by: Mike Salvatore

Today we’re going to talk about Viet-Thai food.

Let’s look at what Viet-Thai food is like before we look into the restaurants that serve it. This will help you make your way through the 100-200 menu items that most of these places serve.

Beef Noodle Soup (called “pho”, pronounced like “faun” without the “n”)
I am ashamed to admit that I have never tried pho. It’s the most popular, most authentic menu item. The soup is served in salad bowls – there’s a lot of it. You eat it with a spoon AND with chopsticks. Pho can come in many shapes and in many forms. Change the meat, change the noodles, add spices, add vegetables…there are endless combinations. Pho usually costs between $4.00 and $7.00.

Vermicelli Bowls
These are what Mary and I usually order. They’re big enough for us to split, but they don’t cost very much – between $6.00 and $8.00 is a great price for two people. I’ve seen some attempt to eat these without help, and they usually fail.
Vermicelli is a type of thin rice noodle. The bowls (salad sized, again) are filled with these noodles, one or two meats of your choice, some salad, and perhaps a spring roll.

Rice paper meals
Rice paper is thin, so thin that it’s see-thru. When you order a rice paper meal you’ll be served a pile of meat, some vermicelli, and some vegetables on a giant plate, as well as a stack of rice paper. To eat this, you put the food on the paper, wrap it up, and eat it like you would a burrito or fajita. These meals are among the most expensive, ranging from $10.00-$14.00.

There are several other things to order at Viet-Thai restaurants, but I consider the aforementioned three to be the “main” dishes.

I’ve eaten at 4 Viet-Thai restaurants in Kitchener-Waterloo and 3 of them are worth visiting.

Your contenders:
Pho 95 – 323 King St. W., Kitchener, ON
Pho Vinh Tin – 170 University Ave. W., Waterloo, ON
Ben Thanh Viet-Thai Restaurant – 36 Northfield Dr. E, Waterloo, ON. Also, 10 Pinebush Rd., Cambridge, ON
Pho Dau Bo – 301 King St. E, Kitchener, ON. Also, 1051 Victoria St. N, Kitchener, ON

Pho 95: best portions
95 has been the favorite place for Mary and me so far. It’s family owned, cheap, and tasty. 95 has the best spring rolls and the best lemon grass chicken (spicy and flavorful – try it!) hands down. Aside from the great food, the portions at 95 are generous. More food for the dollar is always appealing.

Pho Vinh Tin: nothing special
Vinh Tin makes its money off of UW students who crave Viet-Thai. There’s nothing special about it, which makes it in my opinion not worth going to. Their portions are less than the other restaurants, but their prices are the same.

Ben Thanh Viet-Thai Restaurant: the fancy one
Ben Thanh is very tasty. Whenever I order something from them I enjoy it thoroughly. The atmosphere is a step above the other places, too…the design is nicer, the chairs are comfier, the fish water is cleaner. Ben Thanh has a few menu items that I haven’t seen at any other place, too. They have a creative chow mein selection, but everything they serve is high quality. Unfortunately, Ben Thanh has its downsides. The price is higher, not by much, but still higher. Also, they bring your food when it is ready. Not at the same time as the person ordering with you, not appetizers first and main dishes second…when it’s ready. One time when I ate there with Mary, she finished her food before mine came and our appetizers came when we were both finished!

Pho Dau Bo: most authentic
Dau Bo served me the best rice paper meal I’ve ever had last night. It’s always full of Vietnamese people, so you know that they’re doing something right. You can tell when an ethnic restaurant is good by how full of people from its ethnicity it is. I asked a Vietnamese guy in one of my classes about which Viet-Thai restaurant in KW is the best and he was sold on Dau Bo. He said the King St. location (not the Victoria one) is the most authentic Vietnamese food I’ll find anywhere in the tri-cities. So, go to Dau Bo because Vietnam likes it, and because I do too.

by: Stephen Weber

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one….” (John 17:22 NASB)

If we are to truly ‘go deeper’ for God and know Him more, then we will strive to follow His will. Jesus’ will for the church was that we would be one. That is, united. What is a large obstacle faced today in this area? Denominations.

We must not, however, see organized denominations as the whole problem. I know I am tempted to think sometimes that if churches would just join together and forget about their denominations that things would just be much better, that some how it is the churches’ fault.

It’s not about the churches but the Church.

We as believers form both the churches and the Church – the body of Christ. If we want to see change, we should not look for it to come from above, but from us.

