The Difference

So much to be thankful for!   Tomorrow, Thanksgiving will come to the Hostel!  We are having 40+ people over for the celebration.  I am probably the last one to celebrate Thanksgiving (Dec.1st!!!!) but it was the only time it would fit into our schedule.  I am so excited!  I love to get together with everyone around a good meal.  We are having all the kids from Hostel One and some friends come over for the feast.  Everyone pitched in today and helped with the meal, decorations, and moving around tables and chairs.  The feast will be Sunday at 1:00.  I wanted to have it all set up today so there is less to do tomorrow.  This is what the Hostel looked like at 6:30 p.m. right before I left to go up to school to sell concessions for the drama performance:

And this is what it looked like when I came back at 9 after the boys decided to use the space for a BB gun war:

Haha.  Yes, they did help clean it all up and put everything back the way it was!  Well, almost like it was before.  I kept finding BB's in the strangest places...

I always find it interesting to see what is the same and what is different about being on the other side of the world.  We will celebrate Thanksgiving here very much like you did.  Someone brought us in a turkey (WOW) and we will have stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pies etc. so our feast will look very familiar.  However, there was one thing in particular that proved to me that I am not in Williams Bay anymore.  Today while I was in the kitchen working on the food, I saw a rat run across the doorway and go behind the washer.  I quickly closed the connecting door so it could not get to me.  Then I called our dorm boys to go and get rid of it.  They tried for awhile and were about to give up, when I said, "A whole bottle of Coke goes to the winner.  Get rid of the rat and it is yours."  Suddenly there was a crowd in there trying to take care of the problem.  And as a team, they succeeded.  So, we celebrated in the kitchen with two bottles of Coke for everyone.  Haha.  And then I went back to mashing my potatoes.  What fun, huh?

Okay, enough drama for the day.  I am off to bed.  I will send you Thanksgiving pictures tomorrow.

Love you all-

Rachel

Words

Let me give you a few words that describe my weekend and you see if any match your weekend, o.k.?  Sunshine, boat ride, coconuts fresh from the tree, palm trees, sand castles,  nap in the hammock, shell collecting, body surfing...and two birthday parties.  Nice, huh?  What a great way to spend a weekend.  There was no school on Monday and it was Cale's 8th birthday.  We decided to celebrate with a trip to Tanah Merah, one of the beaches around here.  It was just beautiful!  We came home and had chicken curry (per Cale's request) and cake and homemade ice cream.  I can't believe he is 8.  When we first got here he was 1 1/2.  Amazing!  It was so good to spend a day in the salt water.  Wyatt has had some boils and some badly infected cuts.  We have been treating them several times a day.  Now, thanks to the "magic" of the salt water, they are all looking better than they have for weeks!  Yahoo!!

I started a prayer time with just the girls.  It is a time once a week that we can see how each other is really doing and show we care for each other through prayer.  Lately I have been thinking about how wonderfully God created us.  As women we are truly unique.  I see that as a good thing.  I was reading lately in Luke 24 right at the beginning where the women go to the tomb where Jesus was buried.  When they get there they realize that the stone had been rolled away.  I am sure they were quite shocked.  Even more so when they saw "two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning."  Not sure if they have ever had something like that happen to them before, and yet it says, "In their fright, they bowed down their faces to the ground."  So, even though they were frightened they still kept the right state of mind and knew how to act.  As they were talking the angels reminded them of Jesus' words, and told them that He was risen!

Verse 9 says that "When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others."  Now, I really like this.  Look at verses 22 and 24.  The disciples said "Some of our women amazed us...then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said."  How cool is that?  In their excitement and fright the women still told the story exactly as it had happened.  They did not exaggerate the details, making the story bigger or different from what it really was.  So when the disciples went to see for themselves, they found it just as the women had said.

I have been thinking a lot about that lately.  I want my words to be that truthful all the time.  So, if what I had said had to be proven, it would come out that I was telling the truth.  No exaggerations.

Well, it is about time for the kids to come home from school.  Garth is at school today as well.  He is substituting for the PE teacher who sprained her ankle.

Here are a few pictures from Cale's party and the beach.

  I heard that you have had snow and tornado sirens.  What's up with that?

Buzz

This is a busy time for birthdays.  We have five birthdays in five weeks.  So far, we have celebrated 2 of them and have three more to go.  One of those is Cale. Tomorrow I am having a party with his class so there will be around 15 or 16 kids coming over after school.  His real birthday is Monday, and he is THRILLED that there is no school that day (not sure why).  I think we will go to the beach.  The trouble is that we don't have one vehicle large enough to take the whole dorm.  We have one van that fits about 11 or 12.  But there are 17 of us, so it gets a bit tricky.  We used to be able to go on dorm outings whenever we wanted and take extra kids.  But, while we were in America that big bus was sold.  So...now we have a van that doesn't fit everyone.

