MAROMAK NE’ DIAK! (GOD IS GOOD!)

Aerial view along the coast west of Dili

Hello family and friends!! Cher and I are back online! We’re back in Dili from an AWESOME time in Weberek, the little village in the heart of East-Timor! Wow, what an amazing last month and a half it has been! God has definitely been good to us! I will pick up the thread of our narrative from when Cher left with Lucinda to go back to Dili. They took with them the friendly nun from the Catholic boarding house next door to us, as well as a few other Timorese men and women who jumped at the opportunity for a free ride to Dili. They went to Dili to get new supplies and also to pick up Ben and Melanie, friends of Lucinda, who wanted to come visit and check out the work in Weberek to see if they felt called to join on a more long term basis. While Cher and Lucinda were away I remained in the house at Weberek with Doris, an elderly lady from Australia, the fourth member of our team. 

The day Cher and Lucinda left, the two goats we had bought were desexed. The people we had bought the goats from had organized for a man from another village to come and do the deed. He arrived not long after Cher and Lucinda left in the 4wd. I will spare you most of the details but I will tell you that it did go quite quick, except not quite quick enough as they needed me to help hold the goats down!! It was a little traumatizing and fairly disturbing, to see and hear those two little goats go through so much pain and anguish! It seemed like a rough ‘backyard-Timor’ type job, but one that is probably just part of the regular working life of most Timorese goat owners. The two poor little goats barely moved or ate for the rest of the day after that .. my mind seemed permanently scarred by what I witnessed and participated in that day. However this was only the beginning of the ‘great goat drama’ ..     

The house was a little more empty and quiet without my wife and Lucinda .. I was able to get some reading done and to catch up on studying some Tetum. Learning and practising Tetum here, the local language of East-Timor, has been lots of fun. Our friend Vasco got us started with a few lessons, since then it’s been Tetum manuals, dictionaries, some help from Lucinda (who is fluent), some help from friendly Timorese and the grace of God and lots of practise! It’s great once you start breaking though that language barrier that so often hinders. Doris kept busy at the house with making Christian tracts and visual teaching aids for her English lessons, amongst doing other things. We both had to spend a lot of time looking after and nursing the goats back to health. The younger black goat started eating again quite quickly but the older brown one didn’t eat much for a couple days or so after the ‘snip’. 

When market day came round again I went down and got some more fresh veges and fruit with Raymundo, a young Weberek local who had studied with ywam in the past. We’d done this trip before, but this time I used an old ywam bike for the long trek. After getting the tyres pumped up at the ‘bomba’ (the bicycle pump man), I doubled Raymundo most of the way there and back. Some locals appeared thoroughly amused by this ..   

Later on that day I helped Doris out with the children’s ministry. We sang some songs and then Doris read to the children some of Christian’s story from ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. We had prepared some pretend armour so that we could act out one of the scenes from the book, when Christian in all his armour fights Apollyon, the evil dragon or demon. We made a breastplate of righteousness out of cardboard and string, a metal pot lid for the shield of faith, a stick threaded through a bit of cardboard for a sword of the Spirit, one of my belts for the belt of truth, a padded metal pot for a helmet of salvation and I got out my big heavy labouring boots (they’re actually proper welder’s boots and very heavy!) for the shoes of the gospel! And we fitted one of the little children out in all of it and it was a hoot!. I pretended to be the big ugly demon/dragon and ran off whimpering after the little one struck me with his mighty sword! We all had a good laugh, it was lots of fun ..   

After a couple days the older goat’s appetite seemed to have returned and he was moving around again more, which was a relief. But the grass was getting higher. The grass here in Timor grows ridiculously high (with very sharp edges!) and sadly, the goats weren’t quite the grass eating machines we expected them to be, much less now after their traumatic experience. Even at the best of times they can be quite choosy about what they eat. So anyway, I got to work cutting some of the grass on the property, Timor style, squatting down low with a kind of half machete type sickle and some good gloves! It was actually a fun work out with my ipod going .. 

While Cher and Lucinda were away we decided that the meetings with the believers in Weberek would continue. Lucinda was our translator (interpreter) when we shared with the believers, but Raymundo offered to help with the translating this time, while she was away. We’d been having some good meetings sharing God’s Word with the eager Christians of Weberek and we didn’t want to lose that momentum. These meetings were a precious time of fellowship, prayer and teaching. One message I enjoyed sharing was on love and on how love is the gospel preached without words. And another on how Christianity is firstly and primarily about a real relationship with God and after that about our relationship with our fellow ‘Man’ (ie. other people). God is our first love and always comes first. We can only love Him (and anyone else) because He loved (and loves) us first. The gospel is an invitation in to that relationship ..

At the house we got used to cooking a lot and usually for 5 or 6 people. We also got used to hand washing and hand wringing out all our clothes. Also villagers would often drop in and we’d do the Timorese thing and stop what we were doing to show them some hospitality with tea, coffee and biscuits. One time we had all the believers over and we were having tea, coffee and snacks like we often do when we have our house church meetings or discipleship nights .. and in Timor, Timorese people call coffee, ‘kafe’. It sounds not too disimilar from the word for ‘cafe’ in english but with a shorter ‘e’ vowel sound at the end, instead of the big ‘ay’ sound at the end of the english ‘cafe’. And so when someone asked me in Tetum if I like coffee ( ‘Lorenzo, ita agosta kafe?’), I assumed that their word for tea was something similar too .. So I answered, ‘lai, hau agosta tee’. (I pronounced it, ‘tay’) Actually as I write this, I remember that that is actually the Dutch word and pronunciation for tea! But anyway, so I thought I was saying, ‘no, I like tea’. But unfortunately for me the word ‘tee’ (‘tay’) in Tetum means pooh!! Languages! Some words are the same, but some words are very VERY different!  

One day Raymundo took Doris and I around the vast community vege and fruit garden of Weberek. They also have a small fish farm in two artificial ponds. It was amazing to see the amount of work, thought and design that had gone into it all. (We will take more pictures next time!) Unfortunately there wasn’t much ready for harvesting at the time but I did get to take some bright red little chilis home. We stopped by some of the fields on the way back where they often grow maize or cassava. Some of the believers we knew were planting a new harvest of maize. We stopped and chatted for a while. I remembered and shared about a doco I had watched with Cher, about a Christian organic farmer in the US who got secrets from God on how to grow things God’s way and got amazing results. (It’s called ‘Back To Eden’) I promised to bring the doco back with me to Weberek on our next visit .. 

