Missionary Houses in Indonesia

A Missionary Life:
Rev. J. Wesley Day
China, Malaysia, Indonesia

Houses

Palembang

One of the major challenges in Palembang was building a new high school facility to replace the congested downtown quarters. Land had been purchased, but squatters had occupied it, and reclaiming use of it was a delicate problem. Finally the school was built on Djalan Djenderal Sudirman, and with it a new house, which the family moved into in 1960.

Vivia writes, "Two houses were built in conjunction with the school for the missionary families. We lived in the second one. It was a nice ranch house fenced in with chain link. It had an office with outside entrance and two bedrooms. There was a living room, dining room, living room, kitchen and two or three rooms in the back for storage or servants. We didnt' have running water at first. There was a huge drum in the bathroom for water. The outside was all red mud - not too good for the white uniforms.

Tandjung Karang

At the beginning of 1962 Dad was transferred to Tandjung Karang, on the southern tip of Sumatra. Vivia writes, "During my vacation from Dec. 1961 - Feb. 1962 we moved to Tandjung Karang. They had just bought a house in town - two bedrooms, living room, dining room and an Indonesian kitchen (cement counter with hole for fire). We had no furniture so slept on air mattresses and used suitcases for dressers. Mom supervised the creation of a kitchen suited to her needs and tastes. I returned in [from Woodstock School in India] in June to find the house furnished with furniture from Palembang. We left the house in the hands of a Chinese pastor who had lived in Palembang and moved down there to continue the work started by our parents.