Trinidad!! way to end the semester

Last week me and christina and a bunch of other marine labbers went to trinidad as part of our bio/conservation of sea turtles class. we worked with leatherback sea turtles. it was amazing. we stayed at a guest house with the nature seekers (a local conservation organization started by a really inspirational woman) during the day we went on hikes and had lectures. we hiked to a waterfall and swam under it. it looked like a scene from a movie or something :)

every night we would ride on the back of a truck to the beach and patrol a zone for several hours looking for turtles nesting. the sky was so pretty with so many stars that you can't see here. you could see the southern cross and the north star in the same sky! we saw a bunch of shooting stars too. the turtles were huge and amazing too! they look so robotic like something from jurassic park just cause they're so big. Each turtle takes like 1-2 hours to nest and you really get a sense of how much dedication these animals put into their eggs. The most memorable moment for me is when we encountered a turtle with a short left rear flipper (they dig their nests with their rear flippers). the right one did ok, but there came a point when the left one couldn't reach the sand so i had to get on the sand and help the turtle dig a nest. It was really rewarding for me :) We also tagged the turtles with internal PIT tags and external flipper tags. It was really cool cause now there are a couple of endangered turtles out there that can be traced back to me :)

The people there are all really friendly and funny too. They all have such interesting lives and stories that they would share with us as we went out to work with the turtles. I really like living in countries like trinidad. it reminded me of rural taiwan. small town, intimate, tropic areas. While there aren't many luxuries, it's so easy to get in-tune with nature. You never forget where you came from, and adventure is always at your door step.

here's a link to all my pics:

Trinidad Pictures

chapter 6

whoa, i never knew islam and christianity were so "related". it's really interesting to read about this stuff.. i feel like i should get to know other religions better with a healthy curiosity just so i can understand other people better. i think the media corrupts too many things. it's really thought provoking that Muslims recognize the gospels and Jesus, just not His divinity or crucifixion. I'm guessing the author of the book is biased being Christian, but it seemed like she percieved the main objection of muslims to Christianity it that the gospels must've been changed. Thus justifying why Muhammad would reference the gospels and Torrah as good books to read in the past. The author gives evidence again that the gospels haven't really changed much though.

This chapter also talked about Hinduism briefly. I think a good thing the author does is really try to bring out the uniqueness of Christianity. Of course we shouldn't believe something just because it's unique, but it's still important to think about in my opinion. We have one God, prophets, and God came to us and is present on Earth in us whom He saved. So many athiests form their opinions on religion with the mindset that all religions are the same. I used to think looking at religion on a historical basis isn't constructive just cause history can be biased. While i still don't see it as sufficient, i think it can be really helpful in understanding how a faith comes to be. I feel like the fact that we have different faiths and that they can overlap like in Islam, really points to the degree that humans are truth-seekers. It's just a matter of putting the pieces together and finding truth in your own experiences. For some people who have the history down-packed just need a little push of experience to lead them to God. For some who experience a lot, they need the little push of historical knowledge to convince them it's real. Some people just need to start from scratch and discover.

chapter 5: what about the canon?

I'm writing this now cause i probably wont get a chance to write this weekend. Me and Christina are going to Trinidad!! We'll be working with leatherback sea turtles (the largest turtles in the world). The moment i've been waiting for :) I'll be heading back to chapel hill tomorrow to pack and get my travel stuff, so i will try to make it to senior lg, and get some bball in before i leave.

anyways, this chapter was good. I had to write a paper about how the canon was formed when i took the new testament class, and it was really refreshing to see a different perspective that the author had. I like how she talked about how the books were already pretty much universally agreed upon and the gathering of church leaders was merely to verify it in opposition to heretics who tried to make false teachings. I think it really speaks to a side of Christianity that can't be easily seen in history: oral tradition and practice. It was really interesting to hear about Martin Luther's account of sundays where people would gather to read the scriptures as long as they could, and how we know this today as "going to church".

