Mario is preaching in NE Jakarta. We enjoy the morning service, held in a theater. We have a good lunch together in the mall and visit ACE Hardware and a few furnishing stores. We're gathering information on supplies for next month's move to Bandung, and also learning about culture. We look at the shop displays for what people are buying. Here's what was on sale in the girls' section:
Traffic is fierce: 8 million people are deserting Jakarta for their villages and family reunions. Drivers have gone home to their family celebrations, so a lot of tentative car owners are driving: "annual drivers" as they're known here. It's raining in various suburbs, which doesn't help. After a brief visit to a church friend's place, Mario and Daniella take us all the way through the city and home.
On the way, we stop at Fat Straw for bubble tea. Oh yum. Another favorite spot acquired. Good thing we won't be living in Jakarta: there's way too much food here. Though we hear that Bandung is even better... (or worse?)
We know we're acclimating because of little things: I actually flip the light switch correctly to turn off a room light. When the switch is closest to the wall at the top, it's off. So you press the bottom to turn on the light. (It's opposite to what we're used to, turning lights on by flipping a switch up.)
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| Guess: is it on or off? (Hint: opposite to N. America) |
W makes rice porridge for breakfast in the new cooker. Recipe: 8c water to 1c rice, cooked 1 hour. I stir in a broth cube and we drop hot sauce and Bango (thick soy) on top in our bowls. As usual I can't finish. We're losing weight by eating well and getting good exercise.
Our plans for lunch fall through, so we have a relaxing morning. That is, it fills up with doing laundry, cleaning the flat, and computer chores. We talk to family and friends on the phone and find out one of our sons has a new job. Hurrah! for answered prayer.
W and I walk to the mall after noon, the nearer one this time @40 minutes. I wipe out again in a mud patch at the side of the street. I'm wearing the same flip-flops (Flojos) as the last time I fell. Note to self: they apparently have zero traction walking on leaves (Singapore) or if it's wet (today).
W has wet wipes in his bag with which I can scrub muck off a foot and shoe. The knee of my trousers have to wait until I get to the bathroom in the mall. Unfortunately, it's a classy bathroom with the bidet built into the toilet, rather than a side hose. I clumsily wash my shoe, my food, and my trousers over the toilet, trying not to spray beyond the toilet. When I leave, I dry the toilet seat and the attendant mops the water drops off the floor.
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| Baby loves dessert! Jojo, Kristi, and Kamille |
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| 4 of a kind: the beautiful Bramono women |
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| Hot dessert: herbal jelly, red beans and everything above. Yum. |
The other deserts look and taste interesting too, but they're cold. The air con wicks away the rain from our clothing within minutes.
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| Beans, green tea ice cream, and jelly, plus - well, I don't know! |
Traffic is light on the newly opened ring road: we're home from north to south Jakarta within a half-hour. Almost miraculous. And 10pm when we walk in the door. Our bedding is still damp so we toss it in the dryer. An hour later, barely damp. Good. Bed. Sleep.
Tuesday:
I get my time zones mixed up on a phone call with my Seattle friend Willy. Our accountability group is doing our first Hangout on Monday, so we want to work out the kinks out before then. We have our same home phone number (Seattle) so Willy and I figure things out as we go.
W and I are gathering information from various places in town so that's the plan for the day. Like yesterday, many shops will be closed. The security guard offers to hail a taxi after he opens the gate but we decide to walk again.
Read more:
*God, turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name. Psalm 119:132 ESV
*Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. Proverbs 10:2 ESV
*Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Luke 19:8 ESV
*Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:45-46 ESV
*Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us... Hebrews 12:1 NIV
Moravian Prayer: Lord, you have given us eyes to see and ears to hear. You have also called us to be your hands and to do work that is not always easy. Strengthen us for the work you would have us do.
O loving Lord, let us know righteousness and not evil. Today let us consider the ways we can give, forgive, and set things right in our own lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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