Flights and happy landings

Sunday, February 16, 2025

We love Sundays. I watch Feibe online, preaching her first English sermon. Way to go! It's a blessing and pure joy to watch young leaders hone their skills.

W and I attend the morning service at BNC (Bellevue Neighborhood Church). We feel right at home: people from many nations are present. Is that the best of all worlds? being international while having a Trader Joes nearby? ha ha

Alan Ehler preaches on God's healing power. It's a beautiful affirmation of God's care. We attended BNC as students, married and went back to Canada, and then came back with our young family. Today we visit with friends we haven't seen in years. Those include two admirable young women for whom we pray regularly.

For lunch at Fang's Noodles, we order 2 dishes plus a bowl of rice. The bill gives us a bit of sticker shock. The rice we added at the last minute is $3 for half an Indonesian portion! We can feed the team in Bandung at a decent restaurant for the total.

Melissa treats us to a Chinese massage in a nearby strip mall. These guys do a good job. We feel the easing of muscles as they grind  elbows and fingers into our backs and feet.

While I write and catch up on messages in our flat, M makes supper: salmon, pineapple chicken, a crisp salad ... whew. The family eats together before we head downstairs for a hangout. The grandkids make us laugh - they're endlessly creative and funny (and fun!)

They played the bird whistles we brought from Turkey earlier. We sent them outside to run up and down the driveway as they warbled. Today they race penguin figures accompanied by a digital tune on a track from Bandung. It's equally noisy and cheerful.

T has found our favorite Malaysian tea (his and mine) on Amazon. We can't even buy this in Indonesia. (Our friend DrW brings a package each time she visits her kids there in Malaysia.)

The guys do what they usually do - hang out with devices in hand, checking info, sharing memes, and catching up.

We give Jonathan a big hug before he heads out. They'll do a "guys night" tomorrow but I'll take all the hugs I can get before he moves to Germany in a month or two. He was a special child, full of laughter and love for his siblings. Isn't it a blessing when kids grow up to be responsible and beloved adults?

Monday

M sends down a scone for breakfast. Yummy, with tea. We start to pack for home. What global workers put in their suitcases might surprise you. We focus on what we can't get abroad rather than vacation-style preparations.

We pack local gifts for others and kitchen wares (including SOS pads from the dollar store, silicone pot lids, and a wide-mouthed funnel from my old kitchen). I wrap a jar of clover honey in a recycled Amazon bag (bubble wrap) and surround it with a big bag of crackers. I got new cookie sheets for movie-night cooking marathons and some book studies.

Of course, we include monstrous TJ chocolate for baking and a few peanut-butter cups for stress relief. Chocolate may be heavy but it's as valuable as gold! With an extra suitcase, thanks to W's flyer status, we'l be stocked up for months.

I found 2 new sport tops to replace worn-out ones; they're tucked between things we don't want smashed. Tomorrow we'll add Keelee's cookies, some cheese from the freezer, and lesser items until we max out our luggage weight. We pack and repack.

Someone asks about my morning travel makeup. It's 2 minutes to done, unlike in Bandung where I add sunblock and insect repellent after washing my face. These 4 items, tucked into the front pocket of a purse, suffice for days or weeks away: a foldable hairbrush, eye liner pencil, eyebrow pencil, and lip color. (If I forget one, it's easily replaced at any makeup counter.)

When feeling ambitious, I use an eyebrow brush and Chapstick. (Hardly ever, she says. 2 minutes are long enough.)

One of our meal favorites, easily available here but not at home, is pre-made ravioli. We eat some for lunch with a tomato sauce I find in the pantry. A cup of buttermilk! (my grandpa's favorite) gentles the acidic sauce. I've never found buttermilk in Bandung, though we make a baking substitute with a tablespoon of vinegar in 1-2 c of regular milk.

We're usually tired when we get home, jumping ahead 15 hours on the clock after a few long flights. So today's the right day to catch up and write a monthly newsletter.

For supper, Melissa and the grandkids share their leftovers and ours while the guys go out together. Yummy. 

Jonathan drops by afterward to chat about his future and his calling to showing kindness in the world. We pray together and send him off with a hug. It may be a long time before we see him again.

Tuesday

It's the last day in Seattle. I call Mom and a few others to say goodbye and thanks. Breakfast and lunch are leftovers - why leave stuff in the fridge or toss it? We close up the suitcases after a shower and doing laundry. 

As we tidy up, we find boxes of forgotten items. At some point when he wholesaled tea, W ordered 20 Ingenuity pots. We have many left, even after giveaways. I put one in the suitcase and send another to a friend.

My delight today is finding Auntie Molly's cookbook. She died almost 20 years ago and her cookbook went missing. I'd agree to digitize it and looked several times through my boxes for it. Then yesterday, it was lying in front of the bookshelf ... in plain sight. Thank you, God. A bonus gift of memories. I can almost taste her food as I browse the recipes.

The old-style German cursive is familiar: she wrote me regularly from when I was a teen to young-married. Then Uncle E took over correspondence. They sent letters and postcards from their travels around the world - Singapore, South Africa, India, China ... they were world travelers each year. A few years ago, I gave him back those letters.

I scan the pages and clippings before sending the files to the extended family. Inside one pocket of the cookbook is a little green slip of paper titled Roly Poly Strudel. What?! I can't believe it. Here is the recipe I asked my mom for 2 weeks ago. Mom had forgotten baking this roll, which is filled with nuts and Turkish delight. Long ago, I guess she wrote the recipe out for her older sister. What an unexpected find. There's a BIG smile on my face.