Raymundo came over for dinner that night and we had fried noodles. It was funny because we bought this super strong chili sauce in Dili and I warned Raymundo three times that it was super strong. But he was like, ‘no problem, no problem, I like chili’ .. he took too much, mixed it in with all his food and as he ate, his mouth was filled with fire! It was hard not to laugh! Actually it was hard to stop!! Now strangely, whenever Raymundo comes over for any meal he’s gone completely off chili ..  

One day I had a go at making some flat bread out of some nice wholemeal flour we bought in Dili. I had a good old time mixing it up and working the dough and then making little portions and pinning them out flat with a big candle, as we didn’t have a rolling pin. I worked in a bakery once, but I had seldom made use of the skills I picked up. I deep fried the bread in coconut oil (like I saw once done in India to make ‘puri’s’) and they came out great, though a little salty and oily. In the end there was so much bread we gave some to the boarding house next door and brought some to church to share with the believers that day.

One night I found a scorpion in my room. I’d never seen one that big before! I caught it with a glass and small thin mirror. I studied it for a while .. then decided I had to kill it. Better to be safe than a hippy as I didn’t want it to sting the goats either. I wondered if I would tell Cher about it, when she came back ..

Back to our goat drama: Our brown goat that was once eating healthily was now not looking so great again. He wasn’t eating much less and he was acting strange, like swinging his head back and forth, like he was constantly looking for someone or something. Doris and I were worried for him. Soon Doris discovered that his ‘snip’ wounds were - okay now if you have a weak stomach, you may want to skip the next few sentences - his wounds were infected and infested with maggots! Yuck and gross .. yes I know!! But we had to try and help him, so I contacted the people we bought him from and they suggested some insect spray! At the time, with few options and little experience in this area, I had to do whatever would help. I had prayed for the little one a few times but now other action needed to be taken. So we went ahead and used a can of insect spray from the house. We used some on the little black goat too because I at one point I noticed him suddenly bucking frenetically like a mad little black bronco. I checked him out and sadly he had the same problem. The insect spray helped, we saw some little creatures evacuate from the goat’s wounds! Yuck and gross .. yes, I know ..  

After this the brown goat slowly deteriorated but the black goat got stronger and stronger, so go figure! We had to listen to his constant bleating though, as the brown goat got weaker and weaker. Soon he ate very little again and started walking around in a daze, he’d then stop and do his head swinging thing again, back and forth .. I finally got the people we bought the goats from to come check the goats out. They just applied more insect spray, but then they tied the goats up so that they couldn’t lick the poisonous chemicals off. They said they would check up on the goats again in two days time. We left the goats tied up on the grass near the house, near the patio. It was nearing dusk and we decided to have a sit-down. We sat out on the patio not too far from the goats and chatted over some coffee and tea. The dusk turned slowly into night .. I got up at some point to do something and all of a sudden I noticed that the black goat had disappeared!! I told the others and we suddenly started searching for it, looking everywhere on and next to the property with our torches and flashlights, but we couldn’t see it anywhere!! One local with us, Marcus, and also a fellow believer, reckoned that it had been stolen. I was like, ‘of course!’ .. I realized that it must’ve been so easy for whoever it was, because the goat was already tied up. I felt annoyed and crestfallen. Doris was sad too, having grown fond of both goats. Shortly thereafter, I went to the small generator shed because the generator was playing up a bit and who did I suddenly find there but that naughty little black goat! Somehow he had loosened himself and wandered in there all by himself! Of all places to look for a runaway goat! That shed is usually closed unless the generator is on and when the generator is on, which it was, it’s usually very loud, smelly and often quite smoggy! But there he was, a little bewildered and stubborn as always - he put on a fight as I tried to pull him out! As I presented him back to the others, they all laughed in astonishment. It was a delightful moment of welcome relief and amusement throughout this whole goat drama. I nicknamed the little black goat lil’ Houdini after that .. 

The next day, the brown goat was very very weak but once again the little black one was full of beans, chomping away at the grass, weeds and leaves etc. The poor brown older goat was walking around in circles and bleating weakly. It was sad to see him deteriorate so. He lay on the ground, hardly moved and his neck grew stiff and bent to one side .. We really didn’t think he was going to make it now ..

In the afternoon, Cher arrived with Lucinda from Dili, with Ben and Melanie. The brown goat was lying barely alive on the ground. I greeted my wife and the new couple and then told them about the whole goat drama. We encircled the sick little goat in empathy and we prayed for his healing .. but it was too late, he soon died. It was a bit discouraging for our reunion, but that’s how it goes sometimes. We decided to burn him as we didn’t want to give any worm infested goat to anybody to eat. Ben and I quickly got to work, gathering sticks, logs and burnable materials for the fire as the evening was fast approaching. In Timor rubbish isn’t collected and taken away it is burned. So at the back of our property there was a deep and wide square pit with a few weeks of our dumped rubbish, ready for burning. You definitely get all the details on our blog, don’t you! Ben, a country boy, who had a little more experience making fires, stacked the logs, sticks and dry palm branches etc., and then we laid the goat down on top of it all. We decided to use a little help to get the fire going - some petrol from the cans in the generator shed. We filled a 1.5L plastic bottle, then doused the dead goat, sticks, logs, rubbish and all.

We tried to light the fire by lighting some cardboard pieces and then throwing them onto the pile. We stood about 2 metres away as we lit the first piece and threw it on the pile. It just landed on the pile but nothing happened, so we tried again ..  and as we were trying to light the second piece of cardboard, immediately the whole pile went KABOOM and up in flames!! It was like a bomb or volcano erupting, the pit spewed out flames several metres high. Sticks and stones landed on the house twenty metres away! And the sound carried throughout the whole village! Although Ben and I were quite close to the explosion we were not harmed! After we confirmed we were both okay, we rushed to get some buckets of water as the explosion had set fire to some grass near to the pit. Thankfully, we quickly contained the fire in the pit which was now a fierce bonfire! Suddenly dozens of locals, mainly children with a few adults, came streaming onto our property. They all heard the loud explosion and all came running to see what had caused it. I’m sure some came to help but most came to witness some excitement. But by then, there wasn’t really anything to see except for a healthy fire. After giving them assurance that all was well, they slowly left.     

