Christmas in Sentani

How is Christmas in Sentani spent you ask?  Well, I am ashamed to tell you that Western culture has totally infected the people and the mall here.  Christmas decorations were up before Halloween and they put up fake Christmas trees for sale.  Most of the Papuans don’t put up a tree but many will put up a “Pondok Natal”.  Christmas Pondok which means a small hut in their yard that gets covered with Christmas lights from which Christmas music blares night and day.  Everywhere you drive you can hear the music. I even saw a man with his car decorated as a Pondok Natal and was driving all over town “sharing” Christmas cheer!  . 

It is sort of nice but gets old @ 5AM.   Here @ MAF we had one on either end of the complex in the neighborhoods.  They only conflicted occasionally.   When 1was quiet, the other was going. As if that weren’t enough, they also set off fireworks beginning 2 weeks before Christmas and it continues I understand for a week, or so, after New Year’s.  Christmas music is so incongruous with fireworks.  I would expect patriotic music like 4^th of July.  Combine that with the heat and it just doesn’t feel like Christmas.

Christmas had to come from deep within this year! Not such a bad thing.  We went into the

 thriving metropolis of Jayapura on the 23^rd for my Birthday with some teacher friends.  It is only

about 60 miles away but takes nearly 2 hours to get there due to traffic and poor roads.  We

shopped and had dinner.  It was good to get into the big city.  Not really very big but it better than

what we have here in Sentani.  We had dinner with friends on Christmas Eve but then I woke

 Christmas morn with fever and chills.  Poor Miles had to spend Christmas alone as I slept 

 through 90% of it and into Monday night.  We are expecting 4 packages from the states.

 One had Miles Christmas gift in it.  It still isn’t here.  It will be nice to have even if it doesn’t

 come until his birthday in March.

Here is a sweet ditty that a teacher friend here wrote about Christmas in Sentani. 

It is called Jungle Wonderland and sung to the tune of Winter Wonderland.

Birdies sing, are you listenin’

In the lane, raindrops glisten

A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight

Walkin’ in our Jungle Wonderland.

Christmas time in Sentani,

Skies are blue, air is balmy

If we wanna see snow,

we wait ‘til furlough,

Walkin’ in our Jungle Wonderland.

In our backyards we have lots of palm trees.

We can string some lights upon them all.

We’ll pretend that they are Christmas trees…

Or buy a great big fake one at the mall!

Later on, if you’re willin’

At the beach we’ll be chillin’

Or Kali Biru, or maybe the pool.

Livin’ in our Jungle Wonderland.

In our frontyards we can build a pondok,

For playing Christmas music all through town.

We will keep on turnin’ up the volume!

And hope that no one comes to knock it down.

When our gifts finally get here

That our Gramma sent us last year,

We’ll frolic and play, the Papuan way!

Livin’ in our Jungle Wonderland.

Livin’ in our Jungle Wonderland

Update on my road rash.  My leg got infected about a week after I finished my antibiotics.  I am now on my second round and my leg is looking much better.  It is hard to heal open wounds in the tropics.  I have to be counterintuitive to what feels good which is dry, and keep it moist and covered. 

Update on my dad: He went back into the hospital on Christmas Eve and was released to home on Monday with Hospice.  My brothers have been there with him and my sister arrives this weekend.  I have been struggling with my need to be with my dad and his last conversation with me to not come home if anything should happen to him.  I know the logic of not going home but I am having a lot of angst over it.

Dad loves the Lord with all his heart!  He told us on many occasions while we were planning that if anything happened to him while we are over here in Indonesia not to come home.  He will just see us in heaven.  That has been one of his many joys, that all of his children and grandchildren love the Lord and we will have a grand reunion on that day, or when we are each called home to be with the Lord.

He will be at home, at rest soon! 

Please pray for the family during this difficult transition loosing such a vital part of our family here on earth!

After I wrote this update on my dad, I was overcome and decided to ask @ MAF how much it would actually cost for me to go home.

The lovely Papuan people who work in the office did not understand that I was only looking for information.  The next thing I knew I was scheduled to leave here on Saturday AM and my exit re-entry visa has been ordered and will be at the MAF base by tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.  I was at first stunned when they told me.  Then a peace flooded me.  I am going home for 2 weeks.  School starts Jan 16^th.  I will arrive back here on the 15^th.  I am flying in and out of LAX, renting a car and driving to Yuma AZ.

