Ask the Woods Wednesday #6 /  by Kali Wood

“What has been the most challenging aspect of living there?”
— Barb W.

Laurel says that the most challenging part of living here is missing her friends back in the States, especially those that she made during our time living at the Seminary. Her second thought is not having access to a library with English books.

Eleanor says that there is no snow at Christmas time. On other occasions when I have asked her what is difficult about living here she has told me that she wishes she had the freedom to run around outside more. She’s specifically thinking about our time at the Seminary when she could roam around the Seminary grounds to find friends to play with. She would wake up, eat breakfast, find some friends outside and we’d see her again around dinner. Those were her perfect days.

Caroline didn’t seem to have an answer for this question, but as I’ve heard her talk about missing her friends from the Seminary, I think that might be her challenge.

Kali: I think finding my place in this new culture has been a challenge. I will always be an American, but now I’m an American who isn’t very connected to America. I live here in Indonesia but I’m not Indonesian. Even if I learned everything there is to know about Indonesian culture, I will always be seen as a "bule” here. It’s difficult knowing you’ll never quite fit in inside any culture anymore.

Matt: The annual work visa renewal process is the most challenging thing about living here. We have to essentially ask the government for permission to live and work here for another year. There’s always added stress around that time of year (now) when we anxiously await the approval.

Ask the Woods Wednesday #5 /  by Kali Wood

“Are people there as connected to electronics as they are here in the States?”
— Cindy W.

There are some large similarities between technology use in Indonesia and the United States as well as some large differences.

Some similarities are that just like in the States, most people 12 years old and above have cell phones and spend a lot of their time on them. They spend time on many of the same platforms as Americans: TikTok, Youtube, Instagram, Netflix, Facebook, and so whatever else is trendy these days. They are just as addicted to their phones and technology as Americans.

Here are some of the differences that we have noticed over the years here:

First off, most homes do not have computers in them. No laptops, no desktops, not even tablets Quite a few don’t even have a TV. People are content with just using their phones. This seemed crazy during the pandemic when kids were doing school on line and they had to do it in front of mom or dad’s tiny cell phone screen instead of on a laptop or tablet. But parents made it work.

Second, there are cell phone towers everywhere. Even the jungle and tiny islands have towers so that you can be connected to the internet almost everywhere. You may think that is not something so different, but remember, Indonesia is made up of 17,000 islands. That’s a lot of area to cover.

Third, cell phone service is affordable and there are no contracts. SIM cards are easy to purchase and plans can be purchased daily, weekly or monthly. They can include minutes, SMS messages and data or just data. Most people just purchase data plans and use services like WhatsApp for calling, texting and videocalls.

I will say that I see a lot more people actually talking on their phones here than in the States. While people do send text messages, there is still a lot of people who actually talk on their phones, which I see less and less of in the States.

Ask the Woods Wednesday #4 /  by Kali Wood

“Was learning the language difficult?”

Both Matt and I will agree that learning Indonesian was not difficult. But we wouldn’t qualify it as easy, either.

The language itself is pretty easy. It uses the Roman alphabet and each letter makes the same sound with very few exceptions.

When we first moved to Sumatra in 2019, we enrolled in language classes right away. Matt and I were in class together and we had 6 units to complete. Each unit was 4 weeks long. We had class 2 hours a day and 5 days per week. Each day we were expected to spend 2 hours after class interviewing the locals and practicing our verbal skills and 2 hours on our written homework and general studying. So for about 6 months our full-time job was learning Indonesian. While we were exhausted during this time, the schedule made it easy for us to learn the language because we were constantly immersed in it.

Matt and I on our way to our last language class on March 20, 2020.

Let’s fast forward to almost 5 years later. How are we doing with language now?

Matt has retained most of his language skills and has added to his vocabulary exponentially. He even did some translating when other LCMS workers came to Medan for our family retreat in January.

My language has definitely lessened. I am good with everyday tasks and getting around, but I struggle having an in depth conversation in Indonesian. I’m hoping to go back to “school” for a language unit this summer when I have a break from teaching the kids to help me improve.

Laurel has even take a language unit with other expat kids last spring. It was a good introductory course for her and taught her the basics. She is more willing to ask how to say things in Indonesian and to try and figure out Indonesian signs when we are out and about.

What do you want to know next? Please comment with a question for next week’s installment of “Ask the Woods Wednesday.”

Ask the Woods Wednesday #3 /  by Kali Wood

“What is your favorite Indonesian food?”

Matt: If I have to choose just one: Ayam Sambal or Ayam Gebrek. It’s basically fried chicken with sambal and rice. But I have some favorites that I’ve only ever had at restaurants. One favorite is called Sate Andaliman. It’s grilled chicken skewers with a very spicy sambal sauce made with andaliman peppers.

Kali: There is a dish made up of shrimp and tempe covered in sambal (chili sauce) served with yellow rice that has become my favorite. It is simple but delicious. I have come to crave the sambal here. While you can find jars of it in the States, homemade sambal is the best!

Laurel’s favorite non-sweet dish is a simple chicken soup. It has celery leaves in it instead of actual celery pieces and is a little peppery tasting. While Indonesians eat it with rice, she likes to dunk bread in it.

