New Year, new attempt!

It's been too long, right? I have never been big on New Year's resolutions. Mainly because I used to make them and then promptly fail a few weeks later. So this is not a new resolution, but it is an attempt to at least give a brief update and throw out a few pictures...

So here goes-- 

Grace- (the last post already mentioned this, but a picture provides a more vivid view-)

While this did not seem like God's love at the time, we can now look back and see how He not only used the incident, but miraculously provided for all of our needs during this scary time. Everything went smoothly- from the operation, to the removal of the plates in October. Kadin has full use of his arm, and a story of God working in and through his life.


Growth-

August 2015

December 2015

It is amazing to see the changes that come in just a few months. Both boys are no longer just boys- they are young men. The other day, Jace went to the store by himself, picked up drinks for his brother and grandfather, paid at the counter and met Mom at the door. Kadin too is able to do so much on his own. He will be a mid-schooler in just a few more months!! 

Erin and I have grown too. Erin is teaching pre-K 3/4, and I continue with English classes. I have never been stretched so much as I teach the students here at BAIS. Every year is a new challenge, and each week gives us both opportunities to not simply teach, but to minister to the needs of the students and families we work with. While we do miss home- especially around times like now- yet we know this is where God has us (we just signed another 2 year contract), and we can see how he is using not just Erin and I, but also Jace and Kadin to reach those that don't know Him. 

This is part of what makes us feel sorry for our friends and family back in the States- the kids are growing up, and they don't get to see their cousins or grandparents nearly enough. But we have close family here as well, so again, we see God's provision and grace. 

Grandeur- 

Sumatra summer road trip- Bengkulu

Our family here consists of three other Indonesian families, and this past summer, we traveled about 2000km through the southwestern part of Sumatra. It was an amazing, and at times terrifying trip. (the road conditions there give a new meaning to the term potholes and crazy driving...)

Through it all, we were able to enjoy time as one big extended family. The boys still talk about the trip, and even want to go back! As the driver, I am not sure if I want to do that again, but it was fun taking a low clearance vehicle on roads that looked like Colorado Jeep trails at times! One section of 18km road took over two hours to drive- not because of traffic, but because of the road being so bad. It takes a different outlook to drive there- the amazing thing is not the potholes or twisted roads- it's that a road was once put there in the first place!


Gosh- 20 years of marriage!

How do you take a selfie again?!?

This past August, Erin and I celebrated 20 years together! We went away to Singapore for a few days and had a great time. It was the first time we had been without kids in over 4 years. It was so much fun to just hang out and enjoy our friendship. God has been good to us over these years, and we have been blessed beyond what we could have imagined. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

How can I possibly update in one blog post, what has been going on over the last 9 months?!? There has been so much that has happened, and there are so many stories and evidences of God working among and through us this past year. It has very little to do with us, and everything to do with Him. We would love to tell you more, and I hope that this year we can be a little more diligent about keeping in touch and posting. As always, please feel free to call us, or email us anytime. We would love to chat with you and let you know more details. 

A few final thoughts-

Over this break, I was reading through the book of Colossians. I was struck by a verse in chapter 4:12- 

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

I want to encourage myself and you to not just remember each other in prayer, but to struggle on behalf of others in prayer as well. What an amazing thought! I don't pretend to know exactly how that looks or works. In fact, I would like to do a study on prayer to learn more. But I do know that prayer is so very essential in our work as servants of Him. Please continue to lift us up- the staffing needs of the school in the upcoming year, open doors and hearts for ministering the Truth inside and outside of school, safety both here and as we travel (We just bought our tickets- we will be in America this summer Lord willing!), wisdom in counseling/advising those that come to me for help beyond English questions, deeper relationships with our friends here, for the boys and us- as they grow and we guide them as God desires.
Thank you for your support- financially and through prayer. We are here because of your faithfulness there. May your new year be one that richly reflects the Glory of the King.
-mekj

Time flies by...once again!

Hi and boy does it "fly by" when you are having fun and are extremely busy:)

We would like to start by saying thank you for your support and prayers through out the year! We weren't meaning for this to be a "yearly" update, but time got away from us. So we will do our best to give some short updates and highlights from the year...

