December 2, 2005

Hi everyone,

This will be my last big email to everyone. So I want to start out by saying tremikasi banyak, hater nuhun pisang, thank you so much for your prayers, letters, packages, and all your support. Nicole and I have had an amazing experience here and its going to be hard to leave. Bandung has become so familiar and like home to us. It's strange to think that in a few days we will be back in America and not here anymore. I am going to miss the city and the people a lot. it is especially hard to think that my best friends here don't know J and that I am going to leave them not knowing if they will ever find him. But I give it up to my Father's hands and I am trusting that He will continue to work here and will continue to draw them to himself.

Well, just an update on some of the things that have been going on recently. We visited a friend and her students that she teaches, we went hiking again, went to the beach, and had a going away party.

Friend's House

We went to D's house the other day, she wanted to have a little going away party for us with her students. She teaches kids ages 4-6 English in her home. We had a good time, Nicole had the opportunity to visit her house a few weeks ago, but I wasn't able to go then. So I was very excited about seeing her house and just spending the day with her and another friend L. I love visiting peoples homes and seeing where they live and their neighborhoods and family. her kids sang songs for us, then Nicole read them a book and I taught them the song You Are My Sunshine. It was good times.

Hiking

We got to go hiking in the mountains again, it was just as beautiful as it was when we went several months ago. This time we went with a lot smaller group, only ten people, so we were able to get to the top a lot faster. It took us 1 hour instead of 2. Funny story, one guy that was with us, some how his pants ripped at the seam on the inside of his leg, so he took one of the girl's sweaters and had to tie it around his waist to cover the front of his pants. The sweater was bright pink and he was dressed in a black shirt and camo pants, so it was pretty funny looking. He was being pretty funny about it, saying "no peeking".  OK, so it was funnier when we were there than it sounds when I type it out. ngomong ngomong...

Concert

We got the opportunity to see our friend's band in concert. He is a pretty cool guy, he speaks English with a British accent. He is in a techno band that is part of the underground music scene. They were the first band out of about 10 at the concert, we stayed and watched about 6 bands. It was really cool to see the punk rocker underground music scene. They had all sorts of music. They had techno, reggae, punk rock, hip hop, hard rock, just about any genre you can think of but pop or boy band stuff; that's too mainstream for these guys. We were the only white people and I could count the number of veiled girls on one hand. Besides church, that was the smallest number of veiled girls I've ever seen here.

Going Away Party

Last Tuesday the Center had a going away party for us. It was great to see so many people come to see us. It was really sweet to hear some of the things people were saying, I am going to miss them so much. We got to see some friends that haven't been around in a while and just had a lot of funny goofing off and singing. it was a great time.

Beach

We went to the beach Thursday and Friday, at Pagadaran, or Ocean Queen. There is a legend that a some how a queen lives in a castle at the bottom of the sea at this beach, and she likes the color green, so if you wear green in the water she will grab you and take you to her under water castle. So no one is supposed to wear green, or say bad words or anything like that or she will take you. It is kind of a dangerous beach, it can have a strong under current and people have died there because of it. My friend Hill wasn't wanting to go that deep in the water so I was teasing him about the Sea Queen getting him and he told me to hush and not say that out loud, so I don't know if he really believes the story or if it was kind of like a jinx thing that he was worried about. well anyways none of us got swept away, but we did get to do a lot of swimming. the waves were great, and we rented a boat twice and got to swim off of the boat too. it was a lot of fun. it was great to hang out with friends and to spend time with people at the beach.

Two guys drove a motorcycle there instead of riding on the bus and one of them let me drive his motorcycle, it's a big motorcycle, like the ones common in the states, not like the moped thing that most people here drive. So I was driving it around in the parking lot, and I stopped to talk then was going to start again, and I couldn't get it in 1st gear, so I tried to start it in 2nd.  Well, I didn't give it enough gas so it jerked then died on me and I lost my balance.  His bike is big and heavy so when it started to tip I couldn't hold it up with my short legs, so it fell over and I got a big burn on the side of my leg.  Now I will have a nice scar as a reminder of the beach.   I also fell on the street when we were playing soccer, so I might have a scar from that too. But besides all of that we had a great time swimming, building in the sand, and playing soccer on the beach.  They were good memories with which to leave Indonesia.

Pr_y'r

- T, we are really close and Nic and I got to really share with him the other night.  He knows the truth, but I guess it just doesn't make enough sense for him to believe it.  But we got really close and I just hope that the things that I have told him and the way I lived my life around him will hopefully be a witness to him of the great love and the assurance that we have.

- B and A, they are new believers that have started coming, and they are eager to share.  They are just starting contextual training so lift them up that they will catch on fast, that they will really make good relationships, and have a big influence on the guys here. They have only been coming for a short time, but have really become a part of the group here.

-P, he was the guy that came to all my stories.  We gave him a J film and he watched it, so hopefully it will stick and make sense to him. And new T, he came to some of my stories, but one of our girls shared with him and he said something to the effect that he was scared because he might actually believe it.>

- Our traveling home and saying goodbyes, it's going to be hard.  It's hard for people to say goodbye because a lot of the times no one here ever leaves, and everyone is your best friend. so just lift us up that we will have the right words to say and there won't be any emotional break downs.

OK, well I think that is it for now, thanks again for reading all my stories, and lifting us up.

See you state side,

Alison