Canadian Thanksgiving ... Sentani style!

I was talking with Karen the other day and we both were admitting to feeling a little weird, kind of like we were missing something, or forgetting something.  We continued with our daily activities and after a brief Facebook session, we realized that we missed Canadian Thanksgiving Day!  What in the world!  With no drastic changing of the seasons, or harvest, or cold weather to suggest change, we forgot about a day that is actually quite important to us (we don't even have TV programming to remind us!).

Well, today I came home from work to a fully set table and the smell of roast chicken in the air.  I could see pumpkin pie, apple crisp, and chocolate cake on the counter and just like Pavlov's dog at the sound of the bell, I started to drool.  There happened to be good family friends from the interior tribe of Turu that was getting ready for a furlough in the US in town for the weekend so Karen invited them and Darren and Janna Berg and family over for a real Canadian thanksgiving dinner ... Sentani style!

We went around the table sharing what we were thankful for and there was an overwhelming trend ... God is good!  He supplies our needs.  He provides friends as family, when family is so far away.  Thank you, Lord, for being such a generous God!  Words can't express Your Glory.  Thank you for caring for us.  Thank you.

Sometimes I think that every day should be a Thanksgiving day.  Let us never forget that God is the source.  Let us never forget to give thanks.

Paul

Do you ever feel like you are too busy to keep up with all the things you need to keep up with, or all the people you would like connect with?  I feel that way.  In fact, I've been feeling that way for a long time.  I feel like I am too busy to connect with people and am too busy to keep up with things going on in my life.  I also know, however, that this is not entirely accurate!  I was talking with my daughter, Elleah, the other night before bedtime prayers and she was frustrated with me because we didn't go shopping for the school supplies she needed for her Velveteen Rabbit project.  It was 9:30pm and she wanted to go shopping right then and there and was upset with my decision to do it a different day.  Part of my response to her was that she chose to do other things with friends and to stay busy instead of remind me to go shopping for the materials ... and that's when it hit me.  I also have the time to connect with the people I want to connect with and to complete the tasks I need to complete if I make them a priority.  I have made other things my priority instead and then complain when relationships fall to the wayside.

I do want to be a better communicator.  I also concede that I suck at communication (evidenced by my previous post date of 2012).  Here's to better blogging and communicating! 

Wow, almost the entire school year has gone by and no blog updates - you can't really call that blogging.

Some reflections are in order, I guess.  Reading the beginning of the last post is kind of funny because it expresses excitement for school.  Right now we are counting down the days for school to be over and so the excitement for school has subsided considerably, but the excitement for summer has taken over!  It is always positive to look back in time and reflect on the things that have happened, how you have grown or responded to difficulty, and how God has been forming you.  This year is no different - while I may not like it in the midst of a trial, looking back always reveals God.   I want to take this time to be sure that God gets the glory for the work that is being done in my life.

School has had its challenges this year but there are some great teacher who challenge me to grow professionally and spiritually.  I have had the opportunity to speak to our local church congregation of expat missionaries.  That, I must admit, is quite intimidating ... to preach to a bunch of missionaries!  Then I realize that I also am a missionary and if the other missionaries are half as weird as I am then I'll be alright.  The point is, we are all sinners!

The kids are growing up and getting big.  It has been a few years since we have been to Canada and so this summer we are going to spend 3 months visiting friends and family.  Our kids are looking forward to camping, camp fires, roasting marshmallows whenever they want, wiener roasts, and seeing cousins.  Karen and I also are looking forward to those same things, but if we just say that its for the kids!!

A few last thoughts... keep reading the bible, even when you don't really want to.  Don't let too much time slip away between reads.  Keep praying, even when you don't really want to.  Keep them short and simple - one liners are okay.  Just don't stop talking to God. 

Thanks for listening ...


Paul

Back to the 'ol grind!

We had a terrific summer, but the teacher in me always enjoys the excitement of a new school year!  We started our school year on August 10th and it felt really good to be back in the saddle!  I worked on restructuring some of my class materials over the summer and so far everything is working out smoothly!  

