Indonesia or Bust!

This is the fourth time in the last two weeks that I've tried to compose a blog post about our assignment to Indonesia. After several scrapped entries, I've decided that while we would love to explain the story to you in person... maybe a blog isn't always the best outlet for processing certain things. {I hear you saying, "Yeah, we wish you would have come to that realization before you blogged about your son's blowout diaper."}

Since you may have caught drift of the situation from our Facebook updates and may be wondering how Indonesia fits into the picture, here's the scoop in brief: Indonesia was not the country we were originally assigned. While we signed the paperwork to become official MAFers, we took a week to consider the assignment we were given. After a week of conversations, meetings and prayer, we were then asked to serve in Indonesia. And we are thrilled.

I hate generalities and indirect stories as much as you do, but suffice it to say that the whole process was incredibly beneficial to us, endeared us all the more to our leadership, and made us all the more confident that we're exactly where we're supposed to be. It also uncovered this incredible passion for Indonesia that we hadn't quite realized was there. Over the years we've felt a gentle guidance toward Indonesia but held it with a very loose grip, knowing it was only one of the options. Now we can not WAIT to get there. INDONESIA OR BUST!

Here's a couple things about Indonesia to inspire you to start saving your money to come visit us! Or to join our support team! Or both! But remember you can't visit us unless we get there! What was I saying? Oh, right. Facts.

- Indonesia is made up of about 13,000 islands or about 16,000 islands, depending on who's counting, and depending on what the volcanoes did that month.

- Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world.

- 4% of Indonesians profess faith in Christ.

And here are some of the exciting things that MAF is doing in Indonesia:

- In Papua, MAF reaches more than 250 ethnic groups by supporting church and mission efforts, providing medical assistance, community development, education, crisis relief and training and leadership development of Papuans.

- In Kalimantan, MAF provides vital aviation and radio communication services to Indonesian churches, Christian mission, and non-governmental organizations, and provides a great deal of medical transportation.

{It'll be a while before we find out whether we'll be in Papua or Kalimantan.}

Oh, and if you still weren't sure whether you'd want to visit, let me just leave you with this.