Lonnie and Mary through the Years

Manado

Located on the northern most point of the island of Sulawesi. About a 3 1/2 hour plane ride from Jakarta. It was a delight for many reasons. One it gave us the opportunity to get out of the traffic and smog of Jakarta. It also had some beautiful scenery as you will see.

Dr. Adam Schwebach a Neuropsychologist from the Ogden area came to Indonesia to speak on Autism, ADHD and other challenges with children. He gave 6 different lectures to audiences of school teachers and principles, Pediatricians, Neurologists and several lectures to interested parents and families. Every talk was well attended and there never seemed to be enough time for the many, many questions. We were impressed with how many times Adam encouraged the parents to support the children with patience and love.

While in Manado we had the opportunity to check on another ongoing humanitarian project focused on Vision. Another of the churches primary areas of focus, helping the poor and needy to see and improve their eye sight. While we don't have pictures of the patients at this time. This is us meeting in the Department of Opthamology at Sam Rutinglia University Hospital in Manado. The church donated a significant amount of medical equipment along with a physician from the US that came to train the residents and medical staff on the equipment. In return the department committed to see 1800 needy patients (who otherwise would not receive optical care), over the coming six months. They have been fulfilling their obligation but we were not able to capture any pictures at this time. We did however discuss with them that many people have been able to receive eye care and in many cases glasses.

Yet again, what a wonderful blessing to be a part of this Christ like work...helping people to see.... like these next few pictures

The sunset in Manado

Missionary work for senior couples isn't 'exactly' like that of the junior missionaries. We were able to take our prep day in Manado to Bunaken Island. Known as one of the best snorkeling areas in the world. And yes Mary went snorkeling.....and loved it. (And yes the mission president knew what we were doing) I'm quite proud of her, she is eating new things (on the flight home from Manado she ate a fish, head and all. She said it tasted a bit crunchy, so she put her glasses on to look at what she was eating and realized it was a small sardine type fish, not a dried red pepper....yum, yum!!!).
We are experiencing new smells, sleeping in new places, enduring the heat and trying many new adventures!!!!

The area that we snorkeled, below are some interesting star fish.

A volcano in the background.

Do we know these people? Heavens no, but we seem to be quite a fun photo op for the people over here. We take their pictures, and they take ours. They are always excited to come upon some real live Americans.

Words can't really describe the shower room we used to wash the salt water off, lets just say it was different. A hint: the white buckets behind me are full of COLD water and a big oversized cup. Lonnie, "I wish we could capture the hooting and hollering we heard from these two sisters." We got some good laughs until it was our turn......

Different buildings for different people. There are many ethnic groups that share this country.

Views of plush Tohom, a village nestled at the base of Lokon, a locally famous volcano, about an hour away from Manado ( different from the one seen earlier when we were snorkeling) that is still active. It is green, so that is a good sign, so say the villagers. If the foliage on the side of the volcano turns brown and is dying, that is a sign that sulfur is coming from the volcano and that can mean an eruption. We were surprised to see how close the homes were built on the base of Lokon?

More of the beauty of this creation called earth. "Men are, that they might have joy", and our Heavenly Father has blessed us with many different ways to have joy.

Manado is predominately a Christian city which is very unique in this country that is 90% Muslim. There were Christian churches on many street corners. And this statue, called, "The flying Jesus," overlooks the city. It was probably 150-200 feet high! We also new we were in a different city when we heard Christmas music at lunch time (mid October). We will not experience that in Jakarta!