Saturday special

The breeze drifts in the sliding door of our hotel room, bringing fresh air up the mountainside. We love the beauty around us. Our breakfast is on a patio overlooking a pool. It feels too cool in the mornings and evenings for a swim, so we enjoy the view. Stefano is preaching tomorrow, so we pray God's peace and rest on him as he prepares.

Breakfast view

In mid-morning, Livia takes us to meet the realtor; we want to negotiate a lease for the first house we viewed in the Ciumbuleuit area in the north end of Bandung. It's an old-style home with separate guest and service wings, 2 lounges that we could use for small group meetings, 2 offices, and a garage. It's been sitting empty for a year in a quiet gated neighborhood. It's in the upper end of our budget, but alternatives in the same price range are 2-3 bed/1 bath apartments in noisy neighborhoods at the bottom of the hill, near the universities.

Could you pray with us? The roof needs repair and the house must be cleaned before we'd move in. Our target date is early August, in time for language school. We hope God has saved the house for us; it looks like an ideal place to birth a faith community of business people and students. We make an offer for a 1-year renewable lease.

The commute home is as bad as the commute to Bandung. The 120 miles from Jakarta took 5 hours on Thursday; today it takes 5.5 hours to drive back. No wonder our friends exclaimed last summer when we drove there in 1.5 hours and back in 2 hours, including rest stops.

BTW: On our way out of town Thursday, Livia gets a call. The purchaser of my IPhone contacts her: what code shall he use to unlock the phone, please? We talk the whole weekend, letting him know we'll be in touch when we're back in Jakarta. We're willing to buy it back for the price he gave the taxi driver. And would he please contact the seller to see if he has my driver's license and wallet? Thank you very much.

It's an "impossible" answer to prayer to hear from the buyer. We were told to write it off as a loss when I forgot it in the taxi last week. But you have been praying, and in answer, it looks like God may give it back, which would be truly miraculous.

From one moment to the next, the favor of God amazes us. We're walking through each day, hour by hour, to see what He will do. We could not earn the favor or opportunities that are emerging through your prayers and support and the kindness of the IES Jakarta team, especially the Bramonos. THANK YOU all.