SHE'S BACK!!!!!

It was a delightful experience to drive to Chicago’s O’Hare airport Saturday night , June 6th and pick up Katherine. After a very long journey back (five flights, long layovers, and not feeling well) she arrived happily into the arms of her family.

She didn’t waste any time once home by eating dinner at Potbelly (one of her favorites!), going to a graduation party where she connected with 7 of her closest friends, and sleeping over…needless to say by Sunday afternoon she was crashing!!!

One girl down, one to go!

Deanna arrived safe and sound this morning! Her flights went well, and she wasn't sprayed with any disinfectant spray when she arrived in Chicago's O'Hare airport (like she was going into Bali two weeks ago).

She was tired, but excited to be home...adrenaline carried her through the day as she unpacked and settled back in to life. We had dinner at Christy's and looked at the pictures she had taken.


The picture on this post is of K and D in Bali.


Katherine unfortunately got sick the last few days and was running a very high temperature! Right now she appears to be OK and will be able to travel home. But please do pray for her safe arrival back to us!

Deanna headed home

Deanna is boarding plane right now (8 AM Wheaton time...11 PM Bali time) and heading home!!! Yahoo!!! We've been out of communication since she went to Bali as her Internet access was limited (non-existent).

She will arrive in Chicago Thursday morning at 9:30 AM where I'll be glad to pick her up and bring to a clean house and fridge stocked with food (or so every women keeps telling me to do).


Katherine has a few more days in Bali with the Wisley family and will return to us on Saturday, June 6th.
(together again soon :-) )

Desipite the Cockroaches...

Katherine's graduation Thursday night was really nice. I'm so glad that I came. What a great group of kids.

The Senior boys sang two specials - the 2nd was a surprise to the girls of the class. I hope somebody video taped it. I took pictures but there were so many others with better cameras that I think we should have plenty to choose from eventually. I wore out before the reception was over and Clive Grey caught it on camera - I don’t know maybe he has already posted it - stinker!

We ended up not getting to inside beach today - just too much to do around here. I think I've been a big help to D and T by doing mundane jobs of sorting and labeling - just fine by me. Katherine, Zoe, Elisa and I went to the “pashir” (market) today - cool. Then we met 3 other girls and went up to the cross and hung out for awhile .Fun to be with them and to see the view and know what Katherine is talking about when she makes reference to it. Tomorrow we will hike up to the waterfall.

I've had a couple little experiences with some rather large roaches. One on the floor when I woke up, just 2 feet away from my mattress which was also on the floor - probably at least 2 inches. Another in the linens I was sorting through, just as big. Both went scurrying.

Mommys Arrived

When Katherine left for HIS for her final semester of high school, it was with the understanding that she would be graduating and ending her year without any family to see her receive her diploma. It was the price she was willing to pay to return and be a part of this special community.

Our hearts were desirous of Deanna to be able to go out and visit but the price of the flight was so expensive that we just couldn't justify her going. I tracked the flights and low and behold one day JAL had a huge sale and it didn't take us long to say, "let's go for it!"


So yesterday morning Deanna departed Chicago on a trip that would involve four flights and a total of 23 hours of flying. A quick stop in Narita, Japan and then on to Bali where she'd wait almost four hours for her next two flights. The first to Timiko, Papua and then on to Sentani.


Her JAL flight was interesting with flight attendants wearing face masks for fear of catching Swine flu. Between their accents and talking through a thick face mask it made it difficult to understand.


She landed safely Monday morning (Papua time) and was greeted by Katherine who came out on to the runway and met the plane! Yeah, never mind security keeping people inside the terminal building to wait for the arriving guests!


Deanna went to the school, where the kids were in the midst of finals. One by one the kids came to meet Deanna, who Katherine has been telling people about ever since she learned of her mothers coming. I chatted with her on Facebook but had to wait five minutes between questions as kids kept coming in and talking to her.


Deanna only had four hours of sleep in the last 36 hours before arriving! But she'll be up the remainder of the day getting settled in, having lunch with the kids, handing out all the gifts she brought for the kids and families.

