John and Anna Weeks YOUR link to tribal missions …A Friend’s Passing and other January 09 News
Well, this has been a busy two weeks since our last update. It’s good to all be healthy once again and back in a routine. Anna got the kids back into the swing of home schooling 2 weeks ago. Paula has started JV basketball and is really enjoying that. She also has had more missions’ trip opportunities come up and rather than go on the same one she’s gone on the past couple of years, she will be opting for a different trip. She’s been invited to help with childcare at a regional conference on a different island here in Indonesia. She will be helping lead games, teaching and perhaps doing some babysitting in this other region. Then I will be coming to the same region to do a “tribal team kick-off” in helping two tribal teams get off to a good start. Please pray as I prepare lessons, schedules and Power Points for this.
This past week was a long, hard week. Over the past three years we’ve built a relationship with an Indonesian family in our favorite beach area. Grace, our second daughter had originally befriended their son who’s a local surfer and the same age as Grace. 
Then through him, we befriended his family who runs a little beachside “young coconut drink” stand in front of their simple home as well as managing a local fishing boat. Over the years we’ve enjoyed bar-b-cued fish together, boat rides out on the Indian Ocean and lots of visiting. A couple of weeks ago, the mother, came down with Dengue Fever and was admitted to a local hospital, then eventually transferred to a hospital two hours away in a bigger city. Pak Hasyim the husband called us and we went to visit her in the hospital two hours away from us in the big city. She was not conscious and not doing well. While we were there, they transferred her to an even bigger hospital in a bigger city. We joined them at the next hospital where we were again able to pray for her as well as help with hospital bills. Well, just one day after getting back home, we got a call from Hasyim that his wife had passed away at only 37 years of age, leaving him and their three children, 15, 13, and 10 years old. 
Please pray for them as they all adjust to life without Ibu (mother) and that God would reveal himself to them and help them through this time. The day after she passed away, we drove the four hours to their little beach town to sit with them and visit and encourage them along with other friends and relatives. Please pray as we share Christ’s love for them as they do not yet know Him personally as their Savior. They plan to come visit us and stay with us for a couple days later this month. Go to our Photo tab under "In Memorandum; Ibu’s Family" to see more picture of their family.
Please continue to pray with us about future plans for our family as we weigh all the options with Katie’s graduation coming up. Katie also has some medical needs we’d like you to pray about as we search for the appropriate doctor which most likely means a trip to Jakarta or even Singapore. I also have some medical issues so will possibly combine a trip with Katie.
In summary, please pray for the following needs:
1. Finances for Paula’s upcoming missions trip as well as possible medical trips for Katie and me.
2. For our medical issues to be resolved.
3. For Pak Hasyim and his three children as they grieve the passing of Ibu Hasyim. For us to be able to share God’s love to them.
4. For wisdom in helping Katie pursue options/opportunities here or back at home for after she graduates from high school this year!
5. For enthusiasm in our ministry as co-workers come and go (either on furlough or onto other ministries) and the constant transition gets rather wearisome!
…Survived the Season of Sickness…
Well, we made it through the “Sick Season” which happened to coincide with Christmas and New Years! Thanks for praying for us as we jumped from Grace’s motorcycle accident and subsequent concussion, to Anna’s Dengue Fever, to John’s Strep Throat all during the busy holiday season!
We still managed to enjoy “stretches” of the Holidays including a “get-away” to Jakarta for 2 days by train (actually relaxing), a Christmas morning breakfast of eggs and strawberry waffles, 
enjoying a couple Christmas packages from home and the presents and pictures inside, and a trip to the beach with friends and playing board games in the evenings.
Please go to our Photo’s page on this website under "Christmas 08" to see more Christmas pics of the family.
To see pictures of our trip to the beach on New Year’s Day, please go to our Photo’s page "For New Year’s 09 to the Beach!" Anna along with three of our kids left with our friends on New Year’s Eve afternoon and I waited to leave until New Year’s Day because Paula wanted to go to a friend’s New Year’s Eve party, but then Paula decided to stay back home with her pets and friends. 
Yes, it was a lonely motorbike ride there, but therapeutic as I always say.
