Bug zapper extraoridinaire!

With the volume of bugs in this country and currently in our house, we invested in a $3 miracle worker. It is an electric bug zapper. Now I know they have those at home in the states but this one is so much more fun! It's designed like a tennis racket and istead of waiting and hoping the bugs find it and die a quick and painful death, you get the pleasure of hunting them down and swinging with all your might. The ZAP you hear as a result of making contact is so satisfying. Joel has found extreme pleasure in the use of our new tool! You should see the zest with which he kills the little buggers!

Rainy Season/Dry Season

They kept saying that rainy season should have ended a month or more ago but everyday we got more rain. Well, it seems to have finally passed. I think we've had two or three full days now with no rain. It's nice in that we can enjoy beautiful sunny days all day long and that our clothes dry much faster now. It's also nice to get into bed at night and not feel like the sheets are wet! The downside is that they say with the dry comes the heat! Thankfully our ceiling fans were installed a few days ago and now we have a nice breeze in the house. Modern technology is so nice and we are so thankful to have some here!

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

Orientation day one

Did you know that the bottom of your foot is offensive if pointed at a person?  Did you know that when you enter a room of people already talking to one another or go to leave while people are talking around you, you should always bend so your head is lower than the head of the person who is highest in the room and walk out with your right hand in front of you?  Did you know, that to shake hands with your left hand is considered very rude and unclean?

Today was a day of “did you know?” ’s for us!  Our first day of orientation is now complete and we are a little wiser for it.  Not a lot wiser, but just a little.  We only spent two hours with the orientation staff this morning, but even at the end of such a short time, my head was full with lots of new information to be thinking about and implement in everyday life.  You know, for so long, the cultural heeding’s we’d been given while in our training were good things to think about for the future, but now we find ourselves in that place where heeding means implementing.  It’s no longer an “oh, yeah, that sounds good” type of thing but rather an “oh, my, God, please change my thinking and quick!” type of thing. 

Tomorrow begins another day of new information.  Pray for us to absorb all that we hear and to trust God to change us where we need to be changed so that we can truly minister in this culture.

 

 

Indescribable

We sang a song yesterday in our worship service that put goose bumps on my arms.  It was the song “Indescribable”.  It talks about that God put the stars in the sky and He knows them by name… He made the sun to shine but brings cool to the night.  This encouraged my heart so much as we are here in this place where we cannot yet communicate and are feeling quite small in the scheme of life.  Even in the heat of the humid days, we can know that God will refresh us! I was reminded that if He knows the stars by name, He knows the details of our lives so far from what is “normal” to us.  We are not out of His scope.  He will shine the sun on us by day and bring cool by night.  He will be our refreshment, our sustenance, our contentment. He will always understand us even when others may not.  He will give us the ability to adjust here. He will bring ministry opportunities into our path.  Whatever we need, we can trust Him for.  He is our creator, and He is able!

 

Bethany

Bartering 101

Yesterday we went to the town of Semarang to get some items that we can’t get here in Salatiga.  Our highlight of the day was in bartering for our family room furniture.  As we walked through the mall, we saw a display of furniture out in the middle of the “hallway” that looked similar to what we were looking for, so we decided to walk over and see it.  As we sat down, the salesman came over to us to begin the process of making the sale.  Now, there are some stores in Indonesia that will not barter with you about the price but there are others that expect it.  If you take it for the first price offered, basically you are a fool.  Often times you can get the price down significantly and they are expecting you to try.  Well this was one of those places.  We soon decided that we liked this furniture and were willing to hear the guys offer.  I say “hear” loosley as we couldn’t understand a word he said but our interpreter translated for us and actually did the talking.

 

He made his offer as such; one love seat, one matching chair and our choice of coffee table… x amount of Rupiah – their dollar.  Ok so that was not a bad price but let’s see what we can do.  Our interpreter makes a lower offer…yeah, he’ll take it.  Ok lets try some more but first hem and haw about it for a little while to seem unsure.  One more lower offer.  Hmmm, now this time he’s not so sure.  “Let me call my boss”, he says.  Whether or not there was actually anyone on the other line, we’ll never know but once he hung up, he met us half way and said, “my boss won’t let me take any less”.  Ok so now we get serious.  Our interpreter is pretty sure if we get up, say no thanks and begin to walk away, he’ll take our lower offer.  Sure enough. He did.  Well that was a good sale for us for sure but that’s not the best part.

 

As we began to leave with our receipt, I hesitated and said I’d like to look it over just to make sure he had the order right.  Boy am I glad I did!!!  Upon reviewing the receipt, we realized that he threw in a full sized sofa too!  Or maybe he forgot he only said the 3 pieces and got confused.  So our interpreter asked him, is this right?  “3 seater, 2 seater, 1 seater and table?”  Yep, that was right.  Not believing her ears, she asked again “3 seater, 2 seater, 1 seater and table – four pieces of furniture?”  Yes.  That’s the deal.  Wow!!!  We really got a good deal then as we thought we were bartering for everything but the 3 seater (the largest of the furniture)!

 

I must say, next time we go for a big purchase, we will be taking that interpreter with us!!!  She is quite the shopper!

 

Seriously though.  It never ceases to amaze us how God provides.  We are still enjoying our time here and are so thankful God has brought us to this point.  Orientation begins on Monday and so we say, “Let the games begin!”

First unofficial language session

There is a house across the street from us and best we can tell, two sisters live there with their children.  We haven’t seen any men, so we’re guessing there aren’t any that live there.  The women’s names are Zulaikah (Zoo ly kah) and Samsiyah (Sahm see yah).  Between them there are 5 children and the first night we came here they all came to our gate to welcome us!  They were so friendly and kind.  Every day as I walk outside my front door, I see one of them outside their house and they wave and say “hallo!”, which is their version of “hello”!  We have used our limited phrases in Bahasa Indonesian (their language) to greet them each day and are learning their names. 

