Fun Days!

Yesterday and today were heaped with buckets full of fun.  We had the Fun Fair at school with flippers, tightropes, a jukebox jail, a haystack and more.  The kids worked hard designing their station, then we opened it up to the public, handed out free tickets, and sat back and laughed.

Today was the Sadie’s Hawkins Banquet for the High School.  My socks are knocked off by their creativity.  This year we had kids from Hercules, Wizard of Oz (Yes, he spray painted his face), Kim Possible, Nacho Libre, Gladiator and Narnia.

Malaria

Malaria has struck with a vengeance.  A few moments ago I had Cale in his room with his head in a bucket puking.  Emma in bed crying because she feels so bad, and Sophie groaning as she rolled around in bed feeling miserable.  I have it as well, but am not doing quite so bad.

Please pray for quick healing.  We all started malaria treatments yesterday so we should be feeling better in the next few days.

Love you all

Rachel

Gizzards

The internet is trying to frustrate me but I am not going to let it.  As I type this we do not have internet, but I am hopeful that it will come.  This morning we decided to take the Hostel and go to an Indonesian church.  I didn’t understand much of the actual words but I sure did get a feel of how deep their love is.  The singing was so full of energy and the message was full of passion.

Here are a few pictures:

This lady decided she wanted to follow Jesus.  What a wonderful morning!

The service went until after noon, so we had a late lunch, then a bunch went to the pool.  Right after that was soccer and dinner and now bed.  Next week will begin a much more calm week.  Volleyball is over and the soccer season will begin.  Garth is done coaching and so we will have him around more in the afternoons.

We are having a dorm party for one of our girls tomorrow.  I am going to try and make pizza-the problem is that I can’t always get cheese, so we will see. At the store last week, we saw some interesting things.

Check out these beef burgers and this T-shirt.  We also stopped at an outdoor market where Cale enjoyed seeing all the freshly caught fish that were still flopping around.  And looking in at a menu on the wall of a “restaurant” called Texas Chicken we saw that you can choose fried livers or gizzards along with a sweet corn ice cream sundae.  Lovely.

If any of these pictures are making you hungry, just come on over and visit us and we will treat you!!!!!

Love you

Rachel

Out of Routine

We have had a few problems with our internet, but thankfully now it is up and running.  This week began our volleyball tournaments Wednesday thru Saturday.  It made for some very long days here in the hostel.  We had kids playing in the games, doing scoreboard, line judging, making or selling meals, and Garth was the ref for a large majority of the games as well.  I am looking forward to life getting back as normal.  I don’t like disjointed meals and not being able to catch up on how everyone is doing.

We are down to two pembantus right now.  One, Ibu Lina, has been quite sick and missed a few weeks.  Now Ibu Mellie had to fly to a place called Wamena because a family member died.  I am not sure how long she will be gone.

One of our dorm girls just got back from 5 days in Australia with her family.  Next week Tuesday another of our dorm girls will be leaving.  Her family was in the States and now they are returning.  She is a real sweetheart and we will all miss her.

So life has felt very disrupted here.  I am not one that enjoys that.  I do like some sort of predictability and routine.  God has said throughout the Bible that He never changes, that we can count on Him because He stays the same.  Yet, in no way does that mean that He is boring or unsurprising.  I am one that can loudly vouch for that fact that he is full of surprises.  Living in Indonesia was definitely NOT part of my ten year plan.  Yet look at how He made it happen.  And what a blessing this time has been for our family and especially for me.  I think I had the most stretching that had to take place to make this work.  Every part of it has been worth it.  I am glad that it is not over yet.  I still have much to learn.

Love you all

Rachel

Amazing Things

This is what is happening in missions around here.  These are great friends of ours.  God is doing amazing things in their village.  Thought you would be interested in seeing this.