I remember trying to light that little bit of cardboard and then just suddenly seeing all this yellow and red all around me. The light and colour came before the heat and loud sound of the explosion .. I remember turning away and shielding my face from the explosion of light and feeling all this warm air rush past me! To this day I still wonder if the 2 metres Ben and I were from that pit was actually a safe enough distance for us OR if in fact the hand of God had shielded us from those flames .. ?? Some blackened bananas still hang on a palm over that pit as a reminder of that eventful day ..                  

  

I tell ya, with this kind of excitement we don’t need television or movies out here! We were all a little rattled after the explosion as we sat down and tried to relax and calm our nerves .. Soon we had put it all behind us as we begun sharing stories and experiences of our time apart.  

I eventually did tell Cher about the scorpion, she wasn’t too thrilled. We’ve also seen all kinds of creatures from snakes, to spiders to ‘crocodile’ lizards! I’ve captured and released a few ‘crocodile’ lizards that I’ve found in the house - apparently they have a poisonous bite! One night I caught a pretty big one, I kept him in a plastic tub for the night. By the morning he had changed colour from green with orange spots to black! I let him go in the fields near our house and he changed back to green in front of my eyes. Some kids later came and and started toying with him with sticks and stones. They put him on a wooden post and again it changed it’s colour to that of the wood! Smart little creatures, but sadly this one, the kids put an end to ..   

        

One day sunny day, Marcus came ‘round and brought some very good news! Graciana, an elderly lady who I had the opportunity of praying for one night at church, had been healed!! I remember that night and them telling me about her bad tooth and all the pain she was in, in fact you could see it all in her expression. Apparently she had been on medication but it had failed to take any of the pain away. I prayed for her but then also suggested for her to see a dentist if she could .. unfortunately though, there aren’t many nearby! But God was nearby .. and He blessed her! Hallelujah!! After miracles like these more people became convinced that God was indeed in their midst and trying to speak to them! Rosalina who had witnessed the miraculous healing of her son Milton, started coming to church meetings along with her grandmother! As did many native birthing attendants who had witnessed God perform miracles time and time again in the births of many babies under very difficult to impossible circumstances with Lucinda. All glory to God! 

Weberek does have a medical clinic, but it’s in a terrible state. Some nurses are apparently employed by the government to run the clinic and look after the sick and injured of Weberek but instead they’re hardly ever there and when they are, it’s usually at night throwing a party! When Lucinda checked it out she found it in disarray, a filthy mess and tragically neglected! She prayed about it and then decided to offer the village her services in the clinic a few afternoons a week. The chief was delighted as were all the sick and injured people who came to receive her help the following weeks .. Since we had been in Weberek Lucinda had assisted in five successful births. She had also visited a mother and baby in a nearby village, Sarin, after the mother had already given birth to a 29 week old baby (when they should be close to 40 weeks!). They had also cut the umbilical cord with dirty scissors and the baby had gotten infected. When Lucinda arrived, the baby wasn’t feeding well either, which was apparently their main concern. Lucinda prayed for the baby, did what she could and advised them to get to a hospital .. advice they apparently rejected! 

In early May the heavy monsoonal rains began. This made drying our washed clothes difficult as well as any outdoor activities or work. I managed, one day, to get one last jog in before the rains came .. well actually, I got caught in the thick of it, but I was fine with my raincoat on. I found jogging in the rain was fun, especially as the weather is still so warm in the tropics, even when it rains! Though some of the days and nights did get a lot cooler than the hot humid weather we had been getting used to ..

Here in East-Timor my name has been slightly altered from Laurence to Lorenzo! I found it was easier for the Timorese to pronounce and remember, as many people are already called Lorenzo here, the name having been also of Portuguese origin and use (East-Timor being once a Portuguese colony). The front cover of the Tetum Catholic bible, very common here in East-Timor,  has on it an artist’s rendering of the classic image of Jesus, with beard and long hair ..   A lot of the kids of Weberek know our names now but as I go around Weberek most kids yell at me, “Jezoos! Jezoos!” .. It might be time for a hair cut ..

We had been eating considerably well our whole time in East-Timor as we had been able to cook most of our meals. One of my favourite snacks was fried green banana chips! We had this small banana tree with a large green clump of bananas on it and I had been waiting forever for them to ripen. (Cher mentioned them in the last blog) Then one day the tree just snapped under the heavy load of the bananas! We found out that most Timorese fry or cook these particular kind of bananas, maybe coz they couldn’t be bothered waiting for them either? We fried them up similar to ones we had eaten with our Timorese friends and they came out really good, especially with a nice chill, lime and papaya marmalade sauce! Mmm .. I gave making the flat bread another go when Cher and Lucinda were back. This time I didn’t deep fry them, just a drop or two of oil on a hot pan and they came out brilliant! It was nice to have some wholemeal bread again .. I wasn’t the only one working some dough though. Ben and Mel got the old cast iron oven in the backyard fired up and also made some bread and cookies. Even Lucinda had a go. Cher also made some of her yummy healthy muffins. I also made my signature crepes occasionally, which seemed to go down well. A few times, when we had too many bananas (just normal ones) we froze them in the freezer and made some delicious smoothies. One night I made some banana & papaya smoothie, but Doris had retired early and gone to bed missing out. I left her some in the freezer though, in a plastic bottle. The next day someone told Doris that there was some left over smoothie for her in the fridge. The only problem was, Ben and Mel had made some pancakes that morning and had left the leftover pancake batter in the blender in the fridge as well! Poor Doris didn’t notice the difference in flavour or texture as she drank all of the leftover pancake batter from the blender! Everyone else was too busy doing other things at the time to notice! I overheard the conversation between Lucinda and Doris, Lucinda was asking if Doris had drunk her smoothie we had left for her. And Doris said, “Oh, yes thank you it was lovely.” But when I noticed the smoothie was still in the freezer, I mentioned it to the others and slowly we put one and one together!! Good ol’ Doris, she took it all in her stride though and didn’t get at all sick!

While in Weberek my 33rd birthday rolled around! Unfortunately I wasn’t in contact with my family back in Australia for it but my wife and our family of believers in Weberek got together and put on a little night of celebration with some snacky treats and music. I had already opened a lot of my birthday presents earlier (at my wife’s insistence) because most of the gifts were edible .. foods that Cher had got while in Dili, that were hard to obtain in the middle of East-Timor! 

