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!
Category: Partners
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
Three Busy Weeks!
Tomorrow morning (Friday) we begin our trek home to Medan, Indonesia. For the last three weeks our family has been in the US so Gena, Mika & Caedmon could attend the LCMS Youth Gathering in Houston and I could spend some time reconnecting with some partner congregations. We were also able to spend some time… Continue reading Three Busy Weeks!
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!
Continuing to Build
It was warm today. When there’s no cloud cover and the sun shines more brilliantly than perhaps anywhere else on earth, it’s hot. Steamy hot. And yet we made our way home through the market as usual. And as usual, the men gathered in the shade provided by a small tarp sat huddled around the… Continue reading Continuing to Build
More Guests
Overlapping Deaconess Rein’s time in country but missing actually visiting with her was Regional Director for Southeast Asia, Rev. Charles Ferry. He visited with us on his way further westward to assess the situation in Sri Lanka, which has been troublesome to say the least. Our workers there, Rev. Steven Mahlberg & family, are safe… Continue reading More Guests
Out of Town/Country/Hemisphere Guests
It’s been a busy week. Sickness for most of the family capped it off, but there were some great moments in between! We were blessed to have Deaconess Sandra Rhein in-country to meet with Rev. Wood and the hymnal committee working on the first Indonesian Lutheran Hymnal. Undoubtedly a productive meeting (though because I’m nowhere… Continue reading Out of Town/Country/Hemisphere Guests
Goodbye Jimmy
That’s Jimmy, our first pet in Medan. Kind of anticlimactic in many ways. We didn’t pick him out, he picked us. We rarely saw him, except when we’d inadvertently open a cabinet door he was hiding behind. We joked about the parties he would throw when we were away from the apartment, but he was… Continue reading Goodbye Jimmy
The Nelson Family Indonesia 