Indonesia

ran on both kerosene and electricity, but since the electricity supply was so unreliable, we ran it most of the time on kerosene. The fifteen months without our sea-luggage had taught us, however, that one can get by in life without too many material things, which we as Westerners think we need.

No sooner did we have the fridge and our things, when we received visitors from Australia. The first to come was John Cleghorn, who was a student for the ministry in Melbourne. He had been the organist in our Lindfield church. He stayed with us over Christmas and I think he quite enjoyed it. We certainly did. The other visitor was Jeff Robinson, my student friend with whom I started Indonesian at Sydney Uni. He had finished his arts degree and wanted to practice his Indonesian as he was touring the islands. The students from Tarus, who came to our house, enjoyed these young people and they had a great time together. Max Lane, another of my Indonesian studies' friend, also came and stayed with us on his trip to Java and Sumatra. He later married a girl from Sumatra and became a free-lance journalist and political commentator. We met up again when we moved to Canberra.

The difference a car made to our life

Soon after our luggage came we had news that our car would finally arrive. There was great rejoicing by the family, including Mes. He had passed his driving test with flying colours and could see himself already as the chauffeur of a new car. I took him down to the wharf together with our boys, and he was to be the first one to drive the car. He was very proud, and so was I, for he really was a good driver.

To have a car changed our life style quite a lot. I was able to do much more at the school. I would go there occasionally in the afternoons, talk to the students, help some with their work, I did some counselling if they had problems, and on very odd occasions I would share the evening meal with them. The students had no communal meal time, they just came to pick up their bowl full of rice or corn, and would eat their meal in their dormitories. There was no dean of students, who lived in Tarus and would be available when needed, who could give them guidance and counselling and who could share his faith with them. I would have loved to make myself available on a regular basis, but my time schedule would not allow this. Also, a dean or a student counsellor would have to be a local person, who shared their culture and their experiences. In the afternoons the students would often play volleyball with each other, the only recreation they knew.

With the car we also went regularly on weekends to Lasiana, Kupang's best beach, about 8 km from our home. Coconut and sugar palms were

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