First day of school

School has officially started here in Sentani. The kids had their first day on Wednesday. It seemed to go quite well. We are still short a few teachers because of problems with visas, so for now Wyatt is going to a 7th grade Language Arts class even though he is only in 6th Grade. The people responsible for granting the visas don’t want to allow them until we pay a large (uncalled for) amount of money. If we pay it this year, they are going to request we pay it every year, yet it seems like if we don’t pay it, then we won’t get visas. So please pray about all that. There are at least 5 or 6 teachers that are waiting on this paperwork. Until then, Emma and Sophie will be done with school at noon on Fridays.
We are still waiting on some dorm kids to arrive. Three to be exact. By next week we should have a full house. Monday is a HUGE Indonesian holiday. It is their Independence Day, so everything will be closed. We are still waiting for Ibu Poppi to start working again. I am not exactly sure what is going on with that. She is our one and only (except for me) cook, so the fact that she hasn’t been in the hostel since the last day of school last year is not ideal! I was told that she has been gone and should be back on Saturday. It is a lot of work cooking for all of us, so I am eagerly awaiting her arrival.
Our kitchen is finally finished-except for a little tile. Yahoo! Now we have other problems. Our bathroom! Everything is going to pot. The toilet is leaking, the pipes under the sink are leaking, the heater on the water in the shower is not working and the water won’t come out unless you hold down a little button (which is hard to do when you are trying to wash things…) These kinds of things tend to get me frustrated because it takes so long for things to get fixed, and fixed well here. Then I start to feel discontent and think about our beautiful house back home and how everything is brand new and everything works…and I forget that I am not here so that I can be comfortable and have everything perfect. I am here because it was part of God’s plan for us. So what if things don’t work, it is ok. I know I am venting all of my frustrations to you, but I truly know that there would be things I am frustrated about there as well. My life wasn’t perfect in the States and awful here. I know that if I am where God wants me then I am in the right place – whether it is easy or hard. I will survive. (Can you hear PIG from Chicken Little singing that? “I will survive, I will survive…) Ha ha. Want to hear a joke? “What did the mother buffalo say to her son when he was leaving?” “Bison”.
“What does a spider do on a rainy day?” “Search the web.” O.k. Corny I know, but at least it made you chuckle.
Alright, keep chuckling-
Love you
Rachel