Indonesia: Part 2 Caged In- One monkey to the next

While the adults had orientation inside, Sam enjoyed playing outside. We had brought a few toys that Sam played with in the front yard. Their house is fenced in, so Sam played safely. One morning, Hap and Sam played soccer with some of the kids in the street out front. From then on, the kids would yell at the gate "Sam, Sam" for him to come out and play. It was neat to see that Sam could be happy anywhere in this world and easily made friends with the neighbor kids.


This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I just love how happy Sam looks surrounded by his Indonesian friends.

The third day we loaded up in two vehicles and headed to the town of Bukit Lawang. It was about 2 hours away from our "home". The driving and road conditions are crazy. Let me try to describe it, the roads are a similar width as a country road however even though you would think it would only be 2 lanes, it might be 3 lanes at that width. This is because the mopeds would buzz all around. I never once saw a speed limit sign, so it was basically go as fast as you can around cars and villages. We did alot of blind passes and had a few close calls. But, God was faithful to see us through all of our trips and kept us safe.

We stayed at a place called the Eco-Lodge. Now, in American standards it wouldn't be a 4-star but this place was beautiful. Add air conditioning and hot water, a person would be set:) It was set in the jungle and had a view of the river. You had to get to the Eco-Lodge over a wooden bridge that spanned the river.

The second day in Bukit Lawang, the team minus Andrew, myself and Alison, headed out on a jungle trek. They hiked all day and then camped out under the stars. Hap said they literally stayed outside with just a tarp covering them. They cooked their meal over a camp fire and boiled their water in a bowl to drink. The neat thing about this jungle trek and Bukit Lawang is the amount of orangutans in the jungle there. Sam was able to feed the orangutans and had a blast doing so. (I am currently uploading a video of this).
While the team trekked, Alison, Andrew and I ventured through the village to see who we could share with. We had one opportunity first thing to share with a elderly shop owner. Here is a picture of the village, complete with banana leave roofs and bamboo walls!
The place we stayed the longest was at a hut selling fried bananas. We stopped and I asked to buy some. The women invited us into her shop to enjoy them. She served them really hot and on a banana leave as a plate. It amazed me that all day long, she makes fried bananas as her living. An average working Indonesia makes approximately $5 a day.
While we sat and ate bananas, we had the opportunity to visit with her husband and share with him about Jesus Christ. It was really powerful because the man was very interested in talking and sharing with us about his Muslim faith. I think the most powerful thing I learned was that they never know if their sins are forgiven. Much different than my faith, in that I know my sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ. It was sad to see the lostness in his eyes .Andrew buddied up with his son, who fed him plenty of fried bananas, which kept him occupied during our visit.
Here Andrew is playing on the dirt floor of the banana hut. He loved every minute. The Indonesian people, in general, are very welcoming. Before we left, the man invited me into his home to use their sink to wash off Andrew's hands and feet.
The next morning, we headed down to the river to watch for the rest of the team coming down on rafts. This is a perfect place to hang out and share because people can stay under bamboo huts, picnic and get into the river to play.
While we were there, a group of students wanted Andrew and my picture taken with them. It is so wild that because of the color of our skin, we are such an attraction. We don't think anything of skin color, but they don't see Caucasian people and love to take picture with us.
I think this little boy is so darling and he let me take his picture. He was fascinated by Andrew and hung out with us for a long time that morning.
Around mid morning, the group floated down the river in some rafts. It looked like such fun!
Afterwards, they took a dip in the river. Sam was LOVING every moment of it.
So was Bernard!!:) This is just Jacob and Eric being crazy after a night out and a trip down the river.

It was a great couple days of being with the people and seeing their culture. Mostly, it was great to share with the couple of people we did. Hap and Sam had such an awesome time on their trek, possibly once in a lifetime experience for them. Again, I will work on video... so check back soon!!