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My Recent trip

I recently visited another island here on Indo specifically to figure out where I'm going to live next year.  Here are a few pics from that trip

The girl who helped me get around and translated for me

Day 1: flew in and got on a bus for a 6 hour trip

Second location: this is where I'm going to be living next year

this is the only road it has

The main place you can buy food

Some of the surrounding country: beautiful!

Saw this lady cooking fish this way.  Over hot coals on top bamboo sticks.  I couldn't resist so i bought one (for about $0.50).  It was delicious!!

Overall, we visited 3 towns.  This was the third town.  Even though I knew I wasn't going to live there, it was a great trip.  The church that hosted us asked us me preach (I know this will rock some people's theology).  This was their usual way of worshiping.  Beautiful dancing and great flag waving.  I impressed that boys this young could keep the beat so well.  They LOVE performing arts here.  It's everywhere

Again! me preaching (rocking some worlds :)

after church, my friend's friends took us around the area.  Here I'm drinking a local drink made of condensed milk, brown sugar (which isn't sweet here) and chunks of coconut meat.  It was ok :)

I think I was the only "bule" (Indo langauge for foreigner) in the entire region!  Everywhere I went people stared, pointed, and many wanted photos.  Like this lady who attached herself to me while my friend and I were eating.  She was VERY friendly...to the point of taking food of our table and eating it (knowing we were the ones paying for it) and then offering that food to other people.  Talk about culture shock and trying to keep calm.  I had never met here before until she wanted to take this picture

Another example of perfect strangers wanting pictures with the white person.  This poor girl was terrified of me and didn't want to.  Her mom dragged her to my side and made her take the picture.  Poor thing.  I tried to lend as far away from her as possible so I would't freak her out too much.  After this picture came a slew of other pictures with their phones.  This was a common occurrence 

Luckily this girl wasn't scared and we got a long GREAT! She was pretty cheeky

Our hosts in the third location.  Amazing people of God!!!

Of course you would have Santa beside Jesus.  Who wouldn't????

The mosque in the middle of the third location

Unfortunately, I got a parasite there and this was all I could eat for 3 days

One of the youth group girl brought her 2 friends (the ones on either side of me).  She brought me in and asked me to "get a word from God" for them.  Wow! talk about pressure.  I ended leading them both to Christ.  YAY!

Thank you all for your prayers!

Here's a quick update.  I'm leaving tomorrow to scout out some possible towns to live in for when I move next year.  There will be a bigger update when I get back but until then, I'll leave you with a bunch of random pictures from the past few weeks.  

FOOD

Yes, my food IS staring at me....I ate it anyway and it was good.  These crunchy little fish are a popular topping for meals.  

Who knew?  This is a "curry" plant.  My Indian friend makes all his curry from scratch....even getting his curry from this curry branch.  I think it's cool :)

Spicy Chicken feet anyone?

These days, coconut water is huge in America because of its health benefits.  Luckily for me, they grow everywhere here.  This guy was only $1.  I always thought the inside was milky but it's just water-like. Not very sweet either.  At least for the young coconuts (which this is).  

Once you finish drinking the water, you can scrape the inside and eat the coconut meat (sometimes it's sweet).  I think this is where we get our "desiccated coconut" from. 

PEOPLE

My roommate and I 

They love their food as much as we Southerners love ours.  The girl on the left is my language helper

We had a culture night in which the students on base presented their cultures.  These ladies are from another near-by island.  Their dress and dance are similar to what you see here on Bali.  Beautiful!!!

All the staff had a half-day at the beach in which we ate traditional "nasi bunkus" which translates as "rice wraps".  It's how they eat their "to go" food.  

I noticed an interesting cultural difference while on the beach.  The Westerners were "laying out" in order to become more tan (which is considered beautiful in our countries)

The Asians all covered up in order to NOT get more tanned (the more white the skin, the more beautiful in their countries).  It's funny how we all want what we don't have, hey?

We had a nice dinner one night and here some of my friends.  I love having so many different cultures!

LANGUAGE CLASS

Here we are on our way to the "pasar"....the open market.  There's the Turkish, Scottish, English...and me! Guess which one has been in Indo the longest??

We went to the open market as part of our assignment.  We are learning how to barter with a shop owner on the price for clothes.  I love the colors in this picture

Bartering is common here.  We ask the price, they give a price expecting you to offer a lower price.  Then the process begins of back and forth of "too much!" and "too cheap!" until you both either come to an agreement or you walk away.  

Here's me.  I didn't buy anything.  Everything is way too small.  Most Asian women are TINY so their "Large" would be our "Small".  It's rare I find anything that actually fits

Today was our last day of Level 2 class.  We get certificates and everything!  This has been my teacher for the last 2 levels.  Unfortunately, I wont' be able to take the next level as I will miss 1/4 of the class due to my scouting trip.  

