We made it through a week of blessings ...

 Wednesday, May 14, 2025

It's movie night, one of the favorite things we do around here! W's coming from Jakarta with our guests, but I start cooking after 4 AM. By 9, I'm done and everything's waiting to be reheated - sauces, meats, vegetables, potatoes. The rice, salad, and fruit is prepared by the helpers when they arrive at 3 PM.

We have guests arriving. It's a brutal trip to Bandung from the USA, between 30 and 40 hours, door to door. Jennifer, Adam, and W come around 10 AM. Our friends settle their luggage in their room and off we go for brunch at #waroengethnic.

Usually I chill out before movie night, conserving energy after cooking. But there's a women's study on the porch mid-afternoon with tea and cookies. I lay down for a half hour to reset my body and heart but am wakened by a downpour, thunder, and lightening.

Surprisingly, the rain doesn't stop our guests and movie night is wonderful. About 70 drop in for a big supper. Some are soaked through but everyone is happy to be here.

Tonight's movie is Arthur the King, and the question is: "What would make you willing to give up a big dream?" 

The Porch and house overflow with conversation, laughter, and new friendships. What a privilege for us to have people come.

Our friend Bryanna arrived Monday. She catches a ride down the hill with PakG to catch the 10:20 PM Jakarta shuttle. The rest of our guests linger until almost 11 PM. We tumble into bed after basic tidying. I'm getting too old for 19-hour days, I think.

Thursday

We're up again after 4 hours of sleep. Not enough! I cook scrambled eggs and sides. We eat breakfast as we chat around the table.

I want to see if Anton is ready to walk on leash with a group. The Thursday hikers are headed down a riverside trail. But nope! The walking group keeps going as I turn several times to make him pay attention. They pass rather stupid cats on the path; the canines don't walk away as Anton lunges forward at them. He won't return attention to me and is out of control. After the fourth wrestling match, he pulls me almost off my feet. He's a big boy.

Sorry doggie. I walk him back home and leave him there. (I wonder how many times God has a treat for us, but we are too unruly or disobedient for him to release us into the freedom of his generosity.)

W notices I haven't kept up but I have to use both hands to hold the dog and can't return phone messages. When he returns to find me, I'm tying up Anton at the house.

It's not a long walk today (4 miles?) We cross a few neighborhoods to the start of the river trail. On the narrowest part of the path, I chase a kitten off the side so the other dog with us will ignore it. There's a steep drop-off to the river - Anton would have pulled us all the way down the cliff. Oh my.

At first we can't figure out why there are so many food vendors along the path.

Ah. The city has transformed a former shanty neighborhood

with a colorful village-wide mural.

The work of art is worth seeing! with its glorious colors. Besides dozens the cats, we rarely meet more than a dozen people. But today hundreds of tourists are admiring the newly painted views. 

Most are terrified of dogs and shriek or scatter off the walkway as Eva's beautiful labradoodle prances by on the leash. A few locals ask if we can take photos together. Of course. (It's an expat thing: who knows whose phone we're on!)

We end with 2 loops of the forest treetop walk at ITB, Indonesia's top university.

We enjoy a Sundanese buffet (under $5 for a full plate) at Dalaraos and do a bit of grocery shopping on the way home.

After we drop our guests at the house, W and I head downtown. W accidentally wrecked the upstairs refrigerator yesterday. He was chipping off ice that forms when guests repeatedly leave the fridge door open. The coolant hose was severed.

Last time someone forced open and broke the interior freezer door, W posted a sign: "Please be careful. If you break this door, you have to buy a new one." Well, whoever broke it didn't admit it. So we're stuck with an iced-up fridge (and a broken freezer door for the third time).

We bite the bullet. We need a new fridge with a separate door for the freezer. W sets the budget. After we visit multiple stores and find one we like, it takes 3/4 hour at the cashier to pay. There are 2-5 employees handling every sale, which provides jobs but not efficiency.

We are beat! when we get back after 3 PM. The promise is that the fridge will be delivered tomorrow. I lie down for an hour to catch my bearings. Messages come and go; the most urgent work gets done. I give up on sleep before my alarm sounds.

I accept an invitation to teach another seminary course in July. It's online, thank God. W refuses to teach online because he wants the vibes of a classroom. But I prefer Zoom, when I can see each student. I like that they can send questions without disrupting group interactions or the lecture.

In the evening, we host the first three hours of a conference at the hall. Alice and other helpers have set up the chairs and tables. W sends the driver home, driving himself and our guests for supper and their introduction to the translator. Alice has found an exceptional translator named Shirli.

I walk over after crating Anton. Night falls and when we get home, the dogs are ready for sleep, as are we.

Friday

Mom calls as I'm waking at 5 AM. What a privilege to have our mothers at our age! but it's hard for my mom to remember what time it is at our house.

Anton and I are looping the streets by 6. The banana bread left from movie night becomes breakfast. And then it's time to finish and send off a syllabus for an upcoming class.

The fridge comes as promised, is hauled up the steps by the delivery guys (@$1.50 bonus for each), and is soon humming with cold.

The evening gathering is good, pack with useful information and practice.

Saturday

After a dog walk, I gather flowers from the garden for tomorrow's bouquet. I've caught a second cold from movie night. This one hurts less in my lungs but I'm sneezing, coughing, and generally miserable. I should rest but don't want to miss a thing.

We breakfast on the beautiful grounds of #Narapark before a 6-hr training session at the hall.

We hasten home to meet with an owner and a contractor renovating a property nearby. The gushing rain prevents them from coming for almost two hours. I put out tea and cookies and send some home as usual. The chocolate chip cookies with Kopiko (hard coffee-flavored candy) are a hit.

Sunday

I walk the dog as usual at 6 AM before resting for an hour. W takes the flowers and our guests to the hall.

I walk over to the hall in time to introduce my friend, who is speaking today. She encourages us to live in the kingdom of light, leaving the kingdom of darkness behind.

Remember masking in public during COVID? Yeah, it feels strangely familiar to cover my face with a 4-layer mask to keep the sneezes confined.

Afterward, there's social time around the Community Table before the final few hours of training. 

I sit to the side and enjoy the teaching from a distance.

We eat lunch at Maxis before coming home to rest for the day - it's been a full week of blessings.

Read more:

*Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble. The Lord protects and preserves them—they are counted among the blessed in the land—he does not give them over to the desire of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness. Psalm 41:1-3

*I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162

*[Jesus said,] "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Matthew 13:44 (read the rest of the story by clicking the link)

Moravian Prayer: King of heaven, sovereign God, what greater treasure is there than to serve in your kingdom now, to be with you in the kingdom to come, with all the saints, basking in the light of your love? Help us work in your fields today. Amen.