 

Accident update



My right leg is the worst.

 Well , here are the pics from 2 weeks of healing!  I am doing much better.  My ribs and sternum are still sore / bruised.  Some movements are still quite painful.  Most of the road rash is gone but my leg still looks pretty bad.  It's hard to heal in the tropics.  Everyone here says it looks good.  It is still painful and I get stabbing pains frequently.  I just finished a 10 day round of oral antibiotics so we will be watching closely for infection and get on another round before anything takes off.  Thanks so much for all of your prayers. 

This could have been so much worse!  I left relatively little hide at the scene, no broken bones, I didn't get run over by the motorcycles or cars behind me, I didn't break a tooth that got scraped, (gotta see a dentist to file it smooth) I don't know if I was smiling when I went down, not sure how my tooth and not my lips got scraped!  Nothing was stolen from me while I was passed out.  I haven't seen my helmet since I put it on that day.  I don't know if it came off or was removed at the scene by the kind man who stayed with me for so long.  I finally replaced it and will ride again today or tomorrow for the first time since the accident.  We have been borrowing a car from friends who are in Singapore for medical issues.  What a Blessing that has been.



All my freckles and tan have been rubbed off!



My right leg, knee, and ankle (the worst) except for the ribs.



At school my students come up with wide eyes looking at my scabs and tell me that they are praying for me!  I am fast to tell them that is why I am in school teaching and not at home in bed.  God is answering their prayers!  They get a huge grin that melts my heart!  I love my job!  OH! did I say job?  I guess if the definition of a job is that you get paid for work then it is, but my pay comes in the form of smiles, hugs, waves and yelling, "HI Aunt Dion!" each time they see me! God is good!

cut above my eye is scarred but I am not upset!  I am so glad that God kept me safe! :)

Accident

Miles and I are truly grateful for the Guardian Angels working overtime when unexplicity I skidded onto the pavement off my motorcycle, on my helmet and face.  The whole right side of my body hurts.  I have raspberries all over my right arm, leg, and cheek and at least a bruised rib.  It could have been so much worse!

I was picked up by a national, stuffed into a cab (small vans that run along the main street) and rushed to the hospital complete with everyone who had gotten in the cab prior.  I had a real entourage getting there.  A wonderful man heald my head as we bounced into every chuck hole along the way (and there were plenty!)  He spoke soothinglingly in Indonesian to me as I bled on his shirt!  We don't know his name but he stayed with me until after Miles and our base manager got there.  He was definitely an angel with skin on! :)

I won't be driving the school bus until January now.  It doesn't have power steering and there is no way that I could muscle that thing with my rib in the condition it is in!

Other than that, all else is fine!

Holidays

 Thanksgiving in 90 degree weather? (Not including humidity)  I've never had one before!  Turkey is a lot more expensive over here than in the states.  I cooked all day long, and my friend Glenda brought rice and 2 marinated / baked chickens and 2 pies.  We had 19 total for dinner.  We invited our Pembantu ( housekeeper, Glenda and I share her.  T, Th for me and M,F for Glenda )  We also invited our Indonesian teacher and his 5 children, 3 single guys that Miles and Glenda's husband Gertjean work with at the hangar, then 2 MAF pilots were in town for maintenance so they got invited as well.  We had a great time.  Gascko played guitar after dinner and we sang worship songs for about an hour.

We ate stolen green beans with our Thanksgiving meal.  I went to the “Pasar” (open air market) with Glenda and after I had purchased my potatoes for dinner I gathered up all my bags of produce and started looking for a large shopping bag to help carry it all.  My small basket was woefully too small for all I purchased.  As I began to leave I saw “My” bag of green beans on the table right where I had been standing choosing potatoes.  By the time I got home I found 2 bags of green beans.  I assumed they were Glenda’s.  After I washed them I told her they were in the fridge at my house and she could pick them up anytime she said, “I didn’t buy green beans!” L  OH my! I picked up someone else’s green beans! L  I am so embarrassed!  We all talked about taking them back but I was told that it would be impossible for anyone to track down the purchaser.  I am processing them today and will share my “Stolen booty” with the nationals that we work with here. 

