Dear Hohidiai Family,

My heart is nearly breaking as I try to write this letter to tell you good-bye for PapaJoe and myself. At the same time, both our hearts are indescribably full of joy because of the blessing of getting to know you and love you as we have.

If we had not loved you and enjoyed you so much, having to say good-bye might hurt less.

God has done an awesome thing in molding all of you into the beautiful family to each other, that you have become. We are deeply grateful God chose to love us enough to allow us the gift of coming to share in your lives for even this short time. We are forever touched and changed by your love.

With so many others who come to Hohidiai, we will be easy to forget, but you are unforgettable to us forever.

If we could bring all of you to Alaska for a vacation in our home, we would love nothing more. But, since that is impossible, we anxiously look forward to Heaven where we will all finally be in our real home and share eternity together.

I could write pages and pages of the specific pleasures and individual people we have been immeasurably blessed by. Thank you, beyond words, for showing us so much love and friendship.

We had great fun with you and we hope we brought fun to you as well. We will always treasure our memories of worshiping with you.

We would love to come back next January. We will see what God (and Peter & Esther) say. We have prayed for you for 7 years and we will never stop.

We love you!

PapaJoe and MamaCollette

Thursday, 4/16 here in Indonesia…

These 3 unscheduled days we had supposed would be nothing more than sitting in our hotel room or walking around the city a bit, have proven to be anything but what we expected.

The couple who surprised us from the compound on Halmahera, came to the hotel again yesterday and this time they were in a private car owned by their 2 friends, another young married couple who they knew from years back when they all attended a mission school together. It was another amazing day filled with God-hugs and His appointments. The 4 of them wanted to take us to a place about 2 hours from here called Bukit Kasi, (also “Doa” for prayer highlands). I have included pictures of this mountainous area flowing with natural hot springs. There are ancient faces carved in the rock face and on the very top there is an enormous white cross that is visible from many miles away. There are 5 churches at the top of many many stairs. There is also an “all you can eat” boiled and bbq’d corn on the cob place to eat. Anyplace I mention as a place to eat is an open air, thatched roof type hut as opposed to anything you may picture resembling a restaurant. So, we watched as the locals boiled our cobbed corn in the boiling hot spring nearest where we ate. It was a wonderful cultural experience and wasn’t dampened by tourists or any such congestion. In this area there were probably 100 white work oxen meandering down the mountain at the end of a day’s work. Surrounding all this were rice fields and pine trees mixed with the palms. This area was the most beautiful tropical setting we have been in so far.

As we drove down from Bukit Kasi, the couple who owned the car had a worship CD playing and some of the songs were in English. The setting was filled with God’s presence as all 6 of us sang together. Sharing the same Lord and Father is far stronger than any communication or cultural differences. The couple driving took us through a number of smaller villages and to meet THEIR parents also. It seemed they wanted to give and give to us and it was clear we could never offer to them what they could shower on us. They ended the evening by taking us to a restaurant built on stilts as it is a fish bbq place and the fish are grown there, under and all around the thatched building. When you order, they catch the fish fresh and cook them for you. I included a picture of our fish/rice feast. Once everyone had eaten all they wanted, they drove us all the way back to our hotel, only to have to turn around and drive another 1.5-2 hours back to their home. On the drive I was too overwhelmed to even speak and in the darkness of the nighttime I couldn’t hold back the tears. It was all backwards to my mind…it seemed we should be giving to them, not vise versa. The gal in the seat behind me asked “Are you Ok MamaCollette?” (the entire compound eventually referred to us as MamaCollette and PapaJoe) and I just burst into tears. I can hardly choke back the tears even as I type this vulnerable, transparent truth of my heart’s experience to all of you. These precious Indonesians had not allowed us to pay for one thing in 2 days, not even help with the expense of gasoline. They begged “let us be blessed by blessing you”. My head knows this is God’s way and is right for all of us to get to bless and BE blessed, but maybe I haven’t learned very well, over the years of ministry, how to receive well. The $7.20 we hoped to live on when we arrived here on Monday has now multiplied in our hands and we have experienced indescribable things we hadn’t imagined getting to enjoy. Regardless of my comfort level, or our plans, God had HIS own plans for how HE would direct this last week of our time here in Indonesia. We have done nothing but ride along and watch as each day has unfolded…each to our humbled amazement.

Moon at Night

Wow! I can hardly believe we are on the home stretch of this amazing adventure! Even as I type this I wish our visas would allow us permission to stay longer. It is not possible, but the departure events have been far more difficult than we imagined.

First, let me tell you what an amazing time the Easter season is here. There are many things in contrast here in Indonesia, a Muslim country, as opposed to there, the United States, a “Christian” nation. The public displays of the crucifixion and resurrection are awesome and would never be allowed in the US without argument from groups who prefer we not display our Christian faith. I applaud this country for allowing the different faiths to FULLY celebrate their beliefs! In a distance less than Palmer to Eagle River (approx 30 miles) we saw 7 lifesized displays of Christ on the Cross, on the hill Golgotha, with the road leading up to it lined with chains to define it. In each creation, an empty tomb was included off to the side. EACH ONE was gripping in a deeply spiritual way. The roads are lined with literally hundreds of crosses that stand about 5’ tall…HUNDREDS… FOR MILES! Many add banners of many colors along with the crosses. The crosses are put out not long after Christmas, even tho there are still MANY Christmas trees and lights up for decoration, even NOW. One celebration leads into the next.

Good Friday is a particularly huge event! It has the feel of Christmas eve for the children who expect to awake at daybreak to open gifts. On Thursday night, the adults hide boiled (not colored) eggs, each with a scripture written on it. The children all know they will be awakened at 4:30 a.m. to begin the festivities! So, we got up at 4:00. The children get up early because it needs to be dark when they hunt for the eggs with large bamboo torches filled with kerosene. BUT FIRST…..they walk and sing praises. I videotaped as we all walked approximately 4 miles. We all walked as a guitar and bongo player played and we went to the largest Via Dolorosa, up the Golgotha hill to the feet of the Christ hanging on the cross. (this was located in the nearest village from the compound). There we turned around and continued to sing as we walked back. Only after all that could the Easter egg hunt begin. Joe had taken water to drink and had the opportunity to literally put out a fire or 2, but what else would we expect with all the children holding the torches?!

After the fun, there was an hour long sunrise service held just for all the children (about 25). By 8:00 we were driving into Tobelo to attend a 3 hr worship service. Then a feast at the home of one of the students from the compound… and finally home around 3 p.m. A VERY FULL day… every minute seemed inspirational.

Since there is no such thing as “sleeping in” when you live in a home filled with babies and young children, we were up at 6a.m. again on Saturday, but took everyone to the beach and played for most of the day.

Easter Sunday here, all the churches held 5 a.m. sunrise services only… no regular church services. And, Monday CONTINUES the Easter celebration with the final special service at 9 a.m.
On Sunday evening we were given the most amazing farewell party we have ever experienced. There were special dances (at least 5), skits, special songs (also 5 or 6), many, many shared in their best English or with an interpreter, their heartwarming thoughts toward us and the whole group gathered to pray over us as we leave. It seemed we were all crying as I had an interpreter read our farewell letter to them also. Of course there was also a feast of the Indonesian choice of food, rice, chicken, rice, fried bananas, um…rice. The party lasted until late and it was hard to make it end, but eventually it had to. With hopes to return and promises to pray for each other, the hugs and tears were abundant. The 3 yr olds who we have grown the closest to, were already in bed when the party began at 7 p.m. We all knew we had to handle their emotions carefully in all this. We got up as usual on Monday and when it came time for our ride to leave, we took the children to the back porch to give them gifts of plastic flutes, kissed each of them, but couldn’t really point out that we were leaving without having some serious sorrows. So, with our last hugs being what they considered a normal day, we left the leader with them and tho she herself was literally sobbing, the children were happy playing the new flutes, and we slipped out the front door, leaving our hearts on the back porch.

I know this has not had any humor in it so far, but the day from this point on was indeed laughable. See, our plans originally did not have us leaving the compound on Monday, as we did. We were to leave on Wed to get to Manado in time to catch our Friday flight to Singapore. BUT, the airport that was closed in the town one hr from the compound RE-opened after years (we were told) of being shut down, and this became the way we needed to get home. Ours would be the very first flight in years. It was scheduled to leave at 9:00 a.m. When we arrived, it was clear this was a BIG DEAL… the tiny little airport (seriously like flying out of Palmer or someplace very tiny) was all set up with chairs and couches placed out front, clearly awaiting some fancy ceremony. We were instructed to check our luggage then wait in the chairs that would witness the ceremony. Eventually the Mayor and his entourage drove up in their black vehicles…body guards with sunglasses and all! They sat on the couches and smoked as the 39 of us passengers watched and waited. About ELEVEN o’clock it was announced that the plane we were to board was still in Manado (the place we would be flying TO!) Ok. That is SO Indonesian! Around NOOOOOOON, the plane arrived. We supposed (in our American way of thinking) that surely since everything was so late, they wouldn’t go ahead with the “ceremony”. Oh how wrong we were! The music blasted and it all began. There were traditional dances with the jungle men and machetes, speeches, music and food. Finally we watched all the luggage drive in a small pickup truck (with OUR bags visibly on the open tailgate) the 50 yards to the small plane and get loaded. We all lined up to board, only to get the news that the 2 pilots had decided to go have lunch someplace! WOW. Everyone just laughed and sat back down to wait until the 2 returned and eventually we got off the ground and made the simple little one hr flight to Manado!

So, here we are, in Manado. We are in the same hotel as before but this time it all went wonderfully smooth with no glitches on finding our booking or squabbling over any prices. We don’t even have any Indonesians with us to help keep things correct and the only “bump” was at the airport where Joe ended up obligated to pay a luggage helper, tho we didn’t want or request the help. We had very little rupiah left and after the airport we had a total of $7.20 to live on until our flight to Singapore leaves on Friday.

