Sickies

Well we have the sickies at our house.  Jack has what is called Giardia – a stomach type bacterial infection that gives him diaorrhea, which adds insult to injury with us still trying to figure out his milk allergy, which causes the same symptoms.  And now on top of both of those, he has pink eye!  It's been going around here and now it has hit our home. Hopefully we'll be able to keep the rest of us from getting it.  I'm washing everything he's touched in the last two days in hopes to rid the house of it. 

 

Owen has been sick for a few days and we are in the waiting period of seeing what we are dealing with.  We should have some blood work back this evening that tells us what is going on.  Please pray for us as we wait. The possibilites are a bit scary for us with him being so little but we know that we have direct access to the Great Physician and we can trust His care of our little guy.  We'll keep you posted but in the mean time, thanks for praying.

 

Bethany

Now back by popular demand

Jack and Owen are just starting to enjoy one another as brothers. Jack loves to make Owen laugh and Owen loves to laugh at him.  Owen is now up on his knees doing the inch worm crawl across the floor and yes, today he turns 6  months – just 6 months!  Look out world.  He took a fall today while in his walker.  He's got a knot on his head and isn't the happiest he's ever been but I think he'll survive.  Jack is speaking in full sentences now and totaaly loves playing make-believe!  We found some tinker toys at a rumage sale at the int'l school this past weekend and he's really enjoying building things! 

 

Joel is finishing up the grout work in the bathroom today.  Maybe by week's end we'll actually be able to use it!  Wahoo!

 

Thanks for catching up with us! 

brown outs and rumbles

We've had an eventful evening here on our side of the world.  

We had dinner with frineds and then put the boys down and began to watch a movie when all the power in the house went out but the tv and dvd player.  It seems we were the only house in the neighborhood having a brown out this time.  We've had them before and they're not our favorite occurance.  We have to shut the power off to the whole house and the only way to know if the power has come back to full voltage is to keep going back out every few minutes to flip the breaker.  After about 30 minutes, our living room had become an oven and we were just about ready to get the boys up and go over to the guest house for the night where the power was just fine, but Joel checked one more time and wahlah! the power was back and better than ever! We actually had 200 of 220 volts coming into the house.  It's never that good on a normal day so we were thrilled!  It's the small things that make us smile!

 

We started up our movie again and about 10 minutes later, we heard a rumbling coming toward us from outside.  I don't remember earthquakes in California doing that when I was little.  It's like it's rolling up toward the house.  Well, because the structures of the houses here are less than "code" for an earthquake, we both bolted from the couch once we realized that what we were hearing/feeling was, in fact, an earthquake.  "Get the boys" was the unspoken word between us.  Just as we got to their doors, it stopped.  We glanced at each other, waited and realized it was done.  Just like that and our hearts were beating out of our chests.  Whew, so glad it wasn't a big one. 

 

I wonder, when will all this become normal?  I suppose one day we'll have the same thing happen again and we'll not even notice. 

Plugged - In

Today was by far, our busiest day yet here in Indonesia.  With 4 trips to and from the airport, one across town to our "bank", another to pick up food for dinner, 2 families leaving the guest house, one coming to stay for a week, and another just here for 5 hours, plus overseeing lunch preparations and Joel installing a voltage regulator in our living room, I'd say we had a full day.  It was a good day in most aspects but trying as well.  We were able to be an encouragement to one family going through a really tough time and that made it all worth it.  That's why we're here.  We didn't know this family 2 weeks ago and yet God brought them along our path so we could meet and encourage one another. 

 

I keep saying that living here is so different than what we expected.  In some ways it's better, we have access to more 'stuff' than I thought we would and we are connecting with more people than we thought we would but then on the flip side, we are realizing more every day how inadequate we are for this ministry.  So many folks told us how draining it can be – they were right.  But then, I have felt so satisfied too.  God is using us here and we are truly thankful that he counts us as "useful".  The trick I suppose is to stay connected to the Vine so we don't get used UP.  If I disconnect for just a second, I begin to feel the supply running dry.  He is still there mind you but I have unplugged from the source.  Never before in our lives has busyness been such a factor to take us away from what is truly important.  Finding the balance will be something we'll pursue every moment of every day.  When do you sit down and unplug from life and plug in to The Life?

 

Pray for us to know this balance and to live it out each day.

Owen in October

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2:59 PM

Good morning from a sprinkling Papua.  We like it when it rains here as it takes the humidity out of the air and cools things off a bit.  That aspect of life is one of the many things that is different here than in Java.  There doesn't seem to be set dry and rainy seasons per sey.  It just rains every couple of days or so.  They say here when it starts to get so hot you can't stand it, "it wants to rain".  I suppose that is the silver lining on the cloud of "wow, it's hot"!

 

The past week has been a busy one for us here and we're happy to say, it's because we are actually doing some things in the rhelm of our ministry.  Joel ran back and forth to the ariport about a gagillion times last week, picking folks up that were coming in and taking them back as they leave.   It's not very far to the airport, as a matter of fact, we can usually hear the jet engines starting up all throughout the day, we are so close.  He has really enjoyed being able to do this as he is meeting many new people and getting to spend some time with each of them as they pass through.  Our guest house services missionaries from another mission that flies the helicopters for our folks in the tribes.  Many of the works we are in are heli-only access and so this mission is a  huge blessing to us.  Lately we have had the privilege of hosting several of this missions's folks and we are  so blessed to be getting to know them. 

