It is always hard to step back into the rhythm of things after a long trip halfway across the world. But coming home to a family that has missed you and with various things pressing for your immediate attention causes you to get focused. Yesterday, I spent some time with the family. We all had […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 11
We are almost home as we are waiting in Seattle. Our flight to DTW is going to board in about 2 hours. It almost seems surreal that we are back in the States. Sometimes after spending time away from the States, a person goes through a reserve culture shock. But one thing that I am […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 10
We spent a good portion of the morning just reflecting and sharing some of our thoughts from the trip, especially in Jakarta. It is always helpful to process some of the things that we have experienced in order to put the proper perspective on things. We had our last dinner in Indonesia with Louisa and […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 9
One thing I have been telling the team is that in Indonesia (or any part of the world) we have to learn to be flexible. There are so many unknowns that happen all the time that without being flexible, we will get easily frustrated. As we were planning on going to a particular international church, […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 8
We made a trip out to Bandung today. Bandung is known as the textile capital of Indonesia and even possibly in all of S.E. Asia. But our main purpose for going to Bandung was to visit some of the universities. Some of the top Indonesian universities are located in Bandung. It was a long 2.5 […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 7
Today, we went to Karawaci and met up with Dan over at Universitas Pelita Harapan. It is one of the premier universities in Jakarta. The great thing is that it is a Christian university. They have stated that they wanted to be like the Wheaton College of Asia. We ended up meeting with the Vice […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 6
We rejoined the rest of the team today in Jakarta. It was good just catching up and sharing some of the things that we witnessed in Lampung to the other teammates. Then we went out for dinner with some of the people that we have been building a relationship with here in Indonesia. They took […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 5
We arrived safely in Jakarta last night. It was great being welcomed at the airport by some old friends like Louisa and Engel and even Yonas. It is hard to believe that I have been to Indonesia enough times that I am beginning to develop a strong relationship with some people. The team split up […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 4
Today, we started off our day by meeting up with John Ng, a HMCC alum who just happened to be in Hong Kong at the same time as us. It was great seeing John and his wife but his father’s battle with cancer has been brought some challenges. As we were catching up, we ended […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 3
Yesterday, we went to The Vine Christian Fellowship for our Sunday Celebration. It is an expatriate international church. The interesting part of the whole experience is that a lot of the things that happened throughout the celebration are familiar. We had a good time of worship with songs that were familiar. The Word of God […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 2
We finished off our time in Singapore this Saturday afternoon by having lunch with some of the alumni. One thing that has really blessed me was the principle of sacrifice that the alumni displayed to our team. Sometimes, as a pastor, you wonder if some of the principles that you try to teach ever sink […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008 Update 1
After a short layover in Tokyo, we arrived safely in Singapore at 1:30AM! Some of our current members had house that were big enough to house us, which was a tremendous blessing. The men stayed with one of the brothers and the women stayed with one of the sisters from our church. By the time […]
S.E. Asia Trip 2008
We are at the airport and getting ready to board the plane. I am taking five other people with me on this scouting/survey trip. We are looking forward to spending some time with our alumni and even meeting up with some important contacts. This is trip is significant because it will give us a better […]
Bowling with Family
As I am getting ready to go to Indonesia, I am trying to clear out my schedule so that I can spend more time with the family. The kids really wanted to go bowling so we made a trip out to the bowling alley. Nothing beats $1 games on Tuesday afternoons. This was a historic […]