It's time to say goodbye to Nias. The small tropical island west of Java. Goodbye is never easy. Especially when we need to wake up at 5am to reach Telok Dalam airport to catch our flight at 845am.
Auntie Damai specially prepared some "light" (sumptuous by Singapore's standard) breakfast to fill our stomachs before we embark onto the last leg of our journey. Breakfast is always the time for us to sit together, talk about the day's programme, work out details and jobscope of each member. But today, we did not. There's this aura of unwillingness to leave this place. Uncle Famachoi & Auntie Damai have been excellent hosts, taking care of our basic necessities plus much more! Breakfast took longer than usual. And we are late!
So in a hurry, we began loading our barang-barang onto the van. Then as usual, when we hurry, we will tend to remember that we have forgotten to do some stuff!! haha... Jessica forgot to collect pictures from her dad's camera, i've forgotten to bring certain barang barang. Said our last goodbyes to the house and Auntie Damai. Robin came along with us to the airport. Then with the last goodbyes and kisses, we departed for the airport.
9 adults + barang barang packing into the small van.
Not the most comfortable place to sleep, but i slept anyway. 2.5hrs journey through paved roads littered with potholes. Same road i've travelled three times, this time it felt different.
Finally at the airport, we checked-in and took some pictures together. The
n Uncle Famachoi met with his friend. His friend was hurting. He just lost his wife in an accident in which he was involved too. I can only imagine how much hurt he has to bear.. losing his spouse. We can only comfort him, but God heals. So we looked to God in prayer, to ask for his blessings of healing to heal all wounds, both physical and emotional.
Time now: 830am - time to go. Merpati, dual prop
Nonetheless, we had to go. Many of us are homesick and looking forward to the company of our family members back in Singapore. Maybe not so for the princess, but we took comfort in God’s shelter, wherever we may go.
We love the plane!
The journey back too a little more than an hour. Reached Medan Airport early. Waited a little while for Rev. Haposan. And then, he appeared in his small van! And of course, not everyone of us can squeeze into it, so a few of us took a taxi, while the rest took his van. I was in the taxi. And boy was i terrified. Firstly traffic in Medan is chaotic, if orchard road/chinatown/(name the most congested road) was bad, Medan is beyond description. Secondly, when i asked around for who knew the hotel's name, we just stared at each other. Thirdly, we were suppose to follow Haposan's vehicle, but once we exited the airport, we lost them. But everything went well, we managed to find the hotel. Thank God.
Welcome to Hotel Medan, a 5 star luxury hotel with a huge swimming pool plus other facilities. Nahz.. just kidding. We got a even better deal. Gentala Hotel. Rooms with attached showers. Per night about S$18 per person. Where to get?! After a quick check-in, we took a rest in our rooms until it's time for lunch.
Lunch was at a local street-side stall. Had so many dishes, prawn, meat, everything. We even ordered some kind of mango juice... oh, it was delicious. And after the meal... we were so full and satisfied. Never had that for a long time... To our surprise, for the food and drinks all in.. it's only about S$50.
Before we left for Nias, we had agreed with Rev. Haposan to give some training to 30 local teachers and at the end of it provide them with a certificate. We only require William and another helper to be present for the workshop. However, we decided to go as a team, to give each other support - Team spirit! William conducted the creative thinking workshop with the rest of us as participants. We learnt many new things and it definitely changed our perspective when we look at things now.
Since we on the topic of creative thinking,
HOW MANY TYPES OF EACH ANIMAL DID MOSES BRING INTO THE ARK?
Answer: 1
Did you get 1? If you did, then you’re wrong! It’s Noah, not Moses who filled the ark. It shows us that our mind works in many modes, but not all at the same time. Thus if we are tuned to calculative mode, we would overlook the actual point of a question. A quick devotional point : Sometimes in life, we are so fixated on the idea of what God’s works are. We have to do house visitation, prayer meeting, do bible studies, street evangelism. However, God told us to do all these and much more! We are to live our lives in His glory, thus everything that is edifying would be God’s works.
That aside, in the evening we went for some quick last minute souvenir shopping at the shopping centre with Carrefour. I bought nothing because didn't have any money on me. Uncle Gilbert bought tee-shirts for his children. Darren bought some tees too. Jessica and Esther bought some cookies for us and for those in Singapore. The cookie box was very unique. It's in the shape of a cube, with each face displaying one to six cookies, which makes it a dice!
Dinner was back at where we had lunch. During lunch, i wanted to try their Char Kway Tiao because of strong recommendations by Rev. Haposan. However, i couldn't resist the urge to eat waffles from A&W, so... didn't have much room for it, so i refrained from ordering. Others ordered their share, and we had a nice dinner.
After dinner, we returned to our Hotel to rest for our flight next morning. Uncle Gilbert suggested to see the night scene in Medan, i thought it was a cool idea too. It's our last night anyway.... but we(Uncle Gilbert, Darren and I) were just tired and wanted rest. Before we retired to lala-land, we had a nice chat with each other about the trip =) anyway that concludes our last night in Indonesia.
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