By His Grace

There and back again...

2009-08-16T20:17:00.001-07:00

There and back again my little hobbit...that's what my dad said to me at the beginning of this journey. Well dad, we have been there and we are on our way back again. We have had a fantastic journey, but we are ready to see you all again. This will be my final update since we leave for home tomorrow night. We will have lots of stories to tell when we get home...you know, the ones that were too gross or would have scared our mothers half to death. Papua was awesome and we both miss it already. We have been chillin' in Bali the last couple of days. We have tried surfing and have the bruises to show for it. It is actually a lot more violent of a sport than you would think. Mostly we have just been relaxing near our hotel, but we did venture around the island a couple of days ago, and ended up in Uluwatu.

The skirts are not because we thought they were pretty. It is a requirement when you are in a sacred Hindu area. This temple was built in the 11th or the 14th century depending on who you listen to...whatever...it was old and it was cool.
It is built on the edge of these cliffs.

And there are gigantic waves that surfers from around the world come to surf on. Actually...they surf a little bit further down the coast, and we watched them, if you tried to surf in this spot, you would be met with an untimely death. One of the surfers told us the waves were 15 feet high...all I know is they were HUGE!

These are the guys who drove us down to Uluwatu on their motorcycles. My "sopir" Chris, is on the right. He was very impressed with my indonesian and we chatted all the way down there. Actually, I had the opportunity to have some pretty awesome spiritual conversations, so that was a cool way to spend our journey.

And of course, Joerg was makin' friends with members of his own species as well. The monkeys there are quite anxious for treats and if you don't feed them they start pulling on your skirt and stuff.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and your comments. We will see you on the flip side in a couple of days. Love in Christ, Jen

Time and distance... (part 2)

2009-08-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

Before I switch to pictures of our return travels through Sentani, I have to pause and show you some of the personalities that we have been with these last three months.

The unpictured person under the sarong is Selfi, and peeking out is Helmi. If you're wondering what they're doing, they are hiding from the sun because they might turn black. : ) No lie, that is really what they're doing.

This is Agus...and no, he didn't get dressed up for the picture. He was standing on the beach talking with his friends like this.

And of course, Lazarus. He asked to borrow my camera, and this is what I found later.

Okay...moving on. We flew to Sentani last Monday, leaving our friends behind. We set them up on facebook before we left and we have been keeping up with them that way. I took this picture on our way back from visiting the city of Jayapura, and if you are wondering why I posted it you need to read the yellow sign a little more closely. : )

We spent 2 of our days in Sentani out at the mission training center with Abi. There was a brand new class out there and this is Abi trying to teach them the indonesian alphabet...everyone one of these guys come from tribal villages where indonesian is a second language. It was actually really neat returning to the MTC, because it was awesome to see how far our language had come in the last 3 months.

We had some good final days with Abi and Edy in Sentani and with some of the white missionaries as well. They had some pretty useful advice for our futures as missionaries, and I was able to start making some future plans, but I will keep you in suspense until I get home on that one.

Time and distance... (part 1)

2009-08-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry y'all, we have traveled a lot of time and distance since I last posted pictures. I have lots of reasons but here's a recap of some of the best moments.

At the end of July we had the opportunity to go back out to SP11 one more time to spend time with our friends and this is us on the beach with Helmi, Nirmala, and Sepi.
We then came back to Manokwari for a quiet week in the house with Edy's family. This is Riama with her new keyboard. She has only had the keyboard a week and she is already planning ways that she can use it to minister.

For our last night before we left Manokwari to return to Sentani they planned to take us to Mansinam beach...but as with all good Papuan plans they didn't think out the timeframe and we ended up hanging out next to this trash heap on what we affectionately call "Pantai Kotor" (which means Dirty Beach).

We did however have a great time with our friends frying up fish on the beach.

Selfi and her fiance, Binet (in the middle) have been our friends since our first days in Manokwari, and Kigan on the far right is the youth leader at the church, also a very good friend of ours.

Packing up and moving on...

2009-08-09T03:31:00.000-07:00

We have been packing up our things this evening and getting ready to move on to Sentani tomorrow morning. We spent the weekend with our friends from the church here in Manokwari smoking fish and hanging out on the beach. We are really going to miss some of the friends that we made here, and I know that's mutual for them as well. We have already had a lot of goodbyes out at SP and they have been saying goodbye to us all week at every "ibada" (biblestudy).

Tomorrow we begin our journey home...first to Sentani for a couple of days to wrap up our time there and then on to Bali, and then home again. You can be praying for our journey home as we say goodbye here and as we travel. I will post a little more when we get to Sentani. Thanks for continuing to stay updated on our happenings.

Life is like a box of chocolates...

2009-08-03T00:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's right...you never know what you're gonna get. And that seems to be particularly true here in Papua. For one thing, planning is totally on the fly here. Plans that were made previously are almost for certain going to change. For instance, last week was supposed to be our last week in SP11 so we closed up the house, brought all of our stuff back to the city, said our goodbyes, only to find out that our plans had changed again and we were going back to SP11. And secondly, you never know what you might get, because life here is just plain full of surprises...like ending up in a muslim wedding or an earthquake (both good stories, I'll share later)...but, you never know what might happen next.

These are few more random shots from around SP...and this one in particular is for our mothers. The top bucket is the water that comes from the well and that is what we use for bucket baths and cleaning dishes. The bottom bucket is our drinking water after it has gone through the filter.

This has been our project the last 2 weeks. We have been painting the inside and outside of the school. We have definitely been taking advantage of Joerg's drawing talents.