But of course it wasn’t all smoothies and smooth sailing in Weberek .. During most of our time in East-Timor Cher has been struggling with different kinds or ‘waves’ of sickness, tiredness, pains and fever. She’s been a real trooper though and hasn’t let any of it dampen her enthusiasm. We’ve prayed for her heaps and she took the opportunity to see a doctor, while in Dili.  Some of this was just regular sickness that anyone can pick up easily in a tropical country. But we suspected earlier on that some of it might also be due to something else .. 

We also have a major rat problem here. You can hear them at night galloping across the ceilings! It’s a real rat race! We had some rat poison, but we decided to hold off for fear if we killed some rats with poison, they would then rot and stink the house out! We finally decided to put some poison out. Unfortunately for Cher and I, an ungodly smell started to slowly develop near our room! We weren’t sure exactly where the smell was coming from but we tolerated it’s gradual growth until the stench got so strong I couldn’t bear it any longer! After a little search I finally found it and removed it - I had to hold my breath for most of it though! Man, can those dead rats stink!! I think next time I’ll try to find and remove any dead rats, at first sniff! 

But after all is said and done, through all of the joy and all of the sadness and all of the pain and all of the madness, God has a plan .. and He brought us here for a reason. And Cher and I feel totally blessed and privileged to serve God and the people of Weberek. It’s been so encouraging to be around new believers who are so hungry for fellowship and to learn about God and His Word. Also their faith and resilience against opposition and persecution has been truly inspiring! These are not wealthy or powerful Christians like you might find in the US .. they are not in the majority here in Timor, Catholics are. And those that think Christians and Catholics are the same need to study their history (and read their Bible). No,these are humble believers in Jesus, but they are not afraid to speak their mind. However some of them do feel intimidated from time to time, that is why we decided to share with them the contents of Timor-Leste’s Constitution. We found out about it in Dili and downloaded two copies from the internet, one in English and one in Portuguese. Timor has a great constitution with awesome laws protecting and insuring rights and freedoms for it’s citizens, but making the constitution widely known throughout East-Timor and implementing it is another issue. Most ordinary Timorese people don’t really know about these laws and so aren’t able to really enjoy them or benefit from them. We shared some of the constitution with the believers in Weberek. We looked at their rights that related to their freedom of religion, their freedom to gather and meet, the freedom of association and freedom of speech etc. I find it a little sad that East-Timor is supposedly free and independent now, but minority Christians, like the ones we serve in Weberek, are often intimidated and their freedoms violated by tradition-minded villagers, fundamentalist Catholics and just plain old busybodies that don’t have any idea about human rights and freedoms as they are contained in the Constitution of East-Timor. And as we told the people of Weberek, East-Timor is blessed to have such a good set of laws. A lot of countries are expressly anti-Christian, look at North Korea and China (with it’s false state controlled church and history of Christian persecution), Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Syria, the list goes on. So things could definitely be worse in Timor, God be thanked they’re not ..        

We weren’t quite able to this time, but next time we go to Weberek we will bring copies of the Timorese Constitution with us to Weberek. Maybe the believers will then be able to go to other villages sharing the Timorese Constitution with their fellow Timorese .. while also bringing the story of our just Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ who was the substitutionary offering and payment for mankind’s transgressions of God’s laws. 

Okay enough preaching for now, I need to wind up this never-ending blog!! Speaking of preaching, there was a Timorese word that got stuck in my head while in Weberek and I just couldn’t get it out! ‘Haklaken’ was the word. Maybe because it sounded more like German than Tetum. I was stunned when I finally found out what it was .. it meant ‘to PREACH!’. Ha!! (God is in the details .. ; ) By the way, my beautiful wife gave a really good message on communion towards the end of our stay to the church at Weberek. We all as one ate and drank the communion bread and wine (grape juice), symbolic of Jesus’ body and blood .. to remember His stripes, His sacrifice and all He has provided for us. May the name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, be praised forever .. 

The day after my birthday party, Ben, Mel and Doris were driven to nearby Same to travel to Dili, the next day, with an Aussie lady (who was in our area once, dropping in on us unannounced). We found she was going back to Dili and she offered us some seats in her car for the journey, which was perfect because we had one too many for Lucinda’s ute! Our Lord provides! With the extra room in Lucinda’s ute we were able to leave for Dili the following day with two sick Timorese men who needed to go to Dili hospital. In the monsoonal month of May when incessant rains can cause severe flooding, God blessed us! God opened the way for us again, holding off the rain for both days of driving! Hallelujah! He is so good .. 

Before we left we dropped off two boxes of bibles with Marcus’ family for the believers to hand out to people as they share their faith in Jesus Christ. We also dropped by Lorentino’s house, a vet and male widow with six young children. I had met Lorentino on one of the market trips. I was waiting to be picked up by our ute, after the market, and Lorentino noticed me. He invited me to sit and talk and wait with him out the front of his house. Doris later came and gave him a tract and soon he showed interest in hearing more. He actually asked us to come back the next day to pray for him and speak to him about Jesus. This we did and we brought Marcus along as Lucinda couldn’t come (to translate). Marcus doesn’t know much English but we got through alright. Ben lent me his laptop with an English/Tetum dictionary on it and I was able to string a few sentences together! We ended up praying for his little son who had been suffering with a fever. I was meaning to come back and check up on Lorentio and see if his son needed any medication, but I didn’t get round to it. So on our drive out of Weberek we stopped by Lorentino’s to check in with him and his son .. His little children spilled out of his house and we noticed his son (the one that was sick) came running to us healthily! We were overjoyed when Lorentino confirmed that his son was indeed feeling fine now! Hallelujah, Jesus did it again!! After a quick chat and praying with him we said goodbye and hit the road for Dili!!  

Our long drive to Dili was blessed with great weather and no hiccups! In Dili, Cher and I stayed with Natalie again who had just returned from Switzerland! And she shared some lovely Swiss chocolates with us! Cher was very happy .. While back in Dili we caught up on e-mails and I started writing this blog!! This has got to be one of our longest!  Anyway, Cher and I caught up with Vasco in Dili, with Lucinda, Doris, Mel, Ben and Olimpia. We saw his humble little home near the beach and met his adorable little puppy! Also while in Dili Cher and I were blessed with a free MAF plane flight from Dili to Oecussi!! (An enclave district/province of East-Timor in Indonesia) The flight was chartered by The Leprosy Mission of East-Timor which Natalie works for and they happened to have some empty seats on the flight!! There was even enough room for Ben and Mel to join us. We got some beautiful pics of Timor from the air ..

