Boys

Sophie is always writing stories…wonder who she gets that from???  The other day I happened to look at the story she was working on.  This is what I found on the first page, “In 1999 the sea was very rough, and boys thought girls were not smart.”  The dedication page read, “This is for Joel ‘cause he thinks girls are not smart.”

This week has been a week where my girls are learning some lessons about boys.  Sophie -with her friend Joel, who thinks that boys are always smarter than girls.  And poor Emma…there is a boy in her class that has such a crush on her.  He has been following her around, teasing her, and walking behind her copying everything she says.  I explained to her that if she ignores it, he will stop.  It is driving her crazy.  I told her she is just too lovable and irresistible. 

Tomorrow will be a very crazy day here for me.  There is Cale’s preschool class, a morning meeting, my regular Friday class with the Kindergarteners, and all of the High Schoolers' will be coming back at random times during the day.  Along with that Garth will be gone until about 5 and so will some of my pembantus.  It is an Islamic holiday and so two of them will not be coming in.

You know, this whole thing with that boy and Emma has me thinking.  What kind of people do I attract?  Or you attract?  If we looked, who would we see following us?  What if someone was following behind us everyday copying everything we did or said?  Would we be embarrassed?  Humiliated?  I so often forget that all of my words, and actions, and even thoughts are seen and heard.  God doesn’t take the words out of my mouth and compare them to some criminal in jail and tell me, “Oh, Rachel.  Compared to him, you are an angel…so what you said back there is really no big deal.”  UHHHHHHHH!  That is wrong.  I need to hold my words up to what Jesus would say.  How does it compare to that?  Same with my actions, and my thoughts.

Speaking of thoughts-I happen to think that girls just might be smarter than boys…haha!  (Don’t throw eggs at me!)

Love you all

Rachel

Quiet Week

Hello to all on this fine Saturday night.  We had a very enjoyable week.  It sure has been quiet here with 10 high schoolers gone.  On Monday, the entire high school plus leaders (90 some people) boarded airplanes and flew to the opposite coast to a town called Nabire.  They will be there for 2 weeks assisting in various projects like building fences, leading kids clubs, and educating the locals on the topics of HIV and AIDS.  This a annual event, each time in a different location.  So far we have heard that they are doing well, spirits are up and only one is sick.

Back at the hostel, there is our family (of course), along with one 7^th grade boy and one eighth grade boy.  Eight instead of eighteen.  What a difference!

Tonight we decided to invite the community up to our multi-purpose room and show a movie (Night at the Museum 2).  It was a free event and many people came including some who brought their Indonesian neighbors.  It was great fun for Garth and me to be able to host that.

We did get an update on the situation with the thieves that took our stuff on Saturday.  Apparently some Papuans that had been trying to help us found a guy that they think was one of the thieves and they were holding him until the police came.  But, the police never came.  So they let him go.  The police want to be the heroes in this and don’t want just any Joe Schmoe to get credit for capturing these guys.  So they decided to do nothing.  The whole Saturday incident was written up in the local newspaper twice along with a list of everything stolen.  You never know, we may be out one day and see someone walking around in Garth’s big tennis shoes with the bright, orange laces.  That would be so funny!  My feet are bigger than half the Indonesians here-I can’t imagine one of them in his shoes!  Ha ha!

Ps. 25:4-5

Show me the right path, O Lord;

      point out the road for me to follow.

  Lead me by your truth and teach me,

      for you are the God who saves me.

      All day long I put my hope in you.

Hope you are well and enjoy your weekend.  Don’t rush through it-actually relax your way through it if you can.

Love to all

Rachel

Praise the Lord for a good ending.

Hi.

I want you to read this slowly.

