Halo from Lippo Karawaci, Indonesia!

Our trip- Rehoboth to Albuquerque to Dallas to San Francisco to Hong Kong to Singapore to Jakarta to Karawaci.

Highlights of the trip:
Meeting SPH Teachers (the White Family and Steven Pointdexter) on the plane in Hong Kong and enjoying time in Singapore with them (see posted photo below).

Being enfolded by a great community at SPH. From the moment we were met at the airport at SPH through tours of the school and shopping trips, our new community here has been Christ’s love to us. (I hope to write more about the SPH community later)

Lowlights of the trip:
Length of trip (see number of stop overs above)- At one point , Janet leaned over and said “I’m going to have to tell my mother I won’t be coming back, because I never want to be on a plane this long again”
There is a bad combination for many people, especially us: tired AND hungry. Weird schedules and weirder food (by Eric and Neil’s standards) has pushed us into this combination more than usual.

Misc. occurrences and observations:
· Singapore- the most watched place on Earth (as in Surveillance). When teaching kids about government, I often say a simple way of summarizing and comparing governments is to look at how they balance two different and opposite goals: freedom (rights) and order (protection). From what I understand, about 40 years ago, Singapore chose order ($1000 fines for chewing gum, littering and spitting, ect…). While extremely clean and neat, it also has an eerie sense of big brother (starting with guards at the airport carrying fully automatic weapons). It does, however put a smiling face on its restrictions (see picture below).

· We often prayed before the trip that God would go before us and prepare this place. We really have felt that this happened.