October
- We started up our Good News Club once a week.  We had anywhere from 15-25 kids every week. So thankful for a teacher who was willing to open up her backyard for this!
- Kadin had his first set of stitches on his leg because he tripped and landed on a rusty old drainage cover lid. Thankfully no infection occurred and he healed quickly.
- BAIS held their first "trunk or treat". We didn't open it up to the community this year because we wanted to see how it would work. It was fun, but a little wet!  It was fun to see all of the cars and motorbikes parked under the awning so they could have the trunks opened up:) Hopefully next year, the community will be invited and this could be used as a witnessing tool:)

November
- SEW was held at BAIS for three days. This was a time when the school stopped all its "educational" activities and focused directly on the spiritual aspect of life. There were many students who joined our heavenly family during this week! PtL! Matt had the opportunity helping lead a young man to Christ this week as well. It was such a joy to be a part of His work.
- We spent Thanksgiving day in Jakarta with our friends working on getting our Indian visas. It was such a treat to get to have free refills and a yummy hamburger from Karl Jr's as our thanksgiving meal!

December
- This was a very busy month as it is for most all of you. The boys had their Christmas program and enjoyed performing their musical masterpieces:)
- Once we began our three week break we headed to India with some good friends. It was an amazing experience! We traveled starting from the South and ended up in the North-where we even got to play in the snow! This trip was very uneventful and such a blessing. It really made us appreciate Indonesia once we returned.

January
-We tried to get caught up on everything and tried to recover from the very busy break:)

February
-We were able to spend my birthday in Bali. We have decided that this is a great time to have a much needed break with just the family before the busyness really began :) We had a wonderful time!
- Bali was a great bday gift that kept on giving! After a quick trip to Singapore for medical things (a few days after Bali), I found out I had dengue. I had never felt so bad in my life. Amazing what a little mosquito can do to a person. Even after nearly 9 weeks, my body is still feeling some of the lasting effects of this illness.  I still get very tired after 5 pm every evening. Especially after a full days work. I've had some people say this can last up to 18 months! Yuck! I didn't believe them, but I do now...

March
-This month whizzed by! BAIS had their annual Week Without Walls. This is where the students leave the "walls" of BAIS and go out into the community for service projects and ministry. The group that we led went to the same local Kampung school behind our old development. We were able to paint a mural, have health checks done, donate a water tank, and build relationships here at this school. Our group of students did a great job. They came away realizing how blessed we are. They were able to experience manual work (remember, our group of students tend to have everything handed to them). They also were able to show God's love to elementary children who attended this local school. We were able to do so much during WWW because of your prayers and your donations.
- Right after WWW spring break began!!!
-God had other plans... The day before we were to go with some friends to a local beach about 6 hours away (called Ocean Queen), Kadin broke his arm and had to have surgery. Many of you prayed for him during this time and continue to pray for him. This had been a major life change and adjustment for us all. There have been many life lessons learned and I'm sure there will be many more to come from this accident. HE has been faithful through it all. PtL! Continued prayers are needed. Kadin is in Pt and had another surgery in 12-18 mths to remove the plate and screws.

April
-We had a wonderful Easter with our BAIS family. We celebrated His resurrection here at the school. We also had activities for the children and a potluck on this day. We are so blessed!
-We moved into a new home in a different development. The prices of housing continue to increase. Our previous landlord went up too much for the size of the home we were previously renting. For the price she was asking, we found a home in a different development that is bigger and fits our families needs better. We were saddened to leave Jingga, but are excited to make new friends and build different relationships. Our friends in Jingga are forever our friends! The relationships we built there will continue to remain strong! PtL Be praying that we can be a light now in Naganingrum (Naga) :)
- Good News Club ended well. We are already talking and praying about next year.
- Jace turned 7! We had our first bbq at our new house. Lots of friends came to celebrate with us.  It was fun!
- I took on a teaching position that was offered by BAIS for next year. I will be teaching the preschool morning class. I will have no more than 10 three and four year olds:) I'm looking forward to this neat opportunity!
- May is crazy here! So many things going on. Be praying that the year ends well and that we continue strong for His glory!
-June 4th will be here before we know it! This will be our last day of school! Then summer break. The plans are to go on a road trip to Sumatra (island next to us). We will blog about that later;)

Hopefully we will be able to be more consistent with posts once summer begins! Pictures will be posted soon for each month. Thanks for your prayers and support! We miss you all, but we know that this is where we are to be during this season of our lives. Email or call anytime. If you ever want to come visit a tropical island, you always have a place to stay! In His Love, mekj

Some pictures for everyone--

Thanks, Amu for taking the family pictures!!