We didn’t want to be here this far ahead of schedule, but the flights out of Kau (the airport near the compound) are ONLY on Monday or Friday so we had no choice since we’d miss our flight to Singapore if we waited until Friday. BUT God had His divine appointment waiting…as He always does. This afternoon while I was in this lobby getting ready to type this post on the hotel computer, 2 of the students from the compound walked in the door and greeted me! They are the neatest engaged couple who had asked us to provide counseling for them on a few relationship questions they had and we had been blessed to do so (with permission from the compound leader of course). They are here in Manado to make wedding arrangements and surprised us by coming to our hotel. They took us to their parents home in a WONDERFUL village, Leilem, an hr from here. It was high enough in the mountains there were not only the massive numbers of Palm trees, but also gorgeous PINE trees…and it was nice and cool, not hot at all. We visited with the parents for a while (they spoke no English) then the couple wanted us to walk with them to the natural hot springs there near their home. We could smell the sulphur and see the spots of steam rising from the tropical foliage all around. We ooo’ed and awe’d and took photos as we walked. We posed next the to pool where it comes up from the volcano beneath. THEN we arrived at the “pool”. If anything has ever been lost in translation, THIS had been. I have attached a picture of how it is “done” here. We seemed as stumped as we truly were when they told us to go ahead with our “turn” and they would wait until we were finished then take their separate turns, taking the literal BATH in a fully tiled outdoor bathtub big enough for one person at a time, behind thatched walls for privacy! We tried to explain what we had envisioned and that we didn’t really need a BATH, so we’d wait and they could go ahead. But, it was clear they would be sorely disappointed if we didn’t BATHE! So, we both went in the stall, and Joe bathed while I took a few photos. The water runs 24/7 into the tile tub that drains as it fills. This is also where the locals wash their laundry and the many laundry soap packets were strewn all around. How funny to think of what was in OUR minds as apposed to how things were. We have been to many natural hot springs before, but all were in their natural setting for the most part and, well… I think you get the picture. LOL. So, we stayed in there for what we guessed to be an appropriate amount of time then came out wet and ready to walk with our friends to catch the public transit to view their home church. I have also included a few pictures of the church…it is remarkable and shockingly out of context in this small village. It is gorgeous and enormous! It seats 2500 people and is always full. This is a tiny village, but people come from all around to attend this evangelical church. We were blessed beyond our imaginations, but God was still not finished with HIS plans for our day.

The couple returned to Manado with us and we bought dinner at Pizza Hut since they will take a credit card and have a fairly secure reputation. At the end of dinner, this precious little couple who are saving their money to arrange their wedding began to speak very seriously with us. They had taken time to pray about where to give their next tithe and had known we had spent all our money on people and children at the compound. They said after repeatedly asking God where He wanted this particular tithe to go,  He had told them to meet us here in Manado and give it to us. Wow. We did all the “no no no, you cant” stuff but could not argue after hearing the assurance they felt God had given them. The total in dollars equals less then $25, but for them (they make $5 a day for income) it is a huge amount! And for us, with the few dollars we had left to live on until we get home, it was like getting $1000. So, we will use only what is necessary and keep sensitive eyes open for where God would have US give it as we leave! Again, God’s plan, not ours.

In a previous email I had mentioned the wild cats who fought loudly all night and kept us awake.  We were talking about the cats to our 2 friends when I mentioned I hadn’t heard them fighting at night in a few weeks. The 2 of them got very quiet and looked sheepishly at each other. The boyfriend said “I would like to tell you what Vita’s favorite food is….” SURE ENOUGH, she had him cook up those noisy cats for her! She lives in the house next to us and was tired of the noise as well! hahahahaha! I love it! (Unless you are Michelle Dehner, that is FUNNY!)

We have 2 days left here before we leave Manado and are eager to wake and find out what blessings await us again tomorrow. God is too good to us and we continue to be speechless in our effort to thank Him.

It was great to hear of the wonderful Easter service you had there at VHC! How amazing to see all that God is doing and will continue to bring to fruition in the family there. We are blessed beyond description.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us and continued to care and be mindful of where we are. We can’t ever begin to repay any of you so we pray God’s richest, deepest, most amazing blessings on you as we remember you so often!

We had a terrific time getting ‘away’ to Bunaken Reef for snorkeling on our anniversary weekend. It is on a different island so required a 3 hr drive, boat trip then airplane flight. So tho we took 4 days away, 2 of those were for travel each way. We enjoyed yet more cultural experiences… even the not so pleasant ones. Its all an education on world-view, so will be cherished as part of the whole. I don’t enjoy having to repeat stories, so was hoping to have everything so well described to you in these posts that by the time we get home, you’d have a complete picture, but too many situations will need to be shared one-on-one, face to face rather than via the www. Keep in mind that America with its freedom of speech is the exception, NOT the rule.

As a foreigner, almost without exception, we are assured one price or time allotment and it changes before our very eyes. We haggled over the price of the car for the 3 hr drive. You also have to have no opinion when that car driver stops to get a meal at a favorite ‘restaurant’ and pick up however many more people can squeeze into the rig. So, the length of time the drive may end up being is again according to Indonesian “rubber time”. We haggled over the price of the boat to get from our island to the next. Then, tho you settle on an agreed price for the 5 in your group, there will be one or 3 more people piling in on your dime. No way on earth to avoid all of it, so you get tired and just go with it. We got to the airport only to find a new tax added to the price of the 5 tickets we were already paying for. No way out… if you plan to fly, you will do whatever. Arriving at the other end, we haggled over the price of a vehicle to take us to the hotel where of course they had no record of our booking a room for 3 nights. This was absolutely untrue and the Indonesians accompanying us told us we were being blatantly lied to because we were foreigners and they would want more money to find a vacancy. They said they were full until a call was placed to the agent who booked the room for us and she required they honor the booking. Whatever. By that point we could almost smell a hot shower (none for all these weeks now) and tho we suppose we didn’t get the room we paid for as it surely did not match the description on the brochure the desk clerk showed us for the price…. we had a shower and were content. You cant be thinking you’ll relax for a bit in front of TV, tho it advertises “international TV” well unless you like the international fashion channel, Hannah Montana or cartoons in Indonesian… ). That night we went with 2 of our Indonesian friends to the home of their parents in a village 1.5 hrs away…that is the place we could not locate a way to be transported back to the hotel. Our hosts set out looking for transit for over an hr with no luck and were very specific that because we were ‘bules’ the drivers of the small taxi busses did not want to be responsible for our transport. We had to impose on our friends to make a 3 hr round trip to escort us then return immediately to the village. Other details will need to be in person.

The next day Joe was quite ill and had to stay in bed while our friends and I did a little shopping. Once he could be up and around, we tried the “American” eating places. KFC, Pizza Hut and A&W all have places here. It is the Indo version of course. Instead of mashed potatoes and gravy, you have rice. The only thing that really tastes the same was the root beer! OH yeah! But, it was fun enough to see their version of those places. Full day of cultural experiences then back to the hotel. Then for our second day away, we went to Bunaken Reef, which is a famous and gorgeous reef filled with coral and hundreds of exotic types of fish (picture Finding Nemo.) During breakfast, Joe had asked for 2 boiled eggs to take with us to the Reef, which the hotel gladly provided. I put them in my purse only to find out HOURS later, that we should have been a bit more specific about “hard boiled”. The goo was all over my purse and I had to wash everything out in the ocean. There were 6 of us together by that point and all prices are and were different for Indonesians than for us. We haggled over the price of a boat to take us to the reef. After MUCH discussion and assistance from our now FOUR Indonesian friends, Joe shook hands on an absolute and final “total” price. It soooooooooo wasn’t. (This was our 3rd trip to this Reef over the years, and we ARE familiar with how the process should go)  But, if you want to get back from the reef, you will pay because they have all the time in the world to outwait you in a disagreement. And at the point the “polisi” were motioned to come “convince” me of how things were going to be, it was clear there would be no ’equal opportunity’ for us, so I paid.  Also, much like many other countries in the world (Italy etc) you pay for toilet use. You wont be finding a toilet in that “stall”, nor will you find toilet paper.. But you will pay. Tyler, don’t be envisioning the squatters in Italy as these are not remotely even close.

It was a GORGEOUS sunny day and the water is crystal clear at the reef, you can enjoy the magnificent fish and sea growth without using a mask…its just a God-thing. The water is bath water warm and peaceful. We loved the get-away, but were actually ready to be back with the children and on Halmahera by the end of that day.

Sunday morning brought a repeat of the travel day 2 days prior. Getting to the airport to find the new taxes had now doubled from 2 days prior was discouraging, but unavoidable.  After landing at the airport, repeat the process of haggling, but ADD that our driver for the 3+ hour drive back to ‘home’ assured me he had air conditioning (most do in the cars you pay for), agreed to a final price for the 5 of us, then once we were too far from the dock to do anything about it, refused to turn on the air without more money. We even refused to give in to this and repeated for him to take us back, but he would not and short of jumping out, we had no choice. Even the Indonesians riding with us addressed him adamantly feeling he was being unfair. No luck, we paid.

It was good to see the children and they were all cheering as we drove up. What a reception! It’s like a parade whenever we return from anyplace and the hugs and kisses start again. The children are usually standing out front watching for us and holler as we walk from as far away as they can see. On THIS occasion, we had to haul our luggage and bodies thru a window to get back into the children’s home because the door was locked and the key forever lost. It just fit the whole turn of weekend events… the perfectly appropriate finale.

Today Joe worked on the door and repaired a different broken door. He has taken up the challenge of “handyman” around here and honestly seems to enjoy it.

EVERYONE here plays guitar.. What else is there to do? The 2 keyboards they have here are broken and if we weren’t out of money LITERALLY hoping to have enough to get to Manado for our final flight out and pay everything else from there with a credit card, we wanted to buy them a new keyboard. Then dad would have taught several of them his easy system of playing. They are quick learners as they keep at it for hours easily. All seem to be naturally talented and have great voices and rhythm… all impressive. (Joe has said a few times that EVERYONE of them is a “Johnny Ramirez” and they really ARE that amazing) We’ve spent too much buying balls, toys and gifts for the children and workers, but its so EASY to spend the money that way!!

