Dude, man, it's been too long.

Many of you may assume that I’m still in DC teaching. Well have I got a ZOINK for you (finger touch John)!! I’ve decided to give in to my guilty pleasure and dedicate my life to pop music. I am currently on tour with Beyonce, serving as her sound mixer/ bodyguard. I first auditioned to be her lead guitarist/ back-up vocalist, but since she doesn’t actually use real musical instruments, I’ve had to settle for my current position. She has taught me so much, dude. She is my musical guru.

I really enjoy my job because my voice matters. I told Beyonce of my love for climbing the World’s Highest Peaks. In honor of me, she has named the tour: Above and Beyonce. The first stop is the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Lucky for me, Beyonce just signed a 5-year contract advertising for Planter’s Peanuts. i.e. All the peanuts an avid hiker like myself could want.
But those peanuts aren’t the only thing that’s gonna keep me going. Peanuts and people. That’s what I need. This is where you come in, 30 Travs. Dude. Y’all are awesome. I freakin’ care about what’s going on in your lives. So you’re making a choice: to Will or to kill?

Sustained by posts (and peanuts), Will.

www.Above&Beyonce.com/Planterspeanuts

Thanks a Million!

Jamie, Jen, and Kris here.  What a whirlwind these past 2 weeks have been!  We have traveled the country of Ethiopia in its ENTIRETY.  Every nook and cranny has been scouted out by yours truly.  Kris met Jamie and Jen in Addis (after sneaking/ walking real obviously past security approximately 2,976 times to find Jen) and we headed to Finote Selam early the next morning.  The next three days were spent in the Finote, highlights include:  Jamie’s (almost) birthday celebration, an emergency shunting program at 0200 for Jamie, an informational cheeseburger program, and no showering whatsoever. 

On to Addis for the Ethiopian New Year Festivities.  Happy 2002…again…everyone!  Highlights include: dancing to Whitney Houston with Ethiopians, watching hours of Ethiopian music videos, Jen being put in the spotlight by an Amharic-singing Ethiopian entertainer (and Kristen simultaneously being chest-bumped…by the same singer…she was good folks), joining hundreds of Ethiopians at midnight in the cold to watch fireworks- psych! (too expensive this year, but no one thought to tell the entire population of Addis), and New Years day spent with a wonderful Ethiopian family. 

Next we had the great pleasure of meeting the man, the myth, the legend:  Mr. Million (Million is his first name).  We knew he was to quickly become our 4^th partner in crime…literally.  He looked the part, what with his red wind pants and sleek fashion sunglasses.  Mr. Million had entered our lives to escort us on a 6-day tour of southern Ethiopia.  And man, did we tour that junk. 

Day One:  The Dorze tribe (elephant huts, extremely resourceful with the false banana tree)

Day Two: 8-hour car ride to Jinka (numb butts, reading, and sleeping)

Day Three: Mursi tribe (VEEEERY aggressive people, lip cutting to insert disc, goat blood and milk drinking)

Day Four: Hamer tribe (watched women being whipped and naked man run across the backs of bulls approximately 6 times as part of the traditional wedding ceremony…wow.)

Day Five: Abore and Konso tribes (sensory overload, get us out of the car… and out of the south)

Day Six:  Ganja and 9-hour car ride back to Addis (numb butts, reading, sleeping, brief illegal action encouraged and arranged by Million, arrive at destination in Addis: Mr. Martin’s Cozy Place)

Hanging out with a tribal woman, of course

So, overall a good time was had by all…even Papa Mills.  I, Jamie, look forward to welcoming home our little African travelers in a mere 2 months!!  Woohoo! 

One topic of our daily discussion has been the Thirty Travelers Blog.  As the founders, we feel it necessary to encourage the more consistent use of this tool for communication.  Jen was awestruck when she overheard Kristen and Jamie’s discussions of Matt and Erin’s recent engagement.  Kristen was likewise shocked to hear that Pat got new pants from Urban Outfitters 2 weeks ago.   I mean, how are we supposed to know these things unless you post about them? This is a crime and those found guilty of withholding such valuable information must be prepared to face the consequences.  So.  Be forewarned.  And light the fire…in my weary soul.  Fan the flame. Just do it people. On the blog.

Man who dances with bulls.  Bare butt.  Bleh.  Shun. 

There he is - bare butt in the flesh...well, not quite yet in the flesh, but we thought that may be a bit inappropriate for our family-friendly blog

Brook Hills

Oh, look at our ol' boy Platt in Christianity Today.

