stephen – Page 4

captured.

December 1, 2016 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: housewares, kelli, on the house, stephen 2 Comments

It is really difficult to capture what we do and why we live here. Sometimes I’m not sure I know the answers to those questions, which just complicates putting them into words for others, or perhaps into words in other languages.

Recently, following a heartbreaking domestic abuse situation, one of our close friends was left with a swollen face, a newborn baby girl, and without a front tooth. She was discouraged for so many reasons, not withstanding the affair that led to this; that her husband refused to hold her new baby girl, he was refusing to feed her and the two kids, and she was feeling like she couldn’t get a job without a tooth and being illiterate.

So we have visited her and sat with her often over the past few weeks, attempting to both mourn with her and ensure her physical needs were met by sneaking her money for food.

Somewhere along the way, Stephen and I started talking about getting her tooth replaced: what the expenses would be, as well as the aftermath–how many people would know how much we spent on it? How it would affect community hierarchies and friendships? When do we say yes and when do we say no?

In the end, we decided to say yes to this one. It required two trips to a dentist that lived out in the middle of nowhere but did speak Burmese. It required me to be the dental assistant for the first trip, a three-hour visit of grinding down teeth that wasn’t my favorite. It felt a little outside of the norm for us–not an obvious need, but a felt need all the same.

As we left the second visit, she seemed unsure. It looked far better than I could have ever imagined, but even as I gushed over how beautiful she looked, she seemed skeptical.

I started to wonder if it was worth it–the money, the time, the effects in the community; even the discomfort of having water (and who knows what else) sprayed all over me from the dentist’s chair!

But the next day, I saw her standing outside in the road–she was holding her baby, dressed in all yellow. She looked gorgeous, laughing with her friends and chatting. When I approached, she smiled broader than I have seen since…well, since her world fell apart. She was the San Aye I remember–so confident and friendly.

Her two friends were complimenting how beautiful she looked, and I have heard that many times this week. Not one person has asked us how much it cost or why we helped her. She has been around nearly every day–outside and chatting with friends, where I’ve previously only found her at home, hiding inside.

I really couldn’t be happier. I’m not sure we could have spent that money better. I feel like she got a glimpse of love–that she is seen and known and loved, even when it feels like everything is falling apart. Someone is putting the pieces back together.

We’ve told her that our church and friends from church give us the money to do things like this. When she tells me she is ashamed for us to help because its so expensive, I tell her not to be ashamed to us–it’s a gift from my friends! It’s a gift from the church!

It’s because Jesus sees you and loves you.

I asked her later if Stephen could take a photo of her so we could show the “friends who bought her tooth” how beautiful she looked. That’s mostly all of you, collectively, making our lives here possible, the purchase of this tooth possible, and even her food over these challenging weeks.

And at this photo, I think it’s captured. In some ways it is just some money for rice and a new tooth. But in other ways, this is so much of what we hope for–everything that her smile says.

We also caught a photo at the end of our sewing training, just a week later. She is the one with the biggest smile! There is so much for her to be proud of.

sunshine.

September 25, 2016 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: kelli, photos, stephen Leave a Comment

Honestly, this week was one of the bigger waves we’ve had in some time, and the beach already feels so far away! But as my mind reels, I want to remember this time we had–it was such a gift. We really couldn’t have asked for more. It was full of walking on the beach and swimming in the waves and enjoying the one place where this much heat and sun is a good thing!

We were on the southern portion of the island of Phuket. You can see three beaches here, and we spent most of our time on the middle one and a few days on the further beach.

A fifteen minute drive south takes you to a beach on the southern-most tip of Phuket and the most beautiful beach we’ve ever seen. The water is so vibrantly blue and green; it’s indescribable. We drove here on a few different days to soak up the views and sunsets.

We weren’t really looking for sunny days and dark tans as we spend much of our lives in the sun. Most mornings we’d head to the beach by 8 or 9 to wear ourselves out in the waves until the sun came out in full force. Then we’d head inside until the later afternoon, when it was cloudy and shady for reading by the ocean and jumping in more waves as the sun slowly set.

And then sometimes we could get in another walk along the beach after dinner. Really, we soaked up as much of the beach without the sun as we could!

We had so much lovely food! Above is a Turkish coffee we had with a lunch of Turkish breads & cheeses! We had some delicious crab, cooked Thai style and the best lobster bisque I’ve ever had. We also had some amazing Indian twice, and the second time had enough courage to ask if the waiter was Burmese. It turned out all the staff were and they loved that we could speak Burmese and worked with Burmese people. The waiter ended up sitting down with us for the evening as we chatted about everything you could possibly think of; and we are now connected on Facebook and have swapped phone numbers so he can visit us next time he passes through Mae Sot to visit his family in Burma!

