A Milestone Day

Today was quite the day.  My husband spent a good portion of his childhood living in a small, mountainous village called Langda, which is in the interior of our island.  My in-laws have dedicated many years translating God's precious Word into the language of the Una people.  When our family went to visit the village last January (an hour plane ride from the town we live in), one of the main questions we were asked was: "When will K be the pilot to fly into Langda?"  They consider him to be a "son of Langda" (depending on who is talking to him, they will call him "brother" or "son").  You can sense the great pride in their son, who has trained to be a pilot and chosen to return to his homeland. At that point in time, we told them (and truly thought) it would still be several years before this milestone was reached.  It feels like a milestone for multiple reasons.  One reason is that ever since K was a little boy, traveling in and out of Langda in small airplanes with his family, he wanted to become a pilot one day.  Langda is truly the birthplace of his dream to one day be a pilot.  It is also a milestone, because the airstrip in Langda is notorious for being one of the most challenging airstrips in the mountains here.  With drop-offs on both ends of the runway, a major cliff less than a hundred meters on one side and on the other side a mountain rising another 3,000 feet, it has been compared to landing on an aircraft carrier.  Added to this is the challenge of the weather.  Weather in Langda can literally change in less than a minute.  Clear, blue skies can quickly transform into solid fog with less than 5 feet of visibility.  Clouds can be seen rolling over the mountains and creeping up the cliffs.  It is amazing thing to witness in person, but not very desirable for a pilot needing to take-off or land an airplane.  It is not uncommon for a pilot to overnight in Langda, simply because the weather did not permit him to leave.

So, despite our personal prediction of K not flying into Langda alone for several more years, TODAY was the day for him to be checked out (this means another experienced pilot flies in with him, allowing him practice taking off and landing a few times, until he feels comfortable to complete the flight on his own).  It was a success!  I really wish our family could have been there to witness the momentous occasion.  The day included a celebratory ceremony on the ground, complete with speeches and gifts.  Here are some pictures from the day.

Landga from the air

Langda with some clouds

Speeches and gifts were given by significant people

K and his check-out pilot returned with gifts
(including hand-made string bags, traditional stone axes, fresh produce and...)

....a live pig

Dinner

Prepping the bow and arrow to butcher the pig

The pilot being congratulated by Langda guys who live in town

Preparation of the meat

Photo from January when we visited Langda
(airstrip is behind the boys...the cliff is just past those buildings where darker green starts)

Walking the Langda airstrip with fog in the distance

Start of Kindergarten

This school year has been special for our family, as our oldest started Kindergarten!  Last year we did a preschool co-op with a few other families in our community.  It was a good experience for B, learning his letters & sounds, interacting with his peers and "practicing" school.  There is an American-curriculum based school in our town, whose main purpose is to teach the children of those serving on our island.  We have special connections with this school already, as Kars and his brothers all attended and graduated from the same school.  We are thankful for the opportunity to send B there, knowing he has great teachers who love their students and invest in their lives.  It certainly is a bonus that B is super excited about going to school and has enjoyed the first 3 weeks thus far.  This week he started reading simple words and his Kindergarten teacher is ecstatic!

B's desk at school

Obligatory 1st day picture
(little bro insisted in being included :)

"Can we do another picture with my sign?"
(asked a few days later...)

Fun with friends (after school)

Nasi Kuning

One thing I miss about living in America is restaurants.  Hamburger joints, Wendy's, Chipotle, Jimmy John's, PF Chang's, Red Robin, Giordano's, Lou's, Olive Garden, T-Blanco's, Bodacious BBQ...hmm, I could keep dreaming, uhh drooling...  

Thankfully, there are a FEW options for meals here, outside of laboring for hours in my own kitchen. One of our family's favorites is Nasi Kuning ("yellow rice").   There are a few places in town where ladies set up little tables outside and bring all the ready-cooked food in the evenings.  You can go and place your order, by standing in front of the table.  We always order "ayam", which means we get a small piece of chicken with our yellow rice, noodles and veggies.  They plop a scoop of each item into a small brown piece of butcher paper.  Then, they expertly fold up this paper and staple it shut, keeping all the yummy ingredients inside (and warm!).  We bring our Nasi Kuning packets home and enjoy the tasty food that someone else prepared for us.  Come and visit us, so we will take you to try your own delicious Nasi Kuning!

Wrapped up & stapled in the paper

Nasi Kuning:
yellow rice, chicken, noodles, veggies...YUM!

Langda Visit: Part 4: Church and a hike

This is the last post with pictures from our trip last month into the interior village of Langda.  These pictures are mainly from Sunday, when we went to the local church and then went on a hike in the afternoon.  Enjoy a view of beautiful Langda!

Walking to church includes going along an edge
which drops off very steep into this beautiful valley

Oma pointing out the small village where their house-helper walks from every day

J walking to church with Opa and Papa

Cute kids all around!

The river down below

The small village where the house-helper walks to and from each day

Langda Church

Standing on the edge is normal for them!

Oma with a friend

Peek-a-boo

Opa with B at the front of the church

Never tired of looking around at the mountains

The line-up on the edge of the cliff

Trying to get the baby to look for the picture

Inside church, almost everyone prefers to sit on the floor
 (there were benches along the edges)

The majority sit with men and women separate 

Majority of church is women

Some of the elders, reading their Bibles.
Don't overlook this picture too quickly, it is an amazing testimony to the YEARS of dedication K's parents have spent here.  Not only the completed New Testament (in their local language), but also their ability to read it (teaching literacy is a big part of Bible translation....what good is a Bible if the people can't read it?!)

Offering time (most people give produce as their offering,
namely sweet potatoes from their gardens)

The string bags holding the offering

Before our family hike
(so thankful for rain boots with all the mud!)

Heading down the trail

Precious J found this little boy and wanted to shake his hand!

There were different houses scattered throughout our hike.

The boys got to go inside one of the huts.  They were thrilled!

Crossing the mud

Wait! What are the boys doing while we stop for a photo?!

Ahh, the boys wanted to climb a tree.

Conquerors

Beautiful Langda view

B carrying a string bag just like the locals!

At the end of our hike!

Enjoying family time!

This was one precious time.  The woman holding J is the widow of a man
who used to work for K's family.  She came with her two kids to visit.
The joy radiating from her face was such a blessing and testimony to her
 relationship with K's parents, so many years after losing her husband.

The morning we were scheduled to fly home, we woke up to this fog.
 K is talking to the pilot on the SAT phone, telling him he will call back later with another weather report.

The weather never cleared enough for the plane to land...
So, we stayed at extra day, which was good experience,
as Langda is notorious for this happening!  Above is J trying to help
lift the generator to carry back up to the house.

The next day dawned beautiful and clear!  Here's the plane landing on it's first try, ready to take us home.

A crowd gathered to send us off.

The generator being carried to the plane.

The rest of our luggage. 

I got to sit in the back with the excited boys

Ready to head back home.  

Two pilots up front.

Farewell, Langda. We enjoyed our visit!