Today was a busy day. The morning was spent at the local immigration office where Caedmon, Gena and I were fingerprinted and photographed as the final step for my Indonesian work visa. We’ll return on Tuesday afternoon of next week to pick up this new visa which will cover the three of us until next… Continue reading Reaching Out
Category: Partners
Graduation!
Today was a special day for our family. Everyone (except Paul!) graduated from language school! Although I had to drop out after the core program (6 units of study), the rest of the family continued for the final 3 units. Their studies culminated in a 2000-word research paper and oral presentation – all in bahasa… Continue reading Graduation!
A Busy Tuesday
Normally my schedule is busiest when I’m not in Medan, but today was a welcome exception! I had a lunch meeting today with the missions executive for the Lutheran Church of Australia, Rev. Matt Anker. Rev. Anker does a lot of work in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore and I’ve been hoping to meet… Continue reading A Busy Tuesday
Good News and No News
The good news is three-fold. The first part is that I’ll be catechizing James in Kuala Lumpur towards baptism, and will be able to bring him the Eucharist as I’m passing in and out of KL on future trips. That’s very exciting, and I think a relief for James who has struggled as to where… Continue reading Good News and No News
Home Again
Thank you all for your prayers. This evening Gena, Caedmon and I were able to successfully re-enter Indonesia on e-visas as prelude to receiving my Indonesian work permit in the next 30-days or so (God-willing!). We still need to go to the local immigration office to finalize the work permit but that should be relatively… Continue reading Home Again
Unexpected Visit
I was pleasantly surprised to have time with Bishop Lawrence, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia (ELCM) today. While we have been in touch via e-mail, this is our first in-person meeting in almost a year. During our time together we discussed the possibility of restarting deaconess training in Malaysia, something that has… Continue reading Unexpected Visit
Broadening Relationship Circles
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
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
Grounded
I returned from Singapore last Saturday evening. It had been a long day and I was tired. But the day wasn’t over yet. After paying for a Visa on Arrival I waited in the foreign passport line to process through immigration. However the agent who I handed my passport to was concerned about all my… Continue reading Grounded
Off to Singapore
I leave this evening for Singapore. I’m eager to meet at least one of the two newest additions to our group, expanding our fellowship slightly. One of them, Hayley, is recovering from Covid after returning to Singapore from China. She shared she never had Covid the entire last three years, but now that it’s no… Continue reading Off to Singapore
The Nelson Family Indonesia 