pocket convertor

My cousin Tiffany is about to spend a year in Argentina as an exchange student.  On her blog, she metioned she was concerned about dealing with conversion of dollars to pesos and knowing what is and is not expensive.

She is right that eventually this will become easy for her to tell.  But at first it is helpful to have a tool--right there in your wallet.  I used a pocket convertor from travlang my first year in Taiwan.  (Although their website is ladened with ads, I find this pocket convertor worth the clutter.)

Here is how to get to their pocket-sized convertor: after you choose the currencies you want to convert and it makes the conversion, on the second page underneath where it
shows you the conversion rates (and the pink java calculator) there is a link
to a pocket convertor. 

Here is how to make it wallet-ready: Print out the "pocket convertor;" fold in half length wise and "laminate" it with clear, wide (packing) tape.  Now, it will last a LONG time.

Just for fun . . . 1 USD (US Dollar) is worth about 3 Argentinan Pesos or about 32.7 New Taiwan Dollars.

explore the world's population

Did you know that over 1/2 of the world’s population is in Asia!?!  Over HALF!

Did you know that 12 of the 15 largest cities in the world are in Asia!?! (The other 3 are LA, NY, and Mexico City.)

Amazing!

I discovered online a nifty interative world population "map."  I suggest you play with the sliders on the right of the "map" to see the stats in different ways.   It's really fun and informative too.

While playing with this unique tool, I was reminded that most of the unreached people groups on earth appear to be the most densely populated.

In fact, The 10/40 window, the area of the world that extends from 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator, and stretches from North Africa across to China, contains the largest population of non-Christians in the world.   

And, do you know what?  Two-thirds of the world's population live in this window!!  Two-thirds!!!  That is about 3.2 BILLION people!

That is an overwhelming number!  I wonder just how many of those 3.2 billion  people have never even heard the name of Jesus, much less the Gospel.

This number seems so overwhelming and daunting to me.  That is why I love Revelation 7:9 so much.  It promises individuals from all tribes, peoples, and langauges will one day worship the King of Kings: "I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb."  Amen!

So, what can we do?  We can pray.  We can adopt a people group (more info here).  We can give.  We can go.

Because we know that "this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations" (Matthew 24:14).

fishing for shrimp

One of the cool things that Sam got to do in Taiwan was go shrimp fishing!!

Ellen's Dad took us to a place where you fish for shrimp and then immediately cook and eat the shrimp that you catch.  I would have to say that it was the freshest shrimp I have ever eaten. 

Even if it was from a stocked tank, it was a neat, once-in-a-lifetime experience for Sam.  Even Gilby enjoyed the experience!!

Thanks, Lin BaBa!!

www.flickr.com

at a night market

During Sam's last week in Taiwan, we went to have dinner and play games with some of the missionaries I work with Kaohsiung.  In the next few weeks, there will be three Taiwanese mission teams (Praise the Lord!!) coming to work with the Minnichs and their Church in order to tell the people in their area about Christ.  So, after dinner and play, Sam and I got to join the Minnich family and their pastor's family pass out flyers at the night market inviting people to the upcoming events.

Please pray for the Minnich family, the Pastor's family, and the Taiwanese teams that are preparing to come to DaShe.  Please also pray for many Taiwanese to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ this summer and for God to do a work of grace in their lives. 

Please pray for church planting movement that is beyond our comprehension to start among the Taiwanese! 

lightly nerdy

Last week, I saw this over at Rocks in My Dryer and thought I would take the quiz too.

Apparently, of the people who took this online quiz, I am nerdier than 59% of them.  Hmmm . . .

P.S. Sam and I are home safe and sound!!  I get to enjoy being in the USA for the next few weeks of summer vacation. :)

home in kaohsiung again . . . but not for long

Sam and I enjoyed our trip north.  Sam learned a lot, saw lots of things and ate lots of things he has never seen or eaten before (and might never again).  Oh! we also took over 700 pictures!  (Which, just fyi, makes for a three month grad total of over 3,100 photos!  Is that a lot?)

The rain from the typhoons only stopped us one day.  However, we are TIRED, and he is LONGING for home.  But, that is ok, because it is the first time he has been homesick all summer--3 months is quite a long time for a 12 year old to venture out to a new country away from mom and dad.  And, it is ok, because tomorrow (Friday) we go back to America! 

Thanks for stopping by following an unknown path!  I will post more pics from our trip in the coming days and weeks.  I look forward to sharing with you some of what Sam saw and did and learned during his last weeks in Taiwan.

Oh yeah, the next time I post will be from the other side of the world!  See ya then!!

the view from meinong

I LOVE MEINONG!!

It was the place where I had my first apartment, made my first home.  I love mountains and always wanted to live where I could see mountains.  My first home provided a view of the beautiful Meingong mountains from ALL the windows in the house!!  Isn't God good?

I enjoyed being able to show Sam one of my favorite places on the island. 

Meinong--美農--means "beautiful farm."  There are lots of different kinds of fields in Meinong.  Most common are tobacco and rice.  There are also some pineapple, papaya, betel nut, red pepper fields, among others in the area. 

The people in Meinong are predominately Hakka.  Please pray for the Hakka people and the work that God is doing among them in Meinong.  Please pray for the missionaries that live in Meinong as they share Christ with the Hakka people in hopes of a Hakka Harvest!

To see more pics from our Meinong Trip click here.

To see the pictures above alone and full size click the titles: 1. the tops of Hakka homes, 2. awe . . . Meinong!, 3. Coconut Trees, 4. Red Pepper Field, 5. Women in Field, 6. Water Lillies, 7. Rice Field, 8. Man in Field, 9. a temple, 10. Cranes, 11. Mountains thru the Trees, 12. Men at work sign

p.s. this is a automatic post . . . I will be on
vacation when this posts. :)  Oh . . . and just in case you were
wondering--this is the only prepost I wrote.  I really won't be back to
blog until the 18th.  :)  See you then!!