AuntieM had a quirk of squirreling money away in hidden places. One of UncleE's requests after her funeral was that we'd let him know when money turned up. It did - in coat pockets, in corners of the house, and in other places.

Today I find $35 Canadian in $5 bills in the cookbook's pockets. It makes me laugh and warms my heart to think of the "best auntie" who loved me since I was a child. I send Uncle E a note letting him know that he has more money than he thought. Let's see how to get it back to him. [He says, "keep it!"]

In the evening, T drives us to SeaTac airport. We stay in the lounge until boarding time. I'm so relieved when W gets a whole row for the +11 hour flight ... but he insists I take it. So I sleep - 5 hours! and lots of resting time. It's incredible what a difference it makes to the body to lie down. He sleeps about the same amount of time in my seat across the aisle. Who else has such a thoughtful husband? (Not many wives, I'll wager.)

Wednesday

We "lose the day" between time zone changes to 15 hrs ahead and the Pacific dateline. Our flight leaves early in Seattle and arrives in Taiwan another hour early so it's a long 6-hr layover. We start in our regular lounge before W checks out the ChinaAir lounge. The airline gave him a pass to their lounge as a frequent flyer in their group. I tag along.

There's a beautiful greyhound bronze in the entry.

It's a quieter space, more comfy, and has good food. I avoid airplane meals this time around. The food has been ... well, mostly indifferent. Since I"m not hungry, there's no sense in shoveling down a meal because it's there.

The Asian flight attendants are a marvel. They're quick, courteous, and watching for service opportunities. It's a contrast to the rude service in the West, where there are 101 rules for what employees can and cannot do. Workers must ensure they get their breaks and tend to their own comfort with limits for serving passengers in the economy zones. American flights feel like people are "just doing my job."

Before leaving Bandung, I wrote on a half-sheet of paper: "Please let me sleep. Thanks" - with a smiley face on the side. On each flight, I stick it on the knob of the fold-down table. Except for the Delta flight from Austin, flight attendants honor that and let me rest. The China Air crew even tags my seat with a red sticker, "Call us anytime you need something." When I wake, they rush over and ask if I need a meal (late) or anything else. WOW.

Between conversations with fellow passengers, I pull a hoodie on backwards with the hood over my face. I can't sleep if there are flashing lights = people adjusting their screens, flipping on their overhead lights, and cabin lights means no rest for me. The reverse jacket is the perfect blackout solution. Plus it is furry and keeps me warm in the cold cabins. Maybe some people rest better when it's cold? I wake as soon as my fingers and toes are chilled.

Thursday

The flight touches down at 1:30 PM, on time in Jakarta. I like the green wall by the luggage retrieval.

By the time our luggage is retrieved, the first shuttle bus is booked for the harried ride to Bandung, and we get picked up by PakG, it's 7:30 PM.

Home sweet home amid the motorcycles and little kids hanging on in front of their moms ... We shrug off our winter clothes. "Hot and muggy, with rain at least once a day," reports PakG. 

As we come in the yard, two of our dogs come running. The other is nowhere to be found. I whistle and call in case Gypsy is in a corner of the garden. Then I go into the neighborhood - but no luck. He's gone. I'm too weary to worry, but I can pray. God knows every creature's path.

PakG takes his motorcycle around the hill. He finds Gypsy a half-mile (2/3 km) down the hill, leashes him, and brings him back. Whew. We're all happy he's home - he scooted out of the gate when the neighbors left it open for a while (closing their own gate inside). They chased him so he ran away, instead of letting him come back on his own. Of course, they didn't tell us what happened. Later, we find out third-hand.

"Can we leave the unpacking until tomorrow?" W asks. Sure he can. But I put things away for an hour and am done. After a shower, it feels amazing to crawl into our own clean beds - and we crash out for 8 hours.

Friday

No breakfast. I'm not hungry. Ibu Ade comes for 2 hours of pounding the stiffness out. I listen to textbooks during a massage so the time is well-spent. Today it's a new one: "Die to Live" by  . What a challenge to spiritual formation and awakening. I'm convicted and refreshed, body and soul.

W is picking up a second-hand electric converter so I go along to get out of the house. The rice fields are being harvested along the roads.

We are not sleepy but not really energetic, either. The Korean chicken place is cheap and tasty.

We walk around IKEA for steps. In our go-section "As-Is", we find blackout curtains for half-price ($75 for 6) and hang them when we get home. The room is darkened but not blacked out.

After, just as awful but less light.

I'm not hungry for supper either. And I'm not hungry at night or at breakfast. IbuS left us a home-baked bread. I'm up for 4 hours at night but the emotions and experiences pour out into my journal. Pages and pages of processing what we've seen, heard, and will pray for.

I look at the week ahead on the calendar and write it down in the "little book" in my purse. Sleep feels sweet and restful.

Saturday

W's already walked when I get up at 6:30. He has a study at 7:30 and then I write the talk for tomorr.w W and I read and edit it together before we're out the door to 2 events. One is a dental clinic hosted by volunteers where they usually teach English. Sayaka the leader trained in dental hygiene in Japan. She's a wonderful organizer of this free bonus for those who learn English at Tanikota farm.

Read more:

*I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. Psalm 40:10

*There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4

*Paul wrote: We had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. 1 Thessalonians 2:2

Moravian Prayer: God of the Ages, since the time of psalmist and apostles, your steadfast love and faithful presence inspired generations to live out your gospel story. Now we are the generations who hear your call to receive and share your love. Inspire and embolden us, we pray! Amen.