home! Lucas and I had quite the time carrying all our luggage around Hong Kong and then to the airport but we eventually made it. It was many (many!) hours of traveling but we finally made it home!

One of the biggest things that I've been learning this past year is just how faithful God is- His mercies are new every morning and He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. Whether I am safely at home or whether I am lost in a strange country, whether I am having a good day or a bad one, whether I am obedient or selfish- Our God never changes and His love never fails. He is a big and mighty God, He is God of the whole earth and everything in it, and if Our God is for us then who can be against us? Realizing more of who God is and how He cares for me has been a huge part of my year and I am excited for what He will do next and am confident of His faithful protection, strength and love.

Being back home has been really wonderful. Getting to see family and friends and catch up on almost a year worth of stories, playing guitar again at BeFree, going camping with family, playing frisbee, and getting to walk around barefoot and see the stars have been a few of the things that I have just been loving since being home :)

So what now? I'm currently looking for a job, planning a wedding, getting ready to volunteer at Soulfest next week, and of course continuing to enjoy just being around this way again!

Many thanks to all of you for your prayers, letters and notes! I hope you've enjoyed some of my musings and pictures, and please feel free to hunt me down for more stories! I'm sure you have many to share as well :)
Much love and hugs to all of you,
-Bethany



pictures top to bottom: Luke and me at St. Paul's, a Chinese garden, Lucas!, the dragon boats, Hannah, Alix, Allison, Lucas and me at the dragon boat races :)

... is it Wednesday yet?

hi everyone :)

not a lot to report here, things are wrapping up and i've been enjoying a pretty low key month with time for guitar playing, eating Indian food for my birthday and a few walks in the rain... and lots of looking forward to Luke's arrival on Wednesday!!

here are a few pictures from around Macau...

pictures top to bottom: sunset by Saint Paul's, MGM, Lisboa, serving food, rickshaws, the Wynnn

verse of the day: Psalm 16:2 "I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing.”'

i hope you are all doing well and enjoying the end of May! :)

happy it's-almost-May!

hello hello hello and many greetings to you all!

it's been a little while since i last said hi to you all, the weather has jumped from winter to humid summer it seems almost overnight, and this past month has been filled with all sorts of stories and ups and downs, as i'm sure yours has as well! between reading for my lit class, adjudicating for a debate tournament, helping organize a conference for MPI and other such work related items, i've also been battling a bed bug infestation and had the dubious honor of having acupuncture on my ankle for an old sprain. the bugs have been discouraging at times- many *many* thanks to all of you who have been encouraging me through this! it's been quite a long process to get rid of them, but currently there are less bugs and i'm making headway in that battle and shall triumph! and the ankle is currently behaving itself and i've survived the needles so i'm glad to be done with that! some positive things this past month have been getting to visit Hong Kong for my roommate Allison's birthday, we did touristy things like visit an old fishing village (which actually looked a lot like Macau) and we saw the massively huge Buddha at Lantau island. we also enjoyed riding on the longest outdoor escalator in the world...and then walking on it since part of it was shut down haha. a few weeks ago i visited Macau's new panda bears (Xin Xin and Kai Kai) who were gifts from China- they were adorable. i'm thinking about kidnapping them. they have quite the life too, all they do is eat and sleep it seems! so yeah it's been a busy month or so! i got to celebrate Easter with my church through a beach baptism followed by a game of cricket which was a blast! and last certainly not least, recently i've also been making plans for a wedding and marrying this crazy red-head back in the states, so i'm pretty excited about that :D

soooo yeah that's all folks! things are going by quickly here in Macau, and in no time at all i feel like it will be June 1st (Luke arrives to visit!) and then it will be July 1st and i'll be boarding a plane to come back home...

i hope you are all doing fantastically! i bet you have lots of stories from the past month too, i'd love to hear them!!