 

This week the guest house is almost full of people.  One family is here for a week with their three kids – enroute to Australia (their home country) for furlough.  Another young couple with a  baby is here for just a few days on their way to language study in Java, another gal is here for a month on her way to the states for furlough and one more family is here for 2 weeks on their way to the states for furlough.  In all, there are 6 kids and 7 adults here now and we are enjoying having each one of them. 

 

I, Bethany, get the chance to "get outa Dodge" for a day this week.  I'll be heading to our nearby "big city" to do some shopping with a couple of other ladies.  There are many more things available there than we can get here in town but I don't yet know where all the places are to find things.  So Sherry, our co-worker is taking Emily and I there Tuesday to show us around.  It will be a nice day, without kids, to spend together as ladies.

 

As the days go by faster and faster, we realize that we are slowly settling in here to our new life.  We still have a bit of orientation yet to go through and then at some time in the near future we will pick back up our language study again.  We are anxious to begin that soon as it means getting closer to actually being full-time in to our minsitry here.  Thanks for all the prayers you have offered for us and for the encouraging notes you send our way.  We are encouraged!

 

bethany

earthquake

 yep, we felt it last night.  actually there was one last Thursday too but we didn't actually feel it!  Last night however,  we couldn't have missed it!  We are all fine and no damage done here that we know of. We hear this is quite common so as they happen, we'll keep you posted.

 

Bethany

Holidays

It's that time of year again when all night parties take place here in Indonesia. The countries largest religion has it's feast after a month of fasting, today.  this means last night the sound of men "singing" was heard all around the town. It began at like 6pm last night and stopped at 7am this morning.  It was a long, long night and when you add to it the power going off twice, well, let's just say we will all be taking a nap today~! 

When we lived in Java, this holiday was a much bigger deal, with parades and firworks and the whole shabang!  Because Papua is a much more Christianized province of Indonesia, it's not nearly as ramai (party like or busy).  Christmas time however, we have been told, is much like Christmas with the Griswolds so we will have to see. Maybe we can get in on the action and deck our house out this year with lights and the whole shabang!  Joel will be thrilled. He is the king of Christmas lights.

 

It's weird to even think that the "holidays" have already begun there at home.  I'm sure Wal-Mart is full of Christmas deco and displays of Christmas trees.  Here, when you wake up and it's already 90 degrees, it's really hard to remember it's  the "fall" season back home.  We have put up pictures of fall trees and I have some dried leaves that mom sent last year that I can use to decorate.  We'll do our best to make it feel "fall-ish".  Hey why don't you take some pictures for us of the beauty you see there?  We'd love a glimpse of a red maple or yellow oak.  I can just see it now, if I close my eyes!  Meanwhile, we'll enjoy our fresh-off-the-tree fruit salads, avocados, and all night singing parties!

 

 

Ants

As a kid, did you ever sneak food under the table to the family dog?  We only had a dog when I was very young and too naïve to know I could do that so I never tried it but I envied those friends who knew, “if I don’t like what we’re having for supper, Fido does!”.  Here in Indonesia, I doubt we’ll ever have a dog that lives inside with us, so Jack won’t be tempted to sneak him food, but we have something else just as efficient, I’m going to have to keep my eyes open!

 

ANTS!  Yes, I know, big deal, they have those everywhere but the ants at home usually can be traced outside and then cut off at the pass. Here, I am convinced they hide out in our furniture, especially under the dinner table, ready and waiting for the first morsel to fall to the ground.  They are truly efficient little suckers.  They can move a piece of food faster than you can blink your eyes. And they are so tiny that until you are right up on them, you’ll never know they’re there.  Until you feel this tingle on your arm, like when you have a stray hair that clings to your skin and you can’t see it but you feel it there. That’s what they are like.  Little tiny hungry ants.  Oh, but don’t misunderstand, they are picky little things too!

 

I can leave a whole bowl full of sugar out on the counter and never see a single ant, but as soon as marinara sauce comes out of the fridge, they are lying in wait, eager for a feast!  So I am never sure, should I rinse that dish off until I can wash it, or will it be left alone all together?  More times than I can count, I’ve picked up a bowl or plate or morsel of food and suddenly, and shockingly, I feel that “hair” tickling my arm, but oh, wait that’s not a hair that’s ANTS!  The frantic brushing action begins to rid my skin of the thousands of little invisible pesky things and anyone looking on will think I’ve been hit by the crazies bug!

An Unexpected Luxury

Here's what I discovered while waiting for passengers to arrive here in Sentani!!!

All in a Day's Work

That phrase has taken on new meaning for us here. I think we may have to change it to, "All in a few days work". Something we are learning is that nothing happens quickly and so don't have your expectations set too high. As you know by now, we are renovating a bathroom to make it a bit more like what we're used to, with a shower, toilet and sink. A project that, if at home we could hire someone to do it and would be easy, but is not so easy here. So yesterday, I Bethany, found myself up to my elbows in cement! Yes, that's right me, mixing cement and pouring it into what will be our shower. It went well, so I thought, until last night, when our more experienced friend, Tim came over and said, hmmm, your shower floor is cracking… that means you used too much cement in the mixture of sand. Turns out I had the mixture backwards! Oops! So today we will try to fix it by whatever means possible, short of taking it apart and doing it again. Live and learn, right? Oh I must say it's pretty frustrating, but I'm taking it in stride! Where's Matt B. (a contractor/friend from back home) when you need him?