During the Holidays, we continued to welcome and orientate our 6 new missionaries to the field. John also continued to take them on language and culture excursions such as trips to the Post Office, bus station, hospital, auto and motorbike mechanics shops, the market, a seamstress/tailor shop, how to entertain guests and be received as a guest, how to wash clothes, cooking fried rice and a trip to the rice fields. To see more pictures of our excursion to the rice fields, go to our Photo’s page to the folder "Excursion to the Rice Fields." 
I am still looking forward to some of my favorite excursions to the coffee plantations and rubber tree plantations! Those are in the next couple of weeks!
Please continue to pray with us concerning our family, especially our two oldest daughters as we look at the best options for their futures. They are having a difficult time over here now and really could use your prayers. We too could use your prayers as we seek the Lord for His wisdom in this and that Anna and I would draw close and be “on the same page,” that is, in God’s will in this. We’ve made some mistakes as earthly parents and over-prioritized ministry over the well-being of our children and really need to draw back and look to the Lord for guidance.
Thanks again for your faithful support of our ministry and for your faithful prayers and interest in what’s happening over here in Indonesia. Please pray too for our safety and well-being as most of the world does not look to kindly on Americans these days, especially with the current conflict in the Middle East.
Looking for our Lord’s soon return,
In this together,
John for Anna Marie, Katie, Grace, Paula and Kurt
Dengue Fever Meets Strep Throat…
Dear Praying Friends,
I had always heard the general rule of thumb, both parents never get sick at the same time. Could you imagine what things would be like in a world where that was allowed to happen?
Well, just 7 days ago it happened…and continues to happen even as I write! About 10 days ago Anna Marie became very exhausted and run down with a high fever too. We later learned that she is suffering from Dengue Fever. Just 7 days ago after returning from Jakarta, I came down with chills, fever and a terrible sore throat. Mine was diagnosed as strep throat, something I’ve heard about, especially with kids, but have never experienced.
Praise the Lord that the kids have remained healthy. Kurt got a fever and sore throat, but he took a three-hour afternoon nap and jumped up doing karate or something, full of energy! KIDS! I wish we adults would heal up more quickly!
Grace continues to heal. Her foot and her scalp wound both became infected so she is sharing antibiotics with dad. She still hasn’t gotten back on the motorbike, which incidentally only suffered a broken tail light and cracked headlight mount, ya, Japanese built.
What a way to approach the holidays! Please pray for us to continue to heal and that we’d somehow be able to get into the holiday spirit! There will be more Christmas activities to attend with our local churches and friends. We do look forward to all of this, but just a bit apprehensibly as we wait on the Lord’s timing in getting better. Please pray also that the kids have an enjoyable Christmas. Last year was our first Christmas in the past 10 Christmas’s to spend it celebrating with family! So we now begin the next "drought" celebrating Christmas without family. Please pray that we’d look to Jesus as our true meaning to celebrate!
Thanks for taking the time to pray,
Grateful,
John for Anna, Katie, Grace, Paula and Kurt
Pray For Our Daughter Grace After Motorbike Accident
Dear Friends,
Please be praying for our second daughter Grace as she recovers from a concussion after a motorbike accident. She was driving the motorbike last night with her older sister Katie on the back. They had left the house wearing helmets, but then took them off while riding on backroads. 
They were making a 90-degree turn and hit loose gravel on the pavement and the bike slid out from under them. Katie was not hurt, but Grace was knocked unconscious for a few minutes. Their Indonesian friends rushed them to a local hospital wear the doctors just bandaged her up. When they got home Grace was still bleeding from her head wound and had injured her shoulder and foot which was bloodied too.
Grace kept asking the same questions over and over again like, "Is all my hair gone?" and she was experiencing short-term memory loss. Our other daughter Paula was having a sleepover and Kurt was already in bed so I stayed with the younger kids while Anna drove Katie and Grace an hour away to a bigger city and bigger hospital. The roads were clear and Anna made it in a half-hour! They immediately got Grace into emergency and stitched her head wound and then did a cat-scan. They did not find blood on the brain and after spending the night at the hospital they returned this afternoon.
We celebrated Thanksgiving Day late here on Sunday with some friends and enjoyed turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, casserole, and pies the girls had made. The girls started a pie business a couple weeks ago so have been busy baking and selling pies! They made my favorites pumpkin and pecan pie yesterday before the accident in anticipation of our late Thanksgiving. We can’t get pecans here but had received them in a care package! The turkey we ordered in advance!