This morning I found Gecko (chichak) that wasn’t moving.  It seems that he thought he had found a pretty neat hiding place in the door jam.  When Miles closed the door he probably had one last fleeting thought, “Not so neat after all!” I finally got a good close up.  He is still there!  Miles and I read in the Bible just this morning that touching dead Geckos (yes, they are mentioned in Leviticus 11:30) makes us unclean til evening.  We’ll take care of him then! J

OH Wait, there's more!  I went bck to remove" the bodyand the ants had done most of the job for me already!
I knew ants were dirty!



Bali instruments I had never seen or heard before! Beautiful1 

 A week ago the Senior class sponsored a wonderful concert showcasing songs and instruments from around the world.  We even had a double barber shop quartet!  It was a great evening!  The expats that live here know how to have fun!



A wonderful Korean Hymn! The young one in front is one of my ESL students









We found a few things to make our stay here a little more homey.  It just feels like home to us now!





Dead Gecko on the back side of door









Settling in

Miles and I have purchased 2 motor bikes.  The used one Miles drives we bought from an "Expat" family.   The one that I drive is brand new.  They are both Hondas.  It is very nice on a hot day to drive to the mall and get somewhat cooler.  The helmets here might not be up to the safety stndards of the US but they are required.  Many Indonesians however don't use them.  It is difficult for me to see small children standing on the seat with their hands on the handle bars.  These "family" vehicles will carry the small child like that, a second child behind the husband, the wife is next, and yet another child on the back.  If only a wife and baby, the wife sits side saddle carrying the baby.  The good news is that we rarely get out of second gear due to all the traffic so we don't move very fast.  I however, still would not want to meet up with the pavement even at these slow speeds.  Another site to see is how much "stuff" they can load onto these motorcycles.  They will put a rack on the back that goes over their heads and load it up with produce to take to the pasar to sell.  I love the entraupeneurial spirit here.  It seems many people just set up a table along the side of the street and sell whatever, usually produce.  They don't seem to mind that there are 5 other tables selling the exact same thing side by side with theirs.

One of the things the guys in the hangar do each Monday is to have a chapel in Indonesian.  Then all the other days of the week they begin the day with prayer also in Indonesian.  Fridays they try to have everyone speak in English and they dont have to wear their uniform.  Most of the guys Miles works with are believers so the need for evangelism is not a big part of what he does.  Miles gets the awesome responsibilty of allowing the nationals to practice thier English with him everyday.  Miles make a point of staying and having lunch with them even though he doesn't understand all they say.  Miles has invited 3 of the single Papuan guys home for

Thanksgiving dinner. 

We finally found an Indonesian tutor.  He also teaches at the school.  He comes to our home on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings for an hour.  His children attend an Indonesian school and they have school on Saturdays.  He is a widower so he gets his 5 children off to school then comes over to our house.   He and several others will join us for our Thanksgiving dinner next week.  He is helping us to understand cultural issues as well.  We laugh and enjoy his classes each time. It is nice to know that when we go into the store we have a few more words and can get along better than before.  Miles and I split up to look for coffee filters one day at the market.  I found him entertaining the troops trying to act out what a coffee filter does.  The young stock girls were giggling and the young men were just watching in awe! :)  good for Miles for putting himself out to find what we needed.  The funniest part of this story to me is that he never did find filters but he did buy more coffee so that the ones helping him didn't feel bad that they were unble to decipher his charades.  

On Saturdays we catch up unless there is an event like last week.  Saturday we attended a wedding that was an all day event.  It started @ 9AM and continued until around 1PM, there was a break and we had lunch with another family.  We had to be at the reception at a different site by 3PM.  We were exhausted by the time we got home @ 5. 

We have been visiting an Indonesian church for the past 2 Sundays which is why we got an invitation to the wedding.  Prior to that we have been attending a church which most of the Expats go to.  It is in English and we do have trouble understanding the Indonesian service, but the singing is great and they sing many of the same songs we do.  This actually helps us to learn Indonesian as we know the tune and the words so we can compare it to Indonesian with little trouble.

Prayer requests:

That our Indonesian vocabulary grows and that we will retain it.

That we will not get overloaded with "things" to do but find the right group of natives to help aside from what we do with MAF.

Miles and Gertjean have begun to meet for prayer on a weekly basis.  Pray for others to join them.

Expat friends who are going to Jakarta then Singapore for multiple family members medical needs.

Traveling mercies and Dr. Wisdom.

Continued good health for Miles and I.  There are folks getting Malaria and Denghi feaver all around us.