love,

-Bethany

pictures: HK fishing village, vegetable stand, Buddha and statues at Lantau island, acupuncture :p, the crime scene: my bedroom with doublesided tape line for protection to contain my bug infested bed frame, my panda friends

Magnificent Malta :)

All three of us Fulbrighters were recently sent to Malta to represent MPI at a conference, and we had a spectacular time seeing the gorgeous scenery and eating fantastic food! And presenting at the conference too, of course ;) Highlights of the trip were being shown the cliffs overlooking the bright blue water, riding in one of the beautifully colored fishing boats, climbing into the cave where Odysseus was held captive for seven years, and observing some of the elaborate costumes from carnival. We ate pasta, pizza, and the famous stewed rabbit until we couldn't eat anymore, and I was able to see the stars at night! :)

Enjoy the pictures! Wish you could be here, hope you are all doing well!

verse of the day: "Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.: -Psalm 23: 6

latest adventures :)

well the Chinese New Year is now behind us and in no time at all it is almost the end of the month! the mini mandarin orange trees lining many streets and symbolizing fortune and prosperity for the new year have mostly been taken down (unlike our mini Christmas tree which is in fact still sitting in the corner next to our rarely watched TV) and students are back in Macau to start classes again. everyone is a little lazy after the long break and the many huge New Year meals but slowly and surely we are returning to a busy work schedule once again.

a minor misadventure: during the Chinese New Year my computer decided to call it quits... must have gotten sick of the traveling after all this time. thanks to my fantastic roommates and coworkers things have somewhat gotten themselves sorted out and i am so thankful! it is amazing how much something like a computer means when i am so far away from home and all you lovely people back home...

our latest adventure: this past weekend Allison and i took advantage of a still light work schedule to take a ferry across to Shenzhen in mainland China to visit a friend of mine from UNH. we had a wonderful time as she showed us around the city! we saw a village where artists paint and sell their work on the streets, a wholesale market where stores buy clothes to sell elsewhere, delicious food from various provinces in China, huge buildings, the new metro ... and of course we had to take a peek in the Chinese Wal*Mart just for fun :) after all our adventures we promptly fell asleep on the ferry returning back to Macau Sunday night...

next adventure: Malta in March! we will leave early on the 5th for a week in Malta for a conference through MPI. doing the paperwork and getting things ready now is keeping us busy and we are super excited for this opportunity!

and that's all for now, folks!

i'm sending along love and smiles- hope you are all doing well! :D

pictures top to bottom: New Year mandarin tree, hanging incense cones, a grey day in Shenzhen, Qinglan Allison and me, and a visit to wal*mart!

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

And the Chinese New Year is here!

well technically it doesn't start until next week, but decorations are covering Senado Square and we arrived just in time to see the traditional lion dance in front of St. Pauls ruins :)

(posing with the lion with Hannah and her brother Micah)

Gung hay fat choy! ...may prosperity be with you all :)

-between new years-

here we are, between New Years Day and the Chinese New Year... it makes me wonder if at the moment i belong to a year at all, or is this month a strange short year of its own? yet another strange aspect of time here in Macau, where sometimes it flies by, sometimes it creeps along, and sometimes it seems to not exist in a logical fashion at all.
getting to come home and see dearly loved faces for Christmas was oh so very wonderful :) i miss you all already-strange to think it's now been a week and a half since i landed back in the land of tea and bright casino lights! but things once again are settling into a pattern here, as we prepare for classes to start up again next month. the weather has actually been somewhat chilly here- not nearly as cold as back home with all the snow, but it is certainly encouraging us to drink lots of tea and wrap up in warm blankets as our apartment (along with most buildings) is without heat. today the sun came out though! and Allison and i ventured out to visit the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha, which is at the top of Bishop Hill and can be seen from anywhere in the harbor.

i've been thinking of you all and i hope that you are doing well and keeping warm! and i hope you have a very merry Chinese New Year coming up!

encouraging verse of the day: "The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand." -Psalm 37:23-24