Posted in Croatia by Peter Dinh on 4/8/2012
You can place the blame on either poor education, propaganda, or just me for being so ignorant of the fact. But up until only a few weeks ago, I did not remember anything about the Bosnian War, let alone even hear any reference to it as an adult. Seriously, the hell right?
I am now here in the former Yugoslavia, Croatia to be exact, with the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina being only a stone's throw away, literally. Like me and David walked over there for lunch one time. And it just so happens that the 20th anniversary of the war was two days ago. Thanks to geography and timing, I've been able to get a much clearer picture of what happened in this region 20 years ago. If it wasn't for me being here, the rich history would have easily slipped my mind. The war came about as a result from the break-up of Yugoslavia. Hostility has existed among the different people groups since ancient times. The conflict was remembered for it's bitter fighting, mass rape, ethnic cleansing, high figures in civilian deaths, and the division among the Croats and the Serbs. Given the short amount of time that's passed, there is still a need for reconciliation. As one journalist puts it, in Bosnia, the past is unforgiven, unforgotten, and unresolved.
Through studying the war, I am reminded myself of how much my own lineage is shaped and molded by war. My grandmother on my mom's side fled China and eventually settled in Vietnam as a child in the midst of WWII in order to escape Japanese oppression. My parents fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in shanty fishing boats across the South China Sea in the face of storms, disease, starvation, and pirates. My mom and her family found refuge in Malaysia and my dad found his in the Philippines. They eventually built a home in Southern California where I grew up.
Anger is a very beautiful and poetic emotion. The purest form of anger is not born out of ignorance or prejudice or a perceived threat. Those three are fear in disguise. True anger is ignited from personal pain; a broken heart. God's wrath is a subject that some of us choose to avoid, but if we really understand it we can't help but to fall in love with Him even more. Every time a child forced to kill, a woman is gang raped, or a man loses himself to his own blood lust, God's heart is wrecked. And with that pain comes a terrifying and holy hatred for sin. A wrath so terrifying that it became flesh and took sin with it and nailed itself upon the cross. But this anger is never by itself, it is always accompanied by a more terrifying emotion: love. When Jesus died the walls that we've built around ourselves came crashing down. Those who's lives were ravaged by greed, lust, and control will all one day find comfort within the Father's arms.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Oh, and of sin and love, only one of them rose from the dead.
Happy Easter everyone!
Some articles to read:
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Posted in Croatia by Peter Dinh on 3/26/2012
On the World Race you don't really have the luxury of owning books. Since I prefer the physical copies as oppose to the digital, I didn't invest in a Kindle before launch. A decision I very much use to regret. In the past World Racers would trade books amongst each other, so chances are you always have something new to read. Unfortunately, I'm on the race in the midst of the Hunger Games craze, so my taste of print differs from the majority who hopped on board the hype train. I've been blessed whenever my contacts have a bookshelf full of goodies for me to delve into. Before the Race my favorite medium were fiction novels, Green Lantern comics books, and Wikipedia. Since launch, I've introduced myself to essays; magazine articles. The diversity in topics, authors, writing style and the satisfaction of stumbling upon literary treasure is the thing that has me scouring the interweb for more. As a way for you (my faithful, loyal reader) to know me better, I've hand picked some recent articles that stand out to me as literary excellence (or things that I just find interesting):
"Read everyday. There are only two ways to expand your mind than learn, it's by the people you meet, and the content you read. The person who knows how to read and doesn't, is no better off than the person who doesn't know how to read at all. Education doesn't stop when you finish college, it's a life long process, you must feed your head continuously, you're an athlete in training and you need to keep your mind sharp to compete. Knowledge is the only thing which doesn't cost anything to consume, and no matter how much you consume, you still won't get fat."
-Andy Heyward at my college commencement.
