what did you do this weekend?

Here it is.

It’s inspired by a picture I took when I was on a mission trip to Indonesia, 2 years ago.

It was a year after the tsunami, and this was one of the places affected.  There used to be things, houses there, but it was all devastated.  I heard many stories from people and how the “sea is coming”, and their attempts to run to the hills.

I was there at sunset, and there were many palm trees.  And that is all.

It’s good for me to keep some of those images fresh in my mind, so as not to forget what happened there.

Even when on this day, it looked so beautiful and peaceful.

This piece was a challenge from an artistic point of view.

It’s made on a 10×10 canvas with Caran D’ache watersoluble wax crayon.   It was my first time using this material as the main material for the whole piece.  I struggled to make it work, but I’m glad I did it.  It was weird because I would color with it, and the use a brush to smooth it out and blend it.  But at times, this would end up lifting up the paint, which was very frustrating.  This is one reason why it took me long to finish it.

It’s not a great photo, because the piece was bigger than the scanner, so I had to do it in 2 parts.  I will re-upload with a photo of the piece later.

I’m fairly happy with the final result but would love any comments and critiques.

Any body have any places they would like to suggest?

All of you know, by now, that I went to Indonesia for 2 weeks last november. I helped out by doing some graphic design work which you can view and download here.

The biggest change in my heart was about a call to pray. Not in a distant sorta way, like ” God, I pray for the missionaries all over the world”, but one where I can site names of people, and know what some of the work and struggles are, and pray specifically for them. But it was more than that still. It was a sense in praying where I’m handing off, “passing the buck”, if you will, of my small, tiny, human request, to my great God. The one who made all things, and yet cares about me, and my little skewed world. That’s the God who I’m praying to, and that is no small insignificant thing. That is an awesome chance, and responsibility that God has given to us. Once we’ve been confronted with something to pray about, that is not just some light, willy-nilly nothing thing. That is our chance to be involved in what God’s gonna do. That is so cool!!!

Anyway, I was content with that. Happy to have had a part in helping with my talents, and excited at having been to Asia, and experienced so much. Glad to have a partnership of prayer with people who never even met me, but whom I’m called to pray for, because they need to know about Jesus’ love.
But it seems God has more for me to do…

Because of the website I put together, with the differnt promotional pieces for people to pray, I was asked to help with a bit more, in order to add some more info about Aceh to the page I’d created. My yes to that, and the desire to do more, has grown into a chance to design a whole website with info and more about Aceh. That is extremely exciting; that my 2 week mission trip did not end with just 2 weeks.
Please be praying for me and for the people who will be involved in the project, so that we can communicate clearly with each other over all this distance, and that I would have God’s breath of creativity to do what he would have me to for this project. And for Fabio, as he helps with coding.

But most of all, join with me in praying that thru the love of Christians, non-Christians in Indonesia would be drawn to Christ.

Below are 4 pictures that are some of the common sites in Medan.
1.loaded becak
2. mini buses-public transportation
3. “homeless” woman and daughter
4. goat sate with rice – yesterday’s

God is good, no matter what part of the world you are in. So that is of great comfort.

The team I’ve been with, left today. They will go on to do some rebuilding work, and some ESL work. They’ve been a great part of my joy for the last couple days. It�s been great getting to know other people, and having uninterrupted conversations. But alas, after today, I will be on my own. It will be a growing experience, to have so much time to myself.

With that comes all the stimulus of yesterday…

Unfortunately, due to some unexpected changes, all we did was get lunch/short orientation and then half of the team from Missouri went on their trip, and the other half were left behind. We were hoping to be able to do some work, but it seems there wasn’t anything for the team as a whole to do, so we spent a little time sightseeing.

We hired a cab for a �2-hour tour�, and he drove us to some tourist areas. We went to a Sultan�s Palace, which was kinda like a museum, and then onto a very large Mosque. After that we just pretty much drove around Medan, just taking it all in.
I can’t begin to explain what traffic was like�
It was a million mopeds and small bikes zooming around. Some had just the driver, but many had families with young children on them. Some bikes had a type of rickshaw, or becak, as they call it here, attached to them. Then there were small buses, smaller than the Volkswagen 70′s van, which seemed to be somewhat kinda like bus lines, some with their back doors open. They were very colorful. Then there were a few small minivans, and mostly Japanese cars. Everybody is driving on the “wrong” side of the road. There are a few traffic lights, and the drivers ignore them. There are no lanes, and sometimes, cars just go head to head towards one another, and they manage not to hit each other. Intersections are a nightmare. All this infused with loud and unique car honks, heavy smell of fuel from all the bikes, and people all over the place.
That was our fully immersed in Medan event. It was awesome and overwhelming all at the same time.

The food is great. Some spicy, and some really different, but mostly, real cheap and yummy! Today I had a piece of fried chicken with rice and some spicy vegetables. It all came wrapped up in a banana leaf instead of a container. I also had coconut water to drink.

I’ve taken many pics, but mostly with my film camera. I will try to take a few more of the traffic with the little digital camera, so all can see what things are really like

Today I worked in the office, and I’m posting this from the organization’s office.
I’ve been around Indonesians all day long, and I’m learning a few words. I worked on sorting photos, and I am starting to work on a few designs.

I might get to do a bit more sightseeing today, with some of the workers here, and that should be nice, and less overwhelming, as I will be with the natives, who also speak a bit of English.

Continue to pray for mine and the whole team’s safety.

I covet your prayers for myself; and for Fabio and the boys as I leave them behind.

Check back here for my updates.

On another exciting note, Graffiti 2, our churches new ministry, has started their afterschool programs, so please keep Andrew, the director, and the ministry in your prayers!
I received a picture of the mural I painted, that looks a lot better than my cell phone camera pic, and since people are in the pic, it gives a lot better sense of the size of the painting.

Enjoy!