Joe and I were visiting with the workers in the clinic here on the compound and the funniest thing happened. If I’d had a video of it I am sure I’d win $10k. Joe saw a large dead beetle on its back on the floor and was sort of shoving it with his foot at me and the gals working there, just to be ornery and scare us. Pretty soon that “dead” creature grabbed his big toe and he could NOT shake it off. His fast reflex ‘kick and fling’ thing didn’t work at all. HAHAHAHA.. He had to peel that guy off his toe! It was great!

In my English class I sometimes want to chuckle because it is easy to forget that they learn by mimicking. They are quick learners, but it takes me back a little at times. For example, if I say a sentence and I use a particular fluctuation in tone, they will do exactly the same. We laugh a LOT and have great fun in the class. Joe and I teach them one English praise chorus a week and we sing it as a class, for the larger devotional gathering. They do so terrific. It’s fun to teach them because they WANT to learn English. Joe is forever the jokester and they find him a great bit of entertainment. One evening I had to miss a soccer game the group drove to. But I certainly heard them returning as the large truck full of 50 or so people were singing a soccer chant VERY loudly. BUT, instead of putting the usual word “Oley, oley oley oley” in, Joe had taught them a bit of English and they returned bellowing “Collette, Collette, Collette, Collette”…. now, it’s a given and WILL be sung when we all load into the truck no matter where we are headed.

You will be able to tell in a picture or 2 that Joe has lost weight. According to the scales here in the clinic it says he has lost 26 pounds. BUT, we are gauging that loosely…mostly because, even tho he DOES look like he’s lost at least that much, the scales are 3 little “Looney Tunes” scales with Disney characters on them and we usually have to take the average of the 3 since they never agree with each other. They are cheap and flimsy enough that when Joe first started to step on one of them, a nurse stopped him, concerned he’d break it. AND they are of course in kilograms. Anyway, it has to be good to some degree and with no snacks and candy around its helped enormously! I have lost 20 pounds, but would LOVE to drop another 15 AT LEAST, which wont happen since we wont be here long enough. But, we hope to keep off what we have lost so far. (I’m trying to get back to my original weight of 7 pounds 8 ounces!)

Joe has purchased 3 pair of sandals and is forever having to track down a pair to wear. I brought 3 pair and 2 of the 3 have walked away and stayed gone since the first week… Seems they know a good pair of “Teva’s” when they see them. SO, I have now purchased 6 pair of shoes since being here…and I go barefoot much of the time. Like I said before, it really isn’t that they are stealing; no one sees it that way at all. It’s just that what’s yours is theirs. See?

Everyone here has a cell phone. Everyone. They may not have shoes, but even young school children walking home from school are talking on their phones. It’s just such an oxymoron.

Joe will be preaching a Good Friday service on the compound this Friday and we will be singing several songs. I know it will be a special time. It is extraordinarily precious to worship with these kids. I say “kids” because we are by far the oldest people anyplace on this compound. Joe is even older than Hendrik, the man with leprosy in the pictures.

If you could see the countless homes we pass by who have a straw mat on the floor for a bed and no other furniture, but 6-10 enormous stereo speakers so they can play their music louder than a sufferable level, you just wouldn’t believe it. Joe said every speaker so far is bigger than the large speakers we use in our church! Then they stack them and create a wall of speakers and let it blast. Most of our 6:00 a.m. awakenings are a mixture of blasting loud music and the cries of the children here in the home. I don’t think the children are actually too very upset, they just feel obligated to scream LOUDER than the blasting music so they can get attention. I have taped it a morning or 2, but it doesn’t do the experience any justice on tape! Sometimes we groan, usually we just laugh because there is NO getting around it.

I’ve told you how the DVDs and CDs here are never the originals. I bought a children’s DVD to watch in the home last week and tho’ the sound is in English, the captions typed at the bottom are in Indonesian… DIRECTLY ON TOP OF THE CAPTIONS TYPED IN JAPANESE! So, neither are readable. I attached a picture of it for you. On one of the Tom and Jerry DVDs, the translation into Indonesian is flowing along when one of the translators says in English to his translation partner “I can never understand these 2, I have no idea what they are saying for this part”. The partner says “then just skip it” and all audio stops for about 10 minutes while the cartoon continues with the video.

Joe and I went with a a small mobile group of medical workers to see the TB patients in surrounding villages a couple of days ago. Basically a hard thing to shoulder when you want so badly to offer them help. Anyway, as we drove past one house Joe said “That was a deer, how odd”. Hmmmm… the driver backed up to show us that it was indeed a deer. We have seen the many free roaming goats, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and dogs, but this was the first deer. Then one of the workers told us there are many jungle deer. I must have been as absent for that class in my grade school years as the classes I missed which taught about the walking sea shells. I had no idea.

One thing that is still odd for Joe and I to adjust to is to hear the Christians here pray to Allah. That is just not a familiar way for us to think in reference to a Christian God. But the students with all the love and genuineness in the world cry out to Allah. It is a good thing to help continue to broaden our American views.

As awesome as all of this has been, and I will always be grateful God provided the experience for us (and hopefully used us to touch a life or 2) I will look forward to returning to Alaska. I am quite sure I will always be very in love with my mountain heaven there. There are volcanoes here that appear like a mountain, but of course nothing like what waits back home. Thank you for being a family to love and care for us and to keep us in your prayers while we are gone. We have felt no fear and know we have been held in our Father’s hands.

Here’s some more pictures of random things new and old throughout the trip, she just got some time to get a few more pictures through while they were in Manado.

No story attached yet, she’ll write something up over the next few days I’m sure, so until then, here’s a few relaxing pictures! Let me stress that any pictures that look like they’re just enjoying a nice warm vacation are from the one day vacation they’re taking from the compound, in which they had to FLY to Manado (civilization) to get to find somewhere that even HAD snorkels and goggles so they could even do this ‘makeshift’ anniversary vacation for a day at the Bunaken Reef. Now back to work!

Got lots of pictures throughout the night last night, so here’s what I’ve got! - Nick

We are in the airplane headed to a main, large city. I use the word “airplane” loosely as I see 3 overhead compartments repeatedly plop open, the main cabin door opened once and the vibration of the engines is so shockingly loud that when I try to talk it sounds exactly like when you talk INTO a floor fan, as kids love to do. The sheer volume of the roar is seriously killing my ears. We got up at 4 this morning to catch a 5:00 car to take 5 of us the 3 hr drive back thru the jungle from the compound to the boat dock. We took a small boat from the island of Halmahera to the next island over to catch a plane in Ternate which we are now aboard. The mere exhaustion of what feels like swimming upstream allllllllllllllllllll the time allllllllllll the way and fighting off the “monkeys” (as Nick says) does surely wear you out. We are supposed to be coming to this city because the social work leaders requested we take a break every 2 weeks (tho we have opted to take no breaks so far). Yesterday was our 31st anniversary (HEY HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JERENE AND NORM! *my sister and her husband share our same anniversary date, tho theirs is 36 or 37 years I believe*). We cant really explain or even recall how it ended up that 3 Indonesians from the compound are with us, and the roundtrip travel is on our dime for all, but now that we think about it, it is probably a God-thing because of the obvious. I have yet to see any other white people on our island all the while we have been here, except 2 German men who were at a church we attended the first week we arrived. The social workers who run the compound have now sent final word that they will not be back here at all before we leave. It has all worked out fine because with no real direction or leadership, we have found the niches we best fit into and honestly it seems God decided just the right involvements for us. We have both built many friendships and have been told it will be very sad when we leave. In regard to relationships, it will be mutual. The PLUS side for us, is that tho we will miss these precious people, WE GET TO GO HOME TO THE MOST WONDERFUL PLACE ON EARTH! (ok, OBVIOUSLY Collette is typing this) Joe will be looking forward to Alaska too, IF for no other reason than cultural familiarities! (toilets, warm running water, no bugs IN his food, ENGLISH)

The ladies who love to cook for Joe try hard to make a treat for us and find something I will eat. They are so sweet about it all and have not taken offense to my problem with eating bugs and slime. They made a fruit smoothie type thing out of a large slimy fruit and put it in the freezer for him. As he was eating it, and nearly finished with the large pitcher of the mixture, he realized he was glad he didn’t have his glasses on because he could now see that all the little red specks throughout the drink, were in fact ants. I had deferred from the start because (and I took a picture to prove this) the entire colony of red ants that seeped from every edge of the freezer was too telling for me. As often as the power goes out, the freezer doesn’t really FREEZE. I leave a can of pop in there every now and then to have a cold drink and it stays OVERNIGHT in order to be just right. I have my boiled egg in the shell and consider myself full (which I never want again once I get home, by the way)

On our way today, we had time in another village to visit one of the Christian refugee camps. I have a couple pictures, but I will tell you they don’t BEGIN to represent the conditions. The short ‘walk-through’ we took was the first occasion while being there that left Joe physically nauseated. This camp has a few hundred people who have been packed into this filthy place since 2004. Full families, babies, toddlers and all, continue to press on doing daily life in as normal a way as humanly possible. Moms have laundry strewn across ropes and they offered us the meal they were eating. Even Joe would not have eaten that food. Its hard to make eye contact without feeling ashamed as an overweight, freshly “showered” (we don’t have showers of course, but we are clean) American taking pictures of their poverty and misfortune. So, I want to cry. But crying doesn’t make any of this get better. One very precious man about 65 years old was explaining to me in Indonesian that they have been promised to be moved someplace soon. That promise may or may not mean anything. He asked me to pray the move happens. My heart is breaking for them today and I fight inner indignation because it is all so unfair and even other Indonesians could be of help to them, but ignore them. If I knew of a simple way to just somehow solve their depravity, I would. I suppose the productive part of seeing all this today is that if we were able to come up with $30K to finish the Duma church, we now see that that same $ would be better spent helping these who are imprisoned in the filth of their unchangeable situation. Lord come.