Eleanor’s favorite food is Soto Ayam which is a chicken soup in a coconut broth. She calls it the “green chicken” because it’s often made with pandan leaves boiled in the broth which gives it a green tinge. This may also be Kermit’s favorite food. He eats more than one helping when we have this for lunch.

Caroline’s favorite Indonesian food is simple fried chicken. Often fried chicken here is served with sambal sauce and rice, but Caroline is happy with just the chicken, rice and some ketchup.

All of the girls favorite dessert is one called Bolu Kemojo from the Riau province. If you’re interested here is a recipe for it, but you’ll have to use Google Translate since I couldn’t find a faithful recipe in English.

Ask the Woods Wednesday #2 /  by Kali Wood

Here’s our second installment of Ask the Woods Wednesday!

“What seems weird now when you visit America?”
— Anne G.

Matt’s response:

When we first arrived in Medan I was shocked by the chaos. It seemed like there were no rules. Food being sold wherever anyone could set up a stand. Traffic moving according to a mysterious rythm. And it was dirty. Now that we have made this city our home I have grown to understand it all better and to love it. When we are back in the States it's shockingly clean and orderly. It seems sterile and while it makes some things easier it does seem strange and I often long for the chaos of the streets of Medan.

Kali’s response:

When I am in America, I am always surprised by not hearing the call to prayer 5 times a day. In Medan, it is broadcast from every mosque in the city. We have 3 within walking distance of our house, so it gets pretty loud. It has become embedded in the background of our every day life. When we are the States it seems quiet.

Connected to Islamic culture, I’m always very aware of the lack of clothes people wear in the States. We have become accustomed to seeing girls and women dress in very modest clothes despite the heat, humidity and lack of appropriate air conditioning. Even bathing suits are long sleeved and often accompanied by leggings.

Laurel’s response:

All the people with white skin and not having to speak Indonesian (such as: Permisi=excuse me, terima kasih=thank you, sama-sama= you’re welcome, and maaf=I’m sorry.)

This is Kali’s commentary on Laurel’s response: While there are quite a few bule (white people) living in Medan, we don’t see them often when we are out and about. If we see a bule at the store, we do a double take. Unless we are intentionally meeting up with friends we are not likely to see anyone with white skin.

Ask the Woods Wednesday /  by Kali Wood

Welcome to our first installment of “Ask the Woods Wednesday”. Each week we will post an answer to a question that you have submitted. If you have a question for next week, please post it in the comments.

“What is the best thing about where you live?”
— Submitted by Anne G.

Laurel says:

Friends, going to malls, swimming pools and taking weekend trips.

Eleanor says:

Friends, going to the pool, and the cats in the neighborhood

Caroline says:

Friends and gymnastics class.

Kermit thinks:

While he doesn’t talk yet, my guess would be the abundance of bananas here and our cat, Ginger.

Kali says:

Hands down, my favorite thing about Indonesia is the people. Indonesians have been so kind and friendly to us ever since we arrived. They are gracious with our language or cultural mistakes. They dote on our children. While we stick out wherever we go, we have always felt welcome.

My second favorite thing in this country is the food. I enjoyed mildly spicy food before we arrived here and now I crave the spicy dishes that are made here.

Matt says:

What I like best about lining in Indonesia is the opportunity to teach those who joyfully desire to learn about and proclaim the story of Jesus' death and resurrection for us. The humility and friendliness of the people here combined with the deep faith in Christ that the Christian minority has is inspiring. I also enjoy that so much of Indonesia remains very local. Each city provides it's own unique foods and customs that have not yet been corporatized which makes for unique discoveries and experiences everywhere you go.

U.S. Holidays in Indonesia /  by Kali Wood

During this time of year we are often asked by our supporters what Thanksgiving and Christmas look like in Indonesia.

Let’s start with Thanksgiving. As Thanksgiving is a purely American holiday, it is not celebrated in any public way. The only way you might notice Thanksgiving is approaching here is seeing 1 or 2 frozen turkeys in the grocery store.

While it is not publicly celebrated here, we celebrate it. This year we invited some South African friends over for dinner. It was a delight to share our traditions and food with them in this place. It made a plain Thursday into something more festive for them. We cooked almost all of the traditional foods. We bought one of the few frozen turkeys in town (which I didn’t read the price right and paid WAY too much for). We had sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie. I even made a special, last minute trip to the one store in town that sells cranberry sauce, but I forgot to put it on the table for the meal. Whoops.

Serving up pumpkin pie to the kids.

Onto Christmas….

If you drive around town or do any shopping you will know Christmas is coming. There are Christmas trees in front of stores, Christmas music throughout the stores, signs with candy canes, Santa hats, or snowflakes on them and big displays in the malls. But it is still miniscule compared to the U.S. displays. There are no special Christmas light displays. It’s just a different feeling.

We have found a few wintery things in town. Two malls have installed ice skating rinks. One mall has a “snow” playground. I’m pretty sure it’s a whole lot of shaved ice for kids to play in.

The ice skating rink at one of the malls.