We also helped clean out a chocolate garden last week. They gave us big machete type things and let us go to town. It was hot, buggy work, but we enjoyed being able to help out. The chocolate garden belongs to Lazarus and Diana, and Lazarus fell out of a truck last week and broke his leg (from what I understand). Lazarus and Diana are both people from the church and they are really cool people. They have a 2 year old and a 3 month old, and Diana is only 16 years old!

This is us with our friend Nirmala before we left SP11. Nirmala is originally from Sumatra but is living out at SP11, serving the people there for the next couple of months. There are several people that we have grown close with during our time here, but for me, my time with Nirmala has been some of the best. She is one friend that I will miss very much.

God must not be done with us...

2009-07-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

After eating a lot of rice and top ramen all week we decided it was time to go on a little fishing expedition to see if we couldn't catch us something better to eat. We, along with Lazarus, Agus, and Nirmala fished the ocean and the pond/river nearby and then slept out on the beach under the stars. We didn't catch much, but it was an amazing expedition nonetheless.

First, we tried our hand at fishing the ocean. The boys propelled this log into the water for us to use as a boat out to the coral rocks where we fished from.
As you can see, the ocean was a little rough that day, which made things very interesting, and not very fruitful in the way of fishing.

The little black dots on the right are our heads as we were swimming out to the coral rocks. I will not include the story on my blog, because I don't want to hear the scolding, but I will say that I had an experience with the waves and the coral that would lead me to believe that God is not done with me yet.

Nirmala, Agus, Lazarus, me, and Joerg. We had a great time that night exchanging stories...funny ones, serious ones, testimonies, etc. It was a great night around the campfire.

And I have never in my life seen a sunset like there was that night. God is a brilliant artist. Could you have made anything this surreal?

I titled this post, God must not be done with us, partly because of a few frightening moments I had in the ocean, but also because we later found out that the pond we were fishing in had crocodiles. Papua is full of all sorts of those kinds of surprises, but oh well...God must not be done with us yet.

Some random shots from SP...

2009-07-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic 2 weeks out at SP11. We worked hard, played hard, and had a great time doing it.

Dinner...need I say more?
Joerg drew this picture the first week we were in Indonesia, and when I filled my plate it was just too perfect.

Okay, so I did actually make to the clinic here this week. We were only there for a couple of hours, but within 30 minutes some guys brought in their friend that a tree had fallen on his head. I was able to jump right in and help, and I was glad to be back in action. I have not done too much in the way of nursing here this time. I do have quite a few pictures of me with the patient, but they are gory beyond reason. I am sure his skull was broken and there was just a little too much blood to post for the faint of heart.

A lot of our work has been on this school. It is right next to our house, and it is where I sleep at night. It is a kindergarten and they teach the kids Indonesian, English, and about God.

You may not be able to see it real well, but yes, Dan, for you, this kid is wearing a batman t-shirt.

Taigei (Part 2)

2009-07-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

On the other side of the mountain from Taigei was the village of Tridaga, and this was our greeting when we arrived. A lot of people here have never seen a white person, or very few at best, so we pose for a lot of pictures on their cell phones, shake hands with lots of folks, hear lots of “goodbye misters”, and get lots of folks who just want to touch us.
We went out on the lake in this boat that was totally awesome. They drove us around the lake and at some point I asked Joerg where we were going and he said probably a 3 hour tour. I don’t know how many of you are up to date on your Gilligan’s Island, but their 3 hour tour didn’t work out so well, so I said that I hoped that that wasn’t the case. We did get caught in a storm out on the water and we were all so cold by the time we got back that we were numb…but our “3 hour tour” ended much better than theirs. A quick sit down by the fire and a hike back up over the mountain helped to warm us right up.

We did have another huge rain storm as we were coming down the last of the mountain which made the last of our trek a little treacherous and I have a pretty good scar to show for it. I fell off the last of the fences that we had to climb over…go figure. The rain also made for a really interesting journey out of Taigei the next day. Most of our trail was under at least a foot of water. That’s where this picture of Joerg hiking up his high waters came from.

After hiking to Taigei, over and down the mountain, over and down the mountain again, and hiking out from Taigei, we were unpleasantly surprised to find that our taxi had not come for us, so we started walking back to Manokwari. There aren’t a lot of cars out that way, so we didn’t have a lot of options. We ended up walking a good distance to the next village, where we did eventually meet up with a taxi to return us to town. PRAISE GOD. I was doing a lot of praying on that road. I really didn’t have much desire to walk all the way back to Manokwari…it would have taken a lot of endurance and I’m pretty sure my legs would have fallen off.

But because there aren’t many vehicles out there, as many people as possible piled in. You have to understand that this vehicle is one of those with the 2 front seats, the back seat and one of those squatty truck beds. At one point we counted 21 people on board, 7 inside, and 14 in the back. We were part of the 14. This is a picture of a Papuan seat belt…just hold on to the person in front of you. Seriously, the entire ring of guys that were sitting on the rim of the truck bed were all holding on to the guy on either side of them. It was pretty hilarious.

The missing photos from our time in Taigei...

2009-07-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I know we sort of disappeared for a couple of weeks. We have been out at SP11 these last 2 weeks having a great time. But I have to start with our trip to Taigei. As you might remember, I left my camera in the taxi after our trip, and by a miracle of God, I got it back. So here are some photos from our trip to Taigei.

Taigei is up in the mountains and it is actually cold there. We left the house here in Manokwari at 3am and took a taxi to the end of the road and then hiked another 2 hours onto Taigei. It was 6am, 52 degrees, and we were barefoot in the mud…it was COLD. There is apparently no middle ground here temperature wise.

First off… I have heard several comments about going barefoot here, but YOU try hiking in this in flip-flops and then we can talk. Believe me, I’m a sissy little white girl with sissy white girl feet, and if I could have kept up with the boys in my flip-flops…I would have, but it was too slippery to do anything but kick off the sandals and suck it up.
This is Joerg, Hengki, Lazarus, and Agus. It was a weekend with the boys. For a girl with no brothers, it has been interesting learning to live with these guys the last few weeks.

