Welcome to Your New Planet!

Just days before we left the States, things were really bumpy. We were closing on our house, our visas had not yet been approved, and we had a lot of uncertainty about where we would store some the stuff we had left. We wanted to go see one last movie in the theater and chose Toy Story 3 -- and it really hit home with our situation. Without giving it all away, little Andy has grown up and is headed to college. The toys are trying to cope with the transition his leaving will cause for them. They worry about the possibility of being thrown out with the garbage while their highest hope is to end up stored in the attic. At one point, Rex the plastic dinosaur cries out, “I can’t stand all this uncertainty!” And I thought, “That’s me!” The anxiety and fear of how everything would turn out was mentally and emotionally taxing to say the least, but I knew that at some point we would end up on a plane to the other side of the world. What would happen then? Everything was about to change.

After 30-something hours of travel, Amy and I felt like we had just landed on another planet. Everything is different here. At first glance, life here is noisy, crowded, hot and smelly. The language is confusing, the food is odd, and the customs are strange. After the initial shock, panic, regret and the thought of, “What in the world have we done?!,” we have slowly started accepting Indonesia as home.

It’s a place where your home is constantly overrun with ants and everything feels continually damp. There is no such thing as air-conditioning and the smell of burning garbage wafts on hot, humid air through the open windows. A maddening, high-pitched shrill – like a dentist’s drill – blares relentlessly from the trees during the day (we found out it is a type of cicada). Another critter, a tokay lizard loudly calls out “Hector! Hector! Hector!” at random times during the night. It’s enough to make one want to yell back, “Hector!!! Go home already! Can’t you hear your wife calling?!” And the first call to prayer of the day sounds off from multiple locations every morning about 4:30 am.

But after having been here 5 weeks, I can see that this place can also be beautiful. Gorgeous scenery. Green rice fields. Blue hazy mountains. Waterfalls. Dutch pines mixed with palms trees. And the people are genuinely friendly and quick to return a smile. I enjoy the calls of “Hey Meester” from the children as I walk down the neighborhood streets. I love it when I nod to the elderly women in the market and greet them with “Mari Bu” (basically, “Hello Ma’am”) and they reply, “Ohhh yah” and then place their right hand over their heart in mutual respect.

It was all too easy at first to be angry with God for asking us to give up all that we loved to come here. It was easy to feel disappointed and even screwed over – to feel we deserved something better for our obedience. But then I remember Jesus’ words to his cousin John as he sat in prison, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Now I can honestly say that my heart can declare, “I am not offended by my King. I am happy to be here, for this is right where I belong. Praise God!”

Thank you so very much to everyone who has partnered with us financially and through encouragement and prayer! We could not have made it here, nor stay here, without you. You are such an important part of the impact we make here. Terima kasih banyak! (Many thanks!) Oh, if you’d like to see some images from our first month here, please go here. Hope you enjoy them.