dogs and graduation

So every morning I have a glorious wake-up call from all the neighborhood dogs! It usually starts with one until the whole slew of them are in a chorus. The first time I heard this I thought it was a form of beautiful music. However, this beautiful music comes every morning around 5:30 am and after a few days it isn't so beautiful anymore. The plus side of waking up every morning at 5:30 is that a lot can be accomplished early in the morning and it is always nice to see more of the sun each day. Ok, enough about dogs, onto what has been happening this week.

This week I had the opportunity to attened the Sabah Theological Seminary Graduation. The event was two parts, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The Friday portion of this event consisted of a dinner and program. Now, this dinner was Malaysian style with an eight course meal. Here is what was served: 1- cream corn and chicken 2-a glazed chicken 3-fish (this was the full fish: head and all) 4-lamb 5-prawns and vegetables 6-vegetables 7-garlic rice 8-white fungus and coconut milk. The vegetarian that I am joined in the meal during course five and simply picked around the prawns. It was a fun event as the graduating students shared stories and some of their traditions with us. The music was great to listen to and there were instruments being played I have never seen. Overall, it was a great first portion to this two portion event.

The Saturday half of the graduation was fun to listen to and observe. The service was a combination of Bahasa Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and a little English. I didn't understand the majority of what was being said but I did enjoy listening. The graduates looked great as they each went up to receive their diplomas in different parts of the church missions. After the ceremony there were gatherings and fellowships outside to meet with family and friends. It was fun to talk to some of the graduates and share in their joy.

Shout out to my two favorite sisters back in the cold lands of Iowa and Minnesota!!!!