Greetings from SE Asia! This is a long update… if you don’t have time for the details… just look for the prayer requests in red. =0)
Today, Saturday, marks our 3rd full week in our permanent home! But the 21st marked our first full month in country. It is hard to believe that we are already working on our 2nd month in SE Asia! Thank YOU for allowing us to be here! Without your prayers & financial support, we’d already be headed home!
Your prayers have covered us in amazing ways! God definitely went before us and paved the way, and He continues to be with us each step of the way. We have encountered bumps in the road, and we can definitely tell the “honeymoon” phase is wearing off in some areas as reality sets in. If you are our “friends” on facebook, then perhaps you have seen some of the adventures we have encountered while living here. Also, our new blog will keep you updated on our life & the new things we encounter: (not going to publish that blog address on this blog... if you want it, please contact me). Be sure to “follow by e-mail” if you don’t want to miss a post! If you aren’t friends with Dano and/or me on facebook, then send a request. You might help us out (since we are at max limit in brain functioning at the moment), and add a little note that you are requesting to be our friend to keep up with our adventures in SE Asia, or something like that. We don’t want to accidently add a “friend” who is a “spammer,” but we don’t want to accidentally “ignore” you either. =0) On facebook, I am “Melinda McDonald Whited” and Dano is “Dano Whited.”
Many new people we meet here ask us why we are here and how long we will be here. This is our standard answer: “We are here to learn the language. Then we will move [to another island] and help the people there.” Sometimes we add that Dano is an aircraft mechanic. Everyone is always glad we are here, and they are eager to help us. Being white here is like being a celebrity. It is really quite odd. We have MANY requests (mostly from high school students) to have our picture taken with them! So, as you may be concerned about our safety or us being hated by the local people, please let us put your mind to ease. We are in no danger from the local people here. They are very kind and accepting of our family. We feel VERY safe. While we would never use the “m” word to describe ourselves, it is assumed by everyone that if we are white, we are Christians. They also assume we are rich. Honestly, compared to the majority here, we are.
As you may remember, our MAIN reason for being on this island IS to learn the language. It didn’t take long to realize that our lack of language is a HUGE barrier in communicating ANYTHING especially something as wonderful as our reason for being. So as you pray for us, please pray that our acquisition of the language would come quickly. Please also pray that we’d be light even when we can’t effectively share our testimony with anyone. May our lives lead people to wonder what we have. May seeds be planted that create a desire to learn. May the Lord send dreams to our many new friends that reveal Himself to them.
Our “home” life is very similar and very different here in our new land. We continue to homeschool. We don’t plan on taking a summer break… the kids have had plenty of breaks over the last year! I will continue to be a “stay-at-home” mom while I homeschool. Dano will be “going to work” each day, but his “work” will be language school in the morning and using the language in the afternoon so he can report in class the next day. We have a washing machine but not a dryer… everything is hung out to dry (therefore almost everything needs to be ironed… because it is so wrinkled & to help finish drying some things). We don’t have a TV, but we do have some little portable TV/DVD players and our computer. We do have a refrigerator, stove, & oven (not everyone has an oven…most of the local people don’t). We do not have a dishwasher or a microwave. We do not have easy access to food that most of you would consider “normal.” However, we do have access to lots of fresh fruits and veggies and meat! As a matter of fact, our neighbor/landlord is a butcher (and a meatball cook). So whenever I want beef, I just ask him to bring me some the next morning. So, we get VERY fresh beef. Whenever I want chicken, I just need to be outside by 6:30 a.m. and a guy on his motorcycle arrives from the market selling chicken, fish, and vegetables. We arranged to have a bakery deliver 12 loaves of whole wheat bread (smaller than in America) every Monday! If we run out, one of us can ride our bike to get more. Near the bakery are a few other small stores where we can buy fruit, shelf stable milk, and a few other essentials. Other items may require a trip to the nearby town (with the help of a friend) or the large city about 30 minutes away (with the help of public transportation or a friend). Something else that is VERY different is that we have help… well, in America, we would sometimes have help from a friend or neighbor with watching the kids or helping me catch up on laundry or dishes… but I mean we have official hired help! As a matter of fact, as of Monday, we will have 2 helpers!
