Greetings to all at the Minnesota Annual Meeting-UCC!  We are thinking about the event and are happy to be remembered as you meet this weekend.

Today here in East Timor we are celebrating two members of the community who will soon be on thier way to seminary in Indonesia: Alberto and Ayung.  As i write, women are cooking the freshly killed pig on the cooking fire. Vegetables are being prepared and of course we will have rice.  I asked Ayung if I could by cake from one of the shops to celebrate.  One small cake costs $5, so its a bit extravagant.  I am happy to treat for such an important celebration!

This morning Alberto knocked on our door about 9:30am. ” Doctora, can you help me?” he asked as he came in and sat down. His leg was bloody and he was limping.  He had run into a dog while riding the  motorbike, and tore the skin off a nice bit of his leg.  I shooed him over to the clinic to clean him up. 

He was cringing as I washed his wounds, trying to make sure the gravel was sufficiently cleaned out.  I decided to spray some lidocaine on, which eased him quite a bit.  Fortuneately he didn’t need stitches, as he is leaving soon.  I’m sorry he will be limping around, though, as he mentally and physically prepares for his journey.

Alberto and Ayung are both around 20.  They have been supported through International partners of the Protestant Church of Timor Leste to go to Seminary in Indonesia for 5 years.  They know mostly nothing about where they are going, except that the school is in Kalimantan, otherwise known as the island of Borneo.  They won’t plan on coming home for the 5 years, as it is too costly.  They do not know the name of the school they are going to, but these things have all been arranged. 

On June 21, they will leave Timor by bus or truck for a 10ish hour harrowing drive to Kupang, Indonesia/West Timor.  They will get on a plane to Jakarta, then another to Kalimantan, and start their new life.  I suspect they will each bring a bag of personal belongings the size of a student school backpack, with a few clothes, maybe a comb and toothbrush.

We will miss them, but we are inspired by their courage, and hope their journey will fill them with the energy and drive to come back here, home, to continue as spiritual leaders in Timor. Send them your prayers!

Monica