We made it to the big city. I will tell you this, being a Muslim nation, and quite roughly governed,  there are concerns.  If I tried to write the account of us trying to get the hotel to honor our prearranged reservation, this would be pages too long. We finally got our room, but NOT without enormous frustration and a phone call to the Indonesian agent (who booked it for us), requiring they honor our reservation without raising the price.

I have a cup-sized jar of peanut butter I have been eating slowly part of each day for nutrition. The other night Joe wanted me to share and I just WOULDN’T. He made us both laugh (maybe out of weariness?) hysterically by responding incredulously “wow, you are a WHOLE different person when it’s a matter of life and death!” I am sure that just isn’t NEARLY as funny unless you LIVE ON THE ISLAND WE HAVE BEEN,  and are as repulsed by the food conditions as I am. The children’s-home cook needed chicken from the market last week and I was headed into town to use the internet. I told her I’d buy chicken. Well… it isn’t just that simple. The small transit vehicle was already full (meaning 14 people with all their goods in a vehicle smaller than a Dodge Caravan) of people with mountains of market food …mostly alive. One lady had a lap full of stinky fish and the flies in the vehicle were uncountable. The man next to me had a live dog he was taking home for dinner, and the chickens I’d have had to hold were alive. I don’t even mind live chickens, but its an hr drive and well, just seemed like a LOT of work to make it happen successfully.

In Ternate this morning as we waited for our flight to the city, we sat and watched as a NEARBY (probably less than even a mile) volcano smoked heavily. It was a rare and amazingly beautiful site to us. It is healing to see God’s hand in His creation no matter the place or what man has made of an environment. Thank you Father for that blessing and reminder of just how Big you are.

Last night here in this large city, we finally agreed to go to dinner at the parents’ home of one of the Indonesians who came with us. Her brother had promised to come to the hotel to put all of us up so there would be no taxi expense. Their home is 1.5 hr drive from our hotel. This city is 1,000,000 people. It is extremely congested and dirty. Well, her brother never came so we had to pay a taxi to take us there to her mom’s house. Then her brother promised to bring us back. He ended up taking his car to get involved in a political demonstration and we were on our own. Our hosts walked the streets to try to find us some public transportation and every single option refused to allow us on their bus or in the little taxi vans because were are white. They refused to be responsible for our safety and felt their rigs would be ‘attacked’ if we were onboard. Our hosts were extremely specific in their explanations to us that we could not attempt this on our own, tho we repeatedly said we were not worried. This would be most likely because someone with ill intent would assume a forgeigner to have money and they may hope to rob us.   Wow. So, the host said we should spend the night at her house.    You have no idea how badly I DID NOT WANT TO.  I had a head full of some nest of bugs (much bigger than lice) I’d gotten while visiting there and Joe was very nauseous from the food he’d eaten. (I ate mostly raw cabbage because I am familiar with that). We had no intentions of sleeping on the foam pads we saw there, knowing they house many types of unpleasent critters. So our friends continued to ask for a driver.  They did eventually find a taxi man who would take us, but even then, our friends HAD to ride with us the 1.5 hrs back to the hotel to assure our safety, even tho they had to just turn around and travel the distance BACK. Our friends own words were that we would never make it to the hotel on our own. Someone would take us to hope for ransom or other far worse things. (These were the exact words of our Indonesian hosts) Of course it saddened me deeply to realize the severity of this situation.   Of course this could be true of any foreigner in most any large, congested city.  Someone with poor language skills is often an easy target if others have ill intent.

       We got caught in a rain downpoor in a coconut grove and as the fruit came smashing down, Joe said “I will never get outta here alive.  I am going to be killed by a coconut and my insurance will NEVER cover that! (If you cant read the humor in this, please realize you will not  understand this post site at all and will surely not enjoy reading futher)

3-22 Yesterday at the beach, with a group of about 25 of us, Joe had found a pair of goggles so swam pretty far out to a reef and a few other teens joined him. Not long later a young gal brought a pail of something to me and put a round thing in my hand. It honestly looked AND felt like a wet curled up hedgehog! She was just explaining how “yummy” this urchin was going to taste when it decided to WIGGLE in my hand. I screamed of course, but didn’t drop it into the water, so all was ok. It was about the size of a hedgehog also…like a softball. Seriously, in the typical “native” way (as well as in Alaska) these people eat anything and everything. There are 3 chubby little puppies about 4 months old running around on this compound that I am guessing wont be here in a few more months. The majority of these students come from families who eat dog. And the cook’s husband has a couple pythons in a cage he is keeping until they fatten up so he can eat them. The cage is just outside our room, next to the children’s play area and last week a little batch of 8 chicks were born under the cage. Hmmmmm……THAT’D HAVE to be frustrating if you were a caged snake.

I offer 3 cheers for Skippy brand peanut butter. It might be the ONLY food that I have found, no matter the name brand, and including Coca-cola, that actually tastes the same as in America. So I have added that to my diet. Since I have bananas on the approved list, it is a tasty breakfast. I rotate that w a boiled egg and that covers most of my meals. Its so fine with me as I am NOT hungry anyway, and need to lose the weight so the protein is just a plus.

We butchered a pig for the compound here yesterday and I got pictures as they laid it open and divided the haunches to send to the different ministry groups here. The pictures were really cool and I managed to totally lose them all except the broth pots the pig will cook in. Maybe I will catch the next one. Sorry.

We drove into Tobelo to church today, and as we loaded up the TINY little van (much smaller than the van we own) we had to pile 16 people into it. It’s a 45 minute drive on a very windy road, so I road in the floor to avoid the Charlie horses I was getting from squatting. There never seems to be any thought of the fact that only so many bodies CAN fit into any given rig.

When were on the beach yesterday it was another fun day for me collecting certain shells, I even bought jewelry making supplies and when I get home to my Dremel I think some of this is going be quite unique.

This coming Wed 25th is our 31st wedding anniversary. We will be leaving on Thursday with 3 other Indonesians, to take that boat back to Ternate, then fly to Manado. We will be there 2 days (plus one day travel each way) We need a little break, hot shower would feel good …actually a BATH would be wonderful…and some place to eat that resembles food I eat, would be nice. Hopefully the hotel will have internet in the rooms. There is no such a thing as hot water here on the compound, so any “washing” of dishes or such means they are clean-ish.

Tonight the cooks made Joe a food dish and boiled an extra egg for me which they had put in the fridge. I cant believe I didn’t go get my camera, but in all honesty I thought it MIGHT hurt their feelings for me to POINT OUT what was almost unbelievable to me. My egg was IN THE FRIDGE, and IN THE EGG AREA…(lol if you’ve heard Brian Regan on this topic) and to my almost disbelieving eyes, there were GIANT ANTS ON IT, CRAWLING ON THE SHELL! Anyway, I took the egg, brushed off the ants and peeled it. SOMEHOW (no doubt in my head only) it tasted wrong.

3-23 Joe and I made a trip into Tobelo today to try to post these last 2 updates (no success) and the public transport we were able to get was a first for us.. About the size of an airport shuttle type rig… he found a seat in the back and I was near the front. Given that setting, let me tell you we have noticed this particular ethnic group seems to have stomachs extremely susceptible to any type of motion sickness. We have been in those tiny little crowded “taxi” vans more than once when someone in the rig was using a motion-sickness bag. *add in sounds, smells etc* TODAYYYY… all Joe had to say to me by the time we got to our destination was that I had no idea how glad I was I hadn’t been in the back with him. No less than 3 people around him FILLED their motion-sickness bags, and tossed them out the windows. Topping off the scenario, the guy next to him barfed on the next guy over. I didn’t feel sick as he told me, but I will sure admit there are topics here that have made me gag IMMEDIATELY. Again, those will have to wait until I get home to share one-on-one. Ugh.

Joe taught devotions tonight. We don’t get told until a few hours before expected to do something like that, but if we are anything here, its flexible. He taught with an interpreter (but even HIS understanding is very rough). One of the songs they enjoy singing during worship is something to the tune of “She’ll be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain”. Joe and I always join in wholeheartedly …singing the only words we know which makes no difference since they don’t speak English anyway. It just makes the 2 of us chuckle a bit.

The names we have to remember are, for the most part, not anything easy for us, like American names. If any of you know Joe well, you know he has about 500 scripture verses memorized and ready to accurately quote at any time. BUT he also has a thing with not remembering names. For example Nick can mention someone named Chelsea, and within minutes Joe may refer to that same person as Jessica. Nick may typically correct him, to which Joe will respond “whatever!” . So, God with His sovereign sense of humor brought us here to get to know this group. Here are a few of the REAL names! Aka, Eka, Eeka, Indri, Ema, Erna, Fonny, Funny, Son, Mus (moose), Anis, Epen, Elan, Lodi, Anky, Mayfa, Mefi, Elin, Hendi, Henrik, Justi, Neni, Neno, Salom, Iyu,( I/you) Yumi(you/me), Sali, Winda, Wendy, Vita, (keep in mind, ALL “I”s are pronounced “E” and there is no long “A” sound) Onal (guy) and Olan (gal) Yulyong, Rimbot, Yohan, Yohannes, Hannes… POINT BEING, no “Tom, Dick or Harry”. So, I HAD to laugh as I overheard Joe one day trying to explain to one of the Indonesians (he was speaking English and they don’t you know) how odd of a name “Iyu” is to us because (and read carefully because here is where he was confused enough to REALLY confuse the listener) “In English “I” and “ME” are the same…LOL! Well, he MEANT to be talking about “Iyu”,(”I” and “YOU”) the new name he’d just learned. Some of this you just have to BE HERE to fully appreciate! Hahaha!

