Drama Team

Hi there everyone! Wow, it’s been a while since I wrote last huh. Sorry…but I bet you’ll enjoy some news now. (:

I was invited to be part of a drama team…we decided to practice the “Prodigal Son” story form the Bible but modernize. So I took the part of being the “girlfriend” of the runaway boy.

We practiced nearly everyday, long hours, and we all had so much fun doing this together. Our hard work paid off and we presented our drama at a joint youth meeting on Sabbath. It went great!! Everybody enjoyed it so much, I think. We had fun anyway! We plan to present the drama for our church sometime in May.

I'll post pictures of the cast when our internet connections are better! (:

(:

Gally & me on Mt.SLA

Home

Local Picts

Local people working on a new airstrip...they don't have very much too work with...its mostly all done by hand!

Communion...you don't see it done this way very often, do you??!

Our team that went on Sabbath outreach!

Outreach one Sabbath....we went to two villages and had their church service.

Dads airplane....thanks for the picture Uncle Don!

Me and the local kids! They were so excited to get this picture with me(:

My best friend & I

Odhie & Me during Christmas break(=

OE & Land problems

Well, I had a great time on OE (outdoor education) that I joined the
international school with! It was a blast. All together there were
about 85 of us….and we all were flown into the interior mountains by
small airplanes. We were away for 12 days, which meant I also had a
Sabbath there, all alone with no other SDA's but it was actually ok.
We took baths in the stream, and it was COLD! Up in the mountains the
weather is cold so to take cold showers was always a challenge. (: We
worked on projects such as bathrooms, paths, airstrip, making a fence,
a hydro project, kids clubs, and a lot of digging! Because of all the
work I was doing, especially digging, I had adhesions they said from
my surgery, and my stomach had lots of pain for a few days, but then
it was ok. We really don't know why I should still have trouble with
surgery pain now, but anyways….I just have to be careful, because if I
lift a lot of heavy things then I have lots of pain.
We were all divided into groups of about 10 people each…and then our
different groups hiked up to different villages and stayed with the
people in their huts for three days. I was so scared I would have
really bad allergies in the hut, but it wasn't that bad. It was very
dark in the huts, dirty, and very smoky because in the middle of the
small hut there is a fire that is almost always burning! This keep the
people warm because normally they don't have any clothes or only a
very thin layer on themselves. We also slept with big pigs (which are
the villager's prized position). It was a great bonding time for our
team, Team Awesome, because during the day where we hung out together
the room was smaller than the dorm rooms at Maxwell, for all ten of
us! It was tons of fun though.
Lots of people got sick during OE with a very bad cold, along with a
sore throat and fever….and I didn't get it until the last night being
in the village. So I was thankful if I did have to get it at least the
next day I was going home. I had the whole flu with a really bad fever
and then I lost my voice for about three days, but now I am all
healed! It was a great time all together though(=

When I returned home though, I found the local people had started
'demoing' or rioting here on our Aviation campus as well as at the
local school here….here I'll just include the article I wrote for
someone in the states on the problems we've been facing for over three
weeks now…: Here's the newsletter I wrote about it :

Greeting! I was shocked to be asked if I would please write up
something about our land crisis here at Doyo Baru but I agreed to do
so for all of you.

Here it goes. The bright sunny morning of February 18, local people
began "demo" or in English, you would call it a demonstration, here on
our Aviation Campus as well as on the boarding Adventist Academy
Campus just down the road. They were mad because the mission president
of our organization had signed a document (by force, at 2 A.M. one
morning a few months back) indicating the organization was going to
buy some land above the academy campus and pay for it before the end
of last year (2007). And of course it has not been paid for! Well,
there has been no other indication, besides the letter, that the
organization wants that land! The committee even voted the
organization does not want that land but the mission president went
ahead and signed the letter saying the organization would buy it. So
the local people began demonstrating here and at the academy. This
includes making nasty comments, building up their tent on our airstrip
and living there, living in the chapel area over at the academy,
putting up branches all along our fences, started writing bad things
about us over at the school in the chapel and around the other class
rooms, going to the bathroom around the school buildings, breaking
down doors, making annoying signs, building soccer goals on our
airstrip, stealing equipment from our generator room, stealing chairs
out the chapel and taking them home, breaking windows at the academy,
and throwing rocks at the houses at night. They have even tried to
chase us out and they want to live in the teachers houses over at the
school. They keep threatening us and saying they are going to burn us
down as well.

So as you can imagine we are emotionally drained! There have been
numerous meetings being held with our church leaders, along with
police, bupati (like a county commissioner, I think), but nothing has
really been done at all. Why then, are the local people here giving us
(aviation & the academy) all the problems when we do not really have
anything to do with the letter that was signed?! We feel that they
should go to the mission office and do their riot there because all
the officers are there. Or the other possibility would be that the
mission people come here and talk with the locals but the mission
people are afraid to do so! So here we are. Not sure what is going to
happen next!