Health issues for my dad (Dion)  He has been in and out of the hospital for the past 2 years.  Wisdom for the Docs and a possible referal to Mayo clinic in Phoenix.

Firsts

How many firsts can there be?  Oh so many!

We have been here for just under 3 weeks.  Last Saturday we were invited to go to the beach with 2 other MAF families.  After a 45 minute drive, only about 20 miles but the roads are oh so terrible, we arrived at the dock where we arranged for a boat to take us across the bay to the beach.  After getting all 13 of us along with all of our swimming and picnicking paraphernalia into the boat, it started raining!  We got soaked in the 30 minute boat ride.  Not that it was a first time we got soaked on a boat, but it was a first for us to go swimming in the rain.  Once we got there and got unloaded we sent our boat back and the rain stopped!  The color of the water was a beautiful soft green color of which I have only seen in pictures or from afar while on Maui. First time I had swum in water of such a color!  It was a glorious day of swimming, snorkeling, picnicking, & swinging into the ocean.  I saw my first “Lion Fish”.  I wish I had an underwater camera to show you all that I saw.  The purple and heather colored coral, bright blue star fish, fluorescent blue and black sea snakes.  It was amazing!  Even better than Maui!  Miles got sunburnt pretty badly on top of having worked out on the tarmac without a hat the day before.  He wasn’t in pain till the evening. 

Once we got back into the long boat to head back to the dock it started raining again. 

I had my first driving lessons on the left side of the road.   Not only did I turn on my wipers every time I wanted to signal, I had to learn to sift with my left hand. 

I had my first Indonesian lesson.  It was pretty bad.  My tutor, the secretary to the principal, asks me to repeat phrases she has taught me every time I see her.  It has become a matter of pride to make sure that I can say them.  She is so sad like her teaching is not good enough when I can’t remember.  I have so many new names and

faces to remember over 70 students in my classes

                              The boat leaves us in our tropical paradise!

                    Huts to stay out of the rain

                 

                          Before it rained again on the way home

plus all their families, some of whom live on the MAF base with us.  There are over 10 families living here let alone those staying at the school.  Many MAF folk come from other bases regularly so we are meeting a lot of staff.  The children of other mission organizations are included.   Not the first time I have had to remember so many names, but add it to the new environment, new culture, new language, and my brain is in overload!  Evenings are spent in the only air-conditioned room in the house, our bedroom.  We are usually asleep before 8PM.  All the changes are making us very tired!

We get up @ 5am (not a first) and on M,W,F, go swimming at the local pool.  On T, TH, I walk around our complex.  One MAF wife has decided to join me.  It is the coolest part of the day, around 75 degrees.  Miles heads to the hangar around 7:25, (less than 5 minute walk to the hangar) then I take care of the house ten have to be @ school by 11:00.  I teach a Bible class to 6th graders (first)  then have lunch with my colleagues.  After lunch I teach 1-5^th grade art and 3^rd grade ESL.  I am glad that my schedule is light for now as I get accustomed to life over here. 

I sometimes ride the bus home (16 passenger van) That is a first time I have ridden home with some of my students.

The first time I saw a papaya here I thought it was a squash.  They are giants over here!  So sweet and tasty!  The Longan is sweet like a lychee, has a thin leathery shell that peels like an egg, and is almost half seed.  I like them but Miles doesn’t care for them.

The Geckos or Cheechaks as they are called here are everywhere!  Each morning when I wake up I have to wipe at least 1 poop off my counter from them.  I sanitize then try not to think about where else they have been.  They are pretty quick so getting a picture has been difficult.  We have a bunch of baby ones along with the big ones.  The babies are pretty cute at under an inch long including the tail. 

                                     Small Papaya (The ones over here are monstrous!)

                                     Picture taken @ Joyce Conklings’ house.  We had  

                                    dinner with her and some teachers during the first

                                   week here.  Miles is holding a sirsak which is a very

                                   slimy fruit inside but the juice is tasty!  I guess it

                                   has natural cancer healing powers.  Miles is trying to pull

                                   out the strings of fruit so that we can taste it. First)

longan. 