One morning we woke up at 4:30am to drive to the other side of the island and watch the sunrise.

At this point we weren’t sure if it was going to be worth it. We were on a shelly, rocky beach defending our coffee and juice from street dogs.

Turned out to be completely worth the effort! It was a beautiful sunrise and a lovely walk along the pier in the morning light.

One of the things we love about Phuket is that it is a bit developed: there are lovely restaurants and even a Starbucks! We really enjoyed a few cups of coffee there through the week. Stephen commented that he always thought it was annoying that Starbucks was so regulated in the US: everything–from the coffee beans to the pumps to the type of cups and seating–was the same from shop to shop, not allowing for creativity or uniqueness. But he realized that now living here, he loves that he knows whenever he sees a Starbucks he’s guaranteed a delicious cup of coffee, comfortable seating, and a cozy atmosphere where he’s free to sit for hours. Suddenly that predictability is oddly appreciated!

We were really thankful to be away over Stephen’s birthday, and our hotel even surprised us with a cake! When we came back from the beach that evening, a group of staff came to the door with a cake and lit candles to sing him happy birthday!

Obviously action shots aren’t my specialty, but it was amazingly sweet of them!

Thank you to so many of you who sent cards and packages for Stephen’s birthday! It was so much fun. I brought the cards with us and he opened them through the week. It was a great way to celebrate him!

On his birthday, we went to a lovely restaurant along the beach that had live jazz. It was a beautiful restaurant and just the perfect blend of casual live music, not to mention the amazing food.

The entire trip was just such perfect rest and was such a great way to celebrate Stephen. We met eleven years ago & began dating ten years ago this month; we began spending every day together seven years ago. We moved to Thailand and really began to spend every day together six years ago; we just spent ten days without a minute apart. And with what this past week has held, I can’t believe how happy we are spending all these moments together. He’s the best gift I’ve ever been given, and it was so fun to celebrate his thirty years!

on making it.

July 21, 2016 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: kelli, photos, stephen 1 Comment

Today, we’re making it.

We swam laps early this morning and I headed off to my Burmese lesson. I sat and chatted with my Burmese teacher as he helped me write rules for the community center opening today; helped me create a computer log book; and helped me write out a checklist for our bread manager.

I went to the market to get food for Aung Moe, the blind man in the community, and to get our vegetables for the week. I floated from stall to stall, knowing many of the sellers, waving at Daw Ma Oo selling flowers, and filling bags with fresh veggies for us and fish paste for Aung Moe. I filled my motorbike basket and then balanced a bag between my legs.

I came home and chatted with the girls sitting outside of our house. We looked at pictures of the Chan’s new baby in Canada. They helped me deliver food to the family that cooks for Aung Moe and load up my fridge.

I sat down to write out all the notes from Burmese class, and it didn’t take me forever. I just wrote it, like those squiggles are somehow becoming a natural formation of my hand.

I counted up Flour & Flowers orders for this week and put them into the oh-so-snazzy chart Stephen made for me. It spit out the counts for this week, which I wrote out onto paper and posted for Pyo Pyo, who will come to start some of the recipes tonight.

At four, Thida came with her kids and we gave her an “orientation” of our house and the new plan for the community center {complete with a binder in Burmese that I’m a little proud of}. We opened our doors to so many kids and some adults until 8pm, and it, well, wasn’t horrible. I only cleaned up after three kids peeing on the floor, and I managed to teach multiple kids Sorry, Mancala, & Uno. I didn’t feel crazy at 8pm when they all cleared out and I started cooking dinner.

I don’t know when it happened: when this became normal; when this became home; when the chaos stopped overwhelming me. I don’t know when it just became usual for the kids to pile into our house for homework help. I don’t know when those sentences just started rolling out in Burmese. I don’t know when bread became less overwhelming each week.

I do remember when it felt like it took all day to do anything. I do remember when I was nervous driving the motorbike or car. I do remember when I was scared of blood and sores. I do remember when I felt so confused by all the languages in the market. I do remember when bread felt like it took my whole week to coordinate, and I wasn’t sure that was how I wanted to spend my whole week, or when it would get easier. I do remember being oh-so-tired after trying to manage anything in the community or anything in Burmese.

But I find us here now, and we’re making it. Somewhere along the way, things started working and feeling less like we were always. going. up. mountains.

I always thought I wasn’t made for this. I felt like I was a fish out of water, or swimming up stream, or both. Why was I here? Was it this horrible and hard for everyone? Did everyone just feel like they were always tired? And not sure what from?

Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not sure.

But suddenly, on this random day in July, nearly six years in, I think we just might make it here after all.

uneven stephen.

March 9, 2016 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: kelli, stephen Leave a Comment

Our lives have always been uneven.

We have papers to grant us an official birth, country, and legality; our neighbors often do not.
We were born to well-fed mothers; most of them were born into an outrageously high infant mortality rate.
We have a house with concrete walls and strong ceilings; they have a collection of bamboo, wood, tin, old signs, and tarp.
We have water and electricity that runs into our house {most days}; they have one light bulb and a communal well.
We have a house above floodwater; they have mud and rising waters.
We have locking doors; they have diary locks.
We have an amazing machine to throw our dirty clothes into; they wash them by hand each and every day.
We shower in private; they shower publicly.
We drive a motorbike or car or bicycle; they bicycle as a family or walk.
We sleep on a mattress raised above the rats and creatures; they have cardboard or mats resting on the ground.
We throw out the trash; they collect it from us.

I could go on. But it’s an easy point to see and has been since we arrived: it’s uneven.

And yet today, I finally woke to my third alarm at 6:45, which is yet another uneven: the cell phone, the alarm, the fact that I slept past daylight. Stephen rolled over, put his arm around me and kissed the back of my hair. He told me he loved me.

Not only is that a very good way to wake, but it was stark reminder of another uneven. After the night we had last night, I am very aware of what some women are going to sleep with and waking up to.

Instead, I’m waking up next to an uneven Stephen: one of the greatest gifts I’ve been given.

Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:9-11

languages schlanguages: this is life.

February 25, 2016 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: kelli, stephen Leave a Comment

Stephen and I had a conversation the other day about language in our lives. It is so much of our day to day. He attends private lessons 4.5 hours a week and I attend 3 hours. We each study daily in some way: Stephen reviews flash cards for 30 minutes to an hour depending on the set, and I write three sentences in three languages for review. We rarely go a day without using Burmese, and some days we use some Thai and Karen. We had a conversation last week about the words abortion and miscarriage in Burmese, and what it tells you about the culture. We discussed a word that didn’t exist in English and why it doesn’t; we are even reading articles and books about language and discussing them. Language has become our life.

Meanwhile, our friends and families just communicate. They don’t study another language every day or discuss how to say something in another language. They don’t even know what “language sweats” are, and that is a very real thing.

One thing we have learned is that we learn very differently. There is a specific reason that Stephen does flash cards every day on the computer and I write my sentences out on paper. He is an incredible typer–he can type in Burmese faster than English these days!–and I am the writer. He organizes his notes and I hoard them. Stephen will only speak once he knows it absolutely perfectly, so everyone believes him to be a genius. He speaks in proper grammar, full sentences, and beautiful pronunciation; but he won’t speak until then. I, on the other hand, will spit out words and phrases that receive correction after correction or blank stare after blank stare.

As our teacher tells me, “Stephen is very systematic. You…are not systematic.”

But, alas–while we are studying language very differently, we are learning it–as in, it’s working! Recently, we had a few tests to our skills. For obvious reasons, I’m only sharing (and remembering) the wins.

I went to get a pedicure recently, and most of the staff are Burmese. I usually speak to them in Burmese to be kind, but just little words here and there. After they had gotten started and been chatting to each other for about thirty minutes, I decided I wanted to change the color I had chosen. I thought about it for quite sometime to attempt to say it correctly (although certainly not to Stephen’s perfection) and then said, “I’m sorry. I’d like to change the color. I don’t want this one, but I’d like that one. The red one.” The sweet girl stared at me in disbelief, and then slowly got up to get the red I’d indicated. I think she then reviewed the entirety of she & her friend’s Burmese conversation to see what I might have understood. WIN.

Our drinking water is delivered to the house, and the delivery men are all Burmese. They pull up, ask if we’d like water, and we shout out how many bottles we’d like. Last week they had a new worker with them. When the others spoke to Stephen in Burmese, he looked at them skeptically, assuming Stephen didn’t understand. And then he created his own test. He started asking questions in Burmese, and at each response, would ooh and ahh at Stephen’s sensible responses. WIN.

At a restaurant, Stephen walked up to order four samosas for take-away. Burmese uses classifiers when counting (cats, two animals; teaspoon, 3 spoons), and he used the classifier he thought would be correct, in essence saying, “Samosas, four ku.” The worker corrected him, “Samosas, four loun.” As he put them in the bag, Stephen continued chatting, “Thank you, four loun. I thought it was ku.” The guy then stopped and thought, “Four loun, four ku…Yes, it can be either. You’re right.” WIN. For the record, ku is a classifier for small things or machines; loun is a classifier for round things, electronic devices, and hats. Just so we’re all clear about how great classifiers are. You can also read about Karen classifiers here, because this isn’t our first rodeo.

