Hegle's Homepage Blog

Affirmations at the Autoshop

Gregg, Janine and Amelia Hegle — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:00:14 +0000

Ok, it has been awhile. I should have been writing on this blog for the past several months.
This article was inspired by my trip to two auto shops today.
As we all know, old cars need service now and then because things just wear out. So I took the 16 year old Toyota to get new brakes. I was a little apprehensive with having the correct Indonesian vocab but I used my trusty dictionary on the ipod touch which gets me by. So much language to learn, even after 8 years here. It is like every word has a different word in Indonesian. I have not done brake service here before and did not know how much it would be. But, again I was shocked by the price. Much lower than I expected. Only about $35 US! That is for brake pads for all four wheels and $5.00 for the labor!
Then, the car had a starting problem. So I had to go to another shop which specializes in electric motors. With my caveman Indonesian, I was able to explain my problem. They diagnosed it down quickly to the starter. Ok, instead of replacing the starter, the technician rebuilt it right on the spot, on the ground with the very basic of tools! So, less than 1 hour later and only $5 poorer, I was ready to go. And on another note, I was able to watch the technician do the work and practice my lovely Indonesian. We just smile and laugh at each others language abilities. Its part of the fun living here.
When I am missing family at home in the US and frustrated with traffic and the way life can be here at times, I need to remember some things work really well and it makes me smile.

Rebuilding starter the Indonesian way

We are looking forward to coming home this summer for the son’s wedding and to visit with as many of you as we can. Pray for our travel plans and financial needs for the summer.

Blessings. Gregg

Is there a “July 4th” in Indonesia?

Gregg, Janine and Amelia Hegle — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:01:18 +0000

Well of course! (Yes, there is even if my brothers and I were a bit naughty. The Hegle family will understand this!)(the rest of you are going, huh??) but not with the same Independence Day celebrations like in the USA. After all this is Indonesia and its Independence day is August 17. (more about that later, like after Aug. 17.)
Anyway, we gathered all the Americans still left around us this summer and went to the Indian Ocean to spend the July 4th weekend at this lovely resort called Ocean Queen, rustic but ample bungalows by the beach. A side note on travel: the distance is approx. 80 miles but driving time is about 5 hours. A very scenic drive at that. Our lovely party planner, Laura L. brought and did everything she could think of to make it seem like we were celebrating American Ind. Day. We even had burgers, pasta salad, chicken and corn on the grill. She even borrowed and bugged the kitchen staff at our rustic resort in order to make a wonderful red, white and blue cake without a box mix. My friend Chris brought a video of a fireworks show from last summer and with the projector and speakers I had, we had virtual fireworks! But we did have real sparklers that we light with a few kids on the beach. Almost like being there. You gotta do what you gotta do, ya know.

Hope you had a Happy Fourth! Wish we could have been there with you.

Dressed in Fine Linen by Janine B. Hegle on sale now – $7.99

Gregg, Janine and Amelia Hegle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:22:20 +0000

Erica answers questions from the police

The journey – in the fall of 2006 I wrote a short story since I made my English students write one. Then, over that Christmas break, I added to it since I had a new vision – to use it for my Psychology unit on adjustment issues for young adults. This past spring I printed some hardcopies and had my Career Ed students read it as it deals with the many decisions someone new to the work world may come across. More recently, Gregg put it on Amazon.com as a Kindle book, available for sale. So, if you have an iPod Touch, iPhone, or Kindle, I hope you will give this book a read. I guess you can also just have it go to your PC and read it there.

If any of you already read the initial version, there are now 10 additional chapters and many rewrites as I have tried to take in the feedback from my critics. Go to Amazon.com or just Google the title Dressed in Fine Linen or Janine B. Hegle and you are bound to find it. Let me know if those methods don’t work for you.

Sometimes You Gotta Love this Country

Gregg, Janine and Amelia Hegle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:36:07 +0000

Here is my first post..
We have a 16 year old Toyota Kijang “SUV”. (picture later). It was time to get some maintenance work done. It was leaking oil, a quart or so every couple thousand miles) and needed various other things done to it. Way past time for a tuneup. I found out it needed oil seals. Now, some may know that is a big job because you have to separate the transmission and engine which takes a bit of time and work. So, I am thinking several hundred dollars worth of work. And, oh, the clutch plate should be replaced which could be many more dollars. So I brought it in by 7:30 am. They were finished with the work by 2:30. Drum roll please….the total cost was only about $115! In the end, the car is fairly simple to repair and wages are really low here. Mechanics get paid less than they really should but it sure benefits the consumer.

Hmm! What should I write for this blog?