Taigei is beautiful. In some ways it reminded me of a little bit of home. All of the mountains, a little drop in temperature, and their main staple food there is potatoes (YEA!!!!). And, to top it off we had piles of pineapples. I loved Taigei. It is a beautiful place with very friendly people.

The second day in Taigei we hiked over the mountain to the lake on the other side. I liked this picture because it gave a little perspective to the incline of the mountain. I was a little slower than the boys, but I did alright for hiking that sucker barefoot.

This is looking back over the village of Taigei from the mountain. It is always awesome to hit the summit of any mountain, but it was awesome reaching the summit of the mountain that day…I think for me it was reaching a summit of my time here in Papua. The start is always hard. But, we are finally hitting a place with our language where we are able to joke around with them and lead them in devotions. It’s still not pretty to listen to for sure, and we are definitely still playing charades with them, but we really are able to talk with them, and that has been huge.

This will be brief...

2009-07-24T23:58:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. I did get my camera back! I will hopefully be able to post pictures tomorrow, but for now you'll have to settle for the quick update. We have been out at SP11 for the last 2 weeks, and have had a fantastic time. We did a lot of projects there the last 2 weeks...most of which ended up with me wearing a lot of paint. We also went fishing and spent the night on the beach with some of our friends here. Plans have changed since the bombing in Jakarta, and Ron will not be coming, so we are still waiting to hear what the next couple of weeks will hold for us hear. I will post more later. Love, Jen

Taigei

2009-07-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that this post will not include any photos, my camera was a casualty of our trip and I am currently trying to get it back from the taxi it was left in.

We had a great trip out to Taigei this last weekend. We left Manokwari at 3am (I was not too thrilled ) and from here it is a 4 hour drive up into the mountains to the taxi stopping point. From there it is another 2 hour hike to the village of Taigei. Because the mud is knee deep at times, and because we only had flip-flops (long story) we hiked those 2 hours barefoot. Taigei is up in the mountains so it was only 50 degrees when we were hiking which was refreshing after the heat of Manokwari, but made for some really numb barefoot hiking.

The next morning we headed out from Taigei to hike over the mountain to the lake and the village of Tridaga. I also scaled this mountain barefooted which was a little less pleasant because it was definitely a little more rocky, but flip flops were way too slippery for the steep incline, so in the long run I went with cut feet over a broken neck and I think it was a good choice. The lake was beautiful and it was a very good time with the Sol people, Hengki, Agus, and Lazarus. We swam in the cold lake and went out on the boat and got rained on...it was just like Idaho.

It was really a highlight of my time here and I have lots of pictures if we can get my camera back. I hope to be able to share more with you later, but we are leaving for SP11 in about 2 hours so I will have to post more later. In Christ, Jen

And the world spins madly on...

2009-07-06T05:27:00.000-07:00

I realize this picture got a little small in adding it to the blog. But, for those of you who are wondering where exactly in Papua we are at I found this poster in Edy's office. Manokwari and SP11 are both in the big yellow spot on the "bird's head" of Papua. (SP11 is on the left of the spot, and Manokwari the far right of it, they are about 2.5 hours apart by bus.)
This is Helmi (another of the bible students from Jakarta) she fell asleep on my shoulder on the bus on the way back from SP11.

Clearly, I am not exciting because the next morning this is Joerg falling over in the car next to me. I cannot believe that he slept through that journey...our taxi driver was crazy. He did comment when he woke up that if we were going to die on this trip that that ride was probably how we we were going to go.

Sunday was not for the faint of heart. We were woken up at 5am to be at the church in Manokwari for a "prayer" service at 6am. The prayer is in quotations because, everything here is so formal that they don't just have a prayer and finish. We had worship, prayer, offering, a condensed sermon, more worhip, and more prayer. From there, we drove out to Wariori, which is another area that YMP3 ministers in (about halfway out to SP11). Every now and again, their churches join together to share a service together, so we went to church a second time. This church has indoor and outdoor seating and we sat in the nosebleed section outside. The service was 3 hours long and there wasn't an ounce of wind. I had a thermometer on my clock and it held at an even 97 degrees for those three hours. Church here is about survival of the fittest.

Actually, Sunday was all sorts of different things for me, from the ridiculousness of riding in a death taxi out to fry in the sun, to some more real moments. There are some truly genuine people here that will be gathered together with us some day in God's presence, and I was really struck by that as I watched believers from Manokwari, together with those from Wariori praising the name of God.

But a really special moment occurred for me that night back at the house. We often have devotions and Edy asked me if I wanted to share what was on my heart. That night, what was on my heart was Honduras. As you all have probably heard, the Honduran government was overthrown last week and there is a lot of uncertainty and unrest right now. It fell right before the USA celebrated their independence day, and right before presidential elections here in Indonesia. I was reminded of Isaiah 40 when God says that the nations are like a drop in the bucket. We often rely on nations and governments as things that are sure and certain, but ONLY God is sure and certain. It was awesome being able to express something real with them, and of course there was a little victory too in knowing enough Indonesian to really communicate my heart. They have a tradition of praying at the same time out loud at the end of devotions and listening to Indonesians praying for my friends at the clinic in Honduras half a world away was something awesome that I can't even express.

A work in progress...

2009-07-06T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well, aside from our hike up the mountain and another journey to the beach, we have also kept ourselves busy this week building a fence at the school next to our house.

