Christmas here in Manokwari is primarily a community centered celebration and in America it’s a family centered celebration. That’s a big difference in American vs. Indonesian culture in general. The celebration of Christmas begins here weeks before hand with Christmas services. Everyone has a Christmas service. In the US everyone throws a Christmas party, but here, in a culture that highly values ceremony, everyone had a Christmas service. A friend calls it the “season of a

It has been fun to have multiple days this semester when Isaac arrives home soaked in sweat from teaching in the tropical heat, but still beaming and enthusiastic and saying, “This is why I’m here.” It’s the end of the semester, Isaac’s third semester teaching. Each semester he’s more comfortable and has a deeper understanding of how things work here, what the students most need to learn, and how they learn best. Isaac came here to teach leaders for the church and in society.

It’s standard practice in Indonesia that people who have a house and children also have help running the house and watching the kiddos. Frequently this help is from extended family but if not, from a “Pembantu” (helper). Since Papua is an area that is socially in flux with lots of societal change and immigration, I didn’t know if we would be able to find a pembantu that could work in our home 30 minutes out of town. Last year, through our church, we found a lady that lived ju