 

Today we waved the kids over to play on the porch with Jack and brought out 2 puzzles to play with.  Soon we were learning what all the things were on the puzzles. I would say “apa ini?”  What’s that?  And they would reply with the Indonesian answer. I would right it down and the oldest girl would look to see that I spelled it right.  Often I would write down a “k” for a “g” or a “p” for a “b” or a “t” for a “d” as they sound very similar in their language.  She gently corrected me and we moved on.  By the time we finished a half an hour later there were about 10 children on our porch and the 2 women.  It was so fun to learn the numbers 1-10, several animal’s names, colors and parts of the face.  Not that I’ll remember them tomorrow, but thus begins the process of learning this language. 

 

Even though we use the same alphabet, the letters don’t always sound the same.  For example whenever a “c” is found in a word, it is a “ch” sound.  The reason I have a hard time telling the difference between the letters mentioned above is that they don’t aspirate them.  In English we say the sound for “t” and let air out afterward.  They cut of the air from leaving their mouth when they say it so it can sound like a “d”.  Does that make sense?  Well if it doesn’t then welcome to our world!

 

One more reason we need your prayers as we begin this process.  Thanks for partnering with us through prayer!

 

Bethany

Middle of the night prayer!

I am in tears as I write this. I am so touched by an email a friend wrote today.  She and her husband are also enroute to Indonesia and should arrive in June. She wrote in her email “I woke up several times last night and I kept praying for you until I'd fall back asleep.”   I am sure it wasn't her choice to awaken but that she would pray for ME is so humbling.  I guess the time that that was happening was about the time I was really feeling stupid as far as language goes.  I had been trying to tell one of our Pembantu’s (house helpers), Ibu Nur, something in Indonesian using the very little I know and a dictionary and it just wasn’t working.  She is very patient with me and tries to understand but it's really hard with not much vocabulary.  Thankfully I wasn't in tears but was laughing at myself and how silly I must sound and look with my homemade sign language.  I ended up just stopping what I as trying to say and giving up all together.  I called my best friend back home just to laugh with someone instead of cry.  Perhaps it was her prayers that kept the tears at bay!  It is times like this that we really feel the power of prayer at work in our lives.  If you doubt it’s effects, please be encouraged that God is using them to strengthen us!  Thank you!

 

We are feeling more settled everyday now.  Today we went to the Market with another missionary here and she let us just look around and see everything.  We bought a few snacky type items there to try and see if we’d like them and will do that for dessert tonight. 

 

 

 

Home Sweet Home

Dear Friends,

Well, we’ve finally made it to home. We arrived here on Saturday evening (Saturday morning back home) at around 6:30 pm. We left Manado around 11:45am so it was long day of traveling but it was uneventful and for that we were so thankful. We were so excited to see our new house and to begin the unpacking process and were so pleasantly surprised when we did finally see our house. It is so much more than we expected and will more than meet our needs over the next 2 years or so. God is good that way though, we’ve come to understand. He loves to bless us above and beyond our expectations and we give Him all the glory!

Our house has 3 bedrooms but one will be used as a family room. Here in Indonesia, the front room of the house is a sitting room, intended to entertain visitors when they stop by. It is generally a formal room and not used on a daily basis by the family living in the home. So our front room will be that and one of the bedrooms will be where we spend our evenings and weekends as a family. Jack has a “Jack sized” room, just right for him and our room is quite comfortable as well. Our bathroom is pretty big and we have a small area where the dining table is just off the kitchen. We will finally have the room we’ve longed for to entertain guests and our back yard is huge! There are banana trees, coffee trees, and several varieties of citrus trees in our yard. Joel is excited to pick the coffee berries off the tree and learn how to roast them himself. Who knows, perhaps we’ll start our own coffee shop here. Can’t you just see Joel doing something like that?

We have taken several trips to town with our orientation staff yesterday and today to begin to buy the things we need for our house. They don’t have Laundromats here so we bought a washing machine yesterday and all the things necessary for hanging our clothes out to dry. Sometime this week we’ll head to the dishes store to get our dishes and then the fabric store to order our sheets to be made for our bed. Jack will have to have a crib made and a mattress ordered from the furniture store and we will also order some furniture for our family room there too. I went shopping for some groceries today at 2 different stores and our fresh groceries will be bought at the market tomorrow. Are you getting the idea that nothing happens quickly here and Wal-mart is a foreign idea to them? We will learn the ropes for these kinds of things in the next few weeks and will piece by piece put our house together. Please pray that we would have patience in this process. We come from a world full of conveniences and they just don’t exist here!

Our house helpers arrived today and so we began the process of language learning. I’ve never felt so helpless as I was today trying to explain how they can help us. We had an interpreter here for a little while but soon she left and we were on our own. The one gal speaks and understands a very little bit of English, so that was a help, but there is still so much left unsaid. Pray for us to learn quickly and to retain what we learn. God will enable our minds to grasp this language but again, patience on our part is required. Nothing comes for free and we have to put lots of work into this process.

There is so much more I could write about with all our first impressions, but I will end this here and encourage you to check out our blog where there is a lot more information.

Thanks for reading and praying and writing.

Bethany for Joel and Jack too!