Joerg, Agus, and Lazarus went out and brought back big bamboo poles for us to make the fence with. Agus and Lazarus are 2 students from a bibleschool in Jakarta that were with us these last two weeks.
This is Agus and Joerg shaving the outer layer of bamboo off before we added it to the fence.

This is me also shaving the green outer layer off. You cannot tell, but I am using scissors since we ran out of knives.

This is one section of the fence.

And here you can tell a little bit fo the work that we have already finished, but it's still a work in progress.

Hiking to nowhere...

2009-07-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

We took another side trip this Friday out to Wamnowi and went hiking.

I'm not sure how much I've commented on the Papuan sense of time, but as it stands here communication (especially with those of us still learning the lingo) of things and timing of said things does not appear to be very highly valued. Let me explain how plans work here: Originally we were going to hike to Kaibar and it was not far. Then, it was far and too expensive, so we changed our plans to go to Wamnowi with Martinus instead. We were going to leave on Monday, hike out to Wamnowi and come back in on Tuesday. On Monday we found out that Martinus was not at SP11 so we decided to go maybe Thursday or Friday or maybe not at all. Thursday night Martinus returns and tells us that we are going Friday morning. The next morning we take a truck and drive to the bottom of a mountain. After an hour or two of hiking, I am talking to one of the kids and learn that we actually passed the village of Wamnowi in the truck and we are actually on a hike up the side of a mountain to apparently nowhere. We were so tired after our journey to nowhere that instead of staying the night in Wamnowi we ended up heading back to SP11. That is how plans go around here, you learn to roll with it or your brain will explode.

This picture is a side note. I have had some of the most ridiculous heat rashes since I have been here. This particular one was everywhere and this picture does not quite do it justice. I ended up benadryl-ing myself into a stupor. It was the only way to go.
Okay, back to my journery to nowhere. I thought you all would appreciate the integrity of the bridges here. Keep in mind that we are riding in the back of a dump truck. You're in quite a pickle if you don't line your tires up right.

This is at least hour 2-3 of our hike. We were a little toasty at that point. The Indonesian way to deal with sun/heat is to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, hats, and towels...I totally don't get it.

This little buddy of mine stuck with me on the trail for a good minute or two. He kept landing on me and I couldn't quite seem to shake him off my armpit, so instead I captured the moment. I must have smelled like a pretty daisy after all that hiking.

Dinner Guests

2009-07-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

I know there have been a lot of blog posts about the food here, but honestly, it's for good reason.

This is a picture of Joerg trying the intestines of a chicken. To date I think that we have had intestines, liver, brain, wings, and eyeballs of various meats and we have eaten cow, chicken, fish, goat, bats, chicken balls (whatever those are), tofu, and dog. What will they think up next? We are pretty sure that if it is in anyway edible, they eat it here. We will be walking home from the beach along the side of the rode and they will pick what seriously looks like weeds to me, and when we ask them they say it's vegetables.
This guy is sitting on the bench next to Joerg, he stopped by during dinner.

Joerg and I have been content to live off their cuisine, but also thought that it couldn't hurt to share some of ours with them. This is Joerg making doughnuts. We have also made fish tacos, pizza, and steak for them. A cow died in the field near here so Joerg helped them butcher it and we made some killer steaks on the fire here in the house. It was the best meal I've had in ages.

I don't know what you do with your toddler when he might wander off at the beach, but here they half bury the kid in the sand.

I met this lady here on the beach. People at the beach always want to have their picture taken with Joerg and I. I think they might be pretty disappointed when they find out we aren't famous, but oh well. I actually talked to this lady quite a bit. She is from Timor and was just visiting family here for 2 weeks, but I was able to share with her that I knew Jesus and was here learning the language.

Okay time for a little reality check…

2009-06-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

We have for the most part been enjoying our time here in Papua. But as I mentioned earlier we have also had some sobering moments as well.

Remember I mentioned the mattress they wanted me to sleep on here in the house, well this is a picture of it. The black line to the left of the tear is an ant highway. You can pray for my endurance/patience. The reality of the bugs everywhere that you can't escape from was one of my first sobering moments. They are absolutely everywhere and our house is full of them. Joerg and I (Selfi too) have been virtually eaten alive since we arrived…we are talking hundreds of bites. Mosquito spray and nets only go so far. I gotta tell you our sanity is a little thin at times because of all the itching, so pray for endurance. You could also pray that we will stay healthy because with all of these skeeter bites we are testing these malaria meds to their limit.
This is not a wealthy village we are living in so people here don’t have much and they, for the most part, don’t spend what little money they have on toothbrushes. Before I left Boise I got a Colgate representative to donate over 300 toothbrushes for the people here. And finally after hauling them half way around the world we handed them out the other day and they were really excited.

Please pray for the people of Papua, we have seen some of the darkness that they live in. There is nothing "romantic" about the simple life...they do not have things because they like it that way...they do not have things because they don't have them, but they are the same kind of people in their core as we are, with the same sin nature. I know that Joerg mentioned in his post the woman that was beating her child, but I also have to mention it because of the impact it had on me to watch that scene. It was pretty awful. Please pray for the Papuan people that God would shine a light in the darkness.

Please pray with us that God would be glorified in Boise, Papua, and wherever there are Christians to shout His praise.

In Christ, Jen

Mount Doom

2009-06-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

After two trips to the beach we wanted to mix things up so we decided to hike up to the property where Beyond Cultures is planning on building the pastor training and retreat center…or at least that’s what we thought. I have been to the property before, so when we got there and turned right I knew that our final destination had not been communicated to us. It turned out instead that they were taking us on a 2 hour hike straight up the side of the mountain behind it. It wasn't quite what I was expecting to do that day and might have traveled a little differently with some warning. Also, it’s not exactly comparable to a hike in America because it is all jungle and the “trail” is wherever the machete clears.

