Nearing the End

Last week had me praying and worrying like crazy! It was really hard to not be with my family helping and to not even know what was going on. I spent a lot of time searching for information about the flood (difficult to find specific information about Beulah) and looking at pictures on Facebook and from the Tribune. What I saw did not look good. I got to wish Hunter a Happy 15th Birthday - he was in the midst of flood clean-up, but he did get a cake and streamers. :) I got to talk with my dad, Stacia, and Lexi, too. They were all in pretty good spirits, but exhausted and sore. I'm so appreciative of my hard-working family. I really do wish I could've been there to help. One of the reasons I decided to do my internship in Indonesia was to get more of a realistic picture of what being a missionary was like. This isn't exactly what I was thinking of, but being away from family during situations like this is extremely difficult. The limitations of communication (primarily the time change) and not being able to physically do anything were really hard on me. I did lots of praying and recruited as many prayer warriors as I could. The teachers and staff at the school have been wonderful and faithful in praying. The 8th graders, 4th & 5th graders, and others I'm sure have also been praying for my family as we deal with all this. I met with some parents this week and told them a little about what was going on. They said that my parents will never let me leave again because of all the things that happen when I'm gone. ;) And they also said that being away from the family is one of the hardest things about being on the mission field. I've been experiencing that first-hand. (My dad told me a few days ago that the water was within 4" of the front doors of the office of the lumberyard. The shingles and railroad ties got wet, but he doesn't think there's too much damage in the yard.)

I enjoyed stromboli for supper on Tuesday night at Rich & Barb's. She's such a good cook! I met with several parents this week to go over the reports from evaluations we've done. Mission Emphasis Week (MEW) was a huge success! Melanie and I had a great time with it (occasionally stressed, but not too bad). My camp nickname was "JoJo," and the kids got a kick out of calling me that all week. We had some great speakers come in. The first day was the instrumental music teacher here. He talked about "God working all things for good," and he told of his family's difficulties and how that prepared them for ministry here. I really appreciated his message on Monday morning when I was worrying about the flooding. We had a video of one of the MAF pilots telling his story; the missionary dentist came in with one of his students he's training to do dental work, and they shared about how they ask every patient if they are a Christian, and if they're not they share the Gospel with them; A missionary who works in one of the villages in the interior doing community development told of her family's perseverance in doing missions, even when they weren't doing what they felt God was calling them to do; A couple teachers here who are also MK's shared their stories as well. We did lots of singing (I even led a couple of the songs....who would've thought!), and we started off with skits every morning. At the end of the week we had a time for the students to share how God was speaking to them. One student said she felt called to be a doctor overseas, another said she wanted to be a teacher for MKs, and other said he felt God calling him to be a missionary. Later, I heard another story of a student who felt called to be a missionary pilot. Praise the Lord for using MEW to speak to these kids! It was such a blessing to be a part of it, and it was a lot of fun, too!


Camp H.O.P.E.: Mission Emphasis Week

Saturday was a great day....I got to go to the beach! Several families went, and they let me tag along. It was great getting to know them more, and it was amazing to go snorkeling with Kathy. She pointed out clown fish in sea anemone, sea cucumbers, "Christmas trees" in the coral (little tufts of color that pull back into their hole when you touch it), and so much more. It's a whole different world down there! There were bright blue starfish, and a pink puffy starfish, too. I found some fun shells and enjoyed time with the kids and just relaxing. When I got back I got cleaned up and then headed to a party for Scott, the 4th grade teacher who's finally here!!!! Thank you for praying! We had a potluck and then played a few rounds of Telephone Pictionary. It was a blast!


At Scott's Party

I did a lot of the usual things, too. Bible study on Wednesday night, Indonesian lesson with Ibu Elsje that afternoon. The bumps on my legs are almost gone (yay!), but I've been getting more mosquito bites lately. We had another earthquake on Saturday night - this one was a 5.9, and the epicenter was only 85 miles away! It lasted longer than the other one. One friend who lives across the road from me said that it moved their bed a couple feet! Nothing in my apartment moved (at least as far as I know)....I was just annoyed that it made my bed squeak. The Friday night game and meal was on Thursday night this week since the high schoolers had their spiritual emphasis weekend retreat. Internet was down for part of the weekend so I wasn't as connected as normal, but I survived. Friday night Joyce, Justine, and I walked to the mall for some Papa Ron's pizza and our traditional weekend trip to the Hypermart. Last night (Monday), Doug & Karin had us over for supper, along with Vangie and Alyssa. We got delicious chicken curry, krupuk, and molasses cookies dipped in white chocolate. We played Apples to Apples and a round of Telephone Pictionary. A wonderful evening!

Today I saw my first student that I'll work with for the last time. I'm going to miss these kids! I've grown pretty attached to them in the past 3 months. I'll definitely be leaving part of my heart here when I leave in 2 weeks. This is my last official week working at the school. Next week the school is getting their 6-year accreditation visit, so you can be praying for that. Only 1 more week til Joel gets here....I can't wait! My time here has gone quickly, but my time apart from Joel certainly has not. Three months is a long time! Please be praying for his safe travel and his preparations....he's bringing lots of things from the States for people here - everything from shaving cream to art supplies to computer screens. This has gotten quite long, so I'll end here. Have a great week!

Photos from the Beach