Another day we dropped by YWAM for lunch and shared with them the wonderful things God was doing in Weberek. Annabel the leader of Jocum (YWAM Timor-Leste) who pioneered a lot of work in Weberek was happy to hear our stories and about our vision and ideas for future work in Weberek.  

The end is nigh! .. It’s amazing how 3 months can go so quick! Cher and I have been busy organizing our trip to Darwin in order to renew our visas for the next phase of our Timor adventure! After Lucinda left with Doris for Australia, we were fortunate to be able to use the 4wd ute. We did a day trip to an old Dutch fort, which had a Portuguese restaurant in it - which was started by an ex-ywammer! We also had a chance for a quick dip in the water - you just have to keep an eye out for those crocs! We were also able to catch up with people, like the Bacon family (other Aussie missionaries) who live in a hard to access area on the outskirts of Dili. 

On Sunday we had our ‘church marathon’ with Natalie. The big Victory Family Church was first up (We listened to a very loud and energetic Sri Lankan preacher!), followed by a more quiet, intimate and contemplative house church gathering in Palm Springs and then in the evening the other house church meeting with dinner, discussion and prayer. We enjoyed catching up with some familiar faces from when we first arrived in Dili back in March. One morning I was finally able to get up and out of bed for Natalie’s early morning ‘steps’ walk (which she does almost everyday!), climbing the odd couple hundred steps up to the Jesus statue in Dili before dawn!  

Not long before we’ll be in Darwin now. We’ve organized to stay with YWAM there. It’s hard to imagine it’s been a whole year since Cher and I left our jobs to pursue God’s plans for us (which involved working with Darwin YWAM for a season). It’s amazing all that’s come out of that one obedient step .. My prayer is that we all learn to surrender our lives more fully to Jesus, so that we can know Him and His loving presence more fully and that our yielded lives may produce lasting fruit unto eternity, to the glory of God and His eternal kingdom!  

Thanks for joining us in our adventures! And thank you all for your constant love, prayers and support! May you prosper and be in good health!

Blessings, 

L & C

p.s.  We didn’t take many pics in Weberek this time because we were trying to focus on building relationships first. Most of the following pics were when we returned to Dili and were doing a few ‘touristy’ things:)

Spot the snake on the back porch!

Bread baker Breuls!

Super-excited....or is that just the sun in your eyes?

Airstrip in Oecussi

Watch where you're flying, Eagle Man!

Vasco & his lil' pup 'Coca-Cola'

Tasi-Tolu, Dili

A typical urban backstreet in Tasi-Tolu, Dili

Loz sitting next to a 17th Century Dutch canon in Maubara

Watching the singing comp 'Mai adora Jesus', Hera

My God shall supply all your need...

Our 'bebe bibi' with Vasco

If you squint enough you'll spot the big croc with his mouth open wide! Yep, this is for real!

So, we’ve been off ‘the grid’ for just over 3 weeks, here in Weberek, as there’s no electricity (except that from a few small solar panels and the generator) nor internet. We can get some mobile connection, although intermittently, if we stand still in a certain part of the village (on our heads! hehe...just kidding;)...

Now Lucinda and I are back in Dili for a couple of days to stock up on supplies and so I thought it high-time to get in touch with the outside world again!

Writing this blog is always a great way to reflect on the many ways in which God has continually provided for all our needs, so that we can focus on the work He has called us to in Weberek. He is so good!

Was an amazing trip up here (or down?!), which was just another confirmation from Father God that we are indeed meant to be here. When we left Dili, we declared, “Thank you, Lord - You are the one making our paths straight!” and “Your yolk is easy...”. The weather was absolutely perfect - warm and sunny - great for drying up the roads after some torrential rains! Very few waterways that we had to pass through and they were not too ‘hairy’, given it’s still the wet season! In contrast, last year was supposedly the ‘dry’ season, but we had the most treacherous, long journey! And, the last time we were here, the sky was heavily overcast, so that the solar-power never worked. This time, it’s beautiful and sunny, although the mornings be unseasonably on the cool side (which is actually very nice!).

As for the roads, or our ‘path’ being made ‘straight’....Well, it’s a bit hard making straight with all those mountains! However, for much of the roads (which are beginning to resemble actual roads!), there was newly laid gravel and even some bitumen on a few short stretches! Was amazing! So, maybe not ‘straight’ in the way we first imagine, but more like ‘smooth-ish’!;)

Also, being Palm Sunday, when we travelled down the main road into Weberek, we were greeted by decorative palms on either side of the road (leading all the way to the Catholic church). Not glorifying ourselves, but as we thought about our Lord entering Jerusalem, we felt like our entrance was symbolising Jesus coming to Weberek! We are, after all, sons of God, born again, of God and into Christ - we are one spirit with Jesus!

Our smooth journey was also relatively short...I think we left around 8am and arrived around 4:30pm...MUCH better than last year, when we left much earlier and arrived after midnight!

All this, we felt, just confirmed to us that the Lord was the One who was directing us all to Weberek. Not only does He make our paths straight, but His yoke is easy! We haven’t had to force anything to happen, even leading up to coming over to Timor. God has been orchestrating it all for us so that all we have to do is just keep walking the ‘way’ with Him!

There’s been provision and God’s favour being poured upon us in other ways too...One was my wedding gown selling! This happened very quickly....Much quicker than I had imagined! Praise God! We had basically drained all our savings and had just shrapnel of cash left in our wallets, so God’s timing for this money has been perfect, as always!

The other provision the Lord made was for our visa extension from 30 days to 90 days. We had heard all sorts of stories about how hard it was to get this extension and how they began the extra 60 days from the time of application. This would have caused us issues, as our return tickets were booked exactly 90 days after our arrival! However, God made the process easy and we had enough funds to pay the visas too! Hallelujah!