As we began our journey we had quite the entourage out of town. Only about 10 of us went up the mountain, but they all like to watch us white folk trying to live Papuan style.
THIS believe it or not is the trail. The whole hike was thick with plants, trees, vines, and of course ants and skeeters. Joerg and I have well into the hundreds of mosquito bites to show for this hike. We both went and bought long sleeve shirts to hike in next time.

This is Hengki climbing the roots of this crazy cool tree in the jungle while Selfi and I caught our breaths.

I asked Nirmala to take a picture of me, and Martinus jumped right in and whipped out his phone to be funny…They actually did get reception once we got to the top of the mountain.

I fell about four times on the way down so I came out a little scratched up. I also had the misfortune on the way down to fall into a bee hive and got stung three times before I could swat the devils away. It was a very steep hike and a little unexpected so there were some not so pleasant aspects for me of that particular hike, HOWEVER there were some great things for us about that hike. I made a new friend my age on the hike named Nirmala and we made friends with a lot of the village boys that went with us on the hike. Also, Joerg and I got to spend time with Ron/Di’s partners Martinus and Hengki.

A few random shots from last week...

2009-06-27T05:17:00.000-07:00

We are currently back in the city of Manokwari enjoying mattresses, electricity and internet, but as we get ready to head back to SP11 I think that both of us are very ready to get back. SP11 is a great place for us to really build relationships with people. We walk around the village and chat with the Indonesians and Papuans that live there, and we take little adventures with them as well. We do enjoy our time with Edy and Riama in the city, but the pace of life here is very different and I tend to get "cabin fever" after staying in the house not doing much. Joerg reminded me tonight during devotions that even in the "slow lane" moments of life God might be using us to impact someone.

SP11 is a beautiful piece of God’s creation.
Sometimes in the little moments He uses us.

This is me in the back of a gas truck that we hitched a ride in on the way to the beach. Joerg and I have been making up Papuan Proverbs for the lessons we have learned here and this one: "All transportation here is public." Gas trucks, private cars, motorcycles...all public.

I spent our second afternoon at the beach teaching Selfi to swim. She can now officially float on her back and do the doggy paddle. I threw this picture in of Selfi tidying up our front yard…she was sweeping up the stray leaves, which just struck me so funny because the inside of the house is such a nightmare that a few leaves in the front yard just seemed funny.

To Lori Price and Michelle Markham: a big thanks for the beads. The ladies/girls had a great time making bracelets and via Selfi we were able to give the whole salvation message while we made them. Great idea!

A little more from our first day at the beach...

2009-06-25T02:27:00.000-07:00

When Joerg and I came back from our swim out to the coral rocks we found that our friends on the beach were going to make lunch for us out of some fish that some guys on the beach had caught and from some taro root that grows around the beach.
At this point I figure you’ve gathered that most of our food still has eyes when we eat it. We tend to stay away from the heads but they really like them.

They do most of their fishing with nets. The log in the guys hand is for floating.
.

It was a great first afternoon. We were really able to enjoy some Papuan culture and practice our limited vocab. We both had a great time just sort of sinking into life here.

We didn't come halfway around the world to go to a beach but...

2009-06-25T02:18:00.000-07:00

Joerg asked about beaches close to SP11 because as it turns out we are very close to the ocean. So, for our first day in the village Selfi, Joerg, and I visited Pantai Kasbederi with some of the village girls. It was “only a 10 minute” walk from the house. I put that in for Diana, because Indonesians have no sense of time whatsoever and it was almost an hour trek from our house across town through the jungle.

Joerg and I quickly abandoned our flip flops for the Papuan style of barefoot travels because our flip flops were no match for the jungle mud.
We were really hot and disgusting so when the trees parted and the ocean fell into view it was a welcome sight.

Joerg and I swam out to this little coral rock to explore. The girls weren’t quite ready to swim and Selfi can’t swim so they waited on shore and took pictures for us. It turned out that the rocks were inhabited by quite a few decent-sized crabs.

I thought I should throw this one in because we haven't been in too many pictures together since one of us is usually behind the camera.

Going to the beach actually turned to be very fruitful. We were able to start putting our Indonesian to practice. Also, I have since been able to build relationships with at least 2 of the girls that took us to the beach that day.

A little more from our first day at SP11.

2009-06-23T22:55:00.000-07:00

It took Joerg all of 10 minutes after we arrived to climb a coconut tree. He and a friend that accompanied us out from Manokwari climbed the trees so that we could have fresh coconut milk.
Fresh coconut milk definitely tastes the best straight from the coconut.

Our house is sort of a hangout spot because we are between the school and the store and because the well, a volleyball net, and the bus stop are in our “front yard.” There are always kids and adults hanging around, and Joerg and I try to practice our Indonesian on them.

This picture cracked me up because little kids with big knifes are nothing extraordinary around here.

We are constantly living in a fish bowl here, we haven’t seen one white person since we left Sentani 2 weeks ago. We do things so differently than them that we still need a lot of help to learn to do simple things the “Papuan” way. Day by day it gets easier but sometimes it is a little overwhelming so I like to take walks to clear my head and enjoy the sunsets.

And so our journey begins...

2009-06-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, since my last update much has happened. There have been good things and hard things, dull times and great adventures, great moments and sobering ones. We left Manokwari last Monday for our home in SP11.

The night before we left we had a big send-off dinner with people from Edy’s church.
Apparently, lots of folks here think that papeda is quite the treat, so they made a big batch for dinner. For those of you who don’t know, papeda is a dreadful substance that they make from the pulp of the sago tree, and it is the consistency of snot. So while I was less than thrilled to see 2 buckets of papeda on the table it was nice to be in the company of fellow believers before we took off for the wilds of SP11.

