April means Easter

The weeks before Easter are non-stop.  After returning from the States, I am without Waldemar's help or an admin for 2 weeks. That is a crunch!

Waldemar is in the USA for 2 extra weeks. He comes back just in time to change suitcases, speak on Sunday, and then flies out to teach a week of seminary in Malang (2 hr flight). His trip is a day shorter than expected: he can't get a flight back on the Easter weekend - so classes last longer each day. But he's home a day early, which gives him an extra day of rest. or it would, if he'd rest).

Tuesday, while W is away teaching, a group of volunteers shows up at BIC. We clear Christmas ornaments, old children's items, and other clutter from backstage of the auditorium.

Besides gaining a classroom, we clean the sound booth and organize music binders and instruments into a side closet. It's a big job - but Della provides a delicious boxed lunch. We all work together to make the space sparkle. (On Easter, we use the space backstage for one of the Experience Easter stations ... good timing, thanks everyone!)

In-between somewhere, I've written a Holy Week devotional booklet. Nicole (Children's Director) has a friend who prints it, posters, and other pages. On Palm Sunday, we pass out the booklets for people to engage in Holy Week. A few mention how much they enjoy the activities in the booklets, reading and thinking about what Jesus has done. Cool. Me too.

Easter Sunday 2019
On Easter, morning, W and I are at the international church before 7. Many other volunteers arrive shortly after we do. Our young adults group, the special Easter volunteers, arrive by 8. Everything is in place, thanks to Nicole's hard work.

W and I speak at our regular gathering at 9, before dividing into 4 groups at 10. Each group, accompanied by 2 volunteer guides, takes the next hour to go through four Experience Easter stations.

The stations are Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, the Cross, and the Resurrection. It makes the Story come alive for us all - it's especially good that families get to go through together. The kids enjoy the "disappearing paper" at one station. The volunteers are awesome - they make it enjoyable for all.

And then we eat together - everyone brings food to share, and everyone is full when we're done.

Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday
The routines resume. Monday morning, after walking the dogs, I lay down on my bed for a brief nap before the study ... and fall fast asleep. Good thing Waldemar is leading the study - I wake with my alarm just before our lunch appointment.

Our new office admin is getting used to us and new routines. He knows where a lot of things are - before W returns, Sanny and I clean out the rest of storage. Once W comes back, his computer gets hooked up, and I pass on things that landed on my desk before Easter.

All week, I go into the office to debrief Easter and clear up - I like to wrap up completely and plan the next year. Then for about a week, I take hours alone to rest. After a big push and lots of detail work (like this Easter), my mind needs to recover.

"When do you take a break?" people often ask. Just like this. I go go go and then rest rest rest. I know when I'm done resting when my energy is back and I'm ready for the next thing.

W and I have breakfast at Pino Terrace for Rp15,000 a few mornings, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends. The governor of the province is having breakfast there one morning - and poses for pictures after asking what we're doing in Bandung.

I'm bemused as I watch the lawn being swept with a long straw broom - every day the trees drop leaves and needles, so someone will sleep them into a pile and take them away.

Thursday

We go for our first walk in months - in the hills of Lembang. It's beautiful and refreshing.

Our destination at the end of the 8 km (5 mile) hike is the Orchid Forest - where all kinds of national orchids are tied to trees. Beautiful.

 The steps down are not exactly even in width or height. The rough boards are laid on top of rough risers. We do 30 flights of stairs on this walk (one way, up - not up and down).

The army is out in force - lots of trucks are parked nearby. Maybe they're somewhere in the forest, training?Someone has carved a stump into an ocean sculpture. And the chessmen are 3' high wayang puppet figures. 

Lunch halfway back to home is good: a self-serve Indonesian buffet. It's cooked but served at room temperature, as usual. The corner where the dishes sit is dark, so I don't know what I'm looking at for most of it. At least it's near the kitchen. Most of the food is brown or golden from frying. No wonder my cholesterol is getting higher!

Saturday
We have a Community Dinner again tonight - but W has to go down the hill first to courier our passports to Jakarta. We have a visa run coming up again; someone misplaced part of our paperwork so we have a time crunch for renewal, which means a mandatory trip to Singapore soon.

Tonight, W is speaking about the wise use of resources, including money, well. I customize a game board which also serves as decor (placemats.) The game pieces are little colored candy balls. We can eat them once we're done!

Read more:

*Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. 

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”   The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Psalm 96:7-10  NIV

*Satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Psalm 90:14

*The Lord says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good.” Isaiah 55:2

*Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal. John 6:27

*Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 1:3

Moravian Prayer: Dear God, when we consider Jesus, we see one who nourishes us, leads us, and fits us for service in your name. We will never be hungry when we follow him. 

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who is our lamb, and who has conquered. Let us follow Him. Hallelujah! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.