The first week of every school year the entire high school does a unity building and spiritual emphasis weekend as a way of welcoming the freshmen and new students and bonding as a high school.  We travel to a nearby beach and camp on the sand and enjoy each other, the sun, and the ocean!  I am one of the teachers responsible for planning this excursion! Part of the weekend includes worship times and listening to the guest speaker.  I truly believe that this is a spiritually renewing time for our high school students and also a great bonding experience.  You can see the difference in the atmosphere of the school from before beach trip to after beach trip.  

I would like to share some pictures of my beach trip experience.

This is our group during a morning meeting. We meet under tarps to sing and pray!

Relaxation mode!

Our make-shift kitchen.

I would also like to draw your attention to our new email address: pjuneau@maf.org.  Please make this change so that we can effectively stay in contact!  Thanks for reading!

Paul

MAF Family Conference

There is a church in Vancouver, Washington that is very connected with MAF in Papua. This church is called New Heights and every year they bring a team of college kids to Papua to bless the MAF Papua missionary families by running a week long family camp. This family camp includes a VBS program, which all of our children were old enough to be a part of, a youth program, worship, and adult teaching. It is difficult to explain how blessed we feel when total strangers come and serve your children with smiles and then cry when it is time to leave. Thank you, New Heights Team!

One thing that I have always appreciated is the teaching that Pastor Matt Hannan does. I find it truly a blessing to have him share his insight in scripture and his background knowledge of biblical history, which he uses to help explain the significance of stories told, and the application of those stories in our lives.

This is a side picture of our main meeting place. Notice the fireplace - we are at a fairly high altitude and it gets quite cold for us sea level folk!


This is a picture of the rows of cabins where we sleep.

This is a shot of Grayson and Karen getting our cabin ready. It is quite close sleeping quarters for the week!

Darryl and Grayson in the dinning hall. Great food!

Stephan after sliding down "The Muddy Mountain!"

The kids performing songs they learned during VBS. You can see Elleah on the far left and Grayson near center. Very cute! Darryl and Stephan are there they just can't be seen.

Grayson with his backpack on ready to go home.

Elleah with her backpack also waiting to go home.

This is us on the way home!

School's Out!

Summer holidays began on June 1 for us and we decided to do something we have never done before as a family - take a vacation! Thanks to some very generous supporters, we were able to visit a neighboring city and spend a few nights at a nice hotel and live the tourist life by the pool. We really enjoyed the relaxation and the time playing with our kids. I think that everyone needed a break from the business of life!


After getting back home and doing some laundry, we started packing for a different type of relaxation therapy - 2 nights sleeping on the beach! Our family really enjoys spending time at the beach and there is a beautiful beach not too far from our house. We drive for about an hour and then take a boat for about 30 minutes and find ourselves on a beach that belongs in a brochure somewhere! Two days is about all we can handle because the sand and the sun takes its toll, but we come home with smiles and lots of great memories.

This picture is of Grayson playing close to our tents.

About 2 months ago I bought a snake ... for the kids ... and had it in a cage behind the house. After about 2 weeks I went back to see how it was doing and couldn't find it. My 6 foot long brown snake had escaped! We found out that this type of snake is very powerful and had been known to push weighted lids off of cages before and so we figure that this snake pushed the corner of the door just enough to squeeze out. Well, just last night our night guards caught a 6 foot brown snake and returned it to me! Of course, I had to "buy" it from them, but I didn't mind. It did create a bit of work for me - I had to do some fixing on the snake cage, but now I think things are closed up!

The Snake! I feel that as a pet it should have a name, but how do you name a snake? It just doesn't feel right.


Devotional

I have been listening to Matt Hannan, a preacher from the States, and he was teaching on the stories Jesus told as he walked to Jerusalem and eventually His death. He focuses on the fact that Jesus is teaching on the street and knows that He has a limited amount of time to clarify what following Him means before His death. The stories are clear, poignant, and are designed to stick! The stories are about how to truly live like a Christ follower. The stories are answers to questions posed by the Pharisees and theses stories tend to bypass the actual question and address the underlying conditions like self-righteousness, judging others, and caring for others. These stories have been significant for me because I see myself as a Pharisee a lot of the time - a spiritually serious person who is just missing the point.

