Bali and Java

Well, I thought I'd better write down quickly what I thought about my trip before I forgot.

Warning: author is exhausted, therefore the following article may contain mistakes, inaccuracies, misprints, and a few boo-boos.

Well, we arrived safely in Bali on Monday. We spent the afternoon/evening as well as the next day with a friend who had moved away from Timor.

Tuesday Paulo needed to do some shoppping. I needed to as well, but I didn't buy much that day. I mainly used the time to scout out shops I wanted to return to. I didn't want to take the chance of buying something and then finding something better later on.

Wednesday: I went in for the kill, hunting down various gifts for family and friends at different shops. However, buy lunch time, I was worn out and ready to be done. (Shopping can be a very stressful and exhausting activity.) Bali has some very nice place to shops and the people are very kind and gracious. I also found that I like bargaining. On my way back to the hotel, I swung by the beach to get some pictures of the ocean, surfboards, people, etc. A woman was nearby was selling necklaces, bracelets, etc. I took a picture of her. Immediately she started talking to me about buying her things. I didn't feel good about just taking her picture but not buying anything, so I bought two bracelets from her, after we bargained the price down a little.
However, at the end of the day, I felt kind of bad. I have so much money compared to these people. Why should I bargain? Why not just give them the extra cash, even if it is a rip off? I don't know. Just some thoughts that were kicking around inside my head.

Thursday: Friends from church as well as some Portuguese friends of Paulo and Ruth's arrived. Our plan was to go to Java the following day to a village where they take care of sea turtles. A guide takes you at night to the beach where you can watch the sea turtles come in, lay, and bury their eggs.

Friday: We got in our rented vans and drove three or four hours to the ferry. From there, we hopped on the ferry to go to the island of Java. This part of the trip was probably about forty-five minutes. During those forty-five minutes, I discovered that asian karaoke singers have been gifted with voices that sound like cats being strangled. Needless to say, I was not sad to step off the boat.
Our next part of the journey took us traveling down the road by way of two very rugged, tough looking land rovers. They looked like something that you would use on an African safari.

After about four hours of so, we left the paved street behind and hit the dirt road. As we drove further and further, the road became bumpier and bumpier. The pot holes were as plentiful as pimples on a teenager's face. It was a good thing Paulo was a surgeon, as one of my fellow passengers put it, because at the end of the trip, we would need to have our internal organs put back in place.

We drove in the dark for quite some time. At one point, we came to a creek. Both drivers got out. They looked around. Apparently there used to be a bridge, but it had been washed away; "Kaput, kaput," as our driver explained. So, we just drove right through it...and the next one as well.

Well, to tell the truth, I honestly hadn't been expecting this. I don't think the people in my car were expecting this either. When we got to Bali, all I knew was that on Friday we were leaving for Java to go and see some turtles. That was it. So I found this part of the trip somewhat humorous. There was no bridge or raft as there was supposed to be, so we plowed through the water. "All we need is momentum," as another passenger put it. The holes in the road could be more accurately described as craters. I'm not sure how many decades it had been since the suspension had been changed in that vehicle. Anyway, it all seemed rather funny.

We finally arrived at about 7:30ish. We put our things in our rooms. The accommodations were very simple. There were two beds with sheets in my room (it was so hot and humid, you didn't need anything else). The bathroom had a flushable toilette and a small tiled container that was too large to be a sink and too small to be called a tub. This is what the Indonesians (and probably many other Asians) use to shower. You fill up the container with water and use the dipper to pour water over your head. Voila! You have your shower. I discovered I do not like asian bathrooms.

After we ate, we drove and walked to the beach. I must say, it took my breath away. It was gorgeous! The moon was so bright it created shadows as we walked. The sky was mostly clear with the stars shinning and just a smattering of clouds. The waves from the Indian ocean were enormous, white, and smothered in a silvery moonlight. As they crashed against the shore, they created a roaring and thunderous symphony that I almost never get tired of hearing. On either end of the beach were some hills covered in jungle greenery. However, this night, there was fog that smudged the lines, so you couldn't really tell where the beach and ocean stopped and land began. It all looked so beautiful. I fell in love with that beach.

As we walked, we arrived at the right time. The turtle was already there, burying her eggs. It was so special to see this animal doing something you only see on Animal Planet or nature documentaries. Pictures will come in a following post (hopefully). She laid one hundred and one eggs that night. After burying them, she went back to the sea. As she traveled, she left beautiful tracks that would soon be washed away by the tide.

As I watched her, I thought of an object lesson. These turtles always come back to lay their eggs on the very beach that they were born on. They swim all through out the ocean, but how do they know how to get back? How do they know where to go? It's one of nature's amazing mysteries. Here's the lesson: if God can show a turtle where she should go and what she is supposed to do in life, surely He can lead and guide me through the sea of life to where I'm supposed to be, to what I'm supposed to do. An ocean can be a rather daunting and intimidating, but if He can lead a turtle so faithfully, then I know He can and will lead me.

