More than keeping busy

Part of the cool staff team at IES Jakarta:
typical Saturday night, post-service dinner

Can it be Wednesday already? We've met a few new people again this week, most notably several grad students on the angkot. W and I just got home from dinner - but we missed meeting a new friend from the Expats in Bandung group on FB. The roads are wet and they are in class until late, so we postponed our joint supper. It gives us time to talk through our priorities and make sure we're on track with what we feel called to do. We arrive home sated.

Sunday, November 9:
IES (International English Service) Jakarta hosted a Fun Run before the morning service, 5 km for adults (actually more like 7, but no one complained) and 2 km for the kids, who got a tattoo or stickers at every way station. Lots of volunteers made this one happen but the event was fully staffed by the time we showed up for the weekend. So we watched and hopefully learned a few things.

Anything worthwhile takes time: the view from the office at
IESJakarta of a year's worth of construction. It will be
hidden from sight and undergirds new skyscrapers

Several staff members stayed in hotels near the church overnight since their duties started early. We were heading back to Bandung after service, so we took the car, following the WAZE app to church in the morning. Big mistake. We'd planned to arrive as requested, at 8:30. WAZE couldn't figure out why we didn't want to take the main road so we criss-crossed the city. We made it in the door just before service started at 10.

The central core is closed to cars some Sunday mornings. W squeezed the car through narrow alleys - and ended up parking in a nearby shopping mall. We walked the rest of the way. Hundreds of people were jogging in the car-free zone, pushing baby strollers, or sitting and talking. Little carts with food and chochkies kept everyone well supplied with treats. By 11am, everyone packed up and the cars returned to the streets.

Hanging out and fooling around: Pastor Micha
and Julius ham it up before the Fun Run

We enjoyed the service but this one was special. Both Saturday night and Sunday morning, Pastor Dave reviewed the DNA of the church and talked about its unique mission to Jakarta and Indonesia. We left inspired and encouraged.

One of the staff couples is moving. He's Indonesian; she is South African. They'll be living near her family. She's packing and hands me two boxes crammed with yards of beautiful lace from her career as a fashion designer. When handed an unusual gift, I'm on high alert, asking, "Where will God will send it, here and there?" I have plans for the silver yardage: draped decor at Christmas!

The drive home from Jakarta is unremarkable. It's nice to come in our door 2 1/2 hours later. It has rained inside as well as out while we were gone. I enjoy setting up the end tables purchased on our quick stop at IKEA on Friday. (Today, Wednesday, we stopped by a tile shop. 60cmX60cm black granite: $4.50 = and upgraded tabletop. What do you think?)

Before: raw wood top. Love the textures.

After: what a difference a tile makes

Monday we take the little bus down the hill toward class and also notice that we haven't been walking much the last week. It takes us a little longer to get to school. It is exam time .... but happily not for us. The Korean students completing LEVEL 4 this semester lead a service, complete with worship and preaching in Indonesian.

They do an amazing job of involving all the students. W and Augustine pray. Sumathi helps lead the music. I have to read the Bible passage in Indonesian. Ah, butchery. I apologize for what I will do in advance. With Google Translate, I can ask them to stand for the reading in Bahasa Indonesia, too.

Final test before an international group

Tuesday and Wednesday we run errands after class, so I drive the car in one day and W another. Wending our way through a two-lane street with 3-4 lanes of slow-moving traffic is interesting. It's more nerve-wracking as passenger so I usually catch up on email when W drives.

On the bus: a beautiful Sundanese
grandma holds her granddaughter

We get a very nice surprise this week. Our daughter mailed a package from Austin TX full of "sweet littles" - tins of goodies and skin care and a Christmas stollen. We open it with delight. Gift-giving is one of Kirsten's more consistent giftings since childhood. It's lovely to be the recipient.

Gradually we're acquiring the basics: this week we finally purchased a kitchen mixer/blender combo and a few wall mirrors for the guest rooms. We picked up screen cloth to staple over the bathroom windows to bar mosquitoes from entering. I'd be happy if we no longer need the mosquito netting over the bed: I wake up each time it brushes my face or hands during the night.

I am also glad to find a $13 Christmas tree at ACE Hardware. It's little  - only 4' tall - but we'll decorate it this year and put it on a table for height. (We're unwilling to pay for a taller tree if there are pre- or post-Christmas sales!) Our kids sent individual ornaments along with Waldemar. Hurrah. We look forward to the season. We're hoping to host the people we've recently met when December rolls around, before everyone leaves for Christmas vacation.