Back from Bali

Well I'm back and the trip was really really fun! We had a buffet breakfast and everyday I got an omelet which was wonderful! We had a couple beach days, and shopping days (which weren't so much fun when I ran out of money) ha ha. Some of the girls and I found a really cute little Greek restaurant where we ate a lot of our lunches. Other than having breakfast and devotions together in the mornings we were on our own during the day to do whatever we wanted. Every night for dinner we were together also.
We went to tons of different cool places! Most days were free but one day we went to a place called Waterboom (a waterpark). That was really fun! We were running around all day running up stairs and then going down rides! so fun! I was exhausted by like 1:00 though.
Another day we went to this place called Ubud. There a Hindu temple that we went to and lots of shopping!!! That was super fun! (dad-we went here before, and it was cool because I remembered some of the shops).
Anyways so it was just a really good time. A lot of fun, and memories, and our class had some good bonding/closure time! The night before we left we sat in a circle on the beach and talked. And that was really good becasue we were honest with each other about how we had been hurt by certain things, and blah blah. But it was really good! So thanks for praying for unity (those of you who did), but I could definitely feel it!
I love you all tons! I'm ready to move on with high school and be back with you all this summer!

Senior Trip

I remember when I graduated form High School our class went to the Pocono Mountains in PA for the weekend. Most schools today don't even take class trips. Sometimes smaller schools will go to an amusement park if they're lucky.

So with this in mind I'm thinking about Katherine's senior trip. Where do 23 seniors go when you live in the back-waters of Indonesia? where else, but BALI...yes, that tropical island where the rich and famous jet off to for long retreats and to escape the paparazzi.

The class flew to Bali Friday morning and have a full week planned. Amongst the activities will be days at the beach, shopping, a spa day, going to a water park, visiting a temple, sight seeing, eating dinners on the beach, and (goes without saying) lots of laughing-talking-enjoying!!!

Two years ago when I went to pick up Katherine at the end of her Sophmore year we spent a few days in Bali and had a blast. I know first hand what a great place this is and can only imagine how much fun the class will have while they are there. The picture is of Katherine hamming it up when we were there.

What a great way to celebrate the end of High School!

This weekend - like so many others...

umm this weekend...Friday was a game.


Saturday I slept in, watched Slumdog again…checked FB…went up to school to run. It was really hot so I only ran for 25 minutes. Then the boys were playing rugby so I just hung out there with them for a while. Went home, read my book (The Kite Runner) and then went back up to school after dinner for a movie night. (Bolt - it was really cute/funny). Went home, and went to bed.


Sunday morning, went to church, Jeremy got baptized so I went to watch him! Went out to lunch, went home and read my book again. Then went to Max's and watched slumdog again.

Seniors are seniors around the world. Doesn't really matter if you're in Papua or Wheaton. Katherine has been having fun - I know, I know - such a big surprise! These are some pictures from a recent picnic (note the pizza from "Pappa Rons) and a picture at school.

Today I went with Rachelle and her hostile to this really cool place called the pipe. You hike a little and then you walk for like half and hour on this pipe that's pretty small. -and it's slippery, and it's really high over tons of rocks and stuff, so if you slip when ur over them then you die.

I'm not kidding...but it was so fun.

(picture is of me and some of my best friends!!!)

4-Day Weekend!

We had a 4-day weekend! It was awesome! Here's what I did...

THURSDAY: Basketball game, we won! Then a bunch of people went to the Lee's house. We watched a movie and had popcorn!

FRIDAY: I slept in and then watched a movie with Zoe. Then we went to the pool and got sun. Then Hannah C and Elisa came over and we had dinner and some other missionaries came over for coffee. The girls slept over.

SATURDAY: In the morning we watched a movie and went to the pool again! There was youth group that night...so I went to that.

SUNDAY: I went to church. Kevin Lynn spoke and he did a good job! We had lunch at Mannah house with a bunch of CMAers. When we got home Zoe and I read our books until dinner, pizza. And then I went to Max's for a movie!

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, the "Wheaton" of PapuaWheaton is heading south this morning!
Katherine's mom and dad are heading to a favorite place in Florida - Sanibel Island!
So Happy Valentine's Day to all of you out there in blog world. Hope you have a great day celebrating a love in your life.

