Before I write about my arrival in Bali, I forgot to tell you what happened while I was waiting at the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. While I was in the check in area, all of a sudden there was a lot of people milling around the executive class check in for Thai Airlines. People were pointing their phones towards something or someone trying to take photo’s of someone in particular, so I went over to see what I was missing out on and saw an older European man who I didn’t recognise. I asked who it was and in a strong Thai accent told me it was Wen Ronie. I had no idea who that was so googled and came up with Wayne Rooney a former professional English soccer player. No wonder I didn’t have a clue who it was, I don’t follow sports of any kind.
My arrival in Bali didn’t go as smoothly as I expected. I breezed through the immigration and health check points having done my e-visa online but was pulled aside by customs. They had seen something they did not agree with in my big suitcase. I had to pull things out of it to try and find what they were looking for. Both the officer and I had no idea what it was, she kept asking me what food I had. I showed her my nuts and seed packet, then thought it might be the kefir so unpacked that. All the packets she put back through the scanner then decided it wasn’t anything of significance and let me go. Praise the Lord I was calm throughout the whole process, reminding myself the Lord was in control.
That morning my devotional scripture was from Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock; His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is!” I knew the Lord was watching over me and even said to the customs officer it had been a good thing to unpack my suitcase as now I could put some of my things into the smaller case which would even out the load. Indeed His ways are perfect.
I then made my way to the exit and found Gayle waiting for me with Joshua in the car. We then drove a little further to the domestic terminal to wait another hour for an Indonesian friend, Mega. We stopped en route back to the house to do some shopping and get their dinner. Jen and Ralf, who had also arrived at Gayle’s that day, greeted us as we arrived home. It was lovely to see them again. Gayle’s friend, Mega, picked up her car which she had left here and drove home.
It took me quite a while to unpack what was needed for the night and get my breakfast soaking overnight. I finally turned the lights out around 11pm. Waking around 7am having slept very badly, I was awake before the rest of the household so I worked on getting my latest blog posted. I then changed the VPN so that I could try to log into the Working With Children website to update my registration with them. I had tried several times in Australia, even calling and emailing them but to no avail. I had then tried in Thailand but was not able to access the website with a Thai VPN. This time I was able to pass the first step of their login. I was then asked if I wanted the code sent to my Australian phone number (no it’s been disconnected I’m using an e-SIM), a verification app or my email. I chose the email thinking it would be easier, but no. I was taken to another page where instead of my email address it had my login name which I couldn’t change so I clicked – verify. Error! Of course and yet it still didn’t allow me to enter my email address. I then went back a step and chose verification app hoping I had the right one. I was given a QR code which I scanned with my phone and opened the verification app I had previously downloaded for TAFE. Praise the Lord there was the code. Once into the WWC website I checked all my personal details and, yes my email was correct as was everything except my mailing address. Praise the Lord, if I hadn’t had so many challenges maybe I wouldn’t have checked my details and noticed the old PO Box mailing address which no longer exists and my WWC card would have been returned to sender. The Lord has a way of letting us know when things need doing. I completed my task before moving onto the next job.
When everyone had risen from their beds we all went to the church and later the House of Hope where Joshua and Ralf wandered from room to room taking note of what needed maintenance-work. Ralf has his own business, furniture making and repairs in Australia, and is a great handyman. At the church many of the windows didn’t close and needed latches. At the House of Hope they also needed latches and locks for bedrooms and office rooms; three doors needed new backs and fronts on the frames, hinges needed re-tightening, bottoms of doors planed back so they didn’t scrape on the floor, new light bulbs and starters for florescent bulbs, the plumbing needed urgent attention as the bathroom floors were not draining. It was a huge undertaking and much of the minor work was delegated to either the church members or the appropriate trade’s people. Ralf took a list he was going to work on and compiled a list of tools and material he would need.
