The rainbow never sets

Office. There were several suppliers, the largest the Bible Society in Indonesia. Stocks were ordered through the manager, Henk Loak. I remained the treasurer until I left Timor. There was quite a lot of work involved with the Kolportasi. My days were filling up with work rapidly.

After Synod we had a staff meeting. Peter Stephens was to go on furlough from December for six months. Plans had to be made for the time he was away. Beginning with the new school year in January 1970, I was to have a full schedule of lectures, all in Indonesian, of course. Year five had left and all the other years moved up a grade. New students were taken in. These were supposed to be the first year intake for the new Theological School that was being built at Oesapa, but the building there was far from finished. The Synod decided later that these students would remain in Tarus until they graduated. I had four classes to teach, and my subjects were to be New Testament exegesis and New Testament theology for all grades. It was a full schedule, and since I hadn't taught previously, I had to prepare for every lesson. I was happy to have brought my theology notes from my student days, they helped me to design a framework for my lectures. As I taught only on three days a week, (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) the schedule was not too heavy, and I managed. The other days were filled with preparations, the book shop and all the other jobs which had accumulated in the meantime.

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When the Stephens left on their furlough, we moved into their house, which was fully furnished. We even acquired their maid Agus. With the house also came their Landrover. What luxury! Before, I had often just walked to the Synod Office or to the shops, like eveybody else in Kupang. It took, of course, more time and was rather strenuous, particularly in the heat of the day. But this also helped to identify with the locals.

I remember once walking to the Office for a meeting at night. Since Kupang had only one electricity generator for the town, the second had broken down, the town was divided into two areas, the upper half, which included the Government offices, and the lower half, which included the city where we lived. Every second night we were without electricity. We called this malam lampu or lamp night. I had to walk to the Synod office on one of those lamp nights in pitch darkness. There was no moon and I couldn't see my hand in front of my eyes, yet the street was crowded with people walking in all directions. I could see the occasional lamp light coming from a house. Nobody seemed to talk, everyone was walking silently in the darkness. I still don't know how I got to the office, but suddenly I arrived there. It was an eerie feeling, almost as if guided by an unseen hand.

We felt very comfortable in Peter's house. Apart from three bedrooms,

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