Please keep praying for Grace as she recovers and still experiences some nausea and short-term memory loss; it seems to be getting better though. Please pray for a full-recovery.
Weeks’s Wafflings or Thanksgiving Update
WEEKS’S WAFFLINGS
Well, a lot has happened since I first sat down to write this update two months ago! I started to write about Ramadan, the big holy month of fasting and then we finished that! Then I added a section to pray for the upcoming elections and that too has passed! Is that a praise now or still a prayer request or …etc.? I guess that depends on who you voted for! Somewhere in there my computer crashed and had to be carried on a stretcher to the local computer doctor. During that time, “The Dark Weeks,” I did little correspondence or working on computer-type projects; I guess my eyes were able to rest up during that spell…a blessing in disguise? Well, at any rate I’ve cut and pasted and deleted certain portions of this “long-lost chronicle” to try to best update you on the Weeks’ family in Indonesia the past couple of months!
I tried to come up with an ingenious title to my ramblings so I turned to Roget’s Thesaurus, something I haven’t used since high school and even then, very sparingly! I looked up words to do with delay, or procrastination that began with “W” for “Weeks” or “J” for “John” such as in “John’s Journal” but none of the synonyms began with those letters? I also became increasingly depressed as I waded through Roget’s Thesaurus coming across words such as Lateness, Retardation, Tardiness, Slowness, Postponement, Prolongation, Respite, Suspension, Dawdle, Bide, Dally, Tarry, Loiter, Hang Fire (?), Linger, Put Off, Stave Off, Retard, Lay on the Table, Shelve, Stall, Temporize, Leisurely, Unpunctual, Overdue, Posthumous (I hope not!), At the eleventh hour, Late, Behind Time, At Last, Draw Out, Apathy, Negligence, Slovenliness, Slacker, Postpone, Pigeonhole, Push Aside, Throw into the Background, Ignore, Heedless, Remiss, Perfunctory, Supine, Abandoned, Procrastination and several other words I didn’t understand…I know, I need to subscribe to Reader’s Digest and read the “It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power” section. It’s funny that “procrastinate” is under verbs as in “action words” as I usually think of “to procrastinate” as in the “lack of action” sense!
Another Ramadan…
Well, another Ramadan has come and gone! This is the big holy month of fasting for the predominant religion here in Indonesia. It’s kind of like Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled up into one as even though most people are fasting during the day, they party and visit relatives after dark! 
The timing is based on the lunar or Javanese calendar, so varies each year. Our first year back in 2003 this fell close to Thanksgiving, but this year was September 2nd – October 1st. During this month of fasting, most Indonesians who participate abstain from eating during the daylight hours as well as abstaining from smoking and marital shows of affection during the daytime hours. Then after dark, all the food stalls are crazy busy ‘till late at night. Then at around 3 a.m. is the “sayur” or call to get up and eat a breakfast to gain strength for the day, then off to morning prayers and facing the next day of fasting. Then the last two days of the fast are the Idul Fitri holidays, the time of victory for those who endured the month of fasting. Those fasting have fulfilled one of the five tenants of this predominant religion, the other four being belief in one God, praying five times a day, giving alms to the poor and doing good deeds, and going to Mecca if one is able. This is also a month of being cleansed from the past year’s sins. It’s also a time when Indonesians “mudik” or “travel upstream” to go home and visit family. Jakarta clears out as much of its workforce heads home to other cities and villages across Java and Indonesia. The roads get very busy towards the end of Ramadan until a week or two afterwards. Things began quieting down around here mid-October.
We enjoyed visiting with our Indonesian friends and helpers and their families during these two days of Idul Fitri. 
It was the fifth time we had holiday meals with two of these Indonesian families with whom we are close friends (we missed 2007 since we were home during Ramadan.) It is also a time where we can give gifts to our friends of this other religion. It is the custom here that when your Indonesian friends invite you for a meal, they serve you and visit with you while you eat, but they do not eat with you! This is a very awkward time for us as we would never do that in our home culture! We have to remind ourselves “When in Rome, do as the Romans” or as Indonesians say, “When you enter the goat’s barn, make a goat’s noise; when you enter the cow’s barn, make a cow’s noise!”