Tomorrow

We're leaving Manado tomorrow and after a flight to Jakarta, we'll be on our way to the city of Semarang (pronounced 'Seh-madang') and from there after meeting some of orientation team, we'll drive to Salatiga where our house and life for the next two years awaits us. Be praying for safe and sane travels and transfer. We're excited to be on our way but we're thankful for the chance we had to meet our team mates here on Sulawesi.

One more thing. Here in Sulawesi we have missionaries waiting to get into the tribal areas that we work in but for many months now, they have not had any air service (small plane or helicopter) available to them. It's a long story as to why they don't have access right now (ask us sometime). Would you pray for the Lord to provide both the personnel (pilots and mechanics) and the aircraft, so that our teams can get back to doing what they came for.

Even as those who support our tribal missionaries, we're all working for the same end goal and that's seeing indigenous churches planted and we're looking to the Lord to provide the tools necessary to complete the job.

So, know anyone with a helicopter they're not using tucked away in their pole barn??? ;-)

Prayer thanks

Thanks to those of you who have been praying for my family in regards to my dad. The surgery was a success and he is home now and healing well. It is super hard for him to understand why he cannot work on his saws anymore or even be in the basement where they are but he is complying with my Mom’s instructions. She has a lock on the door and my brother, who will be moving in this weekend will be a big help with that. We will fly out tomorrow at 11:45 am our time for home in Salatiga. We are so anxious to get there.
We’ll be in touch after we arrive.

Bethany

Progress and Rewards!

As I write this I’m experiencing a small dream of mine. I used enough Bahasa Indonesia to get myself to a moderately sized 4 story mall here in Manado so that I could go to a renowned local coffee shop called ‘Excelso’. It’s a quality little establishment. The real accomplishment today is actually using the language. I was rewarded by an excellent selection of brew to order coffees. Brazilian Santos, Jamaican Blue Mountain, Columbian, Sumatra Mandheling, and some other good single selections. Every cup is freshly brewed, so that probably means run through an espresso maker. It’s an awesome experience and one I would of missed had I chosen not to step out a bit.

 

Prayer Request

Dear Friends,

 

Just as we sent out the last update today, we were receiving one with some bad news from home.  My mom wrote to tell us that my (Bethany’s) Dad had an accident at home with his woodworking saws.  He has early onset dementia and wasn’t supposed to work on them with no one home (Mom had left for a drama at our home church and Dad knew she’d be gone for a few hours but he forgot) but he went to the basement to cut something and dropped the saw and cut his hand really bad. He ended up in the ER and then had to have surgery to repair 2 tendons and an artery above his thumb.  Thankfully, my Mom works for a hand surgeon and he was there lickidy split and did the surgery. Dad now has a lot of recovery time ahead of him and that will be hard for him.  He will have to be done working at his job now because of this accident and will have to pursue disability too so Mom has a lot to figure out and more quickly than she hoped.  We (Joel and I) didn’t find out till a day or two after it happened, as we didn’t have email access until Tuesday. It was really hard for me to hear when I found out but I talked with mom on the phone the same day we found out and that helped. 

 

Please pray

that Dad heals quickly and that this doesn’t add to his mental frustration

that Mom has patience with him

that she can find someone who will stay with him during the day while she’s at work

and that God will continue to supply us with the grace to trust Him while so far away

 

My brother is moving in with my parents this coming weekend so that will be good for my Mom and Dad both to have someone else there to help.  I have thought of this off and on these past few days and as I have, God has given me peace to keep going forward, trusting Him to take care of my family.  I so appreciate your prayers for us as I know God is answering them by giving us strength.  I realize more than ever how I need Him and His enabling to live this life. 

 

We also have had a bit of a slow down in the process with immigration here and it looks like we won’t be heading to Salatiga today but instead will probably go Saturday.  Pray for patience as we wait.  It’s hard knowing we have a house waiting for us and have limited time to settle in before language school starts and yet we are here waiting with little to do but wait!  Does that make sense?  Ok, well God does so just lift us up to Him and I know He’ll give us peace!

 

We miss you all and are so thankful for your prayers for us!

 

Joel and Bethany

 

 

 

Sapi; Sebu; Cow

I looked out the front door yesterday to see a large beast in the road in front of the house.  I asked Sarah what it was and she said it’s a Sebu.  Yes like the song, “everybody likes a water buffalo, a water buffalo, a water buffalo…seeeeebbuuuuuuu!  Jack is learning his animal noises so this was a perfect time for “mooooooooo”.  It seems strange now to see a cow so close, but I suppose that is life here and I’ll get used to it.  Hey maybe we’ll have one as a pet!

This is the Guest House Helper's Daughter, Puji ready for a national holiday celebration in traditional clothing! 

Taking it all in - and IT'S HOT!!!! 

Finally here! - At the Jakarta Airport 

Slowly but surely we are adjusting to the time change. I am feeling pretty good today and Jack is beginning to eat more food. THanks for praying! He is napping at his normal times and so we are hopeful that he'll start sleeping through the night again soon! God is enabling us though as we need to get up each night.

Today we are heading into the city again to do some shopping. We are going to the "mall" but this is no American mall. They have all the normal "mall" stores but also a travel agency, a grocery store, a post office, and so many other things that amaze me! There is even a little haircutting place for kids - really fun looking! Oh, and to Joel's delight, they have a Starbucks - our first since leaving the US. He is very excited about it. We've told our hosts of his obsession but today they'll see it first hand. A funny thing, Joel loves a coffee called Illy from Italy and it's really hard to find and expensive in the US. Well I opened the freezer here at the guest house the other day and low and behold, they had Illy in there. Apartently its super easy to get here! Yippy!

We're finding out about a cell phone plan today and also how to get a crib for Jack. We'll definitely be back to Jakarta soon to get supplies we will need but for now will wait to see what we can get in Salatiga and near there.

