More pictures

Click here see more pictures from the engagement you can go to this website. You will

James

Engagement

Grace and I are now engaged! We just got engaged last Monday. We kind of have an interesting story about how he got in engaged because it happens differently in our cultures. When Grace asked me when we were going to get engaged I was kind of surprised and I told her that she does not get to ask that question. She was just as surprised by my answer because in Indonesian and Filipino culture it is something that you talk about and plan. So we had an Indonesian engagement.

Here are some more pictures of the engagement ceremony

This is a picture of the Pastor praying for us.

This is Grace and I exchanging rings in Indonesia and the Philippines both the guy and the girl wear rings

This is a picture of Grace and I with Korean Pastor and his wife.

Another Earthquake

I actually felt this one. I was sitting in my chair and then it felt like I was swaying back and forth. It did not last very long and as far as I know no one was hurt or injured.

James

Grace

I have not posted many pictures lately so I thought I would post some of Grace and I.

This is a picture of Grace and I at Church

And here is a picture of Grace and I at a church retreat.

I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures.

James

Earthquake

There was an big earthquake in Indonesia yesterday. I think this one happened almost exactly one month after the last one. I just noticed that my last update was also about an earthquake. I did not feel the earth quake here in Jakarta. This one was a 7.6. Here is a picture of where it happened.

Earthquake

There was an earthquake off the cost of Indonesia earlier today. I did not feel even though I have read that people in Indonesia felt it in places further away from than I am. If I was in Jakarta I would have felt it but I am not there right now.

This map shows the where the earthquake hit

James

Ramadan

Ramadan just started yesterday. Ramadan is the month were Muslims fast during the day. Usually when I think of fasting I think about just not eating food, but when Muslims fast during Ramadan they do not eat or drink during the day. Some don't even swallow their spit. A lot of the Christians will also fast for the first week to show respect to their Muslim neighbors. They also avoid eating or drinking in public during the day. Also most restaurants put up curtains or some sort of barrier so people can not see into them.

Trip to Salatiga

Recently I went back to Salatiga for the weekend. It was nice to see Mary Grace again and also other friends of mine that live there. I rode the bus there which took longer then usual. Usually it takes about 10 hours but on the way there it took 12 and on the way back 13. I took the night bus so I slept through a good part of it. Right now I am back in Jakarta. I am still trying to find a church to go to here. Thanks for your prayers and support.

James

Boarding House

Praise God! I found a boarding house that I liked and I moved into it yesterday. It is 15 minutes away from my co-workers house. It is also close to a mall and a store called Carfour (It is like Fred Meyer or Wall Mart). All my roommates work there. I have only met two of my 7 roommates. It is the weekend so a lot of them go to their home towns for the weekend. My room has AC which is nice because it is hotter here in Jakarta then in Salatiga. (Salatiga is at a higher altitude so the weather there is nicer.)

Thank you for all your prayers. Right now I am looking for a church to go to and get involved in. Please pray I will find a good church to go to .

James

I am safe

I live a little under an hour from where the bombings took place so I was nowhere near the bombings. I live in a low profile area so I am in a safe place. It is ok for me to go outside and walk around because most Indonesians are very upset about the bombings. The Indonesian government does not tolerate terrorist and neither do most of the people here. It is very safe for me to go to stores and other places. I just want to make sure everyone understand that I am doing well and that I am safe here in Indonesia.

James

Arrived in Jakarta

I arrived in Jakarta last night and right now I am staying at the guesthouse. I am planing on moving to a boarding house sometime soon. I have a lot of time to search for a good boardinghouse so I am in no hurry. Today I searched and found some possibilities. I went to 15 different places and only about 5 of them had rooms available. 2 of those 5 I thought were good options but I am still going to some more searching. Please pray for wisdom in choosing a boarding house. Thank you so much for your prayers.

James

Mary Grace

I have not posted many pictures of Mary Grace yet so here some pictures of the both of us together at a church retreat

This was in front of the retreat center

Here is a picture of just grace at the same spot.