Other interesting facets of this holy month of fasting include, higher prices all over town including food as well as gas and transportation, curtains over food stalls for people eating during the day so they won’t bother those that are fasting, more beggars out in force as those who give alms during this time receive a “double blessing,” more theft, more night-time visiting and eating, heavier traffic during the Idul Fitri time, and a heightened sense of religion.
With Christmas coming up, we will prepare to receive our neighbors at our house to reciprocate with food, tea, coffee and other snackies. Usually our neighbors and friends will begin coming over to “mampir” or “singgah” or “drop in for a visit” a couple days before Christmas until a couple days after Christmas. The “shoe will be on the other foot” and we will offer our friends food to eat while we visit with them and don’t eat! We will also go visit our Christian friends and take food gifts and other gifts to them.
To the Beach…
Since we didn’t travel away during the Idul Fitri Holidays, we chose to take some time a couple of weekends ago and drove to a small beach town on the Indian Ocean in East Java for a four-day weekend. I rode my motorbike as usual with Kurt while Anna drove the girls in the van; it’s about a four-hour drive away. We went with another family and enjoyed the quietness of the little beach/fishing town along with playing games, playing in the ocean, visiting with our Indonesian friends who run a “young coconut drink stand,” and enjoying freshly bar-b-qued tuna and other fish. Our Indonesian friends also manage an old boat that their Captain friend takes out for five-day fishing trips. They bar-b-que the freshly-caught fish right in front of us and we all eat together! What a feast! Anna even taught some local Indonesian friends how to play one of our favorite board games Settlers of Cataan. The cost of a 2-person beach bungalow with no a/c, just $7.50 per night! Yes, come join us! 
Another Outreach Trip for Paula…
Paula was recently invited to go on another “outreach” trip to a neighboring island. 
She had to wear a head-covering to blend in and show respect to the people and she was able to teach English and do “fun and games” with the local boys and girls. She came back excited about this, another opportunity to minister here in Indonesia.
The Other Kids…
We have been praying about things for Katie and Grace to do to keep from being so bored. Since they are not in the international school, they are not included and oftentimes not allowed to do certain school activities. The hardest blow was not being able to join the basketball team for the past two years after starting and playing Girl’s Varsity! They do “hang out” with local Indonesian teens, though, which is both a good thing and also has its downside, i.e. hanging out at night! 
However, after prompting from a coworker and Anna Marie, they are starting a “Pie Business.” That’s right, they take pie orders and bake them for sale! The business is just starting out and they are trying different recipes while Anna investigates legalities. There is also a carnival at the international school December 5th and they will have a booth to sell pies and advertise their new business! Please pray that the business will flourish and that they will learn about businesses and economics through the process! The girls also continue to play guitar and Katie writes more songs after home schooling.
Kurt continues to skate board, although he just sprained his foot so is “laid up.” Please pray for a quick recovery as he tends to “worry” bout how long it will take to heal, is it permanent, …etc. I am also taking opportunities to teach him basketball as he is interested and he joins me for exercise swimming twice a week at a local pool. Paula continues to enjoy all sorts of friends all ages as well as her animals which include her big dog, cat and 2 new kittens, rabbits, a monkey (yes, a real monkey!), hamsters and other various critters. She is often found sleeping with the dog, cat and monkey all in perfect harmony!
Elections and the Economy…
We felt so distant during our recent U.S. elections, but were able to follow much on the CNN news. Here, most Indonesians like Obama because he spent part of his early growing-up years in Jakarta and they associate with his middle name Hussein. So since Obama won, the climate here is peaceful as most all Indonesians were happy with the election results!
Thank you so much for your faithfulness in supporting us through the years. Even in hard financial times, most of you are staying true to your commitment to support us and we are so grateful and know that God will continue to bless you for your sacrifices. We recently lost support from one of our faithful churches as they face economic difficulties and are cutting back financially in various areas.
Prayer Requests:
1. For our new president and government in this transition time. That there would be a movement in our government to look to God for wisdom and include God in decisions.