We are in rainy season. I pack a little rain jacket everywhere we go. Thunder and lightning are common before the downpours that wash away garbage and bad smells. But when I look up the temperatures where friends and family live (minus13oC / 8oF in Edmonton, for example), I'm even happier to be here.

Read more:
*The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever. Deuteronomy 29:29 NEV

*God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour. Job 37:5-6 NEV 

*Jesus prayed, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” John 17:6 NEV

*This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 NIV

Moravian Prayer: Lord Jesus, may our hearts be reformed each day so our lives will be a living alleluia. Thank you for receiving us and helping us to lead others to receive you. We give praise for your truth and salvation. Alleluia! Amen.

Choose this day - will you have this or that?

"He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only," wrote C. S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory.

IES Jakarta, waiting for people
to arrive and celebrate God's goodness

God gives each person the choice to serve him or to follow other gods. Sometimes those idols are of our own making. Sometimes our idols are values inherited from our parents or learned from our culture. Joshua presented a decision to the nation he had led:

...If it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15

His mind was made up. He chose the LORD he had served all his life. He stayed faithful from first to last.

Reading the books of the Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament, the options seem so obvious. Serve God and thrive. Live. Experience abundance of crops and protection from God. It's not that Israel didn't have to fight off their enemies. Their lives were not always easy. But God guided, helped, and intervened as needed.

Serve the Baals and foreign gods or choose our own path - and God lets us and those around us reap the consequences. 

Here are some of the gods W and I have observed:

• money - for power, admiration, or a sense of security
• relationships - friends, spouses, parents, or dare we mention ... children (whether we have them or want them)
• the approval of others
• self-will or selfishness
• addictions - sex, food, drink, drugs, habits
• ambitions
•                                            (you fill in the blank)

None of those idols fill our souls or satisfy us to the core. These diversions are demanding. Never satisfied. Unattainable.

IES teens pray a farewell blessings over their pastors,
who are setting off on the next steps of obedience

So why is it so hard for us to consistently choose what would make us happy?

Read more:
Do not be afraid, land of Judah; 
    be glad and rejoice.
Surely the Lord has done great things!

Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
    for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
    the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

Be glad, people of Zion,
    rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
    because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
    both autumn and spring rains, as before.

The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
    the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-
    the great locust and the young locust,
    the other locusts and the locust swarm-
my great army that I sent among you.

You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
    and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
    who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.

Then you will know that I am in Israel,
    that I am the Lord your God,
    and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed. Joel 2:21-27 NIV

Midweek: food and more food

Thursday, November 6

Silly class selfie: "guess the fruit" game

School starts bright and early - at 8am. We usually get up at 5:30 on days the helper comes (5:45 otherwise). This morning, I'm very tired. We had a late supper with a gal who may help us with life groups, and I was writing until after midnight. W lets in the helper at 6:45am while I sleep in an extra hour. We have buy groceries and supplies so we take the car. That cuts our morning commute from 50 minutes to 20. We arrive on time.

The rain drums in through the gaps in the roof tiles in the afternoon. The back wing of the house ("dirty kitchen", laundry room / bath, and 2 back bedrooms) flood with inches of water. W grabs the huge shower-floor squeegee and pulls water toward the laundry-room drain and out the back door. The helper mops, wrings the cloths and rugs, and tries to avoid the downpour coming through the ceiling. She calls her husband, who is at the landlord's house. Dr A has not responded to any of our calls, texts, or other communications. It crosses my mind that we should just let the back flood - ignore it as he does and let it fall down if he chooses. We cannot use that wing except for laundry and storing a fridge. W tucks the landlord's new (still plastic-wrapped) mattresses out of the falling rain inside the house. 

I squish flying termites entering from the parts of the house not yet cleared. What's the use of doing part of a structure? The insects are definitely on the move toward the new fresh wood that's replaced the rotted parts. An owner's stubborn denial won't save this house. 

Without intervention, we have all 3 in the kitchen...

The leasing agents ask for the phone numbers of the termite companies who bid on a contract a month ago. They text us back: "There are no live termites, according to the company." W texts back our dismay: that means they were defrauding us on their written estimates? To remove the gobs of beasties in the walls and ceilings and maintain it, they charge $800-1000. We don't know which company they spoke with or why the change of tone. W has dropped live worms into the fish bowl (happy guppies) and I've washed my hands a few times this week after killing those "flying ants." The cutlery drawer fell off it's rails and a cup of termite pellets fell into the shelves below.