We connected with a number of the believers in Weberek quite quickly... Their numbers had dwindled a little since we were here last year, after some threats and persecution stirred up by a particular Catholic priest towards the end of last year. This priest basically banned the house-church from meeting to study the bible together and even banned folk reading their Catholic Tetun bibles, which are fully endorsed by the Catholic Bishop of Timor-Leste! More than this, we also found out from a government official that people cannot register births and baby names until they have ‘baptised’ them in the Catholic church. The only reason they do this is because there’s been cases where the Priest didn’t like the name that the parent’s chose for their baby and so he would change the baby’s name! This level of control sounds like something from the dark ages  and is completely contrary to the official constitution of Timor-Leste! But it still continues! From what we can determine from our experiences in Weberek, most of the power and influence of the Catholic church, seems to stem from a pervasive undercurrent of the fear of ‘rocking the boat’ of entrenched authority structures and community traditions. The Catholic church has a lot of sway in the community, it oversees the education of the children of Weberek and nationally they have a lot of political influence, even also over the local police forces. Nevertheless, God calls all believers to stand for justice and for the truth; for the oppressed and for the weak. And this we will do with His help. We’ve been encouraged by those few believers who have decided to stand for Christ no matter what, even though some have dropped away. God wants us to help strengthen the believers here, so that they might move from fearing man to fearing God alone.

We’ve been involved in teaching through the weekly house-church, which has kept going despite all the opposition and persecution. We’ve also begun two discipleship nights for those who are hungry to learn more of God’s Word and grow deeper in their relationship with God. We all would love it to get to a point where we meet with all the believers everyday, just like they did in the book of Acts.

I’ve really enjoyed seeing my husband teach and preach, as I do believe this is what God has called Him to do. Although he is picking up Tetun, the main language of Timor-Leste supernaturally quick, he still preaches in English at this point (although it won’t be long!). I also enjoy watching the believers in the group who are so hungry to learn, as they hang onto every word, taking down notes (those who are able to write). These people are the main reason God brought us to Weberek - not because we’re anything special - but because He loves them so much that He wants them to grow deeper in their relationship with Him and to grow up into His dear Son, Jesus. The Lord has a mighty plan for these precious people to impact their nation and beyond and we’re so privileged to be a part of His work here in Weberek, Timor-Leste.

We’ve all come here with the intention to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in power and God has not let us down in this way. We’ve seen a number of miracles, through God’s healing touch in a number of lives here. Everything from toothaches, headaches, to God giving a blood transfusion! There was a mother who gave birth to a beautiful little boy (her fifth child),  but she lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure was down to 70 on 40. Through prayer, she recovered overnight and was sitting up and happily chatting away the very next morning! Praise God!

There was also a little toddler, Milton, who we were called to pray for. This precious little boy has a severe cleft palate (which causes him to be vulnerable to respiratory infections) and we discovered that he had been ill for two weeks. His breathing was so laboured with the infection so widespread that we felt he was close to death. We lay hands on this little one to impart the life of Christ into his little body. I noticed a black string tied around his left wrist and asked why that was there. We received some vague explanation as to how it was meant to stop the little ones from shuddering or jolting in their sleep - really, it was because of superstitious beliefs and they felt as though it protected him from certain spirits. We saw it as a bond to certain spirits and so explained to them that there was no other name by which we are saved other than Jesus Christ - that He was baby Milton’s protecter and healer.

Although having prayed, we decided to try to get him to a clinic about 40 minutes drive from here to get the necessary medical help and antibiotics. However, by the time we got to the clinic, baby Milton had improved so much that the doctor felt that he required no further treatment or medication! From the time we prayed, God had brought healing to that little boy! Hallelujah!

Through our regular visits to this little boy, we’re beginning to build relationships with his family too in order to share the love of Christ in a real way. God has really put it on our hearts that our main focus is ‘relationship’ - with Him, one another, the believers and the people in the community. We see just how easily God is opening the way for this to happen, without us forcing anything, such as being involved in the births. We’ve found people coming to us for help or prayer - we haven’t really needed to seek out opportunities. 

God’s also been opening opportunities to minister to the children of Weberek on a regular basis. At the last meeting we were greeted with such enthusiasm as the children worshipped the Lord with all the hearts! Was such a joy! God really does have a special place in His heart for the children and has wonderful plans for their lives!

As for our day-to-day lives here, we’ve had all kinds of challenges: from electrical power issues, water issues and some sickness. After having a severe bout of some tropical flu in Dili, I’ve been suffering something that seems like giardia, but could be one of the many strange viruses going around. However, God is my strength and has been helping get done all I need to do, as I slowly recover. He also answered some of our prayers about the  electrical and water issues in a cool way. One day we were having a particularly hard time trying to keep the power going for our fridge. That night, our Aussie friend Samuel from Dili turned up unexpectedly and was able to give us excellent help and advice on the matter. He also blessed us with a multi-meter so we could continue to monitor the situation. We really felt his visit was such an answer to prayer.

Then the water stopped coming into the house and we discovered our tank to be empty. However, just when we were about to receive more people into the house (our team’s increasing from 4 to 7 people!), the water has again begun to flow! Praise God! We don’t understand how it happened, but we know it’s God!

We’ve also bought a couple of pet (kid) goats to try to help keep our long grass down (although admittedly, they haven’t been doing such a good job!). We still haven’t named them, but they are definitely very used to us now. We hope to get some chickens (for the eggs) and to begin a vege patch down the track too. It’s a bit of a challenge to get a good variety of foods here in Weberek and it makes the most sense to grow your own. We do already have a decent size lime tree (although struggling), a young papaya tree, a couple of young banana trees, possibly a custard apple tree and of course coconut palms! (Plus a few other unidentifiable fruit trees!) With a bit of work, who knows, it may soon resemble a mini garden of Eden!

Although we have some bananas growing, they are still green (seemingly ‘evergreen’!) and are of the variety that is better suited to frying as a savoury snack. The bananas in Timor are really something else and we were all craving them in the first week in Weberek.  I remember one morning I said to God that it would be nice to slice a little banana on our porridge. That day we were blessed with a couple of bunches of bananas from one of the Catholic nuns next door and from one of the believers! Talk about abundant provision! What’s more, this particular believer was apparently never one to give but was known to always ask the ‘foreigners’ for things, everything .. But that day, we could see how God was starting to show him how to give and bless others.

It’s not all such a ‘tropical paradise’ here (although we do feel blessed!), as there are giant rats, snakes and scorpions that can come into the house (we haven’t seen any snakes inside, but one was spotted climbing the roof of our patio!). For all those who were thinking of coming to visit one day, I don’t want to put you off! All it shows is just how much God really is protecting us here! Anyway, Jesus says in Luke 10:19 “Behold , I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Also, with the backdrop of the lush tropical landscape, there’s still much poverty and deep hurt from the not-so-distant past. It takes a mighty big God of love to really heal the people and to bring that complete salvation and transformation in their lives and community.