2. For wisdom in raising teenage daughters. That they would find productive activities to keep them busy. Not being in the international school makes it difficult in this area. For their pie business that it would flourish.
3. For direction for Katie who graduates from high school home schooling May of next year. We are looking into options for her to study here at the local Indonesian university for her first year.
4. For strength and wisdom for Anna Marie as she home schools all four children.
5. For finances for Paula to attend the international school after Christmas break.
6. Wisdom for John as he encourages our new missionaries to learn Indonesian and helps those that are struggling.
7. For relationships with our Indonesian friends and ministry opportunities.
8. For finances for a new computer as our desktop computer is failing! We are looking to replace it with a laptop as John travels a lot and uses it for culture and language filing as he teaches our families.
Praises:
1. For new families still being granted visas to come here. We are welcoming 6 new missionaries (one couple and four single girls) this week!
2. For generally good health. My eyesight has been good and I’ve enjoyed bicycling and swimming for exercise. We’d like to get to Jakarta during Christmas break and hopefully Anna can get a physical and doctor appointment. Paula and possibly Grace may have to get braces as well.
3. For faithful people praying and giving.
4. For God’s provisions in Paula’s recent ministry trip.
5. For the privilege of serving God overseas.
6. For email and the ease of communicating with friends and relatives and family back home!
7. Anna has recently joined Face Book on the Internet and is reconnecting with lots of old friends! This has made correspondence easier for her!
8. Being in a country where we can do outdoors activities year-round! This has been good for John’s eyes and health as he must exercise to maintain health and our area is great for bicycling, swimming, hiking and other healthy pursuits! Come on over and climb a volcano with us!
We have so much to be thankful for! Thanks again for putting up with us and our slow correspondence, for your prayers, for your support and interest in our lives. Please drop us a line and let us know how you’re doing!
Web Page: http://www.ntm.org/john-weeks/
Be sure to check out our other photo albums!
…Our Summer of 2008 and other…
Dear Praying friends,
You’re probably wondering if we’re still alive and kicking here in Indonesia! So sorry for the long delay in corresponding with you all! Since we arrived back in Indonesia in January, we have taken part in welcoming and training 12 new families to our field. The Lord has been so good in providing visas for all of these families! Keep praying for open doors to Indonesia as this has not always been the case!
I had the start of the Olympics marked on my calendar for over a month only to find out that they weren’t going to be showing the Olympics where we live! I missed the whole thing, only able to track the events (no pun intended) through the Internet. If any of you taped parts of the Olympics, namely basketball and swimming, I’d love to get a copy!
After last year’s six-month home assignment, we’ve been back in Indonesia 8 months already! In that time we’ve done lots of traveling. I’ve traveled to Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the Philippines, and Jakarta for ministry trips and we were able to go as a family to Leadership Retreat in Bali. The most unique of these trips for me was the one in June to Manila for a safety seminar. As well as being on the orientation team here and being in charge of National Language Consultancy, I am also the regional safety coordinator for our Central Java area. It was really unique in Manila being able to communicate in English and instead of being called “boss” or “mister” as they do in Indonesia, they would call out “sir!” It was also a great experience getting to visit the U.S. World War Two Cemetery which was beautifully manicured and maintained and a tremendous tribute to all the men and women who fought in WWII, not only in the Pacific, but in all arenas. There were even tons of huge mosaics showing each of the major battles fought in the Pacific and Europe and the strategies involved.
The highlight of our summer months was our family trip to Bali for Leadership Retreat. We were able to drive our van the 18 hours including a 1-hour ferry crossing just as the sun was coming up! Just three years ago I was in the middle of my eye disease and spent 2 ½ years not able to drive a car! I was afraid at that point that I wouldn’t even be able to drive during our 6-month home assignment in the States! But God has been so good in healing my eyesight and I was able to drive our whole time in the States including our cross-country trip from Missouri to California. Driving to Bali was a true test of my eyesight as we left at 2 p.m. and drove through the night arriving in Bali around 9 a.m. On our drive home we stopped off at Mount Bromo in East Java and spent two wonderful nights in cooler weather and we all got to hike and ride horses up to the summit. [the picture to the left is one of the locals riding his horse with Mount Semeru smoking in the background]
The kids are all doing well, just beginning the home-schooling year with Anna teaching them all. We are still waiting on half of Kurt’s curriculum, but all the rest is here. Please pray that Kurt will desire to learn to speak Indonesian as he still seems resistant, although he has mentioned wanting to study at a local language school IMLAC, but he’s still too young. He does skate board across town with a group of older Indonesian boys and he even participated in the Go Skate Day where they all skate boarded around town picking up garbage and stopping at schools to play guitar. They culminated the day with a skating event competition. Kurt was the only non-Indonesian kid and at 9 years old the youngest by far, but he seems to enjoy hanging out with the skate guys. 
