Somedays....

November 19, 2009 will be a day i will remember for awhile. It has been one of those surreal days where you just wonder what is going to happen next. A friend described this as one of those days where you are floating a river in a canoe and all of a sudden you hit the rapids and you get going faster and faster and you better just hang on for dear life or else you won't make it. (Tks Mary for the description). At 6:30 Mary called me and let me know that Kim Linegar, a good friend and someone whom we have served with at Mountainview for many years was going to have to be medivac-ed to Singapore because of some complications from an illness. The last time that happened to someone here was 4 or 5 years ago and it was because an older lady had broken her hip. So, we were all shocked by that. It was also then that i found out Pak Tukiman, a dear Christian man who had served faithfully at the school had passed away last night. His daughter, Ester, had passed away a couple of years ago from most likely leukemia (she was the elementary school secretary). On top of all this news the school was having a Service Day where we all would be heading out to different areas to hopefully bless and encourage others in our community. Mmm...how does one take in all these things in one day?

I guess you just get up and you get going. I had a school full of children waiting to go to the SLB school to put on a carnival for the students there. SLB stands for Sekolah Luar Biasa which translated means The School for the Out of the Normal or Ordinary which means students with handicaps. So we loaded all of our elementary students into cars and headed up to the school and spent the next 2 1/2 hours hanging out with kids from elementary to high school

age who had a variety of disabilities. The time began with the usual speeches at the beginning of any program... since i am the principal i had the privilege of saying one of those speeches - ugh, this is not one of my favorite things to do. After the speeches were made we set up games and the craziness but fun began. Our students mingled some with the students from SLB but mainly just had fun running the games and giving away the prizes. I had one girl that continued to come up and talk to me and she especially liked giving high fives :). It was fun watching a group of hearing impaired girls as they signed away at break-neck speed. All these students were very sweet and i think it was a great opportunity for our students to reach out and see things from another perspective.

So then the contrast to that was an hour later after returning from the SLB school we were heading to the funeral of Pak Tukiman. Hesti, Pita, Mary, Nick and i went together and I am always thankful to go with an Indonesian friend just to be able to watch their cues on what to do. We arrived and the funeral ceremony had started but we went in to where they had the body laid out and the family was standing to say our condolences. Before moving to this country i had never seen a dead body before and now several funerals later, i have become more accustomed to this cultural practice. My heart still sank today when i looked down at Pak Tukiman, memories of being in the same home, looking down at Ester, flooded my mind, along with the feeling of sadness of not being able to see Pak Tukiman again. I know that he is at home with his Creator and for that i am thankful, but my heart aches for those he and Ester have left behind...Mrs. Tukiman, Wiwik and Yanti. Please pray for this family and many other loved ones who will definitely be missing him.

So, that is my surreal day, hanging on and just hoping all comes out okay in the end. We still are waiting news about Kim and what the tests/labs have shown to be the problem. Her husband and daughter are with her now and her son should be flying into Singapore tomorrow. Please continue to pray for them as well.