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