The Old House is Still Standing

My oldest granddaughter has been working with a congregation in Singapore for the past 6 weeks and came to Indonesia for the last 2 weeks of her summer. I met her in Medan, North Sumatra, and we spent one day looking at places where her father lived when he was a boy. The house in Medan itself has been torn down to make room for the enlargement of the central market of the city; but, the other house is located up in the mountain area among the Karo Batak people near a city named Berastagi. The house used to be out in the country all by itself, but now is surrounded by thousands of people in a whole new city. I didn't recognize the area when I saw it. My first thought was that they had sold the property to make room for some of the businesses that make up the new city, but as we were going by, I noticed the house partially hidden behind some trees and bushes. We stopped the car and I took some photos of the old house. It was like meeting an old friend. We have so many memories of that house and the events that took place in it or around it. I was very pleased to see that it was still standing and that it had been improved upon and was still well maintained. My granddaughter and I didn't ask to go in, that wasn't necessary. It was enough just to see that the house was still there. Even the large yard where the children used to play has remained unchanged. The swimming pool in the back looks to have been covered over, at least, and perhaps even filled in. I don't know; but, when we lived there we covered it over and used it for a classroom where Jeanie taught school to our children using the Calvert Correspondence Courses. These are some of the photos of the house and the yard.