For the best girls! J Clara and Carly

Doing laundry here is a treat!  Thankfully I have a pembantu (House helper).  Her name is Melince’ (Meleenchay) The machine is fully automatic as long as I remember to automatically turn the switch to fill and turn on the water, turn the switch to agitate and set the timer, turn the switch to drain, pull out the soggy clothes and put in the spinner tub right next to it, turn the dial to spin, place back in the wash tub to rinse, fill, drain, and spin again, then hang out on the line.  I am grateful to my Grandmother Murray for her teaching me when I was young how to hang clothes on the line.  Most everything has to be ironed after this.  Melince does the lion share of the laundry!  She also sweeps and mops, does the dishes, if I don’t which I usually do, and generally wipes stuff down.  Everything gets so dusty and dirty here.  She is married and has a 3 year old daughter.  They are our responsibility should she end up in the hospital.  We will need to care for her there and take food to her family.  Surprise!  We just adopted a whole family!  We are glad to help.  She is such a hard worker.

Our first Saturday here we had a tree fall down.  It was rotten to the core it seems due to the orchid that was growing on it.  It had a wasp nest in it.  We are trying to figure out how to save the orchid as I guess the purple blooms are breathtaking when in full bloom.  Several MAF ladies have taken pieces to start for themselves. 

I have picked pineapples for the first time in my life.  It seems that our pineapples are every ones’ pineapples.  They are disappearing faster than we can pick them.  Not taken by MAF folk.  They say that everyone knows they are ours and the compound is secure, but they disappear none the less.  One lady came to the door to sell pineapples.  Hmmm? 

So much for our first 3 weeks in Sentani! 

Thanks for reading our “first” blog.  Thanks for your support!  May God richly bless you.

Psalm 119:140

Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them

How many firsts can there be?  Oh so many!

We have been here for just under 3 weeks.  Last Saturday we were invited to go to the beach with 2 other MAF families.  After a 45 minute drive, only about 20 miles but the roads are oh so terrible, we arrived at the dock where we arranged for a boat to take us across the bay to the beach.  After getting all 13 of us along with all of our swimming and picnicking paraphernalia into the boat, it started raining!  We got soaked in the 30 minute boat ride.  Not that it was a first time we got soaked on a boat, but it was a first for us to go swimming in the rain.  Once we got there and got unloaded we sent our boat back and the rain stopped!  The color of the water was a beautiful soft green color of which I have only seen in pictures or from afar while on Maui. First time I had swum in water of such a color!  It was a glorious day of swimming, snorkeling, picnicking, & swinging into the ocean.  I saw my first “Lion Fish”.  I wish I had an underwater camera to show you all that I saw.  The purple and heather colored coral, bright blue star fish, fluorescent blue and black sea snakes.  It was amazing!  Even better than Maui!  Miles got sunburnt pretty badly on top of having worked out on the tarmac without a hat the day before.  He wasn’t in pain till the evening. 

Once we got back into the long boat to head back to the dock it started raining again. 

I had my first driving lessons on the left side of the road.   Not only did I turn on my wipers every time I wanted to signal, I had to learn to sift with my left hand. 

I had my first Indonesian lesson.  It was pretty bad.  My tutor, the secretary to the principal, asks me to repeat phrases she has taught me every time I see her.  It has become a matter of pride to make sure that I can say them.  She is so sad like her teaching is not good enough when I can’t remember.  I have so many new names and

faces to remember over 70 students in my classes

                              The boat leaves us in our tropical paradise!

                    Huts to stay out of the rain

                 

                          Before it rained again on the way home

plus all their families, some of whom live on the MAF base with us.  There are over 10 families living here let alone those staying at the school.  Many MAF folk come from other bases regularly so we are meeting a lot of staff.  The children of other mission organizations are included.   Not the first time I have had to remember so many names, but add it to the new environment, new culture, new language, and my brain is in overload!  Evenings are spent in the only air-conditioned room in the house, our bedroom.  We are usually asleep before 8PM.  All the changes are making us very tired!

We get up @ 5am (not a first) and on M,W,F, go swimming at the local pool.  On T, TH, I walk around our complex.  One MAF wife has decided to join me.  It is the coolest part of the day, around 75 degrees.  Miles heads to the hangar around 7:25, (less than 5 minute walk to the hangar) then I take care of the house ten have to be @ school by 11:00.  I teach a Bible class to 6th graders (first)  then have lunch with my colleagues.  After lunch I teach 1-5^th grade art and 3^rd grade ESL.  I am glad that my schedule is light for now as I get accustomed to life over here. 