There is currently a political election about to take place and the city streets (when we go to TOWN) are literally filled with truck loads of people taking part in political demonstrations. I have taken pictures for you. Its almost like being mixed among gangs that feel threatening. We are told there are 40 political parties here. Governing a country like Indonesia is actually almost impossible when you consider that it is comprised of 17,000 (yes, THOUSAND) islands. Anyway, things are fairly heated up and we even had police check our passports today, which is the first time that has happened to us. I don’t know when the election takes place, but it seems it has to be better after that.

Joe got up in the night a few nights ago to go to the bathroom.. and saw a large dark something on the floor. His natural reaction was to reach down and pick it up… for some reason, he stopped himself.. then turned on the light, It was a giant spider.. like bigger than his hand. He used his Leatherman tool to pick it up and it immediately climbed up that cuz it was so huge.. he ran to get it into the toilet and pour GOBS of water down over it… there ’s a whole new feeling about the “pitter patter of little feet” when you live here.

 We are told there are 40 political parties here.. the streets today were filled with masked people wearing their “colors”… almost like a Hells Angels gang feel.

Today our small bus transport to here got stopped and our visas checked by 3 policemen.

 A Police dude just came through with his walkie n talkie n… haha… my computer was turned off… dad looked UNinformed and sat there… it’s all too hard to say and maybe being read as I type.

Broth for Pig Boiling

WADDELLS!!!!! We will be SO anxious to enjoy that welcome home party at your house! It IS fun to paint pictures w my descriptions AND to send as many pics as I can that say a thousand more times the words I could type! But, you know how it is when you see a beautiful mountain, and you take a picture of it, then you see it in the camera’s eye and it TOTALLY doesnt do it justice? THAT is how it feels on this end trying to relay what it is really like here. Too much of what I need to say would NOT be believed or seen as highly exaggerated, and would all be a sad understatement of the situation! But, you are getting more than I ever thot I’d be able to send. I type things on my laptop in my room, save the docs to my thumb drive, then bring the thumb into Tobelo when I can and send it that way. The minutes provided with internet ACTUALLY available, are frustratingly few. WE are ready to eat food with no live critters swimming in it… and tho I feel I have acclimated WELL to the heat (meaning, I still hate it but am not dead), I am ready to stop sweating all day long.
Thank you for your continued love and prayer coverage. WE LOVE YOU FROM INDONESIA~!!
Thank you Sherry, James, Julia, Ben and Jessica!!

Today I hope to have posted the pictures of the Duma church. If any of you heard any of the recounting of that unspeakable situation and how in only a year, the small town was severely attacked 23 times, you could not help but physically feel the pain of their hearts. When **** was at Valley Harvest Church with us there last summer, he shared his story and how he watched as 21 of his family members were slaughtered… This is his home town. Everyone has a story and their memories and mental images are only soothed by the grace of God. Their love for Him remains very strong and they seem to make even more of an effort to paint a cross on their homes, or mount a large cross in their front yard… knowing that at any time, it could be their last statement of faith. Watching these acts of surrender to Christ and whatever HE may allow or direct into their lives, reduces me to nothing but love. You can have no personal arrogance in the face of this. You can feel no kudos of personal achievement, or any tendency to take credit for personal strength of integrity. You know, like never before, the ONLY good in you is Christ alone and for me, that includes knowing I need immeasurable more of HIM . It is my daily longing and prayer to be so full of Him I can no longer find me. There is no value in finding ‘me’ if I am not fully hidden in HIM.

On a cheerier note…. I’d mentioned I hoped to find some of my own sandals since they ‘walk away’ after I leave them in the pile at the front door. We went to a different village the other day, and saw one of our workers taking her 2 days off… and yep, sure enough there were MY sandals on her feet. This isn’t really anything you address, so I just waited for her return and when I knew she was home again, I snagged my sandals and brought them to my room. I brought my Teva’s from home too and havent seen those since the first week we were here… pretty sure those get to be my contribution to the ‘needy’. ha

Sometimes knowing LESS can be BETTER. Today I learned too much on a few of the topics of culture and custom here. As I ponder how on earth I’d ever be able to put it in print tactfully, I realize it just isn’t possible. So, on that “cliff hanger”, you will have to wait until I can tell or email you one at a time on some of this stuff.

I was asked by a young sweet gal if there were any other women my age in America who are as big (yes, meaning fat!) as I am. Hmmm… how to answer that? I am 50 years old and could stand to lose a bit, but nothing to be hung for. All I could think to say was “yes, most of us are just fat”. If only I could dislike American food or its conditions for preparation as much as I dislike Indonesian food, I could get thin and stay that way until Heaven.

The power and / or water goes out most everyday at least a time or 2. Today I had gone into Tobelo to send my last post and picked up a couple children’s DVDs from the flea market type street vendors. None of the technological things here are real ….all pirated. So I bought a Tom and Jerry cartoon DVD for a dollar. I was watching it tonight with the children and even tho the words are in English, what was being said had nothing whatsoever to do with the cartoon being shown. A little funny since it doesn’t matter as none of them speak any English anyway. Just as Joe joined us to watch the silly cartoon as the children grew sleepy, the power went out and everything was pitch black. We had all the children on our laps or at our feet and he had his guitar within reach and we immediately started singing “Jesus loves Me”….and flowed from one children’s song into another and there was never a peep from the children…and finally the power came back on just as it was time to lay them all in their beds. It sort of felt like one more little God-hug in day after day filled with many of “His” moments.

The hardest part of this whole adventure may be leaving. Naturally, having lost their parents as they have, most of the children have abandonment issues. If I get up just to go to the other room for a minute, it takes offering them MUCH assurance that I will be right back. “Segera Kembali” is a necessary Indonesian phrase for me.. It means “I’ll be right back!”. We have many words and phrases that come to us easily now and I sang a duet with and Indonesian gal during devotions this week, in Indonesian. Joe played guitar, then he joined us and it was a neat worshipful sound and sense of God’s presence. I keep thinking I should videotape some of this but havent yet. The battery charger for my better digital camera fried the instant I tried plugging it into the socket here so, I cant use that camera after that battery goes dead. That will put me down to just an older partly broken digital I can use with 2 AA batteries, and the video camera. So, hopefully nothing super cool will happen that I wont have my trusty camera available for.

We need your prayers for our businesses back home. So far on that front, we would be deeply concerned if not deciding we have no hope but to trust the Lord for His will in our financial situation all around. We still would ask your prayers for us to have direction in that when we get home.

I cant even think of one good reason on planet earth why God would have created mosquitoes…and certainly see NO reason for there to be so many countless BJILLIONS from the coldest places to the hottest. These children just have the pests swarming them all the time. They don’t get malaria because their immune systems are used to all that , but they get bit and eaten all the time. It seems so unthinkably unfair.

While I was at the internet place, Joe was walking around and put together that the guy who owns the place works for ***necessary editing done here, sorry***, AND he owns the adjoining place where you can order rice and soup. These are all open air places, where the roof is connected to the walls by rafters, but not closed in and there is no glass in any window area. Anyway, he noticed it was the first “food” type place that wasn’t covered in flies. He bought a little snack food there , liked it and told them we’d be back for lunch. Eating was ok, and the only choice was soup w rice or ‘chicken noodle soup’ (I say all these familiar sounding things with a HUGE margin for *not even close*). I gave most of mine to Joe, but had some of the noodle soup. When I was almost finished eating my half a bowl, Epen, the Indonesian guy who was with us explained that the reason the place had no flies in the food is because they put formaldehyde in the food. Well, that’s just real nice of ‘em, don’t you think? All I know about formaldehyde is that we used it in Biology class to dissect frogs and such. That might have been another of those situations when knowing LESS is BETTER.

The roads are very very narrow and the cows (most are tethered) pigs, chickens, goats and dogs all line the edges. You could hit a pig any given time, more frequently than we’d hit a moose up there. The oxen are tethered, but all the other animals walk as freely as they like.

I’d written about how you leave your shoes outside before entering a home or personal building. I came with four pair of sandals. Today I needed to leave the house and had no shoes left at all. I wore someone else’s for the day but hope to find mine return eventually.

