Paper. Work. Walk. Talk. That's all folks.

Blooming bananas in our yard

these school kids took our picture

Ah, so much happens in a week. I sometimes feel tired looking at the day ahead, but I usually feel more tired thinking of the week behind. Smiles.

from 6 countries - our weekly hike

spectacular views from our ridge trails

where's the safety net?

negotiating for rambutan (fruit) sold from the back of a pickup

Traffic jam, hill style: the cycles wait for pedestrians to see them and move over

a dairy farm

We eat lunch at a coffee shop - today day we talk about how important our Thursday walks and lunches are. They provide great stress relief from crossing into a new culture. Most of us depend on time together to decompress and keep doing what we're called to do.

At the end of the day, W, friends, and I head for the Bamboo Shack. Alice leads us in reading about the Spirit's inspiration on artists and donors, from Exodus 36. How interesting - God is specific on what he wants, but he lets skilled craftsmen and teachers set up and manage work and workers.

Friday

The helper explains what words mean, from the kids' vocabulary book I bought 2 weeks ago. She giggles: the easiest words are hardest to explain to a foreigner. "We just know this." Yes, you do; you all do ...

But I don't - yet. And it's great fun to negotiate meanings between English and Bahasa Indonesia. Google Translate helps in a pinch or when I'm totally in the dark. I learn the words for the sides of a box, gagging or muting someone, and a chocolate-colored fruit I've not yet seen. (Maybe not your everyday useful stuff.)

Today's tasks include submitting proposals for two book chapters, reviewing the upcoming Sunday talk with W, and grading the papers submitted from a December course in Bhutan. (Submission deadlines are 1-2 months after the classes: they catch up to us eventually.)

The other odds and ends on my checklist are "maybes." My normally tidy desk looks like it's been hit by a hurricane. Now to work!

Read more:

*You, O Lord, are a refuge. In you, peace and contentment we seek and shall find. In your name we pray. Amen.Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Genesis 28:17

*You shall meditate on the book of the law day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. Joshua 1:8

*I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. Psalm 89:1-2

*They shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid. Ezekiel 34:28

*Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it! Luke 11:28

*The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

*I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Galatians 2:20-21

*A Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. Hebrews 4:9

Moravian Prayer: Dear Lord, in the silence, let us hear you. The glory of God is all around us: the wind as it blows through the trees, the song of the bird, the morning dew, a child’s eyes! What wonder it is to be alive.

May we take time to pause today—to give thanks and meditate on your will for the church. We thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.