Adventures in Indonesia

This has been a week full of adventures! Monday started out with a reading eval, which went pretty well. Tuesday I got to go on an MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship - they sponsored me so I could get a visa - I'm a short-term missionary through them while I'm here) flight to Anggruk, a village in the mountains in the interior of the country. I got to go with Kevin as planned, but there were a few other plans, too. I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to be at the MAF hangar by 5:30. I can't remember the last time I was up before the sun. I got geared up with a headset and mic, Kevin explained the controls I wasn't supposed to touch, and we were off! We were in a small plane (I think it's a 206), but it was great! Kevin said it was like an SUV because the places they fly have some of the roughest terrain in the world. He described the look of the jungles from above as broccoli - a pretty apt description, actually, with the tops of palm trees all over the place. The flight took about an hour. It was fairly cloudy most of the time, so the views weren't the best, but I still enjoyed it. We had to fly between mountains and into the valley in order to land. We got pretty close to some of the mountains. The airstrip wasn't all that long, and it was slippery, mossy, and was not paved. I took a video of our landing which I'll have to post someday. We unloaded the plane, I took some pictures, got some pictures of me with the people of the village (I felt like a giant around them - I was the tallest one there!), and then we were off. Kevin kept saying how these landings and take-offs were so challenging, but everything seemed fine to me....I guess ignorance is bliss. :) The airstrip did seem a little short for the take-off, but we were off the ground long before we were at the end of the runway. We had to turn pretty quickly after we took off, or else we'd run into a mountain. Not your typical flying experience, but I was never scared. On the way back, Kevin let me fly for a little bit. I wasn't so great at keeping the plane steady, but I don't think I did too bad for my first time flying. Plus the instruments I was looking at (since it was all clouds up where we were) were on his side of the plane, so I had a funny perspective. We saw some beautiful waterfalls as we were flying - one of the perks to flying after a lot of rain. They were gorgeous! We arrived safely back in Sentani after seeing some great views of the city and the school. It was a great flight - definitely one of the highlights of my whole trip!

On Tuesday afternoon I met with Melanie, the ESL teacher, to talk about Mission Emphasis Week (MEW). We're in charge of planning it for K-8. She'd done quite a bit of brainstorming, so we talked through her ideas and thought of people we could ask to help. We're doing a camp theme, and we're going to have different missionaries come in and share how they ended up doing what they're doing. I'm excited to hear their stories and see the different ways that God works in people's lives. Two of the four people I contacted said they'd help, one is waiting on his schedule, and the other is waiting for his wife to come back to consult with her. I also need to make a flyer to promote it, and learn the signs to some of the themes we'll have for the week. Please be praying for MEW, for Melanie and me as we plan, and for the volunteers who are helping us out. I think it's going to be great, and I'm so glad to be able to serve the people of HIS by helping out. We also got good news on Tuesday about the 4th grade teacher's visa: it passed the meeting in Jakarta on Monday! There are still more steps before Scott will be able to come, but this was a huge hurdle that it got over. Thank you, Jesus!

Wednesday morning I finished up a reading eval, and then I had lunch/recess duty on my own since Eve was at a funeral for a close friend. I was actually pretty nervous about it. There were some issues with a group of kids not wanting another group of kids to play tag with them, and I ended up breaking the rules by moving from where I was originally sitting (one of my students called me on it), but overall it wasn't too bad. After school I got an Indonesian lesson from Ibu Elsye - colors, parts of a face, pronouns, Can I take a picture?, and how to say the time. I had been writing all this down, and before I left she made a copy of my notes so she can write a test for me for next week. I guess I have to study! We had Bible study that night at Charis's house. Joyce graciously drove us at night in the stick-shift MAF Panther. We had a good study, and were on our merry way home when the car started thumping like there was a flat tire. Joyce started pulling over, and then the back of the car started scraping along the road - the rear passenger (left side) wheel had fallen off, and the axle (?) was scraping along the road. We called someone at MAF to come rescue us, and Doug & Karin Allrich were there in about 15 minutes. Some nice Indonesians rolled our tire to us from the middle of the road, and I was able to document the event with pictures. I always have my camera with me. :) Karin brought us back to the school while Doug figured out how to take care of the Panther. They suspect that someone did something to the lug nuts because they wouldn't just come off. Whatever that person's intentions were (to steal a tire, to steal one of us...), we're grateful that we were all together on the main road, and that help came quickly.

Thursday I did an artic eval, which went pretty quick. After school I went to the Feunekes' house. Erica had invited me over for supper and to visit her helper's house. It's not common for Indonesians to show random people (like me) around their house, but Erica's good friends with her and explained the situation, and she was glad to show me her house. She even let me take pictures. They live simply - concrete floors, corrugated metal walls and roof, buckets of water to take a bath, a wood stove, a kerosene burner, and a box to put over the burner to turn it into an oven. They sleep on blankets on the floor, and the river is the community bathroom. They don't have a frig, so they buy whatever they'll need for the day at the pasar. The only food she kept in the house was oil and rice. She did have a rice cooker - a recent purchase. Erica made nasi goreng (fried rice) for supper, which was delicious! They did family devotions after the meal. It was great to be a part of their family. They have 5 kids, so it's a busy house! I helped the 3rd grader with his homework, and listened to Erica read part of The Last Battle to 2 of the boys before they went to bed. I also got my first motorcycle ride ever when Erica brought me back to my apartment. It was a great day!

On Friday I got up at 5 am so I could talk to Joel who's in San Diego visiting his brother and his family. We're now 17 hours apart, which makes it challenging to find times to talk when we're both available and not sleeping. ;) Barb Hoving left brownies in the kitchen for the teachers during break - they were delicious! Then in the afternoon Eve and I had a graduation party for one of the first grade students we dismissed from speech, which we celebrated with chocolate cake! We also started a reading eval on a high school student - very different from the elementary students. ;) I worked on some reports after school, and then headed to the Friday night game and supper with Justine and Charis. We enjoyed Italian subs and chips....and chocolate cake. I splurged on a Twix, too, so I got my fix of chocolate for the day.

Saturday I stocked up at the Hypermart - they had yogurt again! I got to talk with my parents, Hunter, and one of my best friends on Skype in the afternoon, which was wonderful. That evening was the Valentine's Banquet. One of the MAF guys used to be a chef, and he and his wife helped out with the meal prep. It was delicious! We had salad, bruchetta (sp?), rolls, chicken or tuna (with mango), roasted rosemary potatoes, eggplant ratatouille, and creme brulee for dessert - it was phenomenal! We also watched the Audry Hepburn version of Sabrina - such a good movie!

Today I went to church with Mike, Eve, and Jeremy at Pondok Kemuliaan (Hut of Glory), their Indonesian church. It was great! Pak Luke, one of the computer guys at the school, led worship. The pastor talked about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, and loving your neighbor as yourself. He also referenced the Great Commission in Matthew, and said that you're not a disciple unless you have disciples - what a great challenge! He also talked about working as to the Lord as a making whatever we do an offering to Him, whether that's what we do at our job, studying in school, or making supper. Of course, this is what I picked up from Eve translating to me - I didn't understand a whole lot of the Indonesian, but I did recognize a few words. The Brooks treated me for lunch at the Manna House after church, where we had black pepper beef and a tofu dish with rice. I preferred the tofu. This afternoon I got to talk with Stacia and Seth for the first time since I've been gone, and I finally worked on some reports.

Sorry for the excessively long post, but it's been an eventful week! It's hard to believe that it's the end of February already. The time's gone by quickly. This week is the half-way point for my internship. Maybe it won't be quite as adventurous as last week so you'll have less to read. ;)