Wow… well, yet another new cultural experience if ever we’ve had one. I think I have mentioned that the major pass-time hobby these people have is soccer. It’s basially free and there are many men who are very fit, athletic and extremely competitive. The problem is that it is far too much of a status thing than it ought to be. The teams from the different areas are seriously almost like “gangs”. Our compound has a team, but of course we are Christians here and everyone from EVERYWHERE else knows it. The games are NOT ref’d fairly and there would never be referees who are fair to the team from our compound. The refs all live in the towns where the other teams are from and if they get called for a foul, the ref will probably have trouble at his HOME for making that call. Everything on the compound seems to shut down totally so that everyone can go to be support for our players at the games. These past few weeks there has been a tournament going on and our team made it to the finals. Yesterday was the play-offs. I video-taped until I ran out of tape. The verbal threats made to us as a group and to our team as we waited for our game to start were unspeakable. There were 60 of us who traveled there in our big cattle truck. We even took Hendrik (the leper) and Joe carried him on his back and we brought a chair to set him in. There were at least 2000 spectators CROWDED around the sidelines. This is not a safe situation… many were very drunk and can be very cruel. They would walk up to Hendrik , poke at him and mock him loudly. There was one man I physically pushed away and seriously would have taken on if HE’d had the nerve to pursue it with me. BUT, most of these men are about 150 pounds (no body fat and all muscle, but small-ish). There was another man Joe quite FIRMLY shoved an elbow into his chest because of the same rude behavior. They are a little intimidated because we are white (called Bule here… pronounced Boo-lay) AND we are not afraid of them at all, they are used to the compound people backing away in a bit of fear … rightfully so, no doubt. On the other hand, when they are drunk, the fact that we are white and not afraid of them serves as a bit of an invitation for confrontation. There was only one guy who intruded upon me to the point Joe had to be called to come help me. Joe is intimidating and NOT afraid of them and maybe 80 pounds heavier than most of them, so he rarely has to SAY anything…he just stands there, and “it” is dealt with! They are also pretty much short people, so all that gives us an advantage. The game was stopped on several occasions because of fights, ON and OFF the field. Security had to stand on both sides of our goalie because the observers so severely intimidated and threatened him. UNREAL. I have a few pictures, but the videos are saddening to my heart. At one point in the game on the field, one of the other team players walked directly up to one of ours and punched him in the face and NO ONE DID A THING! The ref would not even acknowledge it happened . I know our people realize we’d have no chance if they retaliated, but MAN ALIVE its hard to stand there and NOT do a thing! The field was a huge mud puddle as it has rained hard part of every day for several days and any time any of our guys fell in the mud 2000 people mocked, laughed and cheered. Our 60 compound people kept what seemed for the most part like very Christlike attitudes and were amazingly positive. We lost the game in a kick-off after a tie. Of course we’d know we would not “get” to win, but they were very proud to be in 2nd place in these conditions. As soon as the game was over, we banded together and loaded into the big cattle truck to head home and COULD NOT MOVE ONE foot for 45 minutes (at least) and we were every bit as crowded as the Jews into the trains headed to concentration camps OR the NY subway! IT was so so so hot…. And the players were covered w mud… but there we stood, waiting. The street in front of us was PACKED w angry locals fighting and hoping to attack our truck once we were all confined in it and easy prey. The one man who had punched our player during the game IS a police officer who is on the team , he is like a mega-muscle man here and NO ONE would have crossed him.. He could have punched whoever he felt like and no one would have stopped him at all. A friend of on of our people, a guy about 20, got drunk during the game and we loaded him up w us to take him home safely… we literally had to take him TO HIS HOUSE.  Joe was told by the Directors’ daughter that if we’d dropped him off even 2 blocks from his home, he would have been raped before making it home. ***necessary editing here, sorry**** there is no help from anyone outside those you know and trust , which, for Kusuri, is the compound ONLY. We keep guards at the gate 24/7 here.

Ok, so on the flip side of all that… once we were able to drive away from the game situation, we celebrated as tho we’d won a gold medal at the Olympics. Joe and I both decided no one would ever believe it and no matter how I explain it, it would be understated yet sound highly exaggerated. We drove around in that cattle truck for the next 2 hours and the cheers, screaming, singing, jumping on and off the truck, hanging off the sides… honking, flag waving etc etc NEVER EVER EVER stopped at all. As we drove, it was like the Pied Piper… more and more vehicles joined us as in a wedding reception…we had maybe 20 motorcycles all around us and 2 or 3 vans … all honking, loud speakers blaring…until it was no longer even imaginable. I was told that the team realizes if they ever WIN first place, there will be a fight on the field right then and all the crowd would join in, so it would be very bad. They still give it all they have but know God protects and gives them 2nd place as He may deem best for all concerned. Once we got to the compound, Joe and I came to our room, but the others continued to holler and celebrate into the night. English classes were cancelled for this morning as no one would have been awake.

I am headed into town to try to post this, Joe is teaching his Bible class soon this morning.

It is a sad thing here to know that even without jihad threat currently present, the villages are such a threat to each other. Satan rules in this lawless place and he is the prince of this world as Scripture says. Please keep us in prayer.

Good Day from the tropics!

Joe had some fun yesterday because he caught a small snake (about 3 feet long) and went around scaring all the girls.. (no doubt doing exactly what he did in 3rd grade also)… I am amazed at how afraid of the snakes and lizards these gals are. When Joe catches things he always teases them and they scream and run. All the more reason they all love him and have so much fun with him. He has planted a few of them into the ocean water when they had no intention of getting wet at the beach too. Often they don’t go in the water at all and almost always have full length pants and long sleeves on.

The gals realize I am not eating the food and they were so sweet to try to make me some “bread”. It may have worked except instead of baking it, they double boiled it. So , soft and soggy, but white and similar to bread dough. I think I will give in and teach the recipe I brought. Like I have explained the kitchen area is just such a hard place for me to be due to the overabundance of bugs and ants in EVERYTHING. Stink bugs, pincher bugs, silverfish, beetles…it just all adds up in a small area.

Shawn, that loving idea you gave the church about washing our feet before we left… that was indeed very thoughtful. I WILL say it would be far more practical for when we return. No one wears any shoes of any kind inside any home so there is always a large pile of sandals and flip flops outside every door. When you exit the home, the sandals you wore in, MAY or MAY NOT be there, but there will be A pair of some sort (pretty much all one size anyway) and by the next time you enter a building here on the compound you will usually see your original pair and can retrieve them then. It’s never thought of as stealing , and it’s not. But what is here is everyone’s, so used with that mindset.

Our days have the semblance of routine, though each day seems to have some interruption that changes everything. Our supposed schedule is to get up at 6, feed the kids, get to devotions by 7 (I was the teacher for devotions yesterday and Joe taught last Friday-with interpreters of course). Then I teach English class at 8. From 9-12, be with the children in the children’s home, feed them, bathe them, down for daily naps… from 2-3 playtime again. From 3-4 we teach Elementary English, then Joe is free to go play table tennis or we can watch the soccer team practice. They have actually been playing a men’s soccer league and are in the finals tomorrow (Sunday) . I videotaped the celebration they had as they drove into the compound as winners.. They hang out all the windows of the trucks , ride on top, play a LOUD boom box , yell and carry on as tho they just won the million dollar lottery.  It’s fun to watch. This time they said they won because of the powerful prayer Joe prayed before the game. Everyone teen aged and under call Joe “Papajoe”. But the adults are referring to him as Godfather. They mean it as “He is a Godly Father figure to us”. There is no one who doesn’t love him very much. Even the construction workers seem to pick up the pace a little when Joe walks near. He visits with everyone and encourages everyone often.

One of the weirdest things to adjust to with the people is that they agree to everything and even ASSURE you that you can count on them, but in actuality, it means absolutely nothing. I was at the beach with 2 other gals and 2 young girls 2 days ago. We were promised we’d be picked up by 6pm. By 7pm we decided to start walking home tho it is a 20 minute DRIVE. There are no street lights in the jungle and it had rained a great deal so the snakes come out more especially at night. We walked almost 4 miles before we were able to flag a car to stop and help us. The guy who promised to pick us up just decided to go to some other village the opposite direction and not even tell someone else to be concerned about us. The village we almost got to on our walk is considered dangerous and tho I must not realize all the reasons, the ladies who were with me were very frightened, even keeping their faces and heads covered with cloth as anyone drove by.  I kept having to reassure them we’d be ok and that God was walking with us. I didn’t feel any fear, but I am pretty sure ignorance is bliss in this case. FREQUENTLY someone will tell us we must have a meeting with them at 1:00… And we show up at 1:00 only to wait until 3:00 before the others arrive. They say the bus is leaving for town at 2, but it leaves at ONE or FIVE!!!!! Even if you repeat and repeat (as Joe does) that it MATTERS that someone let us know the real time. We have worked up 2 specials WITH Indonesians to sing in English in devotions… both times the Indonesian just didn’t show up for it at all. But, you just deal with overall mindset of “maybe yes, maybe no”… and ignore the answers of absolutes like “YES YES!” or “NO”. Those mean nothing really at all. Now when Joe and I are teasing each other we say something like “Hey, that’s a good idea, lets to that at 1:00”… which means it aint happening!

Someone shares their testimony with us each night at 7pm… just for Joe and I to learn and know their personal stories. I will start videotaping some so that when I return I can put together a good DVD to share with everyone. Everyone here has a story… and their love for God is amazing, real and deep. I pray for such a heart situation for our American churches.

An interesting thing they ALWAYS do when you get petro here… which is whenever you go to town because there is only ONE station in this entire area… is to physically JIGGLE the vehicle the entire time the gas is being pumped. This way if there are any air bubbles or whatever, you get more gas than if you risk it just being filled while sitting still.. 90% of the local transportation here is via the tiny 125cc little rice rockets. You don’t have to have a license to drive one (much like with our snow machines or 4-wheelers), but you do have to wear a helmet. That is so funny to me since there is no limit to how many can legally ride on a bike at a time, on the handlebars and all…. AND 50 people can sit on top a load of rocks in a huge hauler truck, with all the babies and children hanging off any way they prefer. But be sure you have that helmet on.Hahaha. There are no seat belts.

Today I asked 2 of our “supplies” ladies if they could get some toilet paper for me when they went to town.. I never really felt I got them to understand what I needed at the market and so now I have 2 big writing tablets for my English class. Guess “paper” they understood…. “toilet”, um not so much. (I did end up with toilet paper too after all though) The main thing I hate about going to the market is that if I go to the one organized similar to what we think of as a “store”, it is IMPOSSIBLE to try to go down an empty isle.. The second I go ANYPLACE, there are 10 Indonesians next to me watching and leaving me NO PERSONAL SPACE!!!!!

Joe and I are meeting today with a man who is the Head of the churches in this area. After visiting the Duma church this week, our hearts are strongly burdened to help in a bigger way than we know how. Joe and I are praying diligently about how we can take this on as a project. If the pictures get through, you will see the remains of a large church where the people were forced inside, the doors were locked and it was set on fire. Many women and children died that day. As anyone tried to escape out an opening in the fence behind the church, the jihad waited there with their machetes and slaughtered hundreds. NEXT to that spot and the remains are about 300 graves, and on the other side of the destroyed building is the unfinished church. They have run out of money. What they are building is wonderful, and the ruins from the destroyed church are being restored as they are, and will become a prayer place. The entire new church would be finished with $30K . It has set untouched now for about 2 years because there is no money and no way to get any. The wages for a construction worker is about $5 a day and that is a good job. So, the little money the people do make, they need to use to live.  If I put together a DVD of the pictures and the stories,  I honestly don’t think it would take long to reach the compassionate and generous hearts of American Christians.   I figure if money can get to Alaska, from all over the world to repair the church Sarah Palin used to attend there in Wasilla, money can find its way to this far more severe situation even more-so.