And last, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen using Burmese while we bake bread, roll out tortillas, and even cooking with the kids. This week–twice!–I was able to listen in on conversations between Pyo Pyo & Nyein Nyein while I was busy doing other tasks. (Unless you’ve learned another language, I can’t really explain how epic this is. Being able to multitask in secondary languages is not to be taken lightly.) While I was coming back and forth getting water for the kids, I heard them discussing the ingredients they were putting into the bread. Nyein Nyein was arguing she had already put salt in, and Pyo Pyo was arguing that she hadn’t finished. Nyein Nyein argued she had put one spoon in, and Pyo Pyo argued that in the French bread recipe she needed one tablespoon, not one teaspoon. Nyein Nyein conceded, but then wasn’t sure what to do now. Should she start over? I casually added that 3 teaspoons was equal to one tablespoon, to which Nyein Nyein looked over and–in essence–rolled her eyes at, thinking I wasn’t making sense (which is fair; I don’t always make sense in Burmese). But I watched her face, as she realized I did make sense: I had understood their conversation and solved the problem. And seamlessly, I might add. The face she then gave me: WIN.

And again, as I took clothes out of the washer, they were discussing where to find the wheat flour. Nyein pointed to the fridge, but we had used that bag; Pyo Pyo said to check here on this shelf. I interjected that it was in the cupboard underneath them. Again, they discussed among themselves to check on the shelf, thinking I didn’t understand what they were talking about, or perhaps that they didn’t know what I was talking about. I made it a complete statement: The wheat flour is in the cabinet underneath. Again, the face: WIN.

Someday, someday, we’ll know this language. Because it is our life.

sight for aung moe.

February 9, 2016 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: house calls, house church, kelli, on the house, photos, stephen Leave a Comment

This will require some back story for those who might not know Aung Moe.

Three years ago, Aung Moe was brought to our house unconscious, and we rushed him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with meningeal encephalitis, and the doctors were pretty certain he was going to die. They asked us to choose how he would have liked to be cremated.

We requested that we wait until he actually died. And then we called a pastor friend of ours, who came and prayed for him in the midst of all of his friends.

And Aung Moe got better! It was quite the recovery, both miraculous and difficult. We eventually picked him up from the hospital still unable to walk and unable to see, and with a bill we certainly didn’t have the ability to pay. The hospital was actually grateful to have him out of their responsibility since he required so much care, and accepted less than 5% of the bill.

We got him back to his house, where he lived alone. His friends helped him with basic tasks and we provided food and things that he needed. He was able to walk again and could care for himself more and more, and now we only buy his food and basic needs week to week. A friend still makes his meals for him and many different people in the community look after him.

We are constantly trying to find new ways to try to help him–we’ve just recently ordered him a crank radio so he can listen through the day; we try to anticipate his needs of clothing or blankets for changing weather. He has gotten braver to ask for specific things, and it all gets easier as we learn more and more Burmese.

He has been diagnosed with cortical blindness. His eyes are functioning normally, but aren’t properly connecting to his brain. This can heal over time, but usually does within the first few months to a year, which we have long past. In recent visits to the eye doctor, they have told us he’s done healing and this is as good as it will get.

However, it continues to improve. Even in the last six months, he has begun to be able to see long distances, but still is unable to see nearer to him. Recently, we started encouraging the kids to pray for Aung Moe and they have really begun to be excited about it. Someone mentions him every week when ask for prayer requests, and we are all praying for his sight to return, particularly his near-sight, so that he might be able to work again some day.

This has been surprisingly complicated. I find myself hesitant to “get the kids hopes up”–a fancy way to say I’m skeptical and struggling to believe. I want them so badly to see Jesus–to see that He loves them and sees them, this little community right here on Samaksuppakan Road.

More and more in our time here, I struggle to believe his goodness. There are so many things we have prayed for that he has chosen not to fulfill. Or perhaps he is another way we can’t see–but again, this is fancy way to say it doesn’t look like it.

I struggle to understand that just because he CAN heal Aung Moe, that he might choose not to.

And it’s true, he might choose not to.

But I think we’re still called to pray, and even to pray for big things. Perhaps we’ll be the little widow in Luke 18, and our Good King will give justice speedily.