While they were doing the inventory, I caught up with some of the members I know and wandered around looking at what had changed since I was last there. Between the two places we stopped at one of the Tiara shopping centres for lunch then on the way back to the house we stopped at a local market to stock up with fruit and vegetables. It is definitely not the season for durian here which was disappointing but I did find the bananas I like, pineapples and other tropical fruits. We had been out all day and I was exhausted so had an early night; well it was a bit earlier, as Bali is an hour behind Thailand, the same time zone as Perth.
I slept reasonably well that night and was up when Ibu Rosa, Gayle’s home help arrived. When she saw me she gave me the warmest greeting, praising the Lord for my safe return. By the time she had finished cleaning and hanging the washed clothes she joined Jen in the garden. This is Jen’s happy place, she had found the compost bin and a bag of compost with soldier fly lavae which made her very excited, showing them to Ibu Rosa. I had previously tried to encourage worms to enter our compost bin but it seems there aren’t any in the area and I hadn’t found where to buy them in Bali. Soldier flies are even better as they demolish much more than worms and even like meats and cooked matter. Jen also raised the bin so they would not escape into the ground. Later we moved the bin again back to where I had it originally, near the back door in the shade. In the meantime both Jen and Ibu Rose worked on the productive garden bed under Gayle’s window. The stones were removed and the contents of the compost bin dug into a trench ready for vegetables seeds, which Jen started in a new seed-growing media which Gayle had been given. Ibu Rose hacked back some overgrown vegetation while Jen trimmed back the avocado tree. Later Jen planted some long bean seeds which we bought with a couple of bags of compost for our new garden bed. Then with some old bamboo sticks made a tepee for them to grow up. In the middle of the tepee she planted a knob of ginger she had found in the garden.
I scrubbed the upstairs bathroom and toilet which wasn’t flushing properly and wouldn’t stop running. Eventually Ralf took out the part which we thought needed replacing but in the end put it back in as it didn’t look perished or broken and it helped for a while till Josh altered the flow.
The following day, Friday, I stayed at the house to catch up with come computer work and watched a bit of TV, while Jen, Ralf and Josh went to start work at the House of Hope. Together they were able to make headway on the list of maintenance projects but the plywood hadn’t been delivered which was needed to repair the doors. Gayle, who had been at her health appointment later arrived and took them to see the slum ministry where they sat on the ground with the children playing games. Before going home, each child was given a box of food; there was plenty of leftovers as many of the children were attending a Muslim festival elsewhere.
Our work gang were late coming back to the house. I had had a lovely quiet day; I’d started to clean through Gayle’s cupboards rearranging things and cleaning out old hoarded rubbish as Gayle is getting a brand new kitchen installed. Jen and Ralf were going to help with this but unfortunately Gayle was messed around by several companies who were supplying the cupboards and so it wasn’t going to be delivered till after Jen and Ralf’s departure. Still there was plenty of preparation needed, including making room for all the equipment and cupboards she already had, to make room for the workers putting in the new.
Over the past months Gayle has been working on her health and has lost so much weight on a new diet and herbal drinks. I’m so proud of her and the effort she had put into getting healthy. She looks amazing even though she still has a way to go.
Saturday while the world slept around me I posted my blog and finished off the community garden newsletter which I programed to go out on the 1st of August. Rising individually, the rest of the household woke to a busy day. Gayle had someone coming at 10am to collect some of the junk we had boxed up at the front of the house; a boy from House of Hope arrived to trim the lawn and Jen and Ralf worked on cleaning up the back area outside which is used as the laundry and storage area. So much was cleaned away then an old wooded four-poster bed frame was cut down and made into shelving for all the gardening equipment. I worked on emptying a pantry cupboard which was later moved out of the kitchen into the dining room, cleaned, repapered and restocked.
That evening was the home group meeting. People trickle in from 6pm to 7:30pm. Jen and Ralf had gone for a walk to stretch after all the physical work they had done and joined us just as we were finishing an ice-breaker game. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces especially Dwi as she and I have become very close. After the game we sang a few songs with Pastor Danny playing the guitar. There were about twelve of us in total. Food and drinks had been brought by several members which was eaten while watching an Alpha video on YouTube. This was my queue to retire for the night and a way to excuse myself so that I could pray for Jen, Ralf and one of the attendees who was not yet a believer. I heard later that Jen and Ralf has sat through most of it, I’m praying the seeds had been planted.