Joe and I went to the Duma church with a young man (maybe in his early 20s) who lost his family in that attack. He showed us the graves, and his pain was so very visible. He is a Christian who works on the compound. The pain he feels is so deep and so much to deal with even still, that only a month ago in his sorrow, he tried to take his own life. But, because God is bigger and has plans to completely heal this man’s tender and wounded heart, someone came along just as he was taking many pills. So, you may be hearing us speak of Duma often. I already told Joe I’d sell our house and finish that church right now if that were an option. I could do that and never look back. But, instead of acting on that type of typical impulse for me when it comes to these situations, we are praying,  meeting, talking and seeking GOD’S idea of a best plan.

*From Nick* Click on the image thumbnails below to view the full-size image! Then once you’re viewing the image, click ‘back’ on your browser to get back to this page.

I am at the internet place… at a PC even… and have been sitting here typing you on and off now for 45 minutes. I have 3 computers trying to connect and none are. I am the ‘problem” American who really will not pay another dime for NOTHING!!! I do not neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed a computer…. I NEEEEEEEEEEED internet service and wont pay for anything . Maybe I WONT get out of here alive, but I just can’t give in to this game.

I cant stay online long enough… Sorry, Joe is starting to feel sick. His sunburn is too severe and his family is very prone to skin cancer. Ask the church to pray for his burns. It also causes your system to be weak and you get other stuff… wellllllll, I just got much “closer” bonded to Leigh’s little foster boy, Victor. He is 5. He went to the potty and needed WIPED for crying out loud. Well, *ahem*, we are in an indo place, indo style with no resources! so, yeah, I did what I had to do. BUT I WASHED MY HAND afterward. doggonit… why is it ALWAYS a “mom’s” job??????? It rains hard most nights then all the pythons come out .   Its fun for us… others wonder what our problem is. AND the lightning bugs are EVERYWHERE!!! You can almost find your way in the blackest of black jungle trail by the lightning bugs! For the last few nights there have been a couple of wild cats that  fight all night long and sound literally like screaming humans. The jungle noises with the exotic birds, extremely loud chirping geckos (in our room) , ducks,  the loudest frogs on earth etc etc etc have made me think I can probably sleep through Joe’s snoring once we get back. The millipedes are usually about 6″ long and tho I walk barefooted most the time, I do have to watch where I step.  Locust and beetles are like small birds.

Guitar Pick (nail)

Good Muslim Restaurant

Fisherman

Critters who lost their shells

Coconut Piles

Church Bell

Hi everyone!  Thank you so much for posting!  I rarely get more than literally about 5 minutes of reading time and the illegal, jimmy-rigged internet connection is shut down. I have to pay for it no matter.  So, I may not get to respond individually to anyone, but THINK responses to you all the time! I wish so many of you could come and be here and experience this as we could never be able to share it as it truly is.

Yesterday we went to Duma, the village where most the devastation took place not long ago.. it is not so  far from the compound.  I attached a few pictures and am trying to send more.  Our love and prayers go to you.  We depend each day on the generosity of our Father to bring us to your minds for prayer coverage.  We feel no fear.

The work is more humanitarian than anything else.  We build relationships with the people and help them in practical ways… become friends, then share if faith is a welcome conversation.  There is so much fear and so many have intruded in so many ways.  These people have been violated and taken advantage of in every imaginable realm…  we cant begin to understand.  So, we offer our love and our help however they will allow us and so far we have found only enormous hearts open to receiving love, like never before.  We are good.  We are so blessed.

From Joe - We’re in Tobelo and went to Duma this morning where the thousands of Christians were killed in the Muslim/Christian war in 99-2003ish…get different accounts of it, but it was very very sad to pray in the church where they locked them in and burned it down….many grave sites now on the property although many of the bodies they massacred were never found since some were destroyed or taken away.   I couldn’t hardly stop crying to think the price of martyrdom that is paid by so many in the world and still going on today…we are so blessed…I guess spiritually spoiled, you might say…

Collette is handling the heat pretty good since we have two fans in the room for the heat of the day time….otherwise I think she would be dead by now….anyway…some one needs the computer, so I’ll send this and see if I can get on later….I love you and miss you bunches.

From Collette - We ate at a well liked Muslim soup place …  about 15′ x15′ open air, thatched roof… full of bugs etc, but called a restaurant.  Joe loves the soup and has been there now 4 times.  Everyone at the compound talks of this great soup, so after eating I was thinking of surprising everyone, gettting the recipe and making it at the compound.  Okkkk… well…  the broth is a soaking of the cow heart, tongue, intestines, stomach slices and a few big HAIRY ears.  I HAVE A PICTURE TO PROVE  IT if I can make it send.  I WONT BE EATING it any more, but Joe says he will.

Today is Thursday March 4th to us, but Wed March 3rd to you. I have several of you on my heart and in my prayers for your personal reasons this week.  If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then you have become important to our hearts, deeper still. This is a beautiful place… As I walk through the palm trees and thick jungle grass bare-footed (LOVING that of course) to devotions each morning at 7, I feel overwhelmed by the  exotic  beauty (or is it the suffocating heat? Ha) As I walk (tho we both always have any number of the orphans hanging onto us) I thank God for loving us all enough to have so much beauty all over the world for His children to enjoy. (Of course he loves us in Alaska MOST)  These people have nothing. (by the world’s standards, but they are so very rich in eternal things!)  If I can ever get my pictures to send over the unstable internet, you will see.  The pictures will say many thousands times more than my descriptions could. The food is too, um, *healthy* for me.  My protein will have to remain in the form of hard boiled eggs for now (and there is no salt or pepper—can ANY of you imagine MEEEEE not having P E P P E R??? Or Joe not having  S A L T???)) Well, since I can watch an egg and see that the bugs have not camped overnight on it once a shell is off, I can eat it even without salt or pepper. Just before we left Alaska I bought Zinc lozenges. You might all be very surprised just how long a person can live quite happily on just those!  There is PLENTY of food everywhere…. If its on a tree, pick it , eat it… if it crawls by, pick it up and eat it… if you like snake, go out back and catch your dinner (all pythons). The buffet is always all-you-can-eat rice and fish, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. (not fresh, but very abundant)  They have great fun watching how Joe eats, combining everything on a table and mixing it into his rice.  EVERYTHING. At the beginning, the flies and ants in the sugar distracted him a bit, but even after buying new butter… as he watched them bake “cake” and get out the cooking butter…FULL of the critters, he decided to develop a more accepting mindset.  Otherwise, an American could hardly eat here at all. I have not decided to teach the girls how to make bread because really they don’t like anything that isn’t sweet. It would need to be a banana bread. And, I still might, but the hardest place for me to be is in the area designated as the kitchen. The bugs, beetles, flies, ants, stink bugs etc etc etc are everywhere. I can not get myself to pick up what they use for a wash rag  as it is always wet and the bugs like to hang out there. It’s the one area I cant make myself walk at night. Last night in the middle of the night I went to get our clothes off the drying line and met up with more bugs than maybe EVER before. They enjoy the wet hanging clothes. Seeing what could be used as a washcloth and thinking I’d like to have one and weighing the risk of getting to it and then snatching it off the line… I opted to be brave. Glad I had already discussed the options with myself because there was a 4-5 inch tarantula embedded on the back side and I kept the presence of mind to not react with a scream with all the babies and workers asleep. I am not even afraid of  tarantulas and our family has kept them as pets when the boys were young, I just don’t like SURPRISES in the dark of night.

Today we took the children to the black sand beach. Indonesians, for the most part, do not swim, no one surfs, and you can NOT purchase a snorkeling set on this island! (Joe tried and everyone laughed at him)  Anyway, 25 of us piled into our usual mode of vehicular transport from the compound, a large cattle truck, and headed for the beach. Joe and I are the only 2 adults who bother to venture much into the actual WATER, and many of them never get close. They also prefer to be light skinned, so they go to the beach in long sleeves and long pants. BUT, the children are easy on beach day as they are naked little free spirits. Today one of the workers did go out into the water where Joe had been for some time and she got 4 singers in her foot from an unknown source. Joe had gotten one of these last week when we went and he pulled the stinger out and was able to continue enjoying the time. But, she got it pretty severely and had to sit on shore while all known options of help were offered. None of us had anything we could use like tweezers and no one knew if the stingers were poisonous. So… when called upon, all the little boys gathered around her and tried to pee on her foot to act as disinfection. We found out the only time they CANT do this little task is on demand! So, another lady squatted over her foot and did her part (Joe walked away muttering something to the effect that is was just a BIT more than he needed to watch - or even KNOW about). I have no idea what the verdict is, but Joe hasn’t died from his sting, so my guess is she will live.

The orphanage has a DVD player and TV that someone bought for them.  But it has no CD player and can not just listen to encouraging music. Nothing sold on this island in the villages is “real”.  All music and videos are pirated. The main DVD played here daily Is the Jeuss film put to Indonesian songs and it is beautiful. Never mind that the store bought disk says its the Matrix. I will be looking to find a CD player next visit into the village, but if they DO sell any of this stuff (could be next to the live goats and corn hanging on a cob…) it wont be made well, cheap junk for the most part, AND will cost more if I try to buy it rather than an Indo from the compound.  The children need DVDs to watch that AREN’T about Lindsay Lohan and Brittney Spears. All of this is viewed in the few rare times to relax and watch and even then, its on the off chance the electricity is running.

A funny thing on the way home from the beach yesterday. The truck that came to pick all of us is a large rock hauler. It was full and all we needed to do was pile the 20+ of us on TOP the truck FULL of rocks. None of that was really a problem except it hurt to sit on their sharp lava type rocks and hold all the babies. Anyway, part way home dad gave a man a piece of gum… which the man had never seen before. It was so funny.  The man looooooked at it, sniiiiiiiiiiffed it,  watched dad chew his… And finally decided to give it try. Not sure if he liked it even, but it was a new experience for him anyway and he laughed. All the men laughed. Then he taught another of the workers on the truck to whistle. That was cool cuz the guy picked it right up and whistled a song!