I thought you would get a kick out of the “gas station”…Joerg and I thought it was great. Nothing is automatic here.

Home sweet home. Selfi, Joerg and I are staying at this house while we are here. It has not been lived in for over a year so you can’t even imagine what manner of critters are living here with us. The whole place is crawling with ants, skeeters, and all manner of insects. The first day, Selfi and I tried to put sheets on our bed and hundreds, HUNDREDS of ants came pouring out from inside of it. You can imagine my thoughts on sleeping on that mattress…so we left it behind and are sleeping on the floor over at the school.

The “mandi” or shower and the well that all of our water comes from. We accidentally left the water filters in Manokwari so we had to scrub out an old one here and so far neither of us have died from anything.

For now...

2009-06-13T23:36:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to upload a few photos, but for now the computer doesn't seem to be inclined to acquiesse to my request (bonus points if you know what movie that's from) so this posting will be pictureless...sorry.

Yesterday and today have been very mellow. We went to Edy's church this morning...and even sang All in All in English and Indonesian in front of the church. It was our kesaksian (testimony) for them. They are very big on people sharing their kesaksian (basically whatever God has laid on their heart). Sometimes it is a song, sometimes its a passage in the bible, or what God is doing in their life. We leave early tomorrow morning for SP11. I think that both Joerg and I are excited to be moving on to the next phase of our journey. We have done a lot of "hanging out in the house" here in Manokwari and we are both pretty ready for a little more activity. We are also excited to get into a little more formal language study...most of our studying has been on our own up to this point, and well, a little guidance couldn't hurt.

We will not have phone or internet access out at SP11 so please keep us in your prayers and we will check in when we can. We hope to come back into Manokwari in a week or so. That's all for now folks. Live in the light, Jen

More from the fish market...

2009-06-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Not like any market we have.

Manokwari

Dinner.

Pasar Ikan

2009-06-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

After a few days of being "holed up" in the house, Joerg and I were pretty to strike out and see a little more of Manokwari, so yesterday and today we went to the market. Selfi, my language helper, has been our guide. Selfi, doesn't know very much english so we learn a lot when we travel with her. I posted previously about some of the food (eating batman and hot dogs), so I thought you would get a kick out of the market. By the way, for those of you who have asked...Joerg did eat the bat brain and one of the eyes but couldn't quite summon the will to finish off the second eye. For me, eating the bat body and bat wings (REALLY chewy) was sufficient.

Chicken anyone? When this picture is full size you can see how many flies are on them.
The market is right on the water...Manokwari is a coastal town. The market is also on the edge of trash heaps everywhere as you can see.

I got a kick out of the "hallelujah" boat.

Lunch. Selfi let me try buying the fish for lunch...I did okay but I had a lot of assistance.

This is a fruit called sri kaya. It actually was pretty good. Joerg and I were a little unsure when Selfi first handed it to us because we thought it was some sort of shrunken artichoke. It looks funny but tasted okay.

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...

2009-06-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

SP11 is actually not that far from the ocean so we stopped and walked on the beach before we headed over to SP11 for the afternoon.

Look closely, there is a guy up in the tree getting some coconuts for us to drink.

I am not a huge fan of coconut milk, but it is better than a few of the other samplings we have had. I have officially eaten "batman" and "hot dogs." Which means that dinner last night was dog meat, and lunch today was bat meat. I ate bat meat and bat wings, poor Joerg ended up with a bat head on his plate.

The REAL wakeup call…Are you really alive?

2009-06-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

On Wednesdays, here in Manokwari, Edy’s church takes to the streets to share the gospel. It is illegal here, and you can be put in jail for doing so, but they go anyway. They tell me that the people are open to hearing the gospel, and so they go.

I have been reading about the church in Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6). God told them “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. WAKE UP…” The church was strong in reputation but not in reality. I have been very convicted on this issue since arriving in Papua. I have seen ways in my own walk with the Lord that people would outwardly see as good, but inwardly I know my character doesn’t match. I don’t want to be about reputation only, but about real Christian character. I don’t know who all is reading this blog, maybe no one, but if you stumbled on this posting today, take a moment and decide if your spirit is alive in reality or in reputation only. If your spirit is dead or sleepy, here’s your wake-up call. WAKE UP and fix it. It’s easy to keep up appearances, but God USES people who are really alive.

There little mosques like this all over, and I wake up every morning at 4am to their call to prayer. Please for the people of Papua, and for the hearts of the people ministering to them.

And you thought Washington was green...

2009-06-10T18:08:00.000-07:00

That title was for the Baileys. Well, as things go, our plans have changed once again. Nothing is set in stone here. We were going to head straight out to SP11 to stay yesterday, however we decided to just drop off our stuff in SP11 and return to Manokwari. Diana leaves today to return to Sentani to start her trip home on Saturday. Joerg and I are going to be in Manokwari with Edy, Riama, and Selfi until Monday, and then we will head out to SP11 to stay. We are rapidly picking up words to add to our vocab. Indonesian is a GREAT language…I love it because there are no tenses…no past or present to confuse us…it’s awesome.

They are replacing all of the bridges. Right now only one car can cross at a time. Dan, I will show you a close up of the bridges later...you'll get a kick out of the construction.
The have rows and rows of palm oil trees.

Out at SP11. We drove out there for the afternoon yesterday so that we could see where we were going to be staying. I have more photos later.

I caught Joerg in the midst of studying hard.

MTC...Missionary Training Center

2009-06-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the MTC in Sentani. We went to their morning devotions and lessons with them. Joerg and I both learned a ton of new words this morning, but as you can imagine, sitting through several hours of a language that you don't understand was hard work. I was able to follow along through the devotion in Psalm 1 as they talked about the paths a man can choose to walk. The second lesson was 3 hours long and my attention span didn't quite stretch that far.