For the last three Sabbaths we have opened up our home to have a
church service for everyone on our campus. We do have police presence
on our campus now but they are not really doing much, and when a small
"war" broke out a few days ago, they really didn't do anything. The
local people basically chased the police, and since the police were
not 'armed' at all, they ran away!
It has been a time where I, once again ask, "God why are you letting
us go through more land problems, haven't we had enough of this,
through the nearly sixteen years we have been here!?" But God says,
"My plans are not your plans, so please just trust Me." It's hard to
remember His command to love your enemies at a time like this as well!
Especially, when they are all around you and threatening you, your
parents, and others around you. So at this time all we can do is pray.

On positive note, Balloy, (the man who has always helped us with the
last land crisis, is helping us again this time) felt impressed to go
to the land department early on Friday morning. He was able to meet
with the director which ended up being a real blessing as he was able
to look up on the computer and discover that this land is truly
registered to the Adventist Church and that the man who has been in to
see him nearly everyday looking for false documents has no legal
claim. The director will have words for him the next time he comes to
the land department!

May I ask you to keep us all in your prayers. Please pray that the
mission leaders will do something to help get this resolved and that
we will not loose the aviation program here due to these problems or
being burned out. Your prayers would also be appreciated for wisdom
for everyone involved in making the next decisions, plans, and
whatever it takes to settle things back to our, what you might call,
'normal' lives. Pray for safety for everyone too. Especially since the
local people are saying they are not leaving our campuses before they
get paid or before the last blood is shed here!

So there you have it! This is what we have been facing. We don't know
what is going to happen next…we have packed a few things up and we
have them in town…so if we do need to evacuate we will have clothes
and some things there.

Please keep all of us in your prayers!

It's Christmas!!

Today it is Christmas day here, so Merry Christmas! It's not the typical whether for Christmas either. It is very hot at the moment. It actually is the hottest year for Indonesia, according to the news, and I believe it so much!

To update you on the latest news:

I am finally home!! (: I had several interesting experiences while traveling home from Kenya a few weeks ago.

I finally finished my last exam (Monday the 10th of December) and headed to finish my last minute packing at the dorm and to take a quick shower before leaving Maxwell. I went to the café, had a quick bite to eat and jumped in the car after saying goodbye to several people. We were on our way to the airport. About 10 or so minutes into our way to the airport, I wanted to make sure that the business man, who was driving, had my passport. But he said he didn't because the principal said I had it. And I said I did, but a few days ago the principal had asked for it because he needed to do something with it, so I had given it to him. So we turned around and started back to school. I decided we should call the principal so he could have the passport ready and hand it to us when we arrived. We called and he said he thought I had it! And so I had to remind him that I had given it to him, and then he remembered. He said he would start looking for it. I just began praying and kept calm about. We finally arrived back there at school, but no passport had been found! Several people began looking and thinking were it could be. Anyways, to make a long story short, they could not find my passport and didn't know were it could be. Finally after a few minutes, that felt like hours, my dean thought of just calling my geography teacher just to ask if he knew anything about it. And yes, he had it at his house. Don't ask me how it ended up there but I got my passport and we were on our way again. I arrived at the airport and started checking in. I was allowed 40kg for my luggage and guess what my bags weighed up to? 54kg.wow, the scale I had used I guess was a bit off! So here I was in the corner of the airport taking tons of stuff out! I took my jeans, most of my shoes, and some other things out. I went back to check in and the bags were 44 kg. I pleaded with the lady and she let me go. Thank God!! Then I went to the next line.the security line. It took about 30 minutes to get past that point and then I had to climb the dead escalator, to get to another floor were my departing gate was. Since I had taken many things out of my luggage and put it into my carry on my bags (one pull bag along with a big green cloth bag) were very heavy. I was hot and exhausted, as I was trying my best to pull my bags up the stairs. My pink dolphin kept jumping off the bag, maybe it thought it was going to find water somewhere! (: I was about half way up when the lady who was in line at security behind me came and asked if she could help me. I was thankful and she helped me up the not working escalator. I thanked her and we went our separate ways. I went to my gate and started repacking my bags a bit. I called one of my good friends to wish her happy birthday and then called my brother, Gary, to finish up my credit.