Jakarta

I am sorry I sent out an e-mail update about my decision to go to Jakarta but forgot to post about it. I am going to Jakarta this Sunday (July 12). Please pray for a safe trip and for my transition from a small city to a big one. The Indonesian they use there is a little different then they use here in Salatiga so it well take me a few months to get used to that. For right now I am going to be staying at the guest house but I will be looking for a boarding house to stay at. Please pray that I will be able find quickly and one that is close to where I will be working.

Jakarta

Right now I am Jakarta to visit to see about having a possible ministry in Jakarta for a year. Please pray for me as I need to make a decision about my future ministry for the next year in the next month. I will give an update when I get back to Salatiga. I will be through studying Indonesian in June and then I will have an evaluation to see if I need to study more before I move on.

Thanks

James

Birthday

February 18th was my birthday. There are a lot of differences between the way you celebrate your birthday in US and in Indonesia. The biggest one is that if it is your birthday you should have all your friends over for dinner or take them out to dinner. So I took a bunch of my friends out to dinner on my birthday.

This is a picture of me and my friends at a
restaurant. Mary Grace took the picture so
she is not in it.

Usually you do not receive any presents on your birthday and usually you don't eat cake either. There are Indonesians that do give presents and eat cake but that is American culture. My friends did give me some presents but I had to wait to open them when I got home. They also bought me a cake. I was surprised that they bought me some presents and a cake.

This is a picture of the cake. You can see
that I turned 25 because of the canddles

This Saturday is Indah's birthday so she will get to buy us (her friends) dinner this Saturday. Mary Grace was not in any of the pictures above because she was taking most the pictures but here one of the two of us together.

My first trip to a tribe

My first trip into a tribe was a good one. I took a plane to Manado and then took a a 2 day boat ride on a ferry to a small town. After that I took a 3 hour canoe ride (the canoe had an outboard motor) to the Island were the Tribal people a live. From there it was a 2 hour hike to where the village. By the time we got there it was about 7 o'clock so it was already dark. (it usually gets dark at 6 in Indonesia). The trail was really muddy and slippery. Eventually my sandals kept getting stuck in the mud so I took them off and went barefoot, which was ok until the trail started to get rocky. I kept my sandals off because they were really muddy. Wwhen we got there the people sang a welcome song which is there custom for when they have special visitors. Most of the people there to greet us were christian so they sang a christian welcome song that they had written. After that I went to the missionaries house and ate dinner and then went to bed.

(Tribal People singing their welcome song to us)

We rested for one day and then went to a tribal church service at a village about 55 minutes away. (by foot) There we got to hear worship songs that the tribal people wrote. The songs sounded beautiful. Ben and I (Ben is the guy in blue shorts in the picture above) gave our testimony in Indonesian and then the missionary there translated it into Taliabo.

(Picture of the church service we attended)

For the next 5 days we met some some of the believers in the other village where the missionary lived.

(guy who used to be a shaman)

One of the guys we met used to be a shaman. After he became a Christian people from other villages came and tried to buy his fetishes because he was considered a powerful shaman. He did not want sell them so he took them all out and burned them. He wanted show everyone that he believed that those items had no power and no worth. He is the only guy in the village that still wears a loin cloth. In the picture above he is also wearing a sarung which is usually worn like a skirt.

We spent a total of 7 days in the tribe. We took a different trail out of the tribe that was a little longer but not as muddy. On our way out we crossed a river and also walked on a log to cross a small creek. We made it back home safely. It was a great trip. I enjoyed seeing a tribal work where there was already church. There is only one missionary couple in there right now and need partners to help prepare lessons and discipleship.

The Malukus

I am taking a trip to a tribal group in the Maluku area in Indonesia. I am excited to go into a tribe and see what it is like there. There are already believers there and am excited to see the church and what it is like to be in a tribe.

(click on map to see bigger picture)

I will be starting the trip from Salatiga (Central Java) where I live and then fly to Jakarta after that I will fly to Manado (North Suluwesi) and then take a boat to the island where the Taliabo live. Please pray for safe travel especially for the boat ride because the ocean is very rough right now.