The Good, Bad, and the Funny

Hey Everyone,

     It’s late so that means that it’s time for me to write.  It seems to be the only time that I am inspired to write.  School has kept my bedtime pretty early so sorry for the dry-spell in writing.  Anyway…

     So much has happened since the last time I wrote…many firsts.  I lead my first field trip a couple weeks ago.  I took my kids to an observatory.  It was really neat to discover and learn about God’s great creation with my kids.  Last weekend I rode a motor bike for the first time.  A friend let me borrow hers and it was so fun exploring places that I had never seen.  I played piano during worship for the first time during out morning staff devotions. Pretty nervous but we made it through.   Sent home my first set of report cards and in the last two days I have completed my first set of parent teacher conferences.   God is allowing me to have so many great experiences.  He is so good.

The teachers dressed up as Magic School Bus characters
on Story Book Day!

     I really enjoy teaching.  My kids are so wonderful.  We have come to that point of the year when we all make each other laugh and I can just give them a look and they know that they have gone too far. (Not yet an evil eye I’m sure, but not the crazy eye some of you are thinking of.)  I  love being able to laugh with them as I make up silly examples or as they laugh at me as I dance around the classroom while they diligently work on their math problems.  It’s been really fun. 

       We particularly get a lot of laughs out of the vocabulary challenge that they have every day.  I give the students a new vocabulary word every day.  We talk through it, understand it, and give examples.  Then throughout the day they can score points by using the word in context during classroom discussions.  They try so hard and all the kids are so excited when someone scores a point.  They run up to me after their break time exclaiming “Rio was very generous today during snack time.  He gave me some chips.”  Or they use the word incorrectly and sound silly doing it. 

     Another dynamic of my class that makes things interesting is the boy/girl dynamic.  Oh 5^th grade.  My principal encouraged me to have the boys and girls work together more frequently during the school day to encourage unity rather than division between the genders.  It is hilarious to watch them squirm when they have to mix up at lunch or in line.  (They might not notice how well they actually interact when they all hang out together, but I do!)   

Life here is great but it’s not perfect, that’s for sure. 

     I am struggling to learn Bahasa Indonesia.  Now the term struggling should mean that I am striving with great energy to learn something that is very hard for me.  I believe that would be the correct meaning/use of the word struggling.  What I really mean is: I thought learning a new language would be as easy as getting wet in the rain, but I was WRONG.  (Silly me)  Please pray that I would love the local people well enough to be disciplined to learn the language that they speak. 

     Second, please pray for another 5^th grade girl to join my class.  My class has three girls in it.  Two of those girls are best friends and as you can imagine that leaves one of my girls without a friend.  Please pray that God would move in the hearts of the two “best friends” and that Sung Ha would feel loved and accepted by the other girls.  It breaks my heart to see her ostracized the way that she often is.  Please pray over that situation. 

     Lastly, pray for me please.  Something that I have been asking God over the past year or so, is that nothing would satisfy me except Him.  I had almost forgotten this prayer until I found myself feeling that way a couple weeks ago; nothing was satisfying.  Teaching had become monotonous, life had become monotonous, and I was just going through the motions.  He reminded me in this time that I had prayed for this very thing to happen to me.  We are so often distracted by nice things, a good meal/dessert (if you’re me), good movies, hanging out with friends, ect, that we don’t desire the greatest thing: God.  I am finding that I am only finding my joy when I am satisfied in Jesus.  Please pray that I would desire Christ above all things.  God has entrusted 8 students to me and has placed me in a community to love.  I want to give them everything that I have but I cannot do that unless what I am giving them is Christ.  Please pray that I would wake up every morning desiring Him. 

     Miss you all.  I wish I could visit you right now but I've got school on Monday. J Love you all.   

Always and in Every Circumstance- GOOD

Well it's been about a week since my last post and it seems like millenniums ago.  Time moves very slowly when you are sick.  Yup that's right, my first Indonesian sickness. No, it wasn't a crazy disease or anything...don't jump to any conclusions.  It was just your normal sicknesses that you get when your body is crying out for rest.  Once again the Lord had to physically shut me down to make me stop and seek  His face.

For three days I halfway fought through whatever we want to call this so-called sickness.  My pour students had less than a teacher for about three days.  "Ms. Alex why are you so tired?" they would often ask. They even found me sleeping in our classroom on return from their Computer class.  It was pretty pitiful folks.  I also left school every day as soon as possible with a couple excused early leaves as well, only to immediately crash for hours when I arrived home.  I have also never ridden my bicycle that slowly or in that low of a gear in my entire life.  The last day I even got off my bike and pushed it up the hill.  Talk about wimpy!

My favorite story of the week still continues to be this one.  On one of my early arrivals home I crashed so hard that I was convinced that I had slept through the entire night.  When I woke to the sound of my roommates in the living room I got up and told them "Good Morning."  They excused my mistake until I asked my roommate why she was wearing the same outfit that she had worn the previous day.  Then they kindly informed me that it was indeed still the same day.  Oh wow!