Yesterday Garth took a bunch of the dorm kids to the pipe.  Along with them was a High schooler Zach and Buzz and Myrna Maxey.  (Parents of two boys in our hostel.)  When they all got up to the swimming hole, some of the kids swam there, some ate lunch and they were just hanging out.  After awhile, the girls decided to walk up the pipe (1 or 2 minutes) to another swimming hole and the boys went up even further to another spot.  Garth, Myrna, and Buzz were just chilling on the rocks.  They saw 4 local men come up and started talking to them in Indonesian (Buzz and Myrna are very fluent in Indonesian and the other tribal language that these guys were speaking.)  the locals wanted to know what they were all doing there and Buzz said just relaxing and swimming.  Then the guys started picking up our bags and saying, “Where’s the money?  Give us the money.”  It was quickly evident that they were drunk and some, if not all, were high.  They began taking all the bags and Garth’s wallet, keys, phone, camera, shoes…everything.  They went to Buzz for money and he took some out of his wallet to give them.  They reached for his wallet and when he pulled it away they started swinging knives.  He quickly gave them the wallet and whatever else they wanted.  They grabbed all the cell phones, ipods, cameras, bags etc. Even Garth’s socks and shoes.  Then they ran up the pipe to where the girls were.  Garth and Buzz were going to go up after them, but decided that Garth should stay with Myrna.  Buzz went up and hollered to them and they let the girls go.  Buzz told the girls to run and they ran down the pipe to Garth.  Eventually the locals came back to where Garth and Myrna and now Buzz were, swinging their knives and telling them to stay put and not go down the pipe.  Then they proceeded to leave.

Buzz shouted for the boys and they came down.  The boys were far enough up that they did not know what had happened.  Garth and Buzz informed them of the situation.  After some time, they picked up rocks, sticks, clubs etc. and headed back down the pipe unsure what they might encounter on their walk back.  They made it safely back to the van, but did not have the keys since they had been stolen.  THANKFULLY at the last minute Buzz and Myrna had decided to drive separate, and the thieves did NOT steal Buzz’s keys so Garth and Myrna and some of the kids piled into the pickup truck and headed back to Sentani.  Buzz and two of the boys stayed to talk to police.

When we were all back together and were talking about the day’s events we could clearly see how God’s hand was in this whole thing.

1.  I was planning on going but Sophie wasn’t feeling well, so at the last minute I decided to stay behind with the kids.

2.  There was another vehicle there to get home in when our van keys were stolen

3.  Garth was not the only adult there.  He was with people that spoke the language.

4.  Two kids wear glasses that were on a rock and the thieves did not take them.

5.  Garth and I had taken our American credit cards out of the wallet and had them locked up at our house-so they were not in the wallet

6.  At the bottom of the pipe there were people that helped us right away.  There was a head of police there, there was another guy who worked with one of the girls Dad.  There were other people that recognized some of the kids and right away started spreading the word to see if anyone knew anything.

7. The girls had such a peace during the whole ordeal.  They did not freak out, God gave them the right words to say and had Buzz come up at just the right time to yell at the locals to release the girls.

8.  It was good that the group was split up when the locals first approached, because if everyone had been at that one location, the locals may have felt threatened and thought they needed to use more violence to prove they were in control.

9.  The locals all had knives that they were swinging around but not one person was hurt!

10.  the Seniors had to stay back in Sentani to work on a valentine’s banquet so none of our seniors went with to the pipe.  If they had gone,  they wouldn’t have all fit in the pick- up truck to come home.

This story could have had such a different ending.  We are all aware of that.  But Praise The Lord!  I am writing you with the good news that all are safe!

Wyatt read this verse last night after we told the kids what had happened:

“The Lord is my Rock, my fortress, and my Savior.  My God is my Rock, in whom I find protection.  He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.  He is my refuge, my Savior, the One who saves me from violence.”  2 Sam. 22:2-3

The girls involved were sad to think that this event will give people the wrong impression of Papua.  They love it here and have such a heart for these people.  Garth was praying that this whole thing would make us all better and not bitter.

Please pray for everyone as they process through this.  I know Buzz woke us a few times last night in sweat with his adrenaline pumping thinking he was back in the middle of the encounter.  I think that will happen to everyone at different times.  Pray for peace and comfort for the parents that we are calling to tell them what happened to their children.  It is difficult to be so far away at times like this.