We will celebrate with friends by having a Christmas cookie exchange and on Christmas Eve we have invited some friends over for the kids to decorate gingerbread cookies. Christmas day we will attend church and have a meal with the other LCMS family working with us in town.

What are your Christmas traditions?

How do you do it? /  by Kali Wood

A question that I (Kali) am asked often is “How do you do it?” Sometimes this refers to homeschooling, sometimes it refers to bearing the heat of living near the equator, but lately it has referred to traveling with young kids to the other side of the world. So here’s my post about how it’s done.

As we’ve done this trip 6 times as a family, we have learned a few things.

  1. Less is more. Our children are content to watch the movies that are on the plane or play on iPads when they aren’t sleeping on the flights. Only Laurel is an independent reader, so she will bring a chapter book. This trip’s book of choice was “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” If we bring anything else it creates arguments and clutter.

  2. Don’t force sleeping or eating. When one travels for 40 hours, sleep is bound to happen. If the kiddos are happy watching a movie, we don’t force a nap because we think it’s time for a nap. Same goes with meals. My kids are rarely hungry for the meals when they come around on the flight. We let them eat what they like from it and leave it at that. Airplane food (as most of you know) is not great, and even less so to tired, picky eaters.

  3. Lots of patience. Patience for everyone. It’s helpful for Matt and I to trade off parenting when one of us is over-stressed, the other can come in with more patience. (Usually this is me being overly stressed with high emotions while traveling and Matt being calm, cool and collected.) Traveling is hard, moving is hard, and our little ones don’t have the emotional maturity to handle it well all the time (sometimes neither do I). The more patience we can give them, the happy we all are.

  4. Jet-lag is real. They say that it takes one day for every hour that you’re adjusting from to get over jet lag. That would be 13 days for us. Luckily, it usually takes us about a week to really get back on the right schedule. In that first week, sleeping happens at odd hours and odd places. Our first night back we went to bed by 5pm and woke up at 3am. Breakfast was made by 3:30am and we just got on with our day, like it was not the middle of the night. We don’t plan more than one major activity per day for the first week we are back, and it always happens in the morning. We just never know how we will feel after 3pm.

We love living here, but we don’t love the long flights it takes to get here. We are thankful that our kids are super travelers. They look forward to long flights, walking through airports and packing their own backpacks for the trips.

Above are pictures of the girls enjoying a 6 hour layover in the Singapore airport. (Not shown is the 1 hour nap we took at an empty gate).

This is a bassinet that they attach to the wall right in front of my seat. It’s a life saver traveling with an infant. While he is awake in this photo, he spent most of his time sleeping throughout the flights.

More Pictures! /  by Matthew Wood

I recently sent out a newsletter in which I promised pictures of our Son, Kermit. I realize that I have only posted one picture when I made the birth announcement. So here are a few others. Since Kermit’s birth our family has been doing some traveling to raise support for the ministry in Indonesia. I have included some other pictures from our travel as well.

Kermit Lawrence /  by Matthew Wood

Our son, Kermit Lawrence Wood, was born on the commemoration of Saint Lawrence, August 10, 2022. We chose his name, Kermit, after my paternal grandfather. Kermit was baptized on the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, August 14, 2022 at Concordia Lutheran Church in Maplewood.

Once we receive his birth certificate from Saint Louis County we will apply for his passport, and once we have his passport we will be heading back to Indonesia. Our tentative date of departure is October 24.

A Tale of Two Cultures /  by Matthew Wood

I have just returned to Medan from Tuapeijat, Indonesia where the GKLI hosted a preaching workshop and graciously invited me to be the main presenter. I hope to write a brief update on that soon, but what’s on my mind right now are the conversations I had with the GKLI leadership and pastors about cultural differences between Indonesians and Westerners.

The following story (my very brief scan of the internet suggests it comes out of Brazil) gets to some of what we were talking about, though I don’t think it adequately gets to the cause of the differences.

Once a fisherman was sitting near the seashore, relaxing under the shadow of a tree smoking his beedi. Suddenly a rich businessman passing by approached him and enquired as to why he was sitting under a tree smoking and not working. To this the poor fisherman replied that he had caught enough fish for the day.

Hearing this confused the rich man who then replied, “Why don’t you catch more fish instead of sitting in shadow wasting your time?”

Fisherman furrowing his brow, and inquired, “Why should I spend my time catching more fish?”

Exasperated as though the answer was obvious, the rich man responded, “If you had more fish you could sell them and earn more money.”

Puzzled the fisherman puffed on his beedi and directing his gaze to the sea asked “Why do I need more money?”

The business man swung his hand toward the modest boat drawn up on the beach and said, “With more money you could get a better boat.” Anticipating another objection he continued, “You could go fishing in deeper waters and catch even more fish and earn even more money.”

The fisherman rested his back upon the palm tree and wondered out loud, “What would all that money buy me?”

The business man looking to the sand and massaging his brow explained, “You could buy more boats and go into business and become successful like me.”

The fisherman responded, “What would success bring?”

The business man almost chuckling to himself explained, “After a few years of hard work and dedication you could earn enough to retire and enjoy your life peacefully.”

