Sleepless and Graduating

Cebu-ary 21st, 2014

Goodmorning, little planet. 

It's 4:52am and I'm laying wide awake in my little dorm. My little dorm in the mountains of the little town of Cimarron, Colorado. Cimarron, Colorado in the United States. Across the world from my past two months. 

I can't sleep. I haven't been able to sleep through the night since I got home. But that's cool with me. Breakfast is in only... 2 hours, don't wanna miss it I guess... 

Let me update you on this last week:

On our drive to the airport from the base, I took advantage of the last time I was to see Borneo for a while. 

It was a long drive; lots of time to reflect personally and listen to sappy music that will remind me of that place forever. I think the hardest part was probably saying goodbye to our guide, PaLeo. We had had so many long talks over so many bags of peanuts, solving ninety percent of the world's problems, teaching each other words and jokes in each other's languages, he would tell us about his family and his culture and faith. He was really a very wonderful guide. 

Sony, our driver, sat in the car with his usual stone-cold straight face, but I bet inside, that guy's a big ol' softie. He just didn't want us to see him cry, I bet! 

And away we went. 

We had an 11 hour layover in Narita, Japan. So we checked out and took a transit to a sweet little town in Tokyo. There we shopped and ate and walked around in the coldest of colds we'd felt in a while. I found a really cute little French confectionery and I met the owner's wife, a lovely, petite, Japanese woman with close to perfect English. I also met her husband, who is from France and speaks very limited English but watching them speak and communicate to each other was almost enchanting. They sold the most charming little French pastries and candies and jams of the highest quality. We also walked up on a super rad little coffee shop. I ordered a shot of espresso and looked through a thick book of Shepard Feiry's grandest pieces of art. I really enjoy his work. And this shop looked like somewhere I'd work... Which reminded me... I'm looking forward to finding another job when I get home. 

I managed to sleep some on the flight back to the States. 

Crossing the threshold, David Horn, our base director was waiting for us on the other side. Hugs all around and I was so happy to see that guy again. 

Snow and ice turned our 6 hour drive into maybe 8 hours but finally, we glided up our long driveway. 

Sam, Kinsey and I made our way to the dining room to reunite with a few of the natives again. We also got to meet the winter DTS that started just last month.

It's been fun telling stories to everyone and making friends with the new round of students. John and Jordin hosted a tea party just the other day. They also taught me how to roast the coffee beans we scavenged for in one of our villages. How exciting is THAT?! It's good to be home. 

Yesterday, my team and I went to the little town of Ouray. We looked around and had lunch at a pizzeria... And I got artichoke heart pizza. Yes. 

I also met a big school of students from the University of Minnesota at the hot springs. I thought they looked Minnesotan when I saw them and their MInnesota tattoos confirmed it. We chatted. One of them lived in my city! 

But listen here, today is the day. Today is the day that the Fall DTS graduates. My mom and Brian flew in yesterday and will be driving up here later today. I've still got quite a bit to do to prepare. Last night I finished an 8 minute video presentation of our travels. I wonder if I can't post it to YouTube or something. Then you guys can watch it too. 

Alright, I'll let you guys know how it goes. 

Next time you hear from Grace Gaitan, she'll be back at home in chilly Minnesota. 

Shalom, friends

-Gracie

Love Is Making Its Way Back Home

Tuesday, February 11th 2014

Dear Reader,

As I'm writing this to you, my team and I are laying in our beds, trying to fall asleep after a fun and eventful day before our departure tomorrow. 

Yeah. That means we've finished our time of ministry in the villages of West Kalimantan. 

Pretty cool, hmm? 

On our way back from our last village, it officially hit me; wow. What a privilege it was to live and breathe here for a couple months. I've seen so much. So much healing and so much freedom and so many stunningly beautiful faces and places. And I've heard and smelled and tasted so many good things and so many terrible things. And I've felt so much. In my heart and on my skin! I have about a zillion ant bites all over my arms and legs right now... And it would sound kinda cliche to say that "it was completely worth it"... But it is. And I can't think of fancier words to use to describe it. Even them mosquitos don't freak me out any more. Sometimes these hard things escort us into the greatest adventures of out lives. They frame the biggest opportunities we've ever seen in the small numbers of years we've been alive. Opportunities to love deeply, hope for victory, and to dance in the healing rains. 