Travis’ Trip to India in May/June 2010

Gregg, Janine and Amelia Hegle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:29:37 +0000

Travis in India

Dear friends, family, and friends of family,

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first two semesters at Baylor University and have also enjoyed being a part of a living church here in Waco–Antioch Community Church. I have experienced so much growth in my walk with God and just an enlivened passion for His kingdom and His purposes.

This past school year, God has really been teaching me to obey. And it’s been difficult at times, but always absolutely rewarding in the end. One of the coolest things He’s done this year is followed through on His promises. During a missions conference over winter break (put on by the church I am attending) called World Mandate, I felt like God was telling me to be baptized (since I had never before because I didn’t want to do it for poor reasons). He laid this on my heart and also affirmed that he would heal the plantar warts that I’d had on the bottom of both my feet for the last couple years. So when I got home that night, I checked the bottom of my right foot, where the biggest collection of warts was, and saw none! I checked my left foot and there were still some there. So I asked God about the other ones and felt like He was saying to be baptized and the rest would be healed! I was baptized a few weeks later and afterward the warts were gone! GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!

Continuing on in obedience, God has led me to take on the opportunity to go on a short term mission trip to Bangalore, India this summer from May 18th – June 13th! Concerning this, there is an attachment with prayer points and some demographic facts of India and also a brief summary of our team’s vision and goals. I am going on this trip because I believe that we as followers of Christ are to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that [He] [has] commanded [us].” (Matt. 28:19-20, ESV) In order to make disciples of all nations, we must go to the nations in obedience (whether short-term or long-term). India is a nation that has many hungry and lost souls searching for something to eternally fulfill their desires. I believe that God unfailingly loves the Indian people and desires to call them back into His presence to experience the fullness of His joy.

I would love for you to partner with me and my team in prayer (prayer points are in the attachment) so that we can be equipped to fulfill our God-given mandate to reach the people of Bangalore. As far as I’ve experienced, praying for others is also an essential part of growing in my walk with God, so I encourage you to take this head on and you will grow nearer to Your Creator (what’s better than that?). While you are praying, I would also like to ask that you pray about giving financially to this trip. The total cost per person is $2500, including a round trip flight to Bangalore, food and lodging in India, government hokey pokey costs to legally get into and stay in India, and other essential costs. If you do feel led to give to this cause there is instruction at the end of this message on how to give.

Thank you and God bless,

Travis Hegle

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It’s been funhetting vack to Asia. Driving here may beecwn crazier than on Indonesia.

First news from Travis’ team:

We made it to India safe and sound! Praise the Lord that 22 people and 40+ bags made it to Bangalore in one piece. We have settled in at our hotel. They are service apartments (which means that it’s two rooms that are joined in the middle by a living room area). Everyone is a bit tired which is understandable considering we landed in Bangalore at 4:30 AM India time. Today we spent some time with the long term team going over culture and what to expect for the 3.5 weeks we’re here. We hope tomorrow finds everyone with more energy as we begin a more regular routine. Please pray for grace in adjusting to a new culture, diet and time zone. We hope to send out another update within a week.

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Tis the 24 May 2010 update from Travis’ India trip. Pretty exciting to read.

Family and friends-

We wanted to send out a quick update on our trip. The weather is not as hot as expected! Apparently we arrived at the beginning of rainy season which means that the temperatures are dropping a bit. So far we have seen 6 people choose to follow Jesus and 5 people have been healed.

We are particularly excited about one college student who has chosen to follow Jesus. After having his back healed and then choosing to follow Jesus, he began to take some guys from our team around to meet some of his other friends so that they could hear the good news of Jesus. He seems to know everyone in the area. We are hoping to gather he and his friends in his home to start meeting together to talk about Jesus. We are believing that he is a doorway into students on his campus.

Having the opportunity to be with the long term team here has been fun and refreshing for our team. The manner in which they simply love Jesus has been good for us to watch and learn from. They are filled with so much joy from the Lord and we have learned how to walk in joy while living our daily lives. They have been really helpful in helping us learn our way around the city and teaching us about India culture.

Aside from a few upset stomachs, people are doing well. Also, we are still working on adjusting to a new time zone. Please pray for continued health and that our bodies would completely adjust to being on the opposite side of the world.

One funny story: two guys from our team were talking to a man about Jesus. He seemed to be very interested, but said that he was very busy at the moment because he was getting ready for his wedding in a few days. He then proceeded to give the two guys an invitation to his wedding! Hopefully we will be able to go!

We are thankful for what the Lord has done and look forward with expectancy to all that He is going to do. We will update again soon.