When i was doing research for my paper last year one thing people tested for in recieving books for the canon was whether the authors were divinely inspired. Because that gives their writings authority. A lot of times I think about just how much influence Paul had in writing the majority of the new testament (although he probably didn't intend for it to be like that seeing as they were letters) and the issue of divine inspiration. Particularly, in 1 Corinthians 7:12, Paul is writing about his opinions on marraige saying "To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord)...." By acknowledging he's writing his own opinion, it really draws a line for you in terms of divine inspiration/authority and a suggestion from a human. I feel like sometimes Christians look to Paul more than they look to Jesus even if subconsciously or not on purpose. It's really good that the author brought up how certain books came to be in the Bible, cause i think it's really important to understand these things.

I can't wait to read the next chapter about other religious texts for other religions. That question has been on my mind when i was reading all the other chapters :)

DREAM Act

ok, this doesn't have to do with my abroad experience, but it's been on my mind, and i wanna encourage you guys to take some simple action :) and try to get the word out. every action counts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBuTxE2kDwQ

There are very few times I feel like I can make a real difference in someone’s life. Especially in a democracy which acts on a large scale drowning out the voice of the individual and raising the voice of the majority which paradoxically is composed of individuals.

There are also few policies which I have a definite, non-controversial opinion on. Most issues, like abortion or capital punishment carry difficult implications to resolve morally. However, the DREAM Act is now something I support whole-heartedly. After reading through http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2009/04/03/Columns/Is.It.Too.Much.To.Dream-3696561.shtml , doing my own research on the topic, and watching the above video, I’ve realized there are still many injustices in this country which could easily be resolved simply through simple legislation.

The Chronicle story speaks power to the issue. It recounts the hardships a student at our very own Duke University surpassed to get to where he is now. The saddest thing is that while we “stressfully” debate what we’ll do after graduation with one another, this student probably won’t have a chance. Illegal immigrants can’t get drivers licenses, can’t get internships, can’t apply for jobs. The fact that they have worked the system far enough to get an education at Duke speaks to the level of determination and brilliance these people have. And to think that each year 65,000 graduates are in this position of holding a college degree and working low level, low profile jobs such as waiting tables and working construction.

Conservatives argue that granting amnesty to these people whose illegal status is the product of their parents struggles and not their own, is unfair to the American population. Honestly, this makes me furious. What is amnesty but a fancy word for forgiveness? Since when is forgiveness unacceptable in our culture. Actually.. since when is being brought up in America, albeit “illegally”, and wanting to succeed through our education system a moral travesty? There is no wrong to forgive. I am disappointed that much of America has adopted a selfish view on life, and that the media has portrayed immigration as a sin commited by low class criminals. Immigrants, legal or not, are human beings who want the same chance at a future as any other citizen.

One thing I’ve learned this year is that it’s easy to point the figure at something i know nothing about. It’s easy to regurgitate what we’ve heard on the news about an issue. Life is way too intricate though. These immigrants have stories and lives. They have passions and skills. They are every bit as deserving as others who hold a paper indicating citizenship.

Just like I was born into citizenship in America, many of these people were born or raised at an early age into illegal status. The progressive reform in america has been in the direction of relieving blame from inherited traits. The civil rights movement was the most evident movement. skin color was an inherited trait that people judged against. For those to which the DREAM Act would apply (those brought to america before the age of 15) I would argue that these circumstances were “inherited” or uncontrollable by the children. Their illegal status should not be a wall blocking off any future for them especially when they are such hard working individuals with college degrees more prestigious than the majority of America.

Please support the DREAM Act. It has been re-introduced in the Senate (where it was voted down back in 2007 by a margin of 7 votes).

According to http://dreamact.info/senators there are 58 senators listed as “yea” or “likely yea” for the vote, and 12 listed as “unknown” or “on the fence”. The Act needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate. From there, it should meet little opposition in the House. And of course, Obama will not veto it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GwNVo7siFA .

Please please look at the list above and contact your respective senators to support the dream act. The simplest thing you can do is to go to your senator’s webpage. All of them have a contact link where you fill out a form with your concern. This concern is in the topic of Immigration or Education. It takes literally like 5 minutes to fill one of these out.

You can also go to www.change.org and register and select the DREAM Act as an important issue. This is Obama’s website to survey the top 10 issues he should address. There are also many petitions on that site and other sites that you can easily fill out. We finally have the chance to make a difference. The vote is so close, it would be such a shame if this weren’t passed. Our fellow classmate at Duke, along with thousands of other deserving students would not get the chance to live fully.

ch 4 thoughts and HAPPY EASTER

I think it's really really cool to think about how Jesus' life affected people around the world even if not religiously. The writings of Josephus sound pretty cool.. to get a non-biblical perspective of Jesus. the fact that there are second hand accounts of the blackening of the sky at the crucifixion is really cool. I think an amazing thing about Jesus' life is that he was involved with all sorts of people from the outcasts to the religious leaders to the roman authority. His life was just asking to be written in history (and of course, scripture).

