October Holiday and Time

All the plans for world travels were discussed greatly prior to leaving America in July. I thought every time that there is a holiday or long break I would be gone. But my plans were not God's plans and I am so grateful for that. I could have gone back to Bali, or explore some new places for October holiday, but instead I stuck around the big JAK. It was a blast. There were days that I got to sleep in and relax and other days where I had the opportunity to wake up early. Many of the days I hung out with people from church and one of them I got to go to a waterfall. It was great to be able to just relax and not worry about what was on the agenda for the next day. So yeah I may not be tan because I went to the beaches, but the fact that I got to build relationships with people that I will be around for many years was fantastic.

Time seems to be a recurring narrative of my life in Jakarta. This week making 3 months. But time is a gift that God gives. This week God's timing was truly a blessing. These last few weeks at church we have been discussing what it looks like to be on mission for God in the places that we are at. I had been thinking about it a lot. I have my students that not all of them know Christ and others that I interact with, but don't yet speak fluent Bahasa to be able to carry a conversation. So I had been asking that God would bring somebody in my path that I could build a relationship with that does not know Him. So let me tell you how this all fits in with God's timing. Friday was one of my friends birthdays, a school basketball game, and worship night at church. Many options and only one of me. So I decided to go to the party. On the way to the party a few of the teachers needed to pick up snacks. We stopped and while there they eagerly wanted to find canned pumpkin (not easy to find by the way when it is pushed back behind the fruit cocktail) anyway while up there I saw somebody that I met when I first moved here. As we were leaving I realized that they had way to much to get back to their apartment so I carried it back with them. When we got to the apartments I realized that they lived right across the hall from my friend's apartment. They told me to come over afterward, which I did and was able to hang out and begin to build that relationship with them. All this because of God's timing in it. I am thankful for the fact we needed to look for pumpkin filling.

So I apologize no exciting stories of trips in the jungle, the smogcrete jungle will have to do for now.

As always thank you for praying, God is stretching me in ways that I never knew I needed to be stretched.

Things I miss from home:
Corn Mazes (especially Bose Family farm)

Waterfall near Sentul City

Bowling over Holiday

LG after pool party and Pineapple upside down cake

Bali Beliefs and Sports Spectating

BALI BELIEFS
 Growing up I with my sister in Germany I was always hearing about the weekend trips that she would take to countries like France, Austria, Switzerland, and many others. To me that was just a crazy concept to live so close to those places to go for such a short time. Well two weekends ago I had the opportunity to do the same kind of thing. I went to Bali with 4 other teachers from 3 different SPHI campuses. It was a great relief to get away and breathe the "fresh" air at Kuta Beach. (I put that in quotes because compared to Jakarta it is clean, but compared to the Willamette Valley, Yikes) While in Bali we got to go on a 25 km bicycle ride past some rice fields; drink Kawak coffee; eat breakfast above a volcano; swim at the beach; and learn about the culture.
Although the relaxing on the beach was great, my favorite portion of the trip was learning about the Balinese Hindu culture. It was such a contrast to go from Java where Islam is the most followed religion to Bali where Hinduism dominates all areas of life. For me it was like stepping back in time. I know that there are many cultures who sacrifice to false gods, but this was my first experience with it. Every day these people would put out a sacrifice of food to the various gods. And they were unsure what would happen if they did not do this daily. It reminded me of the sacrifice Christ made and the fact that it was once for all time, and never will I have to worry if I am doing enough. I can know that it is by God's grace that I am saved.

SPORTS SPECTATING
For those who know me well, besides the Timbers I really don't care about professional sports. I love watching sports of people that I know. So it should come as no surprise that I have already been watching different sporting events. It has been great to go with two of the other teachers to watch them play some softball. (One of the few places for green grass)  A great part about being here at SPH is that they are also eagles so when I cheer for the school teams it is not hard to do so. (Except when we play one of the other campuses and they too are eagles)

My favorite sport experience so far was just this last week when we had sports day. This was a 2 day activity. The Junior school did their activities Thursday, and Senior school on Friday. The days were filled with many activities and each student was placed into one of four house teams. The great part was not the sports but how the Senior school students interacted with the Junior school students. It was a good picture of how a body of believers should be. The mature helping the younger. The younger teaching the mature. I am so thankful to get to continue at a school with all grades.

PRAYER
This week is a 3 day week then we have professional development. Please pray that it would be a time to grow and get better at what I do.
Next week is Term break. Pray that I don't just loaf around but that I can use the time wisely.

THINGS I MISS
regular string (not yarn)

THINGS I HAVE  MADE
This new section may not last long but I just am excited that I have finally gathered enough cooking supplies to actually begin making food. Also one of my friends taught me how to work the difficult oven.
So here it is the things that I have experimented doing thus far:
Banana Bread
No Bakes
Rice
Brownies
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
I have made other things but I forget what they were

As always thank you for praying and please excuse my grammar