Road to Indonesia----Another snake story

 Just a follow up on the snake story: "A woman in Indonesia was swallowed whole by a python as she checked on her cornfields last week. According to  The Washington Post , citing the  Jakarta Post , the woman's name was Wa Tiba and lived on Muna Island off the coast of Sulawesi. She left her home Thursday night to visit her cornfield about a half mile from her home.  Reticulated pythons are common in the area, but it was actually wild boars that Wa had been worried about initially because they'd be destroying her crops, according to the Jakarta Post's report.  When Wa didn't return, her sister went out to find her and found Wa's footprints, flashlight, slippers, and machete. On Friday, 100 villagers from Persiapan Lawela searched the area and found a 23 foot-long snake with a very swollen belly. The villagers killed the snake, cut it open, and found Wa inside intact. She probably didn't die inside the snake: A reticulated python secures its prey with a bite...

Road to Indonesia--- Two Things

 Two things: 1. You know there is some teaching necessary when....  I asked the grade 8 students if they had all ready read "Diary of Anne Frank".  One boy said, "Oh, yes.  So sad that poor little blind deaf girl."  Well, no. haha 2.  I was just at a student counsel sponsored movie night.  Anyone who wants to, gathers at the gym, sits or lies on the floor and watches a movie projected on the wall. Being a tropical country, this gym does not really have walls, More a roof and a floor, although there are stone bleachers, etc.  Towards the end of the movie, all of a sudden there was a commmotion in the middle of the audience. Then I heard the yell, "Snake!"  We all started to move, the ligths were put on, and sure enough there was a snake slithering through the middle of the us.  It was a small snake, but still a snake. A man came and captured it half under a cup and carried it away. And we went on with the movie.   P. S. Our virt...

Road to Indonesia---Evangelizing

 Such a thrilling missionary story as relayed in church today that I just had to share it: The missionary who works with the Nagi tribe had an emergency that he had helped with. A boy had been shot in the eye with a pellet gun. (His comment was "Yes, you can 'shoot your eye out', but I feel badly saying it that way because it is so serious.")  The pellet is still lodged in one of the canals behind the eye and they are trying to get him to Jakarta for more advanced help. While the missionary was talking to the father, child, and one of the father's nephews this morning before the missionary came to church, they read about the rich young ruler's rejection of Christ. The father had previously expressed his concern about the salavation of the nephew to the missionary.  As they read the Bible this morning, the father said, "Yes, the rich young ruler rejected the Trail Blazer. He was following other things." The father then spent 45+ minutes starting in wi...

Road to Indonesia----Accreditation Visit

Next week is our school's accreditation visit. This is conducted by international organizations about every 6 years.  It assures parents that we provide a good education for their children. It allows students to hold a report card and diploma that will be accepted by other schools and universities.  It drives teachers and admin to continue to improve and grow.  It provides a plan for future actions.  Any of you that have participated in these kinds of visits  know how important....and how agitating these visits are.  They represents literally years and years of preparation.  Soooo, our visit starts on Monday for 4 days.  Because of covid it will be virtual, which I am trying to wrap my brain around. I have been on the recieving end of these visits in MD, Senegal, etc.  I have also been part of the teams who visits other schools to accredit them in Cameron, Belgium, and Togo.  Always interesting.  Sooooo, next week is our turn. The s...

Road to Indonesia--- Spreading the Gospel

 As we sit in church each Sunday here there is always time for prayer and praise.  This often takes quite a while. The first few Sundays I felt it took too long and was a distraction from the rather already long service. But the longer I am here, it has become maybe the most important part of Sunday morning.  Today an elderly lady introduced her adult son and his fiance.  She is here because it is time to dedicate the New Testament that she and her husband have worked on for years and years. Her son was one of their five children raised in the village. His request was for the dedication but also for the meetings in their tribe on Monday when decisions will be made about progressing to the Old Testament translation. Another missionary gave testimony about three tribal gentlemen who had been given money by the government.  They had many plans for this money, but finally agreed that they were going to do a special printing of the stories of the Bible that had been ...

Road to Indonesia---The Dem People

  At our church the last few weeks, there has been the consistent prayer request for the Dem people. Some of the missions follow a rather strict program that starts in Genesis and goes through the stories of the Bible so that when they come to the Salvation story of Jesus' death it makes sense and is in perspective. This week is to be the highlight: the resurrection story. Of course nothing is ever easy. The prayer request on Easter was for the family who works with the Dem. Their elementary age son was showing symptoms of appenticitis. They were praying for guidance of whether they needed to fly him out of the village or if they should treat with antibiotics and who should go with him if needed, etc. etc. I do not know what the current decision is, but this was just posted in Face Book as a follow up about storying with the Dem. PTL Angie van Rensburg  is with  Dylan van Rensburg . t S p o n 1 m s s g o r e d h    ·  The best news.... For the last 7 y...

Road to Indonesia--- Struggle with Resurrection

  Everyone needs to read this, but particularly MK's and others who struggle with doubts. It is writen by the son of one of the wonderful teachers we served with down through the years. I count this son as now one of our friends as well. It is not MY experience. I am one of the weak ones who needs more comfort in our lives, but God bless those who can walk this valley. On How Actually Reading the Gospel Accounts for the Resurrection of Christ Almost Destroyed My Faith - And What Brought Me Through I have a complicated relationship with Easter Sunday. On the one hand, it is the day that Christians worldwide commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. I enjoy the fellowship with other believers, people arriving at church in their Easter best, thinking deeply about the vindication of Christ that conquers death, congregationally exclaiming, "He is risen, indeed!", and then heading home for some ham, green bean casserole, and to hide the Easter eggs for my lit...

Road to Indonesia---Live to Peking University

  Hello Dr.Ann, I saw your reply sayi ng "This MUST be double spaced. Also the periods must be aligned in the outline. Change and resubmit." an d "Fov, this is still single spaced and I will not accept it if it is single spaced." I am sorry i think i may not really know w hat "double spaced" really means. Does it means it needs 2 spaces between each words in the whole essay? like this:  "this   sentence  is  in  double  spaced. " And, also i am not very clear about " periods aligned in the outline". Does it means the point '.' in outline should be in the same column? "Introduction I.   Family II. Childhood III. Education IV. Acceptance to PKU Graduate School Conclusion" or "Introduction   I.   Family  II. Childhood III. Education IV. Acceptance to PKU Graduate School Conclusion" Thanks! Fov Yang  Yunfan( 杨韵帆 ) April 4 2021" I just thought you might like to see one of the emails I just got from a student....

Road to Indonesia---Senior Trip

 I am reposting a fb post from a friend here. She is a mother of 7.  I teach the grade 8 son, and Rick meets once a week with the grade 12 son to discuss Dostoyevsky, philosophy, whatever, for an independent study.  Her husband is an airplane mechanic who keeps some of the planes up and running that transport missionaries into the villages . She homeschools the younger children until they are in high school or close to it and then they come to HIS, our school.   I teach 5 of the senior students going on the trip in my Brit Lit class. What special kids. They were so excited about this trip.  I think it says quite a bit that everyone is completely comfortable sending 17 students with only the director and his wife as sponsors.  These are really good kids.  The plane ride is about 5 hours to the other end of Indonesia, which is no minor thing in itself.  (I went to the neighboring zoo for my senior trip.) Therefore we are all on Easter break, st...