Have a blessed day or night - whatever it is where you are!

Bethany

true confessions

good evening from joel,

I have to say that as I get more and more used to being here, I'm finding a little bit of hesitancy to use the little bit of Indonesian that I already know. It's not easy to 'stick your neck' out there and take the risk of being or sounding wrong, but it's an absolute must if I'm ever gonna jump in here. So this is me asking you to be praying for me to step out and use what I know and be willing to keep learning. God promises to give me the strength I need for even this small area.

Joel

What is He Thinking 

Our Shadow over Dallas 

jack

It seems Jack has decided to loose his baby fat a bit early. He isn't too interested in eating food these days. I think he is also cutting his eye teeth so I am sure that is contributing to his appetite. Oh the joys of being one!
He took his first car ride Indonesian style. Now this may be hard for some of you to read, but understand that this is not something we choose but can't change. Here in Indonesia, there are seatbelts in the front seat and it is law that you must wear them. If you don't you'll get fined around $100. The irony is that there aren't seat belts in the back seat at all, so obviously it's not required or possible to wear them or use them. So... how do you take a baby in the car? On your lap! It was a bit shocking to us as we all got in the car without a car seat, but Jack didn't seem to mind. He snuggled into my lap and enjoyed the view of all the cars and motorbikes. I can't imagine what's going through his mind as he takes all this in.
We are learning we need to be even more patient with him as he adjusts, while at the same time, continuing to train him to be an obedient and contented little boy. One more reason to trust God in this adventure.

oops!

If not just 30 seconds later, we would have had the loudest wake up call ever. 

 

We were beginning to feel the effects of all the travels this afternoon after lunch, so we decided to lay down “for just a little while”.  Usually, we can lay Jack down in the afternoon and do the same for ourselves, counting on him waking us up after an hour or two.  So there we went, around 2:30pm our heads excitedly hit the pillow with our “natural alarm clock” set - Jack.  Our hosts had warned us not to sleep too long, that it would hurt us more than help.  “Just a little nap” is best.  We agreed, knowing that if we slept too long, we’d be up very early in the am again.  We didn’t want that so, we went to sleep just to rest for a bit. 

You guess what happened.  Our natural alarm clock didn’t go off as expected.  Jack just kept on sleeping.  He finally did stir around 6:30pm.  I woke, hearing him stir a bit and was frantic as I realized that we had severely overslept.  I then reached over and shook Joel, “honey, it’s 6:30!!!!  We’ve slept way too long!!!!”  The next thing I heard was, cabooooommmmmm!!!!!!  And this clap of thunder began our first of what we’re told will be many thunderstorms!  I have to say, I’m glad I awoke before the thunder clap but even so, it was a rude awakening. 

Bill and Rosie were sitting in the living room as I walked in frantically apologizing for sleeping so long.  They said they weren’t sure whether to knock on the door and wake us or to just let us go.  I guess it could have been worse. We could have woken up in the middle of the night and then been up for the day.  So now, we have to try to keep ourselves up this evening so that we can sleep to a normal time in the morning. 

 

Oh, to be resettled completely and to have our body clocks reset for good.  I guess you can say we’ve made our first of many blunders.  Fortunately, we’re the only ones who’ll pay for this one!

3 down, 1 to go!

Dear Friends,

We are now 2 hours from Taipei, Taiwan and are almost through our 3^rd and longest flight. Other than getting very little sleep, we are doing great! The trip (24 hours worth) has gone excellently so far and we are so thankful. Even through the turbulence on this flight, Jack and I have not seen the affects of it! Thanks for praying. We did have a little snafoo in LA when we arrived. Maybe just ignorance on our part, but it was easily remedied. When we got to the International terminal, we checked in with the airline and quickly were told that our carry on’s were only supposed to be 15lbs. or 7 kilo each. We were blessed to have a very accommodating and understanding attendant though and she allowed us to repack our bags so that we just had one within the weight and the others we checked all the way to Jakarta. It was a bit of a surprise but I think we handled it ok. So we have just enough diapers and wipes to make it to Jakarta and hopefully Jack won’t need an extra change of clothes. So word to the wise, before you travel internationally, check to see if the domestic regulations are the same as the international ones!

So we have a hour layover in Taipei where we will be in hot pursuit of a Starbucks. Airplane coffee just doesn’t cut it after getting 3 hours of sleep in 2 days! Our co-workers, will be greeting us at the Jakarta airport this afternoon (Indonesia time – early in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday for those at home) and we are really looking forward to finally meeting them. We will rest up there in Jakarta until Saturday or Sunday and then will hop on yet another plane and make our way to the Island of Sulawesi, where we will register our visas. We aren’t sure just yet when we will get “home” but I think it can’t be soon enough!

Thanks for all your prayers for us on this journey. We are delighted with how well it’s gone and we are confident that God had a little something to do with it along with your prayers!

