Hello again! It has been an exciting two weeks since we last wrote. There is a lot to tell so get yourself a cup of coffee and a snack and read on... Friday, October 3 we flew with Garuda airlines to Timika. Garuda is one of the most reliable Indonesian airlines. The flight was just under an hour, and we received a nice snack. The airport in Timika is very tiny yet they have a very big x-ray unit and metal detectors. There is no conveyor belt for luggage, they just throw it through a long opening in the wall and you collect it off the table. After standing around for a while wondering what to do as there was no one familiar there to meet us, we got across to the security that we were with MAF and he found the two MAF workers there for us. They helped us and found the driver from the hotel. Rob Harrist, an MAF pilot whose wife is also expecting, was outside to meet us as well. The hotel was amazing. You feel like you are in the middle of the jungle in this absolutely beautiful place. It is huge! They have a lovely restaurant where we had a nice lunch. They actually had some American food on the menu. According to the kids, the fries were just like the ones from McDonalds. We then went to our room to rest for a bit. Erica was picked up at 2:30 to go to the clinic and hospital. The kids were sleeping then so Hugo stayed with them-a good thing in hindsight. They were able to swim in the beautiful pool there instead of waiting for hours in a hot, stuffy clinic. Erica and Julie with her husband Rob (the other MAF couple) first went to a clinic to have a checkup. Basically they weigh you, check your blood pressure and do an ultrasound. In typical Indonesian fashion, everything took long. The ultrasound was interesting. They have a very new unit which is hooked up to a large television at the end of the bed. That way you can watch the whole time the doctor is doing the ultrasound. Nothing like in Canada... Our baby is healthy looking although in a breech position at that time. We still have some time before it is critical that the baby is head down. Then we received a tour of the clinic. Unfortunately there is only one bathroom in the entire clinic. The labour and delivery room was rather cramped and lacking in any decor whatsoever. There were three "VIP" rooms that you can stay in afterwards if you don't want to be in a room with a bunch of other women and babies. There is a bed for the mother and a crib for the baby. The rooms have no ceilings so there is a lot of noise coming from everywhere. They are clean and look nice though. But there is no airconditioning at all... The doctor is a good one and has had some training in America. He comes highly recommended. Then we went to a catholic hospital. We had to enter in at the Emergency room as the OB doors were locked because it was early evening. The emergency room offers no privacy to its patients. The beds are only meters from the admitting desk and no curtains were in use. The patients were all children from little babies to older children. It was hard to see them as it was obvious that they were all poor and could have used some good nutrition. We had to convince the people there to get someone to give us a tour. We had to explain that the two pregnant white women were there to see the hospital, not to give birth right then. Finally they got a hold of the OBGYN there, Dr. Eddie. He was very friendly and happy to give us a tour. We first had to remove our shoes and put on flip flops that were available. We first toured the delivery room which was bigger than the one at the clinic. Then we saw the nursery where they happened to be washing a two hour old premie. The nurses let a young girl who was with us hold the baby once they were finished. Where else would that happen? Then we saw their VIP room which has a very nice bed for the mother and a cot for the father and a private bathroom and a television (yippeee!). They also have a semiprivate room that has two nice beds and a bathroom. The rest of the women are a ways down the hall in an open room with no privacy. This is the norm in Indonesia. The original doctor that we saw is able to deliver at this hospital and if there are any problems, patients like us could be airlifted by helicopter to the Freeport Mine Hospital which is an American hospital. This catholic hospital was built by the Freeport Mine company for the city to help them out. So they have all the right equipment, incubators, fetal monitors etc... It was quite a visit! Erica came back to the hotel after 7:00 and then we had dinner. Mikah got to have a cheeseburger and Hugo an Australian steak and Erica had her "ceasar" salad (not quite the same as back home, but good none the less). The next morning we left at about 7:30 on a MAF plane, a Cessna 206. This is a very small aircraft with seating for 6 including the pilot, so there was just enough room for all of us. Thankfully the pilot, Rob, was used to flying his wife who gets air sick and he flew the plane incredibly smoothly so no one became sick. This was Erica's first opportunity to see some of the land and the villages from the air. It is incredible how many