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Visa Update

Posted on by Dave

Hey Everyone,

Helen and I visited the American Embassy this morning to have all of her visa documents reviewed. This is a necessary step before we can schedule the interview to apply for her visa to return with me in September.

After gathering all the needed things over the past few weeks, we were still a little nervous about whether we had everything and everything in its place.

We got a late start and traffic slowed us down so we arrived later than we intended, but thankfully there were only a few people at the embassy today (maybe 75), often there are hundreds.

After the worker reviewed the documents for several agonizing minutes (she had sent the lady in front of us home), she gave her approval. (Amen, Hallelujah, Woohoo)

We have to return to the embassy on Monday for Helen to be fingerprinted and on Tuesday for the interview. Please pray for this because these were the only available dates and it conflicts with classes we are teaching for Discovery. We need to find someone to fill in for us those two afternoons.

Also please pray for the interview. It is not at all a sure thing. Pray God directs the heart of the consulate and that we give wise and true answers. And that Helen is granted a visa. If she is rejected, we have to wait 30 days and pay the fee again ($131). We do not want to lose the money and by that time we will be in the village, so it becomes far more complicated.

The approval today was such a blessing that it is hard to think of the potential negative, but I want to be honest with all of you. It is a long difficult, fragile process getting a visa to the U.S. here. Again, please keep on praying.

Thank you all so much

-Dave

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Update for May…a few days late

Posted on by Dave

Hey Everyone,

 

It only occurred to me just now, sitting here sipping a cappuccino (my first coffee in days) and catching up on emails from the last several days, that it has been a month already since I last saw America.

 

It is really hard for me to believe, the time has truly flown right by. Helen and I have been busy both with the final preparations for our wedding (in just 12 days…woohoo) and for the arrival of this year’s Discovery participants.

 

And while both Helen and I have been hampered a bit lately by sickness, and I admittedly have taken longer than before to adjust to life here, things are going very well. There are only a couple of wedding details left, and they should be (we pray) no problem. And while there are some hitches in the Discovery plan yet, there is still plenty of time for God to show us the way. 

 

Our week in Singapore was wonderfully refreshing, and we were able to reconnect with some friends from Indonesia studying there with another organization. And we met some new friends as well. All are believers, and we had great times of fellowship. We did play the tourist as well, and I hope to post some pictures soon.

 

Our first week back in Jakarta was spent both with Helen’s family and in the office. On that Sunday, Helen was asked by one of the leaders of a national prayer movement here to interpret for a visiting speaker from Sri Lanka, and she let me tag along. It was a long day but one full of blessing. The speaker was so encouraging and the two services were powerful. We also had time for Helen’s Bridal fitting and for me to get measured for a suit (yep a suit).

 

The Tuesday of our second week here was a National Holiday, so the office was closed. We spent it with Helen’s parents, traveling to Bogor to see the Botanical Garden and Presidential Palace there. We spent Wednesday in the office and Thursday at a cafe working on Discovery. Because of the travel time to and from the office (about 2 1/2 hours) we have been going in once or twice a week, and working from home or a nearby coffee shop otherwise. This saves us both considerable time and money.

Over the weekend, we were able to meet with some students from Atma Jaya University (Helen’s alma mater) about BTM and in the evening met with on of her prayer supporters and friends from America. It was the first time I met him and it was a wonderful time.

 

This past week was hectic…too hectic. On Monday, Helen had her physical exam and vaccinations for her visa. Tuesday, she had to go see a local government official about wedding paperwork, so we worked from here. Wednesday she went back to the clinic to pick up the paperwork, I went to the U.S. Embassy for more paperwork (the first of at least 3 visits). And then it was off to the office. After work we intended to have an evening together, and that’s when the sickness came in full force. Thank you all for praying…it has been a tough few days for her, but she is much better. I, too, had a bout of something unpleasant, but am doing better as well.

 

This week is a crucial one for us, as we need to wrap up all aspects of the wedding before the participants arrive, and we need to finalize some plans for Discovery.

Also, I will be speaking at Helen’s church on Friday evening, and then moving to the Guest House at the office after church Sunday, so I can be in the office all next week.

