3 days and counting...

We leave Tarutung in 3 days.  We will be glad to get home, but are not looking forward to the 'travel'.  We will fly from Tarutung to Medan on Tues. at 10:30 am Indonesian time.  That should be 7:30 pm Monday night Pacific time. This is the 12 passenger plane I 'love'!  We will be meeting 'R' there (he is flying in just to see us off) and will spend the afternoon scoping out the 'must see' spots (if there are any :-)   ).  One place we will go is like the local feed store.  We need to find some nose snubbers, plastic gloves for checking cows. thermometers, etc....  We will spend the night, then leave around 9:40am Wed. morn (6:40 pm Tue. night Pacific time) on the flight from Medan to KL.  I don't know if I will have the ability or time to update there and/or Taiwan, but I will try. 

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday, was that the 'Turbo & fence' situation was worked out while we were up at Lake Toba.  Turbo informed the men that they could 'donate' the wood or he would not let them use 'his' road.  As this is the only way to their property, and increases it's value tremendously, they agreed.  'H' was not very happy about this way of doing business and will talk with Turbo (explaining the difference between donating and stealing)  and the other men and offer to pay for the wood.  

I will have to take a pic. of the road!  The 'governor' hired someone to come in with a large tractor/backhoe and smooth the road a little.  It is not fixed, by any means, but is sooo much better.  No huge potholes that you could lose a small car in!

This morning while the guys were getting ready to leave, 4 young kids were in the yard playing.  Soon I recognized the tune to ring-around-the-rosy, and sure enough, that's what they were doing!  Usually we do not see the 2 girls since they are in school (probably K & 1st).  There was no school today, as it is a Muslim holiday, so we are seeing a lot more kids than normal.  When Steve & 'H' were headed out of town they passed over the river and could see a fairly large crowd (about 100 people) down on the bank.  Steve could see a water buffalo and a blue tarp.  It turns out that the water buffalo was about to be sacrificed.  It's blood and offal would be sent down the river and the meat cut up for widows, orphans, and the poor among the Muslim people.

Today would have been our last chance to speak to the English class at the nursing school.  Steve is very disappointed that he didn't get a chance to 'teach'.  We trust this has been HIS plan all along and we are trying to remember that - but it is still hard to give up on an 'idea' that has been there for 4 weeks.  As expected, this trip has turned out much different than we had thought it would.  HE works in mysterious ways, and this whole adventure has been a mystery!  It actually has been the first trip we have been on where we have felt needed and used by God for the betterment of others.  Our other trips were more for us than those we thought we were 'serving'.  Just about everything we did on them could have been done by anyone.

One of the things I have been doing in the mornings while the guys are gone, is going through a book 'R' has, called, "Where There is no Doctor".  It is very good for remote areas with limited/no animal health care services.  'R' asked if we could write down things he should know and look for involving the cows.  I earmarked several pages and will now write a quick reference sheet for him.  We need to convince him to have the book with him whenever he goes to the farm.

Our cook, Pita, didn't come tonight so I got to cook dinner.  I warmed up some chicken that 'H's wife sent down, boiled some fresh green beans, fried some tempeh, and we ate the last of the rice.  Not too hard :-)  Washing all the dishes at the end was the hardest part!  I think I will bring Pita back with me - I rather enjoy having someone else make my dinner each night.  And she's a good cook besides!  The only drawback is that she doesn't speak English.  Hand signals might not always work!

I haven't had any chance to go shopping (other than for groceries), so no souveniers or gifts for my kids and grandkids or items to display for our presentation at church :-(  I will have to see if I can find anything at the airport.  

Until tomorrow!!