Summer plans

Dearest family and friends,

Our summer just took 2 interesting turns.  First we invited a young Papuan teacher named Lea to live with us for the month of June.  She is the niece of the secretary at HIS.  She teaches English at her school in Jayapura.  She wants to be immersed in English so that her teaching will improve.  We are more than happy to help this young teacher in her teaching.  She will also help us with our Indonesian.  We figure we will spend equal amounts of time speaking English and Indonesian.  It will be a win, win situation.  Also, she has agreed to teach me how to cook Indonesian dishes.  I am very excited about this prospect.  The converse is true that she would like to learn some “Western” dishes! 

Now for the second turn.  Miles just got invited to spend most of the month of June back in Wamena!  It looks like Lea and I will spend most of June just the two of us, then Miles will return home on weekends and Lea and I will visit one weekend.  Indonesian schools are in session Monday – Saturday 7AM-12PM Year round!  Lea will be gone most mornings to do her teaching while I have my language lessons.  We will decide which weekend will work the best for her to join us in Wamena after she moves in. 

In July, a church from Vancouver, New Heights, comes over to help with projects and to help put on our annual family conference. It will be 10 days just outside of Wamena.  I am looking for a place to spend a vacation for a week around our anniversary in August then teachers have to be in school beginning August 20^th.  Whew, school hasn’t even ended this year yet and I feel like summer is over for all the plans in the works! 

School news:

We are blessed to have needs met in grade 1, 4, 6, MS Math, MSLanguage Arts, HS and MS Band, and PE for next year.  These are huge Praise the Lord items! 
We still have need of:
Elementary/Middle School Principal
High School Principal/Guidance Counselor
Dorm Parents
Grade 3
ESL (certified, and experience preferred)
Special Education: ADD/ADHD; Dyslexia;Reading Specialist
IT Network
IT Computer teacher, grades K – 8

It's not too late to comeover if you are willing to come over and help!

We took our first graders to a local farm for a field trip.  They loved petting the goats and there was even a new “Kid” that had been born the day before we got there!  It was pretty exciting.  They also had several, 6 week old puppies, some baby chicks, chickens, and pigeons. 

Micah with "Bloom" from a tree!

Micah with Austin feeding goats

First grade Co teacher Leta

The last weeks since I got back from Wamena and had to get rid of a parasite have been spent getting stronger!  I am better now! J 

Mechanics Corner:

Praise God that He always provides a way!  We found a way to repair the Caravan that had a flat tire and went off the runway and damaged the wing, that the Indonesian Government's form of the FAA has approved, that didn't take 190 days just to get parts.  This was mentionned in our April Newsletter.  The airplane has been put back together, test flown, and is in the process of being prepared for being returned to service. 

Miles is very humbled to be asked to come back to help on another airplane.  They really like him in Wamena.  We like Wamena too!  Maybe after our next year here if we decide to come back we can go to Wamena!  Just thinking out loud! J  We will be home in 2013.  Dates to be set at a later date!

Prayer Corner:
Good Health for both of us
Continued growth in Christ, doing what He wants in our service to Him.
Continued clarity in our communications with each other and others as well.

Our last blog was at Easter.  We told of the great need for us to be here supporting “Front Line” ministries.  We would like to tell you of some of the front line stuff we know about first hand and what we hear about.  For Easter we had several people share our meal including Wes and Esther Dale.  Wes is the son of a pioneering missionary who was killed by cannibals here in Papua in 1968.  His devotion to the people of Papua despite those circumstances is legendary.  (Like Nate and Steve Saint, in Ecuador) Wes and Esther live among the people of Mamit and live a very simple life.  Their diet is the same as the natives of the area, greens and sweet potatoes.  Lest you say, “Yum, sweet potatoes” let me tell you they are pretty dry bland lumps here.   He is teaching at a Bible college in the small village of Mamit.  Esther teaches the children of those students while they are in classes.  She is constantly looking for and making toys for the 70 plus children in her care.  She recently wrote and told me that while they were here in Sentani, they acquired a bike and a trike to help.  The needs of those people are simple and basic to us but life giving for them.  Soap, clothes, vitamins, and glue for Esther’s art projects.  I think I need to share a “paste” recipe with her! J 
Our pilot friend David Holsten tells this story: Had the privilege today of crewing an evacuation flight for a missionary doctor who has been stranded at an interior village plagued by recent unrest. After landing, we shut down the plane, loaded our passengers, and were back in the air about 5 minutes later.   Her tears of appreciation, and subsequent reunion with her husband, were sweet to behold .                                          
                                                                                  Pilot David Holsten, with the Dales and villagers villagers                                                                     in Mamit

 While Miles was working In Wamena he did a ride along for a medical evacuation of a boy who had fallen out of a tree and sliced open his abdomen.  It was 4 days before he got to an area to be picked up.  He was flown to the closest hospital which was in Wamena but that hospital couldn’t care for his intensive wounds.  He was then evacuated to Sentani the next day. 