This is so Americanized.

Yo, Jen and Kris here.

So Will and John came to visit us, too! And we are happy to say that they have adapted.

Exhibit #1: They assume the appropriate position in the presence of extremely powerful forces of nature. 

Exhibit #2: They respond appropriately when tickled in the jugular by various Rwandans, as demonstrated below.

But seriously, our mini family reunion was ridiculously awesome and served as a great reminder of how wonderful our friends are.  Jen and I are coming away from the past few weeks so refreshed and encouraged and just feeling really blessed to have such great people in our lives.  Neither of us have laughed so much or so hard (see above) in a long time... well, you know, since New Year's.

Watching the guys meet my Ethiopian family and friends was my favorite part of having them in the land that boasts of 13 months of sunshine.  They literally met all of Finote Selam and were champs about it. John and Will were able to have great conversations with two of my closest friends, Mame and Teshager. I'm excited to go back and see what comes of that! Also, the family I lived with loved them and commented on their "good behavior." I'm pretty sure that just means they were good at eating injera and drinking coffee, but this is quite the compliment.

All three of us were quite ready to head for Uganda when the time came, however! Jen put us right to work, taking us east towards the Kenyan border to pass out mosquito nets and check out a community center her organization is funding. It was such a neat opportunity to see the great projects Jen is working on and to see how appreciative the rural communities are to receive supplies that will protect the health of their families. We also took a short hike to a great waterfall (again, see above photo).  On our last night in Uganda we went to a birthday party for Lino, a Sudanese teenager that is being adopted by the people Jen is working with. Jen, John, and Will were schooled in volleyball, we got to meet Jen's people, and there was birthday cake... Uganda is awesome.

But Rwanda is even better! When you flush the toilets, water swirls in the opposite direction. Clearly good things are happening there... we spent a few days visiting with the sister church of Will's church in DC and their awesome pastor, Deo, who coined the phrase that is the subject of this post when we introduced him to the concept of group hugs.  We had good conversation with him, met others in the church and just had a really great time there.  Then we went down to Kigali, toured some of the genocide memorials there and soaked up our last bit of time with the guys before they headed out on Tuesday night.  

So here we are, back in Kampala, trying to regroup for the months ahead. We find ourselves excited about what the next four months have in store, feeling supported and encouraged, and yet ready to come home at the same time. Having that taste of community leaves us ready to be with you all! Jen and I will both be heading home the last week of November and will be showing up on doorsteps looking for somewhere to live, so get ready!

John and Will came to visit!!

I felt like I was back at the 626.

I think John was winning at this point. Until I pounced on them both and took them out with the cushions...

They had a little too much fun with a plastic bag. Yes, they're the same plastic bags we have in the States (At least I think. I'm finding that the longer I'm here the more I forget about small details like that in America)

And they caught me doing what I do best: illegally driving while smsing...whoops

So good to see these guys again! We had a great time on the mountain, looking for monkeys, fireflys, and watching beautiful double rainbows expand before our eyes!

You never know what's waiting for you when you come to Malaysia!

In other news: I will probably, big probably, be staying in this wonderfully hot-all-year-round country (unless you're on the top of their tallest mountain) until March 2010. I'll keep you posted;)

Greetings from San Fran!

Hi everybody! Will and John here. If you are interested in following along on our travels, we've started another blog, willandjohn.blogspot.com . Cute right?! I mean it is pride week...

Miss you all, cya soon!

From Parkhurst: "How It Ends"

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm going to the How It Ends conference in Washington DC next week to learn about ending the war in Uganda (it's sponsored by Invisible Children, Resolve Uganda, and the Enough Project). If anyone is interested, they are actually broadcasting it online at www.howitends.tv . They are going to have some pretty awesome speakers on Monday morning, we are meeting with congressmen Tuesday, and then there is a concert Tuesday afternoon; check it out if you can. Also, if you are feeling particularly politically active, call your congressmen and ask them to consponsor the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act (Senate Resolution 1067 and House Resolution 2478). You can read the bill online, but the main focus is to require the Obama administration to come up with a plan to work with other nations to end the war and rebuild the communities. Good stuff. Let's make sure it passes.

If any of you are ever in Chattanooga, give me a call. 423-605-5165. I feel like a jerk for not keeping in touch with most of you, but I do care about you and hope you're doing well.

