Chronicles from the Fields...

Lately, it seems like we have been spending a lot of time learning the language. The more we learn, the more we realize how far we have to go. Now that our vocabulary is starting to expand, we have been accidentally switching words. This means that sometimes there are a few embarrassing moments like when I called Amber a cell phone the other day. After a confused look, I was able to straighten it out.

Every Monday morning at school, we have a one hour devotion called a kebaktian. The hour is filled with students and instructors giving testimonies in Indonesian and singing Indonesian worship songs. Next week I will give my testimony in Indonesian and Amber will read from the Alkitab (the Indonesian Bible). In the picture below, one of the instructors is praying for the kebaktian.



We have eight people in our class right now. Three people are native Korean speakers, two are native Japanese speakers, and three are native English speakers. This has forced us to communicate to one another in Indonesian. Since the school is based on the concept of full immersion, the language diversity isn’t a problem. This is a picture of our class (minus one other American) and one of our instructors is to the far right.





A couple weeks ago, Amber and I went on a motorcycle ride to another town that isn’t too far from where we live. We spent the night at hotel and visited a volcano nearby the next day. It was a fun getaway that gave us a chance to relax and take a break from all our studying. The volcano’s name is Tangkuban Perahu which literally means overturned boat. The name came from a legend about a love relationship that turns upside down. Wikepedia does a pretty good job of explaining the legend. The rim on one side also looks like a giant overturned boat. The crater itself was huge and was equally rank with the stench of sulfur.



Some of our friends back in the States have sent us care packages. (Thank you!!!) We couldn’t have been happier about the hadiah-hadiah (gifts) inside. The food here is a little different, so you would have thought it was Christmas when we received pancake mixes and deodorant! We picked up a stray kitten off the side of the road a couple months back so one of the packages came with toys for kittens. If you look closely in the picture, the cat is attacking the toy while Amber is holding it in her left hand. He is pretty much your typical kitten and plays until he passes out. We couldn’t find cat toys anywhere here, so it was nice to get something that keeps him occupied.