 

Feel free to drop Helen our I a note if you want, or if you are curious for more detail. I hope to post some more about our days online soon, but we have plenty of time to correspond, even though we are not online everyday.

 

Thanks so much for all your prayers…

 

-Dave

 

 

 

Please pray for…..

-Continued healing for Helen and I

-Finishing all the Wedding Preperations

-Finishing all the pre-trip Discovery Preperations

-My speaking engagement at Helen’s church

-Travel for both George and the Participants

-George’s health as he continues his treatments

-Visa Process for Helen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Uniquely Singapore

Posted on by Dave

I am sitting in Changi Airport in Singapore and thinking back a bit.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks.

It was only two weeks ago that I was sitting in Panera Bread in Winston-Salem, NC frustrated about not being able to get the wi-fi to connect, and unable to check email or use skype and just being tired and frustrated with not being able to get done all I had wanted to get done.
I had to take a deep breathe.
And stop a minute.
And wait.
I was in NC to visit my mom, my brother and sister in law to see their new baby and to do some work on his house. He is buying it from my mom and, though it is very nice, it does need some work. And he and his wife with a new baby and their jobs and such don’t have much time to devote to it yet. It was a crazy few days with the usual difficulties you find in fixing stuff…having the right tools, the right supplies and the right knowledge, but between us and with the help of a Lowe’s coupon we were able to get a lot of what we wanted done. And while there is much work to do yet (isn’t there always more to do with a house?) we did make some noticeable progress. Which is nice.
Often in life progress can’t be seen or held in your hand or diagramed on charts.
After getting back to Ohio, my other brother and is wife came for  a visit, which is always awesome, and though I was busy getting ready to leave we were able to have a good time together with my grandmother, and get some things done at her place as well.
Last Sunday night I spoke at my home church, Grace Baptist, and Monday was spent making last minute preparations to leave…
Tuesday morning there was so much more I wanted to get done…..but isn’t there always?
My sweet Grandmother, who has been such a blessing to me…especially the last several months, dropped me at the airport in Columbus and I was off…I won’t see her or the rest of my family until September at the earliest.
My first stop was an overnight in Chicago, where I as able to visit Moody Bible Institute and catch up with some of Helen and my friends from past Discovery Trips. We weren’t able to spend a lot of time together due to my flight schedule and the craziness of the end of the school semester for them. It was such a blessing to see them and to meet a few of people coming on the trip this summer.
Next I overnighted in LA and was able to visit with another friend from Discovery who became friends us last summer. It is so incredible to hear how God is working in her life and in the lives of the other friends from trips past.
Then it was off to Singapore.  Helen is meeting me here later today and we are going to take a few days to catch our breathe before gong to Jakarta and finishing all the wedding preparations and continuing preparing for Discovery 2008.
Thankfully, a friend of Helen’s has offered to let her stay with her and a friend of Helen’s who works with W. Singapore has found a free place for me to stay. So our only costs this week will be food and train fare, which are both very inexpensive here.
Please pray for us this week that we can have a refreshing time together before diving into the busyness of Jakarta and all the preparations. 
I’ll be sending out another update about this summer’s trip soon…but for now let me share some praises and requests:
Praise:
Safe travel so far and luggage making it to Singapore
Financial support from church and friends
Good visits with family and friends before leaving
Housing in Singapore provided
Prayer
Preparations for Discovery
Scheduling, Housing and Permission for Travel
Pak George’s treatments and strength
Travel for all the Participants
Thanks so much to all for you support and prayers…it means so much to us,
Dave, and for Helen Maria
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A Long Awaited Update

Posted on by Dave

It is hard for me to believe that it has been almost two months already since I returned to the States from last summer’s trip to Indonesia. Most of my days are spent working for Arrick’s Propane, out of the Clarktown, Ohio office and many evenings and all Sundays are centered around activities at my home church, Grace Baptist.
I have settled back into teaching the teen Sunday School class, as well as helping with the van route and continuing my service as a deacon…

In some respects not much has changed, being back in southern Ohio.
But I have changed, maybe not so much on the outside, but my priorities and the direction for my life have shifted greatly in two areas since I left at the beginning of the summer.

