Hotel Once Flattened by the Earthquake 2005

The tsunami occurred Christmas Day, 2004; but, about 6 months later the island was shaken by an earthquake which damaged or destroyed many of the buildings on the island. Churches of Christ rebuilt several schools in the villages and put new tin roofs on almost all of our houses of worship on the island. Medical missions got involved and over a thousand cataract surgeries were performed in the months and years that followed. One of the medical missions was led by Jim Karl's organization called TEARS, while another was the work of Dr. J.C. Bailey and the Charis Foundation which still continues to work on Nias and also in the province of North Sumatra. When the earthquake occurred I was recovering from by-pass surgery in a hospital in Singapore; but, Dennis Cady was staying overnight in a two story hotel that all of us had stayed at before. To make a long story short, the hotel was flattened but Dennis was able to walk out bleeding but not too seriously injured. Below are photos of the hotel in its resurrected form. I'm happy they were able to rebuild it and I hope it stands a hundred years.

Educating the Poorest of the Poor

This is a work of Dennis Cady and I should have him write about these photos which attempt to include both the front and back buildings used to house 43 children. Some of the children are also pictured. All are of school age and attend a public school. They are from the poorest of the poor on the island of Nias and would probably be denied an education if it were not for this institution. There is also a building on the property where worship services are conducted. Dennis, if you wish to make comments, feel free to do so. I think you can do that by clicking below. Thanks.

Beach Front Apartment

There's nothing quite like sleeping near enough to the ocean to listen to the rhythm of the ocean waves and smell the salt air. Dennis Cady is and has been doing a great work on the island of Nias and purchased a large beach front property on which to build a new church building with several other buildings used as needed for different purposes. There is a room there where he usually sleeps and which was made available to Beng Chuan Tan and myself in his absence. We even had air conditioning for our comfort and hot water for our showers. Beng spent his free time sitting on a balcony overlooking the beach sending and receiving emails and short messages while I stayed in the room and rested. Thanks, Dennis, for making this room available to us. It was so much better than renting a hotel room, and thanks to all the brothers who provided transportation for us around the facilities we wanted and needed to visit. Keri picked us up at the airport and spent several hours with us while Jessie ferried us around the rest of the time. That was so appreciated. I also enjoyed visiting with Sechi whom I hope will visit us again in Jakarta soon. Here's an interesting side note about Jessie. It was his father T. Laiya who brought me to Nias in 1974 or about that time. Together we established the first two congregations on the island. So good to see the second generation taking up the work of his father. Jessie continues to be one of the dorm supervisors for the high school resident students in Gunung Sitoli and is also now acting as the director of the children's home a responsibility made necessary because of the untimely death of the 31 year-old former director. Our prayers are with the widow and her children as well as the home itself and all of the 86 or so congregations on the island.

Nias - Lunch & Supper By The Beach

Knowing that I don't eat carbohydrates if I can avoid it, Karnius Zalukhu (I call him Keri) took Beng Chuan Tan and me to a Chinese restaurant that serves Chicken Bakar, Babi Bakar and Ikan Bakar and such -- chicken, pork and fish cooked without flour or sugar. We loved it so much we went back for supper. The food was great but the view was even better. Part of the restaurant is actually extended out over the ocean. You have the clean salty smell of the ocean and the soft sound of the gentle waves coming in. So relaxing, so cool and refreshing...I could have stayed there all day. They also served me my favorite tea -- Sari Wangi. Life is good. God is great. His created universe is full of beauty.

The New Medan Airport -- Kualanamu

We arrived in Medan, North Sumatra, in 1968 via Polonia airport and continued to use it until this last trip in 2014. Now the city boasts a new facility called Kualanamu. The photos are of the interior of the international facility. It's beautiful, modern and in many ways more impressive than the Jakarta International airport. It's a great feeling to see the country progressing and improving.

Care for a snack?

The Main Hyway Through Gunung Sitoli, Nias

I love Nias. It is a beautiful island. One of the 17,000 islands that make up this fantastic country of over 300 million souls. When I first went there in 1974, there were few roads and none to the specific village we wanted to visit. We road a bus to the end of the line, crossing several bridges on the way -- each one a little less well maintained than the last one until the last bridge had only planks across a skeleton framework. Everyone got off the buss and walked across except the driver and myself. A spotter on the other side gave directions to the driver to keep all wheels on the planks and we made it safely across. Everyone got back on board only to get off at the next river which had no bridge at all. We forded that river and began our long walk up the river crossing it 13 times before reaching a village where we could spend the night. We continued our walk through the jungle and spent the next night in another village. Finally, on the 3rd day we reached our intended destination about 10:00 in the morning and immediately began answering Bible questions. The question/answer sessions went on all day and half way through the night. My friend T Laiya would answer questions for about 2 hours while I rested, then I would take over while he rested. At the end of about 2 weeks we established two congregations -- one in this village and one in the neighboring village. There's more to the story, but I'll save it for another time. This most recent trip was necessitated by the premature death of the director of the children's home in Gunung Sitoli, the capital city. The Pasir Pangang church in Singapore sent Beng Chuan Tan to deliver an offering to encourage and help the widow so I was invited to go along to help with language problems. I'm afraid I wasn't much help as the people on Nias prefer to speak Bahasa Nias which is a totally different language which I do not speak. Nevertheless, we were successful. Hopefully the widow and her family were encouraged; plus, we were afforded an opportunity to visit with some of the church leaders and future church leaders. There is no way I can tell you how much I enjoyed the trip and the opportunity to be back on the island. I was there several times in the early part of 2005 helping make preparations for medical missionaries who were on their way in response to the Tsunami of Christmas day 2004. I also helped with the medical mission effort of 2005 then went to Batam to teach a class at the Sekola Theologia Tinggi on that island but suffered severe angina the day before classes were to start and ended up having by-pass surgery in Singapore. Anyway, being back on the island is something I once thought I would never be able to do again. God is great and merciful. I love the island and I love the people. Here is a great BIG thank you to the brethren at the Pasir Pangang church, first of all, for their compassion and desire to help comfort and encourage the widow and her family; and, secondly, to invite me to go along. Thank you, Beng Chuan Tan for your leadership and all that you and the Pasir Pangang church are doing in Singapore. Your congregation is an inspiration to all of us in this part of the world and beyond. I'm not through. I'll send more photos and write more in future posts.

More photos of the volcano

These are of the crater. One is a panoramic of the whole crater while others show steam rising from one of the fumaroles, people on the rim at a distance, and some are closed over by the morning clouds. Years ago I visited this same volcano and purchased a desk top pen holder made from the mud at the bottom of the crater. It lasted over 40 years before crumbling to dust.

Snacks, dinner, tea and other gems

The following photos were taken while we were still at the volcano. Snacks anyone? Or chicken dinner? A lady cooks breadfruit and bananas and other goodies in her open air kitchen. If you want ice cream, 12,000 Rupiah is a tad more than 1 US Dollar. Daniel and I had some of the best tea ever in the restaurant where the chickens are hanging. I bought two bracelets made from carbon silicate for $6 each and 1 for $3. If I'm not mistaken carbon silicate is a diamond before all the heat and pressure. So if that is true, then these are diamond bracelets in the making. Will my wife be impressed...!