Here are some pictures from one of the other times we went to the pipe.

Thank you so much for being there.  It is a blessing to know that you are all praying for us.

The Language Arts Museum

Today was the Grand Opening of the Language Arts Museum.  The children from Kindergarten through Eighth grade have been working hard on presentations to perform for all of us today.  Wyatt’s class was part of the wax museum.  They transformed themselves into the famous person they had studied. When you pushed the button by them they would give a biography on their life.  Emma’s class did fun poems by  Jack Prelutsky, Sophie with her friend Hannah, taught people how to start a story with a bold beginning instead of a plain, ordinary sentence.  Cale had a very wonderful time at “school” making sculptures out of clay with his eyes closed, drawing a picture of what you see in the clouds and listening to the interpretations of “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.”

I love it when teacher’s find creative ways to make learning fun!

Love

Rachel

Surprises

This morning we had to drop some stuff off at a hospital here and I thought I would take some pictures to show you what it looks like.  All around there were people sleeping on mats outside hospital rooms of loved ones that had to spend the night.   Outside the hospital, the clouds hung lazily all around the tops of the trees.

It has been very cloudy and rainy here which makes for some beautiful sunsets and rainbows.  Can you see the rainbow in the first picture below?  (I know, it is faint) and the sun illuminating the clouds last night was magnificent.

Today Cale asked me to give him some wishes.  So I said, “Cale you have 5 wishes.  What will you wish for?”  He said, “I wish for a turtle, a puppy, a big suitcase, one of those things you put in your mouth and blow and it makes noise, and a guitar.”

What would you wish for with 5 wishes????  I think my first wish would be for Indonesia to be closer to Wisconsin!  Ha.

Beyond that, I am not sure.  That is one of those questions you really have to think about.

The kids have been doing chores and collecting allowance.  I encouraged them to think about what they could do with their money.  They have been giving some to the orphanage in Haiti, and some to church and some to save.  I talked to them about a missionary family that we want to help out and Emma said right away that she wanted to give money to them as well.  Sophie however, said very matter-of-factly that she won’t be giving anything to that family because she has other plans for her money.  I asked her what they were.  She told me that she is saving her money to travel around the world visiting people that are poor and passing out her money.  And she wants to develop new medicines and deliver those to people  that need them as well.  Pretty ambitious for a 7 year old!

What were your dreams when you were seven?  Do you remember?  Since I could breathe I wanted to get married and have babies-besides that I wanted to teach, and write my own books, and have my own TV show, and be a chef…I remember my sister wanting to be a weather girl or an astronaut.  Now she is an optometric assistant and a mommy.  It is so interesting the way our lives go down different paths.  I would never have guessed that I would be in Indonesia!  God is full of surprises!  I LOVE surprises, don’t you?

Love

Rachel

Big Day

The Organization we are with, MAF, has been working hard in Haiti.  Just the other day, they were able to help a woman named Danita.  She owns an orphanage in Ouanaminthe. Some of the kids were badly injured and wouldn’t have been able to make the 9 hour walk.  So MAF flew them in one of their airplanes.  They have also been flying in food to different stations, along with medical teams and supplies, and much more.  I am so thankful that they can be helping during such a difficult time.  The kids here have been raising money for one of the orphanages by making and selling cookies and donuts and coconuts.  (Not making coconuts, just selling them.  Ha ha)  I am attaching some pictures that MAF sent us of their time in Haiti.

Yesterday was a big day for me (emotionally).  Cale wanted a haircut and asked me to cut off his curls.  He has been asking me for months and I always say no.  However, I could see how it was hot for him and would get all full of sweat and the hair would stick to his face…so I cut it.  Emma was with me and she was sad to see the curls go as well.  Cale LOVES the new look .  The haircut sure makes him look older.  I was not ready for that.  He is my baby!

The first picture is a before picture.

There was no school today so we all went to the pool.  It turned out to be a big day for Cale.  He decided he wanted to learn to swim underwater.  He did a fantastic job.  I am so proud of his efforts. 

Love

Rachel