Add caption

A typical Saturday- fun with friends!  We washed and lubed the bikes!

Most days after school, the kids all get together and play around at the BAIS playground!

First day of school! 

Time sure does fly by!

Well, we arrived back in Indonesia on Aug 5th! We enjoyed our overnight stay in Japan and didn't feel too bad as we entered into our home around 3am.The flight home was uneventful! We thank God for the time we were able to spend with friends and family over the summer.

As soon as we arrived home the boys went straight to their play room and we started to unpack. Jet lag was definitely felt more by all coming back to Indonesia than going to the states. Our break was over. We started school in service on Aug 11th and the kids started school on Aug 14th. Ever since then we have been pretty busy. We cannot believe it is almost October! Time sure does fly by!

To get you caught up a little on what we are all doing this year - -
Erin is working at BAIS the first 3 hours of the day. She has a few hours in between her "work schedule" and her Indonesian class. During her free hours she is meeting with her accountability partner, preparing for the Good News Club (that starts Sept 18th and will meet every Thursday), meeting with a group of Korean mothers to teach English to, and is trying to eat lunch with each boy at least once a month. She enjoys her schedule and enjoys what she is able to do.
Matt is continuing to teach English to the middle school and high school students at BAIS. He has 5 classes a day. He is also taking Indonesian classes once a day for the first time! Matt is also helping out with a guys study once a week during lunch, mentoring a student once a week after school, helping out with an English class once a month, and tries to play soccer with the neighborhood guys twice a month. He tries to use his time wisely since he doesn't have much of it:)
Kadin is in 4th grade this year. He is one of two boys in his class of 12 students. He is having to learn how to manage his time wisely due to the amount of homework he has this year. He is doing his best and continues to excel. He enjoys playing soccer with the neighborhood kids and would like to try out for the swim team when the time comes.
Jace is in 1st grade this year. He is one of 10 boys in his class of 14. He is also having to learn how to manage his time. He also has quite a bit of homework each day. He enjoys playing outside and enjoys soccer as well.  He is doing really well.

Well, that's our schedule!  We continue to build relationships with friends and family over here. God has placed us in a very unique community which we are very thankful and grateful for. We thank you all for your continued prayer and support. Although we love where we have been placed for this season in our lives, we truly miss all of you and wish we were closer. We will end with some prayer requests as you remember us in your prayers - -
-prayer for the Good News Club that is held every Thursday from 4-5:30
-prayer for us to make the most of every opportunity set before us
-prayer to be able to balance our busy schedules, continuing to take time for Him and our family
-prayer for continued health
-prayer for continued safety

Thank you once again for your prayers and support. Have a blessed day!!! Mekj

Tomorrow morning we leave for home (or Indo, or our other home....what do we call it?)  It's been a blessing to be here in America and at home with our friends and family Stateside.  We look forward to meeting our friends in our other home back home in Indonesia!  But before we leave, we wanted to give a shout-out to all the great food places we have visited!

Soooo, in honor of American food, here's a list of where we have eaten in the last 60 days!  It's also the reason we have not lost any weight like we had hoped!  It's been fun eating at all those places we missed!  What's your favorite place to eat??

God bless, and let's stay in touch!  -mekj

A little taste of America--
Taco Bell
Rosa's
Francos
Henry's
Taco Villa
Sonic
Whataburger
5 Guys
Papa Murphy's
Zetners Daughter
Chick fil a
Mcd's
Little Caesar's
Chilies
Red Lobster
Rudy's
Blakes
Churches
Subway
Schlotsky's
Johnny Carinos
Loan Star Hamburger
Pei Wei
Frozen Yogurt with toppings
Donut Stop
And many of these places were gone to multiple times this summer!