Greetings again everyone!  We are now back in Texas, and will be in San Angelo for about a week.  We speak at Angelo Bible Church on the 20th of July, so you can be praying for us as we try to paint a picture of what God is doing in Indonesia.  It's been a busy summer- 4500+ miles and about another 500 to go!  Our time in NM was especially fun!  We will post pictures of that later!  Here are some picts from a few of our adventures......
Enjoy...

For starters, water gun fights are always fun! 

After arriving in Texas, we traveled to Georgia to see cousins.  Here we are at Vicksburg to check out the memorial park.....

  

On the way back to Texas, we stopped at the USS Alabama- it was a slight detour!!

next to the Alabama was the USS Drum, a WWII sub... 

We have added 4500 miles to my dad's car- Thanks DAD!- here's a pict of one of the state rest stops we checked out.... 

Ah, to have a riding mower- every boy's (man's) dream!

Amarillo is the headquarters for the American Quarter Horse Association... here is one of the many horses that you'll find throughout the city.... 

fun with cousins!  

God's grace!  See the blown tire?  It happened as we tried to pass at 75mph...  No one was hurt!  Thank you, Lord!

At the Durango museum... cool display.... 

We have been taking pictures of the boys with this bear since they were little.... 

The train in Silverton.... 

Site of the epic snowball fight... FYI- Dad won!  ;-)

Ahh, cherries!  Yum!  

Playing at Dana's house!  The dirt in the background was the site of several dirt clod battles....

Waiting for the parade to start in Ouray... Carl drove, and we threw candy!

The start of the parade in Ouray- lots of fun! 

Waiting for the fireworks to begin... (at Ouray, CO)

the view as we head to Red Mountain Pass... one of the only sections of flat road for 30 miles!

Pict from a pass on the way back to Farmington....

At the hotel in Aztec.... we have only stayed in hotels 4 times this whole summer!  Thanks to everyone who let us stay with them!!!

In case you didn't know.... We are in the States!  We have been busy travelling, spending time with family, and getting caught up on our doctor visits.  The kids have especially enjoyed going to multiple parks and swimming pools, going to two different churches, and trying out American fast food!  God has been good, and we are excited to meet many of you over the next month and a half!!  Currently we are in the Denton, Texas area, but we will be traveling to the Southwest later this week.  I will try to post some pictures of our adventures later, but for now, we wanted to at least post a quick hello- since it's been waaay to long since we said anything at all!  Here's a rough outline of where we will be over the next few weeks-

at Jakarta- ready to start the trip!

CO/NM- End of June to early July (We will speak at Crosslands
on July 6th)
San Angelo, Texas- July 13-21 (speaking at ABC on July 20th)
Denton, Texas- July-August

Erin has a new phone number as well- feel free to email us if you want it!  -mekj

The Latest

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!!  

It is amazing how quickly the time goes by!  We have now been here in Indonesia for a year and a half!  The first six months are a blur as we struggled with transitioning to the new culture and job, but now we are finding ourselves not even noticing things we used to think were so different or alarming!  Our family is doing well, and we have been blessed by God beyond our expectations!  God has been so good to us and we are so thankful for the chance to work here with NICS at BAIS.  

Perhaps one of the biggest pieces of news for our family is the fact that we now have a car!  It has been a blessing to be able to drive the kids in the car instead of being out in the rain on a motorbike!  Having a car has enabled us to have much more freedom in being able to go where we need to go in a safer vehicle.  It's a Honda Brio, a car made in Indonesia and part of a low cost, green car program on the island.  Before we started shopping for a vehicle, I did not know that many of the cars here are three cylinder vehicles!  This one has four, and gets us around town just fine.  We thank God for the blessing of a car.  

The car was an early Christmas gift of sorts, and the other big blessing was Erin's parents coming to visit!! The kids have loved having them here to talk to face to face, and it has been fun watching them together.

Here's some picts of our latest adventures!

We started out the Christmas break with the boys!  We headed to our friend's house.  I usually don't ride with this many kiddos on the bike at once!  (but it is possible!)

We had a couple days to relax before Erin's parents came on the 24th.  The kids were so excited to pick them up at the Jakarta airport!  Our good friend, Amu, graciously drove us there to them up.  Her parent's flight had been delayed from the start in Dallas, so their whole original itinerary was ditched.  But the flight was uneventful, and everyone was very helpful.  They arrived in the afternoon instead of in the morning, which just meant they got to experience the traffic of Jakarta!  We even took a side road "short-cut" courtesy of Google Maps.  It actually worked out, and we all got to see a part of the town we normally wouldn't- complete with an open air market!    

at the airport!

After a couple of days, we took the family to a neat restaurant up in the Lembang area.  Kampung Daun is a popular place, and has pretty good food!  Everyone made it there before me.  I had to take the car in for its 1000km service (yes, the service schedule is different here-) and was stuck in another part of town that morning.  As I drove up to the restaurant, I was stuck in Bandung traffic- for three hours!  It was a nice place to relax after the traffic.  

Chee (Erin's dad) likes to play soccer with the kids.  The grandparents enjoyed seeing the boys' friends as they came to visit.  Jace learned to ride a bike over the break as well, so now he and Kadin are not only soccer buddies, but bike buddies!

One of the things we like to do with Nali and Chee is to play "42."  Here, Chee is teaching the boys how to play dominoes....

Earlier this week, Kadin had to go to the hospital due to his chest congestion.  When we left, this beauty was sitting in the lot near our car.  It's neat to see the older Jeeps and Toyotas here on the island.  This one was done up particularly well.  It reminded me of the Jeeps we had back home, and the fun adventures we had...

