Today Ibu Tati came to work a bit late, had phoned first but didn't say why. When I went downstairs to see her it was obvious she had been crying. Her daughter, Bunga (means flower), is very sick with Typhoid fever. Last night she was delirious and didn't want to sleep all night. I have to admire Ibu Tati's dedication to her job with us, but I sent her home to be with her little girl. Typhoid fever is quite common here but it is still rather frightening as people can die from it. It can also take about 5 weeks for one to recover from it. Bunga has been sick for 2 weeks now and so is in the second stage which can be quite bad. Please pray for this little girl to get well and for her family to one day come to know the truth. It is difficult to witness here as you are technically not allowed to evangelize. You are allowed to answer questions, but you are not allowed to try to convert people outright. So we try to show by our way of life and how we treat others etc... Ibu Mysiah has once compared how we pray before and after meals to their prayers 5 times a day. Unfortunately she did this before our language was at its current level. I hope that one day she brings up the subject again because now we have more language to be able to talk better with her about it. One thing I did explain to my helpers was that Christmas trees and other decorations are not a Christian thing, but merely for decoration only. They were quite surprised by this as like many Indonesians, they assume that anything western is Christian.

A photo of Bunga and Brynnie sweeping the floor together.