Biking in SE Asia

Posttrip

So, now we're back. What next? First, we're still processing all the things we did and saw...and to be honest, we're struggling with it. After seeing how simply some of the people live, how can we continue to stockpile our closets with more and more clothes? After seeing how interrelated religion and culture is, how can we declare that any religion other than Christianity is completely wrong? After seeing "the other side" of the Vietnam war (or as they refer to it - the "American war"), how can we support the possibility of another war? After being away from a Christian community for several months and seeing very few Christians, how important are denominational differences in the big picture? After seeing the philosophical differences between various religious approaches to development and missions work, which one should we support? After seeing the positive and negative effects of development stages in a country, what should we want for a developing country?

One of the reason we justify traveling (and the money we've spent on it) is that we travel to learn and to help others learn. Thus, we see it as our responsibility to use what we've seen and done in positive ways, to not end our experiences but make them continue and change the things around us. Talking with family and friends is one way to do this. With this said, we invite discussion and comments from any of you. If it has to be over email, we'll take it, but we have to admit that conversations in person are much more our style!

On a lighter note, we'd like to continue our biking by doing more biking trips in the future (albeit shorter ones!). Jon is even talking about working at a bike shop because he enjoys "tinkering around" on them so much! We'd also like to become involved with the immigrant communities in the Holland area and open our homes to students who are studying abroad. And, of course, cooking Southeast Asian cuisine is a given; we're counting on having many of you over for a meal!

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