We are to be the salt and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14). We often hear about how we must reach out to non-Christians. Yet, it must start with us: reaching out to other Christians first, and then non-believers. How can we confront them about the specks in their eyes, when we are beating our brothers and sisters with the logs in our own?

It is not for the churches as organizations to change, it is for us, as people, to change. We must challenge ourselves to live daily as brothers and sisters united. If I believe Jesus could come back tomorrow, and you believe that there is much that must first happen, what does that matter? Are we not saved by the same Christ? Is there not “one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6)?

by: Julie-Anne Wideman

I am going crazy!
Some say I am already there
Craziness is fun
But only when I am in control

It constantly seems like I don’t have any control lately
I want it back
But do I really need it?

Confusing messages
My head says what I want to do in an audible voice
My body loudly tells me what would be healthy
Yet it is my heart that screams
in a still small voice what I really need

It is my heart I have trouble hearing

by: Wesley Hague

Why do I believe the lies
that says my life is more worthless than flies?
Why do I listen to the words
that bite, and hurt, and drive in herds?

What we people simply do not see
is how easily it is to hurt you and me.
Sometimes it is not what they do or say
but what they don’t that hurts this way.

We can build or we can destroy,
through words of silence someone’s joy.
An offer not taken or simply ignored
a hurt heart is that reward.

Beyond the struggle and the pain
the light of hope is ours to gain.
Forgiveness helps put loss at past
and our lives for God will we last.

by: PJ Wong

In response to Mike’s recent gossip, I am outraged on many levels.
The highest level is of course the fact that I can’t believe that gossip has such a high regard in a so called Bible believing community. I really expected more out of you people, especially those in the counseling program, Upper Lehman, 4th room, above Christina Fisher, orange hair, glasses, drives a Hyundai and is totally going to be owned on December the 23rd of this year. This person will remain nameless due to the fact that I refuse to stoop down to that level.
When teaching about gossip, I think of a bag of flour. Each word is a sprinkle on the floor and each phrase is a handful cast upon the ground. And I think it’s about time to clean this mess up.
So in response to the recent allegations, I would like to set the story straight.
First of all, Mr. Boogerman and I were not meeting up for a wedding at all. I had invited him over for some coffee, along with a good friend for many years—Agatha. I had just brought out the game “Don’t Wake Up Daddy” and we were enjoying our reading week.
We had been playing for a few minutes when daddy sprung up from his bed. As Aggie jumped backwards, Booger was right there to save the day. Needless to say, Aggie fell back and found herself in the arms of a dashingly handsome young man. It was love at first sight.
The ordination part is true. I do weddings, bar-mitzvahs, bat-mitzvahs, Yiddish-mich-sche-vahs and the occasional Peruvian chimpanzee sacrifices. So knowing this, Ben asked me to do the deed. I was honoured.
The two set off for the honeymoon when Agatha, happy with her service, offered me a tip. As an honest man I refused but she insisted, telling me that it was a slap in the face to turn her down. I regretfully said yes, due to the fact of my outstanding student fines that are not yet paid. (Don’t worry Marjorie; I plan on paying off every penny with my damage deposit this coming spring.)
Long story short, the fling ended as Aggie found a new love – Daniel Cook. She pursued Dan in New Hampshire and the two have been no where to be found to this day. I hear that the two along with Jamie Knight, Bethany Wiebe, and Jordan Vetro are on an Bavarian cruise in search of the man eating behemoth spoken of in Spanish legend—Matt Cardases.
By the way, did you hear that Mike Salvatore really isn’t getting married? Yep. It’s really a scam to get our presents. He’s hired expert sharp shooter Brittany Rice to shoot down everyone who comes into the dining room. Little does he know, Mary has actually had a secret agenda since day one as well—star hit-men Dave King and Simon Boucher! Together, the three will take Salvatore out so she can run off with his automobile. But keep that one on the down low… just between us… okay?

by: Curtis Healy

You truly shouldn’t have to pay for an education. You need to put your time into it. You need to work hard, but it shouldn’t just be you supporting yourself; it should be the community supporting each other. I think it is a huge disgrace, especially at EBC that we have to let people leave because they can’t afford the schooling they need to become more rounded in what they are blessed to become. That we have to pay to become fully actualized instruments of God.

