Went to the floating market at 5am Saturday - well worth getting up for! As the sun rose at 6am we were surrounded by dozens and dozens of little boats, all laden with fruit and vegetables (many of which we have never seen before), rattan baskets and many other things made in the villages. You barter and buy from your boat and can even order rice in banana leaves (the plates) and glasses of tea from the 'restaurant' boat. Within half an hour they are all sold up and gone.
We then went on to 'monkey island'. Biddy had warned us against going ashore as the monkeys take anything they can get hold of. Most of the students were going ashore, as were Roger and the two American girls. As we neared the jetty a mob of monkeys jumped on the boat and ransacked it in 5 minutes, taking bananas and anything else they wanted. The ones who decided to get off fared worse though - the total losses were one pair of sandals, three mobile phones, a cash card and a load of cash, a belt and a scarf!
Sunday evening Biddy was invited to preach at the evening service - a bit like our Fuel service, so we had a sermon with English subtitles - the first one we have really understood! Our students sung a song in English we had taught them - The Lord's My Shepherd (I will trust in him alone) - and taught the congregation - it was an inspirational evening!
Wednesday we have the tests and then on Friday we have the leaving ceremony where the students will be presented with their pass certificates (we pray), will put on a display of Indonesian music and dance and we are also expected to put on an entertainment from our country. I won't tell you what Stan and I have decided to do - will save that as a treat for when we get home!
On Saturday it's off to the airport to travel to Jakarta, Kuala Lumpar and then to Kota Kinabalu where we THINK we have been booked into a hotel! Then it's 5 days of rest we hope.
THINGS THAT HAVE SURPRISED US ABOUT INDONESIA
Rice with every meal is actually ok (ish)
Showering in a barrel is actually rather nice.
You CAN get used to a squatty potty (USA term, but you get the idea.)
Indonesians can't say 'th'. We had fun with learning "then Jesus told them that...."
m..........s (can't use the word but Gladys Aylward was one - Google her!)are fun - at least the ones we have met here - they live their faith every day, not just Sundays.
We have enjoyed teaching together.
How many people there are of our faith here - and growing.
PLEASE PRAY FOR -
Our young people - for the tests and for their futures as ministers
For Biddy - still waiting for her exit and re-entry visa. She now has all her tickets for her journey to Singapore (leaving with us on the 24th) and back but so far cannot leave the country.
For the rest of us - what next in our journey? The two American girls intend to complete their teacher training (American as a 2nd language) and return to work in Asia, Roger is returning to his job in Southampton, wants to return to Asia but also feels God drawing him back to South Africa. And as for us - we are still waiting for God to let us know, but we certainly both feel drawn to Asia although we are looking forward to returning to our family in Churchdown (both Will and all of you).
Love and prayers and blessings to all
Sue and Stan xxx
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You are in our prayers. Also on Sunday we prayed for you at the 1030.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all your blogs it is about time I wrote. The world cup was not worth watching!
ReplyDeleteSo grateful to our managing director that you are both staying fit (bar one small hiccup). Very much looking forward to your return, we had had a break in on top of the hill and a fire in the adjacent cottage - Pity it did not go up in flames as we could then replace it - only smoke!
We will enjoy the photos, I do hope you have ones of the motorbike capabilities as well as the joy of the people.
asking for a safe return journey
In His love and service, Gordon