Love

I think that the word love is very powerful, but when you put that small four letter word into action you can move mountains. This is something that God has been really showing me (Julie) as I walk and drive through the streets here in Indonesia. One of the first things that they will teach you here about the cultural is that the people are very social and love talking with you. Actually, if you just nod your head in acknowledgement their whole face will light up just by that small act. And if they feel that you really are interested in them we have noticed that sometimes it feels like they want to cling to you.

Then God reminded me of a very important verse the other day from the book of Ephesians 5:1-2. "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."  Really it is a very simple verse with simple commands but I think it is something that gets lost along the way with my busy life here. My hearts prayer is that as I walk through these streets here in Indonesia or where God leads me that I will be imitating His love towards the people.

Back to the Grind

Last week, well most of last week and, well most of us enjoyed a break from school.  Julie continued studying while the kids had spring break and I had 4 days off from class.  Julie was able to move her schedule around so that we could do some family outings in the mornings before the afternoon rains came.  A couple mornings our family headed to our favorite swimming spot.  Then on Wednesday morning we piled on Buzz and JR for a ride to the waterfalls Franklin and I had visited about a month ago.  The falls were flowing heavier this time and we brought extra clothes so we (the kids and I) played under the falls for a bit.

This week we are back to normal with the kids back in school and I'm half way through week 1 of unit 7.  Which means I have approximately only 55 days of classroom time left here in Salatiga.  However we are still waiting to hear from MAF when we will be cleared to move to Sentani. We pray that we find out sooner than later as waiting can sometimes be very difficult and stressful. Maybe there is some character building that we need to experience while waiting in which case hopefully we learn it fast :).

This past week I was also able to take each of our kids out for a special meal just the two of us.  The only problem is we haven't found or made arrangements for a really long time for someone to watch the kids for us so that Julie and I could enjoy a date night.  Maybe at our next base there will be some easier options for making arrangements for date nights.  I am missing living close to grandparents for the availability and willingness to watch the kids for the evening or a night away.

Hopefully the pictures of the green grass and palm trees can bring you to a happy place for those still knee deep in snow and living in the deep freezer of Canada and northern USA.  It may not be quite the same, as our friends and family who are looking forward to not having to shovel snow and sport the winter parka, I'm looking forward to not having to carry my rain gear with me every-time we leave the house.  I've been told that in May/June we can start leaving the rain gear at home.  We've learned the hard way a couple times that it's not smart to look at the clear and sunny skies and leave your rain gear at home because 10-20 minutes later you can find yourself in a tropical down pour.  So clouds or no clouds, the rain gear is an essential item to have along even for short trips between Oct/Nov through May/June.

Isaac standing in the background Franklin under the water after jumping in.

Isaac making his splash.

Isaac heading to the bottom.

Mister Isaac fishman himself.

Julie checking out the falls at a relatively dry distance.

Jaclynn and Dad on an afternoon Lunch date.

Pak Denni and his assistant. 

This last picture has nothing to do with the above post but just a random picture of Indonesians using there above average biking skills to haul the everyday things on the back of a scooter.  For sake of clarity in front of Pak Denni (Good friend of ours) is a small banana tree that he is taking home to transplant in his yard and his assistant on the back of the bike is carrying one of our dinning room chairs to Pak Denni's which is in need of some repair.  You may noticed the comment "above average biking skills" that maybe an understatement as the traffic here is indescribably different yet there seems to be far fewer accidents here then back in North America where there is far more control and regulations to follow while driving.  Traffic laws here seem to be more of recommendations rather than hard and fast laws, but it some how works.  I will have to be careful when we return as I have adapted to Indonesian driving maybe to well.  Passing on the shoulder or in the opposite lane with on coming traffic feels normal now.  Having said this I don't think I'm quite ready to be hauling banana trees around yet :).

Burning Up Rubber & Brakes

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Above is the approximate route of my (Greg) most recent adventure.  There were some slight variations because of turning the wrong way and I'm going by memory of what I imagine some of the side roads looked like, not knowing exactly where we were but just a general idea of the area.

The main purpose of this trip was to take my friends cousin back home to her in-laws.  She had been out visiting her family over Christmas as her husband is out of the country working at the moment.  We had planned on taking the trip two weeks ago but Mt. Kelud decided it needed to belch out a bunch of ash which covered all of East Java and a lot in Central Java which included Salatiga.  We experinced a few millimeters here in Salatiga but was much worse were we went as we were about 1/2 way between Salatiga and Mt. Kelud at our final destination.  My odometer read 393 kms when I got home on Sunday afternoon.  May not seem like a lot but it took about 7 hours to get there with one stop for a flat tire, one stop for a quick bite to eat then a longer stop to visit one of her friends point B on the map then continuing on to her in-laws.  The trip home was a little quicker, we left a little before 8:00 AM and we were back in Salatiga a little after 1:00 PM.  Didn't take a lot of pictures during the trip just a few of the area and of a cute baby monkey that one of the neighbors had caught.

Not sure how to describe what it's like driving here particularly the style of driving required to keep up.  Maybe I'll just say I have a headache today as I go through withdrawals of living on adrenalin Saturday and Sunday.  My friends daughter road with me on my bike and we came home with all our toes and fingers still intact and even all the mirrors and signal lights are still attached and in one piece on the bike as there were several opportunities to trade paint and parts with others on the trip.  A couple times I asked my passenger if she was scared yet.  She is either calm as a cucumber or she is a good liar.  I will admit a few times my heart was racing a little faster than I prefer.

Got to another taste of what life is like in the villages of Java.  They don't have a lot but they are very generous with what they do have.  They had me sleep on a mattress of sorts while they slept on the tile floor with a sheet and a pillow.  And breakfast was what was left over from the night before, keep in mind that I don't remember seeing a fridge, so Lord willing I won't experience any fun stomach bugs over the next couple days.  So far so good.

This wasn't from the trip but it was taken the day we had originally planned the trip.  And being that I had a bunch of free time I felt a trip to the bank would be to make a withdrawal would liven up my day.   But I found myself short a black hat, spurs and a couple six shooters to make my withdrawal so I just ended up running my errands I need to do instead :).

Their rice field nestled below a beautiful rock formation.

This was the monkey mentioned above.  He didn't want to let go once he attached himself to my friends arm.