It is shameful that we should have to pay for a piece of paper that has nothing to do with the mission of Christ so that we can be recognized and better accepted and have greater potential to be hired by a church. It is a shame that anyone has to pay to become what God, out of his good grace has granted to both Christian and non alike, an image of their path in life, and what they’re supposed to be. Yes they need to work hard at it, but they shouldn’t have to pay money to let someone recognize ‘officially’ what God has ordained them to be. But it truly goes to show, that the Church also, God bless her, has some things to work out, like comparing how enriching this God person will be with a graduate enriching the community alongside a certificate.

This is the problem facing some new friends of mine wondering if they should be here, because evidently the school doesn’t deem them worthy of a certificate. It’s really a paradox saying ‘based on the standards and requirements of the world, even the law, you do not measure up to be able to serve God a particular way.’ It takes no account for how someone actually ministers and blesses etc, whether in a Christian environment or not. And it says ‘you are not valued for your enrichment or your blessing, or your spirit, maybe not even your knowledge but your ability to perform’. This is one more fancy way of saying ‘Your ability to contribute to economy’. If you don’t have a $40 000 piece of paper, you’re less economic to the church. How wonderful; where is the Spirit of God accounted for in all of this?

I find it odd that we are so worried about our church attendances and our pitches for evangelism these days. I don’t in any way see how being satisfied with attendance or worrying about it is important. We should be concerned with what they leave with, not necessarily what they come with. They come with the same as us. But rather, we’re worried about people showing up rather than the image of Christ we present. If we presented the image of Jesus correctly, it wouldn’t matter to us; people would come for the ingenuousness of the people filled with the Holy Spirit. I think we should adopt an Alice Cooper quote on this matter ‘If God tells us to have a telefundraiser with a mark of say $200 000, he’s not concerned about us actually making our mark, but the image of Christ we portray while raising the money.’ Maybe we should be less concerned about numbers and more concerned about the number one? Because in the idea of ‘get your slip’ they’re not looking at ‘how does this person bring Christ?’ They’re looking at ‘how can this person liven up things?’ Or ‘do they have the quantitative capitalist requirements to economize our environment?’ Paper slips can cover a whole multitude of error and sin that have nothing to do with good ministry. But the attitude of the injustice isn’t limited to the quest for the certificate.

You might say, ‘well I have no time for this’, or ‘my struggles are my own’ etc. Well then you don’t have time to be a human being. And you don’t understand the meaning of struggle or pain. They do not exist so we can sit back with pride and exemption and see where others have less, and justify ourselves or even our behaviors at delineated with them. Struggle and difficulty – suffering exists to bind us together in commonality. Pain exists to be healed and we are to lead people to the Master Healer, who has healed us.

by: Stefanie Parsons

She was the most mature and focused person I knew in high school. I looked up to her in Key Club as she was our student leader in our senior year. She had pictures of Boys II Men in her locker and was one of the first of us to get her own car, which her dad fixed up for her. I always wanted to be like her ever since we were in grade 4 when she would wear her long black hair tied up with a rainbow of colourful elastics.

That beautiful hair was covered in a tight head scarf during high school but it never really caused me to think about the differences between my friend and me. I knew she was a Muslim and she knew I was a Christian, that fact never complicated our friendship. I never shared my faith with her probably because I was not a strong Christian in high school and I didn’t want to make myself stand out for fear of rejection by anyone.

I was reminded of my friend during this past Missions Week here at EBC. Lisa Keller was the first guest speaker in Chapel on Monday, October 6 and the title of her message surprised me: “When there’s a Muslim in your toy box”.

As the Executive Assistant for Arab World Ministries in Canada, she has had many experiences working in missions among Muslims throughout Asia. In her message she explained that five years after the attacks of 9/11, the Western media and populace still focus on the Muslim religion instead of the person who happens to be Muslim.

“We treat Muslims like toys,” she said. “We analyze them but have no real relationship with them. We play with them and put them away.”

She encouraged us to pursue relationships with Muslims around us in our communities, saying that many Muslims today are questioning their faith and looking for a deeper connection to the divine.

Irshad Manji is one such Muslim. The outspoken Canadian author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith, admits on her website that she has thought about rejecting her faith on many occasions.

“There needs to be ‘feeders’ to administer the living water and give the bread of life (to these Muslims),” said Keller.

While listening to Lisa talk, I had to admit to myself that I often intellectualized the guilt away for not sharing my faith with my friend in high school. I realized that my friend was more passionate about her faith than I was about mine; I thought that I was an inadequate example of a Christian.