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Posted in Bulgaria by Peter Dinh on 3/13/2012
Before I first started this trip, Eastern Europe to me was the 'social justice' continent. From reading all about how human trafficking plagues the region, I imagine my time here to be that of rescuing victims of oppression through networks of safe points scattered throughout the region, akin to a modern day Underground Railroad. That I would join in with others who devoted their whole lives to setting captives free. That I would be risking my life going up against organized crime that apparently head this illegal trade. But then I was taught to throw away expectations. And I expected my time in Eastern Europe to be like any other, unpredictable and that my if I had any expectations, it would be foolish to do so because they were unreal. I forgot what I originally envisioned my time here in Eastern Europe to be. Last month for ministry, I shoveled snow. Though very different from what I originally expected, I was more than content.
As Nasko and I were plucking roses on the row (again, not very associated with social justice), he asked me what I was going to do once I'm done with this trip.
"I'm going to open up a bakery." "Oh yeah." "Yeah, I'm hoping to use all fair-trade ingredients." "Fair-trade?"
Then came the daunting task of me trying to explain the concept of unfair-trade. Daunting because the idea of such a thing is very alien to people, especially those of us who lived in the Western world. Because even some of my own squadmates deny its existence in defense, something that angers me and makes me look at them with contempt and I ask myself "Are you f'king serious?"
With a brief and short explanation in a language that is not native to his own, Nasko understood very clearly what I was talking about. This shocked me because he grasped the idea better than any of my teammates ever did.
"It happens a lot around here. Employers would cheat their workers and they would never receive a pay check after months of work. Bulgarian women are trafficked into Greece to work as maids but they would never receive any compensation."
And then I remembered my original vision for this continent. In many of Jesus' parables, He would often tell of a Master going away and leaving his stewards to be in charge of His land. When the Master came back and saw that any of the stewards did a bad job, there was hell to be paid for. The parables of judgement: the Unforgiving Servant, Sheep and Goats, Lazarus and the Rich Man, all have to do with social justice.
As threatening as these passages may seem to us, they subtly speak of a hope for others.
The Lord said, "I have come down to rescue my people.." Exodus 3:8
"Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them." Psalm 12:15
In the midst of oppression, a liberator!
For some comic relief
not really...
womp womp
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Posted in Bulgaria by Peter Dinh on 3/13/2012
Burrrrrrrnnnnnnnn.
After a week of gloomy ominous clouds and freezing temperatures, today was the first sunny day for us in Bulgaria. Perfect timing too, because after driving through mud, creeks, and ponds, me and David arrived at a field to do some farm work. When we were Mozambique, we plowed the dirt with hoes under the hot African sun. Here, under the warm sun and cold winds, we had access to this baby.
With the snow capped Balkan mountains in the distance, we shifted our gear into plow. Well for most of it, David did the plowing, while me and Nasko were busy plucking roses for defects.
With a well-trained eye, he was able to cut off stems that were showing signs of a parasite. If it looks like a stem has an abnormal bulge in the middle of it, you cut the shiz off. During our exploits he was able to tell me more about Bulgaria. That it's a country that is struggling to ingrain itself into the Western world and overcome it's Communist past. With our short time here, my prayer is that He uses us to bless this country and push it not into economic prosperity but its Creator. After a productive day of work, we were treated to a simple helping of Bulgarian sausage and wheat bread. And some palmiers that I bought.
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Posted in Bulgaria by Peter Dinh on 3/7/2012
After arriving in Bucharest and freeloading off of the McDonalds WiFi for a few hours, my team and I hopped on board a train car with an exterior that was riddled with graffiti and inside the smell of urine permeates throughout. With its flickering white fluorescent lighting, David brought up the fact that this very much reminded him of The Midnight Meat Train. The girls start to freak out even more. And thus it carried us off through the borders into our new country.
As a major pain to everyone's arse, customs came through our cart twice in the middle of night for our passports. And at five in the morning we arrived at our first transfer in Nowhere, Bulgaria. After nearly freezing to death for three hours, we took another train that would take us further into Nowhere, Bulgaria. After arriving at Nowhere, we switched trains to yet again go to Nowhere. And finally we reached the station where our contact was waiting to pick us up. And there we ran into a restaurant with this on the door.