The first is in the area of long term career kind of stuff. Before I left (and this may surprise some of you) I was seriously considering making this my last trip to Indonesia and settling down in to a “normal” kind of life.

There are lots of reasons I felt this way, some good some maybe not so good….but none of them matter now.

Through the experiences of this summer’s trip (which you have read most of…although I STILL have a few more stories to tell, and I will….promise) have made it abundantly clear that God’s place for me in serving Him is in Indonesia.

To that end I am now in the beginning stages of applying to become a member of WBT. This is a long and involved process of paperwork and interviews and training. Please pray for me as I move through the process and prepare for full time service.

The second area is even more amazing than the first. I have met many wonderful believers in Indonesia. They have become my friends, my brothers and my sisters. It is such a wonderful comfort to walk in a strange land and find friendly familiar faces. Through these friendships I have been changed and molded to be more like Christ, and have learned so much about Indonesia, its culture, its language and how people follow Christ there. Among the Indonesian believers that has influenced me most was Helen Maria Rumetor, the assistant leader of last year’s trip who came back this summer to teach Indonesian to this year’s team. Her and I kept up correspondence in the year between Discovery trips, and became very good friends over the course of the 2006 trip and the months that followed.

We continued our friendship during this past summer, and at the end of Discovery after a lot of prayer and consideration of many things (and a good bit of teasing from mutual friends) we felt that God was leading us to start a relationship. The circumstances by which God brought this about still amaze and surprise me. While staying in Jakarta after the Discovery trip was over, Helen and I began to seek whether God was leading us to commit our lives to each other as well as to Him. This was confirmed in our hearts through prayer, friends, mentors and our families, and so during my last week in Jakarta, Helen And I became engaged (in the Western sense)

Helen’s family is ethnically Chinese and we wanted to honor the traditions and views of her extended family, a mutual friend approached Helen’s family for mine, and proposed the formal engagement in the traditional way in September. This offer of engagement was accepted by Helen and her family and has been celebrated by her relatives and by mine.

Having Helen as part of my life has been a tremendous blessing from the Lord. Her love of Him and desire to serve Him are an encouragement to me and her desire to bring the Scriptures and the Gospel to more of the unreached peoples challenge me. There are not words to describe how grateful I am to God for brining us together.

Helen is currently in Indonesia preparing for her field practicum for her membership in Kartidaya, the WBT affiliate in Indonesia. She will be spending a few months involved in a language project in the villages. Please pray for Helen’s support raising as she prepares to go, she must raise all the funds to cover her expenses for her missions practicum.

We are hoping that she will be able to travel to the US in February or March to meet my family and visit friends she has here from the last two Discovery trips. Please pray for the Visa process and the funds for the processing and travel. If our plans stay the same, we will return in May to be wed and will remain in Indonesia for the 2008 Discovery trip.

Our plans are just that…they are contingent on many things, our memberships, government officials, partnership development…but we know we have a Father whose plans are perfect and we are trusting Him to give us the wisdom to follow His path and to make the way for us to follow it.

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers, and please keep praying as this adventure is just getting started.

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Back Home Again

Posted on by Dave

Hey Everyone,

Thanks so much for your prayers this summer. I arrived in Cleveland yesterday around noon…just in time to make it to my brother’s wedding at 2PM. It was a wonderful wedding and there was an enjoyable reception afterwards…and now my brother and new sister in law are on their way to Jamaica for their honeymoon… Yesterday was also the first time in about three years when my brothers and I were in the same place at the same time…not that we don’t want to be…its just how life has worked out. It was so much fun to be together again. I’d like to share a couple of prayer requests with all of you. First, please pray for me in the short term, as it appears that i will be moving back to Ohio from Kentucky to work at a different office than I have been lately. This is good news as it puts me closer to my church and family, and hopefully will help me financially. Secondly, in the long term, please pray for me as I begin the process of applying to membership with Wycliffe Bible translators and begin to raise support to go back to Indonesia as part of the team there. Also, due to the cost and upkeep I’ll be moving the online posts of my updates from Typepad to a page on Blogger….here’s the link http://davegullett.blogspot.com Thanks again for your support this summer, and for keeping myself and the others on the trip in prayer,