The fisherman put his hands behind his head and took in the ocean breeze and answered, “But that’s what I am doing right now.”

A quick reflection on this story concludes that the moral is money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness and one does not need wealth to enjoy life peacefully. And that is probably a moral of this story, but I think it has more potential than that. While the story doesn’t explicitly say that the businessman is a westerner and the fisherman is a native of the tropics, I think assuming that fact helps to draw out major cultural differences which I have seen at work between western expats in Indonesia—like my family and me—and the native Indonesians.

I have frequently heard westerners here make the observation that Indonesians do what they need to get by, but they don’t do what they need to thrive. Implying that if they worked just a little harder they could improve their quality of life. It’s two different definitions of ‘thrive’ that this story draws out.

Our definitions of success are much different. I think they are influenced by the reality of harsh winters. Think of the stories we hear and tell our whole lives. Stories about ants and grasshoppers teaching that we must work hard in the Summer to have enough for the winter. This instills in us a very long term view of success. It is natural to see success as something that only comes after years of hard work and planning. Indonesians don’t tell those stories because there is no winter to demand long term food storage. The land is continually producing. It seems that their definition of success and their definition of ‘thriving’ is more short term than ours. We might call that lazy, and we’d be wrong. I wonder what they would call our definition of success and thriving?

Leaving so soon? Part 2- Caroline's Birth /  by Kali Wood

Here is part 1 of “Leaving so soon?” and it contains no birth story, just a simple explanation of why we are returning to the States for a few months.

If you’d like to hear more about Caroline’s birth and why this solidified our decision to have baby #4 in the U.S., read on. Don’t worry it’s not a graphic birth story, just some of the incidents that helped us make our decision.

One of our first visits with my Indonesian OBGYN, we asked if Matt could be present in the O.R. with me. The doctor said that traditionally that is not the case but since we are “bule” (foreigners) it would be allowed. Unfortunately, this did not happen. As they were wheeling me in to the O.R. for my anesthetics they told Matt that he was not allowed to join me, leaving me slightly frightened and him more than worried.

Once in the O.R. things went smoothly at first. Caroline was delivered within just 20 minutes. I met her, saw them weigh her and had a quick snuggle before they took her to get cleaned up. But I noticed that it was taking a while to sew me up. The doctors didn’t tell me anything and I remember looking at the clock and noticing that at least 25 minutes had passed since Caroline arrived. They should be done soon, I thought.

The next thing I know I wake up in a room full of 20+ beds with no one around me. No Matt. No Caroline. No nurses nearby. I look at the clock and realize 2 hours have passed. I realize they must have put me under general anesthetic (without telling me) and something must have gone wrong. Due to horomones, confusion, and fear I began crying and asking “Di mana bayimu?” (Where is my baby?) because I don’t know enough Indonesian to ask all the other questions going on in my head. A nurse politely told me to be patient and wait.

30 minutes later they brought me to my room where Matt was waiting. They wheeled Caroline in after that. During my 2 hours in the recovery room, Matt got a glimpse of Caroline as they wheeled her out of the O.R. and down the nursery. They did not tell him what was going on or let him spend those 2 hours bonding with Caroline.

My OBGYN came in for a follow up later that day while Matt was picking up Eleanor and Laurel to come and meet Caroline. He told me that the complication was due to my previous C-Sections. My uterus had adhered to my abdominal wall. This didn’t affect delivery but closing up they had to un-adhere them and do some extra stitching. He told me I shouldn’t have any more babies because that is likely to happen again. I would just like to point out that he told me this just hours after I was under on general anesthetic, on some heavy pain meds, and my husband wasn’t. By the time Matt arrived with the girls, I couldn’t remember what exactly the doctor had told me. Luckily he told me again when I was discharged 2 days later.

All in all, I’m thankful that myself and Caroline were healthy but I would not like to go through any of that again. I will stick with a doctor that I trust who will communicate with me clearly (and in my own language) and where I feel comfortable and safe.

Leaving so soon? /  by Kali Wood

We get this question from both our friends here in Indonesia and our friends in the U.S.: “You just got back to Indonesia, after such a long wait, why are you returning to the U.S. so soon?”

The simple answer is: to have a baby.

We delivered Caroline in Indonesia in 2019, after only 3 months of living there and let’s just say… it was difficult. There were medical complications due to her being my 3rd C-section and the standard of care here is less than ideal. After delivering Caroline my Indonesia OBGYN told me that I shouldn’t have any more children because delivering them was too difficult. Upon returning to the States in 2020, I visited my St. Louis OBGYN who after a thorough check-up said it was just fine to have more children and he wouldn’t be worried delivering them.

And so, when we found out we were expecting another blessing, the choice had to be made: try and find a new OBGYN in Indonesia who doesn’t mind performing a 4th C-section or come back to the U.S. where we know we have a trusted doctor. The choice seemed easy for us.

Yes, we could have just stayed in St. Louis until the baby was born and received his/her passport and visa instead of returning to Indonesia for only 2 months. Had we done that, we would have been stateside for a total of 23 months. I don’t think Matt’s or my mental health could have handled that. We dearly wanted to get back to our home and life in Indonesia. These last 2 months in Indonesia have been so uplifting for Matt and I. We have reconnected with friends, co-workers and the people we have come to serve. Matt has accomplished so many things in this short period of time. It’s been a blessing to be here, and it will help us get through the next 4.5 months of being Stateside.