You’ll hear from us in a few days, but until then,

We’re resting in Grace and Peace,

Joel and Bethany Potter

After a nights sleep

Dear Friends,

Well, we made it safe and sound; all 12 pieces of luggage, 3 carry-ons 1 stroller, 1 car seat, 2 backpacks, 1 computer bag, 1 purse and 1 toy bag! Oh, and 3 Potters! The field chairman Bill and his wife Rosie were there to meet us at the airport and oh, was it good to see them waiting there. The last flight was mostly uneventful. Jack got a little sick but I think it’s the result of little sleep and changing 12 time zones, in 4 planes! Other than that, we had a good flight and had absolutely no problems at Immigration and Customs. I would even go so far as to say it was a breeze! Our totes and suitcases were shipped air freight yesterday to Salatiga and will be waiting there for us when we get there next Thursday. Oh, by the way, we are 12 hours ahead of CST, so when it’s bedtime here, you’re just waking up that morning wherever you are. So we have a few days to get our legs under us here in Jakarta (did you catch that? I said “here”, not “there”. Crazy!). Jack still has a fever and hasn’t kept his food down the last few meals, so we are going to have to take it slow with him and let him drink as much milk as he will. I am sure he’ll adjust soon, but please pray with us that he can feel better sooner than later. Sunday we fly to Manado, Sulawesi. We’ll be there till Thursday and then on to our new home! For those of you who are wondering where all these places are, I am going to attach a map with some locaters on it so you can get an idea of the places we’re talking about.

Also, for those of you who want more detail than these emails give, check out our blog site (web site) at http://www.danielael.blogspot.com/. We will be updating it as often as possible.

Thanks for praying! We are relying on God for the strength we need and are so confident He’ll supply!

All our love,

The Potters in Indonesia

Indonesia or Bust!

Dear Friends,

Well today is the day. We leave for the airport this afternoon at 2:30 and our flight leaves at 4:30. It is hard to believe this time has finally arrived. We have waited for so long and now God is saying “GO!”. The plan today is to eat lunch, load the truck and car for the airport and then meet our friends there to say goodbye. We are all pretty anxious to get going but are weary to say goodbye. It has been an emotional few days but God is faithful to give us what we need to make it through this.

Please pray as we travel that there will be great safety and especially that Jack and I (Bethany) don’t get airsick as we are prone to do. We’ll be sending updates along the way, so stay tuned for the adventures of Joel, Bethany and Jack Potter as we pursue Christ, His Work and good coffee!!!

Oh, and for those who’re brave enough to attempt sending real mail to us, you’ll find our address at the end of the email.

All our love and gratitude,

Joel and Bethany Potter and Jack too!

They're in the mail!

We talked with the guy at the consulate today and he said he mailed our passports this morning! We hope to get them tomorrow.

Today our room looks like we're ready to go and we're taking 1 more load to storage. Then we hope to final pack our totes and suitcases and take a day to rest tomorrow.

3 days and counting!!!

Bethany

Provision after Provision afer Provision

We have such good news today. No, our passports still aren't here but we're still hopeful. The good news I 'm talking about is how God is providing financially for us.
Since our sending service, God has used his people to provide several large gifts for our moving expenses and such! I won't tell just how much, but suffice it to say that we can cover our tickets and excess baggage fees and will help with our set up expenses when we arrive to our house. Thanks for praying for us as we trust the Lord to meet our needs. He is so faithful!
Joel spoke one last time tonight at church and there was a special time of prayer for us individually afterward. Once again, I ended up in tears as I heard my dear friends praying for me. One of my friends prayed who is also preparing for full time service in missions. It was a special time for me, a time I won't soon forget.
Goodnight for now and as Edward R. Murrow would say "Goodnight and goodluck". Well, maybe not luck...
B

6 days and counting - "Trust"

Dear Friends,

So much has happened since we last wrote that I hardly know where to begin. When we last wrote, I shared the good news that we had been given the go ahead to buy our tickets and apply for our visas. We have done that and are scheduled to leave next Monday, April 17. We are finishing up the last of the packing and are doing a lot of “getting together” with people to say our goodbyes. Our visas should arrive in our passports today or tomorrow. Let me back up though just a little.

We purchased our tickets on the Thursday following our commissioning service and were so excited to be able to finally do that! The following day, I Bethany, went with my dad to his doctor’s apt. He has been having some problems for some time in the area of memory, social behavior, and cognitive abilities. It was apparent that something was wrong, but we were all at a loss as to what it was specifically. Dad had been seeing this doctor and others for some time but we were getting no answers, just lots of medicines and changes in medicine. I asked that I be allowed to go with him to talk to the doctor this time and am so glad I did. I’ll spare the length of the details and tell you that the preliminary diagnosis we received was that my dad is suffering from deteriorating brain tissue. Our guess from the research we have done is that this is basically dementia or an early onset of it. My dad is only 62 and we figure this has been progressing for the last four years. He doesn’t completely understand what is happening to him but has handled the news pretty well. He is no longer able to drive or cook and is now working only 3 days a week. Thankfully, his employer of almost 20 years has been very gracious and has continued to employ him. This was a very hard thing for all of us to hear and we have all been going through some grieving. My mom is a strong woman of faith in our great God and is trusting Him to help her through this. Joel and I have done everything within our power to help her these past few weeks and are trying to get a 2^nd opinion right now. Please pray for my parents as they face this very scary time. God is able to provide for their every need and we can trust Him. Please also pray for Joel and I as we leave next week. It’s very hard to know that I won’t be here to help but we believe God’s timing in all this is perfect, even though it’s hard for us to understand. We will continue to obey his leading in our lives and the strength and courage we all need will be provided through the Holy Spirit!

Several people have written lately and asked about our health situations. My surgery was very successful and I have been feeling great ever since. I am healing nicely and have my final checkup with the surgeon is tomorrow. Joel had his blood tested again the other day and everything came back normal this time. Thanks for praying for us in these things. God is taking care of us and is teaching us more about faith in Him each day.

Jack has also had some health issues. He just got over pink eye and is now fighting a sinus infection. Would you pray that we are all healthy before Monday so that as we fly for more than 24 hours, we won’t have sickness to deal with?