I cover the mixing bowl to stir up chocolate chip cookies. A mixer is definitely one of the things we need. By hand, the butter and sugar get stirred rather than beaten together. Our dear friend Kathleen C sent pecans and chocolate chips with Pres. Castleberry on his recent trip from Northwest University. I take them out of the freezer, beat up butter and eggs, and stir in flour and soda. We have neither brown sugar nor molasses, so white sugar makes the cookies are crisper than usual. But the flavor is amazing. A taste of home.

LR before

LR before

We enjoy our first overnight guests Thursday night: Pastors Mario and Daniela. She lived at our place in Seattle so she's knit into a special place in our hearts. How cool that they would be the first sleepover company! They love the spaces as we do - and tell us that the last time they saw a cup of termite dropping (this week's production, fallen on the plastic sheet guarding storage boxes in the garage), the house was condemned and torn down. Oh well, that's just in the garage... 

LR after - starting to shape up

LR after

Supper is at Miss Bee's around the corner. "This really feels like a holiday," M says, overlooking the landscape in the cool evening air. He also notices the change in elevation as we walk up the sloping street along the side of the hill. Jakarta is flat and nearly at sea level, while we're in hill country. 

The food is good but the service is slow tonight. The servers mix up the orders and stand chatting together. M and D explain in Bahasa what we want: usually it takes W and me a while to communicate with our limited language skills; they are direct and efficient. 

Back home, we enjoy cookies before heading back out at 9pm. Mario drives around Bandung in minimal night traffic, exclaiming at the development of business and housing. Bandung has grown from a clump of village-style neighborhoods and factory outlets to a big city: about 6-10 million people call it home. It still feels small to Jakarta natives (25-28 million).

The Hummingbird Eatery is closing as we drive up. The pictures on the walls look familiar. Didn't we come here with Daniela's mom and dad? To our surprise, the same people who own Miss Bee's run Hummingbird. We head for home and lock the gate after 11. 

Friday

The rain holds off during the night and we sleep well. W and I wake early. He turns on the oven at 5 when he wakes; I punch down the bread dough at 5:30 and it's baking by 6:30. 

We have a 7:30am breakfast at Miss Bee's with a young couple. It's our first time meeting the wife. What a sweetheart! They say they'd love to come to our place for a Christmas open house. (We don't have a date for that yet but will get back to them.) Knowing food awaits at home, I order a smoothie but no breakfast.

Back to comfort: accompanist (Korean flute)

We've planned to cook breakfast for 9 guests, but it's just the four of us. The others end up elsewhere. We eat apple pancakes and heavy artisan bread. The dampness must affect the rising - oh well, that's another lesson in the kitchen. We chat until 11 when our fine "kids" leave for a day of hanging out with their church staff.

We finish dishes and pack. Then W drives 50 minutes across Bandung for a farewell lunch with fellow language students. One of the Korean families is moving to teach in East Java. I make a beeline for the piano in the LR and run my hands over the keys. It's reasonably in tune. Our peers ask for a song so I play "Great is Thy Faithfulness" before we enjoy lunch. Argh. I forget to take pictures of the fish, chicken, and beef dishes among the rice and vegetables. 

Typical Ocarina, a traditional Korean flute

A Korean gal pulls out a case with three little musical flutes inside (traditional Ocarinas). They're keyed to F, G, and C; she conscripts me for accompaniment. Korean music is lively and quick - it takes a few times to get the hang of some of the songs. I'm out of practice. (I've dashed into the cafeteria at school a few times to pound out a chorus or two on the way to class, but otherwise haven't touched the piano in months.)

W and I get lost in the neighborhood, trying to get to the toll road to Jakarta. Good thing. I've left my cellphone at the party. We turn around and retrieve it. Traffic is not good and not bad. It's 7pm by the time we reach IKEA to return a few things that were broken or didn't fit. 

Waiting: a sweet and savory lunch

Meanwhile, the leasing agent has called the termite company, who report that there are no live termites at the house. What?! they were going to charge us $800-1000US to kill them, and they saw the bugs in person! W is so stressed by the text and the ensuring conversation that he forgets to use the return voucher at the checkout.

