It doesn’t seem like much but on our first flight from Jakarta to Medan in February it was deliciously unexpected. Just like the in-flight meal on the two-hour flight was unexpected. And after close to 25 hours of traveling and transiting from the US it was a much-needed pick-me-up. A much-needed bit of excitement, as… Continue reading Adjusting
Category: Change
Home!
It was a long weekend. We were up at 6am to catch a 10am, two-hour flight from Phoenix. A 2-hour stop in San Francisco and then a 10-hour flight to Narita, Tokyo where we had 30 minutes to make it to our next flight, a seven-hour flight to Jakarta, arriving at midnight Saturday night Jakarta… Continue reading Home!
God and Covid
I like to try and apply theology to actual life as much as possible. It disturbs me when these two things that are naturally and unavoidably related appear separated. Sermons and Bible studies should not serve as merely intellectual grist for the mental mill but guideposts and signposts in daily life. Failure to make this… Continue reading God and Covid
Back to Indonesia
I doubt I’ll ever lose my amazement at how quickly and how far we can travel so easily. Partly my historian roots and understanding that until the last century (and less!) travel was very expensive, very time-consuming, and very dangerous. Now, with just a ‘mere’ 25 hours of travel time we can be on the… Continue reading Back to Indonesia
A Visit Home
This summer LCMS teens from around the country will gather together – as they have every three years for nearly 40 years – for the National Youth Gathering. What’s different about this one is that for the first time (as I understand it) a scholarship is available to enable families serving the church overseas to… Continue reading A Visit Home
Pesta di Rumah!
Indonesian culture is a very neighborly and communal one. Emphasis is placed on togetherness in many different forms rather than individualism. While this is shifting as Western culture is increasingly available via media and the Internet, communal consideration is still paramount with the family standing at the center of it, as God intended. So when… Continue reading Pesta di Rumah!
More Relationships
Since Indonesia began allowing foreign nationals to come back into the country on short-term visitor and socio-cultural visas, foreign nationals have been doing exactly that – coming back into a country they have been unable to get into since early on in the Covid pandemic. While Medan is still not a tourist hub and bule… Continue reading More Relationships
Pasar Priggan
We live just south of one of the few surviving traditional markets or pasar in Medan, Pasar Pringgan. Walking through this market is a fascinating blend of what Indonesia has probably been like for decades, and the country it is becoming. A mix of old and new, adapting and accommodating each other with a degree… Continue reading Pasar Priggan
Mega
When you go to Walmart, or Target, or Home Depot, or any other number of retail establishments, you expect when you walk in there will be someone you can ask questions of, someone to show you where things are. Sometimes you have to hunt them down, but they’re there. Somewhere. Here in Medan, when you… Continue reading Mega
Sick
You know it intellectually. You move to another part of the world, the flora and fauna are different. Climate is different. Microbes are different. There will be issues. One of the less glamorous aspects of working abroad is adapting to these differences, and therefore coping with the resulting issues. The tricky part is you’re never… Continue reading Sick
The Nelson Family Indonesia 