I am attaching a picture of the house we will be living in for our time of language study. It was still being finished up when this photo was taken and now has grass in the yard. We are so excited to settle in there but it will still be at least 2 weeks before that happens. Following is a general schedule of our lives the next 2-3 weeks…

Mon. 4/17 – depart Springfield for Indonesia (we will have layovers in 3 cities before arriving in Jakarta on the 19^th – 12 time zones later!)

• 4/19 – 4/22 or so – adjust to jetlag and meet our field leadership in Jakarta
• 4/22 – 4/26 or so – register our visas in Manado, Sulawesi (another island)
• 4/27 ish – arrive in Salatiga, Java and settle into our home for approx. 2 years of language study

Please pray for us as we travel and adjust to the opposite time zone and culture. We were reminded on Sunday that God is always with us and always “shows up” in our times of need. Also, our support level is still at about 85% and along with trusting God to provide the rest of our recommended support, we are trusting him to provide for our one time moving and set up expenses.

I guess that’s it for now. Yet another lengthy email but we do appreciate that you’ve read it and will pray for us!

Plans are always fluid!

We went today to get our police record check and realized that we had to get it from three different places. So we are pursuing some information to see if just one will do. Oh, we love the last minute surprises that come our way. God is giving us patience and clarity and we'll see how else He provides!

Bethany

Two weeks and 6 days...

It's Wednesday morning and we are beginning our day a little more relaxed than the last few. This morning we don't actually have anything scheduled, so reading, drinking coffee slowly and enjoying the sounds coming from our little man will be the to - do list. The past few days were very busy for us. We have our applications all but ready to go for the visas. We will get our pictures taken today and then get our police reports too. Can you believe Jack has to have one as well? Funny! I hope we're not surprised and find our little 13 month old has a record already :)!

We finished at the apartment yesterday and will have the call from the Landlord that all is clear today. Having that behind us is really nice. Today we hope to finalize our airline tickets and it looks like we'll be able to get them for pretty cheap, but a funny thing happens when we get the cheaper ticket for Jack. Usually when you think of travelling with a child, you expect that you'll have a lot more luggage as they require so much stuff. Well on the airline we're looking at, he is only allowed one checked bag at 15 lbs. Shocking isn't it? That threw a loop in our plans but we'll adjust and make due!

Tomorrow will be our biggest "sort it out" day yet. We'll take everything we have been using at Mom and Dad's and pack up what isn't a necessity. Then we'll begin to distribute things into our totes and suitcases hoping to reach the right weight in each one. Thanks Heather Corley for watching Jack while all this happens. You are a life saver!

Thanks for praying for all these details! We'll keep you "posted"!

Bethany for us all!

And Now, for the good news!

Dear Friends and Family,

We are so excited to tell you all that we have finally gotten our long awaited approval to apply for our visas. The process of applying for these works a bit differently for the country of Indonesia. If you care to know what that is, read on in the next paragraph, otherwise, skip to the one after that J!

This is how we understand it to work. First we had to collect all the paperwork required to apply. Things like our birth certificates, passports, wedding certificates, diplomas from High School and up, etc. Once we had it all, we sent it over to our co-workers in Indonesia so that they could begin the process of gaining our approval to come there. They then took the information to our sponsoring board, made up of Indonesian Christian businessmen. These men then evaluate us based on this information agree to sponsor us into the country. Then the Indonesian government then wires the approval for us to apply for our visas to the consulate in Chicago and we can then send in our application.

So we received the cable today saying that we have been approved to apply and will send in the applications later today. Our leadership in Indonesia gave us the go ahead to purchase tickets and say our final goodbyes and so we believe the process of actually getting the visas should be quick. The date we have now set to leave the US is April 18 and we hope to arrive on the 19^th some time.

Last evening was our commissioning/sending service at our home church and it went really well. It was a special time of worship, Joel preached an excellent message (is it ok for me to brag on him? J) and then our missions committee presented us with a certificate of commission and a Bible to take with us to Indonesia. There was a time following in the gymnasium for us to say our goodbyes to folks and we enjoyed it so much! The timing of the news was so perfect because we were able to announce it to so many who had been praying for us in that regard. Thanks for your prayers! God is faithful to answer when He knows the time is right.

So now what? We have one more thing at our apt. to move out and then we’ll be done there. And we will then continue to weed out the items we’d like to take to Indonesia with us. My parents house will be a mess for awhile as this process unfolds, but Lord willing we will be able to fit it all into our totes and suitcases and be ready to leave in just over 3 weeks. We also will be spending as much time as possible with our family and friends as we anticipate not seeing them again for about 3 years.

Please pray for us in these next weeks about the following things…

That we’ll have wisdom as we pack and sort

That what we need will fit into what we can take

That we will rest in the process and not loose our minds

That we’ll be able to find the right agent to help in booking our tickets and things and that it would be as cheap as possible.

That Jack will survive this time of transition and not be too worse for the wear!

That the finances needed to make this move will come by God’s provision

Praise the Lord with us too that He continues to be our strength and courage and that we can count on Him to provide everything we need both physically and emotionally in the next weeks and months.

In our next update, we’ll let you know what the days and weeks following our arrival will look like. Until then, thanks for following along with us in this journey we are on. For those of you interested in more information about what is going on in between our email updates, we have posted a “blog” online. You can find it at danielael.blogspot.com.

Excitedly,

Bethany for all three of us!

8 Big Totes and 4 Suitcases

It's a sunny, but very cold morning here in Springfield. The house is clean and comfortable this morning but it was a very different picture last night.

