Friday
It's time to renew the seasons at the house. Before all the post-movie-night chaos is restored into its place, we clean the great room, top to bottom. The dining room tablecloth gets updated from blue and black to Thanksgiving harvest colors: brown, red, and gold.
The living room slipcovers trade from purple to red.
The art is lifted off the ledge and carried to storage upstairs. Meanwhile, the guys bring the wrapped Christmas tree down from upstairs storage. Sumi and I swap half the black buffet drawers for red ones. But that's as far as we get on Christmas setup.
We're supposed to be packing for a weeklong trip. Instead, texts are flying back and forth for the tomorrow's event: "Do you have ...?" and "Any chance you could bring ..." We agreed to bring a barbecue, deep-fryer, and simple camping decor which is a collection in itself. The guys drop off fryer and grill at the event venue.
Through the day, the "soft ask" evolves into "Can you please bring...." plates, cups, recycling pails, forks and spoons, storage containers, and more. For 100 people.
Luckily, there's "stuff" used for movie night and community dinners. So we gather it up again from where it was just put away. Things pile up inside my office door before Gum loads them into the car for tomorrow.
I spot only 3 strings of bunting (instead of 7). Did the guys give up? Quit and hope they were done on Tuesday? Not happening! Our helpers carry on today. The strings are needed for tomorrow.
Gum spray-paints plastic bags in yellow, red, and copper colors for a fake fire. Only the wood is real for the pretend-you're-camping theme. (Too many Western volunteers. We value safety before reality.) Looks fine.
Angie's working on this year's Advent theme: Jesus the Light of the World with beautiful graphics. She orders labels and banners. We measure, text, re-measure, confer ... I think we're almost there; she'll bring it along Sunday morning.
Saturday
We pick Laurel up at 8:00 and head over too Tanikota. Clau and I have good help stringing the bunting and setting up the rest of the decor. It's simple. Basic. And festive. Most volunteers and kids start to arrive at 9:00. There are songs, games, lessons, and writing in notebooks.
Laurel and Roy lead their final English lessons with the older children.
These kids are really learning!
There's lots of food.
The parents and kids are excited. They have a special surprise, a farewell program for Roy and Laura who leave Bandung this month for reassignment in Hawaii.
W and I leave Tanikota after lunch for KB, the next town. It's maybe 10 miles away but takes an hour in Saturday traffic. I need something to save my back with the hours of writing and we've found a second-hand chair.
And then I need tea after a morning in the sun.We head to an AlfaMart, similar to a 7-11 convenience store. What a complicated process for tea! Buy a bottle of water and a box of teabags. Get a hot-cup (for coffee) and pour water into it. Microwave water 2 min to heat. Pour hot water over a teabag in the thermos. X3.
There. A thermos of tea for under IDR20.000 (about $1.30) and 6 minutes. I hand the box of teabags to PakG for the driver-room at home.
We're back late. As night falls, we're ready for rest rather than packing. I set the alarm for 5:00 a.m.
Sunday
We pack our suitcases. I pick flowers from the garden for a quick arrangement, we load our suitcases into the car, and are at BIC at 7:00 a.m.
The Advent banners designed by Angie look great!
Aaron comes to BIC wearing his painted Crocs. He's an amazing artist at 12 yrs old. Don't you think Crocs would buy some of his designs?
Pastor Yoel of New Hope is our special speaker. He encourages BIC to love and serve our city as a community of faith.
Afterward, we enjoy lunch with his family and LT member Angie at #Nara. The food is good! and plentiful. As always, the servers take amazing care of our table.
At noon, we leave the restaurant for the airport. It's a short walk to the plane in Bandung. Everyone streams from the terminal across the taxiway to the plane for a 2:20 hour flight.
We stay in the Medan airport hotel overnight since our flight leaves in the morning. We're tired enough to stay in after a quick supper and a snack of chips and a Peanut Pie. Oh look! the A&W in the airport offers a treat with durian (stinky fruit) that some love. We skip it.
Monday
Breakfast is included at the hotel but I'm not really hungry yet. The chef drops by to see if we like the food. Bubur ayam (rice porridge - good), tumis sayur (steamed veggies), and kwayteow (noodles with hot peppers), and an egg for me.
I finish with a tiny dry cake-like brownie, in the style favored here.
First, we have to find the correct check-in lane. We miss the tiny monitor with "Lion Air International" in the middle of a clutter of 20 others. We go to a Lion Air line and queue for 20 minutes. But ... oops.
"Go to that one," says the attendant once we get to the front of the line. Apparently we are in LA Domestic. We need international flights, since we're going to Penang, Malaysia. (Bottom red dot: Bandung. Blue dot - Medan. Upper red dot - Pengang)
She points to the another section of the airport. No problem. That's how it goes - you ask and try and ask again ... and eventually, there you are.
A bus takes passengers to the plane from the terminal. It's hard work for those boarding in wheelchairs or severely disabled.
It's a 30 minute flight and the first glimpse of a new place is interesting.
Penang offers an efficient customs and immigration process. W has researched public transport as usual, so we're on the bus for about an hour to our hotel. When we hop off at the bus stop, dragging our luggage. I'm hungry. The tea shop nearby sells only tea.
"But try Rasa Rasa around the corner," the vendor recommends. Good call. The bihun (noodles) with sambal (2 kinds of hot sauce) hits the spot.
What a cute hole-in-the-wall, just the kind of place we love to try.
Our hotel is a 4-minutes suitcase-schlep away, once we've eaten. The view is pretty. The room is small but clean. And it's near the bay where we'll explore more tastes. W is attending to business over the next days but my conference starts in 2 days. After the whirlwind week behind us, it's nice to have the biggest decision be, "What's for supper?"
W is restless. While I write, he heads out to buy a Malaysian e-SIM card for the phone. He tries 7-8 shops without any resolution. He sends me pictures of the Boh teas available in the nearest grocer. Get one of those and those and those, please.
Read more:
*Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Jeremiah 1:7 NIV
*Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud:
“To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it. Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right.
"My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge.
"Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her." Proverbs 8:1-11
*Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you. Acts 18:9-10
Moravian Prayer; Lord, it can be scary to go to those to whom you send us; scarier still to speak your word to them. Grant us courage to say what you would have us say, knowing you are with us. Amen.
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