Last week Kurt traveled with a group of skate boarders to a city 2 hours away for a skating competition and Kurt took first place for Beginners division and his friend Sulis (16) took second in Open division.
Paula continues to enjoy many activities from art, to soccer, basketball, and hanging out with friends. She is currently up at a mountain campground on an international school retreat for junior high and high school. We are praying for wisdom as to whether we should put Paula in the local international school or not as she of all the children really desires to attend there. All the children have gone to the international school for about 2 years each. Please pray for funds so that Paula can attend the school again.
Please pray for Katie as this is her senior year and she’s not sure where she wants to go for college nor what major to study. She may even stay on here for one year and take local university classes. Please pray for both Katie and Grace (10th grade) as it’s difficult for them to fit into the school crowd as home-schoolers. More and more they’ve been hanging out with local Indonesian teens. Katie has written over 50 songs (music and lyrics) and she and Grace play them on guitar. Please pray that we encourage them to cultivate this talent and to use it for God’s glory. Please also pray that they will continue with playing basketball, even though as home-schoolers they cannot play on the school team! Please pray that they will join a local Indonesian club team and build relationships and learn more Indonesian language too! Also please pray for their safety as they ride their enduro motorbike.
Anna continues to enjoy her ministry, especially taking new families out shopping and getting their homes furnished for them! Pray for her as she takes on the task of home-schooling our four children too! Anna just got a new bicycle so she has incorporated that into her exercise routine. Please pray for me to better balance ministry with family time, especially as I seek to spend more time and connect with our older teens, Katie and Grace. I just taught them how to use a clutch motorcycle (we bought them a motorcycle to share for their birthday) and we’ve just begun taking trips into the local mountains together; last weekend we rode our motorcycles up to a mountain coffee plantation and had coffee together up there! [the picture to the right is Katie and Grace on their 2005 Suzuki TS125] 
This weekend I am taking Katie and Grace on a surprise overnight trip leaving at 4 a.m. tomorrow! Please pray that I can find quality times to share with them and encourage them in the Lord and as an earthly father.
I continue to do lots of distance bicycling as well as keeping up my swimming routine too; it not only keeps me healthy, but sane![the picture above is me and my Javanese friend Mas Asep. Please pray for opportunities for me to share with him about what Christ has done in my life]
Finally, we want to thank you all for your faithful prayers and support of our ministry over here in Indonesia. Remember, “It’s not just a matter of praying for the work; prayer is the work.” Right now we are looking at getting our visas extended yet another year and it’s possible we will be forced to upgrade to the 5-year visa. There are advantages to this, however the leering disadvantages are that it will be much more expensive. We may have to get those for me, Anna, Paula and Kurt, but not for Katie and Grace as they will only be here a couple more years. We are also looking at most likely having to travel to the province (island) where we are registered as a family, as required by law now! Please pray that the needed finances will come in for this visa situation and please pray how you might be a part in this!
We are so sorry again for the long drought of no emails or updates. Hopefully we didn’t inundate you with too much information this time around either!
Next week we will try to update you about the calendar month we are in now, The Month of Ramadhan or The Month of Holy Fasting for the other religion here.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support,
In this together,
John, Anna, Katie, Grace, Paula and Kurt
…Paula’s Ministry Trip
Dear praying friends and relatives,
Thanks so much for your prayers for Paula this last week as she ventured out on a missions trip to another island here in Indonesia. Well, she made it back safely and she had a great time!
After the 9-hour bus ride they drove onto a ferry for Paula’s first ever ferry-crossing. She didn’t know they had driven onto the ferry and then she looked back and saw all the rushing water and exclaimed, “There’s water coming in!” New experiences!