But because of the sickness I was not able to go to our staff retreat this weekend.  It was certainly a bummer but I must say that My God knows what He is doing.  This weekend of rest in Him was needed beyond belief.  He rejuvenated my heart and gave me a refreshed, Holy Spirit filled mindset. He slowed me down and practically forced me to ask for His help and guidance.   Such grace that He bestows on us.  As my school staff learned and discussed about what community within the body looked like, the Father was graciously reminded me to commune with Him.  His love, his plan, and His gifts are perfect.  The world can't understand because they don't know Him but He is Good- always and in every circumstance.

Joy

Awesome moment today with my students...

During math centers today I played some music for my students.  They love music and always want it on.  Over the past two weeks I've been playing Phil Wickham's Response Acoustic CD for them.  If you haven't heard it, please download it and worship...it's Awesome!  Let me stop advertising.  Ha Ha.  

During their math centers the song Joy came on.  About half way through the song I stopped and realized that all of us were worshiping: I, at my desk working on yearlong plans, and all of my students singing as they worked out large digit addition problems and identified addition properties. We were all worshiped at the same time.  It was beautiful!

They had no idea the magnitude of what was going on but the Lord grabbed my attention just in time to see that beauty of it all.  These kids from all over the world, with their American teacher, in a Muslim nation, far from their homes and mine and we were worshiping the One True God.  I wish that this could happen in every school around the world; it barely happens in schools in the "land of the free."  One day we will worship Him all together: all nations, all generations, all races, tribes, and tongues.  Can't wait! 

Here are the lyrics:

You heard my cry for mercy, You heard my cry for help
And You turned Your ear to hear me, to save me from myself
When I think of all You’ve done,
Oh my heart is overcome with

Joy, joy, unending joy, always joy will remain
Joy, joy, I sing for joy, always forever I'll stay in Your joy

The chains have all been broken, the walls have all come down
And here I stand forgiven, in this grace that I have found
When I think of all You’ve done,
Oh my heart is overcome with

Joy, joy, unending joy, always joy will remain
Joy, joy, I sing for joy, always forever I'll stay in Your joy

My heart will sing, my heart will sing for joy
Forever I’ll sing, forever I’ll sing for joy
[x2]

Joy, joy, unending joy, always joy will remain
Joy, joy, I sing for joy, always forever I'll stay in Your joy
[x2]

Forever I'll stay in Your joy

Enter into His Rest

First Day of School

Well, it’s official:  I am a teacher!  The first week of school is officially over and we made it through!  I’ve gotta say….teaching is exhausting.  I think one thing that makes it exhausting for me is that there is so much planning involved in everything and planning does not come natural to me.  (I would rather wing it and see what happens.  Not good for teaching!)  Don’t get me wrong, I know how to plan, but when your job requires you to be the planner and the one driving the boat, it’s tiring.  So if you think about it, lift me up in prayer that planning would become more natural to me and that I would enjoy that portion of my job. 

Along with that exhaustion and weakness though comes a reliance on the Lord that I have enjoyed so much.  On Thursday I was so tired after school that I went home and just slept.  And I guess when I say that I just slept, I really mean that I laid there as my mind ran.  But it was wonderful…God did something to my heart as I laid there.  I think in that time of rest I can me to grips with the facts:  I am weak and He is strong.  In that moment of rest I became joyful about my situation, about the facts about being weak.  When we have the facts straight about who God is and about who we are, I believe that we can finally come into the rest that God promises.  (Hebrews 4:1) 

Bandung Alliance International School

I’m learning that resting is not really about getting sleep or taking it easy, either.  Rest is when you stop fighting.  It’s exhausting to fight a fight you can’t win.  I am not in control, but if I attempt to have control I will never rest.  I know it’s simple but I’m finally living in the reality that God is in control.  I am weak.  It’s just the facts.  Now that I am no longer fighting that I can rest in God’s promises.  I can rest in the fact that God says that He will fulfill our desires with good things. I have lots of dreams and wants and ideas about how my life should look.  I normally don’t tell God what I really want for fear that it’s not a good thing to want or if I ask I won’t get it.  But now I know that I can tell God exactly what I’m thinking and then also tell Him that He knows my desire and I know that it will be fulfilled with something good (Psalm 103).  I could ramble for a long time, but the point is, that God is good.  But we can only dwell in the rest that He gives if we come to grips with this: WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL!   Stop fighting it and give in to HIS goodness and HIS plan and HIS protection.

Love you all.  Praying that God is showing himself to you and that you can live in His rest.  Its’ pretty awesome!

Adventures Begin!

Saya nama Peggy.  Saya tenggal di Indonesia.
My name is Peggy.  I live in Indonesia. 