It's also interesting to me to think about the lives of those that Jesus touched. Like what happened to the centurion, the blind people, the lepers, the formerly demon possessed. They must've gone on with their lives completely changed. It'd be interesting if they found like writing from them, but then again writing was probably not a tool the disadvantaged had.

The more i think about Easter, the more perfect the story seems. A story of faith and love.

spring is here!

Whew, I am finally back to the virtual world of the Internet that connects so many people to one another. I've been gone from this blog for a while due to a program excursion to Weimar, a spring break trip to Vienna, Lucerne, and Venice, and then a week (this past one) with my mother here in Berlin. Lots of leg exercise and not much for the fingers. I'm going to try to add some pictures right now and hopefully it'll work...
One of the pictures is the castle where Luther translated the Bible (visited during our program excursion). Another one is of me imitating a sculpture in front of the Parliament house in Vienna. And the third is of me and my mom about to eat pig's knuckles, a very german food. :)


I've finally caught up with the chapters from the book "Is the Bible Intolerant?" that we've (Jason, Christina, and I) been going through. I got a little too eager and read chapter 5 as well, but I won't say anything about it just yet and let the other two read it first. Chapter 4 "Is the Content of the Manuscripts Reliable?" addressed exactly the question I was thinking of as I read Orr-Ewing's argument about the reliability of the text. I think I actually understood her logic argument this time, as it relates to the possibility of miracles, how we can't just blindly say, "there is no way that miracles can happen and only things testable are true and real" because you can't test a statement like that either. But that's not the main point of this chapter. I knew before that general things in the Bible were probably provable through some historical texts, but seeing the specific references laid out really helped impress that on my mind. I think the text that shows belief in Jesus as the Christ early on was important in showing that people who weren't far removed in time from events in the Bible really were convinced based on what they've seen and heard about the truth of Jesus. I guess the last part of the chapter was more of a reminder about the previous chapter's content about how the text could not have been corrupted due to the unimaginable measures taken to ensure the accuracy of the text so that future generations could find truth from it themselves.
I'm really enjoying these readings. =)

I'll be starting classes at the german university next week. I welcome prayers for this.

hi everyone!

Helloooo! :)

Ben invited me to this blog a while ago, but unfortunately I wasn't able to join until now because I didn't have internet at the mission center for several weeks. Right now, I'm actually at home. I'm going back to Honduras in less than 2 days.

For those of you who don't know me.. hi! I'm a freshman but I'm not returning to Duke until the fall. I'm in Honduras serving on missions until I get back. I've been there since late January. My old home church built a Christian school and mission center in a village called El Castaño. So I'm living in the mission center with a pastor we call Pastor Jennifer or PJ, another college student, and two roommates. I've been teaching English for grades 2 and 6 through 10. It's quite an experience. haha It took me a while to get used to everything and for the kids to get used to me, but I love it and it's so much fun!

Every year, our church sponsors a trip for 10-12 of the best students from the school. It's called the Vision Trip, and the kids come to the States and tour different churches, sharing their story and school, then performing songs, dances, skits etc. This year, Pastor Jennifer asked me and my roommates to go with her to help out, so I've been helping the kids practice after school to prepare for it. I guess you can say I'm their "music teacher" since I'm teaching them songs in English and Korean, and playing piano accompaniment for them. It's great :) They have so much work to do, though, in not much time. We're leaving on May 29 from Honduras to Miami, FL. Then we're basically taking a huge road trip with two big vans upward through the eastern states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina (not sure if we're passing through the Raleigh/Durham area, but if we are, I want to stop by Duke and show the kids around!), Maryland, D.C. etc. then finally get to New York, where our church is located. Then we'll come back down taking a different route and stopping at more churches, and we're probably going to fly to Colorado because someone specifically invited us to his church. I think the trip will take about a month or even a bit longer; last year it took the whole month of June. I'm so excited!! No doubt it'll be tiring- it already is tiring practicing with the kids! But I know it's going to be an amazing experience.