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Here’s a note from Travis from his iPod. I edited out a few things about school finances, etc.

Hillo!

India has been fun. I love the food. So good foo good. I don’t understand when others on the team want pizza or something non-Asian because all I want is Indian or Chinese or something. But the pizza at Papa Johns here is pretty good, Pizza Hut not so much.

For the first week our days started out with team breakfast ( eggs toast variations cooked in one of our serviced apartments) and then we had team worship/details/ministering/vision casting time from after brekkies til 1230 or 1 ish. Then we would split up into twos or threes and be given a destination, ride a tuk tuk/bajaj/autorickshaw there and get out and eat lunch and meet people and share the gospel with them. For the next two weeks half our team will continue to do such, but at later hours (3-9ish) and the half I am with shares on the streets from 3 to 6 and then we work out and share at a gym to which we have two-week memberships. The reason we are going and sharing at the gym is because the long term team here has had much success at the gym and they asked us to seek the lost there too. And get buff.

We leave at 6:30am on the eleventh of June and get back to Houston at 6:30pm (Houston time) on the eleventh. So June eleventh will be about thirty six hours long for us.

Alrighty, I go sleep, good night.

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June 2nd update from the team–

We are super excited to email you about how God is moving here in Bangalore. Right now everyone is healthy and excited about bringing the good news of Jesus to the people of Bangalore. So far we have seen 15 people commit to following Jesus! Here are a few stories of what God has been doing:

A few days ago a guy and girl from our team were sharing in a market place. They had felt like the Lord had highlighted the letter H and white shiny shoes. They noticed that there was a pair of white shiny shoes inside of the Tommy Hilfiger Store so they decided to go inside to look around. While they were there, they began to make conversation with some of the workers in the store. At separate times, both of the girls who were working there began to cry as they heard about the good news of Jesus. The guy who was working was surprised when he learned that God could speak to him. He prayed to God, “Are you there, Lord?” and he heard God say back, “Yes as always.” Then he prayed, “Will you take care of my family?” and her heard God respond, “It’s already been taken care of.” At the end, 4 of the 5 workers committed to follow Jesus and are very excited to share this message with others. Our team has followed up with them more than once and they are excited about sharing the good news with their friends as well as reading their Bibles. When our team met with them yesterday, the new believers told us that the atmosphere of the shop had changed. They said that the workers used to bicker with one another, but since hearing of Jesus, the shop atmosphere has been peaceful. They also told us that yesterday they met their sales goals that they had been trying to meet for a while. We are very excited to see what they Lord is doing at this store!

One of the girls on our team has been forming a relationship with a shop worker in the center of town. One day she shared the message about Jesus with her and how Jesus could bring hope. The girl got very excited about the story of Jesus and committed to follow Jesus! When our team followed up with her, she said that she has been reading her Bible frequently and that she had also shared the good news of Jesus with 2 other customers the previous day!

We have been following up with the guy that we told about in the last email. He has been really excited to tell his friends about his decision to follow Jesus. Two guys from our team when to his school so that they could share the message of Jesus with his friends. While no one accepted Jesus that day, there were people who became more interested in the gospel.

It is weird to think that in just 9 days we will be back in the States. In the meantime, please pray for continued health for our team. Also, pray that we would have wisdom as we follow up with those who have recently committed their lives to Jesus.

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Travis’ note to Cassie -

Two days ago was pretty sweet. Two other dudes and I went to a mall and were just chillin. And we stopped to look at some soccer jersey stand and started talking to the shopkeeper and found out he was a Christian and his name was Noel and also noticed that his foot was wrapped up. Apparently he had been in a motorcycle accident the previous day and did something pretty bad to his foot. And also when he had the accident there was no one around to help so he prayed and two guys showed up. So we told him how Jesus heals people and asked if we could pray for him and he said yes so we did. And then we asked him if it felt any different and he started testing it out and becoming very happy. we then talked a bit more and left and went down two floors or so and were talking with some Muslim store owners and Noel and a friend come down and he removed the bandage and his friend thanked us. The Muslim store owners overheard what happened and asked us about healing and such after Noel and his friend exchanged contact info with us and left. So then one of the Muslim dudes wanted my email so that he can email me when he has any pain. And then we ate gelatto.

We have seen quite a few people come to Christ and those who led them

there meet up with them again to teach them more how and why with the

end goal being to have them start a house church with their friends

and family that will then multiply into more house churches that will

spread throughout India. The long term team will continue to disciple

and instruct the individual church’s leaders and such.

There have also been an equal if not greater amount of healings as

there were salvations. It’s so crazy that God still works to heal

physical ailments and whatnot. And he uses us! Crazy.