Today I flew back to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore. Another good day for travel! My short visit in Singapore was fruitful in several different ways. Most importantly, I received word while in Singapore that my Indonesian work visa has arrived! This simple detail is an immense source of relief after a year or worrying and… Continue reading Back to KL
Category: Vocation
On to Singapore
I flew from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to Singapore today. As a tangential note, it’s fun learning new airport codes on this side of the world! While I still think that Phoenix has the best airport name in the world (Sky Harbor International Airport – how cool is that?!!??!), airport codes are a bit less sexy.… Continue reading On to Singapore
KL Visit
People here refer to Kuala Lumpur as KL. Much easier to say, for sure. That’s where I’ve been so far this week. It’s my first extended time in KL in several months and I used the opportunity to catch up with James. James reached out to the LCMS last year, wanting to have conversations about… Continue reading KL 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
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
Okinawa
With the blessing of LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces, I was asked to make two trips a year to the island of Okinawa, south of the Japanese mainland. Rev. Dr. Daniel Jastram has worked for the LCMS in Tokyo for seven years and visits Okinawa throughout the year to provide Word and Sacrament ministry… Continue reading Okinawa
The Nelson Family Indonesia 