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

tononno, tononno, i wuv ya, tononno

That's Jack's version of the theme song from the movie Annie.  And tonight it's our theme song!  Our final visa paperwork here is done and we leave bright and early for the airport at 3:45am (our time).  We should arrive to our new home sometime in the early afternoon tomorrow (again, our time).  The flight we are on has 2 or 3 stops and I'm sure by the time we get there we'll feel as far away from home as we truly will be.  As soon as this blog is written, I'm off to bed to try and catch as much sleep as possible before the buzzer on the phone goes off to wake us up at 3am.  Don't you just want to be us today?  Yeah, I thought not!

Our time here in Sulawesi has been relaxing  for sure and we are almost out of the effects of jet lag.  Some how, by God's grace we reset our body clocks by 13 hours in just days.  An amazing feat!  Jack keeps asking each day, "I fly airplane today, Mommy?"  Another amazing work of God, our kids like to fly.  Can you imagine if they didn't? 

Thanks for praying us here and we'll count on you to pray us through to our final destination tomorrow. 

Till then,

Bethany

words to a true song

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Oh God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou has been, Thou forever wilt be.

 

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see,

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided,

Great is Thy Faithfullness, Lord unto me.

 

Summer and Winter, Springtime and Harvest

Sun, Moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy Great Faithfullness, Mercy and Love

 

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see,

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided,

Great is Thy Faithfullness, Lord unto me.

 

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and Bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside.

 

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see,

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided,

Great is Thy Faithfullness, Lord unto me.

 

 

The person who penned those words, was able to confidently sit still in the place of rest that is always provided by our Father. To be able to always be that confident would be a dream come true, but it really is possible. It should be my default, but it's so often the 'Oh Yeah, I forgot about that…'

news

Well we just talked with our regional administrator in Sentani and are just a bit shocked.  Our house is there and ready for us but with no furniture (except there is a stove).  We didn't know either way but I suppose we hoped for some loaner things.  The situation is that b/c of the influx of new missionaries to Papua, they are swamped, which is why we are going there.  We do have living room furniture and beds for the boys but no bed for us or a fridge sooo…  Many of you know that we got hit with a pretty big tax bill this year b/c of the whole not qualifying for overseas exemption like we thought we would.  That added to medical bills from having a baby and well, as Joel put it tonight, we are truly seeking God as our shepherd to lead us to his wellspring of provision.   

 

Your prayers for us as we transition in the next week are so important to us.  We want to go in and not be the squeeky wheel.  We want to be a blessing to those we have come to serve and not expect too much.  But we are human.  It's so easy to see the first glance at soemthing and feel stranded.  Our God though is bigger than a refridgerator and it's cost.  He, as my mom says, only needs to sell a few hundred of his cattle on a thousand hills and we'll be all set!  Wow, this trusting God thing is harder done than said!

A long, newsy update - get some coffee and relax!

I'm awake at 5am today but we slept through the night without having to get up in the night with the boys as we have before. The last two nights it was12:30 or 1am and they were both up for at least an hour. Last night, now that we have a place to ourselves and Jack has his own room, he woke but we didn't have to get up with him. He cried out a bit but then went right back to sleep. He did wake at 4 am today here, in Sulawesi (where we will be for just a week doing paperwork) but in Papua that will only be 5 so… I let him wake alone and play in his room rather than having to get up too. Owen just woke, ate, and went back to sleep with no problem at 2am. I feel much more rested today.

So… going back. We had a pretty easy day the first day in Jakarta. The morning was just Jack playing and us keeping the boys happy.We all napped and then had dinner and went to bed. Saturday, we got up and got Jack going and after Owen's nap, we all went out to run some errands. Photos for the gov't, diapers, bug repellant, some snacks, and to let Jack play at an A&W in the mall, where there is a play land type thing. He ran around in circles for an hour – happy as can be!! It was good for him to get the energy out, scream if he wanted, whatever. No shushing him, just let him be 2! We put the boys down for naps and then watched a movie for the afternoon. It was nice and we tried not to nap that day so as to sleep better at ngiht.

Then yesterday we woke at 5am, or at least I did b/c the boys did. We all got going early though as we had to leave for the airport at 7. No problems on our flights and no overweight either as they allowed some baggage for Owen. Go figure that Indonesians understand that a baby requires some luggage but American's cannot. They don't really even use much here but we still got more allowance for him here than in the US!

Our flight got in just after 1pm. The boys slept great on the flight so they were pretty happy when we arrived. Another missionary family had lunch, sandwiches, waiting at "our house" for us to eat all by ourselves – a huge blessing to not have to socialize right away – note to self, do that for newly arriving families in Papua at the guest house. The boys went down for naps and I unpacked. Joel set up the computer stuff and then we had dinner with another family. Again, very sensitive folks. They fed us and sent us home to sleep. Joel was falling asleep on their couch after dinner, maybe that was their cue! BTW we have been going to bed at around 8:30 each night, completely exhausted.

