And then they left

4:30 AM is early. I have no idea where it says in Proverbs about not coming over to your neighbors house early in the morning or you will be cursed but it is in there. Can I call unknown people who play music loudly, stupid, and since it is early in the morning and I am their neighbor am I then not fulfilling prophecy? ANYWAY...you have heard too long and too often about the music and by the time I return to this blog they should have all shut down.
Yes...the first 3 left this morning at 5:30 and the last three (Mijo, Nick and me) leave between 1-3PM on the first leg of our trip all the way to Mbua.

We have to pack for all of us for at least 2 weeks. If we forget something..oh well. I so don't want to forget the essentials. Think about it...what would you want to make sure you had if you had not other means of getting what you forgot. Last night till late we were packing the last minute can't forget these items. That is why 4:30 came especially early and that is why there were some curses flying. It reminded me of the last few days before we left Lynden, remember what I was like then, just bring it down a few notches and its deja vous all over again.

So to all of you...Merry Christmas.
Emmanuel, why oh why would He want to be with us...that is the mystery of Christmas.

And then they came

My folks came in on Saturday morning and we have had people come up to us out of the blue just to say hello. It isn't the Price family to be sure. We have not been able to go into a restaurant, grocery store or even getting into the van from the airport without a wonderful soul approaching with smiles and tears. How they are loved. It is profound to see the hand and the glove unite. It is like Dad said, " As I fly over Indonesia I say O Lord, I am home". We are warming our souls in the glow that these reunions are providing.

We are also preparing to go interior and on a side note...I won't be able to post for awhile but will catch up when we come back out again. When I say preparing maybe you need to understand what that means. We have no idea what the living conditions will be except that we will have a roof over our heads and a fireplace. We have no idea about the stove, water supply or the electricity. We have no fridge and I don't think we have any furniture. I sat down with the kids to help them adjust in their minds that the Christmas this year will be far different then any they have ever experienced and that maybe it will be akin to "little house in the jungle". I really can't prepare them...I will enjoy their reactions...well, maybe not all of them.

I am already complaining about sleeping on the floor and I am not yet sleeping on the floor. Maybe I need to have a talk with myself. Scott, that amazing man, he is game for it all. I so think he was made for all of this..there is something of a reunion of sorts with him as if this kind of lifestyle was what he was destined to embrace. Our wonderful friend Linda sent us just enough gifts to open so that as Mijo said through tears, we will have something of Christmas in the middle of nowhere. Nick is wondering about what will we do if it gets bad...how do we get out: walk or fly I said. He is a bit nervous about the whole thing. Isn't this grand!

I will post one more time on Wednesday if I have time...it is finals and I have to get all my grades in as well... Merry Christmas.

Community

You would think that a missionary community would be tight. With all that you may experience here in Sentani, what you lack is a sense of community. It is strange because this group of people do everything together, we worship, play and go to school together yet with all this interaction there is no interdependence IE: no community. This isn't an indictment but an observation and maybe it is because of the transient nature of each one here. Take us for example, we are here as far as we know for just a year. How much effort would anyone want to make getting to know us. Multiply that and everyone here is on a sort of stop watch mentality because for many and any reason time can be up and lives are uprooted and resettled in any of the states or in any of the many countries represented here. Relationships become stained with an inevitable looming departure.
This makes sense as to why I don't seem to dive into community anywhere even if most places I have lived in the States everyone stays put. I was missing my LC community this week because I had gotten my feet wet in the whole making of community. It was easy to leave because leaving has always marked my living, staying put was good for me though if not more difficult. So here I am in what is familiar, a transient group of leaving people and I find myself fitting in easily...BUT maybe that isn't the best quality I should relearn. Community, a group of interdependent people, seems to be what God intended. Maybe here we need to learn that leaving though inevitable isn't reason enough to not invest in each other. Maybe I need to just dive in, invest in transient people just because the time spent in building relationships is always valuable no matter the time frame.