Sabbath: After breakfast and short worship service, we went back to the beach to release fifty baby turtles to the ocean.  It was so precious to watch them squirm and struggle to get to the sea. They all made me think of Squirt in Finding Nemo.The boys really had a fun time with them all.

Sunday: By the time we all got back to Bali, we were very tired. So we ate a late lunch and just hung out. That evening we went out to a delicious Italian restaurant called Il Cielo, which I'm told means, "The heaven" or something similar. We got to eat out on the balcony with the stars for a ceiling. I ordered a vegetarian calzone. What I got was a calzone on steroids. It looked about the size of an elephants toenail. But boy! Was it scumptious!

Monday: This brings us up to the present. I'm very tired, too tired to go through and edit this post. And I have a feeling that if I don't post it now, it's going to be a while before I do. So what you see is what you get. I hope you enjoyed reading about my spring break. All in all, I feel like I've made a hefty deposit in the bank of life experiences.

Contentment

I've been thinking a lot about contentment lately. I guess what got me started was an article I read in a blog a friend recommended to me.

In the post, if you didn't read it, the author was describing how she had decided to photograph her day, taking pictures of what she was doing every couple of hours, for her blog. As she was looking through them at the end of the day, she felt overwhelming grief. She has been living in Tennessee for the past two years (she had moved from Chicago, I believe), but (for the most part) has never felt content. She didn't enjoy having to drive twenty minutes to get anywhere, she missed "the people, the diversity, [and] the energy..." of the city, and wished she could see human beings around her instead of horses and goats. However, as she looked through the photos she had taken throughout the day, she realized how much she had taken for granted and felt great remorse for never appreciating what she had. (I believe) she and her husband will be moving soon and she suddenly realized all that she will be missing. 


As I read her post, I wondered how she could not have been happy with her life these past two years. I confess that as I've been following her blog, I've had to wipe the drool off my keyboard and stop myself from thinking, "She has the perfect life." She has a small crafting business, goes to nursing school, lives in the country, and has the cutest little house. What's not to love? But then the lightbulb switched on. Everyone has something in his or her own life that he or she doesn't like. I've wished I could be in her shoes. However, as she's been walking in those shoes for the past couple of years, they've been giving her blisters. Her heart has been aching to be somewhere else. She misses city life. She hasn't been content. 


Everyone has something. I may not see it. You may not see it. However, no matter how perfect a person's life may appear to be, that something is still there.


Please don't think that I'm realizing all these things for the first time. No, I'm just seeing them in a fresh light. 


As I've continued to cogitate on this subject and related ones, I've realized how we can fool ourselves sometimes. We can trick ourselves into thinking that if that one thing in our lives were gone, we would be happy. "Oh, if I had her life, I would be happy." "If I only had her shoes, then I would be satisfied." "If I only had his job, then I would be content." If only... 


I'll admit that there have been (many) times when I thought, "If only I were back home, then everything would be better." "If I had her life, then I would be content." I wouldn't have all these problems and I would be happy. But then I have to stop myself and remember that those thoughts are not true. If I were to go back home, I might not experience the problems I do here, but there would be other things. If I had her life, there would be some thorn in the side. (I'm sure attending nursing school would definitely present a challenge.) No matter where you go in life, or what you do, you're never going to find the perfect life. Some of us, however, focus so much on those "If only..." thoughts that we fail to realize that God has already supplied the means for us to be happy and laid them at our feet. 


So, instead of wasting our time chasing a life that will never become a reality, we should appreciate the good God has already poured out on us. And we will find contentment. 


The woman concluded her post by saying, "But as hard as I've tried to point out the things I adore about living here [Tennessee] on this blog (and there are many things that I do), my heart has not been content for so long. And I want that to change. We may not live here for much longer, who knows. But I can live differently for however long it is. So however much longer I live in this house, you can bet I'm going to soak it up. Every drop" (emphasis supplied).


This last part inspired me. Instead of wasting my time wishing things were different or I were somewhere else, I want to soak up everything I can. Every single drop, as she says. I'm probably never going to live in East Timor again. I'm probably never going to have geckos crawling up the walls of my room. I'm probably never going to be able to swim in an ocean that is the temperature of bath water. I'm probably never going to have my character grow as much as it has while I've been teaching this little boy. I'm probably never going to be able to sit right on the ocean's edge, drink mango juice, and watch the sun set. I'm probably not going to drive in this type of traffic any time soon or sweat this much when I spend seventeen minutes outside (at least I hope not). Yes, there are many things that trouble and discourage me. But that will happen everywhere. And I'm never going to have this experience again. So, Lord, I pray You would help me to soak it up. 


