Sweet Sunday together

Just beautiful, even sitting curbside.

Sunday, January 24.15
The days are flying by. Saturday morning, we walk to Jogja - the local grocer - for dog bones, taking Gypsy for his walk. He is happily tied up while we have a light breakfast at Koloni, a series of food stalls.

We hear Gypsy's deep bark and walk over. When he spots us (shush-ing him) his tail waves exuberantly like the proud flag of a small nation.

W pulls down a suitcase and I pack. I'm a little leery of leaving the suitcase open for a few days. What if a roach gets in and infests our suite when I open the suitcase in Seattle?

"Don't worry," W says. "I haven't seen roaches in our bedroom. Only in the rest of the house." Thanks, hon. He is our exterminator, drowning roaches in the toilet on a regular basis. Sometimes they are dead on their backs. Sometimes they're just flipped over and still kicking. Ugh Ugh Ugh. Yeah. Ugh.

Every night, we hear the lizards chirping above our heads in the bedroom, chasing bugs in the coffered ceilings of this old house. They creep me out because they sit and then dart around. I have been known to shriek when they pop up from behind the bed or the water dispenser.

Besides clean water, I'm looking forward to seeing
these darlings soon!

Ah, water. I'll be able to brush my teeth in the shower when I'm in the USA. We don't take this for granted! Here, we only drink bottled water and must brush our teeth, rinse vegetables, and cook with the same ... just like the locals do. W has a drip going continually in the back kitchen so we don't have to buy water like we used to. One helper uses almost a half-bottle (about 2.5 gallons) to rinse vegetables. That got expensive, even at $.65 for 5 gallons.

W thinks he's trapped all the mice and their babies who were living between the floors. They would come down at night to bite holes in the little packets of spices, mayonnaise, and grains in the kitchen. He set up a security cam to see where they ran across the counters. Between traps, poison, and sticky paper, we think we got the whole tribe.

When we get up today (Sunday), Gypsy needs a walk and then it's time for church. Pastor Terry and his wife are Canadians - we "get" their culture and their references during the talks. The encouragement for me from the sermon is how Elijah (1 Kings 18) thought he was all alone - but there were 101 other prophets of God also serving. We are never alone in the Kingdom of God, no matter what we imagine or how we feel.

It's time to let some women know I won't be back for a while - and to say good-bye after church.

"That is the nature of our work and how it goes for all of us," says Karen. She's right: our friends here are constantly coming and going. You never know who is in town until they show up. And many people move here and leave with the military, with company transfers, and as long-term tourists.

Our view from the church seat: the canopy flaps in the wind today
and it rains while service is on

W asks one of the staff if he knows of good house-minders. The pastor tells him to put a note in the church program. Good! Prayers appreciated for a reliable couple or family to take care of the place. Though we are staggering our time away, it's good to have consistent live-ins.

Tofu fritters

We have a pizza ($5) at Miss Bee and "HURRAH" they have avocado juice, one of my favorite drinks. When avocados are in season, there's nothing quite as wonderful as whipped avocado with a bit of chocolate syrup drizzled inside the glass. Sounds awful? Tastes fabulous.

The server comes over and asks if we want a photo taken. Why not? (We've taken more pictures (and had more taken of us) in Indonesia than in our entire lives before.)

Read more:
*Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. Proverbs 12:25 ESV

*Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Philippians 4:5 ESV

*If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Lord of love and kindness, help us to show your true power. May we seek not our own joy but to bring happiness to others; not our own security but to help others find hope; not our own peace but a harmony that brings others together. Grant us your love. Amen.

From C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity:
I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, ‘I’ve no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I’m a religious man too. I know there’s a God. I’ve felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that’s just why I don’t believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who’s met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!’

Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. 

In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while
yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your
own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.