Living overseas as an expat and minority of a larger culture and nation means you think about things you wouldn’t at home. How’s that for the understatement of the decade?! 🙂 For one thing you tend to notice other expats, others who obviously (or less-obviously) are not native to the local culture. Those relationships become… Continue reading Broadening Relationship Circles
Category: Culture
Updates
It’s the beginning of the month already here in Medan. It’s hard to believe how quickly time passes in weeks and months and years while at the same time dragging by in terms of seconds and minutes. When we last heard from our intrepid heroes….no wait, that’s the wrong update. Never mind. Word has it… Continue reading Updates
Meals & Relationship
We were invited by a mutual friend of our family and another ex-pat family to come to her home this past Saturday. It was sort of an extension of Eid al Fitr, the celebration that marks the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan and their month of daylight fasting. Technically Eid al Fitr fell… Continue reading Meals & Relationship
Tokyo
Saturday evening we flew from Okinawa to Tokyo. Sunday we met the Jastrams for worship in Shinjuku, a suburb slightly west of downtown Tokyo. We experienced a traditional Lutheran worship in Japanese. The small congregation was very warm and welcoming. The building where a congregation of the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC) meets. A fairly… Continue reading Tokyo
CISH
I’m in Hanoi, Vietnam for my second visit with Concordia International School Hanoi (CISH). Celebrating a dozen years of operation, this is one of three LC-MS international schools in Asia (Hong Kong & Shanghai) and Southeast Asia. It’s a blessing to get to visit with the staff of this amazing educational institution again. We enjoyed… Continue reading CISH
Supporting One Another Overseas
Moving overseas is challenging. More so for a family where one spouse needs to travel for work. This can be challenging for the spouse and kids that stay behind, especially if the travel is prolonged. So it is that our entire family traveled to Sri Lanka yesterday to support another missionary family while one member… Continue reading Supporting One Another Overseas
Homeward Bound
My flight back home left a day earlier than Pastor Ferry and Deaconess Sandra. The Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP) graciously purchased a bus ticket back for the five-hour drive from Baguio City to Manila. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, having heard plenty of fascinating stories about transportation on the mission field… Continue reading Homeward Bound
Baguio City
We had the opportunity to celebrate Matins with the seminary community this morning, and afterwards sit in on several of their classes. The professors are knowledgeable and the students are eager to learn. One student has traveled all the way from Mongolia to study here. Another student is from North Sumatra, Indonesia! I had the… Continue reading Baguio City
We’re Not in Kansas Anymore…
Is it harder to talk with people about Jesus if those people don’t believe in any God, or a different god? I won’t try to answer that question, I’ll simply note there is a difference. The above photo is an item found in the seatback pocket on my flight today to Singapore. Lion air Group… Continue reading We’re Not in Kansas Anymore…
One Year-ish
We celebrated our one-year anniversary in Medan today. If you go by days of the week it works out because we arrived in Medan on a Sunday evening. But if you go by dates, like any civilized human being, then tomorrow, February 13, is our one-year anniversary. We’ll celebrate a little bit tomorrow as well… Continue reading One Year-ish
The Nelson Family Indonesia 