 Dear Jesus,
You know my heart. You know the longings and desires I have. Help me to trust You to fulfill them in Your own good time. 
Meanwhile, let me not waste my time thinking that if I only had that "thing," I would be happy. Help me to the live my life to the fullest by absorbing every single drop of goodness You've poured out on me. I tend to become bogged down with the everyday problems of life, gaze over the fence, and think the grass is greener. Let me realize that You've already placed me in just the right pasture for me. 
So help me to soak it up, Lord. 
In Your name I pray, 
Amen

More Pictures

 On the other side of town (opposite of the side where they have the humongous statue of Jesus ironically) is a giant statue of one of the popes; I don't remember which one. This picture was taken either on the way there or at the top, where they have the statue.

 We were singing some songs when all these nuns came out, sat down on the steps of the statue, and began singing to Mary. The sun was setting and it was all very beautiful.

These pictures were taken back in January. However, since this blog has really been lacking in pictures for the past months, I decided to put them up anyway. The first ones are on our way to the statue of the Pope. It's up on a hill, next to a church. It's quite beautiful to walk up there. We went up on a Sabbath evening and sang songs and just relaxed as the sun set. I hope you enjoy the photos.

This is a Test

Americans from the church.

Right before I realized I wasn't welcome in the photo.

They are just so cute!

Crazy kids...

I like this one.

Well, I'm feeling giddy with excitement. This post was just a test to see if I actually succeeded in downsizing my pictures and I did! Now I can upload them a bzillion times faster! I'm so thankful for friends and family (Jerick Arceo) who are knowledgeable in the ways of technology. I'm learning from them little by little. 

Hopefully, I'll be sharing many more photos with you in the future. By the way, these photos are not in chronological order and mostly unedited. Hope you enjoy them!

The Timorese Kids and I

I've been pretty lazy with my photography lately. So this last weekend, when someone suggested we go to the beach to watch the sunset, I decided to bring my camera and take some pictures. I need something to show my family when I get home. 

The beach we went to is called Comoro Beach. It's really beautiful! When I first arrived here in Timor, we went there to swim. My brain was thoroughly flummoxed. I'm used to swimming in Canadian lakes and the Pacific ocean, not a bathtub-temperature ocean with a palm tree backdrop. It took a while to get used to. 

During this last Sabbath evening we were there, a nice breeze was blowing and a bunch of locals were playing soccer and providing some good subject material. 

Our group consisted of an American family from church, the family I live with, and of course, myself. While we were hanging out, the four local children in the pictures above came running on the beach. I saw them and started to take some pictures. I really love taking pictures of the kids/people here (I just need to do it more often!). The children are so precious! They laughed as my shutter went click, click, click. The mother of my student recently bought the Canon 60D. So she was also snapping away. She asked me if I would like a picture with the children. I'd been realizing lately how I didn't really have many pictures of myself here, so I enthusiastically agreed. I plopped down next to the kids and grinned. However, as you can see in the pictures above, it only took a second for the little boy next to me to decide he was too close for comfort. I found this hilarious (and so did all of my friends) and I absolutely love the photos I was able to get! I laughed as Ruth snapped away. (I'm sorry I don't have more pictures. It takes a long time to upload them, hence, there is only a few. Come and find me when I'm back in the states if you would like to see more.) I love these pictures because they have a story behind them and they have character. I hope you enjoy them as well. 

I've been wanting to blog more. God's been teaching me many things. I'm learning so much that sometimes it feels as though my brain needs to pee. I know that's a really disgusting simile, but to be honest, it describes perfectly how I feel sometimes. All these wonderful ideas of things I could write about come to me (usually at the most inconvenient times, like right when I need to go to bed) and fill up my mind. As my brain is brimming, an urgent signal is sent out, telling me that I need to pull the plug and drain some of these ideas out (although usually only one turns out really well). I need to write. It's kind of like that, "Gotta go!" feeling. 

Well, I'll quit grossing you out. Hopefully I'll be able to drain my mind again soon. 

The Struggle

Right now my mind is full. I feel like it contains at least a couple of blog posts. So I'm apologizing beforehand. If this post seems rather scatterbrained or confusing, I'm sorry. I just had to share what I've been thinking about in the last while.

This week has been hard. It's felt somewhat similar to a roller coaster, emotionally speaking. A not-very-fun roller coaster. Little things have really bugged me. I've cried and then wondered why I'm crying.