That's about it.  

I have just one main request: my trip these next 11 days.  

Thanks!

Moving Forward

Language

I have now completed the 4 weeks of Level 1 Indonesian.  The class has helped me tremendously and I am planning to take the 4 weeks of Level 2 (beginning next week).  I was encouraged when the teacher said I was the most advanced in the class (teacher's pet!).  But seriously, thank you all who have helped me pay for the class because since taking it, I have been able to understand more and more what people are saying to each other.  Now, I just need to talk back with them.  At the moment, I am talking like a 2 year old.  Instead of "hey! what did you do last summer?" it comes out more like "excuse, what do summer ago........you?"  It's quite funny to hear and my friends love to giggle when I mess up.

By the way, for those of you who want  to learn another language, here's a tip.  Learn to laugh at yourself.  Because, most likely, others with be laughing too :)

What else? 

While I'm staff on the training base here, I have been recruited to help with a 2nd level training program.  It trains people to do what I'll be doing next year.  The students stay on base for 3 months receiving training and then are sent out to all parts of this country to reach the unreached.  There's a lot to prepare for and so I'm helping with that.

Ahead

Even though I'm diving ahead into language, I haven't forgotten why I'm here.  Next year, I'll be heading to another island to live among an unreached people.  We plan to start teaching the locals stories from the Bible.  Since many of them don't read or prefer not to, we teach them about God through teaching them stories.  

Anyway! I have never been to the area so I've decided to take a scouting trip next month.  Of course, I didn't want to go alone since I don't know the culture and can't speak the language fully. After praying God would send someone with me, BOOM! A girl from that area said she would go with me on the scouting trip!  "Whoohoo" I say.  Now, she's not of the people group I'm going to work with but she's close.  Yay!  Please continue to lift up this trip. 

Culture

Here's a little more about the culture here.  In the last post I covered the exciting world of toilets.  This post, it's the driving.......THEY'RE CRAZY!!!  First, they drive on the other side of the road.  Thanks to the years of living in Australia, it wasn't hard to switch back.  Only the rich drive cars or take taxis.  Most people drive motor bikes (as seen below).  I couldn't figure out how to post the video I took but here's the link. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADMAm0lhGEY&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rosp9lL2WAg&feature=youtu.be

Things to notice: 

1)  they never look behind before switching lanes (it's expected that people will get out of the way)

2)  it's perfectly ok for bikes to drive between the cars 

3)  toward the end of the video, you'll notice a bike to the left.  On it is a guy (driving), a woman, and a 

      baby (you can see its' feet hanging out).  It's common to see whole families on bikes.  The guy 

      drives, the woman sits behind, with the baby between them and if there's a small child? he gets to 

      stand in front of the dad on the foot pad holding onto the handlebars.  Yes, safety is not as much a 

      concern here.  They drive like this out of necessity

The key to surviving driving here is to relax and NEVER go on autopilot.  

Questions you must ask yourself are: 

          Is that car/bike going to get over in front of me

          Are there any bikes behind me (using your rearview mirrors only)

          How fast is that car going and do I have time to get in front of it?

         Can I squeeze between those 2 cars?

         Is that truck going to hit me?

         Have I prayed today??
Let's just say my reflexes are very quick now :)

Traffic rules and lanes are more suggestions.  I always see people driving their bikes on the shoulder, sidewalks, and running red lights all the time. 

 

Here is how I look when I drive to the language school.  This is my bike and I'm wearing that bandana because when driving, I usually gets stuck behind these massive work trucks.  Here, pollution is not as much of a concern so their trucks billow out black smoke.  After getting sick from breathing in that smoke, I though I'd follow the Indonesian drivers and wear something.

A friend and I were driving from church when we got a flat tire.  We had to push the bike to the nearest fix shop.  Pushing the bike against traffic is scary but luckily, this shop was near by

The bike shop also doubled as a restaurant.  This was the lady who ran the place.  Nope! I don't know her from Adam but they looooove getting their pictures taken :)

Many of you know I love to dance.  Here, a few of us are doing a dance on the main tourist beach.  This was a part of the base evangelism.  The dance worked as it drew a small crowd.  As we danced, some others talked with them about Jesus.  

Random picture, I know, but this is my Grandmother who just passed away.  She loved God and knew God was going to use her to reach many.  I don't think she ever knew how many people are being reached because of her obedience.  Love you Grandma!

Requests:

1) The scouting trip next month

         we need good connections with the local people once we arrive

         we need to know which town we should live in

         we need to find accommodations

2) Language (always)

         that I will learn quickly so I can relate to these amazing peopel in their own language

3) Team

         I still need a people to commit to go with me