Three of the girls pose for a photo!

A gift for every child!

Some of the team share a joke.....
Maybe they've hidden someone's shoes!?!

Always an interesting task - trying to find your shoes!

An afternoon visit to a childrens' pre-school.

A typical street market which we passed on the way back.

Is that a geniune smile - or a pose for the camera? I'm not sure......

Sometimes 'the face says it all'. This is one of those times!!
Marilyn makes friends with a Komodo Dragon!

A fence, made out of empty water bottles - quite ingenious!

This lady on the right, lost her six children in the tsunami, and had just
found (and buried) her husband the week before we arrived.
I can't imagine how she must feel......

'The Promised Land' - where re-building has begun.

Three of the boys having fun!

In one of the tents, we found some children in the middle of a school lesson. We spent some time with them, gave out some sweets and sang too - another special time!

A refugee camp we came across on our travels.

Suzette and Pen in Banda Aceh.

Another huge ship - moved by the force of the water.

This picture shows how high the tsunami water level was - incredible.

This little boy was found up a tree. He had been there for three days (after the tsunami). He's now safe and well.

Yes, that really is what you think it is. A boat on top of the houses - and this wasn't the only one we saw like this!

Vehicles were completely destroyed (this was a minor one).

Probably one of the saddest sights - a home with the names and ages of their missing children, aged 11, 7 and 5. This was just one of many......

I was standing on what had previously been a road - now
just a strip of tarmac, leading into the sea; with a
destroyed home in the background.

Banda Aceh - after the tsunami.
Obelisk more visible, as previous shoreline has disappeared.

Banda Aceh - before the tsunami.
The obelisk can be seen in the top left hand corner (with a shadow to the left of it). Click pic to enlarge.

We didn't realise how significant this picture was, until later on,
when we viewed the satellite pictures.
Only then, did we realise exactly where we'd been that day......

A man sifts through the rubble, collecting scrap metal.

It's almost impossible to think how this ship came to be there.....
Such was the force of the water.

Standing next to the huge power plant ship (PLTD Apung 1)
- washed two miles inland.

Day 2 was an early start - got up at 4am to fly to Banda Aceh.
The following pictures all show the earthquake and tsunami damage which we saw firsthand. You can't really compare what we saw, to the images projected onto our televisions earlier this year.

We had a great time singing etc with the children - they were precious!
Then, just before leaving, we gave each child a goody bag.

These two had fun teaching me some Indonesian over our meal! I don't think I got the accent quite right, but it certainly made them laugh!
The girl on the left (aged 14) lost her whole family in the tsunami....

Dinner with the children - a special moment.

Music and dance from some of the children - they were fantastic!

Arriving at the orphanage in Jakarta.

Yep, you guessed it - this was lunch!

We had lunch here the first day - fab fish restaurant with waterfall outside!

He was soooo cute!

We visited a home for babies and single mothers, in Jakarta.

Indonesia - here we come!

Ah, 4 hours at the airport..... eat, pray, or relax in the lounge??

After 8 hours, we landed halfway - only to find out that there had been a huge earthquake! I don't think my phone has ever been so busy with messages/emails from people at home - but we were kept safe - and truly in God's hands! Huge thanks to all who prayed!

Indonesia!

I'm back! One word sums it all up - 'AWESOME'!!!

Sorry it's a short post, but I've been up since 4.30am (I'm not back in this time zone yet!) - and it's been a long day back at work.

Can't wait to catch up with you all, and share the amazing stories! Watch this space for photos and more news.....

HUGE thanks to all those who prayed!

Pen xx