I currently have no friends who are of the Muslim faith, but with the encouragement of Lisa, I’m going to consciously make the effort to get to know at least one person who is a Muslim and I challenge my fellow EBC students to do the same.

We don’t need to look very far, so take these suggestions and pray for your future Muslim friend!
- Shop at Muslim stores and make friends with the owners
- Listen to the news with compassion and grieve for those in Iraq who are suffering.
- Visit Muslim student groups on local university campuses:
UofW Muslim Student Association
McMaster Muslim Student Association
- Attend multi-cultural festivals and visit mosques during their celebration activities
- Volunteer with programs that help new immigrants to Canada by teaching them English, etc.

by: Jordan Vetro

A topic of controversy, this week Voice on the Street asked “What is your opinion of tattoos and earrings in Christianity?” We came out with the following lengthy responses:

It depends on your interpretations of the law and your motives behind getting one. For me personally any tattoo that I would consider getting would point to the fact that I am a believer in Christ and would exhibit my passion for seeing His work carried out on earth. Traditionally one of the reasons behind being pierced, tattooed or branded is to distinguish the property of one master from the property of another master. So if you are a Christian and you get a cross tattoo or something else that is of symbolic significance to Christian spirituality then are you not showing that you are the property of, or a slave of Christ and he is your master? A tattoo can also be used as a form of ministry. When people see that someone has a tattoo they often ask what it is or what it means which opens up the possibility to witness and share your beliefs with people.

–Daniel Sage

I think it all really comes down to motive, purpose, and design. Do all things for the glory of God. If you can find a way to glorify God through a tattoo or piercing, then by all means, Ink Yourself! Some may try to ask, well how does one glorify God through a tattoo or piercing? I don’t look at it as how you glorify God through the tattoo, but how you glorify God with the tattoo. Two ways are prevalent to me. First is the obvious one, design. What you get can glorify God. For example, a cross, the word Jesus, something biblical, maybe even something that doesn’t make sense at first and needs explanation, you can use it as an ice breaker. Maybe people will even come up and ask what it means and then you get to share the story of God in your tattoo. This doesn’t really apply to piercings as much. But my second point can relate it. Along with a tattoo or piercing is the community. You see it all over TV nowadays: Miami Ink, people with tattoo filled bodies. Who’s going to reach those people? Granted they are not closed off from the rest of the world because of their ink, but I think if more Christians had tattoos it would be a door into that community of people. This works for piercings too. Basically the idea is that you have some common ground with other people with tattoos and piercings. Tattoos and piercings are very much apart of our culture nowadays, and one thing I have always felt strong about is being real in the world, while not being of the world. A Christian with a tattoo or piercing says something to (dare I say it) “secular” people. It shows reality and we’re not afraid to be apart of the culture; we don’t segregate ourselves because of our beliefs. It makes me think of Jesus when everyone else was terrified of lepers and being unclean, he communed with them; he didn’t worry about the rules, he simply cared for the people. In closing, do everything you do for the glory of God. Be in this world not of this world, and be real!

–Mike Sanders

I honestly think that tattoos or piercings are acceptable unless you’re Jewish. I view certain areas of the law as cultural direction for the Hebrew people and are not specific to other peoples. These are things such as not marking one another, or piercing yourself, or not weaving two different fabrics, or not breeding hybrid animals like mules etc. These things apply to separating Israel the Hebrew nation and do not have to do with other cultures or the moral code of faithfulness. So if you’re not Jewish, I think it is perfectly acceptable as a Christian to be pierced or marked in accordance with context from your ‘native’ culture. I think you should look into it, and if on some level are not a descendant of a people who have marked or punctured themselves then maybe a consideration is reasonable also not to be tattooed, since it is not part of your heritage. It may also apply to the pull and call God has on your heart. In some situations it may be necessary to be all things to all men, just as Paul circumcised Timothy to avoid unnecessary disagreement and to create commonality with the Jews in the area. This allowed Timothy to be accepted and welcomed into the mission communities to which Paul was journeying. It was as we know not to justify him, but to smooth things over; it may also have served as nothing more than a tradition and perhaps a rite of passage. In the same degree as the lack or presence of circumcision no longer justifies us, markings or lack of markings have nothing to do with that either. I don’t think it’s supportable to say that because I don’t have a tattoo or piercing that I am more justified than someone who does; it has nothing to do with being justified. It falls to personal and largely cultural habit from the ethnic practices of your ancestors and also the regard God has garnered for your life.

