Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: WE ALMOST DIDN'T MAKE THE WHEELCHAIR CEREMONY

This past week we attended a wheelchair handover ceremony on Tuesday. Monday we left for Surabaya, which was the closest airport to Mojokerto where the ceremony would be held. Our flight was delayed and there was a screaming toddler in the waiting room of the airport. It is very unusual for children to cry in Indonesia. Perhaps that is why the child having the temper tantrum was so noticeable. After a long period of time I (Eileen) decided to do something about the noise. I walked over with my All A Dollar stickers in hand and tried to talk to the crying child asking him his name. He refused to talk to me. I then asked his brother and mother if they wanted stickers and gave each of them a couple of stickers. I asked the young child again if he wanted a sticker and he said no. By this time everyone in that part of the waiting room was watching. The child was no longer crying. I left and walked away, leaving the Mom and older brother with stickers pasted on their hands. A few minutes later, big brother came over looking for me with the 2 year old, covered with stickers that I had given to his mother and brother, a big smile on his face. I gave the 2 year old several more stickers. This action repeated itself until the plane left. We finally had peace and quiet. I was grateful I had my stickers!

During the flight I had a pretty significant headache. In addition we were hitting some heavy turbulence. It felt like a very bad Disneyland ride. In addition to the headache, I could feel vertigo and nausea coming on. I looked over and saw Russell’s head bowed and eyes closed. In an instant my headache, which had been continuous despite haven taken some pain medication, was gone. I asked Russell, “What just happened?” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “My headache is gone”. He responded with, “Good, be grateful.” I asked him if he had been praying and he replied that he had. Thank you Heavenly Father for answering prayers.

After a long “one and a half hour flight” it was announced overhead that we would be landing in Bali. Of course it is beautiful in Bali but we needed to be in Mojokerto by 9am the next morning. That evening we saw a beautiful sunset in Bali while on the tarmac. After refueling we departed for Surabaya. When we arrived we found that many roads in Surabaya were flooded, the city having received its worst rainstorm in the past year. No wonder our flight was diverted. Thank you Heavenly Father for a safe flight!

In Mojokerto we were treated with great respect. Many of the leaders of the community were there. The wife of the head of the Mojokerto district was there as was the vice head who happens to be a woman (very unusual in this part of the world). It was interesting to see all the men stand when the women leaders walked in. There was a short ceremony where the leaders spoke, including Russell. He gave a talk in Indonesian which surprised a few people, but the biggest rise came when he mentioned that our church had recently built MCKs (hygiene facilities-see prior blogs) at three pesantrens in Mojokerto.

United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) is our partner organization that was giving out the wheelchairs that our church pays for. They do a great job in finding the people in need, having the recipients take responsibility by paying a portion of the wheelchair depending on family circumstances, and fitting the chairs to each individuals need. We saw plenty of smiles as special individuals were carried in, some even on stretchers and were then able to be moved to their new lifestyle of mobility with a custom fit wheelchair. Thank you Heavenly Father that we could be part of this project!