MAF is here to serve so that lives can be transformed by the Love of Jesus!  We feel blessed to be a small part of it!

Wamena is the largest city in the world accessible only by air.  Everything must be either grown there or flown in by airplane.  We visited there before Miles worked on an airplane for a week and a half.  The MAF staff there was great.  I only stayed for the weekend then had to get back to school.  They fed Miles the entire time he was there.  The team took turns (they call it meal sked - schedule). The weather there was terrific!  It reminded us of summer in the Northwest, warm days and cool nights.   We were told that we would get cold there.  I wish!  It was however very comfortable and we actually sat in the living room of the guest house there.  There are no air conditioners necessary so we didn’t have to stay in our bedroom like we do here in the evenings.  The Harris family guys took us on a hike to a cave while we were there.  The hike was great!  The cave mouth had shifted since their last visit there so we didn’t actually go into the cave.  Here are a few pics from that day.  As usual Dion picked up some kids on the way back.  They seem to flock to her everywhere we go.  They followed us all the way back to the suspension bridge which was quite a ways from their huts.  They giggled when Dion took their pictures and showed them.  They took great delight in returning the “tickles” that Dion gave to them.  We tried to use some of our new limited Indonesian vocabulary with them and they just laughed.  Matt Harris told us that they speak Dani, yet another tribal language.  We work with translators who took part in bringing The Bible in Dani to these special children of God. 

 

 

 

Dion's groupies! :) The tall one is a girl named

Diana. She smiled when I told her my name. (pronounced Diona)     Miles on rickety suspension    

bridge

On Miles' trip back fromWamena they had a live pig that was loaded into the belly pod of the 206 he flew back to Sentani.  Picture.  Can you see the snout right behind the handle of the umbrella?  The Papuans use umbrellas all the time to shield from the hot equator sun as well as the flash rain storms that crop up regularly.

     Dion getting her "Grandma fix" with Jericho.





Live pig trussed up after coming out of 206 belly pod.
Didn't make a sound til they took it out.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

He is Risen!  That is why we are here!  To proclaim the gospel to every one God brings in our path and to support the ones who fly, translate, nurse, and work directly with the nationals here.  We have been asked to extend our “Year” stay for another year.  Many teachers will be on furlough next year and the need is great!  I was told by a fellow teacher that if he can’t have his children educated here, he will have to take his family home.  This is a reality that will be repeated annually if other folks don’t heed the call of Christ!  

Matthew 9:37-38 (NKJV)

³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ³⁸ Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

This is our fervent prayer.  Staffing needs, Key slots include: Elementary/Middle School principal, lower elementary teacher, upper elementary teacher, MS Language Arts, MS Math, ESL grades K – 8, Special Education: reading/learning disabilities/dyslexia, HS Science for 1st semester, HS Bible for 1st semester, HS electives: shop/practical electricity/psychology/foreign language/personal fitness (weight training or aerobic exercise), dorm parents, additional teacher in Wamena.  Please continue to pray and ask the Lord to provide for these needs.

These are just the facts of the needs for staff at HIS for the 2012/13 school year.  I will be able to fill the ESL slot as I am now doing, or I can fill one of the elementary positions, or one of the MS slots.  Since I am here and flexible, all are posted as needs.

In order for us to stay for another year, we need to hear from all of our supporters that they agree to support us for another year or we need new supporters to replace the ones that are unable to continue beyond their original commitment.  This decision must be made by the end of April.  We need to begin the Visa renewal process.  We would not dream of staying without our support team firmly placed underneath us.

If we are to stay for another year a language school will be necessary so that we will be able to share our faith with the average Papuan on the street.  For me, I will be better able to speak with our Pembantu and share with her, as well as better able to share with the folks at the “Pasar” (market) that I have been building a relationship with.  I buy similar things each week from the same merchants.  They help me with language and understand that I don’t do “chit chat” yet.  I want to!  We are better able to understand some conversations and more of the written word. Miles is doing better on the language front as he works daily with nationals so he speaks more than the 3 hours a week of our tutoring which is all I get.  All that said, our tutor has agreed to come daily during the summer to take us over the hump and bring us to fluency.