Curug Cimahi is a popular local waterfall.  It's kinda in the heart of the city, which makes it all the more amazing.  It's height is about 85 meters....   I had gone there at the end of summer with the new teachers, but this time it was with the whole family! The boys loved swimming in the area- they were all over the rocks and in the water- and stayed pretty dry- except for Jace- he slipped and fell in!  He dried off pretty quick, and we had a change of clothes!

Just the other day we went right downtown- the ladies to the mall, and Amu and I to a play center in the mall.  The kids had such a blast and were totally worn out.  Here's a shot of them as they zone out while waiting for the pizza to come!  (yes, this is Pizza Hut!) 

That's just the last week or so..... We will try to add some more later, but for now, we want to at least get something up for everyone to enjoy.... (besides- I have to figure out how to transfer some other photos first!)

Have an awesome new year!!  -mekj

Merry Christmas!!

Hello Everyone!

Have a Merry Christmas!  We have already celebrated over here on this side of the pond, and we have been truly blessed!  God has abundantly provided for our needs and even our desires, and it is due in part to your participation with us and the work NICS is doing here in Indonesia.  Thank you so much for your support- the thoughts, prayers, advice, phone calls, emails, and financial support.

Here's a family shot of us all in front of the tree:

As things settle down after today, we will try to post some more pictures of our latest escapades!  God bless, and cherish that time with family!  -mekj

Hello from Indo!

Here's a brief update and some pictures- 

We signed a new 2 year contract! 

 As we sought God's direction for this decision, it became clear that God would have us stay.  While we would love to be closer to our State-side family and friends, we know that this is where God would have us be.  At times we dearly miss the chance to talk and share life with our family and friends back home, but we see how God has been using us here in the lives of not only the students I teach, but also fellow staff, and our neighbors.  It's as if the work has just begun.  I used to run cross country, and I always liked running looong distances.  I felt that the first mile or so was just a warm up.  It's similar to what we are doing here.  It takes time to just get used to living overseas, let alone working effectively.  We look forward to continuing working with all the people God has placed in our lives.  We so miss "home" in America, but the fact is, that the America we left is forever gone, and we are okay with that. Our new home is becoming more comfortable with each passing month- and that is a good thing.  The boys love it here, and while my work is very time consuming and difficult (at times), it has never been more rewarding.  God has blessed us with a wonderful place of ministry and we are so grateful for the opportunity to continue to work and live here.  We cannot do this alone, and we want to thank all of you have supported the work NICS is doing here.  Together, with your prayers and financial support, we have been able to share the love of Christ to many people.  Thank you!

We are coming to America this summer!  

We are in the process of buying the tickets.  We will be in the States from June 9th to August 3rd.  We are so excited about having the chance to come and visit family and friends in person!!    It's been two years, and while we are more "used" to living over here, we still miss America at times.  (especially around this time of year- Thanksgiving and Christmas)  We look forward to seeing many of you in about 7 months!  The time goes by so quickly!

Changes are coming at BAIS- Three big changes- 

- A new director:  Pete is taking a job at the home office.  He will be overseeing the directors in the field.  He will be travelling to the 20 different schools each year and helping the directors as they lead the schools.  

-A new high school principal- Next year, we will have a new principal for the high school.  Dan, the current principal, is heading back to Alaska.  God has clearly opened a new opportunity for his family there, so they will be leaving BAIS as well.

-BAIS will be debt free at the end of this month!  This means that a new construction phase can start in the spring, Lord willing.  

With all these changes, please pray for the leadership of BAIS and NICS as many decisions need to be made.  Exciting times! 

Family- 

Everyone here is doing fine.  We have been remarkably healthy, Jace has finally lost his two front teeth (just in time to sing that song for Christmas), and Kadin's turning into quite the young man.  Things have been busy here- both Erin and I have lesson plans to do this year, and now that I am more comfortable in my job, I am able to try more things, which leads to more work!  So I am usually up till 10:30-midnight grading or reading in preparation for the next day.  We all love our various roles and spheres of ministry, and it is such a blessing to see how God is using each of our talents here in Indonesia.  

Finally, below are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.  We will try to update more often.  The busyness of life has too often caught us, yet we will try again!  Thanks for your prayers and support.  We look forward to your emails, Facebook posts, and phone calls!  God bless!  -mekj

email- mesquiers@gmail.com

phone- 1 505 906 6008

Sunset at the end of the road in our neighborhood!

Construction near the end of the road- It's so much fun to play on! (The boys had just gone swimming and we decided to see how the latest construction was going.. we found a new playground!

 

The new road being built ends with this view.  This is probably two miles from our home, inside Kota Baru.

A neighbor's birthday party!  Most of the kids the boys play with were there! 

At what age does washing dishes become NOT fun??

Frog anyone?  They say it tastes like chicken.  I don't think so.  But it was not bad!  This picture grossed out a few friends!

The school always has cats around.  That's good.  They help keep the cobras away!  (that the the couple of mongoose on campus)  Everyone is in the process of trying to tame the kittens to see if they will let us pet them.  The are still pretty wild! 

I built a bamboo bench with nothing but bamboo, some wood, and coconut rope!  It's still standing! Yeah!

Another waterfall above Bandung.

On the way to the waterfall pictured above... 

The boys love playing right in front of the house!  

Lizards are always fun to play with!  Kadin got his first lizard bite the other day! (not from this one-- this guy is small!)

 

Top and bottom of the falls- This is in Bandung...

 Kawah Putih- volcano 50km from home

This volcano was cool- the water in the crater was a blueish green! 

 

Isn't the water amazing!  It was not hot, but swimming not recommended! 

This was our fist time to see a tea plantation up close!  So cool! 

At the tea plantation!

Favorite jersey day during BAIS spirit week!

We miss the firepit from our home in NM.  The boys loved the bamboo fire!

Oct. 31- I love to read character day!