Road to Indonesia---Busy

 You might think that we are living rather frugally and without many things. However, we spent Sunday lunch with a man about our age. He had taught for many, many years at Dalat School, a Christian and Missionary Alliance school in Malaysia. When he retired at 68, one of his former students invited him to come teach at a school that he was forming. It is in the very deep bush of Indonesia. It is for Indonesian students. One flies into the site and then drives a few hours to get to the small small town. The village has no stores, no banks, no facilities. It has some small kiosks that sell a few things. A single egg costs  35 cents each!  There is electricity sometimes from generators or solar power for a few hours a day. Most of the time they can get chicken, but no other meats are available, etc. etc.   This is an island that still has incredibly primative conditions and there are many, many missionaries working in these conditions. The man we ate lunch with was...

Road to Indonesia--Life Insurance/Visa

 The things one does for a visa!!  I have been told that a few years ago an expat died in Indonesia somewhere and the relatives sued the government for expensses. Now, before we can progress further with our visa application we have to have proof of life insurance. I don't know that we have ever carried life insurance.  We have searched the sites, which is not always easy online .....from Indonesia. I cannot make a quick call to an agent for help. Nothing makes a great deal of sense. We are only doing this to fulfill requirements. We do not want/can't pay much money for a policy and the policy can be as low as like $1000 or something. Can anyone help us? Advice? Contact with an agent who will email? Knowledge of low insurance premiums? Anything? The visa specialist here at school says we have everything but the life insurance policies and Rick's birth certificate.  (Hallelujah, You have no idea how much of a miracle it is that all of these various and sundry document...

Road to Indonesia--China Boxes

 We got our 3 big boxes shipped DHL from China today!!! It took only a week, seems pretty miraculous.  We had to pay customs, which seems strange since it is just our own used things, but we are just thankful to have more than my 5 dresses,  and also Rick's Bibles, and our important papers!  The only paper that is missing for the longer term visas, is Rick's birth certificate. (Georgia Kay , we are going to be hitting you up to get it for us.)  There are a few other things that are time sensitive like a police check and a physical, but we just need to work our way through those steps.   All of this is just wonderful news. It was a little confusing to get the boxes from the DHL office to us. We got notification that DHL had paid the customs duty for us so the boxes could be shipped from Jakarta to Papua.  If our credit cards would have worked here, they would have delivered it directly to our door, but alas, no such luck.  After we tracked it ...

Road to Indonesia---Mission Trip 2 (and Quarantine)

 The students are home from the 2 week mission trip.  They report very good things. I will hear more as we get back into school next week. However, as the students arrived back and headed out with their parents to home, they were given an announcement: the director of our school has covid.  Much of the office staff is unwell too and they are being tested.  The office is closed for a while. (How do you run a school without an office?) And the director and wife are in quarantine, but his one daughter who was on  the mission trip has not had contact with family for 2 weeks, so she is moving into the dorm for right now so she can go to school, etc. The director has been over at the principal's house, interviewing prospective teachers on Zoom for next year. This means that the principal who is at home still waiting for her fractured pelvis to heal and her family are also quarantined.  The director of maintanence also has covid, and apparently he is sicker,than t...

Road to Indonesia---Gifts and Prayers

 When I got up this morning I read a clarification message. I woefully miscalculated the exchange rate when I figured out how much the shipping cost was.  It was not just under $200, but rather just under $2000.  Tears came to my eyes in gratitude for the generous gift from our friends, fellow missionaries with ERRC, in South Korea.  But then I was sick to my stomach when I thought about how much money this was for things that in monetary value are almost worthless.  I was/am convicted about pushing so hard to get these things. They. Are. Just. Things. If the timing had been different and I had been available to consult about the costs on this shipping, we would have had our important papers sent and abandon the rest of the items. However, I was busy teaching and was not available. (God? I do not mean this question mark.)  I had certainly been very thankful for my friends paying what I thought was $200, but I was overwhelmed with the thought of paying $2000...

Road to Indonesia--Beijing apartment 2

 Just spoke with the young lady who has helped us with all of this transferring and packing. She sent out 3 boxes this morning. They might be here in a week or so!!!  It cost just under $200 which is pretty good considering everything. That is the good news. The bad news is that no powders, medicines, or batteries can be mailed DHL.  That means the medicine that we need and the herbs and spices that I so so want cannot be sent that way.  I am very sad.  But she will try to contact another way to ship and see if she can work it out.  I pray so.  The laptops (battery so they cannot come) are not really what are needed, but rather the files on them.  She will download the files and email them to us. She sat down just now to boot up the lap tops and of course they were US plug ins, so even though the laptop cords carry their own current adjustment, she has no way of plugging them in.  (Either the plug adjuster was left in the apartment or we had ...

Road to Indonesia--- Beijing apartment

 I just spent 2 hours on the phone with our friend in Beijing. She had received permission to go into our apartment after we sent a letter with the particulars.  What a tremendous relief to have that done! After 2 hours we have a suitcase of clothes, and about 7 or 8 large bags that need to be DHLed to us.  That is the sum total of our possessions in Beijing.  We truly do leave a very small footprint. The other things belong to our organization, ERRC, for house set up when someone comes to  Beijing. I really do not know what/how they will handle the rest of the things?   Maybe have a mover pack the things and deliver to the apartment of other Peking University teacher who will eventually return to China, but that will make a tremendous mess.  It will be nice to have more summer dresses, and more spices and packages of the herbs, etc. Most importantly, our important papers will come and then maybe we can work on the next step for a visa.  And ...

Road to Indonesia---OE

 Our high school students just left for OE (Outdoor Education).  It is our schools version of a mission trip.  They study the anthropology aspects before they leave and are gone for 2 weeks. Usually, seeing as how we live in a mission community in Indonesia, this 2 weeks is spent in very, very remote locations, usually involving a plane ride to get to!!! With covid restrictions, they are going to a beach village closer to home and within driving distance. It is a "green zone" with no covid, and everyone was tested before they went and will be required to wear masks while they are there. They are "camping" for this 2 weeks. They will do some construction and kids Bible School activities and some low level medical care, etc.   They will keep a spiritual journal and also write a paper after they return.  The school has done this for years and has the logisitics down to a science....as much as one can with changing locations, covid, etc.  The biggest singl...