Indonesia Trip

 We finally made it Malang! We've been here since Wednesday night, so we've had a few days to get settled a routine. My typical day so far... 1. Wake up and have some sort of quiet time (mornings have all been different so it's been changing) 2. Stop for breakfast on my way to language school 3. Work on learning Bahasa Indonesia in the morning  4. Stop for lunch on my way to the office  5. Study language, work on projects, do a training session, etc. in the afternoon 6. Stop for dinner on my way back to my homestay 7. Talk as best I can with my homestay parents (Ibu and Bapak) 8. Shower (always necessary) and prepare for bed My room at my homestay is on the second story. It's a perfect size. There is a bed, a desk, a chair, a loveseat, an end table, a dresser, a fan (very critical), and a TV (which I don't plan on using). On one side of my room there is a big window that overlooks Bapak's garden. A small building is in the middle surrounded by plants, most of wh...

Day #4 of quarantine. Night #5 is coming up. I'm about ready for this to be done. It sounds like our COVID test results will be ready early tomorrow morning, which means that we'll be able to book our flight to Malang, Lord willing. I'm excited to start the internship and excited to see the Lord work.  Going into this quarantine, I thought boredom was going to be an issue. Turns out I was wrong about that. The first two days here were fairly light in terms of activities, but the past two days have picked up. For each of the past two days, we've had approximately 4 hours of language, 3 hours of history/culture/lifestyle training, preparation for the next day's training session, and meal eating time. That leaves room for some quiet time, a nap, and a couple chapters in a book before bed. The food has been good for the most part. I don't always know what all of it is, but for the most part I've adopted a "down the hatch" sort of methodology. The rice ...

I'm finally on my way. My COVID test didn't come back in time for me to leave on Tuesday morning as planned, so I left on Thursday morning instead. It was incredibly stressful, but the Lord taught me that He is in complete control. It is now Friday afternoon in Tokyo, at least that's what my laptop says. My body really doesn't know what day or time it is.   For the flight from DFW to Tokyo, we flew on a Boeing 787, which is the biggest plane I can remember flying on. Sometimes it's hard to believe that something that big can get off the ground. Lift is wild.  There were some folks on the flight to Tokyo who are also going on to Jakarta. We met an Indonesian businessman of some sort who has been incredibly friendly and helpful. We also met an American owner of a coffee roasting company in Indonesia; he and his family are going back for a while. I wish I enjoyed coffee, I really do...but I still think it's pretty gross.  UPDATE **Before boarding, I used a bathroom...

It is Sunday night. A stressful Sunday night.  I got a PCR COVID test this afternoon, and I'm praying that it comes back negative before it's time to leave on Tuesday morning. Something I need to trust the Lord with.  My laptop power cord is also not working well. I spent about an hour trying to get it to work without success. I nearly gave up and decided to use my phone for the rest of the night. Then, in one last attempt to get the cord to power my computer, I plugged it in, and it worked. I think it has to do with the way the cord is bent, and only certain bends will provided power. Another thing I need to trust the Lord with.  There is a lot more work left to do tonight, and then there is a lot more work to do tomorrow. I hope the Lord will sustain me through it. I am also going to share a bunch of meals with friends tomorrow on my last day; I'm looking forward to times of fellowship with true brothers.