–Curtis Healy

Free will. If you want a tattoo or piercing, then get one. If you have a problem with them then don’t. It’s that simple.

–Bethany Wiebe

I think that if you want a tattoo and/or piercing, go ahead; it’s your own personal opinion. Seriously do you think God would judge you based on a tattoo? There are Christians who have them so are you looking down at them? That’s lame! Also, don’t get a tattoo just because you want one – they are forever. Think about it and then make the choice for or against it. God is love and acceptance. I personally don’t want one because it is forever and that’s not how I am going to express Christ but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it with a tattoo. It’s just not for me. Jesus loves everyone!

–Sarah Kroh

I would be a hypocrite to say that I thought it was wrong. I believe that tattoos are something that needs to be thoroughly thought through if an individual is thinking about getting one. You need to realize that first of all it will NOT wash off. Secondly, you need to evaluate the reason as to why you want one. Is it because you think it just looks cool and you want to because other people are getting them? Tattoos are NOT an impulse decision. There raises the argument that as Christians, we need to be set apart from the world and tattooing is a considered worldly. However, I believe that if you feel that getting a tattoo and the design of the tattoo is not going to make other people question your relationship with God and is something that could potentially edify the church (and by church I mean the body of Christ) by the possibility of your story behind the tattoo (because yes, people do ask), and you feel that God is not against you personally getting a tattoo then go for it.
From personal experience I had to think long and hard before I got a tattoo and it was during a time of feeling completely disconnected from God. (I am not suggesting that when you feel spiritually dissatisfied that you go out and get a tattoo.) However I had come to the realization that whether I wanted to or not I was a child of God. I was marked as His being. I needed to constantly remind myself of that. So I got a tattoo of something that symbolized who I am as a person and marked on top a symbol to remind me of Christ. So now when I see the tattoo or remember that I have it I am constantly reminded that I am a child of God whether I want to at the time or not. Therefore, why wallow in whatever anger I have towards Him when He loves me regardless of what is happening in my life? Am I saying that my answer is correct? No – I do not know what exactly God thinks about it. But I do not feel that God is not unhappy with my decision to get it. There are a lot of things that God does or says that we as mere humans will never understand, and it is at those times I pray and ask God for personal guidance.

–Chantelle Lowes

The issue here is keeping your body as a temple. Because it’s a personal issue, it comes down to your interpretation of Scripture. In any case, it’s not something for which I’d excommunicate you. Personally, I have no problem with tattoos or piercings – in theory and in practice. What matters is what the tattoo or piercing represents. So, why haven’t I gotten a tattoo or piercing that honors the Lord? I think the skin I have, the body I have, is just fine without any modification.

–Brian Blake

I have heard many different arguments against tattoos, but not many for them. Personally I believe that the issue is between the individual and God. I think that if the tattoo is uplifting to God then there is nothing wrong with it. As for piercings, I don’t have an opinion either way. I have considered getting one myself, but decided not to because I wasn’t sure where I stood on the issue. If God blesses me with a daughter I believe she will get her ears pierced, but that decision will be up to her. Either way, both issues will be between the person that is having it done and God.

–Ben Boogerman

There is quite the amount of controversy when it comes to this lovely topic, and for the sake of space, I will only say a few things about it. When it comes to tattoos, I will say that personally, I am not a fan, particularly for myself. This is simply because a tattoo is permanent. If ever I was to go somewhere, and a tattoo was not culturally accepted, I have now closed opportunities to witness and the chance to accomplish some work for God, all because of my selfish desire to decorate my body. Now I know that for some, tattoos have symbolism, and some are for pleasure; I will not dispute what they have done. If you read in Revelation, the rider on the white horse has his name tattooed on his thigh, so does that make tattoos right? I don’t know. But my personal stand point is that I find no personal benefit to make such a permanent decision.
When it comes to earrings (I am not referring to earrings only, but piercing in general) I do not find a problem with them for either male or females. This is partly because they are not permanent thing, but also because I can find a more biblical base for them. As many of you will hear or have heard from John Schuit, an earring was a symbol that showed a slave’s dedication/belonging to his master. As slaves for Christ perhaps this could also show our dedication. Then again, these are only thoughts, and it is possible that I may be wrong.

–Jason Edgar