We did have one thing go well and without a hitch yesterday. We installed another air conditioner in our guest room (at our house) so Tim has a place to sleep while he is here from Java. He was our neighbor there and is also our field chairman. He and his wife are dear friends and we're thrilled he can stay with us and now in an airconditioned room. It has helped cool the house a bit more and with the power more consistent the past week or so, we are actually not sweating our way through each day. I'm down to 2 showers a day instead of three!

Nona Ana, our house helper is working out well. she is almost done her second week with us and so far so good! I taught her how to make bread today and 2 days ago, the guest house – house helper Ibu Salche taught her how to make a traditional Indonesian dish. Next week I'll have her try both recipes herself and see how she does at them.

Slowly but surely we are settling in here in Papua. God is teaching us each day that He is our sufficiency and not to set our eyes on human, earthly things to find our strength. I am going to begin reading a new book today called, Calm My Anxious Heart. Another missionary lady here gave it to me and I've heard it's a great book. I'll let you know as I get into it.

Hey, a few prayer requests to share with you all are:

#1, Joel's great aunt Anna, like his grandma, passed away last night. We still don't know if it was a heart attack or what happened but it has hit him hard. Please pray for his family at this time. We will miss her. She was a huge encourager to us!

#2, the International school here is in great need of a 2^nd grade teacher in January. The current teacher has to go home to have a baby and so they will be without a teacher come next semester. Please pray with us that God will provide for this need soon! If you know anyone who would like to teach short term in Indonesia, please let me know!

bethany

Day 1

Well tomorrow brings us to a new phase at the guest house.  Our area leadership team will be meeting for three days to discuss well, our area or region, and to do some planning and so we will be taking a step toward ministry in the guest house.  We have bought all the supplies and groceries for the next week or so and will begin cooking for the guys at the guest house tomorrow, with the guest house –house helper, of course.  I'll be up and over there at 6 am to get things set out for breakfast and then back again to help with lunch too later on in the morning. 

Joel is finishing up more remodeling here at the house as best he can. He ran in to a snafoo tonight while trying to fix the toilet but hopefully tomorrow it will be running again.  We will be getting our bed tomorrow too finally!  Can't wait to sleep on a real mattress again!  Joel will hopefully finish the shower tomorrow and tile it (thanks for the experience Johnny!  It's paying off!) and before the Indonesian leadership team arrives on Thursday (one of them is staying at our house), we'll have 2 functioning showers, that is if all goes as planned.  We won't count our chickens before they hatch but we'll pray! 

That's all tonight! 

Bethany

Sun in Papua

Well, I mentioned my trip to town today and well, this afternoon, I realized
that I came away with more than I thought. I was in the sun for a total of
15 minutes (the time on the bike from home to the store and back and well
you can see what happened! Can anyone say EQUATOR???!!!

Bethany

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8:20 PM

Below The Waterline

I've been reading a book lately called, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, by Joanna Weaver.  A good missionary girl-friend of mine gave it to me just before we left to come here and said it was a must read!  So I have been reading it.  Let's just say this friend must know me very well!  I am a Martha. Hard-core Martha.  If I am not doing then I feel then I must not "be".  It's tough for me to sit still long. Anyone who knows me at all knows this is true.  As a matter of fact, I tend toward having my plate too full most of the time.  I have learned to say no at times but I just enjoy serving and being busy. 

 

So here I find myself.  In Papua, Indonesia.  Embarking on a ministry that is all about "doing".  Well, that's what I think anyway.  A guesthouse for tribal missionaries, who will be out for a rest or visa paperwork or enroute to and from their tribal location.  While it may be true; I will be doing a lot here, booking rooms, cleaning, cooking, making beds, being hospitable.  There is also the other end of the spectrum that is also necessary.  The ability to encourage those who pass through our doors.  How can I do that, I'm thinking now as I see how BIG this ministry is?  There will be so much to do just to keep the place running.  To be an encouragement to others requires that I, Bethany get out of the way. It means being still and letting God work through me.

 

So in comes this book I mentioned. I just read something today in it that really caught me.  I will quote it here as if I try to restate it, I won't do it justice. I hope the author doesn't mind.  She has just coming to the end of a section talking about balancing the teeter – totter of a life of worship and service.  How do we do that?  Here's her answer:

 

"The secret of balancing worship and work, devotion and service, love of God and love of people is maintaining our connection to Jesus Christ.  Our relationship with him is the fulcrum, the anchor, the steadying point that makes balance possible in the first place.  And the deeper that relationship goes, the more stable the balance will be.

"'It all begins at the water line.' That's how Jeanne Mayo puts it… 'It takes a ruthless commitment to first things first…I'm constantly having to ask the Lord to do the Psalm 139 thing on me: "Live in my heart. Search and examine me.  Know my heart."' Then Jeanne shared a story that has become a spiritual trigger point in her life.  God is faithful to bring it to mind when her life begins to slip off kilter and out of balance.

"In the autumn of 1992, a man named Michael Plant commenced a solo crossing of the North Atlantic.  An expert yachtsman, Plant had made this trip several times before.  His brand-new sailboat, the Coyote, was so technologically advanced there were few like it in the world.

"Plant set off alone leaving his support team to monitor his trip by satellite and radio.  Everything was going well.  Even when a storm disrupted communications, no one worried much.  After all, this guy was one of the best sailors and navigators to be found.  His boat was equipped with state-of-the-art navigational and emergency equipment.  Plant would resume radio contact when everything settled down.