She spent lots of time building relationships and interacting with the local Indonesian kids. She also got to teach them some English in a classroom setting. Finally, Paula and her friends got to enjoy a “Song and dance” show from the local kids. Paula video-taped part of that on the digital camera so that was fun for her to share her new experiences.
The countryside was beautiful too as they were in a country-setting. Paula looks forward to returning to this area for future ministry, possibly even before the year is up! Our two older girls are also interested in going on the next trip.
Sorry I can’t be more specific with maps and such (‘cause I’m a real map-lover!), but we have to be quite careful about these things over here!
Thanks again for your prayers and support and especially recently for your prayers for Paula in her journeys,
In this together,
John, Anna, Katie, Grace, Paula, and Kurt
Home Safely on Java
Praise the Lord! We are safely back in Central Java after our 6-month furlough! Even our luggage all made it intact to our destinations!
Anna’s folks Ernie and Gail went above and beyond the call of duty. They lent us their Suburban for our last three months of furlough and then took the train out to California where they drove us to the airport in San Francisco to see us off and get their car back. Last Saturday we rented a Uhaul trailer for our luggage and Ernie and Gail drove us the usually 6-hour trip to SF. We encountered snow enroute and had to travel slowly so the trip ended up closer to 7 hours. We arrived at the hotel at midnight and were up the next day early to head to the airport. Since we got to the airport almost 4 hours early on Sunday there was no traffic and no line to check on all of our luggage! While Ernie took the Suburban and trailer back to the hotel before rejoining us we had everything loaded and checked on! Our Northwest Airlines flight left SF at noon on Sunday and we were in Singapore at just after midnight Tuesday because of crossing the international dateline. After my appointments in Singapore Wednesday we ate Indian food in the Little India part of Singapore and then flew Wednesday evening the one-hour flight to Jakarta on Lufthansa Airlines. My eye check-up went well and the Uveitis is “quiet.” I was able to stock up on a 6-month supply of eye drops that are about 1/6 the cost of the same eye drops in the U.S.! We arrived at Jakarta Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. and drove 13 hours to Central Java in a rented minibus.
Kurt said going home for the six-months was like leaving Java for a breath of fresh air. We certainly enjoyed our home culture, even though we, like most people, enjoy complaining about it now and then like spoiled children! We enjoyed visiting family and friends and just “letting our hair down” in our relaxing known culture!
I don’t know if Kurt’s “breath of fresh air” comment was to be taken literally or not, but it really hit us how dirty the air here on Java really is, smog and smoke from such a dense population. It does, however, provide for pretty sunsets! The weather here is sunny, but hazy and temperatures in the mid-80’s with high humidity and afternoon rain showers now in the middle of rainy season. Yes, we are all sweating more than normal as we unpack and get things out of storage as we had to pack everything up before we left. Anna asked what this means when we feel more at home in Indonesia than the U.S.! I think they call it “enculturation,” but we know it is the Lord’s hand upon our family as we get set for our next phase of life.
The kids all found their friends and enjoyed catching up last night. The girls all walked down the street with friends to go out to eat at a favorite little place. Paula’s friend took her out for coffee and lavished her with gifts. Kurt skate boarded across town to find his friends.
We will keep you posted as we start up ministry again.
Thanks so much again for your prayers and support,
In this together,
John, Anna, Katie, Grace, Paula and Kurt
Merry Christmas from the Traveling Weeks’
Merry Christmas from the Traveling Weeks’ Family! We want to thank each one of you for your love, support, and prayers the past several years as we’ve ministered in Indonesia. We also want to wish each and every one of you a blessed Holiday season time of getting together as families and worshipping our Savior Jesus Christ.
A Time to Celebrate and Remember Jesus Christ’s Birth: One of my favorite idioms in Indonesia is “Masuk kandang kambing mengembik; masuk kandang kerbau menguak” or roughly translated “When you enter the goat’s barn make a goat’s noise; and when you enter the cow’s barn make a cow’s noise.” In English we say, “When in Rome do as the Romans.” How does this apply to us? This is exactly what we’ve been trying to do the past four years in Indonesia, that is, adjust to our new culture and language and the people we’ve come to serve, setting aside our own culture and even “rights as believers” and our own preferences and to take on a new culture and preferences in order to be accepted and build relationships, and in so doing, build a bridge for the gospel. Paul alludes to this principle as well in I Corinthians 9:19-22 “…I have in short, been all things to all sorts of men that by every possible means I might win some to God. I do all this for the sake of the gospel; I want to play my part properly…” –J.B. Phillips version.