I'll be back to editing the blog for Katherine on February 23rd.

Having Fun on OE

Gettting ready for the flight...showing off those great socks...chillin' together

Pictures from O.E.

Everyone is back to school...but the memories of O.E. linger. The pictures are starting to get posted...here are some that capture the various activities of the weeks spent interior in the villages.

Not Too Pooped to Party

I'm kind of pooped right now. I'm super tired from OE, and the last couple days I got sick. I was really dehydrated, and I would get these weird stomach cramps. I had to hike out early, because they were so bad, that when I would get them I'd have to stop and sit down. I'm feeling better, sleep and water helped that, but I still get the cramps. I have to get a poop, pee, and blood sample (says our doctor). He thinks that I either have worms (which I’ve already taken medicine for), or malaria, or a kidney problem...he says that my tests will show results from one of those, but if it doesn’t' then I’ll have to do more testing.

We're getting ready for Valentines Banquet. The seniors host it, so we have to organize everything. I'm the "Head Hostess" J so all my skills will come in handy. Hannah, Caleb, and Kolbe are under me, I get to tell them what to do. I have to organize all the tickets and seats...all the parents were like, "this is a big job"... so yeah I’m a little nervous, but I’ll be fine!

A few pics from the pig roast!

Heading Home

Friday, 6th:

Report from Luke:
The cow hunt was a success! After the report from yesterday, we moved up the ridge from where we were, made a perimeter, trapped a cow inside that, and killed it. We killed it with many things – and Uncle Todd finished it off with a compound bow. We cut it into 4 pieces and each piece weighed about 50 kgs. Then we hiked back – carrying the meat – it took about 1.5 – 2 hours to get back in the dark. This morning, we butchered it and it is now cooking in the pit, in preparation for the feast!

After the feast this afternoon, we will do carnival type games with the people. This morning we made 3 piñatas and filled them with candies and goodies. We hope the games will be a hit with the people.

A plane came in this morning and it brought the fish (100 live baby fish) for the fish pond we made. So we had a ceremony to put the fish in the pond.

The plane also brought the letters from the students (as mentioned above) and it brought a package for each of us from the Youth Group at Nathan Karcesky's church. It was filled with some American candy and notes from people in the church. It was very special to receive that.

Everyone is excited and the spirits are high. We are looking forward to hanging out with the people this afternoon.

Tomorrow – the group will leave the village at 6:30AM to start the hike back to the road where they hope to meet the bus and be brought to Wamena. No one knows yet when the Trigana flights will leave from Wamena– could be between 10AM – 2PM.

(photo: view returning to the Sentani airport)

Cow Hunt

Wednesday (Feb 4) Activities:

- One group is painting the clinic.
- One group is painting an outbuilding behind the Adams' house.
- One group is doing medical clinic with Ben Bogle.
- One group is repairing benches and desks in the school.
- A group of boys are cow hunting for the cow feast they will have tomorrow.
- One group is collecting stones, etc. needed for the cow feast.
- One group is breaking ground for a garden for the school teacher.
- Two groups are helping Rose with lunch and supper. They are doing the supper preparations early because they have a special meeting planned this afternoon.

Everyone had continued to enjoy the teachings of Virgil Adams on the "alphabet":
E = Endurance
F = Friendship
G = Gratitude
H = Honesty
I = Integrity

Cow Hunt Report:

Darren called at 3pm to give a report on the cow hunt. It is the Senior Boys and him on the mission. They have seen cows but not killed one yet! The plan is to have a cow feast with all the pastors and their wives… hopefully with fresh meat! They were about a 2 hour hike away from Ibele.

He reported that today they are finishing up all the projects and tomorrow will be a day of celebration with the Ibele people. They will play games and eat together.

Village Report

All groups arrived safely back in Ibele yesterday (Monday). Everyone claims their time was "fantastic" and "the best". It was very encouraging to hear everyone share together about their experiences. Here is a report from one of the groups that was in one of the villages over the weekend:

The Kid's Club went really well. The drama was of the Good Samaritan. The pastor translated the story from Indonesian into Dani. It was very effective. They loved the singing, the memorizing of the Bible verse and the colouring of the picture to go with the story. The games were a hit and everyone got involved.