I sometimes ride the bus home (16 passenger van) That is a first time I have ridden home with some of my students.

The first time I saw a papaya here I thought it was a squash.  They are giants over here!  So sweet and tasty!  The Longan is sweet like a lychee, has a thin leathery shell that peels like an egg, and is almost half seed.  I like them but Miles doesn’t care for them.

The Geckos or Cheechaks as they are called here are everywhere!  Each morning when I wake up I have to wipe at least 1 poop off my counter from them.  I sanitize then try not to think about where else they have been.  They are pretty quick so getting a picture has been difficult.  We have a bunch of baby ones along with the big ones.  The babies are pretty cute at under an inch long including the tail. 

                                     Small Papaya (The ones over here are monstrous!)

                                     Picture taken @ Joyce Conklings’ house.  We had  

                                    dinner with her and some teachers during the first

                                   week here.  Miles is holding a sirsak which is a very

                                   slimy fruit inside but the juice is tasty!  I guess it

                                   has natural cancer healing powers.  Miles is trying to pull

                                   out the strings of fruit so that we can taste it. First)

longan. 

For the best girls! J Clara and Carly

Doing laundry here is a treat!  Thankfully I have a pembantu (House helper).  Her name is Melince’ (Meleenchay) The machine is fully automatic as long as I remember to automatically turn the switch to fill and turn on the water, turn the switch to agitate and set the timer, turn the switch to drain, pull out the soggy clothes and put in the spinner tub right next to it, turn the dial to spin, place back in the wash tub to rinse, fill, drain, and spin again, then hang out on the line.  I am grateful to my Grandmother Murray for her teaching me when I was young how to hang clothes on the line.  Most everything has to be ironed after this.  Melince does the lion share of the laundry!  She also sweeps and mops, does the dishes, if I don’t which I usually do, and generally wipes stuff down.  Everything gets so dusty and dirty here.  She is married and has a 3 year old daughter.  They are our responsibility should she end up in the hospital.  We will need to care for her there and take food to her family.  Surprise!  We just adopted a whole family!  We are glad to help.  She is such a hard worker.

Our first Saturday here we had a tree fall down.  It was rotten to the core it seems due to the orchid that was growing on it.  It had a wasp nest in it.  We are trying to figure out how to save the orchid as I guess the purple blooms are breathtaking when in full bloom.  Several MAF ladies have taken pieces to start for themselves. 

I have picked pineapples for the first time in my life.  It seems that our pineapples are every ones’ pineapples.  They are disappearing faster than we can pick them.  Not taken by MAF folk.  They say that everyone knows they are ours and the compound is secure, but they disappear none the less.  One lady came to the door to sell pineapples.  Hmmm? 

So much for our first 3 weeks in Sentani! 

Thanks for reading our “first” blog.  Thanks for your support!  May God richly bless you.

Psalm 119:140

Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them.

We Finally arrived!