We're in the door at the flat by 10 and ready to sleep. We're looking forward to a second weekend of anniversary celebrations at IES Jakarta.

That's all. I have to get ready to leave in a few minutes for the weekend's appointments. Have a great time, everyone. Sending love and prayers - with a grateful heart.

The week in pictures

I simply haven't had time or energy to blog. So here are pictures that describe some of what last week held.

Coach training was Monday - Thursday: I slept in the afternoon after language school so I could  attend class online from 8:30-4:30 Seattle time (= 10:30pm-6:30am here)

One of my fantastic online coaches and master coach Amy in the background

Last weekend, we attended the exciting 15th anniversary of IESJakarta. Oh the food!!! Tables groaning with food, a welcoming service, and heartfelt celebrations. The teens led in worship and the media memories made us smile and thank God for his faithfulness.

Faith, fun, and food. It was all there. Prayer-time.
And a roasted piglet sponsored by a life-group

A traditional rice cone on a 2' tray

Families from many nations attend IES Jakarta

A photographer captured the moments

We stopped by the newly-opened IKEA for some basics. Like every big shop or mall here, the store has a built-in prayer room. (See the sign?)

We came back home Sunday. Slowly our house is taking shape. The IKEA rugs help pull together a very disparate group of furniture. We are looking forward to having life groups hang out here in the future!

Old gold curtains gone. Check.
Rug placed in LR. Check.
Settling down. Check.

We ate supper at an art gallery this week and met the owner. Last year, God confirmed our calling to this city, at this place, during our one-day visit to Bandung.

Art on display

W sits in the window at the art gallery / restaurant where God confirmed our cal last year

All week, the kitchen cutlery drawer keeps falling off its support. W pulls the cabinet from the wall to repair it. Oh! The termites have eaten through the brace and it "rains" termite junk on the pots below. And behind the cabinet? Let's just say that after all the cleaning we've already done, it was a nasty surprise.

Yikes! the unseen kitchen...

We have had language school since Monday. Today we relaxed over lunch with friends.

A traditional Sundanese restaurant: the
4 scrawny legs of the delicious chicken dish

Tomorrow and Friday, dear friends will be our first guests to sleep over and enjoy breakfast together.

Mario, Daniela, and Livia (Stefano is somewhere, too)

The immediate future looks something like this: we trust God will bring about as much as pleases him. Prayers appreciated.

Tonight - we met for supper with a gal interested in helping with life groups.
Tomorrow - school. Errands. Supper with friends (above).
Friday - 7:30am meeting. 9am breakfast for 9 here at the house. (Pancakes, I think!) Noon: farewell lunch for language school students. Afternoon: drive to Jakarta
Saturday - errands in Jakarta and celebrate the rest of the church's anniversary.
Sunday - church and home so we can get up for school Monday at 5:30am.

God is good. 

Normal is as normal does

Tuesday, October 28.14

The bride and groom: Saturday

Today's my half-birthday so of course I'm celebrating by going to school all night. The M-Th Seattle coaching class runs 8:30am-4:30pm ... or 10:30pm-6:30am on our side of the ocean. After language school, I eat lunch, and reset my watch to Seattle time. After sleeping during the afternoon, it's time for class. Things wrap up in time to pull on shoes to leave for Bahasa Indonesia class at the seminary. (The intensive morning: 8-11:30am plus an hour's commute each way.)

The Northwest Ministry Network has kindly agreed to let me be the guinea pig for future Google Hangout courses. If our experiment works, cross-cultural workers around the globe can take advantage of classes and seminars - provided someone is willing to prop up their laptop or tablet to let the expat "into the room."

This first course is Coaching and Brain Science (the way the body/mind processes change). Head coach Amy D is doing the honors on her tablet for me M/T and fellow coach Dan N will take over when she presents the W/Th course. We had some internet disconnects, but for the most part - with the help of two good note-takers - I caught most of the class. We even coached each other online. I am so grateful to get the information from thousands of miles away.

Friday

It's one thing to have rain outside ...

and quite another ...

to have it streaming in through closed windows

 We called the landlord a few times after our helper mentioned that her husband "was done with repairs" by week's end. The ceilings in the DR, 4 bedrooms, and the porch still drip bug poop, but our bedroom and the kitchen are improved. The eaves are about to fall down over the back porch. And then a deluge of water came streaming in the windows in the back hall Sunday, during the first serious rain of the rainy season. Hopefully the home-built aluminum gutters and roof ridge installed today (Tuesday) will take care of that!