The showing of the Jesus Film went very well. The kids did a great job setting up the equipment. Two other surrounding villages joined this village - they came hiking in to see the Film. After the showing was over, it started pouring rain. The group felt really sorry for the people of the 2 villages who then had to hike back in the rain and the dark. But the people said it didn't matter as they really wanted to see the Film and they got what they came for. Thanks to everyone for praying – God heard your/our prayers.

The girls slept in the women's hut and the boys slept in the men's hut. It was comfortable and a very good experience. Some did get flea bites… The girls also had a "freak" experience – when a mouse ran over and around them and got them all riled up! It took them a while to calm down and go back to sleep!

The girls worked with the women in the gardens. Sometime during the weekend (I did not catch when), the villagers held a pig feast for the group. They were all so humbled that the villagers wanted to do this because they do not have many pigs. They all felt loved and were blessed to be able to return their love to them.

The other groups also had very good experiences. Due to communication issues – we will most likely have to wait to hear about them when they come back. But know that it was great and they were blessed.

Into the Villages

All 8 groups have gone to the villages surrounding Ibele The groups left Ibele yesterday (Friday) morning and return on Monday. There is a stomach bug going around, and some of the kids also have malaria like symptoms. Five kids had to stay in Ibele to be cared for while the groups went to the villages. The kids that went to the villages will return to Ibele on Monday to finish their week in the area

Friday's weather was beautiful – until all groups arrived at their villages – then it started to rain. This was good as the Adams' needed water. We are thankful for a great AIDS seminar in Ibele. There are lots of people that have come to the village because of all the activities. These people are staying in the village for the week and waiting for the groups to return on Monday to see what other activities will happen. The health care is having a huge impact on the people. They are feeling loved and well taken care of. Dr. Miguel Lopez is having a great ministry through dentistry. He will return to Sentani on Tuesday. Ben Bogle is also having a great ministry through medicine. He will stay until the end of OE.

Yagorobak or Bust

The following blog is put together from various student accounts about their trip interior, setting up, and then starting their projects. Katherine’s group of nine will be heading to the village of Yagorobak. (Good luck looking it up on a map, I can’t find it!)

Once we arrived in Wamena, a bus took us out of town and dropped us off on the road as close as we could get to Ibele. Four Groups travelled together and then the bus went back to pick up the other four groups. The hike took about 1hour 50 minutes and in between we stopped for a 20 minute rest to eat lunch and swim in a very cold river.

The first project we worked on was to get the water source set up. We took the 30 KGs of hose (didn't know how long it was, just that it weighed 30kgs!!) and brought it upriver. It took us a while to find a good spot to get enough pressure and where the water would run through it with out having air issues, etc. We had planned to bury the hose, but it runs along a path, over fences and little hills and along the river bed. The result – we have running water right into the kitchen!! This is being used for washing dishes and filtering it for drinking water!

After supper, we had the first meeting in the church (which is beside the girls sleeping house). The Senior guys led worship. Uncle Todd Adams spoke on Attitude. It was a good beginning to OE. After breakfast this morning, we had another meeting. The speaker was Uncle Virgil Adams. There was also a time of worship. After the meeting, everyone was given time to journal.

The girls (about 45) are sleeping together in the Classis Office building (which is beside the church). Many are in the main room and others are in the smaller rooms. It is working out well. I am sleeping in one of the smaller rooms.

Last night the boys washed in a river on one side of the village and the girls washed in a river on the other side of the village. But from now on the boys will wash in the same river as the girls – but down river. The other river will only be used for drinking water. The boys are sleeping in the newer school house that is close to the kitchen. The kitchen is the old school building that is falling apart.

Tuesday night, we listened to the testimony of Pak Daud, a man who is also about 80 years old and the first Christian in the area. He explained how life was before the gospel came to the area. There was a lot of tribal warfare and each time some one was killed from one tribe, there was revenge to kill someone from the other tribe, and it never stopped. After they received the gospel, they could finally stop the revenge killings and wars. They did many things to make their ancestors happy but now they know that they can't please/serve the ancestors, they can only serve and please God. He suffered a lot during his early years as a Christian. His house was burnt down, his first wife died, he was stabbed and cut during warfare, etc. But he stayed firm in his faith and God blessed him for that. He can quote so much of the scriptures, it is amazing! All their lives have changed so much because of the gospel.