Something you may not know about me is that I have never been the best at praying. But there is something about being out of your element that really reminds me who we are and Who is in charge. I have been growing in the Lord this week and have been reminded how sweet it is to stay close to the Lord in prayer as well.

These are all of the MTC students that are living here, training to be missionaries in their own country. They are faithful men learning how to teach others about Christ.

I just wanted you to have a glimpse of some of the realities of the country...

...before I showed you this picture that I took from the MTC center this morning.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph the mangy mut under our lunch table.

We were well into our 2nd hr when I took this picture of Joerg during the lesson this morning.

Sunday Evening...

2009-06-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

I took an evening walk down the road on Sunday evening and there was a beautiful sunset. It was nice to take a few moments on my own to remember to "be still and know that He is God." We have spent every minute together and with missionaries and nationals that sometimes it's nice to pause and just know that He is God, He will be exalted among the nations. Ps.46
This is Janet Bateman. We spent some time visiting with her this afternoon. She has been serving with a tribe here in Papua for 30 years. She is the only white person in her area. She works as a mother tongue translator in a tribe that has a tonal language with 8 different tones. Right now they have completed translations of Genesis, Exodus, Mark, and Acts, and have approximately 10 different epistles in progress. She is headed to Singapore for the next 2 weeks. Please be in prayer for her travels and health, she is a very special lady.

Sunday Morning

2009-06-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today we went to church at the “white folks” church here in town. It’s where a lot of the missionaries gather for church. They meet at the international school up on the hill and it’s a beautiful location. The guy who spoke really zeroed in on living in love for God and not duty. Joerg went out to lunch with the Indonesian/German fellow that we met yesterday, and Diana and I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon watching a movie at Dr. Miguel’s house before we headed out to dinner with another missionary couple.

We bought me some Koko Krunch and I am a happy camper.

I just wanted you to know that I am thinking of you often.

The church on the hill overlooks Sentani.

Chillaxin' (that's my word...not indonesian)

2009-06-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a good day. We spent most of the day with Abi and Ria. We went to the mall in Sentani…and folks, they have more levels in their mall than we do! We bought some English/Indonesian dictionaries and some children’s “learn English” books with pictures and such because they have the Indonesian in them also. I also got to see a few folks from the Yetfa tribe that I met when I was here in 2006! They were in town to meet with Abi. We also met an Indonesian man here who married a German lady and has been living in Germany but is now back to do ministry. He spoke very good English and German so we talked to him for quite a while.

Ria, Abi, and Joerg at the office.
Sentani

The ugly side of Sentani

I sent the toothbrushes on to Manokwari with Edy so that I wouldn't have to lug them around anymore.

Sentani

2009-06-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Sentani has been good to us.

This is the Dr. Miguel's house. We are staying at their house while they are out on furlough.
This is the "kucing" (cat) that lives at the house and keeps following me around. He's like a skinny version of Cristin's kitty.

We spent the morning talking with Anita (next to Diana). She speaks english and she was asking us why we wanted to be missionaries. She is 26 years old and has a great heart for the Lord.

I had to play on the tire swing...it was just too tempting.

This is the office of YMP3. This is where we are at hooking up to internet, it is also where Abi and Ria and their kids are staying while their house is renovated.

We are headed out to go get lunch and I am holding us up so I have to go. Please keep praying for us...we really have appreciated the prayers so far.

2009-06-05T03:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has taken me a couple of days to post. We had the opportunity to use the internet yesterday in Bali, but I was a bit under the weather (head in the toilet style). For me, June 4th was the day that wouldn’t end. I spent endless hours bowing down to the porcelain gods, and then when it finally started to let up, we had to hop a red-eye flight at 2am to travel to Sentani. We have been in transit since we left on the first and we finally made it to Sentani today at about 10am. I am feeling a little better today and it is nice to finally be in the company of familiar faces.

Sentani from the air.
Joerg outside of the Kuta Beach Club.

Me...a self-portrait, and please keep in mind that I was sick so this isn't my finest.

The view from my balcony at the Kuta Beach Club in Bali.

We are going to be in Sentani with Abi & Ria until Tuesday and then we will go on to Manokwari/SP11 next week. Thanks for your prayers, Jen

One for the road...

2009-06-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the day and I have found myself quoting lyrics from "i'm leaving on a jet plane"... so clearly it's time to go. Thank you to all of you who have helped us get to this point...to all of you who are praying, and to all of you who helped with the money side of this. And to all of you who helped with the yard sale, I want to say a special thank you...I was really touched.

This is Ryan and I setting up the yard sale. Ryan devoted 2 days of service to help with the pick-up and set up of the yard sale. I was especially touched by the servant attitudes of some of the jr./high school students that helped with the sale.

Thanks and keep us in your prayers.

Oh the detours...

2009-05-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, life tends to change courses on us and the Cayman Airways are no exception. Instead of flying home with the gang on Saturday, God and Cayman Airways decided that I should stay an extra night with my sissy and then take an adventure on the streets of Chicago before arriving home in the wee hours of Monday morning. Seriously folks...God knows best and my detour allowed me some awesome time with my sister and a great exploration.

I had a 10 hr layover in Chicago and I had never been there so I decided to hop the "L" into the city for a quick adventure.
I was trying to pose like I was cold, because I was FREEZING in this picture, but instead I think I just look like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Chicago apparently has this big gigantic metal bean shaped thing in their park that all the natives there are proud of. Honestly, I don't get it, but whatever... I had fun posing and taking pictures into it.

Last Day in Cayman...well sort of.

2009-05-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Even though I haven't posted any other pictures of Cristin, she really was the reason that I went to Cayman. I got to stay with her so we did spend a lot of time together.