We hung around most of Friday and all day after lunch Sunday, waiting for the landlord to show up. The neighbors saw him inside our house Monday while we were at language school. He's not spoken to us in weeks. Sigh. It might be time to check in with the leasing agents again. A house is opening up a few doors down and we may consider that. Being able to use one out of five bedrooms hardly justifies the rent here.

Saturday

Classmates: reunited at a wedding, plus a foreigner

W and I finally celebrated our September anniversary with a tasty lunch at Jubilare. It began peacefully - before two wild young'uns brought their complacent parents in. The kids ran around, grabbed my chair each time they reached my side of the room, and shouted. We packed up fairly quickly after their arrival and ran errands. Well, we had a plateful of things we wanted to accomplish.

Traffic was horrid. Our angkot took over an hour to make the trip to the building supply. Then the shop didn't have the locks or other items we were looking for. We took a taxi home but it was no faster. We'd left the house at 10am and made it in the door at 6pm. One lunch, a morning and afternoon errand accomplished. No wonder we never go anywhere on Saturdays!

Dr W had invited me to accompany her to the wedding of her classmate's children. We never know what to expect when we go to events but Dr. W had hinted it might be a formal affair. She and I had planned to leave at 6. I rushed into the house about then to change from the day's excursion, exhausted and sweaty. Time for a quick rinse and putting on wedding clothes! W stayed home to work.

The lovely smile of Dr W

By 6:10, I was at Dr W's door across the street ... makeup done, hair combed through, and sparkles glinting. (Fortunately, W had brought along a dressy outfit from his trip through Seattle.) Dr W's driver was stuck in traffic as well. We jumped into the car the minute he arrived and crept along to the Grand Royal Hotel - with over 1000 other guests.

We shook hands with the parents and the couple in the receiving line on a white-clad stage, and then walked around the room meeting people. Dr W hasn't gone to an alumni reunion since graduation and so was greeted by classmates she hadn't seen in 40 years. What fun! They were very welcoming and kind to me as well. The food? Can we say amazing? The vendors of Chinese and Indonesian foods, drinks, and deserts lined the perimeter and filled the center. Guests circulate, eat, and get acquainted.

On our way out after 9pm, we stood in line at the photo booth ... only to have them close the line as we got to the front. "Time's up!"

Folded just so - from head to toe

Ahead of us a big family posed and smiled. The women had the most elaborate headwear I've ever seen. "It takes hours to do something like that," Dr W said. Wow.

Sunday

After church we met a couple and their son who is studying architecture at a famous university department in town. We decided to have lunch together. What a nice family: the husband was interested in design since he's a builder of Bali villas. They have lived in many parts of SE Asia. Their kids did high school in the USA, staying with relatives during their school years. So we had lots to talk about. And we hope to see them again.

Monday
We headed back to school in the morning. Our seminary friends came back to the house with us to negotiate a tricky situation. Friday, while W was tramping about the city and I was home, the helper's husband came inside at the end of the day. He asked me for money. When I asked what he exactly was asking, he wrote down goodly sum that he felt we owed him for the 10 days he'd stayed over while we'd been gone last week. (They'd actually stayed over 8 or 9 but we were gone for 10.)

Um. No. I told him Pak Waldemar handled the money and he could mention it to him on Monday. When W came home, I showed W the paper. "What?!" He was shocked. "I don't think so!"

I asked neighbors if the man's request was reasonable, and if not, what to do about it. "Nonsense!" they exclaimed. "Did you hire him? Your contract is with his wife. Our helper must stay over when we're away, and her husband is privileged to stay over with her. We certainly don't pay him. That man probably thinks you have a money tree growing in the garden and is shaking it to see if something falls down."

The construction site at our back door:
no barbecues allowed here yet.

They also told us their arrangement for salary and food for the maids. Someone mentioned that our helper's extended family had visited while we were away. (They may also have slept in our room despite our telling them it was off limits. The pillows smelled like smoke.) The neighbors were horrified at that possibility.

Our dear Indian friends (who'd helped negotiate the helper's job) came by after school Monday. We had a pleasant lunch, combining their seminary lunch with fresh sausage and a new bread recipe (our first "real bread" since our arrival). Then the dreaded chore of the day...