The Baliem Valley

So where exactly is Katherine and the rest of her classmates? Here is a description of the area where she will be for the next two weeks.

The picture was taken at the airport before they left "civilization" and headed to the jungle.

The Baliem Valley, also spelled Balim Valley and sometimes known as the Grand Valley, of the highlands of Western New Guinea, is occupied by the Dani people. The main town in the valley is Wamena. The valley is about 80 km in length by 20 km in width and lies at an altitude of about 1000 m, with a population of 100,000.

As far as the outside world was concerned, the discovery of the Baliem Valley and the unexpected presence of its large agricultural population was made by Richard Archbold’s third zoological expedition to New Guinea in 1938. On 21 June an aerial reconnaissance flight southwards from Hollandia (now Jayapura) found what the expedition called the 'Grand Valley'. Since then the valley has gradually been opened up to a limited amount of tourism.

The Baliem Valley was once dubbed Shangri La and it is easy to see why. The Valley is incredibly lush and fertile and is surrounded on all sides by towering peaks of 2,500 to 3,000 metres. The fertility is such that the valley has been farmed for 9,000 years but it was only discovered by westerners in 1938! There are three mains tribes inhabiting the Baliem Valley: The Dani in the base, the Lani to the west and the Yali in the south-east. Each tribe has a distinct culture.

O.E.

(John's Note: The following is a description of O.E. - the two week adventure Katherine is starting Monday morning, January 26th.)

The photo shown is from: photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3878019&size=lg this site as several pictures form the area where O.E is going to be located this year.

Outdoor Education, marks the most looked-forward-to event of the year. Its on-paper purpose is to expose high school students to various parts of Papua, provide a small taste of anthropological and linguistic study, and to serve and appreciate the indigenous people.
However, students soon find that the hypothetical purpose of O.E. doesn’t come out the way it seems.

During the two weeks they are overwhelmed with spiritual life-building sessions, community development projects, hikes, field trips, and teaching kids’ clubs. It stretches, stresses, and strengthens them, but at the same time brings amazing people and renewal into their lives that would not have come any other way.

Generally the areas are remote, accessible only by plane, boat, or hiking. If the location is in the interior of the province, all the local small plane services provide transportation. Flying in these small planes means that students must pack light, generally around ten kilos (22 lbs).

An example of Interior work done is the past: the students dug a ditch for a water pipe running from a spring to the center of a village a couple of miles away. More details will come in following blog postings.

School Started!

It's Tuesday and my first and second days of school are great! Here's my schedule:

1) Art 2
2) Doctrine
3) Study hall
4) SR. English (Brit lit) (John's note: the picture is what K sees when se looks out her English class window...good inspiration, huh?)
5) study hall
6) Painting
7) independent living (all seniors are taking it)
8) TA for yearbook

It's a really good schedule, and I'm always starving by my study hall (5) so I eat then.

Yesterday and today my stomach has been hurting on and off and it's really annoying, because I'll be totally fine, and then bamm, it's killing me. So that's not fun, but it's probably just a stomach flue type thing.

Me and Zoe are bonding really well. We're exercising together and talking and it's been really good. I still don't know where I stand, with life, but I've had some really good talks, and I'm going to start reading A Sever Mercy...soon, after OE.

OE starts next Monday (Feb 2)...so I wont write for a while then. I'm really excited about it. I'm having so much fun...

I can't remember what I did after Kali Biru...I think that I went surfing, and then yesterday went into Jayapura to get finger printed. It was fine!

Then today I went to the pool with Mik, Steph, and Hannah. I'm getting tan!! Hurray! And I’m going to hang out with Caleb soon. Then tonight all the girls are going out to dinner, and we'll watch a movie or something!

Tomorrow me, Zoe, Steph, Mik, and some Papuan guys that Zoe is friends with are going into Jaypapura for a concert! It’s going to be way fun. I've been hanging out with Zoe and these guys a lot - they're really cool. They’re a part of team Joshua...next door, and they're helping me with my Indonesian!