Our Action Packer totes arrived yesterday, so we were finally able to get the things we're taking to Indonesia put in them (from our apartment). All eight of them were filled to the brim as well as the 2 large and 2 small suitcases we are taking. We brought them back to the Stroud house, where we're living now and I began stage 2 of sorting out what we would take and what we would leave. I think Joel was in a state of shock when he saw how much we had initially set aside to bring with us and that it filled the boxes without even having our clothes and toiletries in them. I however, had prepared myself for this possibility, knowing that we would probably need to weed out more several more times. So my parents came home last night to quite a scene in their living room. Totes were everywhere and I was somewhere in the middle of it all hollaring out to Joel every once in a while "what about this????, leave or take? In the end, I was able to empty out 2 1/2 totes and 2 of the suitcases. It is by no means ready to go, but at least we are making progress.

Joel's sister is coming tonight to spend the weekend with us. Our commissioning service is Sunday night and Joel is preaching for it as well. Monday, we hope to finish up at the apartment and check out of it completely.

We still haven't had any word on the visas, but we found out that they have hired a "pembantu" - house helper for us. She will be there when we arrive to help with the cooking and getting us set up. She has helped two other missionary families in the past so she can cook western food and will be familiar with our weird customs. She will also be a great resource for us as to the customs of Indonesia and the city where we'll be living. Once we begin our language study, she will likely be the person who will take care of Jack while we are in class. I am looking forward to learning how to cook Indonesian style and also am hoping she will become a friend I can learn a lot from!

Ok, so that is a peek into our lives right now. I hope you're enjoying the journey as much as we are!

Bethany

Looking up

I'm happy to report that today I am feeling much better. I haven't been nautious all day and the pain seems to be lessening. I have actually gotten to be productive here at the Stroud house and that feels good! Hopefully in the next few days we can get back to our apartment to finish the packing. We have till the end of the month to complete everything over there. One thing I'm a bit worried about is my vision. I don't think it's related to the surgery directly (I don't think it could be) but perhaps the pain medicine. My vision has been strongly affected by something - especially my distance vision. It was one of the side effects listed so we'll ask the doctor on Thursday what we can do about it.

Jack seems to be happy that Mommy is now able to hold him a bit more. And I think he's adjusting to his new house. My parents have been very accomodating with us and haven't complained a bit as we put all their beautiful decorations away. I think we all realize that our time together is short so we must make the best of it!

Well, that's it from our world.

Bethany

Wild Weather

We ended up in the basement three time over the last two nights. It was wild, it's eerie when the storm sirens go off. Nothing like it back in FL. A unique Ozarks weather thing. Last night was really bad, probably all told maybe around 10-15 tornadoes when all is confirmed. We didn't have any tornadoes in the Springfield proper area, but many outlying areas and communities were hit pretty hard. It was the worst outbreak since May of 03 right before we got married.

We were under tornado warning three times and that's when we head down to the basement with as many radios and phones as possible. We had hail all three times, marble sized saturday night and up to golf ball sized last night. No major damage here besides crushed annuals (flowers) and a few very small impact dents on the car. Barely noticable.

Bethany hated every minute of it and it was all I could do to stay put and not go out and watch it. But when you hear the sirens and then the hail, it is sobering and there was a moment when I felt like, "ok we really need to get down to the basement quick". You have to be smart.

So, we're all clear and settling down.

Bethany's Surgury

Hello friends and family,

 

Just wanted to get a quick update out about my surgery yesterday.  It went well - per the doctor.  I now have 4 beautifully ugly scars on my abdomen which I hope will heal up nicely.  I am very sore still (a bit more than I

expected) but they say by the end of the week I should be feeling much better.  We were able to get all moved over to my parents house on Wednesday so other than straightening up some things, I have been able to let go of it all and just rest.  The pain meds make me really sleepy so that's what I have done most of the day, but each time I get up and move around, I can see improvement in my ablity.  Jack and I are having a hard time with me not being able to hold him or pick him up.  He doesn't understand why, if Mommy is here, she isn't holding and snuggling me.  Pray for us in this.  I miss holding him as much as he misses it!

 

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragements.  I certainly appreciate them!

 

Bethany

 

 

Note from Joel:

 

It is now Saturday afternoon and Bethany had a rough day. I guess her body is getting used to the fact that it is missing something, namely it’s gall bladder. Please continue to pray for her recovery and especially that all this pain and recovery might be worth it and relieve the problems that she was dealing with in the first place.

Thanks

Joel

 

Waiting and Waiting some more...April here we come!

Dear Friends,

Selamat siang (good mid day)!

When we found out that we wouldn’t be leaving for Indonesia in March, I must say, I felt a tad bit disappointed. Another delay and opportunity for me to doubt we’d ever get there! And yet another opportunity to see God work in ways that we couldn’t have seen or anticipated. The last month or so since we wrote an update has been full of surprises and opportunities to learn about patience and trust.

Sickness invaded our home for about 3 and a half weeks, beginning with colds and then turning into viruses. All three of us were down (like on the couch or in bed) for a two week period of time, on antibiotics and seeing the doctor more than we cared to in such a short period of time. Just before all this hit us though, we had our physicals so that we could go to Indonesia with a clean bill of health. The results of those physicals showed that Joel has an abnormally low white blood cell count and that I, Bethany need to have my gallbladder taken out. Joel will go back in a few weeks to have his blood tested again and I will be having surgery this coming Thursday, March 9. It is an outpatient procedure and is laparoscopic so the healing time is minimal, barring any complications. I have had tummy troubles for several years, so I am very hopeful that this surgery will “fix” all that. We also visited the dentist to have our teeth checked out. Joel was the one to get bad news this time, and he had all four wisdom teeth pulled this past Monday. The procedure went well, and now he is healing with four gigantic holes in his mouth! So, as you can see, our departure being pushed back by a month was what we see as God making way for what He knew would be happening in our lives. I’m so glad he can see into the future even though I can’t. He is trustworthy and so good to provide what we need. I think learning to trust Him is a lifelong lesson and I feel like I’m just at the beginning!

