Tarakan Tales

I have been in Tarakan for a week now. I arrived at 2:30 a.m., Saturday, August 22^nd, Oklahoma time. I left Tulsa approximately at 2:30 p.m. Oklahoma time on Wednesday the 19^th. So basically it was a journey of 60 hours. That is better than several months on a ship.

My flights were all uneventful – thank the Lord! I even had extra seats between me and my fellow passenger for most of the trip

Actually, the most tiring leg of the journey was the one from Jakarta to Tarakan. We made three stops before arriving in Tarakan. Here are the names of the towns in case you want to look them up on Google Maps. ☺ Semarang, Surabaya both on the island of Java; Balikpapan on the island of Borneo. At each stop, everyone had to get off the airplane, take their carry-ons with them, go through security again and reboard the plane.

That wore me out. Thank goodness going through security on domestic Indonesian flights isn’t anywhere close to being as rigid as security in the U.S. That would have been a beating.

Most of the MAF staff came to the airport to welcome me which I thought was very kind. The MAF program manager and his wife have been a great help getting me settled. And that goes for the rest of the MAF staff here. All of them have been willing to help me out anyway they can.

The house where I will live this year had been spruced up for me, some food items were here to get me started and a meal schedule was awaiting me. I didn’t have to cook for an entire week because each evening I was hosted by one of the MAF families. How nice is that!

I live on Penginki Hill. Just a few steps further up the hill is another MAF family. It will be nice to have close neighbors. I will be sharing a house helper with them. A house helper is a wonderful thing! Ours is very efficient and hardworking. She even ironed my clothes. Wow!

My neighbors offered to give me a ride to the church they attend. I accepted their offer and went to the Siloam GKII church. It is a Christian and Missionary Alliance church. Of course, I couldn’t understand most of what went on. I had an Indonesian/English Bible with me so was able to at least follow along when the Bible was read. Seven teenage girls were baptized that morning. A neat experience to have on my first Sunday in Indonesia.

Ramadan began the Friday before I arrived. Ramadan is the month of “fasting” for the Muslims. They don’t eat or drink anything from sunrise to sundown. After sundown they can break their fast and the do in a big way. The month is somewhat a big celebration that lasts 40 days. The mosques are extra loud during this holiday – at least it seems that way to me. ☺

School begins tomorrow. I have spent most of this week getting ready for that event. The classroom has a fresh coat of paint, the pencils are sharpened, and the new books are on the desks. I think we’re ready to begin.