To think that people would even have the audacity to smoke in a restaurant in this country.
After a short van ride we finally arrived at our final destination, Hisarya, Bulgaria. A small little resort town famous for its mineral springs and ancient Roman fortifications. Since its winter time we have this nice little town to ourselves. Debrief is tomorrow. Stay tune.
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Posted in Romania by Peter Dinh on 3/7/2012
On the last night of Urbana, one of my roommates ran into our hotel room and asked us if we came across the World Race exhibit.
"It's a mission trip that takes you across 11 countries over 11 months!" "OH WHAT!? That's freaking awesome! Let's all do it!" "YEEEAAAAAH!!!!" "YEAH!" "ALRIGHT!" "Wait you guys, there's a catch." "What is it?" "You have to fundraise about $15,000." "Oh what the..." "Holy $#*T!" "Welp, that sounded fun." "Yeah never mind..."
womp womp
As freaking cool as the World Race sounded, and as badly as I wanted to go, I concluded that it was not something for me. Simply because of the mountain that stood in my way of it. My outlook of support raising was never an encouraging one. I've already done it once before and was not a big fan. Fast forward a year later, I was at a point where God has closed some doors on me. But when a door closes, another one becomes ajar. I visited the website again just to look at the routes. I saw the September route and thought if I was to ever go on the World Race, it would be this one. I made an account just for the heck of it. A few days later I got a call from AIM staff persuading me to go. That night I stared at the apply button on my computer screen for who knows how long. At this point, I had no home church, I was fresh out of college, and couldn't think of anyone who would help me out.
Then I thought of how many other people stood at a fork like this one and took the safer route. And because of that they missed out on the harvest. This was something that I can't afford to miss out on and I wasn't giving my God enough credit. "God I want to know what it's like to live a life that's dependent on You. I want you to blow me away." That night I applied for the September 2011 route.
The six months that followed that decision was a roller coaster of hope and fears. Nonetheless God did blow me away, through the generosity of others, immense amounts of support, and the things that He was also doing amongst my squadmates' accounts. And support raising: the letter writing, phone calling, powerpoint presentations, the prayers, and house visiting, was something that I came to love. As the plane was lifting off to the Philippines (#1), I couldn't help but to think "Why me?"
Six months into the race and I still ponder the same thing. Off to month #7.
Thank you for all of your support.
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Posted in Swaziland by Peter Dinh on 1/16/2012
Do you believe that God is sovereign over all things; from the
birth of star in a distant galaxy to the fall of a sparrow? Do you believe that
He spoke the universe into being with authority, and that He has bestowed that
same authority upon us? Do you believe that whenever 'my God' and 'my people'
is uttered, covenant language is being spoken? Do you believe the God who
healed multitudes of people throughout history, who helped us develop cures to
polio, smallpox, measles and other diseases, is still present today? Because
that was the God that my friends and I prayed to during Dance Marathon. Every
three hours we would gather together to pray for endurance, easing of pain, and
joy. And during the final shift of prayer, we lifted our voices to ask God for
a cure. That was two years ago, and now I found myself here in Swaziland. With
26.1% of the country's population at the mercy of HIV/AIDS, the country's
existence is endangered because of this body-wrecking disease. History, art,
culture, language, all on the verge of being wiped out. But I believe that as
God's people, we have the ability and the duty
to intercede on the behalf of everyone who's lives is affected by this disease,
and change the course of history. For this month, I will be praying every day
that God will provide us with the necessary wisdom to develop a cure for
HIV/AIDS. Will you join me? Let us come together and bow our hearts. Let us
call upon the powers that be. Let's make history. Let us pray.
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Posted in Mozambique by Peter Dinh on 1/4/2012
Not just an ode to a book that I read in high school, but there's a mango tree in every corner and the streets are riddled with fruits and pits.