So while we pray together here, we wanted to ask you to join us. Please pray for Aung Moe’s sight, and even for work for him. We have it posted on our wall, and maybe you’d post it on yours? Print this picture of him or write his name somewhere, and pray with us.

When the Son of Man comes, may he find faith on earth! (Luke 18:8)

kramer.

January 2, 2016 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: kelli, stephen Leave a Comment

While watching an episode of Seinfeld tonight, Kramer characteristically bursts into Jerry’s apartment. Stephen comments,

“I bet it’d be fun to have a neighbor that just bursts in whenever they want…wait, I guess we kind of have that.”

countdown to christmas: thursday.

December 27, 2015 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: house calls, house church, kelli, photos, stephen Leave a Comment

Christmas Eve was a little over-eventful. We needed to take two people to the clinic, so we planned to leave at 7:30am. It was the blind man in the community, Aung Moe, and the little five-year-old with the dog bite—he was behind on his vaccinations and needed one that is only offered on Thursdays. We made it by 8 with hopes of being home by 9 for Flour & Flower deliveries.

These were high hopes indeed. Stephen went back with the little boy at 9 to load up the car, while I stayed with Aung Moe. Stephen arrived home to have people running up to him everywhere, and he was brought a little two-year-old girl who’d had hot oil spilled on her. She had boils covering her.

Thus Stephen came back to the clinic to pick us up and drop her off, getting us home to beginning Flour & Flower deliveries about an hour behind schedule. We still managed to get 11 pans of rolls, 17 loaves of bread, 11 bouquets of flowers, & plenty of Christmas cheer delivered around town.

We squeezed in lunch and little more present wrapping before it was time for our weekly house church. We started this many weeks ago, and just recently realized it was going to work out just perfectly with Christmas! We have gone through a selection of Old Testament stories, shared the Christmas story, and then will continue through Jesus’ life until Easter.

We gathered the kids first for a little craft Laura had put together. Kelvin & Laura had cut out a huge cardboard Christmas tree and painted it green. The kids each got ornaments to cut out, color, and paste to the tree. It was a hit, and turned out so cute!

We also had high school students from a nearby children’s home helping us with the craft and the bible story. We had speakers set up outside so that the Christmas story translation could be loud—loud enough to cover the chatter and perhaps even make it across the street for the adults that might be too shy to come.

The students helped us pull of an entire skit, complete with Laura & Kelvin as Mary & Joseph, a little baby from the community as Jesus, two shepherds, four sheep, two angels, and two wisemen. This, too, was such a hit and went better than we could have imagined.

At the end, Stephen asked everyone who believed that Jesus was born and was God. So many of the kids raised their hands, and we just rejoiced. Stephen told me later he had the verse in mind from Romans—“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”—and wanted to give them the opportunity to confess. Really, we have no idea what God is doing here and how he is using our lives, our home, our stories. But we can love them and pray for them, we will gladly tell them the Christmas story year after year!

After a snack of chocolate soy milk & cookies with the community, we headed back to wrapping presents, only to pop out for a takeaway pizza for dinner.

Also in the midst of the evening, I received one of the sweetest gifts yet from the community. Pyo Pyo brought me these two beautiful pairs of earrings!

It was so sweet to see her observe what I would like and then do such a great job choosing a sweet present. They will be cherished for a long time.

Also, a Christmas miracle: for the first time since we have arrived back, we received water from the city on Christmas Eve!

who doesn’t love a good, local coffee shop?

November 19, 2015 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: kelli, stephen Leave a Comment

We made it Stateside!

We’ve already entered the whirlwind of attempting to overcome jet lag while we seize every moment with family and friends, every experience at Target, and every delicious taste of cheese. Carpe diem!

We do want to see as many of you as possible, and to make that happen–in the central Arkansas region at least!–we’re having an open house-style get together. On November 30, we’ll be at Guillermo’s Coffee Shop, just off I-430, from 4pm-7pm. We’ve reserved a room in the back, so you can grab a lovely cup of coffee and we’ll attempt to share it with you.

We’d love to see you if you have time to drop in!

choose your own #hashtag.

November 7, 2015 by Stephen & Kelli Spurlock Filed Under: kelli, stephen 1 Comment

Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books? I think we need a more modernized version: Choose Your Own #Hashtag.

One night this week as we brought one family home from the hospital and were attempting to make dinner on the grill, we were interrupted with fighting.

Before I could take it all in, Stephen made the right decision and ran across the street to physically break up the fight between a husband and his pregnant wife. Right decision, yes; albeit surreal.

So many thoughts running through my head.

#everydayhero? Perhaps.
#getanewneighborhood? Perhaps.
#istilllovemyneighbors. True.