Anak Buah

Calvary Baptist Team straddling the equator

For the last almost three weeks, these 7 young people from California have been visiting and serving with us at the hospital. My last blog post introduced them and covered their first week with us. They were a fun team! You could find them all over the hospital and campus. They scrubbed in to assist with c-sections, they helped catch babies, did skills in the clinic and ER, they replaced hinges and broken doors in the clinic and morgue, they cleaned the reservoir, and they helped with children's choir concert we had this last week. We were blessed by their joy and enthusiasm. The phone would ring day and night at my house asking me to tell my anak buah (someone considered to be family but not biologically related and is how many of the hospital staff referred to them when talking to me) to come to the hospital or ask me to come down to the hospital translate so the hospital staff could communicate with them. 

We have a lot visitors who come to the hospital. Almost 100 so far this year alone. From skilled professionals who share their skills and knowledge with us to students who come to learn and have new experiences. Some struggle with the adjustment and others fit right in. This group was definitely the latter. I know they were a blessing to our community and I hope we were to them. Many are seeking the Lord's will for their lives and making big decisions about their future. It was hard to put them on a plane on their way home yesterday and hopefully some may return in the future. Here are a few more pictures of their time with us...

Louisa, Donda, and Tori

Luke and Anna (team leaders)

We were blessed by Adam and Louisa's music skills

Cleaning out the reservoir

Cleaning out the reservoir

(I can't take the credit for most of these great pictures - that belongs to Geraldo) 

Welcoming a Team

Very late on Monday night July 7^th, we welcomed a team of young people from Calvary Baptist Church in Huntington Beach, California. They are pictured below during their introduction to the hospital staff during a chapel time. They will be with us for 19 days exploring careers in nursing and medicine and medical missions.

The team includes (pictured from left to right):

Anna (Cottrell) and Luke Payton: Team Leaders. Anna has been here on short-term trips twice before, when she was a nursing student and still single. She is now an emergency room nurse. This is her husband’s first trip. He has some construction skills but so far you are much more likely to find him in the Operating Rooms watching surgery.

Tori Bowman: Is a nursing student.

Louisa Cottrell: Is a high school student interested in nursing and is Anna’s younger sister.

Becky Chacon: Is a high school student interested in nursing.

Jessica Grubb: Is a nursing student

Adam Cottrell: Is starting a pre-med program in the fall and is Anna’s younger brother.

So far they have been here a week and it has been a week full of new experiences for them. All have had the opportunity to watch multiple surgeries, see a baby be born, attended a village wedding, and try new foods. Here are a few pictures of their time so far…

Watching and helping with the birth of a baby

Tasting Durian (quickly followed by a doughnut!)

Donating blood to help a patient in need

Pray that they will be a blessing and be blessed in their remaining two weeks. Pray also that the Lord will use this time in their lives. 

Waiting

The last few days around here have all us all waiting with baited breath. The Indonesian Presidential Election went smoothly on Wednesday, July 9th, which is quite impressive considering the logistical challenge of getting the ballots to all 190 million possible voters.

By the end of the day though we had both candidates announcing themselves as the winners. The official results won’t be released until July 22nd, so instead most people rely on quick count results. These are done by several different organizations and take a representative of votes from across Indonesia to predict the winner. The problem this time around is the race is very close and of the 12 different quick counts done, 8 predicted one winner and the other 4 predicted the other candidate would win. So in the end they both declared victory leaving everyone very tense that there would be a confrontation between the two groups. Thankfully, things have been peaceful so far but we are all waiting to see the final results. Most likely those results will be challenged by the loser and it will have to resolved by the courts. This is uncharted water for Indonesia as they have never had this close of a race before. Please keep praying for peace, truth, and transparency.

Here are a few pictures from the election process. I accompanied some of my friends on election day to our local polling place.

My friend, Donda, receiving her ballot

Our local polling place

You can see the confusion in these quick count results!

Celebrating a Year of Living in Indonesia

365 days ago I boarded a plane to Indonesia. In some ways it is hard to believe that it has been a year and yet in other ways I have felt every day. Maybe because it has been a year and I don't usually go this long without seeing them, I have found myself missing family and friends a lot recently. Somehow thought it seems very fitting that this week I have moved into a more permanent house (more on that in another blog post to come with lots of pictures).

Really though it has been quite the year. Here are a few fun facts to review this first year of life in Indonesia:

• I have been on 14 airplanes
• 5 of those were the initial trip to Indonesia
• During 3 of them I was on crutches with a foot in a large boot
• On 2 of them there have been medical emergencies with no other medical people on board. Thankfully neither happened on the trips where I was crutches! 
• But the real miracle - except for that initial trip, all of my luggage has always arrived with me :)  
• I have slept in 16+ beds
• That includes at least 8 hotel/motel beds 
• One hospital bed following surgery
• Oh and then there are the countless friends who have welcomed me into their homes, some for just a few nights and some for several months. 
• I have lived in a town with 160,000 people and village with probably only about 1,000 people (if you count just Serukam). 
• In my (locked!) closet right now there is currency from four different countries (US Dollars, Singapore Dollars, Malaysian Ringgit, and Indonesia Rupiah). I have also managed to open an Indonesian bank account and learned how to do internet banking with a token and banking via my phone too (that one is probably only a big deal to me!). 
• But the best part is I am connected with people around the world via telephone, email, Skype, Facebook, SMS (texting for you Americans), iMessage, Blackberry Messenger, and What's App.  

There is a scaled used by missionaries (and probably others) of the adjustment process to living in a new country. They say to completely acclimate takes about 5 years. This is represented by how you respond to finding a bug in your glass of water.

Year 1 ~ If you find a bug in your glass you throw the water out and get a new cup. 