"But Michael Plant was never heard from again.  After numerous attempts to reach him by radio, the Coast Guard sent helicopters out to look for him.  They found the Coyote floating upside down.  It's captain and sole passenger was never found.  Why?  How could this happen?  the experts wondered.  Everyone knows that sailboats are very hard to turn over.  Their deep keels and massive rudders right themselves.  But as the ship was examined, the cause of the tragedy became clear.  For all its technological advances and beauty, the Coyote didn't have enough weight beneath the water line.  There wasn't enough ballast below to outweigh the fancy gadgetry above.  And so it flipped over as it lost its ability to balance in the water.

"'Our lives will capsize as well,' Jeanne Mayo concludes, 'if what lies below the spiritual water line of our lives doesn't outweigh what lies above.' No matter how good we may look on the surface, no matter how balanced we may seem, it's what lies below that really counts."

 

So I read this and was so convicted.  I am a sailboat who often has lots of gadgetry on the top and very little weight below the waterline.  I get so busy, so often in what Weaver calls "Kitchen service" as a Martha, that finding time for the "Living Room worship" gets jipped.  The timing of this book coming into my hands couldn't have been better.  I am far from having it down pat, I don't think any of us ever do, but I am certainly going to keep my heart tuned to how much weight lies below my surface. 

 

I must add here that there is an element we believers have that a sailboat does not.  That is prayer.  I'm no theologian but I know that the prayers others offer to God for me act as an anchor that pulls me toward my source of strength.  I don't know why it works but it does.  You pray, God hears, His Spirit works in my heart and I am challenged, encouraged or whatever is needed that day or in that moment.  Thank you for standing with us in this voyage to unknown waters.  We, unlike the yachtsman mentioned in the story, are not alone on our trip.  God is with us, and you are with us and we are so thankful.

Bethany

HyperMarket - our version of Walmart

Today I made my first treck out on a motorbike since returning to Indonesia.  Actually this bike is more like a scooter but none-the-less, I did it.  Another milestone toward feeling at home here.  I needed a few things from the store and there is a new store in town that claims to "have it all", so I hopped on the bike and braved my way into town.  Mind you I have to cross two very "makeshift" bridges to get there and try not to get sunk in the thousands of potholes along the way but I did it!  There and back, no problem.  The new store is very nice, airconditioned (a  rare thing here) and as soon as the imported items get released at customs in Jakarta, we'll have our very own version of the Indonesian Walmart.  One stop shopping all the way over here!  Who'd a thunk it?

 

Joel is again tackling the bathroom today.  He should be done with the demolition by this afternoon and then will begin to rebuild our shower area.  I covered several of the windows in the kitchen today to try and close it off so it will keep the airconditioned air in and the hot air out.  Right now the kitchen is it's own oven.  Great for rising bread but I don't like to stay in there too long.  Slowly but surely we're getting things done.  I know there will be an end in sight somewhere down the road!

 

Thursday

Today was a good day here at the Potter house. Actually we weren't at the Potter house in the morning and I think that's why it was a good day. We got out this morning for our orientation time and got to see a bit of the place we live in. My coworker Jodi, took me to the Pasar or the market where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables and meats and an assortment of other things. It was actually much nicer than the one where we lived in Java and so I was much less intimidated by shopping there. I have always had my house helper go for me because the crowds and mayhem really wasn't very enticing to me. But here, it was so orderly and clean that I thought, "I can do this!". What a boost today! Something I feel adequate to do!

Then we went up to the International school to get a tour. Hillcrest International School is amazing and is so geared toward serving missionaries. WE have full access to the grounds and they are beautifully situated high up above the town. Its cooler up there and clean and just a wonderfully relaxing place to go. There is a playground that Jack can use at any time, a gymnasium, tennis courts, soccer field, and also a library there that we now have access to with current magazines, books, videos and even a huge kids section that Jack will love. It was good to see where he and Owen will go to school one day and to know that even though that's ways off in our future, we can already begin to reap the benefits! God bless those who have sacrificed good jobs at home to come and teach our kids for no monetary reward!

Joel also has been accomplishing big things at our house. Yesterday, he finished up a project of cutting a hole in the concrete and brick wall in between our room and Jack's room so we can put a fan in to pull some of the cool air from our room into his. This will make naptime so much nicer for him! Today he began to tackle our bathroom to take out the "bak", a four foot high tub with four walls that holds water. The Indonesians fill it full with water and then stand in the middle of the bathroom floor and dip water out and over themselves with a ladle. Not our idea of a good shower or bath so he is knocking down the walls and extending it out so we can have a proper shower. Right now we have a shower head that is attached to the wall in the middle of the bathroom, soaking everything in reach, including the toilet. Again, not our idea of what a bathroom is. So… he's been chisling away at cement and brick once again. Johnny, you'd be proud! His hands now look like yours! (the photos are: #73 – the bathroom he is working on under construction, #81 – the current guest bathroom that is still completely Indonesian style. Want to have a toilet like this at your house?)

It's now 9 pm and like the carriage in the Cinderalla story, we are going to turn into pumpkins at any moment. When the sun goes down at 5:30 each night, 9pm feels like midnight! So with a good day behind us and hearts so incredibly grateful for all your prayers and notes of encouragement that truly lift our spirits, we bid you goodnight.

Bethany

Tuesday

Today was our first day with Nona Ana.  She did really well and seems to be a diligent worker.  She is very friendly and a good talker.  This will be so helpful as I endeavor to strengthen my language ability.  Mopping was a new thing for her so I had to show her how to do it and then she apologized for being slow at it. I told her that she'd get the hang of it and in no time she'd be mopping quickly.  She was very pleasant to have around the house and seems to really love the kids!  Thanks for praying for us in this.  Keep praying that she'll work out long term. It's going to be a huge help!