Still Love Alaska

My Toddlers

My Joshua

Toilet?

Bananas

Moses Loves PapaJoe

I am the new intermediate English teacher here everyday from 8-9a.m. We feed the kids at 6, devos at 7 (about 50 attend each morning) then I teach an English class to 20 medical students. Their ages range from 19 to 36. It is amazing!!! Nick I seriously LOVE it. I could move here now and never look back (cept you’d have to come- and well you’d not live long cuz you’d starve. I have already lost 10 pounds. I have 2 little boys I want to keep. one has chosen your dad as papa and the other will NOT leave my lap!… both are 2 yrs old… and call me mama (but they all do that). We have 6 babies and 8 others up to age 12. One is one of the boys we have previously received emails from Carl about that is a severely burned boy. He is the NEATEST, most mature 9 yr old and sincere in his faith and determination to be a Dr… since he has to spend most of each day in the medical clinic, he HELPS w the patients! I had to take Naomi (one of MINE) to the clinic yesterday for an infection she has., I had to hold her down on my lap , her arms, legs and head totally still while they used a sharp tool to reach up into her nose and get what they needed to test. She screamed for over an hr and I was a sweaty puddle of exhaustion. Dad finally had to hold her as I was completely worn out and had her blood on me. He is coping w the “icky” stuff ok so long as he closes his eyes.

We also teach an elementary kids (about 13)English class from 3-4 pm every day except Thurs when we go to the beach. I am SUFFERING in the heat… i drip sweat allllllllll day every minute, but am really so IN my element, I believe I’d adjust and just want nothing ever again but the jungle. Once I adjusted, I could eventually climb these gorgeous gorgeous mountains…. hard to believe I am even feeling all this. When it starts to sprinkle, you run like mad cuz it is gonna slam you w hard rain in about 10 seconds. It rains so loud no one can converse at all… of course we have no glass or screens in the “windows”, so you cant go to a quiet place.

Dad had us literally go buy a mattress (a 4″ foam pad that squishes instantly with any weight on it) and paid some Indonesians to put it on top of a taxi and send it to the gate of the compound. They only have the type thinner than we’d use on a hide-a-bed, so dad sank thru our bed the first night (the lumber shop BUILT a bed frame that is up off the ground) and just now went to the lumber shop to get new slats to put in the frame under the very thin mattress. not sure how he’ll do, but anyway, we arent on the floor and that’s good I THINK. I say THINK, cuz the mattresses have bugs and that bothers me more than the ants all over our floor. I slept on the floor the first day and was just fine w that. We are very very glad we brought mosquito netting… we use it over our windows to keep ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL the beetles, roaches, flies, ants, BIRDS and misc enormous icky millipedes etc out -ish. We still have to sweep out our bedroom each day for all the bugs and ants. Its still Christmas here… they go all year long with all the decor and songs . I will continue to type info like this as I think of it… and when I can. But seriously, my pc gets so little power here it wont stay charged and such… TROUBLE almost each use. So, I try to do all when I can. BUT the electricity is so eratic that I tried plugging in my curling iron one day and within 2 minutes it MELTED completely in HALF!! Yes, the metal MELTED!!! So, if this laptop lives thru this, it will be yet another miracle. We love you and pray for you everyday. During deovs today 2 indo men prayed for you, Nick, and all the responsibilities you have there while we are away and prayed for your music ministry. they have such sincere hearts and have suffered SO stinking much its hard to believe.

Well… Here’s the deal.. HERE ON GULLIGAN’s Isle, I am NOT getting any milk. Unless I just feel like going out and milking one of the nursing pygmy goat moms, it isn’t going to happen. They dont “do” milk here, unless you get powder for babies. Soooo, that curbs any issues i’d have w missing chocolate. AND, all food, all bedding (mattresses, pillows, covers) currently have , always have had and always will have ants, flies, lice, and misc unknown bugs. They crawl on the cooked food being served to you to eat, they multiply in the sugar, they swarm the 3 day old bowl of cooked fish that sets out in the hot air day after day, you will eat until it is all gone. So, after braving the first week of this, I now have such a fine tuned gag reflex, I seriously have to pass most of my food to Joe who sincerely DOES like these flavors. After 3 meals a day of rice in a spicy fishy sauce , Joe finally found some semi-SOY sauce. That made his month! My left hand is so swollen from a mosquito bite I cant really make a fist. Dad is taking malaria medicine as truly the mosquitoes are so thick its unreal. The women and girls all have gorgeous, thick long hair. Unfortunately they all also have lice. They sit and pick the lice out of each other’s hair all the time.  I still kiss all the children’s heads like at our church , but I aim for the foreheads! I’ve never met a more generously loving people. Seriously the hugs, kisses and cuddles never stop. Adult women walk arm in arm as well as the adult men, but this has nothing to do with homosexuality. There are strong boundaries between males and females that are well respected. A dating couple would not kiss until basically engaged or even married. The heat never lets up, but to my own shock and delight, as I walk to group devotions at 6:50 each morning, I just love the tropical feel and scenery. It is truly jungle and quite exotic. Admittedly by 10a.m. I am a puddle of sweat. But, even while carrying a baby during the midday walk for the orphans, I haven’t fainted.

On Thursdays we take the orphans to the beach for the day allllllll day long. The beaches are exotic white sand with palm/ coconut trees all around. The water is much warmer than what we use for ’showers’… it is as warm as a nice bath up there. I loved every minute of it,  but Joe really can only take so much sun. One of the Indonesian girls said to me she new we were American and Joe was a white man, but what was I..?? lol. I get very tan very quickly and she didnt even think I was white. While at the beach, I gathered about 500 sea shells. HERE’s THE DEAL… every single one of them WALK!!!! They are all alive here. Guess that perspective simply went right over my head during school days. I had so stinking much fun grabbing the walking sea shells! I brought the bucket of them home and put them in our room.. later I heard the loud clack of several as they finally crawled out and dropped to the floor. I had to laugh at how there is no way they could ever ’sneak’ an escape. While at the beach the toddlers had such fun chasing the the little shells. One 2 yr old boy came over to me w his critter-filled shell, he got right in my face, and laughing, he sucked the critter out of the shell and ate it just like that. (YUCK!)

Joe is a favorite of all the cooks. He hangs around the cooking area and they LOVE to try to have him taste stuff and react with favor. BUT a funny thing too is that he is clearly their P RO J E C T . He makes coffee (no coffee maker or any such thing) and went to put sugar in it the other morning and they alllllll hollered and TOOK IT FROM HIM saying w sign language it would make him fat. They plan to have him thinner by the time he leaves. Its all in good fun and all have a great attitude. The women enjoy his efforts to explain things, no matter that there is little hope they will understand, they love to have his attention. The children love pappjoe as well. He is terrific to climb on at any given time. I am “mama”. That is just how it is. They were quick to call us both that within 2 days of our arrival. We also all drove 45 minutes to a soccer game in a large truck… FORTY FIVE OF US IN THE OPEN AIR hauler.

There are 3 English classes. I teach the Intermediate class of 20-25 medical students. Today was “FUN DAY” … as each Friday is. So, we each made a “class YELL” and had a competition that Joe was appointed to judge for a winner. IT was so fun because they, being Asian people have so much enthusiasm and ‘team spirit’ . No glass in windows etc and it is where we hold devotions each morning. Dogs, cats, chickens and anything or anyone who wants to walk on thru is free to do so. Cats sit on the cooking counter anytime they please…. so, I spose bugs are just no big deal when all is considered. Today I saw a tarantula in the children’s home and everyone said not to kill it, they are ‘good’. the beetles are huge and , well I guess I could ramble on about the obvious, but its a jungle out here pretty much says it all.

Ok, lets say third time’s a charm… *ahem* I just finished typing a 10 minute post… and of course, the power here at the “internet” place shut down AGAIN. I will keep this first one short, then read your comments, then try to send / post more.

I have personally made it into Tobelo (half an hr drive away) 3 times to attempt to communicate w/ you and nothing has succeeded.

We are doing well… it is suffocatingly hot, but I have not fainted yet, so God is truly providing in that area as I had to trust. It was my biggest apprehension.

The people on the compound are genuinely the most loving people I am sure I have ever met. The hugs, kisses and cuddles never stop. With all the heartache many of their lives have provided for them, we find no spirit of resentment or bitterness. We are of course, humbled everyday by their lives.

Ok… sending this in hopes of a success… we love you all, we pray for many of you each day and count on your prayers for us.

The missionaries have learned they will be detained in Australia longer than they supposed and we may not see them while we are here at all. Their daughter is also away now, so we are the only white people anyplace near.

Collette

I have a ton of stuff on a thumb to send to you.. emails, pics etc… this is all a stolen server situation and NOT legal, not working and expensive each try. We are safe, all going great, wonderful tropical HELLish heat.. kids are terrific. I am the English teacher to medical students and dad teaching bible class to men. I have to sign off we love you, miss you , pray for you every day!

Dad playing some table tennis!

We are HOLED up in a hotel for 3 days while we await a small plane to take us to the wrong island of Ternate, then take a large canoe to the right island of Halmahera, then the 4 hr jeep ride.

As far as updates go, our situation is this: once we reach Halmahera, the island the IFC compound is located on, we will have no access to internet at least until March 5th. The satellite that provides internet for that island is being relocated and no one will have any internet in that area at all. I have asked the Lord to provide a way for me to make it to one of the nearby areas (even a different island if need be) to be able to send some sort of update or information about us for all of you.

To this point, in getting to visit with Carl Cady, the primary missionary connection for us (he lives in Fairbanks, but comes to Indonesia a number of times a year), we are utterly excited to hear the stories of the work God is doing, even among the Muslims, for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, right now and right here in the heart of a dangerous enemy territory.

Collette