     I wish that my third sentence could be something like “I can speak Indonesian,” but that statement would be marked as false.  This past weekend was one filled with adventures throughout the local culture.  One morning we went to a local pasar (marketplace) to practice our language skills.  The market was one of the richest places I have ever entered.  The people were absolutely beautiful, dressed in their long garments and head coverings, the tables spilled over with mounds of beautiful produce, and little ladies dressed in bright colors, smiling from ear to ear hacked pieces of meat with butcher knives.  The contrast simply wonderful!  We found beautiful batik fabrics and bartered for the best price.  America needs to adopt bartering because it makes shopping much more fun and challenging. 
    Transportation here is much different than in America.  Most people ride a motor bike everywhere they go-weaving in and around cars, buses, and anything else on the roads, including delman.  We took one of these horse-drawn carriages after leaving the pasar.  The city bus used to get to town can be unpredictable.  Sometimes it is quite empty and gets to town fairly quickly, but I’d say about 80% of the time it is packed full of people and moves at about 2km per hour!  Ha-ha  It’s fun though to be among the people.  My favorite type of transportation involves what I love most… Squishing!  The city of Bandung has a travel system in which small vans called ankots drive a certain route all day long.  Whenever you see one you can just flag it down and hop in.  Don’t worry about seats either…as many people as can fit can be in the van.  Then whenever you want to get out you just yell to the driver to pull over, you pay him, and then you’re on your way.  It’s fabulous!
    The food has been great as well.  The fruits here are amazing.  I ate a fruit last night called the “snake fruit.”  Its peal looks exactly like a brown snake skin.  Mangostien is probably one of my favorites.  There is one dish that I have eaten in which the chicken is cooked so long that the bones become very soft and you eat the whole piece of meat including the bones.  Just a nice crunchy addition!  I also ate goat sate.  Sate is basically anything eaten like a kabob, but yes a little goat is running around in my stomach! Haha There are lots of other things that I have yet to try like cobra or squid but I might pass on the intestines I saw rolling around at the pasar.    
    That’s all for now!  I’ll post pictures soon.
                                                                                                               Mari! (bye)
                                                                                                                -Peggy

Hey everyone!

Made it safe to Indonesia!  Travels were great.  I asked so many questions as I flew through all the many airports.  It is crazy but really most everone that works at an airport knows at least a little English.  When we landed in Indonesia I could barely see the ground because of all the smog...but once we landed I got to see how beautiful a place it is...so green and lush!

Our bus travels to Kota Baru were certainly slow.  It took us about four hours to get out of Jakarta, one because we moved about as fast as rush hour on 14 moves and secondly because Jakarta is huge!!! It truly does go on forever.  After leaving Jakarta we stopped at a rest stop and had Indonesian Burger King...which I might add is not too bad.  But of course at a rest stop you've gotta take a bathroom break as well.  Dun, dun, dun...the Squatty Potty!  You can try and guess what that looked like.

When we finally arrived in Kota Baru it was dark so only today am I starting to get a grasp for what the environment is really like.  I think in a couple of days I'll be better able to articulate what Indonesia is like but not right now! Haha Our house is very large (for an Indonesian home) in a nice neighborhood with a guard.  My prinicpal calls Kota Baru "Barbie Town" because it is so nice.

Heard the prayer calls several times since arriving.  The Muslims are in Ramadan which is their month of fasting, but the call to prayer will continue even after the fasting month is over.  So yeah, life is different.  Right now it doesn't feel as if I am going to be calling this place home for an extended amount of time; it really does feel surreal.  But soon I hope that I can soak all of this in.

Love you all.  Sorry that this entry is not very well articulated and fun. Short on time but I wanted to let ya'll know that I made it.  Hopefully I'll be able to write and post some pictures soon!

For now...
-Peggy

Ready or Not...Here I Come!

Here's the scene...

In two days I will embark on a three day journey to my new home: Kota Baru-home to the world's largest sun dial (jealous...I know). I have clothes picked out, school supplies precisely chosen, and the world's largest supply of toiletries ready to go.  But the big question from everyone is...."Are you ready?"

The funny part about that question is that I don't have just one answer.  The question is too general!  If you ask me "Are your suitcases ready to go?"  I would say "Absolutely not!"  I have failed again in packing early. (Instead of packing I'm writing this post and watching the Olympics.)  If you asked me if I'm ready to prove to my father that I'm not going to eat chicken beaks at every meal in Indonesia (as he so often teases me about) the answer is "YES!" If you asked me "Are you ready to say goodbye to your family?"  the answer would be "Definitely Not."  If you asked me "Are you ready to see what Indonesia is like?" my answer is an excited "Yes!"

 The list could go on and on, but I think the real question is:  are we really ever ready for the things that God has in store for us?  The answer is "Probably not."  And I think that it is a great thing that we aren't always ready.  If we were always ready we wouldn't rely on Him in tough times because we would have a 10-point strategy for coping.  If we were always ready life would not be filled with the excitement and thrill of God rescuing and surprising us.  If we were always ready we wouldn't get to see the hand of God work and the Holy Spirit move.  God shows us and prepares us for what we need to know.

So sure, at this point there are probably more things that I could know (like how I'm going to contact my parents when I get off the plane haha) but I don't need to know everything.  I am ready to go and I'm ready to go because He is sending me.  So here we go!  Off to a new world...just me and God.  :)