Sunday, December 14, 2008

I'm so excited!

Tibet: An elderly Tibetan women holding a prayer wheel on the Lhasa's pilgrimage circuit of Barkhor. The Barkhor, a quadrangle of streets that surrounds the Jokhang Temple, is both the spiritual heart of the holy city and the main commercial district for Tibetans.



Okay, so I was getting prepared tonight for our homeschool week and one of the main things I have to "plan" every week is geography. I am geography focused this year, studying other countries and cultures and how God is touching and loving the world. So we have been in China and our study was, I thought, nearly complete. But when I opened up my tub that has all my Asia stuff I found a book I forgot I had. It is called "God spoke Tibetan: The epic story of the men who gave the Bible to Tibet, the Forbidden Land". I was SO THRILLED! It is this sort of book that brings to life other lands, cultures and peoples and what God is doing there! When we studied Tibet and looked at pictures it looked like such a wild and totally different place.... I can't wait to hear this story of God moving to bring these people his Word!

Let me give you an idea of what this book is going to be like by typing here the first paragraph of chapter one called "Death in the Palace":

"Slate-colored clouds scowled over Lhasa, Tibet's mysterious Forbidden City (we had marked on our blank China maps this city Lhasa and now it will be further cemented in our minds by this story!). A northeasterly wind whipped across the city and through the cobblestone streets making prayer flags flutter on the housetops and bells tinkle on the golden temple roofs. Intermittently the gods of the air hurled down fistfuls of hailstones, peppering the Potala-the thousand room stone palace of the Dalai Lama-and the lesser buildings below it. The sun had made a few attempts to break through the overcast that day, then had wrapped itself in the blankets of clouds to keep out the chill wind."

This story is going to bring so many things to life for the boys, Tibet, the Himalayas, the weather in Tibet, Yaks and Yak butter, The Tibetans religion, Buddhism, what these people eat, and so much more that we didn't cover with our Atlas's and reference books.

Well, I'll let you know how it goes. There are some pretty deep things in this story including murder, war, revolution, polyandry (plurality of husbands), demon worship, etc. So I suspect I will be omitting certain things as I read! :)

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