We also thought that coming to a remote rural village in Timor-Leste, with the only real vehicles being a few motorised scooters, would be quite idyllic. However, the peace is often interrupted by roosters crowing (anytime of the day), dogs barking and load music. The music often comes from the chief’s house as they seem to like to party and gamble quite a bit. We also had an all-nighter of really bad (and ridiculously loud) karaoke just before the elections when the FRETILIN party came to town with all their propaganda. Many people got caught up in the emotionalism of the whole event and it became quite evident where most people would put their vote. Strangely, the event somewhat resembled what I’d seen in some churches in Australia...hmmm...

There are definitely some things in the ‘culture’ here that are contrary to God and really need to change - especially those things that are harmful. We’re mindful that we are not trying to bring our western culture, unlike some well-meaning missionaries of the past, but we are bringing God’s Kingdom culture! All we want is for His will to be done in and through our lives for the people of Weberek and Timor-Leste! His ways and His plans for our lives and the people of Weberek are perfect! Hallelujah!

Thanks for tuning in once again to our blog! Please email us if you’d like a prayer newsletter...again, we won’t ask you for any money:) However, if you’d like to support the work we’re doing in Weberek, please donate through the Paypal button on this blog or contact us for alternative payment options. We will soon put up a list of specific needs for Weberek you may choose to support, such as Christian resources (especially bibles), vitamins for pregnant women and new mothers, educational resources etc.  Thank you for all your continued love and support!

Stay blessed!

Love C & L

Red banana muffins with coconut sugar and oil...YUM!

Mum, I AM looking after myself...

Dili Sunrise

We’ve got some good news...we’re going to Weberek this Saturday! Hallelujah! This decision was made just yesterday afternoon when our friend, Lucinda, finally picked up her vehicle (a Mitsubishi Triton twin-cab 4 wheel drive - a ‘man’s vehicle’, as Lucinda calls it!) after the rigmarole in trying to make the payment for it (long story!). However, God is the one making our path straight....all the way up the winding tracks to Weberek! 

(Actually, Weberek is down from Dili, near the south-coast of Timor - we’ll try to plot it out on a map for you one day:)

We also received the news that my wedding gown sold in a lil’ boutique in Sydney! This income is timely and we’re so thankful to God for His continual provision for the work He has called us to! Some of you may already know the story of how I actually won this dress...it was an amazing gift from our Heavenly Father! Had I tried to sell it on my own via ebay, I wouldn’t have made more than $150 on it, even though it cost me $350 just to get it dry-cleaned! Even though it was sold with a fairly hefty commission, we still make a pretty good profit on it! Praise God! His good and perfect gifts keep on giving!

We also wanted to thank God for good health! Laurence and I were struck down for around 2 weeks with a terrible tropical flu-type thing! We were concerned that it may have been the dreaded mosquito-borne dengue fever or malaria, but God has restored us both to good health! We celebrated this morning by taking a long walk to the Christo Rei (Christ the King), which is otherwise know as the ‘Jesus statue’ and having a splash in the beautiful bay below! First time we’ve managed to really escape the craziness and pollution of Dili and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation...with the crystal, turquoise bay reflecting the magnificent and lush mountains!

‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says to Zion, Your God reigns!’     Isaiah 52:7

We’ve also worked out how to source, prepare and eat good, healthy food on a shoe-string budget in Dili! We feel like we’ve been eating like kings! There’s quite a lot of food around that is priced for the rich foreigners (or ‘malai’ as the locals call them) -  some prices are much more than in Australia! However, they have some relatively inexpensive veges, fruit and tempeh (fermented soybean product) sold in the local markets which suits our preference for a vegetarian diet here in Timor.

It’s been a real blessing to stay at my friend, Natalies’ house too - especially when we were housebound with illness and needing to rest! She’s actually been away in Thailand most of the time we’ve been here, but her hospitality has blessed us greatly, even without her here!

Another blessing and answer to prayer is our visa situation. We had heard many times that it was a very hard process in trying to apply for a visa extension (getting another 60 days on top of our standard 30-day tourist visa). Also, that they gave you 60 days from the day you apply, not starting after your initial 30 day visa. However, much to our joy, we found this to not be the case, since we had already booked our flights back to Darwin exactly 90 days from our entry into Dili! We now await the visa to be approved and praise God for His favour!.

So, we just want to give thanks to God, for ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’  (James 1:17)

Thank you all for your continual love, support and prayers too! We will be offline for at least the next month now, as there’s no internet in Weberek (nor any grid electricity). We’re thinking of and praying for you all too!

Stay blessed!

Love C & L

P.S. We're sorry, but still no pics! We don't make very good tourists...hehe...Maybe next time.... ;)

SYD >> MEL >> DAR >> DIL !!

Bondia hotu-hotu! That means ‘good morning everyone’ in Tetun, the national language of Timor-Leste! (East-Timor)

Well, we made it safely to Timor after a whirlwind-of-a-trip, driving to Sydney for a micro 2-3 day visit, then flying back to Melbourne, then flying to Darwin and on through to Dili! In Sydney, we spent a few precious hours catching up with family and friends. We also handed over our car to our good friend Epely, whom we trust will make good use of it for the Kingdom of God. Cher had made a startling discovery, that it was cheaper and quicker to buy flights back to Melbourne and from Melbourne to fly to Darwin, than to purchase flights from Sydney to Darwin (which went via Perth)! Crazy .. So anyway that’s what we did .. After Sydney we were back in Melbourne just long enough to pack our bags before our ‘red eye express’ to Darwin! We stayed one night at YWAM Darwin, catching up with some old friends and also meeting some wonderful new ones! Thankfully we were also able to leave some of our things with some friends in Darwin, as there was a leaner baggage weight limit for our flight to Timor.

The sky was mostly clear and blue on our arrival in Timor-Leste. The lush green covering and the jutting mountains of the island looked so beautiful on our flight in! Early in the morning at Dili airport, we were greeted by Lucinda and Doris, friends, fellow Aussie’s and co-labourers with us in God’s Kingdom work. We were taken to where they were staying in Dili and met Olimpia and her household. Then we had a nice breakfast at the house of some Brazilian friends of Lucinda who work with YWAM East-Timor. 