Year 2 ~ If you find a bug in your glass you throw the water out but immediately refill it without washing it. 

Year 3 ~ If you find a bug in your glass you fish the bug out but drink the water anyway. 

Year 4 ~ If you find a bug in your glass you drink it anyway, bug included. 

Year 5 ~ If you have a glass of water and there is no bug in it, you immediately find a bug and add it to the water because you need the protein. 

I am happy to report that I am currently about year 2 and sometimes 3 (depending on how much I want what is in the glass) on this adjustment scale. Although I seriously hope I never reach the 5th year!

As I write this the details are coming together for the next adventure -- I am headed out to Kuching, Malaysia to get a new visa. That will be another two plane trips and another new bed, for those that are keeping track :) Mostly though I am looking forward to my return and finally getting settled in my new place and making this house a home.

Presidential Elections

Official campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections here in Indonesia has begun. Here are some interesting facts about the election:

• Indonesia is the world's 3rd largest democracy. There are close to 190 million people eligible to vote in this election and they are spread out on hundreds of islands in everything from big cities to small villages. 
• This is only the 3rd time that the people have been able to directly elect their president.
• Social media like Twitter and Facebook are playing a large role in the election as information (both true and false) can be shared quickly. For example, many people couldn't watch the debate last Sunday on TV because they don't have a TV but they do have a cell phone with Facebook or Twitter, so instead they followed it via social media. 

Presidential candidates Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto shake hands after the second presidential debate on June 15, 2014. (EPA Photo/Adi Weda)

There are two candidates (and their respective vice presidential candidates) running in the election. There are twelve political parties in Indonesia, so narrowing it down was quite the process, which involved legislative elections in April and then lots of bargaining and coalition building. The two candidates are quite different but it will be a tough decision. Joko is a the governor of Jakarta and is quite progressive but he also does not have a lot of experience. He has however picked a man with a lot of experience as his vice president. The other candidate is Prabowo and he has many years of experiences serving in the military and in politics but it is a checkered past. So the people of Indonesia have a tough choice ahead of them as they choose the future of their country. There are two topics guaranteed to stimulate lots of conversation here in Indonesia right now - the election and the fact that it is durian season :) 

For those that are interested here are a few articles with more information:

An article in The Economist about how the race is too close to call right now.

Another article from The Economist about the process following the legislative elections, when no one party got a majority.

An editorial from an Indonesian newspaper, The Jakarta Globe, about how the close race is strengthening democracy in Indonesia. (don't worry it is in English!)

Finally, another editorial from The Jakarta Globe, about the first debate, which outlines some of the differences between the two candidates.

The election is in just a few weeks, on July 9th, and it will be exciting to watch. Please be praying the process goes smoothly and safely.

A New Chapter in the Adventure

Our community had dinner and prayer time together with the Geary Family before they left

Well today was the day I said goodbye to the Geary family as they headed back to the US for a year of home assignment. I am now officially the solo expat missionary here at Bethesda for the next 9 months or possibly longer. Paul Geary will be coming back for occasional visits and we have several visitors scheduled to come from several different countries in the coming months but this will be a unique experience for me. I will have to lean a lot on my Indonesian colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to grow deep relationships with them but also a bit overwhelming. Please be praying I can embrace this next chapter in the adventure with peace and joy!

Arrival!

It is hard to believe but I am writing this post once again from Serukam, which is the village where Bethesda Hospital is located. These flowers were waiting for me when I arrived at the temporary house where I will live.

The rural location of the hospital is one of the things that I love about it - I am very much a country girl at heart. Here is the view from bedroom right now. 

Not sure you can see it but there is a stream down there that lulls me to sleep at night if it has rained that day. Here are a few of the differences:

• It is the chickens that wake me up now instead of the call to prayer from the mosque and motorcycles and cars. 
• Getting to "work" requires just a few minutes walk down the hill to the hospital and nursing school. 
• Oh and don't forget to shower at least two times a day. It is much more hot and humid here than in Salatiga. 
• You are surrounded by friends - or in my case some people that are already friends and many more people that will become friends. 
• Unlike the big cities in Java, singleness at my age is rare - yesterday during our weekly Bible Study and prayer time at the nursing school they prayed I would find a teman hidup - life friend (otherwise known as a husband). 
• You are never quite sure what kind of wildlife you are going to see. On my 2nd day here a bird of some type struck my window. It had a large beak and was blue and yellow. It sat there stunned awhile and squawking at me before it flew off.  

Oh and I had one of my first oops moments. I am never quite sure if it is the language barrier or what but I somehow missed the fact that the song we sang yesterday during our devotional time at the nursing school was actually practice for singing in chapel at the hospital today. So after everyone else had lined up in front I had multiple people motioning to me to get me up there. I did go amidst the many chuckles from the crowd.

I am slowly easing my way into the work here. It has been hard to leave a place where I was known and comfortable and had settled into a ministry, even if it was only for 8 months. I will be doing an orientation in each of the wards of the hospital starting on April 1st with the Zaal Bidan (OB ward). Hopefully this will help me learn names and how things are done these days. 

Unfortunately, it is going to take some time for me to be able to move to my place. I did go see it yesterday and talk with the people who are currently living in it. It will probably be another week or two before they have moved out. Then it will take some renovating etc to get it ready for me. In the meantime I am in a three-bedroom house. This weekend I will head to the city 5-hours away for some shopping and looking at things for my new place. I have been blessed by those who gave money to my outgoing expense budget so I can do those renovations and buy some new things. Another blessing is New Tribes missionaries who live there have offered to help me with my shopping, as they know the stores. I will keep you updated on how things go. Please keep praying!