 

We have other good news today as well.  We now have a phone AT OUR HOUSE!!!  Yippee.  That means you can all call us and we can chat. Ok, well that's not so likely but hey at least we can email from home and hopefully will be able to keep the updates coming more regularly. 

 

So today was a pretty good day at the Potter house.  How was it at your house?  you know we'd love to hear of the mundane things of life back home.  We kno we are not the only ones with things happening.  Will you share what is happening in your life too?

 

Bethany

Monday

Today I interviewed a new house helper.  Her name is Ana and she is a single Papuan gal.  I’d guess she’s about 20 or so and is from a nearby town.  The head pembantu at the guest house also was with me as I interviewed her and Ibu Salche also felt like she’d be worth trying out.  She begins tomorrow and we’ll see how it goes.  She doesn’t have tons of experience working as a house helper so I will likely have to train her in many things but I suppose that’s good as she’ll learn how I like to have things done.  Thanks for praying for this situation with us.  It’s daunting to do this in another culture as it’s hard to read other people when they are from such a different culture.  I will be trusting her with my children eventually and that is not an easy thing to do.

 

Our bathroom is being renovated today to put in a western toilet.  We are so excited to finally have a bathroom that is normal for us. It’s amazing how things like that can make the day feel so much more normal.  Joel is in a neighboring town getting  a bathroom sink and shower and so hopefully by sometime next week, we’ll be set with one regular bathroom. 

 

In a few weeks, our field leadership team will be here for meetings and this will be my first introduction into the guesthouse.  I will be buying food for breakfast and will be providing lunch and supper for the men and one of the wives.  We are still doing our orientation each afternoon and are learning about how things work here in Papua.  I think we’ll be taking some outings to see various places that are unique to our area.  It should be interesting.  I think we’ll also be picking up again on our language study but as to how that will all work out, we’re not sure yet.

 

Thank you for all the notes of encouragement to us these past weeks. It means so much to have folks praying and even just sympathyzing as we go through this transition.  We miss  you all!

 

bethany

Bird Flu

Well some of you may have heard in the news that the bird flu hit Indonesia and in the city we used to live in and did our language study in.  We too have just heard that a small number of chickens have died from Bird Flu in Salatiga.  Our Field Contingency Team is monitoring this situation closely.  Families living in Salatiga are taking steps to minimize their risk of getting this illness.  We will pass on additional information as we know more. 

 

Thanks for your concern for us and our teammates.   Lord Willing, this will not be a problem!

 

Bethany

Adjusting????

It has now been a monh since we left the states to come here to Indonesia and I'd have to say this has been a pretty tough month for us in many ways.  We are still adjusting to life here in Papua and feel so far away from being settled.  We know it takes time, but we are realizing that it will be a long time before this place feels like home. 

One thing that I think will help us in the adjustment is getting out of our house.  Other than getting groceries we hadn't really gotten out at all until this weekend.  On Friday, we went to a neighboring town where there are some decent stores to get supplies and things and another couple watched our kids for us.  It was nice to get away for the day and get a lot of the basic things we've needed here at the house.  Then that night, we got over to the international school to watch a volleyball game.  Since the town we are in has a very large expat community, these Friday night games are a big social event.  One of the high school classes cooks food, usually something western (sometimes they even have hotdogs brought all the way from the states!) to raise money for their class events and everyone turns out to see the games and catch up!  It was our first time to go and we had a really good time.  There has been so much to do at our house to get it set up that we really have become hermits.  You know us, we love to socialize and so we were starting to feel the effects of a lack of interaction with other human beings! 

Our house helper worked her last day last week on Thursday.  That has been hard but good too.  It was looking like perhaps she wasn't a good fit for us and I was feeling like perhaps we should be looking for someone else. that's a tough decision to make and I was having a hard time making it when she showed up on Friday morning and told us she got a call from her family on another island and she needed to return home.  God went before us in that and worked it out so I didn't have to let her go!  So now I am looking once again for someone who can help me here at the house so that I can focus on the ministry with my family and the guest house.  I will interview another gal on Monday so I'd appreciate your prayers for discernment in that. 

Some things I have begun to realize that I took advantage of at home are starting to really show! 

·           I made baby food for Jack cause it sounded good and was kind of fun to say I did it.  Now, it's my only option.  The baby cereal here comes with all kinds of interesting things in it like sugar, honey, coconut oil, and spices, you and I wouldn't even eat.  And there is no jarred baby food to speak of so every couple of days, my kitchen smells like veggies central.

·           Electricity at home is so dependable.  It's rare when it goes out and usually for a really good reason like a tree falling on a line or ice storms.  Here it's a daily part of life and usually for a reason like, well, there's not enough for everyone, so we all get to have periods of the day without it!

·           Our phone companies at home are amazing!  While we were at my mom's house, we had a problem with a phone line.  That afternoon, a guy came over and fixed the problem.  Even gave us his cell number should something else go wrong.  Here, well, there was a big land slide this past spring and the bridges all got demolished so with them, somehow, the phone lines went down too!  So amazingly enough, although the guesthouse next door has a working phone, ours is completely gone.  No nothin.  We are on the same property and are literally feet away but our phone line got knocked out at theirs didn't.  It's no use to report it to the phone company,  it'll be months before the bridges are up and thus, our phone line!