A house helper is called a pembantu (pem-bon-too). It is expected that we hire a pembantu because as I mentioned… we are “rich.” I was told by several people that we would most likely need 2 pembantu because of the size of our family and the age of our kids and our need to learn the language and the many more jobs that need to be done here due to the nature of the living conditions. We have had just one pembantu since we arrived. She worked for the other American family that lived in this house before we did (about a year ago). I didn’t really want more than one pembantu, but after trying to make it work for over a month, seeing the exhaustion on our pembantu’s face (not to mention she is pregnant), feeling my own exhaustion, and everything still not getting completed, I realized we just might need another helper! …especially when I realized that some families with only 2 toddlers have 2 pembantu! Thankfully, another American family no longer needed one of their pembantu. She has worked for Western families for over 30 years and comes highly recommended. We have hired her as our cook. The kitchen will be her domain. She will cook & clean the kitchen & she will do much of the shopping. She can cook both Indonesian (which we enjoy) and Western food (which we also enjoy). She can also cook hard to find items like tortillas and bagels! I plan to keep cooking breakfast… and I’ll still be cooking on the weekends…along with Olivia & the other kids! Please pray along with us that our additional helper will be a blessing to our family and someone that will help us acquire the language more quickly. Please also pray that our family will be a light to these two special ladies who will be in our home 5 days a week… seeing the REAL us. =0)
Back to learning the language…I will have a tutor come three afternoons a week. Dano and I have already had 9 lessons with my tutor. She is great! She is a native to this country, but she is fluent in at least 4 or 5 languages (that I remember). She is retired from the language school Dano is attending. Since my visa is a student visa through the language school, I must attend the school, too. As of right now, the plan is for me to attend in the afternoons starting in July. (Your financial gifts have enabled us to attend school and hire the tutor.) In addition to my tutoring, it is essential for me to also get out and use the language; otherwise, I will always sound like a toddler speaking the language. This is another reason we need the two pembantu. Our first one, Yanti (yawn-tee), is great with the kids (our new one will be, too, from what I’ve seen). The kids love Yanti, and she is so sweet with them, and she keeps them safe! So while I am inside tutoring, the two youngest are napping, and Dano is out and about using his language, she can watch the 3 oldest playing outside. But we do ask you to pray for our kids’ safety & health (and ours, too). Unless you have been overseas to an area like this, you just really can’t fully imagine the different environment we live in. We don’t live in fear, but we certainly live with an even higher level of alert concerning our kids’ safety (if that is possible).
Well, out of “fear” that I have already put you to sleep, I will close this e-mail with praises & additional prayer requests.
Praises:
For the most part, we have enjoyed very good health since we have arrived! Occasionally, one or two of us will have some tummy troubles, but overall we’ve been great! Wesley’s eczema has even been doing great! What a blessing! Emma’s cough has stayed away without any medication!
Everyone is eating well even though we seldom eat Western style food. Olivia & Emma have lost a little weight but nothing to be concerned about.
God has provided new friendships for us all.
We think we have found the church we will be worshiping with. It is a challenge since the service is in our new language, but thankfully some of the members speak English. What a great reminder of how important it is to be able to worship in one’s heart language! Oh, how I miss that privilege!
We are so thankful that we feel safe especially with our children! What a blessing!
Prayer requests:
Summary of the ones above… our quick acquisition of the language, that we’d be lights in the process, that God would send dreams to unbelievers, that our helpers will be a great help as we are light to them, and for the safety & health of the kids (and us).
Also, if you remember around 4pm CST (or 3pm EST or whatever time that would be where you are) every day… pray that we would sleep soundly through that early morning call to prayer for our neighbors. It can be a little frightening for Wesley. It can be just a rude awakening for me &/or Dano or the other kids… which kind of makes for a rough day sometimes.
Please pray for the pain in my tailbone to go away. Somehow I injured it (before I started riding my bike), but it is a constant source of pain when I am sitting.
Lastly, please pray for us as we continue homeschooling. Please pray that we’d give our kids a wonderful education that prepares them for the future God desires for them, and most importantly that we’d disciple them to be soldiers for Christ. May we not only do this by instruction and words, but may our example speak clearly to them in ALL we do!
We’d LOVE to hear from you!! Please don’t hesitate to write (email or snail mail). We’d also love to know how to pray for you specifically. Thank you again for standing alongside us as we serve! You are part of our TEAM!! Thank you!!
Here to serve,
Melinda for the gang
Dano, Melinda, Olivia, Derek, Emma, Wesley, & Virginia Whited
To keep up with our family and ministry happenings
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HOW TO GIVE:
Send in a check made payable to WBT to:
WBT
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862-8200
please include a separate note designating it for Dano & Melinda Whited Account # 215422
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or
1-800-WYCLIFFE
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