Aceh Journal 2

and the story continues ...


it's been almost 2 weeks since I wrote the first journal
many things have happened, both ups and downs.
I didn't do much work these 2 weeks. The only work I did I considered not t be a work because I had so much fun with it.


let's talk about the ups first!
- 26 may 2005
I'm now officially an uncle of 2 nieces. My sister delivered her 2nd daughter at around 10pm. She's 3.1kg and 49cm long
- I met South Africaners at Samaritan's Purse's bbq party. They're young missionaries. Nice to be able to meet people from different nations. Yesterday we had another bbq, and there were people from 10 different nations sitting and eating together, talking and sharing. How awesome is that?
- Jannike (one of the south africaners) taught me how to see the southern cross. yippie! Now I know 1 constellation. I mean to me all stars looked teh same :p)
- I've had 2 bbq parties, 1 hamburger party n 1 south african breakfast in the past 2 weeks
- I had the first cold water mandi in aceh. Today (june 03) my friends and I went to a waterfall up in the mountain. It was actually a recreation park that was closed about 5 yrs ago due to the arm conflicts that often occurs in that area. It was great!
- I found a new weekend activity: fishing at the harbor. 've done that once, and it was pretty fun! But now I have dark skin (man! I gotta avoid being outside a lot, otherwise I'll get darker and darker! :p)
- I watched 2 live soccer matches. They were competing in the 2005 Mayor's Cup. Tried to get the shirt of a player --> didn't succeed! Tried to get the banner --> in progress
- I spent one afternoon at the beach with friends, and it was one of the best afternoon.
- my US mom's back from Bosnia n she's alright.

now the downs. Hmm ... I don't really wanna talk about them, but there's one thing I've been struggling the most.
There were times when I had nothing to do but to stay at home and do basically ... nothing! And that was boring! But that's OK because sometimes I needed to take some rest.
There were also things that tempted me to go back home, but I have committted myself to stay here longer. I have no idea how long I'm gonna stay here. I still need to consult that with Him.

One night we had a devotion about personal struggles. Got me thinking about mine.
I asked myself what has been the hardest thing for me eversince I'm in aceh.
That night I didn't really know for sure, but I found out what it is the following night.
May 31st was the end of my original contract with the organization I'm currently with.
Then the questions I've been trying to avoid came.
It was something more or less like this: do I really wanna pursue my dream? Is that really what He wanted me to do here?
I was confused. This is the one question I've never been able to answer clearly.
Talking to my mom didn't help much, except for proving that I miss my family a lot!
I got the answer after talking to several friends.

A counselor at my church in Bandung once said that maybe I should give the "remote control" to Him instead of keeping it to myself.
That was before I left for Aceh.
well, maybe it's true.
I can't say that it's true or wrong because I'm still trying to find it out.
I have been praying that He will take control of me, but I don't know for sure if I have done that completely.
Maybe I haven't ...


pray for me, pray for aceh ...
hye

4 Juni 2005