This is one facet of what Jesus Himself did as He humbled Himself in obedience coming to earth to be born a man, lowering his stature so that mankind could be saved. Philippians 2: 5-11 “Let your attitude to life be that of Christ Jesus Himself. For He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to His privileges as God’s equal, but stripped Himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man. And, plainly seen as a human being, He humbled Himself by living a life of utter obedience, to the point of death, and the death He died was the death of a common criminal. That is why God has now lifted Him to the heights, and has given Him the name beyond all names, so that at the name of Jesus ‘every knee shall bow’, whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. And that is why ‘every tongue shall confess’ that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Ministry: We’ve been away from Indonesia since July 13th, but have tickets to return January 6th, stopping over in Singapore where John will have an eye check-up and possible dental consultation. We will help welcome two new families in mid-January after we’ve barely settled in ourselves and then 5 more families in March/April! Please pray for God’s strength as we invest our lives in these new missionary families. Please pray also for our ministry with neighbors and the local Indonesian church body.
Travels: We spent our first 2 ½ months in our home area Eureka, California where we enjoyed time with our family and our church family. Highlights included skim-boarding and playing at Moonstone Beach, backpacking with brother Dan and some of his kids, church Family Camp at Ruth Lake, fun with friends in Redding and at Whiskey Town Lake, and a trip to San Francisco. We were also able to get much needed dentist work done for everyone, speak at several local churches, spend time with Grandma Mary, and do some shopping for supplies for Indonesia.
October 3rd we left Eureka and took the train from Redding, CA out to Anna’s folks’ in Belleville, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis where Anna’s dad works. We thoroughly enjoyed the train ride and were surprisingly greeted by 90 degree weather. Midwest activities included kids raking leaves, John attending language conference in Colorado as well as eye clinic in Wheaton, hiking with Tony as well as with Anna’s sister’s family, outdoor ice skating in St. Louis, John painting Ernie and Gail’s house, exercising and swimming at the YMCA, visiting Papa Ernie’s workplace at the AT&T Building in St. Louis, and relaxing with Grandma and Grandpa. We also made two trips to the Lake of the Ozarks area to speak at 3 churches and traveled to Texarkana to visit relatives and speak at another supporting church.
Then December 3rd we drove back to California hitting snow over the Sierra Mountains where we had to buy chains just to make it over Donner’s Summit! The kids had been praying for snow so I joked with them that they had to pay for the chains! Back in California we are getting final dentist work done (Ho, Ho, Ho), immunizations, final supply shopping for Indonesia, packing and sorting for the trip and storage, decorating for Christmas, and planning for a house-full of relatives next week! This will be our first Christmas with family here since 1998!
Again, we want to thank you for your prayers and support and for being a vital part in reaching Indonesians with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Have a blessed Christmas and Holiday Season,
Love,
John, Anna Marie, Katie, Grace, Paula and Kurt
Christmas To Last Us Another Few Years
We had a great Christmas up at John’s mom’s house where we’ve been staying our last month in the U.S. This was our first Christmas with either of our families since 1997! Both of John’s brother’s and their families joined us as well as one of his sister’s and her family. We were only missing four people, John’s older sister Julia and her three children.
We had a house-full with 26 of us and 16 of us were spending the night at Grandma’s house! 
We all enjoyed a ham meal together and my mother read the traditional Christmas story while we all listened. As a family, we opened gifts on the 23rd before all the relatives arrived. We were also able to go to church Christmas Eve to enjoy a nice time of worship and refreshments.
There was little talk of Indonesia or our soon return, although that was prominent on our minds as we cherished our last time with family for some time.
Please pray for us as we return to Indonesia leaving the U.S. January 5th. I will visit a dentist and also my eye doctor during our short stopover in Singapore and then on to Jakarta.
Please read our Christmas letter in our updates.
We trust you all were able to enjoy Christmas with friends and family,
John for the Week’s family