While I was preparing lunch, Waldemar called the helper's husband in. Our friends explained that he had no right to ask for any money: we had allowed him to stay because his wife had asked if it was ok. Awkward. I really like the helper and hope she stays, but our friends also cautioned us about how to behave more wisely toward help.

"You must keep the proper distance to have them respect you, and also that they will not take advantage of you." Good advice indeed.

So that's that. No more privileges of sleeping here, away from their little house, when we travel. No more free meals for the husband who had been hired by the landlord. No leftovers for the family. Our Western inclination is that more generosity is better. However, we feel blessed and protected by the insights of those who are accustomed to expectations within an "other" social order.

I fell asleep about 5pm after resetting my watch to 3am Seattle time. I woke at 8am (Seattle) and did the full day of coaching - until 4:30pm (6:30am here). It was interesting to hear the night prayers over the neighborhood loudspeakers. The security guys banged on the metal fences all around the neighborhood at various hours.

During the lunch break I baked bread which had been rising in a bowl on the table. What a fine "supper." So what if it was 2am here! It felt like noon.

Tuesday, W woke up with a headache. Both of us had just enough time and energy to get ready for school. I left a note for the helper to do specific chores rather than letting her figure it out. We were out the door before 7. Needless to say, we drooped at times in the day. Only 3 more night-days to go.

Now it's time for sleep! It's 1am in Seattle and I have to be up by 8.

Note: as we learn these new ways of being, we want our hearts to remain open and generous - but with grace and wisdom that suits our new surroundings. THANK YOU for your prayers that God will protect, teach, and use us for his glory.

Read more:
*Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. Deuteronomy 8:6 NEV

*Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Matthew 7:21 NEV

*All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:24-25 NEV

Moravian Prayer: Father in heaven, guide us in the path of your will. May we have enough love in our hearts for you Lord, that we keep your commandments. We ask forgiveness of our sins. Thank you, Lord, that we have been redeemed by your precious blood. Amen.

A fine fall day @ 86oF

Old mirror --> art backdrop

Thursday, October 23

Ok, so I caved. Fall arrived today at our house. Sort of.

A gardener was cutting branches along the side of the road and I carried some home. Last fall, knowing we were moving, I pressed some maple leaves. Though they faded, we took a handful of them along in our suitcase when we left Seattle.

We'd purchased a mirror for our bathroom a few weeks ago (so we could actually see ourselves before we left the house!) and I'd moved the ruined 16"X20"mirror to behind a tall glass vase. Today, I popped in the scavenged branches and threaded a few leaf stems through them for a 4'X4' fall arrangement - spare, bare, and quiet on the big entry cabinet.

On an end table

What makes me happiest is that it was 86o (30oC) outside when we found the branches. Perfect or what!

Today was cultural day at the language school. We went to the Post Office museum (Museum Pos Bandung) to see the history of mail service in Indonesia. They had old machines, paintings of how things used to be done, and pages and pages of stamps filed in cases, hung on panels and stored in cabinets on one wall. The filing system wasn't necessarily archival. The sun was shining on the display cases, and I suspect a philatelist enjoyed looking at the filed cases of stamps before putting them back randomly (without the manager's help?) The historical record of Indonesia - not to mention those of other countries - is impressive in stamps. Very enjoyable.

Here are a few things to explain the day:

Our class at the entry of the museum

Schoolchildren wait to enter

Among hundreds of sheets, one of national costumes 

A life-sized 3-D model of a historical photo (posted above)

The class leans on the sign in front
of the governor's office, the Gedung Saté (so-named
for the saté-shaped post on the roof

And in the other room, it's still summer ... cheery flowers from the hedge

On the way to school, this beauty caught my eye
along the neighbor's fence. (via IPhone)

And a final picture from yesterday: one of our patient teachers in front of the homework we posted on the board at language school

Guru Josie encourages us with a happy hand gesture

Read more:
*The Lord was with Samuel and let none of his words fall to the ground. 1 Samuel 3:19 NEV

*The Lord says, “When they call to me, I will answer them.” Psalm 91:15 NEV

*The same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. Romans 10:12 NEV

*Paul wrote: Our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Gentle Jesus, we call upon you in prayer asking for peace and health. May our congregations grow in spirit and number. Let us be the bearers of your message of love and compassion. 

Holy Spirit, as we worship you today may our hearts be filled with vigor and determination. You call each one of us to work for your kingdom. May we answer the call with joy and stand ready to serve. Amen.