It's only been about 10 days since I've been home, but I really miss my kids already! hahaha I told my dad that and he said I sound like a mom referring to "my kids". But really, they're so precious to me. I never pictured myself teaching, but somehow God gave me this awesome opportunity. You really do learn a lot by teaching, especially when you have a language barrier. I think my Spanish is slightly improving, but I can't really tell. haha I took it throughout high school and then I took Spanish 63 at Duke, but it was never my forte. It's funny because my students thought I spoke and understood nothing and now they know I do, so they make fun of me. I try not to speak Spanish too much with them because I'm teaching them English and they need to learn by engaging in conversation more. But most of the other teachers, who are Honduran, do not speak English or speak very little, so I guess I get to practice my Spanish with them. One of my roommates, also a teacher, is actually Honduran, so I always bug her with questions. She even started Spanish class for all of us at the mission center, but after a few classes it kind of died because we've been so busy.

Random thought: Before I knew I was going to Honduras, I had always wanted to participate in DukeEngage some time, but now I feel like I'm kind of experiencing something similar or even better in a way, and I did not anticipate any of this coming. God really does provide, and I'm so glad He made a way.

Well, I'll leave it at that for now. Sorry for the somewhat cluttered entry. I kind of just wrote what came to mind. I'm hoping I'll have internet when I return to Honduras so that I'll be able to post more! I miss Duke and IV so so much!!! Praying for everyone.

much love and peace,
michelle, aka kwakky/kwakward. :)

Chapter 3 thoughts

Wow, it's sunday already.
Chapter 3 (is the bible reliable) was pretty solid :) It's really cool to learn about how ancient manuscripts work and how rare they are. At the same time, just how many consistent copies of scripture are found. There's only a couple of copies of Plato and other old stuff found, but there's thousands of Jesus stuff and so many of them can be dated within 50 years of the events they describe whereas copies of the philosophers and stuff are found 100s of years after their life time.

I guess more of the conversation should come not from whether the bible is reliable, but more on the truth of the bible. But personally i feel like if an event can spark the largest distribution of literature that continues even today (bible is constantly the best seller) that there must be something to it.

A lot of times I worry about whether the bible was changed. In high school, it was the first time this was brought to my attention when my friend told me about how there were books written that were excluded from the bible canon. This scared me so much. It made me wonder though, would God let His word be distorted? As much interpretation as there is even today, what drove the church leaders of passed to exclude or include certain books from the bible? It could be the difference between Mormon and Protestant or Catholic and Baptist. Could you make the same argument for Christianity and Judaism? That's why I feel that bible reading alone is not the be-all, end-all in spiritual discipline. We should understand scripture, where it comes from, how it got there, but we still must recognize God working in our lives today. That's the difference between Homer's Iliad and Matthew's gospel. Deep down I believe that God won't let His word be completely distorted again after Jesus, because Jesus was sent to fulfill the law (the same law that already got distorted).

Happy WIVES day! sorry i didnt go

We had worship large group this week, which was reall cool. here's a music vdeo that some folks made, which i thought was pretty cool


had the auction too, which i hear went well

take care guys!!

Last Week

so much stuff happened last week :)
i got to see a harbor seal and dolphin necropsy in the NOAA lab next door.

This dolphin is missing a tail because it got caught in a fishing net. The fishermen.. unwilling to cut their net to let it loose.. instead cut off its tail to throw it back. I was the only undergrad at the necropsy, and the people let me cut off the dolphin's head, and take out one eye to do aging tests. I'm not gonna lie.. I was pretty excited to do that. It was weird though because it didn't register to me that it was a dolphin when I was cutting. It just seemed like a thing of meat which is sad because i <3 dolphins. I think the first time i saw a necropsy (of a sea turtle) there was so much blood, and organs were everywhere that it was pretty disgusting. this time, though, i think i was more used to it and desensitized and could really appreciate how everything in the body worked together and stuff. It was really interesting. It was also really cool how CSI-ish everything was, and what details they paid attention to. For example, they found about 40 menhaden (a small fish) in the seal's stomach and concluded that the fishermen probably discarded these as bycatch (cause they're too small) and the seal was probably just around to get the free meal because it'd be unlikely a seal could chase that many fish down in one meal.

