Selamat pagi/good morning from the tropics!
We are learning more and more language every day and week; hence, the title of this post. Hopefully, you’re impressed with my vast vocabulary already. But probably not. We are still pretty limited in how much we can say and understand, but even a little more ability feels like an accomplishment. One of the common questions people ask us (which we don’t even always understand) is how long we’ve been here. This week will be two months. So now I can answer with ‘dua bulan’ (two months).
The two month mark is significant to us for a couple of reasons. Mainly, because we’ll be allowed to drive our bikes at that point. You may not realize why that matters so much, but imagine if no one in your house had a vehicle… how would you get anywhere? We have had to be pretty dependent on other people to take us grocery shopping, getting kids to and from school, going to church, etc. For a lot of things, we do take the angkot (city bus/van), but that doesn’t always work out. So we are really looking forward to being able to drive ourselves around.
We also will need to go to a nearby city to renew our visas pretty soon. In some ways, we are beginning to feel not quite so much like newbies. We recognize people, we can say hi and answer really basic questions and we know where to go for most of what we need. But we are certainly still not completely independent; ultimately, we know that we are here to be part of what God is doing. And we need him to lead us.
The kids started going to school this week. It is an International Christian school here in town. Scout is in Kindergarten, and Elroy in First grade. So far, I think they really like it. It’s good for them to be around other kids their age, and for us to able to focus on language learning. Also, yesterday, I bought our first motorcycle. It’s actually a scooter, sort of. It’s a Yamaha, 125cc. It’s automatic, and has plenty of room to carry the kids and groceries or anything that can be tied down, stacked or otherwise secured on it. I hope to buy another one pretty soon so that both Alisha and I can get around.
Praise:
-For a slowly increasing grasp of the language
-For the upcoming ability to drive
-For the kids finally being in school
Prayer:
-For perseverance in language study
-For good relationships with people here
-For the kids in school- making friends and learning
Terima kasih banyak! (Thank you very much)
The McIlroys