Ok so here I am today, Monday morning. Coffee in hand, quiet house. Jack is playing on the other side of the wall, Owen and Joel are still asleep and I'm a happy woman with no responsibilities for the moment. Happy? No, joyful! Emotional. Missing you all! Thanks for all the emails, comments on the blog and prayers!

Mom has been sending me photos of all she is doing around the house to get it back to normal after 2 small kids took up residence. So fun to see that she is doing so well. Great to see she doesn't "need" me anymore. You know what I mean. I needed her to need me for awhile and now she is a big girl all on her own. I feel like the parent sending her off to school for the first time. Funny how life reverses sometimes.

On another note re: Jack. He got bitten by something and reacted like he is allergic on Saturday. Huge welts on his arms and legs and face and neck. Maybe 20 bites. They are hard as can be and red and have a tiny opening in the middle. One under his right eye swelled so badly he looks like he has a black eye. They all swelled but that one looks the worst. He is itching them like crazy and looks as though he got beaten up on his face. All the Indonesian's at the airport asked what happened. Which tells me they don't recognize the bites. Usually they'll say soemthing like, "Oh, he got bit by mosquitoes, or ants", or whatever they think it is but no one said that, which means I'm stuck guessing what got him. We've been washing them and using Caladryl on them, which seems to help. Joel got antibacterial soap for him to use in his bath yesterday so they don't get infected by the water. A smart husband I have!

The house helper here is Mini – funny that's what my best friend's daughter, Kallie calls her minnie mouse doll she carries everywhere! Sounds like Meenie. Jack is a bit confused as this Mini isn't a small pink mouse! She is sweet and helpful. She'll cook lunch for us each day and do laundry but I told her she doesn't have to come into the house till 10am. We like our mornings alone. She has an apt. at the back of the house. Being so tired, it's nice to have someone who knows how to cook here! We will have dinner tonight with the Palmers. The family from the Taliabo tribe who many of you have seen in the NTM video we often show. Nice to meet them finally and to be co-workers with them now! Kaila Palmer came over yesterday after Joel had been with Owen at another families house. She had Owen in her arms and was loving it! So was he! So was I. Funny thing, I have felt very trapped with him lately. He's not letting Joel comfort him, only me which means I'm tied to him all day long. I am ready for someone else to have a turn. Jack too has not left our sides. He won't let me literally take a step away from him in this new house. He has to say, "I comin too Mommy!' A little closterphobic for me. I know he'll adjust but … Don't get me wrong, I love my boys but when they are super clingy, I can tend to go crazy! Next week when we get to Papua and to our own house, hopefully it won't take long for him to feel at home.

Another funny thing. Some of you may remember how Jack was when we first came home. Wouldn't look at Americans or go to them? Well not here with the Indonesians. He actually ran up to the security lady at the airport yesterday, wrapped his arms around her legs, looked up and with the cheeziest grin, and smiled at her, jabbering away. As we walked down the isles of the planes, he said hi to every single person. But when we meet a white person, he freezes. I guess we could say, he feels at home here! Hmmm, funny how God does that with our kids so we don't' worry about them. Maybe I can learn to be that way too!

Thanks for praying about my language adjustment. It seems I'm getting it back! No problems of major significance so far. I've actually surprised myself at how much I remember. Joel, of course is having no problems there. He's a sponge when it comes to language. Funny though, because when we were tested for language ability in language school, neither of us scored too high. I guess, tests can't tell you everything!

Jack is in the other room screeming, my turn, my turn!! Who he's saying it too? Maybe his Dr. Suess sneeches doll!! He's big into "sharing" right now. Funny kid.

Ok, so that's a glimpse into our lives the past few days. I hope you enjoyed reading my little journal! Ok, I don't write little journals and we all know it, so let's just call it what it is, my long, drawn out, wordy update. Sorry Dave M. I just can't write short updates! I hope that's ok! Another one will surely be coming after we get to Papua next week but in the meantime, I'll post some small updates as the days go by.

Bethany

We're here!

We arrived here in Jakarta this morning at 8:30 am local time Friday. That would be 8:30 pm back home on Thursday evening. All of our flights went fine, no problems just a few small delays but the connections were all great! We didn’t sleep much on the flights, maybe an hour for each of us in 22 hours and then once we got to Singapore we had a transit hotel room for 4 hours and got to sleep for about an hour and a half. Owen did great – slept and slept and slept but Jack on the other hand decided to fight sleep tooth and nail on the long flight. He did finally succumb after a dose of Benadryll; thank you God for those brilliant doctors out there who invent that stuff!

We were only missing 2 pieces of luggage when we got to Indo and that was actually a blessing because they were on the next flight and the airline will actually ship them on to Papua for free!! That saved us a chunk of money and since we don’t need those particular totes till then anyway, it was no skin off our backs! thanks for praying us through the trip – we certainly had moments where we were aware that you were praying.

This afternoon, we slept with the boys for 2 hours and had to peel ourselves out of the bed so as not to sleep too long in the day time. No one wanted to get up but we all knew we’d sleep better tonight if we did. Well, maybe Jack didn’t understand that but the first mention of Thomas the Train videos enticed him enough to leave the bed. We are now trying to keep the boys up one more hour and ourselves till 8. If we can do that we’ll not wake at 3 am!