And it's worth not having a toilet. Or a bed. Or even drinkable water at some points. 

It's worth the hard conversations with your mates, the grace we decide and the compromises we make for each other. Those are chances to learn and grow and get stronger. And that's whether your in the Field or not. 

A few more things I wanted to share with you guys about these past few weeks:

We just got back from a little city named Pinyuh. The city is surrounded by forest and fields. Apparently, someone had just bought out part of the field and set fire to everything that was dead and brown, with intentions to replant with palm-oil trees. HOWEVER, because it hadn't rained over that land in over a month, and because of the scorching temperatures, the fires spread and took out a whole lot more than they were suppose to. 

Driving through that land, I had noticed so many homes sitting among those forests and I wondered how they hadn't been burnt to the ground. 

For the rest of the week, the land burned and a thick cloud of smoke spread throughout the surrounding towns and villages, contaminating the air and dimming the sun to the point where I could stare at it through the smoke, wondering what was happening. 

Haze for days, I'm tellin' ya. 

Then Pa Leó told me that the soil was burning with the roots as deep as 9 feet below the ground, creating all the smoke. 

Because of this unforgiving accident, so many of our prayer times with the local families were spent praying for healing and quick recovery for the men and women and children who's throats and lungs were sick and parched from the smoke. We also prayed for rain over every home, for spiritual and physical detox of the atmosphere. It blew me away, a plague of smoke over 3 or 4 entire districts, but we continued to pray. 

Finally, in our last full day of ministry, the sky opened up and healing rains came to clean the air and bring health back to the people. 

Here in Borneo, when it rains, the people will quit everything they're doing to find shelter for their heads and to watch the rain fall. They have a common superstition that if you get rain on your head, you'll get very sick. But this rain was cleaning the air and working with the God of the Universe to quench these bodies and these grounds and to put an end to the fires and smoke. 

Today, the air is still getting cleaned up. I see lots of those face/mouth covers. Some are actually pretty cutely decorated. 

Anyways, tomorrow we head home. 

From here we fly to Jakarta, from Jakarta to Japan, from Japan to Denver.

That is all for now. 

I have butterflies in my stomach. 

You decide how literally to take that. 

-GFly

"Grace, what are you looking forward to when you get back to the States?"

"Artichoke heart pizza."

Last Day Before Departure

Tuesday, February 11th

Hey guys! 

I only have a few minutes to write. 

Speedy quick update:

Tomorrow we leave! 

I'm drinking Kopi Luwak while writing to you... Look it up. 

I have other coffee stories for you. Yay!

I have so many photos to post here and on Facebook. So keep updated!

I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up very well. I've been pretty busy. And today is a resting day so I'm going to take advantage of it. Phew!

Only 13 days until I come back to MN. 

See you soon, loved ones. 

-GDawg

Ps: I'll write to you maybe on the plane. Okay? Okay. (:

Febyuwarie Sevinth 2k14

Fellow do-gooders,

Hello from this side of the world. 

I haven't been able to post in quite a while but I'm still writing to you! Who knows when this will be read. Nonetheless, the adventures of Grace Gaitan shall be recorded. 

What a crazy, eventful few weeks I've had. Phew. 

Since we left for our second round of villages, life has been busy and exciting. Lots of people and faces and celebrations and food! 

The 31st of January marked the first day of the Chinese New Year. The year of the Horse, of course! After a church service in instant noodle warehouse (warehouse church!) We spent the day skipping from house to house, meeting the church congregation and eating food. Lots n' lots of food. The little city we partied in was named Pinyuh. It has a large concentration of Chinese. The city is dripping with crazy, blinking lights and huge lanterns and endless streamers of reds and yellows to escort in the new year! And the homes we visited were clean and bright and full of smiles. I ate too many mandarin oranges to count and so many new kinds of freaky fruit. 