Where do we start?! At the beginning of course!  God went before us the whole way.  First we didn’t get much sleep Friday the 30th as we were packing.  Around 3:45 I was done and thinking, “I’ll wake Miles up in 15 minutes”.  That was the last I knew until 4:30 when our taxi arrived early and called.  We had ordered a 5AM pick up.  We “rapidly” dressed and arrived on time at the airport.  (A God Thing - AGT) Our flight to Honolulu was uneventful and only about 30 minutes but after arrival we found out that, Philippine airlines baggage handlers were on strike.			Good By Paradise
We were supposed to travel with several of the men we met from Haggai Institute but many of them were re-routed as connecting flights were cancelled.  Ours however was only delayed by 3 ours and we had plenty of time to make our connecting flight. (AGT).  Our 10 ½ hour flight into Manila was a bit bumpy due to the extreme weather they had been having.  It was pouring buckets and chilly but the air conditioning at the terminal was still on. I was freezing.  I told Miles to remind me of this when I was roasting (boiling) in a few more hours.  We paid $5 American for a cup of hot tea and a miniature (by American standards) cup of cappuccino.  One friend from Haggai Institute was with us and he knew how to get us out of the customs area quickly.  A “TSA” agent walked us right past everything.  We would have stayed in the long line if not for him. (AGT) We flew to Jakarta in around 3 hours arriving at 2AM Monday Oct. 3rd.  The Ticket office was closed until 3AM.  Our Jakarta friend from Haggai came to  the rescue again.  He hooked us up with a porter, talked to the “TSA” agents for us and made sure that we were feeling safe before he left.			Haggai Institute guys.
Our porter stayed with us until the ticket  office opened, lugged our 6 bags first into the “TSA” X-ray, then back onto our cart, then to a machine that was required to “band” each piece of luggage, then lugged them to the ticket agent where they were weighed. We then had to check our carryon as we were only allowed a  “personal” item on Garuda Airlines.  We had to  take the carry-ons  back to the banding machine then to the  ticket agent were we were told to go and pay for our “Over Weight” charge at a different window.  Our porter was confident that we were ok after that so he headed back to the gates to get another customer and we were totally alone.  We went back to the ticket window where we had to pay the airport fee.				Makena beach, great snorkeling
Why the ticket agent couldn’t take the overweight fee but could take the airport  fee we don’t know and as Foreigners we didn’t want to rock the boat.  We finally got our boarding passes after all of that. (AGT) At this point we have been up for over 30 hours and I had awakened very early Friday AM.  When we took off Miles had fallen asleep during the safety presentation and doesn’t remember taking off.  We flew for another 3 hours and landed in Masuk.  We had to de-board the plane for 45 minutes and almost missed the call to board again. (AGT) Another 3 Hours, @ 1:30 PM later we finally arrived in Sentani.  We were met  by the Program manager Doug Allrich and his wife Karin.   They helped us get our bags to our house and left us to freshen up.  A  welcome gathering was planned for the afternoon where we met most of the Sentani MAF team.				Welcome to our home
This team is great as they put us on what they call “Meal Sked” which basically means our first few days’ meals are taken care of so we have time to figure out the stores, currency, and buy groceries before we have to cook for ourselves.  We ate dinner with the Juneau family and enjoyed homemade tacos with homemade tortillas.  YUM! :) (AGT) Wednesday we had tours of the school and hangar then got the “Welcome” speech with all the expectations, “Shredded Wheat”, not very tasty but good for you.  (I actually like the taste of shredded wheat!) J  Dinner was with Joyce at her house and she invited several teachers and the elementary principal with his wife and daughter.  We had a great evening.	2 phase washer, 1 side washes, and the other side spins. I have to manually move them from one side to the other
Thursday I went to the school and got curriculum, keys, and an orientation.  Miles had alone time here.   It rained pretty good most of the day.  The rainy season is just starting here.  At least the rain is warm and it sort of cools things off.  We had dinner with the Raneys, Steve and Cindy; he is the Grounds and Opps. manager.  OUR HOME: We have a pineapple grove along our back fence.  It is at least 30 feet of Pineapples that will grow year round.  Right now there are 20 or more set that are in different stages of growth and ripeness.  Our yard is quite nice and we will need to hire a yard man to help us keep it up.	Dryer AKA clothes line
The windows have no glass, just rat wire (Yes, I said rat!) covered with mesh to keep out the mosquitoes.  There are also security bars to prevent unwanted visitors of the homosapien variety.  Since there is no glass the temperature outside is the temperature inside and air conditioning is difficult.  Our bedroom windows have plastic over them to help keep the cool air in from the one air conditioner in the house.  Right now we call it the cave since we seem to spend most of our time in there.  We are so grateful for this extra luxury.   All of our electronics are in there, safe from the humidity that surrounds us everywhere else. The Geckos or Chichaks as they are called here are everywhere.  I watched one disappear into the hand towel in the bathroom.  I don’t mind them in the house so much, but I will mind if I squish one while drying my hands or face. L All the lights are old fluorescent tube type.  They make a humming sound when turned on.  We are 2 blocks from the generators that power the entire city of Sentani.  This is actually a white noise that at first I didn’t distinguish from the ocean sound that we had been hearing for the last few weeks.		Miles at end of pineapple row
All this said is not to sound ungrateful for this home but to try to give you a mental picture of our new surroundings. We are so excited and happy to be here.  We begin our work on Monday.  I will start out teaching 6th grade Bible, 1-5th grade art, and help out in the resource room with ESL needs and whatever else comes my way!  Friday nights are big here.  We will experience it tomorrow.  There is a game, currently Volley Ball, and the entire mission community turns out to watch, support the youth, meet up, and socialize.  Each week one grade level at the high school gets to prepare a dinner plate that is sold for a small profit that goes into their class fund to be spent usually on the class senior trip.