Please continue to pray for us as we say goodbye to our Indonesian home on Thursday, June 2nd and arrive to our temporary St. Louis home on Saturday, June 4th. Pray for safe flights, lots of rest and low stress. Continue to keep baby and me in your prayers as I embark on my 3rd trimester and we await baby’s arrival in early August.

If you’d like to know more about what some of those complications that were involved with Caroline’s birth, you can read about them in my follow-up blog post: www.theseaside.asia/blog/2022/5/27/leaving-so-soon-part-2-carolines-birth

Happy Eid! /  by Kali Wood

We arrived at the start of Ramadan. The end of Ramadan is called Idul Fitri (or Eid), which was celebrated last week. Most people take a 7-10 day holiday from about 2 days before Eid until the following Friday or Saturday. Throughout these 10 days, people go visit their kampungs (or hometowns/villages) or stay home and have friends and family visit.

Our helper did a combination of both. Her and her family took a short vacation out of town and now have returned to entertain friends, family and neighbors. The girls and I were blessed to be invited to her home today for a time of visiting and delicious food.

We entered her modest home and sat on the floor while her children brought in drinks, snacks and plates. We were kindly given spoons (but most Indonesians do not use them and just eat with their hands). On the menu was Roti Jala which the girls enjoyed plain and I covered in delicious chicken curry and acar. There was kerupuk bawang (homemade onion chips), telur gabus (cheese sticks), and my favorite Kue Nastar (pineapple cookies). The girls politely tried everything but enjoyed the telur gabus the most.

I enjoyed the time to chat with our helper in her own home during this visit. While I chat with her at our home often, there is something special that happens when someone else invites you into their home. The visit was short, maybe an hour total, but it was worth the trip.

Wait, wait, wait.... NOW GO! /  by Matthew Wood

Our story may be unique in the details, but generally we are not experiencing anything new for others involved in international ministry. The stresses of visa applications and how life gets worked up into a frizzy when it comes time to travel internationally is what I am specifically referring to right now. As I write this I realize that we leave in 5 days and 15 hours. There is so much activity that is going to happen in that time and then when we into Indonesia there will be more activity to follow. We are going to need prayers and the prayer needs will likely change daily. Check back to this specific blog entry for updates. I will try to update our progress here. I have also allowed comments here if you would like to leave a word of encouragement or ask a question.

Saturday, March 26, 2022:

Franticly packing today and preparing to preach tomorrow. We are realizing how much we have acquired during our time here in the States. Our girls are saying good-bye to a lot of toys and I am saying good-bye to a lot of books! Prayer requests: that the Lord grant us focus and energy to keep up with everything that needs to be done in the next few days.

Sunday, March 27, 2022.

We had a day of rest and relaxation with friends today. I preached and lead Bible Study at Concordia Lutheran Church in Maplewood, MO followed by a quiet afternoon and a good-bye dinner with some close friends. The calm before the storm.

Monday, March 28, 2022 -

3 days and 14 hours from the writing of this update to our scheduled take off.

Today it finally hit, the pure crazy of getting everything ready to go. We began the day by organizing everything into stay and go piles. From there we began to pack. We also worked to reset some of the rooms of our apartment back to the condition it was in when we arrived.

An additional stressor that we have been dealing with is some identity theft. In January someone decided buy four or five iphones using my credit. Today I finally got that resolved with the cell phone company that let it happen. Thinking that was all resolved I got a brand new debit card in the mail!! The thing is it was for an account that I did not open. So some time today has been dedicated to getting that taken care of. Apparently this happens a lot because the customer support for these companies is tremendously efficient. Almost no time on hold today. Thank God for that at least.

Newest Baby Wood in the family. Ultrasound tech said that baby was stubborn.

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

As I write this—on Wednesday morning—we leave in 2 days and 36 minutes. Yesterday was a big day. We made a lot of progress packing, and most impressively we were nice to each other the whole time.

We also had the joy of going to the doctor for an ultrasound. This routine checked showed that everything is normal and healthy with the baby! Praise God!

March 30, 2022

As I sit down to write this on Thursday morning we have one day and 37 minutes. Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity. We were all tested for covid-19 at 7:30 a.m.. The results should be in sometime today, which is certainly cutting it close, but its the only way to do it. After that we dropped Eleanor off at Pre-K, went to chapel at the seminary, picked up an Enterprise car rental, returned our Righteous rides rental—which was an hour away. We finally got back to the apartment at about 2:00 p.m. and continued to pack until 5:45 when we went to Lenten Service at Concordia in Maplewood, MO.

For me a general stress and anxiousness will loom large over my attitudes and emotions as we wait for the covid-19 tests to come back. They need to come back in time and they need to come back negative. That will be a huge relief. And then there’s always the question of will the airlines let us on the plane. In the era of covid-19 any random form can be asked for at any time and if you don’t have it or didn’t know about it your journey is brought to an end immediately. So that’s what’s stressing me out today. Pray that everything goes smoothly today as we get the last of our stuff organized and packed/put away, and pray for our travels.