In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus is really addressing the issue of, "How does God deal with bad people"? There are three stories because of the different categories of bad. There is the story of the lost sheep, which addresses the bad person who aimlessly wanders away from God because they are dumb sheep. There is the story of the lost coin, which addresses the bad person who is irresponsible and loses sight of what is important. Then there is the story of the lost son, which addresses the bad person who outright rejects God's teachings. There is a fourth story, the story of the "good" son who stayed behind and worked for his dad. This is a special story for those of us who are especially bad and have become self-righteous. The point of Jesus telling these stories to the Pharisees is to tell them about the "good" son at the end. This is every Christian who doesn't like the idea of "bad" people getting a second chance. This is me. Ask yourself and look right to your very core - if the person who ran away was your little brother, would you be angry? That anger is self-righteousness and Jesus was directing this story to the Pharisees who felt like the "sinners and tax collectors", really bad people, had no place sitting with Jesus.

Give these stories a read - Luke chapters 10 -20.

Thanks for reading!

Paul

Outdoor Education 2011

Hey All, I would like to share with you my experience with Outdoor Education (OE). Let me explain a few things first! OE is a 2 week missions trip that the entire high school goes on. The idea is to give the kids an experience of Papua that they wouldn't otherwise get. We take them interior and work alongside a missionary family or two helping with various work projects. Remember, 70 kids can get a lot of work done in 2 weeks!

As a leader, I am responsible for a group of 10 students and we are responsible for many small things, mainly our day of running the kids club program. Other than that, the groups are moving between work projects and taking their turns preparing meals and leaning about the other cultures that we are visiting.

This is an intense time of bonding and spiritual growth as the kids and leaders go through many stressful situations together. It is neat to see different kids excel during different situations.

Here are some pictures to help you wrap your brains around the idea of OE! Enjoy.

We traveled by boat for about 30 hours straight to get to one of our spots and this is the view from my little bunk. All 70 of us is this little section.


One of our work projects was to widen the airstrip to a very small village. This was pure mindless moving of rocks and we lovingly labeled it the "Operation Mountain Movement!"


This was the group that I was in charge of. What a great bunch of kids. I was very proud of them!


The missionaries that have been working with the people group in the mountains of Papua were able to celebrate with a baptism. There were about 60 people: men, women, and children who were baptized! What a time of celebration! To see people come out of the jungle, put down their bow and arrows and walk basically naked to the river puts an entirely new meaning to the idea that Christ came for all of us! Very moving!


This is the after baptism part! Awesome!


We had the opportunity to work with a missionary dentist. The kids were able to teach about dental care by using puppets. They were also able to teach about HIV and AIDS using the same puppets. The kids always include the dental work as part of their favorite and most moving experiences on OE. God truly uses all types to further his kingdom!


This picture is of my group singing and dancing with kids at a kids club afternoon.

This is a picture of us traveling in a taxi to one of our work projects. Always fun to squish into a vehicle!

Well, that's all for now. I'll try to post more later!

Paul

Way too long!

Wow! I feel I must apologize for amount of time that has passes since the last update. I must admit that I am a little bit embarrassed to see that almost an entire year has passed. All I can say is that I can try to do better.

We have been fairly busy this last year. I will try to summarize our last year in as few words as possible just to bring everyone up to speed:

• August 2010 - arrive back in Indonesia after a 3 month mid-term break
• August 2010 - School starts and Paul is busy coaching volleyball
• November 2010 - Teacher conference in Korea. Paul got to attend for 1 week
• December 2010 - Christmas! Major rainstorm on Christmas Eve. That is something that I have never experienced before.
• January & February - Birthday season! Stephan (7), Grayson (3), Karen (still 29), Darryl (9), and Elleah (5)
• March 2011 - Outdoor Education. Paul helped with 2 week high school field trip. That is a long time to be away from home!
• May 2011 - School is out!

This year has been a year of learning. I, Paul, am learning how to lead spiritually in the home. I am learning how to pray. I am learning how to be a godly husband. As soon as I write this, Romans 3 pops into my mind, "... there is no one righteous, not even one!" Regardless of how good someone looks or how many good deeds they accomplish or how many years they serve God as a missionary overseas they are still as sinful as someone who has never heard of Christ. Never forget that we are all in need of a Savior. May that savior be Jesus Christ!

Happy Easter from our home to yours!

Paul

Back in Canada

Hello everyone,

Well we are back in Canada and have survived the extremely long flight! The kids are no longer jet lagged, but unfortunately they are still trying to adjust to the colder weather here.