The plan is that on Sunday at 8 am, we fly on to our next destination, where we will be for about a week, registering our visas. That city is actually a bit of a vacation destination here in Indo so we’ll be able to relax a bit before heading on to Papua. We don’t yet know what awaits us there except that we’ll move in to our house, have an orientation, and begin our final months of language study. We may also be doing some guest house hosting but we’re not sure yet when that will actually begin.

We’ll keep you all posted, so stay tuned to our blog for further updates.

Bethany

A delay (good thing)

Our first flight this morning is delayed due to required crew rest. This means we'll be taking off around 10am instead of earlier. But this is good. More sleep for the boys, more rest for us, Pancakes, and a very managable layover in MSP of about 2 hours before we need to board, instead of 4. It'll be good for Jack, as he would probably be pretty rambunctious in the airport after 4+ hours. Please be praying for the rest of our journey home to Indonesia. We need that prayer support!

prayer card 2007

24 hours and counting

Nani with Owen and Jack

Owen at 3 months

In less than 24 hours, we will be on our first of 6 flights "home". We take off tomorrow am bright and early. Today, we are all packed, the last load of laundry is being done, we are taking our leftover belongings to our storage unit, we have an apt. with a lawyer to do our will, we will go see my Dad and say goodbye, we will clean the house up so Mom is off to a good start, and Joel will grill steaks tonight, our last probably for 3 years! It's a full day, but hopefully not stressful.

Last year when we left, my emotions were well in check. I think it hit me several days later, what we had just done. This year, the tears are right at the surface, ready to fall at the thought of leaving my family and friends once again. Last night we had dinner with my best friend and her family. I found myself joking and trying to be light hearted but my heart was anything but light.

Mom, I think is also feeling it more this year. She has a bright future ahead but our leaving, this time, I think is going to be harder for her than we all thought. Dad's mental state declined a bit over the last few weeks but they have reinstated a medicine that will help that, so we are hopeful he and Mom will have great times ahead. She even bought him a model airplane kit that she'll keep here at the house so when he comes over, he'll have a fun "project" to work on. He is so excited – Saturday can't come soon enough!

So many of you have shared via phone calls, emails or in person that you have been praying for us daily. We cannot express with words how much that means to us. Knowing that you all – all over the world – are uphoding us in prayer is so humbling. We are truly blessed with the best partners in the world – all of you!!!!

I'll do my best to keep the blog going once we arrive in Indonesia. Those 4am risings once we arrive and I can't sleep due to jet lag are a great time to catch up on blogging. And I'm known for writing some pretty zany things at 4 am!! Keep a watch out and thanks for reading along with us. Mark H., thanks for being the link for so many of us; keeping us connected to our friends. You may not see it this way, but for those of us living so far away, you have an awesome communications ministry. See, anyone can be in ministry!!

See you on the other side!

Bethany

He's finally on his way

Well after waiting and flying, and waiting and flying, and waiting some more, Joel is finally on his last flight to New York. His flight to Chicago earlier on the 2^nd airline was fine but once he got there, the 3rd airline notified him that he was not confirmed on that flight and they actually were all full. So he was placed on standby and just called to let us know he was on the flight. It would be 40 mintes late and he would get in 4 hours after he was originally supposed to!

PTL he didn't have to stay the night in Chicago. Now we are just praying his luggage arrives! Thanks for your prayers today. Let's all pray this doesn't happen next Thursday to Mom and I and the boys J!

Bethany

Flying

I dropped Joel and his folks off at the airport this am. They are both heading to the same place but are on different airlines and Joel just called to let me know his flight had issues and now he is being rerouted on another flight.  This will put a kink in the whole meeting up on the other side with his folks but hopefully it will all work out. 

 

I have lots to do while he is gone before we leave to go to NY too.  It will be a nice quiet week but busy!

 

I'll keep posting with Joel's status as I know.  Please pray they can get him there today or his sister will have lots of driving to do!

 

Bethany

 

P.S.  the photos are… Jack playing with his Gram and Joel and his dad drinking coffee

BIG, BIG God

Have you ever been in a place where you are forced to trust the Lord?  A time when you couldn't "fix" the problem if you tried?  We found ourselves there this week with a financial need.  It was one of the toughest times in our marriage to truly rest and trust that God would provide.  We literally were out of options on suggestions to give God on how He could provide.  You know, "Well,God you could do this or this, or hey maybe you could sell this to provide for us".  We were stumped. How was He going to come through this time? 

 

Well, He doesn't always tell us how but He does always come through.  Tonight we got an email from our church telling us that "someone" had given a very large sum of money toward our outgoing expenses – which will completely cover them.  We are speechless and humbled.  God, through one of His messengers has blessed us once again.  We are undeserving of His grace but He gives it freely! 

 

Whomever you are out there whom God used to meet our need, THANK YOU!  You are having a part in reaching Indonesia with the good news!  Your investment is eternal!

 

We are so thankful!

 

Joel and Bethany, Jack and Owen

These are some recent photos of our boys!