This is the entire gang together all hangin' out at Rum Point for our last day.

One last sunset dinner at the wharf.

Cayman Continued

2009-05-27T10:10:00.001-07:00

Apparently everyone has to take a picture with "Lizzy".
I'm convinced...this is going to be my house someday.

Parasailing!!!! Yeah, Baby!

Paradise

2009-05-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Grand Cayman Island

I know you can't tell but this is me on the pirate ship and I'm Captain Hook. : )

Onboard the JollyRoger.

I loved the turtle farm!

My little buddy.

Catching up

2009-05-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Catching up on all of my pics from this winter/christmas.

I really miss my house.

Jack's famous manger scene pie.

Skiing with Anne.

Indonesia

2009-03-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

I am hoping that everyone that has stumbled on this page has received my newsletter for Indonesia. I decided I better update this page so everyone knows that this will be the place to come for pictures and information about my time in Indonesia.

For those of you friends that have wondered why I haven't added any pictures since last summer the answer is in 2 parts. 1. I am not photogenic...it's a family trait. 2. I lost my camera a couple of months ago and I just found it in the back of my shoe closet last week.

Hell's Canyon Pics

2008-08-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I returned from rafting down Hell's Canyon, but I'm just catching up on my blog and my pics...and there were some pretty cool photos from this trip.

At the Headwaters of our 3 day journey.
Umm...this is Jessie just being Jessie. She found this bone at the beach where we stopped for lunch on our first day, and because she's weird she chose to put it near her face.
I just liked this photo because the river stones were so varied in color...they were another of God's natural masterpieces.
So you'll notice that this is the only picture that I took of us actually on the raft. I was a little preoccupied with having a blast and not falling off the raft. The first day we went through two class IV rapids, the second of which had an 18 ft. drop (Yes, that's right, 18ft! Yikes!). It was great, and totally frightening.
This pic was from what I would title Hell's Hike. A couple of us chose to hike above our campsite the first afternoon. It was fun, but the entire hike for me was riddled with fear of rattlesnakes, and it was 90-100 degrees of dry heat. It really made me understand the name of the canyon.

More Hell's Canyon photos

2008-08-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

This was where are group found out who among us was stupid enough to jump off a cliff...and this is proof that I was one of them.
Sunset on the Canyon
Hell's Canyon has some historical homesites along the river where people struggled for an existence in this harsh landscape during the great depression.
This is our group all together at Pittsburgh Landing at our take-out site.
Looking back on the canyon.

Several trips behind...

2008-08-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well, my dear friend Katie commented that it was time for me to update...so this is for you.

I am several trips behind in my blogging. I have been out playing a lot this summer, enjoying my friends and my time here in Idaho. These photos are from a trip about 2 weeks ago, when Jill and I made a spur of the moment decision to roadtrip the Northwest.

Our first stop on our adventure was Portland. We spent a day with Cristin chillin' at Canon Beach. I would have taken a picture of Jill and Cristin but they were sprawled out sunning themselves in the sand like a couple of beached whales.
And when we were in Portland, Jill and I decided to head on up the coast to Seattle because she had never been there. We liked the "we've arrived" sign. It was a beautiful day, and since I was driving and taking pictures out of the car window...we think it's a testimony to God's grace that we arrived. : )
Looking out over Seattle from the top of the space needle.
We called my mom from Seattle, and she said we had to go visit the little town of Leavenworth on our way home. It is this classicly german town at the base of the mountains. It looks exactly like a little town in Europe. Jill and I spent a few hours in the shops and cafes here before we hit the road for home.
We drove through the Cascade National Forest in northern Washington on our way to Leavenworth, and it was gorgeous. This is Jill on the banks of the river we followed.

Jill takes off for her adventures in the Cayman Islands on Friday and I'm going to miss my roomate a lot. We've spent the last couple of days prepping her for the Carribean by watching a marathon of the Pirates movies.

Summertime

2008-07-15T15:11:00.001-07:00

I have spent my fair share of time playing in the mountains this summer. I kicked off my time this summer jumping into an icy lake with the junior high kids at camp.

If you look closely you can see that not only was the lake icy cold, but literally, there is ice still covering part of the lake. Yep, it clean took my breath away.
I took this picture at family camp in a field of daisys that Cara, Jody, and I came across.
And while I already shared some of my breathtaking, and death-defying hike pictures with you I thought I woud post a picture of my sister and I together at the summit of our journey.
This picture is from the latest excursion up to Stanley with my friends and family. Nothing beats the Sawtooth mountains at dusk.

For all of you who are interested in my future plans... I have definitely begun the process of moving towards missions. I met with my pastor and my uncle (a missionary) last month to begin figuring out my next steps. And after a little prayer, and a lot of God tugging on my heart, I put my house up for sale. I am currently devoted in the jr. high ministry while I wait for my house to sell, and then I hope to rejoin the ministry down at the clinic in Honduras. I will keep you posted as new things develop.

By His Grace,

Jen

Rejoining the blogging world...

2008-07-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hey! I thought I would start off my new blog with some photos of one of the most gorgeous places in God's creation: The Sawtooth Mountains. This particular lake is Hanson Lake #2 and it is breathtaking. It lies at the end of a very difficult hike and because of this it is relatively untouched by mankind.

Hanson Lake #2
This is the bottom portion of Bridal Veil Falls. The falls freefall down the mountainside over a thousand feet from their source at the lakes. My sister and I, caught up in their beauty perhaps, accidentally lost the trail at one point and found ourselves precariously positioned over some cliffs... It was a little scary for a couple of minutes, but By His Grace we came out with nothing more than a few cuts and bruises.

This is the view from the trail's end... safely back at the car!