Updates

Dad with cousin Greg

Well, I’ve been back from Yuma AZ for 2 weeks now.  My visit with him turned out great!  I was expecting to not even be able to say good bye when I left from Sentani.  He loves the Lord and is ready to go home to be with the Lord.  He is ready to be out of pain!

 Both of my brothers and my sister had arrived before me and were expecting to say final good byes.  God is not finished with my dad yet so he did not get called home. 

getting ready for first physical therapy session

My dad rallied and is now working toward getting out of the nursing home.  He will have to be able to walk 50 feet so that when he gets home he can make it into the bathroom even on days that he doesn’t feel like it.  Toward that end he has physical therapy every day.  When I left he was barely able to stand for a Nano second.  Now he is able to take 8 steps, 4 with each foot.

Dad with Ainsley



Brother Jeff, Mom, Brother Scott, Me, Sister Leslie

 Our oldest son Josh and his wife Allyl with thier daughter Ainsley visited over a week before I got there.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my siblings in prayer around our father.  I know that the prayers of the saints on our behalf are what have caused this miracle that my dad is still alive.  We continue to pray for strength for our mom to deal with spending long days at the care home and strength for dad to make it home if that is what Gods’ plans are for him. 

Several folks from their church have been coming in to give mom a break.  We are so grateful to them for taking time out of their busy schedules to help out!  Dad gets so lonely when nobody is there.

On another note:  While I was in Yuma, the first day I lost a crown so I crossed over to Mexico to have it put back on.  They charged me $10!  What a deal.  My folks use a dentist there who seems to be well qualified.  It is a much better deal than what is available in The States even with insurance!  I had a root canal and crown put on a year ago by him.

Also the dry air in Arizona dried up my leg so now none of the sores from my accident are “Gooey” anymore! J  They are still pink and tender but healed up!

When I returned on Sunday, after I took a nap, I hit the ground running. We had a teacher in-service on Monday and school started on Tuesday.  I have full schedule including teaching math to first graders, ESL (English as a second Language) to 20 1st through 7^th graders in small groups.  And I also have a 3^rd grade computer class, a 2^nd grade PE and a KG PE class.  It is a very full schedule but I am having a ball. J 

This busy schedule keeps me from seeing our house helper.  She comes after I leave and leaves before I get back.  I am finding creative ways to show Christ’s love. Pray that I don’t get so busy that I lose sight of why we are here!

Dad

Dearest family and friends,

When Miles and I started making plans to leave for Indonesia my dad was having significant health issues.  He told us over and over, “If ANYTHING happens to me don’t come back. My head agreed with that plan but now that the time is here my heart didn’t. and I had time on my hands because of the school break. I would have been OK should I have decided not to come back, but I know that I am better since the decision was made.   After 2 days of “waiting” by the computer for information after I found out that my dad came home from the hospital with Hospice, I went to MAF just to get information as to what kind of airfare I could find and since it was a holiday and could I even get a seat, I set a ball in motion that is unheard of.   I also had to find out if the man who does the “paperwork” for the school was even in town since I had to have permission to leave or I would not be allowed back into the country.  By the time he was found, he was on Holiday in Jayapura but had agreed to come back to process my paperwork and the man who processes paperwork for MAF had already bought my domestic ticket.  This all happened in a course of about 30 minutes.   

After a rough landing in Jakarta, an earthquake in Japan, and 50hours of travel, I finally made it to LAX.  I spent the night with our son Josh and his wife Allyl and our Granddaughter Ainsley in San Diego, CA.    I then drove straight to the care home and gave my dad a huge hug.  He called me a “naughty Daughter” and spanked me as I hugged him.  We had tears in our eyes and I knew he was really glad that I came.  He was of course referring to our conversation of not coming home should anything happen to him. 

He goes in and out of sleep and is in intense pain when he is awake.  We are praying for the Lord to take him home soon!  He told me “You are a missionary so you are closer to God; please tell Him I am ready to come home.”  I cried at his words not just because he is verbalizing he is ready, but that he thinks I am closer to God because I am a missionary!  We are all close “In Christ”.  I know he understands this, but God hasn’t answered his prayer to go home so he was hoping that God would answer mine.

I do not know why my dad is still with us, but I know that God has a purpose in it.  I trust my dad in His hands!  I have attached a picture of my brothers, sister and mom with my dad in the care home. We always have a great time together but the reason has placed a pallor over the visit.   

On a home front: Miles went to a new year’s party where “Anging Goreng” was served I had to dig into my Indonesian vocabulary to realize that it was “Fried Dog”  I would have tried it, but I am so glad that I didn’t “have” to yet! Apparently dog is served at holidays or special parties.

When I get back on Sunday the 15^TH, I get 1 day then I have to report to school for “In-service” on Monday the 16^th, then school starts on Tuesday the 17^th.  I will be teaching ESL for grades 1-7, no current 8^th graders have this need.

Prayer request is for the strength to walk this through strong in Christ!      

My Dad with his cousin Jack in 2008

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.