Jack had his one year check up this week and was pronounced to be a healthy young man! His birthday (February 20) was right in the midst of all our sickness, so his party was postponed and took place yesterday with my family and some close friends. Of course, he didn’t really miss the first one as he doesn’t understand that he’s reached this milestone in his life. He does however realize that he can get into just about anything he wants and very quickly! He is crawling at lightening speed and can get up the stairs more quickly than I can get to him from across the room. He is also chattering away these days and has finally decided to thrill his mama by saying “mamamamamama” along with the “dadadadada” he’s said for months. It hasn’t dawned on him that those sounds mean anything but he does know that when he says them, I go crazy! He is a loving little boy who knows no strangers and will thrill the heart of anyone who holds him by laying his head down on their shoulder to give them “love”. He is still full of smiles and gives them away without abandon! We are enjoying him so much! Oh, and he loved the cupcake he got to devour and also a slice of cheese pizza!

Our house is now in a state of chaos! We finally began packing and will, Lord willing, be ready to “move in” with my parents next week. We will finish the last of the packing from there and be completely moved out of our apartment by the end of the month. As our storage unit fills up and the apartment empties I am encouraged that progress is being made. My best friend of 20 years, Jolene, has been a life saver and has kept Jack for us several times so that we can spend some concerted time packing. Otherwise I find that just as I fill up a Rubbermaid with things to store, Jack quickly unpacks it J. He is in a state of panic at times as he sees the house turning upside down, so if you’d pray he will not be too freaked out by it all, we’d appreciate it!

Our church will have a commissioning service for us on March 26 in the evening service and it looks like Joel’s sister will be able to be with us to represent his family. His parents leave for Guyana this Wednesday, March 8 and so another chapter in their lives is about to begin. Please pray for them as they leave all three of their kids and their grandson. They are so excited to get back to Guyana and the work they were a part of there several years ago, but leaving family and friends is never easy. We are so thankful that we live in the age of technology though. We are all purchasing web cams and through the internet will be able to communicate “live” from our different posts around the world!

The pictures attached are of the city we will be living in our first two years in Indonesia. It is called Salatiga and is located in central Java (yes, like the coffeeJ). Did I mention that our co-workers in that city have a house rented for us for when we arrive and are working on it as I write this? ~so exciting! Thanks Dave and Melissa! We have friends who arrived a few months ago and will be a few months ahead of us in language school. They have been a great source of information the last few days on their first impressions of life there. And for this details-oriented person, it’s been so encouraging to be in contact with them. Thanks Russ and Dina!!

I will leave you with greetings from Joel and Jack and with grateful hearts that you are standing with us as we undertake on this grand adventure. We truly couldn’t do this without your love and support. Terima kasih (thank you)!

All our love,

Joel, Bethany and Jack Potter

We have a house!

Sorry it’s been so long since we updated this.  Sickness, surgery, sickness, packing, sickness, packing.  Well that’s what life has been like lately for us.  Thanks Bekah for the prodding to update it though.  Good kick in the pants!  And forgive me if I copy some of this for our email update…

 

Jack is over at Jolene’s this afternoon while we get things done here.  Our storage unit is filling up while our house is emptying out and that’s a great thing to see.  We hope to be moving over to my parents next week and then finishing up here the following week. 

 

We got news that they have rented a house for us in Salatiga – where IMLAC is (our language school).  That was such good news to hear as it means they are counting on our visas to come through and that we’re really going!  We also heard that our recommendations are coming in there in Indo and they are waiting on several more to move forward.  They did get a verbal “go ahead” though and so we are encouraged.  Mid April, here we come!

 

Jack’s birthday party has been postponed to this coming Sunday afternoon and will be smaller than the original one.  He won’t notice though as he probably won’t even get that it’s a party for him!  To my mom’s dismay, he won’t have a chocolate cake but a yellow cupcake to devour.  And the icing will be blue, green or yellow, of course so no chocolate covered face.  We’re being different, no apologies!  We’ll take pictures and post them when Joel gets our blog set up for photos.  Not a priority right now, so sorry. 

 

We have also gotten some great emails from folks there in Salatiga about what is available and what would be good to bring.  I have been greatly encouraged with the info.  And my lists are growing daily.  Now if I can only find all the lists I’ve made here and there.  If I get through this move with my sanity still in tact it will be a miracle only God could accomplish!   One of the emails we got the other day had this tag at the end.  I loved it!!!  “The saint is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God!”  - Oswald Chambers, MUfHH, Aug. 2

 

I will be having gallbladder surgery on the 9^th of March, removing the silly thing.  We’re hopeful this will eliminate the stomach aches and cramping I’ve had for so long.  My regular doctor believes it will make a world of difference for me and so we’re going forward with it even though the surgeon says it’s a 50/50 chance it will make things better.  It’s outpatient surgery and they say it takes about a week to recover, give or take.  Mom will have Jack at her house that day and the next and over night in between, if we’re still in our apartment.  If we’ve moved over there, we’ll all be there but she’s taken off work either way to keep him so I can rest.  I haven’t handled anesthesia well in the past so please pray it’s better this time. 

 

Well this is a long blog but way overdue.  We are doing well and encouraged that God is truly worth it all – no matter how hard things seem for us.  He sacrificed His all and we owe Him our lives.  We love you all and miss you too!

 

Bethany