I slept well waking at 4am, plenty of time to get myself ready for Sunday church. Jen and Ralf decided they wanted to visit Ubud, she had down loaded an app which she could load up to use the local QR code including local buses. She also took my physical local pay-card which can also be used on the buses, just in case her app didn’t work. Gayle, Josh and I went to church where I was warmly greeted by all those who knew me. Dwi and I sat together at the back of the church, me with my noise-cancelling earphones reading her English notes from the sermon which was in Indonesian. She joined us for lunch after church when a group of Mega’s relatives and ourselves went for Korean BBQ. Josh, myself and Dwi sat at one table which was very low, we were later joined by Stanley who is Mega’s family from the States; he was a bit older than Joshua and got along well. Mega later asked if I would like to join Stanley and her on a day trip to Nusa Pedida. I was hesitant to go but knew Jen and Ralf were busy so agreed to join them.
Jen and Ralf were back at the house before us and were able to let the Muslim family in who had come for all the rubbish. Gayle knew them from the slum-rubbish-dump ministry. He had a truck and could take all the things we wanted to get rid of. They waited for us to arrive after loading the truck to say thank you to Gayle. It was wonderful to finally get rid of all the rubbish and extra items that had been stored at the back of the house. This made space for all the kitchen things that would need to be stored there during the new kitchen renovations.
Mega had arranged to pick me up from the house at 5:30am the next morning, which is a bit early for me. In preparation I made up my breakfast to take with me plus packed my bathers, a small hand towel and my hat. I took a sleeping tablet before and slept till 4am with plenty of time to get ready, and then I waited. She was 20mins late. We drove to where Stanley’s hotel was and waited again for him to come down to the foyer (even though he knew we were on our way!) Definitely flexi time here! Praise the Lord there were several boats per day but this did put us behind schedule the whole day. The fast boat took about an hour to get to the island after leaving at 8am. There was a driver waiting for us to take us to some of the tourist spots on the island. Around 10am I asked if we were stopping somewhere so I could eat my breakfast and was told we had only paid for four stops and I should eat in the car. Well, that was easier said than done as all the roads were full of potholes, winding over the hills and down into valleys. When we arrived at our first stop I was shocked at the amount of cars parked in the parking lot. Praise the Lord, He provided a tree for us to shelter under, in fact at every stop we had shade which was such a blessing as our car remained reasonably cool while we explored.
It was not the sort of place I would normally visit, with so many tourists and extremely steep access down sheer cliffs to the beach which was kilometres below us. We first visited Diamond beach where I looked for a decent coffee and found a café with a machine but it was out of order and they only had UHT (long life milk), not fresh so I declined. I waited while Mega and Stanley both descended some of the way down the cliff before returning to find me.
Another rough ride to Kelingking Beach. Oh no more crowds, more cliffs with beaches far below. The views were stunning but there was no way I was going to descend just for a swim. I’d never make it back up as even the walk down the path to the cafes and back up made me puff! That’s the problem when you only have 62% of your lung capacity! I was looking around for a café when the driver came up to me and said he knew where I could get a good coffee and led me to a cafe called Little Finger. I was delighted to see a coffee machine and chatted to the barista before finding a table in the shade to enjoy my beverage. It was already 1:30pm. Mega was wondering where I was as they had stopped to order fried bananas. As I was on the WiFi at the café I was able to send her a photo of the café so she could find me. We sat a while before descending to the lookout over the cliffs to take in the view. The islands stood bolt upright out of the sea surrounded by crystal clear aqua waters with white sandy beaches. It really was beautiful.