In trying to decided on classes for next year, i met with a professor here to talk about possible marine science careers. he basically told me about 2 paths. one is a 2 year MEM program (marine environmental management) where you become a manager or something for fisheries and stuff like that. the other is a research track where you basically specialize in one area of marine science with a particular animal or group of animals. for that you need a masters/PhD so i still don't know what i'm gonna do with my life. It really hit me though about how I'm actually gonna have a career... I think i've been living in denial this whole time. I always assumed that if i had a family i'd be happy and never bothered to think that i'd be settling down with a career too. it scared me especially cause at this rate, i'll most definitely have a job before a family.. i need to get the order of events of my life together.

in other news, i decided to join the outreach team for IV next year and be a GiG leader for people i don't necessarily know. In my application i wrote that as a concern because i feel like i share the gospel best when i have already-established friendships with the people. When louisa called me to ask if i would be willing to do the GiG stuff, i told her i needed more time to think. I opened up the bible and chose a random book as if to ask God for a sign. Well, i started reading the first chapter of Romans. And you could say i got my "answer" at verses 14-17: "¹⁴I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. ¹⁶I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹⁷For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

Basically it came to my attention that I need to be preaching the Gospel to everyone, not just my friends. It put me to shame how eager paul was to preach the Gospel, and how scared I was. Ok so then I fell asleep.. but when I woke up I called back to say yes. Now i'm heavily anticipating how next year will go. That also solved my unsure-ness of which track to do in rockbridge (good news track).

I've been enjoying a 4-day weekend so far though so that's be AWESOME. i went fishing again (still didn't catch anything) i think the adult fish are still in warmer waters. The water is now bearable to stand in though. I can't wait until they're swimming temperatures. On monday they're letting us start to use the kayaks, so that's super exciting. And even more exciting, i'll be headed to trinidad on the 19th to work with leatherback sea turtles and other turtles. I'll be leaving from RDU which means i'll prob be around chapel hill/duke that weekend seeing that I wont have class on friday for that block either. This block (and all of its reading) end next wednesday, i'm super excited!

Chapter 2 "Can we know anything about history"

This chapter talks about uncertainty in history, how history is affected by the biases of authors, propaganda, and sometimes written with purposes in mind. It's pretty much impossible to get an objective historical account of something. The example she gave was that there is even a small portion of people today who believe that the holocaust didn't happen.. sketpicism formed even a couple of decades after the fact (very recent historically speaking).

This reminds me of a killer whale documentary i saw :D. it was set in Eden (i think in australia) where "legend" has is that the humans there used to hunt along side of killer whales, cooperating to bring down large whales. The killer whales would eat the tongue, and the people would take the rest of the whale. The story goes that the killer whales would swim to town to signal fishers to follow it while other killer whales surrounded and led a whale towards a bay to be trapped. However, one day a killer whale got beached, and a person decided to kill it for meat, and ever since, the killer whales never went back. There are still about 4 people on earth who recount these days with their personal experiences. That's where the controversy of history came in.. There were consistent first hand accounts, but enough time had passed that people questioned its validity.

I agree with the author that it's really hard to learn which historical accounts to trust. But I think that's where faith plays an important role. One thing that struck me was how the author talked about a time she talked with a non-christian about why she was christian. She basically mentioned 2 things: that christianity was "intellectually robust", and "existentially satisfying". meaning that there was enough historical basis to be captivated, and enough personal experience to solidify the faith. I find the same is true in many testimonies. We learn the Word of God, and we experience Jesus' love in our lives. For me, the switch flipped when my little brother was born when I was 9. "unconditional love" that the bible taught made sense. Scripture made sense cause God is love. But at the same time, the fact that sermons or passages or conversations "challenge me" really points to a truth to me. "Intellectually robust" It's good to question history, and especially important to think about the bible in its place in history. How/when was the bible written/formed? What was going on when Jesus was on earth? But just as important, what's going on today in your own life that makes sense in this spiritual context?

I find that we believe in the objectiveness in history if it seems realistic to us modernly. If we still hunted with killer whales, we'd believe what happened in australia. If we believe in Jesus today, of course the bible makes sense. If not, you could listen to however many personal accounts you want, but the history won't speak unless you seek.