Just today Darryl asked me what all the little bumps were on his legs. He was covered in goose bumps from being cold! It just made me realize that my kids truly are getting different experiences overseas.

THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

I recently listened to a sermon out of Luke 15 - the prodigal son. This is a passage that I have read and heard preached many times in my life and I have always thought that it is a great passage, but I have never heard it explained the way this pastor explained it.

The basic premise of the three stories, as I have always understood, have been about the celebration that happens when someone that was lost is now found. For me, the focus has always been on the fact that God celebrates when sinners repent. I thought that Jesus told three stories in order to reiterate this fact, but I believe that there is more to this section.

The passage starts out with the pharisees and teachers of the law criticizing Jesus for eating with tax collectors and notorious sinners. Basically, he was hanging around with "bad" people. Jesus, knowing the hearts of the people criticizing him, addresses the main issue without there even being a question. The main issue is: How does God deal with bad people?

According to Luke 15, there are 4 types of bad people. We see this by the types of stories that Jesus tells. The first story is about a sheep/person, that is bad because they are careless and wander away. Jesus says that he will search for that person and carry them back to him.

The second type of bad person is the irresponsible person - someone who loses their most precious belongings. Jesus says that he will look for them until they are found.

The third type of bad person is the one who is willfully rebellious, like the son that told his dad that he was tired of waiting for him to die. This type of bad person is rude, disrespectful, and does things to hurt themselves and others. The story shows that nobody follows and tries to find this person, like in the other stories. Sometimes people need to realize things for themselves. When that person finally does come home, there is no rejection, the father is waiting with open arms!

The fourth type of bad person is reserved for those who already know Christ. This special type of bad person is the christian who has been good his/her whole lives and were responsible and didn't wander away. This type of bad person is the self-righteous person who judges the one who was lost and begrudges those who get a party. It's like the movie "Family Man" where the father is shopping and doesn't get anything all day and finally asks, "where are my Mary Janes?"

I am not sure if you can rate these bad people as best or worst, but it seems to me, and scripture kinds of slants this way also, that the last kind of "bad person" is the worst kind. In fact, Jesus doesn't even finish the story because He wants us to realize that the whole story is about us, the fourth type of person. The story isn't finished because He wants us to realize that we can change the way we respond to those other "bad people".

For me, this story has always been about how much God wants the lost to be saved. Now I realize that there is much more to this story - it is about how the saved respond to the newly saved.

I want to encourage you to re-read this story with new eyes and some new insight. Maybe you will feel Christ speaking to you as as I did.

Blessings,

Paul



Blessings,

Paul

The Links of an Unbreakable Chain

One of the struggles that I, Karen, have living here in Indonesia is the role I play as an individual. God has a way of keeping us humble and in doing so Satan can make my daily tasks feel mundane and purposeless as a wife/mom. As I am home with my children, changing diapers and cleaning up after lunch when it looks like a rice bomb went off in my kitchen, I am reminded that even though I want the glory of a 'job well done', all of the the glory goes to God. So as I go through the routine of my daily tasks and give to my children, husband and others around me, God taps me on the shoulder and says...."here my child, this is what you are part of, this is My purpose for your life". I look at the smiles on my kids faces, sit down to check email, and I see this note from a pilot that lives just a couple of doors down from us. This note brought joy to my heart and in turn should bring joy to yours. When there are missionaries living in the jungle, they cannot get there without the help of MAF. The pilots flying the planes cannot do their jobs and the missionaries in the jungle cannot do their jobs unless someone is teaching their children. Their children are not taught unless there is teachers living here in Indonesia, and the teachers could not be living here unless, you, our supporters, were not praying and donating to this ministry. We are all links in a chain, and by following God's purpose for our lives and by working together to further His kingdom we are blessed with joy by seeing victories such as this.
May God bless you all as we are all on His team and part of His everlasting chain.
Samuel was starving and unable to get proper nutrition from his mother who was lacking a basic diet to produce milk for her baby. Missionaries living in the village of Tumdungbon, where there is no airstrip, asked MAF to drop a box of formula to try and help this baby. Just a few weeks after the successful airdrop, Samuel's health had improved drastically and he has put on lot of weight. In the following pictures you can barely recognize him. Praise be to God!

The "Be" attitudes

I, Paul, would like to share with you a little of what I have been learning over the last few months here in Papua.