The next stop was Angles billabong where we walked along the top of the cliffs stopping at a small eatery where we ordered some lunch around 3:30pm. We hadn’t realised the time and had just finished when we saw our driver who had driven to the next spot to pick us up. He was looking for us and when he saw us, waved frantically for us to hurry. He drove as fast as he could on the hazardous roads passing slower vehicles where he could, racing to the port where we only just caught the last boat back to Bali. Mega then dropped Stanley at his uncle’s before driving me back to Gayle’s house. No one was home when we arrived so I was locked out. I messaged Jen who was just up the road having dinner with Ralf. We drove to where they were, stopped for a chat, picked up the key and Mega drove me back to the house. It had been another long day and I was drained.
I thought I’d crash out that night but it was the opposite. I was nearly asleep when I felt a cat on my bed! I had forgotten to close my window when I left in the morning and on my return saw cat prints on my bed. That night I think he returned but when I vigorously thrashed my feet around he got such a scare he jumped onto the cupboard making a loud noise before scurrying out the window. I was then wide awake and couldn’t sleep till after 2am! Even so I tossed and turned till finally got out of bed at 6am.
Tuesday Jen asked if I wanted to join them to fit the panels on the doors at House of Hope. It was her and Ralf’s last day and they wanted to get the doors finished as the plywood had been delivered. Josh drove us there and helped as we worked on the doors. Ralf had three panels of wood which we held together as he used the circular saw to cut them to size. We then sanded the edges before nailing them to the frames, covering the damaged ply beneath. The painting was left to the staff.
From here we took the tools back to the church then walked to a local store for lunch before returning to the house. There were workers fixing Gayle’s water dispenser which hadn’t been used for years. Praise the Lord it just needed a new pump. This would make replacing the water bottles easier as they could be put into the bottom of the machine instead of being lifted onto the chair which was used to raise the bottle to a reasonable height to access the spout.
We then all relaxed watching ‘The Shake’. It’s a beautiful movie which answers many of the curly questions about Christianity. I was quite surprised that Jen was actually the one who chose to watch it. I was praying all the way through it that the Lord would minister to her heart. Ralf who was resting in the bedroom soon came out to join us too. That evening Gayle took Jen and Ralf out for their farewell and thank you dinner with me and Josh. Before turning in that night Gayle and Josh bid Jen and Ralf farewell as they were leaving at 4am, I decided I would probably be up anyway, which I was as I awoke at 2:45am and decided to stay awake. I wasn’t sure when I’d see them again and waited with them for their Grab. Jen travels very light with only a 7kg backpack and small bag which she takes on as cabin luggage. I would love to be able to travel so light! After our goodbyes, I went back to bed and slept till 7am.
Wednesday was a catch up day on the computer; paying bills, catching up with emails and online messages, doing two loads of washing, cleaning up a bit and watching some Netflix’s while Josh and Gayle were out, not returning till I was in bed.
Photos: 1. Dragon Fruit flower 2. Me and Dwi 3. Saturday night home group 4. Jen and me fixing doors at House of Hope 5. Sunday lunch 6. Diamond Beach 7. Angel Billabong 8. Farewell Dinner for Jen and Ralf
Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for a safe journey and arrival into Indonesia and for reconnecting to my church family, my sister and Ralf here in Bali.
Praise the Lord Jen, Ralf, Josh were able to get most of the repairs done while they were here and for Jen and Ralf’s safe return to Darwin. Please pray for their journey by van back to Melbourne and that the seed of hope will germinate within their hearts.
Please pray that the Lord will keep me safe during my stay here in Bali and that I will be productive and a blessing to others and continue to grow in the Lord during my time here.
Pray for safe journey for our coming adventure in Bandung from 14th to 18th August, where Gayle and Josh are going for a church conference.
Please don’t forget to continue praying for the Karen families not only in Thailand but also left in Myanmar. Persecution continues as churches are not only bombed but landmines are placed within their grounds.
Pray for families who have applied for visas and permanent residency with their families abroad, especially Matt’s family in Mae Sot. Pray that they will be united with family soon. Pray also that, while they wait, their situation in Thailand will improve and that they will be able to provide for their families.