John

so im an idiot

i cant get the contact list open, and i lost all my contacts when i accidently washed my phone in the laundry could ya'll please text me you number or facebook message it to me or get it to me however i love ya'll thanks

FYI

At the moment I am in Baltimore, Md for a conference and have a presentation tomorrow. Next Thursday I will be in Birmingham for a few days for vacation time.

happy late mother's day

Pre Script: this doc is about a week behind because the internet was literally out in the whole town of Port St. Johns and my computer just start working again after a week of being dead. however during this last week we spent six days hiking the coast of the Transkei and staying in Xhosa villages, many good stories from that time. these will have to wait. pictures are finally up on the picassa web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/billy211b@gmail.com and the group email we sent to family and school friends can be found here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd6mctth_4grm72vgb

Hey friends, right now I am sitting in a little dutch breakfast place on the coast at a place called Jeffrey’s Bay (known as the best surfing spot in the world). I love the breakfasts here, they give you hot milk with your coffee, and a cookie/biscuit, and their French toast comes with bacon and cheese smothered all over it.

So the plan today is to surf, we hung out on the beach yesterday read for hours and figured out which spot we were going to surf. Lucky for us the ocean swell is super low, so there is a perfect little six foot wave for us to surf. However, this place is a haven for great whites, so cross your fingers that I come back with all four limbs.

So, I’ll try to throw out some good personal notes of the trip so far… Thanks to Patrick’s insistence we made it happen to go into London for our twelve hour layover. Keith, I saw your man Van Gogh, I lingered at the painting Sunflowers for a long time and thought of you and Bop. Patrick, Hunter, in the spirit/precursor of Free the Hops passing, we went to a brilliant pub by Hyde Park. They had half a dozen cask ales and a handful of Belgian abbeys. I have been introducing Catherine to the world of actually enjoying beer, that it could actually be something you want to put in your mouth.

Ok, so Cape Town seriously was one of the most beautiful cities I will ever see. The most diverse place in landscape and people groups I will ever see. As far as the health care system there goes, I am jealous. I guess it takes a post apartheid state to create a system that actually cares about the health of its people. As physical therapy goes, they are not bound by the insurance reimbursements, even to the point where therapists can spend half their time educating patients on preventative measures. For example, in the states, over half of all the health problems could be eliminated by preventative measures, the numbers for diabetes and heart disease alone are ridiculous, but we treat the disease once it has occurred. Here there is a huge emphasis placed on educating and keeping these problems from happening through lifestyle changes. Anyways, I am tempted by the freedom that therapists have here and how intensely the government seeks to provide care to everyone even requiring students to spend at least a year in a rural setting after graduation. The PT student Sarah that we hung out with had to be one of the nicest people in the world. True story. She said there is such a need for medical professionals right now and especially teachers in the educational system (lets go).

Well its been a great trip so far, Catherine and I are getting along great, we have only punched each other in the throat three times (twice from her, once from me). The thing about a punch to the throat is that it really degrades your enemy and renders them useless for at least ten minutes.

But really, we’ve had a great time, a lot of good conversation about life, Christianity, PT, table manners etc.

I’ll let you flip through the pictures I’m about to put up to follow the different places we’ve been so far.

Yesterday’s theme (each day seems to develop a theme/spirit) was “be the individual”. So Matt, I spent the morning rolling through The Sickness Unto Death and started the Moviegoer. I see a major point of these so far is to see the state of despair you are in and actually let yourself think about the implications of being aware of yourself. Completely unrelated, Cat and I talked about how important it is to follow/develop your own desires, personality, beliefs, without just mindlessly attaching to or following the group. This was in context of different personalities in college. So then, to seal the deal, we had a very cool conversation with a hippie lady at the place we were staying. She had been traveling for fourteen years after selling off all her big cars and house and getting discontented with how selfish her life had become. The conversation started when I complemented her on how beautiful her dreadlocks were… funny thing, they actually were (don’t worry mom, I am in no way tempted). In the kitchen we talked about how important it is to be aware and realize there is something beyond the routine we get caught up into. For her, yoga was a major part of this development in being mindful and caring for herself and others. We definitely did not agree on everything, but it was interesting how much we did have in common. I brought some Kierkegaardian ideas to the table as I saw such thick parallels. Her name was Marie Claire.

Ok, this is long enough, much love to everyone!

There is another email we sent out yesterday to friends and family that I will post as a google doc if you want some more juice. Cheers,

ryan