March 31, 2022

Too much to do, too little time to do it. A frenzy of packing today. Eleanor’s last day of pre-school. The biggest stress today was that Total Access Care and Quest Diagnostics lost Kali’s covid-19 sample and then just told her that it was in process. All the test results were delayed, I ultimately ended up going to Total Access and having them print the test results out for me after lunch and that’s when I found out there was a problem with Kali’s test. They said just wait… NO THANKS! We’ve had enough of following that advice. We found another pharmacy that produced results within the hour. (Total Access never did produce results for Kali—I’m sure they will have not problem processing the bill for insurance though).

We were all packed and ready to go by about 9:30.

April 1, 2022

TODAY IS THE DAY! Laurel and I left for the airport in our car rental at about 4:15 a.m. Kali followed with a neighbor at about 4:45. And so it began 35 hours of travel.

  • 5:00 a.m. Check in and document review (5 Visas, 5 Covid-19 tests, 4 vaccine cards, 5 passports, hotel reservation, flight itinerary) goes well in Saint Louis. Flight for Dallas takes off on time, no problems!

  • 10:00 a.m. off the plane in Dallas, documents checked again still not problem. Quick meal at Chick-Fil-A. We board the plane to Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan. This is our big 13 hour flight. Turns out they had the wrong plane for this flight. They had rows booked up to about 45, but there were only 38 rows. Luckily our tickets weren’t affected, but man it sounded stressful for a lot of people. Our family was split for this flight, I took Eleanor and Kali took Laurel and Caroline.

2 April 2022

  • 3:00 p.m. (Tokyo time) arrive at Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. This airport experience was absolutely awful. It began with our third document check. These took hardly any time at all in Saint Louis and Dallas. In Narita Airport I waited in line for the entirety of our 3 hour layover. We had a brief scare when the lady behind the corner noticed that Eleanor’s last vaccine was within two weeks and according to Indonesia travel requirements you can’t travel to Indonesia until two weeks AFTER your latest vaccination. We worked around it by mentioning that technically 5-year-olds are not required to be vaccinated to enter. So we just took back her vaccination card and promised not to show it to anyone in Indonesia. Kids took the wait like champs.

  • 6:00 p.m. (Tokyo time) We board the plane to Jakarta. We have passed all the document checks, we are on the plane into Indonesia! CAROLINE THROWS UP as we walk through first class to our seats. Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. The stewardesses are quick to help, but then they start talking quarantine and taking temperatures—good thing you don’t need a normal blood-pressure to enter. That all calms down by the time we take off and the rest of the flight presents no challenges.

3 April 2022

  • 1:00 a.m. Jakarta time. We’re there! We get off the plane and go through our fourth document check at the Jakarta Airport. I am amazed at how smoothly everything goes. There were no hiccups, no tears during the covid-19 tests, no long lines at immigration, no questions or interviews regarding my work visa. Everything was efficient and straight-forward.

  • 2:00 a.m. Get to baggage claim all our bags are there waiting for us. I get an alert on my phone, our hotel reservations have been cancelled. I don’t want to make a new reservation, so I gamble. I don’t mention it to anyone, get a taxi to the hotel.

  • 2:45 a.m. I hand the Hotel concierge a printed copy of my reservation and prepare myself for the worst. We get checked in without a hitch and are in our rooms trying to rest by 3:00. Whew. I get an email wondering why we didn’t show up at our hotel… meh, a problem for another day.

Thank you for all your prayers as we have traveled to Indonesia. It’s great to be back. We still have one more flight to book, Jakarta to Medan, but first we are going to rest for a day here at the hotel.

Why a PhD? /  by Matthew Wood

Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, MO

I was recently accepted into the Doctor of Philosophy program at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis (CSL). My concentration will be Theology and culture. Obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy degree has been in the back of my mind since college. I haven’t pursued it until now mainly because I didn’t have a noble enough reason. Yes, to have my name followed by Ph.D. was tempting, but getting any degree just to get one isn’t a suitable reason nor is it a recipe for success. Additionally, I didn’t have a passion for any specific area of study and I have seen ambitious young men and women begin a PhD program before they have a topic of interest. It makes the program more challenging.

So what changed? To put it succinctly, our family’s time in Indonesia. The Church here is remarkable. She is a minority, only making up 10% of the population, but she is joyful. I believe we who have grown up and participated in the life of the Church in American can learn a great deal from the Church in Indonesia, especially as we become more of a minority. So I hope my time in the CSL PhD equips me to listen to the Church in Indonesia and bring her voices into our theological conversation.

The PhD program will—already has—help me more faithfully and effectively accomplish the goals of our ministry with the Gereja Kristen Luther Indonesia (GKLI). One central aspect of our ministry in Indonesia is to mentor and teach. One can hardly do this effectively without first having the tools and the skills necessary to listen, discern, and begin to know the people and culture in which he works. I believe that the CSL PhD program will upgrade the tools I have and sharpen my skills.