·           Tap water.  you know many of us are pretty picky about our tap water.  If it has any sort of taste to it, well, yuck, can't drink it. It's clean mind you but it has a bit of a weird taste and we throw it out with the bath water.  Oh, what I'd give for tap water that is clean. It could taste like the Mississippi for all I care.  I can't even rinse my dishes in it here. I have to add bleach to the water and wash everything in that!  No, the taste isn't the issue, typhoid is!

·           Have you ever noticed that when you go to the store, say Walmart or Target or Dillons that everything is so clean?  You don't usually say at the end of a trip to the store, "well, I'd better go shower – and use antibacterial soap".  Here before you get two feet out the door, the antibacterial hand wipes come out and you attempt to wipe the grime off your hands before you touch anything else.  Each carton of milk (ours comes in little cardboard boxes that sit on the shelf till you open them) has to be washed before you use it.  Everything that gets stored in the fridge gets a good wiping down when you get home and yes, we take a shower to wipe off all the grime.  Maybe that's why we do as much shopping for the month in one trip so we don't have to take our weekly, "I went to the store" shower!

Well those are just a few things that we are realizing we took for granted at home and let me just say it for those of you who are thinking it!  YES, we know we are in major culture shock!  No use denying it.  It's like a thick soup around us right now.  The thing is, time is the only thing that helps it go away.  Well, no I'm wrong there.  The Lord enables us each day to handle all the little shocks that come our way.  Some days it's harder than others.  Some days, getting up in the morning is hard and some days I hop out of bed eager to face the day.  We know for sure that Satan doesn't want us here and he knows the areas where we are easily discouraged.  Not a day goes by for each of us right now that we aren't faced with the thought of going home.  Thankfully our God is bigger, stronger and more reliable than Satan, us or our weaknesses.  He is our strength when we are weak, He is the treasure that we seek, He is our All in All!

In His Hands,

Bethany

 

photos

I'm sending off some photos finally. We just now downloaded the ones from our trip here, if that tells you how crazy life has been lately.  Enjoy!

 

Bethany

Flying Potters

These photos were taken on the last leg of our flights here. My mom made
Jack a train track/race track out of a plain placemat before we left and it
provided hours of entertainment for Jack. Just perfect for the fold down
trays on the airplane. I'd say we all looked pretty good for having gone so
far!

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A view of our town

We drove up one of the nearby mountains the other day to get a view of where
we live. This place we are at is actually a military base and a famous one
at that. It is where General McArthur set up camp while he was here in
WWII. It's a beautiful place, cool and high above our town. We live right
off of the airstrip that you can see in the photo. The lake is also very
close and a beautiful scene from above. Don't get too close though. It's
not the kind of place you'd necessarily go to for a vacation. See the red
dirt? It reminds me of home!

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Jack napping

Just to give you an idea of how hot it is here. We found Jack like this one
day at naptime. Poor guy. I think he was literally melting!

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Owen

Can you believe this little guy isn't even 5 months old yet? He was given
this walker last week by some friends here and hasn't stopped cruising
around the house since he got it. He's getting so big!

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What a view

This was the view from the airplane window as we landed, yes, landed, on one
of the islands we stopped at on our way to Papua. It was quite the
experience! Water under us, volcanos around us! WOW!

earthquakes

Hey all just wanted to let you know we were not affected by the earthquake here in Papua, nor were any of our co-workers harmed by it.  Some things were broken in one families house that lives in a tribe closeby to the epicenter but no injuries.  Sorry to make you all worry if you did by not hearing from us.  The next post will explain why…

 

Bethany

What on earth was that???

That's what we've been asking the past week as I, Bethany was down, flat on my back (or side or however I could finally get comfortable), with some sort of stomach bacteria.  WELCOME to Papua. 

It hit me sometime Monday night and gradually got worse and worse until Wednesday in the wee hours of the morning, I made it to the bathroom but couldn't get back to bed, and ended up yelling for Joel from the kitchen floor.  Sorry, for those of you who don't need details, but things were going right through me and I hadn't been able to keep anything in me for several days so by 4am when I had to go again, I began to pass out, right there in the bathroom, alone on the other side of the house.  Joel finally heard my weak calls for help and came running to find me pale and very very weak.  We called one of our co-workers who was over at the guest house to come and she thought maybe I had gotten some kind of bacteria.  Thankfully, although we may feel as far from civilization as we have ever gone, there are wonderful medical professionals here in our town and so one was called the next morning and she told us which antibiotic to get started on.  The whole day was a wash as far as getting much done around the house. Joel became Mr. Mom and my bedside nurse.  The co-worker who rescued us in the night also took Jack for a few hours sparing him from going insane here at the house for the next few days and I basically laid in and out of sleep all day Thursday and part of the day on Frida, running to the bathroom every half hour or so.  Finally on Friday afternoon, I was beginning to feel human again and now, on Sunday am back to normal.  Relatively speaking, it was a mild thing really but it sure felt like death was knocking on my door. 

We have struggled a bit more here with some weird version of culture shock.  Papua is very different than Java in so many ways.  It kind of feels like we left civilization a bit and were dropped on some remote island somewhere.  I think we had in mind that this would be an easier transition in that we'd already been to Indonesia and then would just have minor adjustments here.  That is not the case.  we need your prayers now more than ever as we trust God for every moment here.  We have been praying more together than ever before in our marriage and are simply asking God to get us through today.  One day at a time. 