However, today I received a good reminder to hold on and trust God. After Sabbath lunch, I took a nap. When I got up I was still feeling somewhat crabby. I sat on my cute, little couch and opened my email. In my inbox I saw an invitation to follow a blog: www.seannebblett.com
I opened up the link and started reading the different posts. Then one caught my attention. The author was describing how he was running and felt as if he was about to die. He was listening to an audio book as he ran. Right at the moment he felt like he was about to croak, he heard this quote, "Those who decline the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory" (Help in Daily Living, pg. 28). He wrote how those words "the girl" read gave him courage to run just a little faster. He had linked the words, "the girl" to a website. I clicked on the words and what do you know? I end up at my own blog! At the end of the post he had written, "Thanks Allie." Turns out he had was listening to the audiobook that comes with Fountainview Academy's latest filming production, Help in Daily Living, (find it at www.fountainofmusic.com) which happens to be read by yours truly.

When I read his post, those words were such a good reminder to me. "Those who decline the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory." This week was a struggle for me. It was a struggle to not let my emotions dictate my behavior. I didn't always succeed. Homesickness has been a struggle. Certain languages were beginning to get on my nerves. Certain people were getting to me. I don't know why it was this week. Nothing really new happened. I mean, things were as they normally are. I knew I had so much to be thankful for. I really did.  But it was just a really strong battle against my emotions. It was one of those times where you know in your head that you should be thankful, and you are, but your emotions are like a little, bratty child that refuses to cooperate. You just want to be crabby sometimes.
But as I read those words, it helped to remind me that I need to hang on. So, since I was refreshed by that one little quote, I decided to haul out my own copy of HDL and listen to the audiobook for the first time. I don't know that I've actually listened to it since it was recorded. Today I listened to the first twenty or so pages and was so blessed! It was what I needed.

Here's some of the quotes that spoke to me.

"To live such a life [the life of a loving and lovable christian], to exert such an influence, costs at every step effort, self-sacrifice, discipline. It is because they do not understand this that many are so easily discouraged in the Christian life. Many who sincerely consecrate their lives to God’s service are surprised and disappointed to find themselves, as never before, confronted by obstacles and beset by trials and perplexities. They pray for Christlikeness of character, for a fitness for the Lord’s work, and they are placed in circumstances that seem to call forth all the evil of their nature. Faults are revealed of which they did not even suspect the existence. Like Israel of old they question, “If God is leading us, why do all these things come upon us?” 

It is because God is leading them that these things come upon them. Trials and obstacles are the Lord’s chosen methods of discipline and His appointed conditions of success...

In His providence He brings these persons into different positions and varied circumstances that they may discover in their character the defects which have been concealed from their own knowledge. He gives them opportunity to correct these defects and to fit themselves for His service. Often He permits the fires of affliction to assail them that they may be purified...

In the full light of day, and in hearing of the music of other voices, the caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and entire melody. But the master covers the cage, and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In the dark, he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought forth, and ever after he can sing that song in the light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a song to teach us, and when we have learned it amid the shadows of affliction we can sing it ever afterward" --Help in Daily Living, pg. 8-10. 

OK, I know those were really long, but that's not much considering I listened to twenty pages. I'm sure whoever actually takes the time to read this entire post is going to be old and grey by the time they finish. 

That last part of the quote that is in bold is especially meaningful to me. I may write a separate post on that one specifically or something closely related. But it really means a lot. What's also really cool is that before I left to come here, my prayer journal was getting close to being finished. So I knew I would need to buy a new one for my stay here. I bought one and it has two birds in cages on the front. I wasn't even thinking about this quote when I bought it though. God knew something small and simple like that would be special to me later on. 

I kind of consider myself a wimp. I don't like struggling. I don't like pain. I try to avoid it. However, if I avoid it, I will lose the strength and joy of the victory. This quote challenges me to hang on. I need to keep trusting God. He's going to make this totally worth it in the end! 

Things are sometimes tough (or so our emotions tell us), but it's like the quote says. Everything seems so hard, but it's because God is with me that these things are happening to me. He's teaching me to sing His song. I just pray that He'll help me to have the strength to hang in there and learn it. 

That's the hardest part. It's the process, the waiting part, the learning part that is so difficult to get through. Sometimes I just want to scream and yell and throw a fit like a little kid. But He has promised that His grace is sufficient for me. His strength is perfect in this weak wimpiness of mine. See 2 Corinthians 12:9. I'm trusting that He will get me through this. Pray that I will receive the strength and joy of victory.  


Oh, yeah. One more thing. Thank you Sean. Thank you for the reminder. 

View from Cristo Rei--Happy Sabbath!

There is a giant statue of Jesus set on a hill, at one end of Dili, called Cristo Rei. Translation: "King Jesus." In order to get to it, you have to walk up a whole lot of steps. It's good exercise though. I've been up it a couple of times. On one of my treks up, I took this picture. Something simple to share for Sabbath. Happy Sabbath!