Speaking of Miles, he is going to Wamena in the next 2 weeks to work on an airplane.  I will join him on the weekend after has worked for a week.  I am looking forward to the cooler weather I hear is there. Wamena is in the mountains.  Everything that is there has been flown in as there are no roads into it.  The cost of living is greater as a result. We look forward to seeing some of the other parts of Papua.

I have a lot of things to share that have happened since I got back from the states.  I will share them as I get caught up.

Everyday life in Sentani

It is hard to believe that it has been over a month since our last post!  Where does all the time go?  I know, it is spent doing the will of Him who sent me (us).  We are here to support those that are on the front lines translating God’s word into the native tongues of the many Papuan dialects, flying airplanes, working on airplanes, doing medical work, teaching Papuans in Indonesian how to prevent AIDS, and a myriad of other tasks including just supporting one another as we try to live in difficult circumstances away form from family that would be more difficult without the school and hangar for repairs that are available here.

Since my accident I have had a chance to go back out to the hospital that I was taken to so that I could get some blood work done.  I was amazed to find goats and dogs lounging in the grass between the wings, people camped out waiting, and even food vendors selling the days offerings of a variety of fried “stuff”.   All the walls had a dirty “Handprint” streak about waist high and the room where they drew the blood was just as dirty with cheechaks (Geckos) crawling along the ceilings. 

Those tests had to be re-done so I went to the only other hospital in the area.  It too was in the same dirty condition but at least it didn’t have the animals or vendors hanging inside the premises.  There were vendors outside selling “Beetlenut”.  It is a mild analgesic not unlike alcohol or marijuana.  It is the substance of choice to ease pain and check out emotionally from all of the pain that their lives have become.  Here are 2 parts that are sold together.  They chew them up and I guess the juice is what they are after.  It does turn whatever teeth they have red, and they spit red “juice” everywhere sort of like chewing tobacco but there are no spittoons around here.  The walkways and roads are dotted all over with red.

I am very busy at school with all of my classes.  We are at the halfway point.  Only 12 more weeks of school!  I am looking forward to the break but not the part of not seeing the kids in my classes!  I enjoy them a lot! J 

Miles will be going to a small village called “Wamena” later this month to do a repair on an airplane by himself.  Everything in Wamena was flown in.  There are absolutely 0 roads in or out of Wamena.  It is high in the Mts.  It gets cold there.  I am going to try to arrange a visit so that I can be cold and to see an outlying village as well.  A family here with MAF has started a school for nationals.  It is called “Harapan” or Hope.  Some young students from there  visited the hangar.  As the students get into high school it turns into a “Tech” school teaching the nationals to work on airplanes among other jobs.  I would dearly love to visit it.  I will look for a day when I have off from school but they do not and do just that.

            Our language studies are going well.  Our tutor asks us to tell him about our day in Indonesian of course! J  It is easier to tell what is happening to yourself than to study a book about people that don’t exist in a book.  Miles and I are increasingly able to express our thoughts and ideas.  Our tutor is pleased with our progress since we don’t use Indonesian in our work lives.  We only use it for 3 hours a week in class, or short bursts while at the market.  When school gets out we will increase our frequency and length of time to cap off our studies.  We should be able to communicate well with most of the people we meet on the streets or have in our home.

            We had a group of nationals for dinner last weekend called “Joshua Team”.  It is an organization that helps to keep teens and older off the street.  They form musical groups that perform @ local churches, and at their weekly meetings on Fridays.  Miles works with one of them, Gasko, at the MAF hangar.  We had a great time sharing experiences and cultures as they helped us with our Indonesian and we helped them with English.  They all have English skills, some more than others but we managed to speak enough Englenisain to communicate and laugh through most of the evening.  Gasko wanted his girlfriend (Not a member of Joshua Team) to experience “Apple Pie”, so he asked if I would show him how to make one.  I made one in advance and after showing the whole group how to make it, we ate it.  I baked the pie for Gasko and he took it to her.  Her father liked it too.  When he asked her who made it, she said, “mother in law”  I guess Gasko sees us like parents.  His are in a small village on a remote island.  I was honored.

            We had a huge rain storm that took out walls, fences, trees and flooded in many homes.  This picture shows how far up to our house our own private lake came.  We did have a little water in our “Gudong” (storage room off the porch and carport) but it was minor.

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.