Round 2: Singapore.

It's funny how much life can change in such a short amount of time.

I grew up in a home surrounded by little scraps and memories of my parent's past adventures of roaming around in Asia. My Father lived in China for a total of two and a half years, and my Mother for one of those years after they were married.

I have vivid childhood memories of sifting through boxes of Chinese souvenirs and other bits-and-bobs stored in our basement. I remember miniature Terra Cotta Warriors, dragon kites, Chinese baby clothes, sets of chopsticks, Mandarin characters, and much more.
I grew up fascinated with Asia and its culture, always feeling jealous when my Dad would fly off to some exotic Asian country for work and leave me at home.

But in 2009, I got my own piece of Asia. My father was up for sabbatical, and he decided to spend it abroad. So in the fall of 2009, we packed up and moved our family of six to a little bitty apartment at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Singapore.

We got to do some pretty cool stuff around Asia. Like travel to a total of six Asian countries. And ride elephants on Christmas Day. And visit a lot of crazy awesome temples. And meet some pretty swell people.

But despite all of my beloved adventures, that is not what this post is about. I am pretty dang blessed to have been able to travel around Asia so much, but cool stories and weird experiences are not the only things I gained.

In short, my experiences in Asia rocked my world. 

My experiences rocked my faith. 

Little thirteen-year-old me couldn't understand what I saw. Besides the typical teenage issues (am I pretty enough? Am I thin enough? Do I have worth?), my main struggle was this: How is it that those of other religions are so incredibly passionate and dedicated to their faith, when I and so many others Christians I knew don't seem to care much about our God and our faith?

What? 

I found myself wondering: "Is there a God, is He even real? If He is real, what does it mean to be a true Christian?" 

Singapore started a chain of events, events that forced me to exit my time as a child. I could honestly write an entire book on my time in Singapore. But for now, here is what Singapore was mostly about: Changing me. Changing my world view. Changing how I saw God. Changing my life.