Rachel

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp84e8-3S&h=6a7a1

Don’t Stifle

This weekend Garth and I, along with another couple, were asked to run a Youth Program Saturday and Sunday for Grades 7-12.  The largest mission organization here is called Wycliffe and they were having their annual conference.  It was such a treat to have Wyatt old enough to be in our meetings.  WOW!  That is amazing.  When Garth started school at Moody to become a Youth Pastor I was pregnant with Wyatt.  We joked about how one day that little one would be in our youth program.  Well, it happened…and it was nice to look out and see his face.  The theme of the weekend was perseverance.  And it was a wonderful time of team building activities, swimming, snacks and lots of worship mixed with great messages. We did a little bit of everything – from having them create a team mascot out of newspapers and duct tape, to having the whole team get through a web of string without touching anything.  There was lots of laughing.  But I must say that I am wiped out.  It takes a lot of energy.

On a much different note, we lost another one of our cats to the “Battle of the Road-Cat vs. Car”.  This time it was Tux, the kitty that the kids really loved…I tell you.  We have such bad luck with cats here.  So once again the kids are grieving.  Except for Wyatt-he thinks he is too old to be sad about a cat.  He is at the age where you kind of stifle your emotions, because it is “not cool.”  I am sure glad we don’t have to do that with God.  Man, I let it all out with Him.  Happy, sad, frustrated, angry, excited…you name it, it comes out.  God knows our heart anyway, but He wants us to have that deep connection with Him. Nothing surprises Him, and yet nothing that I feel makes Him love me any less or more.  YAHOO!  That is great, fantastic news.  Like with my kids when I can tell that are upset and I ask them what is wrong and they say, “Nothing.”  I want to know. Even if I have already heard from someone else, I am yearning to hear from their own lips and help them through it.  Be honest with God.  Don’t hide things from Him.  He is longing to hear what YOU have to say.

Mom’s Special Day

A “few” years ago on this very day, my amazing mother was born.  (In place of the word amazing, you could insert any of the following:  Fantastic, extraordinary, astounding, remarkable, incredible, wonderful, out of this world, creative, beautiful, sweet, kind, hard-working, and oh, so lovely inside and out.)  She is by far, one of our most favorite people in the whole universe.  Because she is such a loveable soul, we are all missing her very much.

One of the boys in Wyatt’s class had his Grandma just fly in for a visit.  I saw him run over to her for a big hug, and I started crying because my heart aches that we have to wait 8 months to hug my Mom. Wyatt said the other day that whenever he pictures Heaven, he pictures Grammo and her yard.  Emma and Sophie are always talking about missing Grammo’s laugh.  Cale keeps asking when we can see her again.  I agree, I can’t wait.  There are people here that heard us tell stories about how we all lived together this summer while we were home.  And they usually make a face as if to say, ‘Uh, I bet that was difficult…”  But we feel the exact opposite.  It was so perfect.  The kids are praying that we can live together for the rest of our lives.  My Mom has a way of making you feel better in her presence.  Everyone is important, no matter who they are.  I am so very thankful to God for being allowed the privilege of being her daughter. 

On this very special day, we all want to wish you a very “Happy Birthday, Mom.”  Hope it is terrific!

Celebrate

I know that every day is a reason to celebrate but today especially.  It is raining!!!  If you knew the drought we have been in you would be jumping for joy with us!  This is a tropical area and is supposed to be nice and lush and green.  However, with so many months of not having rain, everything has been dry, brown, and crunchy.  There have been one or two light showers but no good downpours.  So during church yesterday when it started raining the whole congregation erupted in applause.  Then again early this morning it started again.  That is such exciting news!!!!!

My busy heart that makes time for everyone and everything some days, except for God is just like that parched ground.  In the same way as a little shower here and there didn’t do much for the growth of the plants around me, so just a few minutes with God here and there isn’t going to be doing much for my spiritual growth.  I need downpour moments with God.  Times when that is all my soul is rejoicing in.  All I am focused on. 

Praise the Lord that He is always available and ready for me, because I need Him even more than this dry ground needs the rain!

Love you

Rachel