(John's note: Team Joshua is an outreach, pictured above, for the Papuan youth. Their property is two doors down from where the Wisley's live.)

The internet is really bad at the Wisley house, sorry I’m not writing much. I will once school starts. And I never check my yahoo email, right now at least.

Chillin'

Hi. This will be short. Yesterday I went with a group of people to Kali Biru...it was really fun. I hung out with Max and his friend Jeremy. It was good! I'm getting tan!

Today I think that we're just going to chill here and soccer tonight. I will watch.

(John's note) Soccer is played by several different groups. The MK's will get together to play, there is a local Paupan girls team, and there are guy teams. This picture was taken in '07 with a gruop that Katherine would hang with a litte. She is hoping to connect more with these girls this time around.

Finally - in Sentani

(Photo taken at the "front door" of the Wisley home in 2007)

Hey. So I tried to get on like a million times and the internet is really bad right now. So this is what I wrote the other day:

(Friday)
Hey, so I’m writing you from the infamous Wisley computer. When I got into Sentani Zoe was waiting out on the tarmac for me. When I got into the airport there were some other people there too. Not too many. But it was good b/c it would have been way overwhelming. Max and Caleb were there, and that was good. Bert, Marla, Kelsea and Kolbe were there too. We came home and when I walked in the door I could smell “our house”. Hannah D. was at the house. We went in and cleaned our room and unpacked. Hannah C, Mik, and a girl I didn’t know (Elisa) came over. We all sat in the room, talking, drawing. Caleb was there too. I guess a lot of people went to Kali Biru, but Caleb is a little sicky so he stayed home. Anyways so he was there too. Oh and he gave me my Christmas present…there were 2 shoes (pink) they fit and are cute so that’s good. He also gave me 2 really cool journals and pens. My journal is almost finished so it’ll be good to have a new one! OK so then me and Zoe went to the pool. Working on my base tan! The Maxey’s spent the night with us on they’re way home. We all went to soccer and I saw Mark and Ben! I didn’t play, obviously…I just talked with Ben. It was good. He’s much more grown up and talkative… more a person so yeah that was good. Came back, and went to bed I was so tired.

(Saturday)
This morning we hung around for a while and then me, Zoe, Will and Lena hiked up to middle falls! It was fun, I’m so out of shape…not good. Zoe wants me to run with her…not going to happen. But I’ll run on Sunday nights and I told her that I’ll jump rope and do sit ups and stuff with her. So yeah, ok back to middle falls. Everything is different from the flood. It’s still beautiful, just different. I was so hot, I thought that I was going to die of heat aghast…but I didn’t. The water was cold and wonderful. On the way back down I almost walked right into I humongo spider. It was as big as the I sent you a picture of last time. Ewww. There was a spider web and I backed away after my face was like 2 inches from it, then I saw the spider. Yuck. We can back and showered, took a nap, and made dinner. Now we’re going to go to the new mall (barf) and get some stuff. We were going to go into Jayapura tonight with some people, but tons of people went to the beach today so we’re going to try and do that tomorrow or in a few days. Tonight we’re going to chill and watch a movie with people I think.

But anyways, that’s what’s been happening so far. It’s so weird being here. Good, but weird. It’s like it hasn’t hit me yet. Part of me feels like I’ve never left b/c everything seems so easy and normal, but then part of me is like, “wait I haven’t’ seen these people of been here for 2 years”. Yup. Oh and this year OE is the second week of school… OK well I’ll write soon. I’m having so much fun, and I’m so glad that I’m here. All day the yesterday I kept just randomly smiling b/c I was surrounded with people I love and yeah I was just so happy. OK I love you all!

(Sunday)
Today was church, it was good. I saw more people. Zoe's friend from 5th grade is here, she's spending 2 weeks. It kind of stinks b/c Zoe doesn't really want her here, b/c they're not super good friends anymore, and it's weird trying to include her. I don't know, she seems nice, but not crazy like me and Zoe. It's been really good with Zoe! I love her, and she loves me. OK well I'm off to soccer soon. I think that I’ll just talk with Max. Caleb is sicky right now. I love max. I was with him all day today at church. He has a girlfriend (kind of) so I hope she doesn't like hate me already.