A good friend of mine challenged me to read some of the top 50 influential evangelical books. This is quite a daunting list of books and they all look quite interesting. We decided that we were interested in books that would help us become better practical Christians. We decided to read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, "The Cost of Discipleship". I have not yet finished this book, but it is very convicting. The section that I am slowly working through right now is on Jesus' sermon on the mount - in particular, the section on the Be-attitudes. It was explained to me that these be-attitudes are attitudes that are to help us be, or exist in the world.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit ..."

This is one of those attitudes that we are supposed to "be". I have always understood this to mean depressed or sullen, but Bonhoeffer suggests that it isn't about depression at all but about a person's realization of their sin. Once a person realizes and acknowledges the fact that they are sinners and can't attain salvation alone, they realize that they are not spiritually rich, but spiritually broke. On their own spiritual income they can afford nothing. It is when we realize that we are in this state of spiritual poorness that Jesus calls us blessed because at that moment we are open to receiving all that God has to offer us in the kingdom of Heaven.

With the start of school at HIS also comes an annual high school trip to the beach for 3 nights. During this retreat, our guest speaker also spoke on the beattitudes and shared his thoughts on the exact same topic that I had been reading over the past month. I guess God is trying to teach me about the attitudes that are required if I truly want to "be" like Christ. I am listening, Jesus!

I have a good teaching load this year and I must admit that it feels great to be back in the classroom. I am teaching Grade 8 science, Grade 9, Biology, Chemistry, and Anatomy & Physiology. It has been a few years since there has been a career science teacher at HIS and as a result lab equipment, supplies, purchasing, and forward planning don't get taken care of with the same intensity as that of a career teacher. So, on top of the classroom work, I am also trying to sort, inventory, and purchase equipment to ensure a well equipped and functional science lab. This may take a few years as shipments come once a year.

I am also assistant coaching volleyball this year for the junior and senior boys. Busy, busy, busy!

We are going through a phase of missing home. With the closing of summer and the ensuing harvest, we miss the family get-together's and the changing of the seasons. Please continue to pray for us as we are adjusting to life here in Papua. As on now, the plan is to return for a brief 2 month furlough over the summer holidays. We are looking forward to that!

Serving together in Christ,

Paul

Main Center MB Church in Action

Main Center MB Church is home for us. It is a small rural church located in south west Saskatchewan Canada. As it turns out, they have recently sent two missionary families to serve in Indonesia as teachers with Mission Aviation Fellowship. The church is very missions minded and support MAF and these families prayerfully and financially. They are such a great support for our family. In this past year, Main Center decided to become involved in what our family was doing in a different capacity and that is the purpose for this post. While we were living in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia, the church raised money to build a play structure in the back yard of the mission house. Play structures are rare in Indonesia and there is no such thing as a public play ground. There are small playgrounds at schools but they are gated and locked up outside of school hours. After the play structure was complete, we invited the entire neighborhood (400 people) to our house, fed them, shared our beliefs and purpose for this play structure. We told all the families that if our gate was open anyone could come and play. It was a great opportunity for our children, and us, to get to know the kids in the area. We know this will also be a blessing for the families that will be living in this house in the future.


Sometimes I would bring out juice boxes and oreo cookies for the kids to snack on.

The kids were so excited they showed up to help put the grass down.


The next project our church decided to do was to donate some money to help buy groceries for some of the poorer families in our area. Each bag cost $5.00 and included, cooking oil, noodles, rice, sugar and flour. Our pastor and his wife, Ken and Mary Epp, made a special trip to visit us and handed out these food bags in the community. Some people greated Mary with tears and she told them that we were doing this to share our blessings that God has given us.



While Ken and Mary were in Salatiga, we went to see a new church up the mountain in a local village. The young pastor whom is still in school travels there for the long weekend and then back to the city to continue schooling. Because the village is so remote he cannot get a motorcycle taxi on the way home and has to walk an hour before he can find one that will then take him to the city about another 20 minute drive away. Main Center again raised money to buy a used motorbike for Ferrinan. Needless to say, he was shocked and very excited to get his new wheels. This transportation will give him less stress and more time for his important ministry.

Main Center also got involved with a couple of Papuan's and bought a desk and computer, that is kept at a missionaries house, for them to use as they continue their college education. They are able to find information on the computer, type essays, and become familiar with technology that is so important in this day and age.