I'm being pretty candid here with you all and so I hope you know that we are not giving up.  At times that seems the thing to do but we know that God has led us here and we are trusting Him to keep us here!  What's that phrase again, "God's will will not lead you where His grace cannot keep you!".  We're clinging to that. 

Thanks for standing with us. 

In His hands,

Bethany for us all 

Bethany's Current State

In case anyone had heard of Bethany's recent illness, she had something similar to Giardia, a nasty gastro bug that is prevalent in tropical areas. She was pretty ill, and I pretty scared for her from this past Monday evening till really yesterday morning. She has really turned a corner and thanks to the Lord working through great co-workers, a great nurse, some good meds, and rest (and maybe a husband/male nurse) she's doing way better. Thanks to everyone who prayed for her. It was scary and at the same time a really faith-expanding time for us.

Please, Please, keep praying for us here. We're so succeptible to so many types of tropical illnesses and infections here. We truly have to trust the Lord here!

Friday - the end of a very long week

Tomorrow is Saturday and hopefully we'll get to relax a bit.  The power has been off about 1/3 of each day, tonight so far we are going on 4 hours.  It did rain tonight so we've gotten a bit of a reprieve from the heat. It's still probably in the 90's but that's nice to us!  I'm praying the power comes back on before we head to bed. We can sleep over at the guest house tonight if we need to as there are a few open rooms right now and there is a generator there, but I'd rather sleep at my own house.  The boys are down in an airconditined room – they're probably wondering how it could get so cold. They may be in shock!   I'm tempted to join them for awhile while the generator is on but instead I'm writing this blog. 

Tomorrow morning we are going shopping without the boys. Our partners, the Duncan's have two girls that love to babysit so we've asked them to come in the morning so we can get groceries and supplies for the house.  I also want to make yogurt but I have to start from scratch with a powder starter. Never done that before so we'll see if it works out! I'll let you know!

I did make bread today but the morning went nuts on me and it rose 3 times before I got to make it into loaves.  They are huge!!  Hopefully they look as good as they taste or visa versa. I'm tired, can you tell! 

Something you could pray for me about is with my house helper.  She is incredibly shy and for those of you who know me, I'm not!  It's hard to have her walking around the house like she's afraid of us. I really want a relationship with her and have told her that very thing.  I know my actions will speak louder than my words.  Please pray for me as I try to build a relationship.  She is from the prominent religion here in Indo so it's an opportunity for me to share Christ with her but first I have to get her to converse with me.  J

Joel installed two new outlets in the house today. I am so proud of him for taking that on after our bogus quote from an electrician.  He'd rather be chef-ing up some amazing food for everyone but instead he was sweating so much his clothes had to be wrung out and soaked to get them clean.

Well that's all for today.  Oh and by the way, we hook up to the internet over at the guest house where they have an active phone line, for those wondering how we did this without a phone.

You all have a great day while we have a great sleep!

Bethany

 

 

Thursday

Today is "Malaria Medicine Day" for us.  The region of Indonesia we are in has lots of malaria carrying mosquitos so that means that each week, we get to take our dose of medicine as a family.  This is an area I am a bit scaredy cat of.  I have seen what malaria can do to someone and I just want to avoid it at all costs.  Please pray for us regarding this.  We need to be wise about when we are outside and to have "Thursday Malaria Med Day" be an unforgettable part of our routine!

 

Today is also a new day, I keep reminding myself.  The last several days here have been hard as the power has not been on for very much of the day.  Yesterday it was out from before 11am till about 8pm.  It's very hot here and our house doesn't have screens yet so we can't open the windows at all.  It makes the house feel like a sauna and then some.  We came over to the guest house where there is a generator but that means that we don't get much unpacking done at our own house!  We are trying to get a generator this week.

 

Our house is coming along slowly.  Much more slowly than I'd like but with the heat here and tow little boys, I suppose we're doing  well.  We also got our fridge two days ago and so that means we now can eat at our own house.  It was good exercise to go back and forth to the guest house but not very convenient.  We also have gas for our stove and drinking water so that we are now, minus a phone line, pretty much self sufficient at our house.  The house still needs quite a bit of work done on it but in time, we'll get there. 

 

We will begin our orientation for this region probably next week some time.  We are excited to get into our ministry here full time but we realize that being settled first at our house is important.  We will also be having our first team meeting with the other two families that will make up this "town support team" in the next few weeks.  They are great families and we are so looking forward to working with them. 

 

Ok, that's all from this side of the world for now.  We'll chat again soon!

 

Bethany

Sunday

Today was a good productive day for us.  Our kitchen is now useable except that we don't have our fridge just yet.  That will come on Wednesday.  Also, we need to get LPG gas for our stove and drinking water.  So that means we have two rooms liveable and well, let's not count how many more are yet to be finished, ok!?  We had a chance too today to have some fellowship with the various NTM families that are here in town.  Right now, that's quite a few!  There are several families living in town enrout to working in new tribal groups and two are here b/c of visa paperwork, another two are heading out to the states for various reasons, one guy is here to travel with a few others into some tribal areas to do surveys, and us and another family are getting settled in town to become a part of our town support team. Oh and I can't forget the other family who is here and has been here for 5 years, plugging away alone keeping everything going.  Soooo, it was a full house for us and a very encouraging time, hearing what God is doing here in Papua in various people's lives.  It also gave us a taste of what it will be like when we finally get into our ministry at the guesthouse.  We are so excited to finally be here!