Bali

OK so...I’m in Bali. So my flight got in fine, it was confusing getting through the visa place and getting my bags, but then I got outside and the heat made me happy! I started sweating right away...so I went over to domestic and got my ticket...then I went to go inside but they told me that I could only go in 2 hrs before my flight. I almost started to cry right there. I forgot how creepy all the guys standing every 2 feet are yelling, "taxi miss'. ewww.

So yeah - I was soo close to crying but then I saw a place called "quiet lounge" and it cost $4.50 to go in. There’s food and a computer and chairs and it doesn't close till 11:00 PM. So then I’ll only have an hour to wait before I can get into the airport, which isn't bad. But it's going to be dark, and I’m already scared about it...remind me NEVER to be in Bali alone at night, or for long periods of time.

So yeah that's the new update. Max is online so I’ve been talking to him for a while. But I’m sooo tired so I think that I'll go to sleep till they kick me out. I smell really bad. It’s grossing me out.I love you all! Dad you'd better be reading or showing these to mom and the boys. I am really scared about the hour wait before I can get into the airport. It’s rainy and scary here. Please pray for me. I love you all!

p.s. all the bags are with me and they're fine! LOVE YOU ALL!

Just arrived in Singapore

HI! Well I’m in Singapore right now. my brain feels like mush. I'll start from the beginning...

I sat in that chair that you and Liz left me in for about and hour and then boarded the plane. I sat next to a son and father who were from CA. The kid shared his head phones with me and we made small talk. When I got off in MPS. I was checking my flight to make sure that it was on time, when an old man walked up to me and said "Nyack"? I told him that I don't go there.. long story short...he and his wife are missionaries in Bandung...we spent the rest of the day together and when we landed in Japan they helped me around.

Then I got on the flight to Singapore. it was fine. it went by fast. and now I’m here. it seems like I’ve been traveling forever, but not really at the same time. weird. so now I have like 7 hours to do nothing. the watch is confusing...I’ll try to figure it out. I want to shower I smell.

The Day of Departure

My alarm went off at 5:00 AM and with it the reality that "this was THE day." After much anticipation, preparation, and discussion - Katherine was really getting on that plane. No, correction, THOSE planes! She would have FIVE legs to her journey: Chicago to Minneanapolis to Narita (Japan) to Singapore to Bali (Indonesia) to Sentani (Papua, Indonesia). She'd leave Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM and not arrive until Thursday evening!

Her good friend, Liz, was going to join me in taking her to the airport. Alex, Ben, and Deanna said their good-byes at the house.

While checking her in at the ticket counter I got talking to one of the agents about my daughter spending this last semester of her high school year in Papua. She helped us get checked in and then asked if I'd like to accompany her behind security. Wow! Yes! she said this wasn't normal, but would get us a special pass.

So Katherine, Liz and I found ourselves sitting at Starbucks sipping our drinks, laughing, taking a picture of their matching undies (long story), and saying our good-byes. I remember at one point looking at what she was wearing and asking her why, of all the T-shirts she owns, she choose to wear the one she was wearing. She said because she really liked it and it was comfy. Only later would we see God's hand, even in a T-shirt selection.

We walked to the departure gate, said our good-byes, and left a smiling Katherine!

Visa? What Visa?

You need a special visa if you are going to be in Indonesia for any longer than a few weeks. We had applied a few months ago at the Indonesian Consulate in Chicago, but found that we needed a special letter of invitation from the country. After a long wait it finally came and we got it to the consulate. A few days later we got a call from the consuslate asking for a special letter of permission from her parents. And although two years ago she did not need this, apparently it is now a "requirement." So four days before her departure I'm faxing off this permission letter! Because of the holidays and then a special Muslim holiday they said that it would be ready to be picked up on Monday (5th) in the afternoon. Now keep in mind Katherine was due to leave Tuesday (6th) at 9:00 AM. Needless to say we had to let this be a matter between God and the Consulate!
Jonathan, my brother-in-law, was the one doing all these consulate runs, as he works down town, so once again he made his way to the consulate and with baited breath approached the counter. God was smilling on us and they presented us with her passport with visa enclosed!