How will this impact ministry in Indonesia? Our family will continue to live and work in Indonesia throughout the program. I will travel to CSL for two weeks in January and two weeks in June each year until my course work is completed, which should be in January of 2024. After course work comes examinations, dissertation research, and writing. The timeline on completion varies greatly I don’t want to offer over optimistic estimates. Ultimately, though, the program is built so that ministry can not only continue during the studies and writing, but also benefit from them.

The goals of the Theology and Culture concentration, as listed in the CSL Academic Catalogue are “to apply theologically critical thinking to questions of contemporary cultural importance, in order to articulate and to foster theologically sound responses and practices in the church.” These goals parallel nicely with the goals of our ministry outlined above and so the time is right to enter the program.

Good News and Not-So-Good News /  by Kali Wood

Let’s start with the Not-So-Good News…

Some of you may have heard us talk about returning to Indonesia soon. Unfortunately, we will not be able to return until April. Why the delay, you may be asking yourself. A few weeks ago we sent in our payment for our visas. For a Social/Cultural visa the turn around from there is 10-14 days. So we were actively preparing to leave soon. We were giving away the things that we had acquired over the year, putting books in storage and seeing family for the last time.

Instead of receiving an email last week with our visas in it, we received an email informing us that our work visas won’t be ready until April. Our sponsoring Indonesian organization applied for a work visa for us straightaway instead of having us enter Indonesia with a Social/Cultural visa and switching over to a work visa while in country. In the end, this is a smart call on their part. It will cost less, and it guarantees us that we can stay and work there for a full year with the ability to renew it each year while we stay in country.

Please continue to pray for us as we readjust our mindset and prepare to stay in the US for another 2 months.

Now onto the Good News…

Good News #1:

Matt began PhD classes at Concordia Seminary- St. Louis this month. While we are living on the Seminary campus right now, he is enrolled in the distance program. He will have two week long intensive classes in June and January for the next 18 months here on campus, but do most of the work for his classes on-line leading up to each in-person session. Once we return to Indonesia it will take a bit of traveling back and forth for Matt but it will be well worth it.

Please pray for Matt as he begins his studies again.

Good News #2…

For Christmas this year we found out that I am pregnant! While it wasn’t quite what we were expecting and the timing isn’t perfect, we’ve learned to just roll with things in the last 2 years. And a baby is the best blessing, no matter the timing. Baby is due early August and we won’t find out the gender until baby arrives. (But we’re guessing it’s a girl).

Good News #3….

The Nelson family has arrived in Medan after spending 5 days in quarantine in Jakarta. We are so thankful to have teammates join us on the field (even though we aren’t on our field right now). The are settling into their apartment and dove right into language classes. If you want to find out more about the Nelson family, check out their page:

Please pray for their adjustment to the new culture and for their success in ministry.

The New Bishop of the GKLI /  by Matthew Wood

GKLI central office in Sihabong-habong.

Just before returning to America I had the opportunity to meet with the new leadership of The Gereja Kristen Lutheran Indonesia (The Indonesian Christian Lutheran Church—GKLI). Bishop Saragih and a few other leaders from the GKLI made the long mountainous journey from the GKLI headquarters in Sihabong-habong to Medan and arrived at our house Wednesday morning, December 15. We had the opportunity to discuss their goals for the GKLI and the church body’s work with the LCMS. It was a very positive and encouraging three hours. Bishop Saragih is a man who understand the great commission! He prays that the Lord will bless the GKLI through strong congregations and intentional gospel proclamation to those outside the church.

An ulos being woven.

One challenge that weighs heavily on the GKLI is funding. It is one of the poorest church bodies in Indonesia and it serves some of the poorest people of Indonesia. Facing this challenge Bishop Saragih did not ask for money. He does not want the GKLI to rely on LCMS dollars. Instead he shared his ideas on how the GKLI could support itself. To that end Bishop Saragih has explored the possibility of educating the people in Sihabong-habong to create ulos for export. (An ulos is a traditional Batak garment typically woven by hand. If you have been to one of my presentations my table is generally covered with an ulos.) Indonesia has a strong textile economy and a lot is exported. A single ulos can sell for hundreds of dollars. He also shared the idea of teaching local communities pig husbandry. The GKLI already has a peanut roasting operation underway. I was delighted to hear that the new leadership of the GKLI is committed to standing on its own financially. There are, of course, ways that the LCMS can help get the GKLI to that strong independent position.

Our discussion also revolved around the GKLI’s efforts for outreach and growth. Again I was fascinated by the well thought out plans and goals laid out by Bishop Saragih. Here is a brief rundown::

  • Go to the rural areas and establish relationships through teaching the local communities how to raise pigs. The wild hog population in the Sumatran Jungle is declining. So hunting and gathering is not a sustainable way to support a village. The GKLI can help, however, by providing pigs along with education to these communities.

  • Establish a campus ministry center in Medan. Americans are familiar with the challenges college students face with regard to their faith. Indonesians also face challenges in college, they are different to be sure, but even in Indonesia college is a time where young men and women find themselves away from their families and their churches. The GKLI leadership would like to see a college ministry center established in Medan. This would be primarily to support and strengthen GKLI students while they are away at college.