Cher and I have been totally blessed on our arrival in Timor, or maybe ‘spoilt’ is the right word! We were offered the choice of 3 different options for accommodation! Olimpia offered for us to stay with her, Lucinda’s Brazilian friends opened their house to us and prior to coming to Timor, Cher’s friend Natalie had offered for us to stay with her! After meeting Natalie later on in the day, after her hike in the mountains, and seeing her place, we felt it would be most suitable staying at hers. It’s a small house and we have a very small room but a nice sized bed, with a mosquito net. Natalie has been away for a few weeks now and we’ve been sharing the house with another Australian lady, a lawyer, doing a short stint with The Leprosy Mission East-Timor. She leaves this week and then Cher and I will have the little house to ourselves for a little while. 

On our first evening in Dili, Natalie brought us along to a social dinner, at a house practically next door to us and introduced us to some of her friends and contacts, a lively bunch of ex-pat doctors, nurses, lawyers and NGO employees. We’ve since had more dinners together with some of them who live in very close proximity to us. 

It seems some good things have been coming to us in threes because the day after we arrived we went with Natalie to 3 different churches! Two of them were home churches (or home groups), the other one was in a regular church building and was well attended. Cher and I relished singing praise and worship to God amidst the various nations represented! At the two home groups we met an interesting array of highly skilled, gifted and compassion-filled people all working in different ways, serving the people and nation of East-Timor. Most of the people we met were Aussies, some were from the UK and some from the US .. But we’ve been told that there are large numbers of Chinese and Cuban doctors working in the main hospital in Dili ..  

Before Natalie left on her work trip, she took us on an orientation trip of Dili, showing us all the best and cheapest grocery stores, shops and restaurants. We also wandered through one of the main markets in Dili .. So many things for sale and so cheap! Many things in Dili though aren’t that cheap (even by Aussie standards) as they are imported from everywhere and the currency here is in US dollars. Timorese say Indonesia is much cheaper than East-Timor. 

Without much delay Cher and I began Tetun lessons at Olimpia’s house with Vasco, a Timorese friend of Lucinda, who has also had some past involvement with YWAM. Our Tetun vocabulary is slowly growing and we have already had many opportunities to practice, in class with Vasco and Doris; shopping and while out and about amongst the Timorese people, who are mostly very appreciative and encouraging with big smiles!  

Apart from focusing on learning Tetun, one of our other main aims (along with Lucinda and Doris) was to acquire a 4WD vehicle for our trip up to the village of Weberek. At this stage, Lucinda has almost completed the purchase of a second-hand 4WD Mitsubishi!! Hallelujah!! God is good!! As soon as the vehicle is ours, it will get some touch-ups at a mechanic, but we will most probably be heading up through the mountains and down south to Weberek very soon! We had a meeting with the staff of YWAM East-Timor, as we will be using a house in Weberek, which currently belongs to them. Upon our departure from East-Timor last year, the staff of YWAM agreed to pray about what God was saying to them regarding Cher and I living and working in Weberek. In the meeting, Cher and I were greatly encouraged to hear that God had spoken to them all .. that we were indeed the ones that God was calling to live in Weberek! Hallelujah!! God is so good!! But just to clarify, Cher and I will not be working under YWAM nor any church denomination or organisation. We are willing to collaborate with and work alongside Christians of various church denominations and organisations, as well as with representatives from local governments and NGO’s .. but we operate solely under the authority of Jesus and His revealed Word.  

We went to an open meeting at YWAM and it was great. We enjoyed some worship and fellowship and heard a great message from a Christian leader from Singapore. We were reminded that Jesus calls us to be the salt and light of the world. And how only a small pinch of salt is needed to flavour a whole meal and how the smallest flickering light can dispel the thickest darkness. 

Indeed, the world is full of lies and injustice but the truth is a sword that cuts through the lies that bind us and a light that shines into the darkness that blinds us .. God is love and the Word of God is truth .. Jesus is the truth.

Our time in Dili has been tremendously exciting, being in a totally different country and culture, however there are a few negatives like squatty toilets; cold ‘showers’; an abundance of skin whitening soaps at shops; tropical disease carrying mozzies and having to constantly apply anti-mozzie repellant; periodic blackouts; big, ugly cockroaches and rats; food challenges, as in just trying to source and eat good, healthy food; monsoonal, flooding rains; the pollution and noisy traffic jammed streets of a city in a developing nation and having to walk most places, even when it’s practically flooding! 

But there’s the positive side too, fried bananas for 10 cents each! Also, homemade yoghurt made out of milk powder; cheap taxis; meeting lots of interesting people; learning a new language; the use of electricity (while in Dili); easy access to shops; cheap and clean drinking water (bought in big bottles); beautiful beaches and natural surroundings; friendly Timorese people and happy, smiling children of all ages despite their obvious poverty!

The unpredictable political situation puts an interesting spin on it all, with the current presidential elections. Before the election day, hundreds of Timorese, mainly youth, took to the streets in numerous long cavalcade processions winding all through Dili, usually in trucks spilling over with loud, enthusiastic, often frenzied political supporters but also in large groupings of motorcycle riders. Each procession sported T-shirts, flags and banners promoting one of the 30+ political parties participating in the elections. Posters of the various respective candidates of the political parties have been plastered throughout the city. We’ve been told the presidential elections are no where near as volatile and potentially divisive as the prime ministerial elections later in June, nevertheless some foreigners didn’t want to take any chances and left the country for this period. But we haven’t been afraid. We registered with the Australian Embassy here though and they will sms us in the event of any serious conflicts or tensions that may arise. For us, we are content enough to know that we are in the will of God and in His sight and we fear no man. While the world may rally around this or that political personality in vain hope, we are ‘monarchists’ with God as our King and He knows them that are His. So if God is for us, who can be against us? 

Does He reign in your heart ..?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” So we feel we’re right where we’re meant to be as bringing and making peace is part of our mandate, as is introducing the nations to the Prince of peace - Jesus, who freely gives peace to all, peace that is not of this world.

Soon, before we go to Weberek, we will apply for our 2 month Visa extensions with the Timorese Immigration Office. We pray all will go smoothly!!

Thanks for tuning in! Sorry we don’t have any pics for you this time, but we’ll try and get some up soon!

Lots of Love and Blessings to you all,

L & C