A huge thank you to Main Center MB Church for the blessing you are to our families and many Indonesians. May God Bless your generosity!

In Loving Memory of Ridwan

We were very saddened today to receive a phone call from our good friends back in Salatiga. Pak Jono and Ibu Kasum just lost their brother, Ridwan. My friend, Ibu Kasum, is now the last remaining member of her family at the age of 38 years. We had the opportunity to introduce her to Paul's extended family through Skype. After she had met everyone she told me that the whole family must be very happy. When I asked why she thought that she responded, "They are all alive, healthy and together. Most of my family has already passed away. They just must be so happy to still have each other!". When we moved away from Salatiga she cried saying to me... "Please don't leave me, my parents are gone, my sisters are all gone and now you are leaving. Who do I have to talk to? Please don't go". As you can imagine it was hard to leave her at that moment. Today when she called me I could hardly understand her above the hard crying but she said to me, "My brother is dead, I am the only one left, only me, there is only me and you are so far away". This was heart renching for me. She asked me to pray, even though her and her family are devout Muslims. Our hearts are crying with them as we remember Ridwan, his wife Ismiah and their 2 children. Ridwan was helping a neighbor pick coconuts and fell from the tree. He was only 42 years old. Please pray for them during this difficult time.

It was cheaper to ship our car to Papua from Java, rather than sell it and buy another one. However, we cannot say that it was less stressful. After a very long day, 12 hours to be specific, we finally had our car and barang (stuff) tightly packed into this container on on the way to a port in Surabaya. It was quite the experience.

The morning after ...

I, Paul, write this the morning after we sent all of our belongings from the island of Java to the island of Papua. In case you were wondering if it all went smoothly ... please read on!

We ordered a container to arrive at our house around 10 am with the plan to load the car and then all of our household items. The problem was that the container couldn't be taken down off the truck and so it was still 1.6 meters (around 5 feet) off the ground! So, we began to build a ramp. My friend Tripp Flythe is an engineer and so he was there to help make sure that the ramp was strong enough to support our vehicle filled with stuff. The first time we built the ramp (that's right - first time), our Indonesian brothers we so excited to start building that they wouldn't heed our advice, which resulted in a very unstable and weak ramp. In addition to this, the place they chose to build the ramp was poor because of the hill we were on. Anyways, we couldn't get the car up the ramp, which was a good thing because in hind sight it wouldn't have been strong enough. Total time spent waiting (for prayer, smoking, and coffee drinking): 2 hours. Total time spent trying to explain - only to be ignored: 2 hours. Total time wasted: 4 hours. Keep in mind that the container was only supposed to wait for 6 hours before leaving. Total stress: I would have pulled out hair if there was any.

The second time we built the ramp, we got a little ornery and made sure that the spot was appropriate and that the ramp was built to our specifications. The end result was a loaded car! And it only took around an hour! So, 4 hours building a useless ramp plus 1 hour building the same ramp in a different place equals 5 hours to load one car and 1 hour to load everything else in our house!

By 10 pm, the container was fully loaded and on its way to the port city of Surabaya, located on the north coast of the island of Java. Yes, the truck waited!

As we loaded all of our things I was feeling convicted of our cultures constant striving to accumulate stuff. Compared to our Indonesian neighbours we have an insulting amount of stuff in our houses. We spend an insulting amount of money on seemingly needless stuff.

Eugene Petersons's "The Message" uses very convicting words,

"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or - worse! - stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, were it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."
- Matthew 6: 19, 20

I am not sure if anything else needs to be explained. Maybe this doesn't speak to you right now as strongly as it does to me, but it is a good reminder that our tasks here on earth are not to make money to buy stuff, but to build relationships with our neighbours, wherever that may be, so that they feel comfortable asking about the joy that we have in hearts, which points to Christ. For that is the reason we are here.

I am also reasurred by reading about some of the old testament characters that were told to move. Take Abraham, for instance. In Genesis 13, we read that Abram left Egypt and traveled north with his wife and all that he owned. We also read that Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold and that the land could not support Abram and his nephew Lot. I don't know what you think about that, but that must have been a lot of stuff. I also think that Abram was a righteous man so I guess the conclusion is that righteous people can have lots of stuff and be rich. Now, don't go reading into anything. I am not claiming to be righteous or rich. I am just saying that there are two sides to the story. There! Enough said!

