Road to ?????

 I cannot believe that I am actually writing this.  But we just received word that Indonesian visa/work permit requirements have changed. They are not granting visas to people over 60....well that is us.  Therefore we cannot remain in Papua, Indonesia for next school year.  I cannot express how surprised/heartbroken/expectant we are.  We have loved the kids here so very much. I have enjoyed my teaching more than any other position I have ever had.  But God has very clearly shut this door. (If He had not been so firm about it, we would never have listened to Him, I think.)  Soooo, here we go again.  We are pretty good at making these kinds of moves, and it is always an exciting time to see what the Lord does. Maybe this time we have a bit more time to get things done. We have contacted a school in Rawanda back. This was our second choice if we had not come to Indonesia. We will see where that leads.  A really strange occurence was that a schoo...

Road to Indonesia---Painful Knee

 Yesterday I fell down coming out of a public bathroom.  I wrenched my knee. (It is the one that has not been replaced. Does that make it my good one or my bad one?)  I was in serious pain last night, but it is better this morning.  I do not know what that means, so please pray.  I have to walk about 1/3 of a mile up and down hill to get to school.  There are no realistic options to get me back and forth.  I just need to be healed.

Return from OE

 We had OE (Outdoor Education) Sunday today in church. We heard the testimonies of the kids ...and leaders after their 2 week adventure.  There also was a wonderful video explaining every thing.  I was blessed.  The kids were touched.  They were able to share many things with the local people, but as usually happens, the things shared with the kids was more significant.  They were also able to extend the airstrip by about 50 meters, exhausting work.  Currently the planes cannot even take the entire missionary family of 4 in and out at the same flight, but they are closer now to being able to do that.   I pray for continued spiritual deepening in our students. 

Road to Indonesia---Two Stories

 Two testimonies to relay from the prayer and praise time in church this morning.  One was from one of the missionaries who ministers to the Dem people whom I have mentioned before: the tribe who received the Gospel so joyfully, after years of waiting.  The missionary reminded us that it had been about a year since the Bible teaching team had gone into the Dem.  The result was about 70+ tribal members becoming believers. The missionary said that last week they had a mini war in the community.  One of the new believers had his foot wounded. They pumped his foot full of lidocaine and pulled the arrow out.  The next Sunday the two warring groups still showed up at church.  Old beliefs die hard and they feared not showing up for church in case God would punish them severely for not attending. By custom of any tribe in Papua if you have been hurt you seek revenge. It was expected the injured man would demand 20 pigs and 50 million rupiya ($3,000 USD). ...

Road to Indonesia---OE

 A week into their stay at the remote village the students seems to be doing fine on their outdoor education (OE) experience.  There are no phones or other outside communication for the students during this two weeks. (Can you imagine teenagers agreeing to that?)  But every day one of the six teams writes notes home to their parents.  These notes are posted in social media for all of us to see.  Most are reassurance to their parents that they fine.  Some are funny. Some talk about dealing with homesickness. Many talk about the cold compared with Sentani.  Many also praise the good food....I don't know, most mission trips I have been on, good food was not part of the experience.  These leaders and organizers care very deeply about making this a wonderful time for the kids.  One leader, a father of  former students who has gone on many previous OE's, wrote that because of recovery from recent covid, he will not be able to go on the rigorou...