I learned quickly that Asia is the best place to be this time of year. These holidays last for weeks!! Just last night, riding to the church, I found a band of youngsters parading through the streets banging drums and running with one of those big ol', 6 person, dragon puppets!! That was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. 

GONG XI FA CHAI!! Happy Chinese New Year!!

More celebrating happened this past Sunday. We were visiting the little village/suburb of Toho and the church happened to be celebrating their first year anniversary. Pastor Segit and his youth crew (not really all that young. 14-21 years I guess) were so welcoming and quickly adopted us into their world. Sunday's service under the rainforest canopy was breezy and beautiful. The congregation is lively and happy and afterward, they took up an offering for us and served us an awesome pot luck lunch. Holy buckets, the food was awesome. 

Later, Sam picked up the guitar an I, the bass and we jammed with our new friend Harmon while the church laughed and danced and chatted into the afternoon. 

House visits in this village were done by motor bike. We were totally a motorcycle gang. My friend Memet and I teamed up as moto partners. He has a super rad Honda motorcycle. It's blue. And we were pretty darn cute. 

There's really nothing like riding on the back of a motorcycle, zooming through island villages and towns, smiling at shop keepers and waving at children walking home from school, on an island in SE Asia, with the sun on your face and the world's most beautiful forests crouching over to greet you. A few times I just had to throw my hands up and laugh. 

On the last day, Memet and his team took my team and me to a waterfall pool. Not like a water park, like a pool in a stream. The ride there was crazy beautiful and as soon as we got there, I was amazed. The entrance to the pool was guarded by two massive trees made of spiraling roots and the scene behind was an isle of boulders and roots guiding the long and steady water stream. At the far end of the rocks was the pool and a large but somewhat gentle waterfall. We all swam and stood under the falls and the CO team and I climbed up the roots of these old trees and stood at the top. The others yelled "Hati-Hati! Be Careful! Don't slip!" But we're from CO, we climb! Then we got back on our bikes and rode the long ride back. 

It was another eventful day under the protection of the stunning rainforest canopies of Borneo, Indonesia. 

But, unfortunately, we eventually had to say our goodbyes and move on to our next location.

Ministry in the next village was rejuvenating. Almost every village we've visited has had morning prayer at 5am. The first time was hard, but every one after that got easier and easier. After some great prayer time, in this village, a small band of children would come in the mornings for school. We played and laughed and taught them English and told stories. 

During a particular house visit, we met a wan who's husband had recently died. He was a witch doctor and she told us that she could see him standing in the living room in the evenings. After hearing more of their story, we found out that oh, this woman is also a witch doctor. And she is is stronger than her husband was. 

I could tell that the woman, in her God-breathed, human heart, was grieving the loss of her husband, as a widow would. And that her body was tired from the ritualistic abuse she's allowed to it. We asked her if she wanted freedom and assessed that we were an able team to pray in this way. The woman accepted and we began to pray... 

That was an interesting experience.

After an eventful few moments of praying and interceding, the woman, struggling, but with her own voice, renounced the power she have her body to. Afterwards, I noticed a new kind of life in her and a new kind of light lit up her little home of sticks and palm. 

She then broke into a sob, thanking Jesus in the Bahasa language and her body seemed tired and limp but peaceful and calm.  

This woman met Jesus that day. And He released her from the obligations she made to darkness and replaced it with grace and rest. 

I'm praying that this woman and her children will also have the peace and grace to grieve. It's a long process. But Jesus shows up in ways that no one else can understand. 

Thank you, Yahweh. You are the breath of life. You love witch doctors and desire that none should perish. 

Anyway, that's enough for this post. I will try to write again. I've been so busy lately, I haven't had much time to catch up on writing. I have more to tell you in my next post! 

5 days until I go home to the states. 

18 days until I go home to Minnesota. 

Shalom, loved ones. 

-GFace