Changing Our Cultural Glasses & more

It’s amazing how our lives have changed over the past five months. What was once strange and unusual is now somewhat normal and commonplace. For example now-
- we don’t really notice all the trash in the streets
- we listen to Indonesian worship music and get it
- we attend an Indonesian church and usually understand a majority of the sermon
- we make phone calls to Indonesian businesses and friends
- we don’t even think about the crazy driving system, we just go
- we have no hesitation to approach a store clerk or waiter to ask a question
Also, when the four new families showed up here about three weeks ago, we found ourselves in the helping and translating role. We suddenly realized that we have become familiar enough with Indonesia that we are looked upon as more of the experts…..yikes.

We have some wonderful plans for Christmas. Of course we know that nothing in this world is ever really for certain, but as far as we know everything is a go in order for us to spend Christmas with our friends Keith and Beth Parker in Banda Aceh. We are so excited to spend a week up there to learn what life is like there after the Tsunami. MAF has a base up there and plans to be there for a lot longer.

We also plan to take a few days to recuperate at a beach off the island of Lombok. We plan to meet a few of our friends there. Please pray that God would use this downtime to strengthen us for the journey ahead. We still have to finish the four advanced units in language school and then move to our final destination of Tarakan, Indonesia. Another transition time full of packing, unpacking, good-byes, and greetings. Change is a constant.