Voiceless Beaches

We skipped church on Sunday and went to the beach. With another truant couple we enjoyed the whole beach, perfect weather, clear water all to ourselves. I think we needed the reprieve and coming home we were tired, sunburned again, messy and at peace.

I have had a cold now for about a week and it has gone to my larynx. So I can't talk ...this may be hard this coming week in my teaching job, but it makes me have to listen more... I can't even yell at the nameless people who play the music too loud. I can't remember the last time I lost my voice, but having to be quiet on purpose makes me nervous. How am I supposed to yell at the kids from my bedroom to be quiet in the living room? How do I get the cat off the table if he can't hear me? Am I really here if no one can hear me?

I was thinking that maybe you all have been wondering if things are OK for us here since you have been hearing a lot of the bad.

We are doing really well, really. The bad you hear are the minor notes in a melody of wonderful. This is not to minimize the bad but to emphasis that even in the minor key days we know beyond that shadowing doubt that this is where we are to be at this time.

It's Christmas, God's Gabriel was so busy making sure everyone knew what they were supposed to know at the right time. Busy in dreams and in visitations, becoming God's voice in a voiceless world. How much he knew...for soon God's voice would be human, no longer through a messenger but in the Messiah.

And sometimes it's just not good

(This is written with Mijo's permission)
The other evening Scott, Mijo and Nick went to the new supermarket to go shopping. It was evening and as Mijo and Nick got out of the car a man made a bee line for Mijo and touched(grabbed) her in a inappropriate manner. This was done while Scott was coming from the other side of the car. Scott grabbed the man's hand and yelled at him but the man ran away. Scott seeing guards not too far gestured to them and they found him.
In the office of the guards, the man was kicked and beaten by the chief in the presence of the kids. After much stilted conversation, Scott brought the kids home and returned with our field director. They then escorted the man, they being Scott and our field directory, to the police station where the history of this man was revealed. Like many criminals, he had a track record and like many criminals he was not right in the head. Scott likened the situation to the Wild West where justice is meted out then and there. They were going to hold him there and then take him to the mental hospital. He will be released unless his family will pay for him to stay there..

Having said all that, it really isn't about him. It is about Mijo. She came home broken. We have talked and prayed. We realize that it could have been worse, but them why does it have to be. It is bad enough for her, and in the next few weeks we will with the help of others help her process the emotions.
Nick was so terrible mad that he could not do anything, but feels responsible to protect his sister wherever they go. Scott who is wanting to see the Hand of God in the dealing of fallen man is wrestling with a constant desire to continue to do bodily harm.
I was at home, I am an observer. Sometimes it's just not good no matter how much you think through it all...

Blurping

Yesterday evening we were walking down memory lane through video's taken way back when Scott and I were dating. One of those memorable moments was Nick in his kindergarten class singing a Pizza song.One verse in this song was blurping...the sound that cheese makes on a pizza when it is being cooked. Very cute and all that but what amazed me later was when we were praying as a family, Nick thanks God that we can move from blurping to praising God. OK... I nearly burst out laughing which would not be inappropriate as I am sure God enjoyed the humor but Nick was completely serious and I wanted him to not feel like he had done something wrong..because it was so right. We all move from blurping to praising God and maybe that blurping was praising God in the only way a five year old is able.Sometimes I feel like my grown up praising makes about as much sense as blurping. I am thankful that God understands blurps when the intention is praise.

On another note...the in your face Christmas music continues to blare its insidious noise into our home. There are a few hours of peace between midnight and 4:30AM. We are wearing earplugs and shutting all our shutters. This makes for a nice stuffy night in the tropics. I am so looking forward to interior where there is NO MUSIC. I don't sound irritated do I :).

On this first Week of Advent...Joy! May the joy of this season be found in all that is simple: The first snow, the excitement of small children, the warmth of the fire, the lights that work after a year in storage, the first Christmas card from a dear friend, the silence of the morning with the warm cup of coffee in the soft glow of the Christmas tree lights. Joy...may He come into your home this year.