On The Road in Oz

The time in Indonesia was full of landmarks. I will be writing about many of them in the weeks to come--but for now I am in Australia. I will be seeing friends and finding new doors to open for IFC. We plan on traveling many miles while we are here and only have a couple days open--so it will be a busy time.

It is amazed how many friends we have made over the years around the world. The partnerships and dear friends that have been made are just staggering. I have to stand back in awe at the concern and goodness of so many who have stood with us in the work to help the struggle of so many in East Indonesia.

I will be just over two weeks and then back to the cold of Alaska.

Check the postings in the next weeks. I will share the highlights of this last trip to Indonesia.

Make your life count.

Nur--Fought A Good Fight

I am in Indonesia and have been too remote to get on the Internet--here is the latest news.

Nur the young Muslim woman we have tried to get to the hospital in Kalimantan was able finally get to the hospital. She was so weak (due to her extensive burn injuries) when she arrived that in only two days she died. She fought for her life and everything was done on our part to get her help. Now we need to remember her husband and 13 month old daughter. We will try to help them ass they grieve their loss of a wife and mother.

Yulens (the other burn victim) is doing very well after her surgery.

Nur fought to live and now we will stand with her family in any way we can to help.

I will send another update on Yulens later.

Update

I leave with a team of nine for Indonesia in less than seven hours. It is exciting and also a very long trip. I have done it many times and I always have the an excitement about going to serve at our base and to see lots of my Indonesian friends. The team of volunteers is the bonus. What a privilege to be with such amazing people.

I have an update on the two burn victims (I mentioned in an earlier post). Yulens and her husband have made it to the Bethesda Hospital in Kalimantan (Borneo). She will bein the skin grafts surgeies soon. On the other hand Nur is stuck in Manado. She tried to board a flight accompanied by a one of our staff doctors and her husband but the airline officials would not let her on the flight. This is so discouraging for her.

Peter Scarborough has tried to open other doors and they have all closed to this point. MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) was not able to get their plane to Manado to help. We are back to the start and because Nur is so badly burned the airlines did not want to be liable. She is loosing hope--please say a prayer for her.

Two Woman In Great Need

Yulens and Nur are two woman who share a tragic past--they are both burn victims. I am not talking about a burned finger or even a hand. These women were badly burned--their photos are so shocking I have not included them in this post. They are both as bad or worse than Yulce (read her story on our web-site).

A door has opened for both of them to go to Bethesda Hospital in Borneo for treatment. They will need extensive skin grafts and will have to survive surgery. These women are in very bad physical shape and emotionally near their very end.

Please join me in prayer for the demands of travel just to get to the hospital. Their husbands will be traveling with them to assist them and encourage them each step of the way. They have long rides in cars, airline flights and over 20 hours on boats crossing vast open waters. There are several legs to this journey. They left today and will have four days of travel.

Peter Scarborough has said they are very concerned for them--especially Nur. She is just very frail and in a weak condition. She needs help immediately and cannot wait for another door to open. These women have loving and supportive husbands and are mothers. Their families need them.

We have tried to find doors to open here in America--they just have not opened. This is the only opportunity they have and we have great concerns for them. We pray they will have successful surgeries and the strength to endure the long trip just to get to the help they both desperately need.

I will give updates as I get them.

Vino Going Home

Vino and his family are on their way back to Indonesia. I remember when Vino's father brought him to our clinic (see photo) with some very bad burns--his chin, chest, ears, neck and right arm were effected by the kerosene fire. Arrangements were made to bring Vino to L.A. where the Grossman Burn Center would provide the needed surgeries and therapy. He was accompanied by his father to America. It took about four years and several surgeries--in that time Vino's mother joined them and a new little brother joined their family. They really did well and Vino has a positive future ahead of him. He is so smart and is fluent in English. He has no accent and made lots of friends in his time in America.

I want to thank The Children's Burn Foundation, Grossman Burn Center and Tina Johnson for the compassion and countless hours they invested to make Vino a whole person. They are the heroes.

They are on the flight to Indonesia as I am writing. They should be nearing Tokyo and hopefully will have no problems in finding their connecting flights. They will land in Singapore then on to Jakarta.

I will get to see them when I go to Indonesia. They are happy to be going home but really feel that the time in America was a "miracle" door for them. Vino is smart and should have a bright future.

Soup Success

It was not the food booth on a busy Indonesian street but it was lots of fun and the Soto Makassar was excellent. Jim and Cindy Aldrich did a great job with all the preparation and hours of cooking the soup. They wanted the participants to get a taste of Indonesia. Jim showed slides from the recent trip and detailed the work in east Indonesia.

The tables were set up just like you would have if you sat down at the place we enjoy going to get this wonderful soup. The hard boiled eggs, (very) hot sauce, salt, rice and cut slices of limes were set on the tables in bowls. Then a bottle of water was there for everyone to put out the fire if they used too many scoops of the very hot sauce.

We had a lot of fun and the soup was excellent. We just missed the dogs walking through as you are eating, the sound of car horns and shouting in the streets, the wooden benches and smiling Indonesian faces. I know Cindy took a step of faith and she did a great job--the soup was a success.

Soto Makassar

Soto Makassar is an outstanding soup that I have come to enjoy very much. I have taken many of my friends to the roadside booth in Tobelo where the best Soto Makassar is served. The soup is a broth with beef cut into small pieces. It is served very hot in a large soup bowl. You have the option of putting a small block of sticky rice, a hard boiled egg, squeeze a lime slice, a spoon of hot pepper sauce, and salt. You can add whatever you want in whatever amounts--it will make you sweat. It has its own wonderful flavor and can be very filling. Imagine the sounds of people and vehicles in the background as you sit and enjoy this amazing Indonesian soup. It is hard to beat.

This Saturday we will partake of the northern version of this soup. We are going to have an Indonesian dinner with the main dish Soto Makassar. Cindy Aldrich has stepped forward to give it a try. I am ready to give her version a chance. It should be a lot of fun and very good to eat.