I've neglected this poor blog for quite some time. Like a withering thirsty plant getting beat by the hot sun. Very much like the plants out in the garden that we've helped created. For the past three weeks my new team Ruach, among others, have been hoeing, weed pulling, seed planting, and back sweating to create gardens that will be able to feed the ministry that will soon be here.
This month we are working with Beacon of Hope. In contrast to the previous months, this month has been purely manual labor, without much if any relational ministry. This along with a very primitive living situation and abysmal weather has made this month a struggle. I hope to learn some practical skills on the World Race and apply what I've learned once I get back home. And one of the things I have in mind is gardening. My backyard looks like a zoo, for wild plants that is. My dad has done a fairly good job of growing fruits from our native Vietnam, such as logans, soursops, and dragonfruits thanks to the Mediterranean-like climate of Southern California. Good chance that you've never heard of such things. Yet I will admit that I have little experience when it comes to gardening.
After some hard weeks though, the thing that really brings some satisfaction is to see the seeds break the earth as they rise up from the ground. Now, got to take care of all the cursed weeds that have overrun our poor garden.
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Posted in South Africa by Peter Dinh on 12/6/2011
Transition. That's what a lot of this month has been about. Ministry for this month has been all over the place. In Muizenberg we (along with three other teams) were working with an organization called Volunteer in South Africa. Through it we did surf ministry, soccer ministry, and reading ministry. We were also partnered with Hillsong Cape Town. With them we were able to work with a school for special needs children and moderate a feeding in a township.
Now for our mini-debrief, the entire squad has come together at an amazing house overlooking the freezing Atlantic. Our past month was spent eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday for lunch so that we could pay for these accommodations now. Before we head off to Mozambique, our squad goes under a big change. The team that I've been with for the past 3 (5 if you count since training camp) has been disbanded. I'm someone that welcomes change, and this was something that I was actually looking forward to. But being the usually slow person that I am, the prospect of team changes didn't seem daunting on me until the night before. To all of my former teammates' loved ones, thank you so much for reading my blog. I want to say that it has been such a great honor and privilege to live and die with them. I have learned so much through them and they have challenged me to grow in such an amazing way.
As emotional as these past days have been, we remind ourselves that this disbanding of teams is for the glory of the Lord. As the sun sets on Team H.O.P.E., it rises on Ruach. But more on that later ;)
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Posted in China by Peter Dinh on 11/11/2011
After 54 hours of flying, busing, and train riding, we have finally reached our ministry site here in Muizenberg, South Africa. But more on that later. This post is about my last month in China.
First and foremost, I apologize for the fact that I didn't make it very clear that I would be on hiatus for that month, as a way to protect ourselves and our ministry contacts. With China being a religiously closed country and all. I would like to say that I am still very much alive, hurray!
We were situated Jiaozuo of the Henan province, about a 6 hour train ride south of Beijing. I along with my team had the opportunity to work with Eagles Wings, an orphanage that serves children with special needs. Their disabilities include cerebral palsy, spina bifida, down syndrome, blindness and others. Unlike the States, China has invested very little towards the lives of such people. They are deemed worthless by society and they are institutionalized throughout their entire lives. Some of the children we worked with are fully cognitively there, but they are cheated out of an education simply because schools don't have wheel chair access.
Though as Sara, Jessica, and I were feeding 3 boys delicious noodles in tomato soup on one of our outings, God pulled me back and said "See? As much as this government, this society, and these people have forgotten these children, I have not. That is why I have sent you here, to be a testament to the love that I have for them." And it was there that I was not only reminded of an ever-present Kingdom, but of one that is also forth-coming.
Let your Kingdom come Lord God, and let these children rise up on wings like eagles!
And much thanks to Donna and her family for hosting us and letting us be a part of theirs, God bless!
China highlights:
-Talking to the kids in Chinese. My Chinese is at its peak right now. Will continue to develop it.
-Driving a motorcart.
-Instant boba milk tea.
-Hiked the Great Wall all the way up to the clouds
-Pee'd off said Great Wall.
-XiHongShiChaoJiDan. Tomatoes scrambled with eggs, a common mandarin dish.
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