Got eggs?

Dear Friends,

Can it be that we have been here one month already? The time has flown by and we are finding ourselves feeling very at home in some ways and completely like fish out of water in others. The home part refers to the four walls we live within (the fish bowl – in more ways than one J). Once out of those walls though, we feel like we are way out of our league. Another missionary here said it well today. You feel like a tiny peon – a nobody, a nobody who can’t even communicate without looking like a bafoon! Oh to be dependant like a child. We now have a small idea of what Jack feels like every day. Completely dependant on others to talk for you, take you places, feed you, etc. Joel has gone to our local neighborhood grocer (tiny, I might add) to buy several items we’ve needed lately though. It’s a great time of exposure and language practice. I must share a funny story that happened the other day.

Joel’s second trip to the Warung (grocer) was to buy a few eggs. We were out of them and had a hankering for some French toast. Before he left the house, he looked up the word for egg in our not so handy dictionary. Feeling confident that all he had to do was smile, lay out the money he had and say “saya mau beli menghasut” – I would like to buy eggs, he headed out the door. The lady greeted him again and he followed through with his plan. The response was not what he expected, however. Instead of taking the money and handing him 3 eggs, she looked puzzled and shook her head while several little boys standing near by giggled. Joel was puzzled. “What do I do now?”, he thought. His next option was to try some sign language. He then looked through the window trying to spot the eggs he wanted to buy. He found them and pointed to them hoping she could follow his direction. She did and he walked home with the three eggs, puzzled all the while. Once he got home, he went straight to our unreliable dictionary to look up the word again. This time, he noticed that there were two words listed. Our dictionary however does not tell the exact meaning of the different options so the only thing to do was try again the next day with the other word. It worked! This time she smiled, gave him 3 very nice looking eggs, took his money and thanked him for his purchase, throwing in a few free items for what we think must be a nod a good effort! J A fellow missionary came by later that day and with a good laugh, explained what happened. The word menghasut means “to egg someone on”, not the egg a chicken lays! Oh, the laugh those boys were having at Joel’s expense. He had asked our warung owner to egg him on and she was greatly confused! I suppose this is par for the course and could be considered our initiation to language learning here in Indonesia.

That is a pretty typical look at how we are doing. We are making attempts at language learning and relationship building. Failing some and succeeding some. What’s that old adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try try again!”

The Indonesian stomach bug has finally shone it’s presence in our home. Other than a few minor tummy troubles, we’ve done pretty well so far. Yesterday I took a turn for the worse and was sick all day and all night. This morning, after a very long night, I felt like I was run over by a very big truck and ended up on the couch or in bed most of the day. The worst seems to be over for now and in trying to be positive about the whole situation have chocked it up to a quick weight loss system. In just one month in the country I have dropped a whole clothing size. Thankfully, it’s very cheap to have clothes altered here!

We are continuing to spend time with our neighbors across the street, daily learning more about the family that lives there. We’ve actually figured out that two families live together, a brother and his family and his sister and her children (her husband works in Jakarta and has been gone for one year). They have jointly taken in two children who are a neice and nephew who’s parents have died. They are very friendly to us and the kids seem to be Jack’s biggest cheering squad each afternoon, calling to him from the front gate: “hello Jack!” He loves the attention and he loves it when he can go out and play with them on our front porch. The two women are so kind when I look at them with a puzzled look and say “maaf” – sorry! I often don’t even understand one word they say. There is hope though! We begin our formal language study in 1 ½ weeks and will soon be learning more language than our minds can hold! I long for that day!

Ok, well, there’s a glimpse into our lives here in Indonesia. I do have one prayer request. Jack seems to have taken a few steps back in his comfort level here. He has become very clingy to me especially and is fussy much of the day. It doesn’t help that he is cutting 8 teeth at once, but we think he’s having a bit of a time adjusting too. Please pray for us to be gracious and patient with him and that he would adjust quickly. Once we begin language study, we will be gone each morning for 4 hours at a time. On a happier note, he did take his first steps Sunday. Two great big Jack steps, with a grin to match!

We are so thankful for your prayers and for those of you who have written. We get so excited to see personal emails! You are all in our hearts and minds on a daily basis.

Signing off for the Potter 3,

Bethany