Posted on by graceutomo12 · 6 Comments

A Passage to Indo Part III: Trip Recap!

Happy Tuesday, Blogging Family! We recently got back from our much-anticipated trip to Australia and Indonesia and are slowly adjusting to being back on this side of the dateline 🙂 Thank you so much for your prayers! It was a truly blessed trip, and I’m excited to share some highlights. If you’re new to this series, you can catch up on previous posts here.

While the overarching purpose of our trip was for us to spend time with Ivan’s extended family and for me to experience Indonesia for the first time, the flight paths also provided a wonderful opportunity to schedule a “long layover” on Sydney and spend time with a friend from my time studying violin in New York who’s been instrumental in helping me relearn violin (over Zoom), and has also prayed for and encouraged us over the years. It was very sweet spending time together in person for the first time in over a decade, worshiping together in church on Sunday, and also exploring a beautiful city and marveling at amazing aspects of God’s creation that apparently are “normal” down under but exotic to us Americans. The photos of the wallaby and cockatiels were not taken at a zoo!

After Sydney, we flew another 8 hours to Surabaya, where Ivan did most of middle school. It was educational for me to tour his school, Intan Permata Hati (IPH). Particularly interesting was the fact that the school has certain zones marked “English only” and the teacher giving the tour noted how hard it is to enforce the English-speaking zones. Those of us who’ve met Ivan as an adult probably have a hard time imagining him as anything other than what I like to call “EFL” (English-First-Language), but visiting IPH reminded me that English is in fact his second language. I’m very grateful that Ivan’s parents were intentional about investing in an education that would foster English fluency, and that even as a young teenager he was committed to practice while living in Indo!

Most significantly, it was such a sweet blessing to meet so many of Ivan’s relatives who are still living in the Surabaya area. I was overwhelmed by their kindness, generosity, and hospitality. They went out of their way to make me feel welcome and included in the family gatherings, and waited very patiently while Ivan translated what they said! My Indo language skills are sub-par at best. I could understand quite a bit of what was said, but by the time I thought of a reply, the moment was LONG gone. This meant that 98% of the time I only smiled and nodded, or answered in English. Given this dynamic, I was extremely grateful for everyone’s kindness and patience. I also think that this dynamic is a marked difference between entering a family of believers vs. entering a family of unbelievers. Although there is some sense of obligation to be courteous in many families, I think the knowledge that we were also brothers and sisters in Christ and shared a common spiritual bond was an undeniable, additional motivator in overcoming differences from language and culture.

After Surabaya we flew to Jakarta, where we met even more relatives. Once again, I continued to be so blessed by everyone’s welcoming attitude and desire to connect and build relationships right away! We also got the amazing opportunity to explore Sepa Island, which is about a 90 min. ferry ride away in the Java Sea. As you can see from the photo, we passed a lot of interesting ships and fishing boats on our way to and from the island. I’d never been to a tropical beach before, so after we got there I was amazed that we could literally see tropical fish swimming in the water around us! The island also had an area where we could observe a lot of small sharks. This was fascinating for me, although I’m not sure it held quite the same allure for Ivan. 😉

Overall, we were also both very grateful for good health until the ferry ride back to Jakarta from Sepa Island. I may have already been getting sick because, although I got motion sick on the boat ride, I never completely recovered. Let’s just say that the flights back to San Francisco through Singapore were quite long indeed and certain symptoms still have not worn off.

Nevertheless, given our rigorous travel and activity schedule, the fact that we (especially me) made it that far unscathed is a HUGE praise and testimony to God’s faithfulness and protection. When we first started traveling internationally a couple of years ago, a trip with this level of back-to-back activity, plus lengthy flights, would have seemed impossible. We are so grateful for everything that God has done and continues to do in both of our lives to make this trip possible specifically for the purpose of building and strengthening relationships.

Thank you again so much for your prayers! We are excited to see what He will do the rest of the summer!

Posted on by ivanutomo · 5 Comments

Thumbs Up from the ER

Hello Blogging Family! Greetings from a teacher who is enjoying Ski Week 😊 For those unfamiliar with this tradition, schools in the San Jose area take the third week of February off for students to [presumably] enjoy going to the nearby mountains to ski. I myself am not a skier, but won’t say no to a week off!

Two weeks ago, Grace and I found ourselves once more at the ER. Thankfully, it’s been more than a year since we’ve had to go in, so while this trip was unnerving, it was also a great reminder of how far she’s come and how graciously and powerfully God has worked in our lives. She’s asked me to write this update for you all since typing is still a bit challenging for her while she recovers!

Two Wednesdays ago it was a little past 2 pm and I was in a meeting at work, when Grace called me. This was unusual since she knew I was working, so I took it.

“Hello?”

“I’ve hurt my hand really badly and need to go to the ER, so I need you to come home right now.”

“Did you cut it?”

“Just come home.”

With that, I made a hasty exit from my meeting and hurried to my car. I was once again very thankful that Grace and I live close to the school where I work. I made it home and saw Grace sitting on the floor, propped up against the kitchen cabinets, and, sure enough, her hand was badly cut (I will spare all the graphic details).

En route to the ER, I learned that Grace had been opening up a can and the lid had sliced deeply through the pad of her thumb. Due to her strokes from her initial accident almost 10 years ago, Grace has no sensation in her left hand and has to do all her kitchen tasks one-handed with sensory input from only her right hand, which, as you can imagine, makes things more difficult and, in this case, also more dangerous.

We got to the ER, and a nurse sat Grace down in the intake chair, asking the customary questions. When she got to the “Pain from 1 to 10?” question, Grace said “Seven,” and then passed out. We’re still not sure why this happened, but possible causes were that Grace never ate lunch (she was making it when she cut her hand) and/or loss of blood. A team of nurses surged to her and they took her in to a room right away. I noted she had a history of strokes and a TBI, and they let me in too.

By the time I got to the room, Grace was coming to. She was still a bit groggy, when when they asked her what happened, she said she didn’t remember. (Later she told me that when she was regaining consciousness, all she could see was white light, and she heard people’s voices speaking near her (the nurses) but it didn’t sound like they were speaking English).

To fast forward through the next four hours or so: we were very blessed to be attended by kind medical staff, who cleaned Grace’s wound and ran various tests. The ER doctor was also friendly, and although at first he thought Grace’s wound could be fixed using glue, but once all the blood was gone and he was able to assess the injury he concluded, “This needs stitches.”

So five stitches were put in her thumb pad, and they discharged us home. Grace was a trooper through all this; she has a remarkably high pain tolerance, which at times has actually prevented medical staff from accurately assessing her real pain level or the severity of what needs to be treated.

The following week brought with it a steady regimen of wound care, which for both of us was reminiscent of the first year post-accident. Thankfully, stitches were taken out this past weekend after the first 10 days, and the cut is healing well, although it was still open when he stitches came out, so she does still need to wear a splint and continue some care until it closes. All in all, we are grateful that there was no nerve damage, and no infection during initial healing.

This latest ER trip was not part of Grace’s or my plans two Wednesdays ago, but in His providence God had Grace go through this too. We trust that every event of our lives is under His wise and loving care, even the painful and unexpected things. I pray that whatever you may be facing right now, you will know God’s tender care for you, wise purposes for you, and power indwelling you through His Spirit. Thanks as always for walking with us!