Oh, Boy. He’s done it AGAIN!
I should be packing my bags to go to Detroit where Tim and I will be attending a missions conference at my home church. But I have to stop and share an amazing story.
We are continuing to make plans for our return to the Solomon Islands in the middle of the year. We are excited about going back and the wonderful opportunities that await us. But this week we were reminded of what it is going to take to get us there.
Our monthly financial support is a bit short. But the big items God needs to supply are our plane tickets, money to cover shipping some household goods and the purchase of a vehicle. As we added up our estimate of what we will need, it was a bit sobering. How in the world is that going to happen before the end of June?!?
That night we went to church to attend the Wednesday night dinner and go to choir. After the dinner, a friend asked us about how we get to the Solomons. We explained the various routes and what we were thinking. Then he asked, ‘But you don’t really care HOW you get there, right?”. We admitted we had our preferences, but when push came to shove, it doesn’t really matter.
Then our friend asked, “What if I could get you there or part of the way with my frequent flyer miles?” We were floored. Before we could even let people know about our list of outgoing needs, God was providing.
This afternoon our friend booked the three of us tickets to Auckland, New Zealand where we will visit friends. From New Zealand we will fly to Brisbane, Australia. So all we need now is to pay for airfare from Brisbane to Solomon Islands!
We didn’t NEED to go to New Zealand, but we were hoping we could. Now God has provided a way – free of charge and before we could even ask. Isn’t that just like God?
And last week he provided someone to house sit our house sit our house in the Solomon Islands. We had just found out the renter was moving out when someone approached us with a temporary housing need for their son and daughter-in-law. Again, we were amazed that God provided before we could even ask.
As we continue to make preparations for our return to the South Pacific, we thank God for his confirmation of our plans through these encouragements.
Smiles of Gratitude
There are a lot of smiles at our house today. The long awaited day for the removal of the braces has arrived. After two years Sarah no longer has braces. Yeah!
Sarah and I have known about the appointment for some time, but we kept it under our hats. This morning I picked her up from school and took her to the orthodontist’s office. Afterward we stopped by the office to surprise Tim. As Tim looked at Sarah’s beautiful metal-free smile, he broke into a smile. And I got teary-eyed.
When we were told 3 years ago that both girls needed braces, and not just for cosmetic reasons, we had no idea how we would be able to pay for them. We moved ahead in faith and trusted God to provide.
Friends donated a car to Wycliffe in our name and the proceeds from the sale of the car were almost exactly what we needed for Emily’s braces. We have been making payments on Sarah’s braces month after month and have always had enough. God has been faithful even when we couldn’t see a way forward.
Sarah isn’t the only one smiling today. What’s not to smile about? We have a God who delights in providing for his children – even straight teeth.
Before…
and after…
Heading Home
Well, after a very full two weeks here in East Timor, which followed two weeks spent in 3 Australian locations, and two weeks before that in the Solomon Islands, it’s time for this traveler to head home. The suitcase is packed, I have a 5:30 AM taxi call at the hotel front desk, and I’m charging up my Kindle.
Every stop on this trip has been different. And every stop has been strategic. Here in East Timor, I feel like I could have easily spent another two weeks, with all that is going on. The implementation team takes off in a couple of days to do teacher training in the three areas where the pilot project will be implemented. There is still material that needs to be polished up and finished. (it will probably be printed ‘as is’ and polished over the next couple of months.) But we got a lot done. And I feel that my being here made it possible for them to at least be minimally ready to start classes when the school year begins in January.
I’m so glad I came. But it will be good to get home too.
Breakfast in Dili
As with many hotels these days, the hotel where I am staying here in Dili, East Timor serves a complimentary breakfast. Now East Timor is at a crossroads between Asia, the Pacific and Australia, and the hotel restaurant is run by ethnic Chinese. So what would they serve for breakfast?
Well as is typical, it’s a breakfast buffet. And there is bread (and a toaster), margarine, jam and peanut butter for those who like that.
There are also corn flakes and milk.
And on my plate you can see the following:
scrambled eggs
fried rice (with some egg and vegetables)
stir-fry fish and vegetables (sometimes it’s a different stir fry meat, other times it’s been cut up chicken breast patties, or battered chicken wings)
stir fry chinese cabbage (or some other similar vegetable)
stir fry bacon and vegetables
a small spring roll
and what is supposed to substitute for sausage, which is more like a hot dog.
In addition there was stiff fry tofu in a sauce
and various fruit pieces (orange, banana, apple today)
And the coffee is excellent. With East Timor’s Portuguese heritage, they serve excellent coffee here.
Anyone for breakfast?
Producing Story Books
Over the past couple of days, the team has been working very hard to write small story books for children just learning to read. The goal is to get as many as 80 small books produced in each of the three languages of the pilot project!
I have been helping them to understand more clearly what makes a good small story book, the type of story needed, the type of wording needed, the type of illustrations needed. With people from the three languages working together, they can often share story books between them, adjusting the wording or illustrations slightly to fit their specific situation. Over the past two days, they have prepared drafts of over 30 stories so far, to add to the more than 20 that they already had!
Multilingual Education Advocacy
from Tim…
On Wednesday of last week, the multilingual education team held a stakeholders meeting to report on the project so far, share implementation plans, and present important multilingual education concepts. People from various non-government organizations attended, as well as educators and representatives from the Ministry of Education.
Ester explains a foundational concept to the group.
I had been working with them all of Monday and Tuesday to finalize the program and help various prepare their presentations and practice them. And they all did very well. All of the presentations and conversation was held in Tetun, one of the official languages of East Timor, so I was very much the outsider for the day. I was able to have some of the discussion translated for me so I could follow some of it and occasionally contribute to the discussion. But the day very much belonged to the team.
Ana does a teaching demonstration.
Afterward, I heard reports that several of the participants felt they had learned a lot, saying that they had not understood before what the multilingual education program was all about. But having learned more, they now feel it is a good idea!
Now we just have to get everything ready for classes to start early next year…
A Different Thanksgiving
It’s hard to believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving. It’s supposed to reach an unseasonable 80 degrees today and truthfully, I wish it was a bit cooler, but this is Texas. At 53 years of age, this year will be my first time to prepare a turkey. The job usually falls to Tim, but he is in East Timor. As my grandfather would have said, “You won’t learn any younger.”
A couple of months ago Tim was planning his trip to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and was ready to tell the travel agent, ‘book it’, when he got an email from his supervisor, “What are you doing the last half of November? The workshop in Timor is going to happen and there are sufficient funds for you to come help. Can you do that?
As we pondered extending Tim’s three week tour to six, and Tim missing being here for Thanksgiving, we wondered what to do. In the end, we decided the workshop and experience of working with his supervisor and her husband were worth the sacrifice and added the extra leg to his trip.
Shortly before Tim was to travel to East Timor, his supervisor contracted pneumonia and became seriously ill and was admitted to a hospital in Bangkok. She wasn’t going anywhere soon and we wondered if Tim should cancel that part of the trip and head home. We decided the opportunity to see what was happening in East Timor, meet the people involved in multilingual education and help out where he could made the trip still worthwhile.
So this Thanksgiving, while it would be nice to have Tim here, I am thankful for this opportunity for him to be a part of an important initiative in East Timor. I’m also thankful for God’s healing hand on Tim’s supervisor who continues to surprise her doctor’s with her progress. Tim returns to Dallas on December 2nd which will be another day to give thanks.