We are planning on spending a few nights in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, visiting a friend and taking a short vacation before departing for Papua. Thank you for your continued prayer support - the Lord did some good work helping keep us safe as we loaded the car and all of our stuff. Darryl finished grade 1 with flying colors and looks forward to starting grade 2 already. Stephan has been told that he can start grade 1 in the fall and so he gets to follow Darryl to school, which just leaves Elleah and Grayson at home with Karen. Karen has also been invited to join the volunteer staff at the local clinic at the school to work as a nurse, once she is ready. I, on the other hand, will begin preparing my classroom and getting my act together for the up coming school year - of course this will happen after we unload the container from Canada and the container from Java and set up our new home!

Please continue to pray. We need it.

Done at Last!

We are pleased to announce that Karen and I are both IMLAC graduates and are considered "fluent" in the Indonesian language. This is kind of funny to us because the they word fluent could also be translated as fluidity and so if you can talk fast, you sound fluent. I don't think I will ever be fluent in any language if speed is the guage - Karen on the other hand ...

We are still very motivated to continue learning this language - it is like most other things, once you start learning, you realize how much more there is to learn about that subject. We have plans to continue reading books to increase our vocabulary, but chatting with the neighbors is the best way to increase our "fluency".

Thank you for praying for us during this time! We could tell that we were being lifted and watched over. We ask that you continue to pray for us as we organize the details of moving once again and also for the children who, although adapt quite quickly, are very sensitive to change. The plan is to ship our household items around the 15th of May and give them a head start before we depart on the 18th of May. We have to go through Jakarta and plan on staying in the city for a few nights visiting with friends and enjoying the city. We plan on arriving in Papua around the 22nd of May. Hopefully our stuff from Canada and our stuff from here will all get to Papua safely.

I would like to close with an encouragement from John 20:30, 31

"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

This passage comes right after Thomas declares that he will not believe that Jesus rose from the dead until he puts his fingers in Jesus' hands and side. Many times we require proof of the power of God before we will choose to believe in the power of God, but Jesus said in verse 29,

"blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Verse 31 says that Scripture were given to us as proof of God's plan of salvation so that we may believe. Although we may not have seen miraculous signs like the actual holes in Jesus' hands and side, like the disciples, we have scripture, which is a miracle in itself, and we are told that its account is accurate. May you continue to read the scriptures and may the Holy Spirit unveil truths to the greatness and glory of God. If you haven't started reading, or it has been a while since you last opened your bible, don't let that stop you. Open it up, it will change your life. May His name, the name of our risen Lord, Jesus, be praised for ever and ever, Amen!

Almost Done!

Hey there, everyone!

We are almost done our language learning here in the wonderful little city of Salatiga, Indonesia. It has been a hard few months, with our brains being stretched in ways we never thought possible. I have a new appreciation for those learning a new language or those who are already multi-lingual, it is just down right hard to learn a new language.


We have also celebrated Good Friday here and it is important to remember that we are now living in a Muslim world where this day is not fully understood. Our helper asked us what it Easter actually meant if Jesus literally rose from the dead. Wow! What a terrific opportunity to share the good news - unfortunately, we could not answer with the enthusiasm or the precision that we once could for we are still learning this language. I must admit that I was/am embarrassed about my inability to communicate effectively and I was reminded of this scripture passage:

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" - 1 Peter 3:15

Consider me sufficiently motivated to continue learning! I encourage everyone else to continue learning as well so that you may be able to answer any questions that come your way!

This is us and classmates at IMLAC. It nice and relaxed.

Darryl had a fun day at his school and that meant all of our kids could have fun as well. They had face painting, which our kids took advantage of as well as water games. Nothing but fun!

Darryl was on the camoflauge team - nothing but cool!

Stephan's performance

Stephan's class performed a frog song. He was very proud!

Boys will be Boys

Stephan manages to entertain himself fairly easily and this is what Paul and I found him doing when we came home from school the other day. Enjoy!

Over the holidays we toured the city of Yogyakarta (Jogja). We rode on traditional baychuks, toured the Sultans palace, the bird market, silver making factory, and batik making factory. It was all very interesting and even the kids had a good time.