News reports indicate Indonesia is adjusting foreign visitor quarantine requirements in light of the newly discovered Omicron Covid variant. What was a three-day quarantine period for a short period earlier this month is being expanded to a seven-day quarantine. It is still possible to enter the country (at least from the US. Citizens of countries… Continue reading Shifting Sands
Category: Partners
Calvary Lutheran, Aberdeen, WA
We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving week in Tokeland, WA, a small fishing community on the edge of the continent a little south and west of Aberdeen, WA. From the small cabin kindly donated to us by relatives of long-time friends we had a fantastic and up-close view of the incoming storms and rain. At… Continue reading Calvary Lutheran, Aberdeen, WA
In Faith Dependent Lutheran Church, Anderson – Redux
Our time in the Pacific Northwest is drawing to a close. For the past two weeks I’ve been able to share the Word and Sacraments of our Lord with the people of In Faith Dependent Lutheran Church. This morning we talked more specifically about our upcoming work, gathered e-mail addresses and reluctantly left this tiny… Continue reading In Faith Dependent Lutheran Church, Anderson – Redux
Partners & Experience
As we meet with congregations to share what the Holy Spirit has Called us to in serving overseas, I always highlight four major roles our partners play. They aren’t mutually exclusive by any means, but it helps to give people a way of grasping how they can partner with us regardless of their giftings and… Continue reading Partners & Experience
A Promising Start!
This afternoon we had a Zoom meeting with the owner of a language school in Medan. This school was utilized by the Woods when they deployed to Medan a couple of years ago and comes well-recommended. The owner outlined the process we’ll go through to be admitted to Indonesia on a short-term basis. Visitor visas… Continue reading A Promising Start!
A Path Forward
Thanks to a great conversation with the Regional Director for Southeast Asia (now my boss) this morning, we have a roadmap and timeline of how to proceed. For the first time since June and our physical departure from the place we called home for 11 years, we feel like we can begin tangible planning for… Continue reading A Path Forward
Experienced & Encouraging!
A blessing in our work is talking with others who have experienced living and working overseas, particularly in the service of Christ and the Church. Gena attended a small Lutheran Bible college (no longer existing) in Washington state for her Associate’s degree in Biblical Studies. There she made friends with a young woman also starting… Continue reading Experienced & Encouraging!
First Wall
Well, we’ve hit our first wall. After a flurry of excitement and urges to get our visa submitted for possible expedited approval into Taiwan, we received our application packet back from Taiwan’s Los Angeles office basically unopened. A missed voice mail confirmed they were not going to process our visa at this time. We’ll have… Continue reading First Wall
Just the Facts
I’m too young to have seen many of the original Dragnet episodes. It was not nearly as favored in syndication where and when I was growing up. But the famous line of Just the facts, ma’am (even if erroneously attributed or cited) has become cultural parlance of a sort (or at least it was the… Continue reading Just the Facts
Helping Out
I’m admittedly an idealist at times, something that tends to clash with what I refer to as my realism (not pessimism) about life. One of the ideals I had as we cast loose of our settled life to start traveling and sharing with partners around the country and waiting for deployment to happen was that… Continue reading Helping Out
The Nelson Family Indonesia 