 

A scary thing happened in the middle of the meeting today.  The boys were down for their naps while we were having the meeting and I went in to check on Owen and found him on the floor with a pillow next to him.  My heart stopped beating I'm sure and I was terrified.  I picked him up immediately and he stopped crying.  I was so scared.  I ran to the door and asked one of the guys outside to get Joel. He came running in and said," why is Jack's room open?  Where is he and wait, what happened here?"  I was in tears and could only say, "Owen was on the floor".  Joel found Jack in the kitchen and all we could figure was that somehow Jack got out of his room and into Owen's, where Owen was sleeping on a queen sized bed surrounded by pillows.  (Owen wasn't in his pack-n-play cause it's just so hot here and he wasn't able to fall asleep in it, so I moved him onto the bed where the air from the fan could get to him.)  So we think Jack tried to pick him up and must have dropped him. He has a bruise on his forhead but after checking him out and watching him carefully the rest of the day, he seems to be fine, even smiled a little while later.  As a mom, that's the kind of the thing that you hope never will happen while you are not looking.  I know things like that happen all the time but it sure doesn't make it easier to experience.  Poor Jack must have run out of the room scared to death.  We won't tell him what happened till he's much older so as not to scar him for life.

 

So as you can see, your prayers for us are truly important.  My theory is that God reached down and put his hand under Owen to break his fall!  I can't explain it any other way that he wasn't hurt.  Keep praying will you?!

 

Bethany 

Whew!

Home sweet home, at last.  We made it to Papua on Sunday afternoon, after 3 layovers in between Sulawesi and Papua.  The flights were fine, and actually we saw some amazing views on landing, takeoff and just about the whole time in between.  If we ever begin to doubt how amazing our God is, we just need to get up in the air again to see how beautiful his creation is, especially on this side of the world. 

Just a bit about what we saw before I go on.  As we landed at our first stop along the way home, we were coming in over the water.  Water on both sides was all we could see for a few minutes but yet we were getting closer and closer, farther and farther down, then all of a sudden out of the right side of the plane we see this gigantic Volcano and it even had smoke coming out the top!  Not errupting, but definitely active!  Wow, was that beautiful!  So here we are, so close you think you should be able to touch it but so glad you can’t and then WAMO, runway!  Bump bump bump bounce bump bump and feet to the floor in some attempt to slow the plane down.  That had to have been the shortest runway, I’ve ever landed on!  They had us get off the plane momentarily and as we stood on the ground next to the plane, we looked up to see mountains all around and the ocean just behind us!  Wow!! That’s all I can say!

Ok, so we repeated that senario in similar ways two more times before arriving in our “Home Town”.  That was Sunday.  We were greeted by a friend at the airport and he brought us home (with all our stuff – yes, every thing made it!) to our new house.  We certainly will not lack for space here and as a matter of fact, we’re not sure yet how we will fill all the space.  We have spent the last two days unpacking box after box and last night we got to set up our living room.  What a relief to have one room seem normal.  We have the ability to run 1 air conditioner at a time at this point, so this room is our “cool room” and we will visit it often.  It’s hot here for sure and I’m not sure in the last two days if we stopped sweating all day long.  The evenings aren’t too bad and we’ve slept comfortably each night, for which we are very thankful.

We were welcomed to the guesthouse and our house (which are next to one another on the same property) by cards from friends here, there and everywhere, three packages that somehow got lost in the mail while we were in Java, and the greetings of some old friends and some new –all our new co-workers.  I, Bethany got to a store yesterday to get some staples and I must say, when it comes to shopping in Indonesia, I much prefer Papua to Java.  I could hear myself think in the store and there was actually enough room to move along the isles comfortably.

Before I go, I just want to share some neat things God has done for us these past weeks.  This is not an attempt at bragging on ourselves but is absolutely our desire to brag on our BIG, BIG God!

Several weeks before we left we were blessed by a several thousand dollar donation by an anonymous person at our church to help cover the cost of shipping.  Then when we got to Sulawesi, we began to write out all the things we would need still to set up a new home; places for the boys clothes, a kitchen table, a bed for us, a refrigerator, stove, vehicle, etc. and we began to feel overwhelmed,wondering where it would all come from.  The only and best thing we could do was pray.  And pray we did, asking God to provide for our needs, trusting He would, in His time.  Each day, no word on how we would pay for these things, then the morning that we left to come here to Papua, I checked email one more time (at 3am) just 15 minutes before we would leave and low and behold a gift had been given back home which would cover some of the expenses of the things we would need.  THEN!!!  Within 10 minutes of our being here, our new partners informed us that someone here on our regional team, donated enough money for us to pick out a refirigerator!  Now you must understand, we are literaly at the end of the road here, well, I guess if you went out to the tribal locations that would technically be the end, but we are pretty close!  Getting a refrigerator here is no cheap buy and this family gave enough for us to get one that would more than suit our needs!  Oh, and our field also gave another gift out of a fund that is set up for folks like us with a special need! 

Are you as blessed as I am by this?  I mean, wow God!  Humbled and so aware of the blessing of being in the Body of Christ.  God provided, maybe at the last minute but He provided!  We CAN trust Him, He IS Faithful, and we ARE blessed to be His children.  A song keeps running through my head these days and I can just hear my friend Teri singing it. It goes,

“God will make a way,

where there seems to be no way.

He works in ways we cannot see.

He will make a way for me.

He will be my guide, hold me closely to His side.

With love and strength for each new day,

He will make a way. God will make a way!”

 

Let us encourage you with something. If you are waiting on God with something, wondering, waiting, worrying, eliminate the wonder and the worry, just trust Him. He will make a way!

 

Bethany