mountains and trees there are. Then in a little valley you will see a village. Sometimes there will also be a landing strip. The flight was about an hour and we were in Nabire. The Togeretz's, Baumruck's, and Koens's were there to meet us. We loaded our stuff into Johanna Wielenga's house and got ready to go to the beach right away. We white knuckled for 45 minutes to get there. On the way we had to do some "repairs" on a bridge that looked to be on its last legs. We were in two vehicles and the one had the Togeretz's and Baumruck's in it, the other had the Koens and Feunekes' in it. The occupants of the first vehicle just stayed in while going over the bridge, obviously old hat for them, but the occupants of the second vehicle decided it might be safer to get out and walk across the bridge. Thankfully we all made it okay. The road wasn't too bad as far as curves goes, but there were a tremendous amount of potholes to avoid. The beach was beautiful and we had a very nice relaxing day there. When we came back home we enjoyed a supper of Ikan Baka (barbequed fish) with rice. On Sunday we enjoyed the fellowship with the other Canadian Reformed folks on the base. We listened to a sermon by Prof. DeJong which he had preached a few months after Sept 11. During the rest of the week we enjoyed visiting with the other families on the base, playing badminton, and going to the beach. Hugo was also able to put in a couple days of work installing an HF antenna, repairing two backup power supplies and trouble shooting a battery charger and fixing the Koens' toilet. The kids had a great time playing with Doren Togeretz and Joshua Koens and Dorens babysitter. The week flew by and on Saturday morning at 6:15 we left Nabire aboard a Cessna Caravan with Clarence Togeretz as pilot. We first flew to Ilaga which is a very remote village with a very rough runway. There was just enough level ground to put in a runway there. There were quite a few people from the village there watching the plane land. It is a big event for them. We dropped off a passenger and a lot of food and milk. This was the first opportunity for Erica and the kids to see nationals wearing penis gourds. There were a couple of men there with gourds and coats on. Very interesting.... After a quick stop we flew on to Elu. There was also a large crowd of people watching for the plane. This is a much larger town with missionaries. Clarence dropped us off there and got the strip agent to open the missionaries house for us as they are on furlough. We had a 1.5 hour wait for our next plane so we hung out there, used their flush toilet, and walked around a bit. Erica was doing some videoing and some kids saw that you could see the video on the screen of the camera. Soon there were about 20 people crowding around looking. So she videoed them and rewound and played it back. They thought it was just the neatest thing. Thankfully, we were up in the mountains so it was nice and cool while we were waiting. The house was interesting. It was like going back in time as they have a wood stove to cook on and bake in, and the shower is a bucket with holes in the bottom of it, the bathtub was a homemade metal one and the floors and walls were all made out of planks of wood. Finally our next flight came in and Doug Alrich flew us to Wamena in another Cessna Caravan. It is difficult to acurately describe what you see from the air here. The denseness of the jungle and the mountain ranges are incredible. It is amazing that people are living out there! After a nice flight we landed in Wamena. It is the second largest MAF base in Papua. They have a beautiful new hangar there and a new base. 10 minutes after we arrived for our 2.5 hour layover, Aidan fell and split his forhead open. Next door to MAF is Helimission and their nurse was in and looked at it and proclaimed it stitch worthy. Thankfully an MAF pilot had just arrived with his parents from Holland and his wife took us to their house on the MAF base. Another white knuckle ride as you must avoid bicycle taxis, bicycles, pedestrians, cars and motorbikes all on a road the size of a single lane in Canada. There we waited for the doctor to arrive. His name is Dietrich and he is with Helimission. He looked at Aidan's forhead and agreed with the nurse, so he called her up and told her what to bring. In the meantime the kids had a good time playing with the pilots kids and their toys. When the nurse came we cleared off the kitchen table and Geerten (the pilot) put a brighter bulb in the light fixture above and laid Aidan on the table. There Aidan received three stitches in his forhead, thankfully after having it frozen... He recovered quickly and before we knew it, we were on the plane again heading to Sentani. It was good to be home again! What an eventful time we had. Now we have to make a decision as to whether or not we will go to Timika to have the baby there. We ask that you pray with us that the right decision is made and that all may go well. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our supporters without whom we wouldn't be here experiencing all of this. In His service, Hugo and Erica Feunekes