big 'ole long post

I need Shauna's email address. Can someone email it to me? Thanks.
(amandamwalls@hotmail.com)

"So how are we to bring the gospel to aboriginal natives without destroying them?"

1. Do not kill them... duh
2. Realize that God is bigger than mans traditions. Recognize their traditions as long as they don't conflict with scriptures (like head hunting or something)
3. Become like them. - the ultimate respect. (most missionarys don't do this because they cant give up conveniences they are used to)
4. Realize that Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness is not all that there is.
5. Speak their mother tongue - their heart language.

if I had time, I would write more...
i never said it was gonna be easy

Yeah, I agree.
Hey here's a question for ya'll: can radom things be intricate?

Toki doki kuruma de kayotte imasu.

Random factoid - The placement of a donkey's eyes in its head enables it to see all four feet at all times. I bet you didn't know that.

Glad my sister's having a good time. I am too. I was just reading in my history book (and I think I'm actually understanding it in a way that I'll remember it later! PRAISE GOD!!!) and came across this quote from Cristoforo Colombo (aka Christopher Columbus) describing his first personal experiences with the native americans in the Bahamas:

"Monday, 12 November
They are very gentle and do not know what evil is; nor do they kill others, nor steal; and they are without weapons and so timid that a hundred of them flee from one of our men even if our men are teasing them. And they are credulous and aware that there is a God in heaven and convinced that we come from the heavens; and they say very quickly any prayer that we tell them to say, and they make the sign of the cross."

Now I know that some or all of you believe that our administration of culture to indigenous peoples across the world was of great benefit to those peoples, but when people are transformed from peace-lovers who "do not know what evil is" to warmongers, I find it hard to believe that such an impact on the part of European expansionists could be a positive one. So how are we to bring the gospel to aboriginal natives without destroying them?

I'm baaaaaaack! I just couldn't stay away. (Oh, and Jeff: just so you know, I almost didn't include your name in the list of addressees.) So anyway, let me just tell you how much fun the Schluter children are! Um... I mean, teens and tweens. Not children. Whatever. Anyway, their 'rents are away and I'm staying here with them and it is just way too much fun! They are crazy, crazy kids, which makes me love them all the more! Plus, Luda makes some pretty rockin' cookies. PeeWee cookies. 'cept she calls them "PeeVee Cyookies." It's great! I want a Russian accent! I figure that by the end of the week, I'll have it down. On a sadder note, I miss my brother. And his games. But mostly my brother. :) *Sigh* Kelly: I'm all about visiting (of course) sometime soon. Jesse recommended late October or November. We'll see. I need to figure out how I'm going to get off and who's going to come with me and how we're going to fit all those interested into my tiny little Civic. The last time we were packed full with only three of us. Hmm.... if lots of people are interested and are able to help split the cost, I'll look into renting a minivan or something. Renting will be cheaper after January, though, when I'm....GASP!....twenty-freakin-five! Dude. I'm not really sure how I feel about that. Kinda strange. Not as freaked-out-in-a-bad-way as I thought I'd be. The 20s rock, man. Well.......I need to crash ( I stayed up way too late last night to finish my book! I need to go to bed early on school nights in order to survive!). Have a lovely Tuesday, my friends. And just to clarify, I'm not anti-debate. Not at all. Just anti-all-debate-and-all-grumpinessishness. I love making up words. :) ciao.

oh... and amanda... soooo sooowyyyy, heres a tissue, won't you please come out and play?

oh my... i just discoverd some radical news

you can read more here This is actual proof that the smurfs is actually COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA. wow

"I like most of my generation grew up watching the Smurfs. I loved them so much that I tuned in every Saturday mourning to see what crazy hy-jinx those lovable little blue creatures would get up to. It is just now that I have realized what I was really tuning into each and every Saturday morning was in actuality Communist Propaganda!! Yes that is correct, Papa Smurf and all of his little smurf minions are not the happy little characters Hanna Barbara would have us believe! The cartoon was really created by the Russian government in order to indoctrinate the youngest members of western society with communist beliefs and ideals thus destroying their resistance to the imminent Russian invasion that was to occur when this generation (my generation) grew up. Looking back, our resistance was not destroyed (only our happy childhood memories) but only due to the determination of other cartoons such as G.I. Joe and Richie Rich who's goal it was to instill in the children of the western world the morals and values of Capitalism. "

just for the record, kelly is doomed... living in a dorm named after a purple vegetable... just not scary. "look out for that guy with a beet" or "did you hear about the dorm with beets of mass distruction" And sorry jesse... I think you may be doomed as well... all it takes to rid the world of smurfs is some snow angels (or dirt angels if there is no snow) Jaron is the master of dirt angels - or gravel angels. Good luck jesse, I wish you the best, as you pretend to be smurfs... but pray you don't run into the real thing - it could be disasterous.