As I was in line to bored the aircraft, the same lady who had helped me up the dead escalator, asked if she could help me again. It was very kind of her and we began talking. She said that her husband had just had the same surgery I had had about a year ago and traveled about the same time I did after surgery. She said that he even got bumped up to business class and so she asked if she could ask the stewardess if this was possible for me. I thanked her and she did. The stewardess said she could do that for me but the plain was so full there were no extra seats in business class. I thank them both anyways and found my seat. Then the lady who kept helping me told me that she had asked her seat mate if he didn't mind changing seats with me and I could go sit with her. Again this was very kind of her and so I moved seats. We began talking again, by the way, she really liked to talk! She is a very nervous flyer and I kept assuring her it was ok. As we took off she was extremely scared and at one point she grabbed my hand suddenly! During the course of our flight, she kept talking. She told me she was going to Dubai to have a job interview, see some houses, and especially look for special schools. She has a daughter, six years old, who needs special attention in learning. So they were thinking on moving to Dubai, if they had the special type of school they were looking for. She also had a few too many drinks during the flight! She just kept drinking and drinking and even offered me some. She went to visit with the stewardess a couple of times, and she even organized for a wheal chair to meat me in Dubai and take me to my gate. Well, I could walk, and that was not a problem, but to be nice to her I said ok and thank you. At least this way there would be people to help me with my bags, I thought to myself! (: As we were on our descend into Dubai, my seat mate was really drunk by then. It smelled so bad, and soon she vomited all over her pants! I just looked like she had pied. But it smelled even worse now. I was scared that I would become sick just from the smell. I was helped of the airplane and on to a special room with several other people with wheel chairs. They drove us a long ways and finally ended up in my terminal. I was taken off and we went thought security check. Then I was taken to a special room for disabled people. It was a place with a TV and some food. It was kind of dingy but I was grateful. I stayed there until time to go to my departing gate. The flight to Colombo, Sri Langka was good but when we landed there, they didn't let us get off the airplane. And soon we were on our way to Singapore. The food on the flight was not as good as last time, when I flew with Emirates. They didn't have much that I could eat. Even though I ordered vegetarian, I got corn or potatoes, or mushroom and big green peppers (paprika). And I am allergic to most of that stuff so I was really starting to get hungry. I had a bit of food that I had taken with me, but I had eaten it all already! In Singapore I decided to make a change of clothes and wash my face and brush my teeth. Then I was on the next airplane finally headed to Jakarta. We landed there an hour late and I knew in order to do all the necessary's there, with security and picking up my check in luggage and taking that to another terminal, I needed to hurry. I got off the plane and rushed to security. It took a while there and then I got a porter to help me with my bags and go to the other terminal. As I was standing in line to check in, the person checking in I seemed to recognize. As I walked up to him..sure enough I know him. He, Aeron, lived here but had just been in his first semester in collage in the US. So I said hi and he was sure surprised to see me. I checked in and then bought a phone card so I could SMS mom and Dad. I also was still craving root bear so I went to A & W to buy some. And when I asked, they said "Oh, sudah habis". Meaning we ran out!!! I thought that was crazy.A & W and they ran out of root bear. I was disappointed and went to my departing gate were I met Aeron again and we shared stories. It was good for both of us to talk and he then helped me on to the airplane. We were on a smaller airplane and one of my carry on bags would not fit it the over head place. So I had to take my laptop and books out of the bag, and then it would fit! I was tired of doing this!! I had a seat in the middle of two guys. One from Switzerland (if I remember correctly) who has been working with an organization here in Papua doing medical work. The other man was a local from Biak (where I conducted my last evangelistic meeting). We talked quit a bit and I was thankful because my Indonesian began coming back. I didn't sleep much at all night. We took off from Jakarta about 9pm and I landed at 7am the next morning, after two stops. It was so good to land here at the airport, although these pilots' landings also scare me! I was the last one of because I had to put my bag back together. Mommy was at the foot of the plane to meet me! It was nice to see her again. But the weather was extremely hot. When we got to the luggage area several other people were there to meet me. Heidi and Jason, and my choir teacher, Mr. Kaleb. Jason, has a name for me now."Pita". I have no idea were it comes from but he recognized me as soon as he saw me. He's so cute!! And then some of the boys that live here on campus were there to meet me and help with my bags. And three kids on campus came also, as well as one of my best friends, Saat. Wow, it was so great to see them all!

It was good to get home and have some good food, a shower, and a long nap. That night my best friend, Gally surprised me by coming to my house. We all thought she had left to go to her Grandma's with her family, but since she has tests still that week, she had to stay behind and join them the following week. It was a good surprise and the whole campus could hear my squeal when I saw her! That night I slept well and woke up at 11:30 the next morning!

Last week, Thursday, I came down with Chicken pox. They aren't as bad as some people who have them, but they are bad enough. Now they are begging to dry up but it is still uncomfortable. Thankfully most of my friends have had chicken pokes so I can still be with them.

Anyways, that's the most exciting news from me. I am so glad to be home! I am very blessed to have a loving and caring family and friends. Several of my friends left last week to go home for Christmas break, including my best friend. SO it is a bit lonely here but my other girl friend just came home here and last night my buddy who's parents live here on campus, Lui, just came back along with his brother last night. So I do have friends here, just not the big bunch as last year right now.

Hope you all are enjoying this holiday season. And I hope to hear from you too(:

Merry Christmas!

Me and my roomate!

Sabbath Activities

This girls flip-flops were broken so I traded my flip-flops with here. She was delighted!

They are listening to a story!

We gave out food, clothes, and int his picture cookies to the children!

When we got to the orphanage this little boy just walked up to me, and put his hands out! He was so cute...and fell asleep in my arms!(: His name was Peter...

Me and some of my classmates

Me and My Date

Stephanie's first ''real'' high school banquet

Special times