  • The GKLI wants to establish new congregations throughout Indonesia. They have the powerful message of the Gospel and they have the pastors. Right now they are trying to work out a model that would create sustainable congregations.

The topic of seminary education is also important to the GKLI leaders. We talked about what it takes to become a pastor in the GKLI. They have a seminary program that roughly mirrors the programs at the two LCMS seminaries in America. Two years of theological education, one year of internship, another year of education. One difference is that after the students are done with their education they begin a two year vicarage. After the successful completion of these two years they are ordained.

The challenge facing the seminary is one of resources in the Indonesian language. Most of the resources available in Indonesian come from reformed authors. Reformed and Lutheran theologians have significant differences in understanding the power of Baptism, the reality of the Lord’s Supper, the role and call of a pastor, and the list goes on. This is one area where the LCMS has a lot of experience. We can definitely help with this.

I am excited to work with Bishop Saragih. Please pray with me that God would bless him with the necessary leadership skills to work effectively toward these gospel centered goals.

Ministry Opportunities in Jakarta /  by Matthew Wood

While I was in Indonesia I had the opportunity to meet with Pastor Tumpak Sianturi and Mr. Yogie Prihantoro. These men desire to establish a faithfully Lutheran Ministry in Jakarta. They are part of a small, but very active group of people who have been actively seeking out resources to grow in their Lutheran understanding of the Gospel.

We spent almost 10 hours meeting together and brainstorming about how the LCMS might support their efforts to get this ministry off the ground. The biggest need right now is for a pastoral leader to take ownership of the ministry. Mr. Yogie is a candidate for ordination, but he is unsatisfied with the churches available to him in Jakarta. He expressed his desire to work with the LCMS. So we came up with a plan to get things started. Beginning when my family can get back to Indonesia, I will be meeting with Mr. Yogie on a weekly bases to get to know him better as a theologian and offer him guidance and instruction.

The ultimate goal is to see a new worshiping community in Jakarta. Pastor Tumpak and Mr. Yogie feel that there are already enough people to make this happen, but they lack the resources to establish a regular meeting space. One challenge is that those who are interested in the ministry live all over Jakarta and it can take hours to travel from one place to the next in the giant city. Finding the right location will be challenging. Then, of course, there is the matter of funding for the building and the pastor.

I would also like to see the GKLI involved in this ministry as well. They are an established and faithful church who can provide the necessary oversight to this project. The new Bishop, Jon Albert Saragih, expressed interest and excitement at the prospect of being involved in this ministry. Pastor Tumpak, while not a member of the GKLI, is a graduate of their seminary.

Once Mr. Yogie and I start our weekly conversations, the next step will be start a weekly bible study that focuses on a distinctively Lutheran interpretation. Both Pastor Tumpak and Mr. Yogie teach at Philadelphia Seminary in Jakarta, so the campus is the most natural place to start with the Bible Studies. What a joy to meet with these faithful men and may God bless our work together to increase His Kingdom.

Returning to Medan /  by Matthew Wood

I have already been in in Indonesia for about three weeks and just now finally sitting down to reflect on coming back to our house in Medan after over a year. My family isn’t with me for this trip so the feelings of returning home were significantly dampened. Nevertheless pulling up to our house opening the gate and seeing the familiar surroundings did bring memories and thoughts of the roots we had established during the year and a half we lived here.

However, memories, my favorite coffee mug, and the loud echoes of tile floors were not the only thing to greet me as I walked in the door. The first day also presented challenge and opportunity to exercise and test my language abilities. The electricity was dead in half the house, the electric meter was not taking payment (a cool thing you can do in Indonesia is pay for power through your electric meter), and the washing machine was not working. Three issues that needed to be resolved with… phone calls. Ugh. If you have ever tried to learn a second language you may already know that phone calls are the absolute worst. Often the sound quality is not great, you get no visual cues, and the person you’re talking to cannot see the panic in your eyes as you realize you haven’t understood a thing. But I really wanted air conditioning in the bedroom, the meter was almost out of power, and I had clothes from four days of travel that needed washing.

I called the land lord who came over with an electrician—a friend with a screwdriver and plyers—and we worked out the house electrical problems. I called the power company and successfully explained the problems with the meter. Either that or I successfully confused them so they just told me that they will come over and find out for themselves what the issue was. They arrived surprisingly fast and we chatted about life as they fixed the meter. Then I called the manufacturer of the washing machine and scheduled maintenance for besok which in Indonesian is the future of “the other day.” So even though the dictionary says it means tomorrow it more precisely means something more like “sometime in the next couple of days” In any event solving these three issues within hours of arriving at the house was a big boost to my language confidence.

The day ended with a video call to Kali and the girls back in America. Laurel and Eleanor were excited to see their room, even if through a smart phone. Caroline excitedly said “Ayah” (Indonesian for Father) over and over and over and kept wanting to hug the phone. It is great and important to be here in Indonesia, but I do desperately miss my family back in the US.

I fell asleep to the familiar rumble of the 30 year old AC unit in our bedroom and the neighbor hood watch letting us all know that they’re making their rounds by loudly banging a metal hammer on the light posts outside.

The repairman for the washing machine arrived four days later.