I can't believe Cale is going to be 8!  I have been reading back through some of the emails I wrote when we first came to Indo in 2007.  Cale was only 1 1/2.  All that beautiful curly hair that the Indonesians just loved to touch.  And those cheeks they loved to pinch.  Now, he is in 2nd grade, playing soccer on his own team Sunday nights and spiking his hair for school picture day (today).  He has such a love for God, enjoys doing his devos in the mornings, and is always looking for ways to be a gentleman.  We are so thankful for him.

Here is a synopsis of life in the dorm the last few days:  there was a big project on Hereditary traits due, a few Math tests, eye appointments, stomach flu, filling out college applications, taking SATs, a trip to Kali Biru, getting ready for the Fall concert, preparing lines for the drama production, losing water, getting water, rainstorms, soccer games, haircuts, internet, no internet, and one that I was totally not expecting, "Aunt Rachel grab a pair of scissors and come down to the playground.  Blah, blah, blah (I won't use her name to save her from embarrassment) got her hair wrapped all around the rope swing and can't get it out."  Luckily, we didn't have to cut too much to get her unstuck.

There is never a dull moment here at the dorm.  It is always a buzz of activity.

Love ya, 

Rachel

Tarup

Due to the typhoon we have been having strong rainstorms. We have been enjoying the cooler weather, but are so sorry to hear of all the deaths that it has caused.  One of our dorm kids is from the Philippines and has family still there in Bohol.  And another missionary lady here has family there as well.  It has been difficult to hear how they are all doing and how they survived, so we just keep praying.

This past week we have had the parents of two of our kids, Seun and Yohan (brother and sister) visiting.  The name of their village is Tarup.  This is a remote village an hour and 15 minute flight from Sentani.  They are in the process of learning the language and writing it down.  This language has never been learned or written down before.  They work with the Morop people with about 6,000 total in the group.  They are animistic in their beliefs and as recent as 30 years ago were still cannibalistic and warring.  Their ministry is to live among the people, begin to understand the culture, learn the language, take care of the medical needs and show these people God's love.  Their hope is to be able to know enough of the language to share the gospel with them by the year 2015.  The parents were so thankful for us being here to give their kids a safe place to live while they continue on with what God has called them to do.  It is so exciting for us to be a part of their ministry in this way.  We have another girl in the dorm whose parents are also in that village.  Please continue to pray for these families, the Lees and the Elliotts.

The Governor

What an exciting day!  It is the start of a new month-I always enjoy that.  It was a Friday. Yahoo!  It was the school Fun Fair-gotta love that!  We also had the Friday night games and the class meal...And the governor of Papua came to the Hostel!!!!  We have his son in our dorm and had never met him before.

This is a funny story.  So, the Fun Fair happened first.  One event at the Fun Fair is the Water Mafia.  You can "pay" 2 tickets and sign someone up to get a bucket of water dumped on them by the mafia.  The mafia is the 8th grade class.  We happen to have five 8th graders living with us, so Garth and I knew there was no way we would get through the event without getting drenched.  So, towards the end of the Fun Fair when Garth and I were both soaked, we decided to walk back to the Hostel to change before the soccer games started.  As we walked up we saw five or six vehicles at the Hostel, the police security, and many official looking people, along with a very important person in a very nice suit.  Garth and I, all wet, went over to meet the Governor.  Haha.  How funny!  Of all the times for him to make a chance visit.

There was such a buzz this evening with people wanting to meet him, shake his hand, take pictures.  There was a different feel to the night from every other night.  Someone important had chosen to come to us.  It was a big deal.

Compare that to some of the stories in the Bible where Jesus chose to eat with a lowly tax collector like Zaccheus.  Or pull a little child into His lap.  He made them feel so special and important because He came to them and spent time with them.  He is the Almighty Creator and yet He chose to talk to a Samaritan woman at the well.    I LOVE how much He cares about us.  Someone important did come to us.  A Savior far more important than any Governor.  The man that came here today does not knowmuch about us, he won't even remember most of our names tomorrow.  Yet, Christ not only knows us, He knows all about us and still thinks we are special.

That is totally awesome!  It rocks my day.

Here are some pictures from the Fun Fair.  I don't have any pics of the meeting with the Governor.  Seeing as I knew I would get wet, I did not have a camera on me.  He did bring along his own personal photographer that kept snapping pictures of us the whole time we were talking.  Wouldn't it be funny to see those in a local newspaper?  Haha.

Love you!

Chuckles

I am always thinking about you guys and what would make you smile  When we are out shopping we find the funniest shirts and signs.  Thought you'd like to see 

some of these treasures: