Here is a letter I wrote at the end of September about Alice’s accident. It was only sent to a few family and friends. We have primarily communicated through Facebook because it is the quickest. We have put the letter in our newsletter for those we didn’t send it to.
Dear Family and Friends,
If you haven’t yet heard, I am experiencing the opportunity to serve my bride of 49 years more than ever before. This has and is taking the majority of my time. It is a privilege and not a problem. After twisting her ankle at school on an uneven concrete floor, Alice dislocated her elbow and broke her arm in two places. Because of the complex injuries, we needed to fly to Singapore for the surgeries.
Alice can’t do much with her left arm and hand yet. However it is healing pretty fast. We went today and removed all but one stitch with Doctor Di at Hillcrest School clinic here in Sentani, Papua. She said it looked pretty good except for one small spot on the elbow, where a skin tuck needs to be redone. We were treated very well by everyone at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. Alice was in the hospital eight days for two surgeries on her arm. The doctors and nurses are great Christians. Alice was in a lot of pain but had a strong positive attitude flying there on Wednesday September 3. The flights are like traveling from New York to Seattle to Alaska.
Doctor Lee Soon Tai, her surgeon, took me to breakfast with his family and then to church two Sundays ago. He is an elder and teaches Bible class. In 2011 he went to the Holy Land. Since he is a gifted photographer, he captured the visit and published the pictures in a beautiful coffee table-type book. He gave us one and also one for Wally Wiley the founder of Sekolah Papua Harapan (SPH school we are helping) and Dr. Di.
While Alice was in the hospital I stayed at Overseas Mission Fellowship (OMF) Guesthouse. Each day I ate breakfast and went to their prayer meeting before going to the hospital. One of the first mornings I met Dr. Calvin Ma, one of the leaders of OMF. We had known each other in Seoul, South Korea and hadn’t seen each other for 13 years. Alice had his daughter in her second grade class. We had a great reunion. Then on another day I had the privilege of meeting the Great – Great – Great – Great Grandson of China Inland Missionary James Hudson Taylor, Jamie Taylor. What a special honor for me. Hudson Taylor is my favorite missionary of years ago. I have read many books about his ministry. I was told on another day by the president of the media company that a full-length movie will be produced in 2015. The movie will be shown in major movie theaters around the world. I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Alice was released from the hospital on Thursday morning September 11 and we flew directly back to Jakarta. We stayed at the home of Connie and Kosmain Rasilim in Lippo Karawaci. She and Alice were teaching partners at Sekolah Pelita Harapan when we first came to Indonesia. Again this turned out to be a wonderful example of Christian hospitality. They were very kind to us. I enjoyed swimming in their pool each morning. Every day we went to the local supermall for our main meal. Alice tired easily but needed to shop for some blouses to fit over her injured arm. On Sunday I walked to Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) and went to their church service.
On Tuesday I went UPH faculty Chapel with Connie who is now the director of UPH’s Teachers College. She was the translator for James Riady, one of the founders and preacher for the day. At the beginning of the service UPH President Jonathon Parapak introduced me along with another guest. When James came up to preach he again recognized me and said he still is keeping some of my writings I had done while serving UPH on his desk. He must not clean off his desk very often. After his sermon he surprised me by asking me to lead the closing prayer. Then we went downstairs and had breakfast together with several others. I was treated with special kindness by everyone at UPH and was humbled by the whole experience. Praise God for providing Christian brothers and sisters when Alice and I had a need.
Alice had to get a new pair of glasses since hers were broken during her accident in Papua. This is why we weren’t able to return sooner to Sentani. Rudi, whom we call our Indonesian son (a UPH alumni) drove us to the airport. We finally arrived back Thursday morning September 18th.
Well, that brings us to this point in time. We are now preparing to move into another house next weekend. A different missionary couple is scheduled to move into the one where we have been staying up until now. We will be staying at the next house until December 1st which is our date to leave here. We hope we can now continue to contribute to SPH as we were doing before Alice’s accident. I will go in first to school. Alice will slowly return to some hours at SPH in the coming weeks. We ask for your prayers so we can be as significant as possible using our skills and talents to God’s glory.
Blessings to you and your families. You are all missed, loved and included in our prayers.
In His service,
Bob and Alice
Dear Family and Friends,
If you haven’t yet heard, I am experiencing the opportunity to serve my bride of 49 years more than ever before. This has and is taking the majority of my time. It is a privilege and not a problem. After twisting her ankle at school on an uneven concrete floor, Alice dislocated her elbow and broke her arm in two places. Because of the complex injuries, we needed to fly to Singapore for the surgeries.
Alice can’t do much with her left arm and hand yet. However it is healing pretty fast. We went today and removed all but one stitch with Doctor Di at Hillcrest School clinic here in Sentani, Papua. She said it looked pretty good except for one small spot on the elbow, where a skin tuck needs to be redone. We were treated very well by everyone at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. Alice was in the hospital eight days for two surgeries on her arm. The doctors and nurses are great Christians. Alice was in a lot of pain but had a strong positive attitude flying there on Wednesday September 3. The flights are like traveling from New York to Seattle to Alaska.
Doctor Lee Soon Tai, her surgeon, took me to breakfast with his family and then to church two Sundays ago. He is an elder and teaches Bible class. In 2011 he went to the Holy Land. Since he is a gifted photographer, he captured the visit and published the pictures in a beautiful coffee table-type book. He gave us one and also one for Wally Wiley the founder of Sekolah Papua Harapan (SPH school we are helping) and Dr. Di.
While Alice was in the hospital I stayed at Overseas Mission Fellowship (OMF) Guesthouse. Each day I ate breakfast and went to their prayer meeting before going to the hospital. One of the first mornings I met Dr. Calvin Ma, one of the leaders of OMF. We had known each other in Seoul, South Korea and hadn’t seen each other for 13 years. Alice had his daughter in her second grade class. We had a great reunion. Then on another day I had the privilege of meeting the Great – Great – Great – Great Grandson of China Inland Missionary James Hudson Taylor, Jamie Taylor. What a special honor for me. Hudson Taylor is my favorite missionary of years ago. I have read many books about his ministry. I was told on another day by the president of the media company that a full-length movie will be produced in 2015. The movie will be shown in major movie theaters around the world. I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Alice was released from the hospital on Thursday morning September 11 and we flew directly back to Jakarta. We stayed at the home of Connie and Kosmain Rasilim in Lippo Karawaci. She and Alice were teaching partners at Sekolah Pelita Harapan when we first came to Indonesia. Again this turned out to be a wonderful example of Christian hospitality. They were very kind to us. I enjoyed swimming in their pool each morning. Every day we went to the local supermall for our main meal. Alice tired easily but needed to shop for some blouses to fit over her injured arm. On Sunday I walked to Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) and went to their church service.
On Tuesday I went UPH faculty Chapel with Connie who is now the director of UPH’s Teachers College. She was the translator for James Riady, one of the founders and preacher for the day. At the beginning of the service UPH President Jonathon Parapak introduced me along with another guest. When James came up to preach he again recognized me and said he still is keeping some of my writings I had done while serving UPH on his desk. He must not clean off his desk very often. After his sermon he surprised me by asking me to lead the closing prayer. Then we went downstairs and had breakfast together with several others. I was treated with special kindness by everyone at UPH and was humbled by the whole experience. Praise God for providing Christian brothers and sisters when Alice and I had a need.
Alice had to get a new pair of glasses since hers were broken during her accident in Papua. This is why we weren’t able to return sooner to Sentani. Rudi, whom we call our Indonesian son (a UPH alumni) drove us to the airport. We finally arrived back Thursday morning September 18th.
Well, that brings us to this point in time. We are now preparing to move into another house next weekend. A different missionary couple is scheduled to move into the one where we have been staying up until now. We will be staying at the next house until December 1st which is our date to leave here. We hope we can now continue to contribute to SPH as we were doing before Alice’s accident. I will go in first to school. Alice will slowly return to some hours at SPH in the coming weeks. We ask for your prayers so we can be as significant as possible using our skills and talents to God’s glory.
Blessings to you and your families. You are all missed, loved and included in our prayers.
In His service,
Bob and Alice
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