October 14, 2007 - Quakes and Shakes

The kids are back-well, some of them. Those that flew to Wamena won’t be back until tomorrow morning. They usually come in by 7ish and then go right to class. Garth is going to go in Gus to the airport and pick them all up. We will also start up our Indonesian lessons again tomorrow. Our teacher had pink eye so he cancelled last week.
This morning we did not go to church at our regular place, we had church here as a family. It was so much fun. We put in some of the praise CD’s that we used when we were teaching Kid’s Church in the States and we danced and sang and did all the hand motions that we could remember-Carlena, remember Lava, Lava Island? And Mom, remember Fruits of the Spirit? We did them all. What a great way to praise the Lord. The kids were saying, “Can’t we do one more song…?” That is nice to hear. Then Garth talked about 1 Peter 5:5 and not making excuses for bad behavior. It was a very special time for all of us. We spent time praying together-which I love. The kids, talking to God from their heart, is one of my favorite things. Sophie, ”God, thank you that you are bigger than Satan and that you are going to throw him into that lake full of lava…” And Emma, praying so hard for Auntie Eena… It is so amazing that God can hear our prayers whether we are in Wisconsin or Indonesia…
Tonight in the Bible study I do with the High School girls we had some great discussions. I started out asking them to write down how they would describe themselves, then how others would describe them, then how God would describe them. Were the lists different or the same? After we talked about that I brought up the book The Scarlett Letter-they are reading it for school right now. We talked about how the towns people made Hestor walk around for the rest of her life with a big A on her chest to let everyone know that she had sinned by committing adultery. They never forgave her or allowed her to be free of that burden. We compared that to the Bible story of the woman caught in the act of adultery that was brought before Jesus. The law said that she should be stoned. The church people were asking Jesus what should happen to her, and He said that she should be stoned-AND whoever there was without sin should be the one to throw the first stone. The Bible says that they began to leave one by one, the oldest first, until only the woman and Jesus were left. Jesus said, “Where did they all go? Did no one condemn you?” And she says “No, my Lord.” Jesus says, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” Wow! He did not make her wear a big A. He did not make her promise to change her life and then He would forgive her. He just forgave her because He loved her. What a freeing thought. He wants to do the same for us. He will never look at us and say “Oh, no. I won’t forgive you-You have messed up too much.” He is such a loving and forgiving God that when we ask Him to forgive us His answer will always be “YES!” It is so cool. I am always learning new things about God’s love-it is huge!
On a totally different note………………………………….We did have an earthquake here yesterday. Actually it was the second one since we came. The first one was on Thursday and to tell you the truth, I missed it. Garth was just getting out of the shower when he felt it-he was thinking that he was in a bad predicament for an earthquake. I, however, was in the kitchen and just thought that a piece of equipment was going by to the construction site next door. The ground barely rumbled. But the earthquake we had last night at 10:16 p.m. was bigger. It was off the North Coast of Papua and registered at 4.6-not huge, but enough to totally freak us out. The ground was really trembling and the glass in our windows was rattling like crazy. We both jumped up and away from the windows. Garth ran in to check on Wyatt and I ran in to check on the girls. They slept through the whole thing. For quite awhile after my legs were shaking. That was really my first earthquake. Friends of our who have been here in Sentani for 5 years said that the whole time they have only had 5 or 6 earthquakes, and now we had 2 in 3 days! We spent some time today thanking Jesus for keeping us safe. We know that you guys pray for us too. Some of you may feel that we are in a more dangerous environment here than we were in Wisconsin, but that is not true. God is in charge of what happens to us no matter where we are. We are just as protected here as we were there. So keep praying, but don’t worry, o.k.?
Thanks.
Rachel