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...!

A Trip To A Volcano and Tea Plantation and Processing Plant

As we left Jakarta for the volcano, the Sun could hardly be seen through the smog; but, the road up the mountain is filled with beauty. Before we reached the top of the volcano, we stopped to visit the hot water coming out of the volcano. It was warm water, but cool enough for the people to bathe in. I'll show photos of the crater of the volcano in my next post. After visiting the volcano we drove through the tea plantation and toured the tea processing plant. 40 tons of tea leaves are processed every day but the 40 tons is reduced to 10 tons through the drying process. Tea from this plantation and processing plant is sold to Lipton. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day.