First thing the next morning, the helicopter was ready for departure.  I was asked to accompany to evaluate the patient and accompany him back to the hospital in our town. Bryan bravely volunteered to watch the kids so I could do this.

The one hour and half flight flew by quickly as I prepared my medical equipment and was briefed by the pilot on the procedures. As soon as we landed, I headed for the man’s home and assessed him. Very weak, he was at least able to eat now, but in significant pain. His abdomen was solid as a rock and I feared the worse – internal bleeding or liver complications. After ensuring he was stable, he was carried to the helicopter and straped to the stretcher. Throughout the flight back to town, I frequently assessed his condition – each evaluation brought the same result – stable, but really sick.

Upon arrival at the hanger, a fellow co-worker had his truck ready. Bryan and company loaded the man into the truck and we headed for the hospital. Upon admission, the doctor quickly assessed him. Afterwards he inquired as to where this man lived. Aware that this man’s village was over 4 days drive from this hospital, the doctor shook his head and simply said, “Had he tried to drive, he would not have made it.”

A routine and vital part of our flight ministry is medical evacuations such as these. Just as with this man, physical lives are often saved thanks to the condensed amount of travel time.  Each life is precious, so when the seconds count, we thank the Lord for the tools of aviation and medicine which are available to save lives physically, and hopefully spiritually, as well!

Drew playing with the Wana kiddoes

Last week, the kids and I had the opportunity to take a day trip out to one of our existing tribal works. Originally, I was not very excited as life had been a bit overwhelming with raising kids, piano lessons, hostessing, daily flight following, etc… but the flight was needed to bring our friend out anyway, so we “tagged” along. 

After being dropped off, it was an eerie feeling as we stood amid the tribal people and watched the helicopter fly away. Definitely gave me a better understanding of what our tribal church planters and translators experience.

Kayla enjoying the river

From there, we received a tour of the tribe. Andrew loved running through the grass, climbing trees, playing in the river and laughing with the kids (that is the same in every language) and of course, Kayla was passed around like a doll. Yet as we walked around and I attempted to engage in conversation with these sweet people, there were but a few that were actually able to talk with me. The majority – old and young alike - only spoke their tribal language and I was reminded of why we do what we do. God desires a relationship with His Creation, yet how can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them? We have brother and sisters in the Lord in that little tribe located on the top of a mountain in Central Sulawesi because of the labor of faithful translators and church planters.

Andrew amid the tribal people

Some friends Andrew made during our short stay interior

Much work continues to be done to bring this little church to maturity, but as I flew home, I thanked the Lord for His love towards all His Creation and for the small part we get to have in reaching some of the last tribes with His gospel. Thanks for your part too!

Our neighbor's family - Putri is the oldest of 6

Preparing baked goods for our neighbors

FOR ONE, this past month has been the month of fasting (Ramadan) for the predominant religion. They awake at 0400 to eat and pray before their long day of fasting. Not even allowed to drink or swallow their own spit, their fast is broken at 1800 with large meals and loud celebrating. As the only Christians in our neighborhood, we were very aware of these happenings.

Yet this past week just ended the fasting month and people broke their fasting with large parties. An important part of this was our cultural obligation to visit each of our neighbors. It was a real blessing to interact with our neighbors and friends- giving them their gifts and deeping our relationship with them. Now we just continue to pray that their month long search for religious fulfillment will instead become a search for a relationship with the ONE TRUE GOD!

Anna and Chicken Feet

Yes, that is a whole fried fish, Brian

Decorating Kayla's room

Another highlight this month was having our friends – Brian and Anna – visit. We enjoyed showing them around and letting them experience the unique Indonesian cusine. We also appreciated all their help with painting (Anna, honestly, the kids rooms would never have been decorated without you!) hanging shelves, watching the kids so we could actually go on a date and just giving us a break for the daily grind.  They were real troopers as they endured all the stares while visiting our neighbors, butchered some chickens for Melissa and helped with the monotonous task of sorting thousands of parts with Bryan at the hanger. We all had a blast and were sad to see them go!

Heli returning to the hanger after a long week of flying

LASTLY, this month has been and continues to be filled with flights. Beginning with a medical evacuation (check out the related story!!!) and flying in a volunteer carpenter into the tribe to repair a church planter’s house, it continued with flights for a week long tribal Bible Conference and taking various translators and church planters interior to evaluate the tribal churches which were planted several years ago. Hoping to reopen and continue these works, as well as open new ones, leadership is using these evaluation flights to determine the next steps. It has been exciting getting to support these activities. Please continue to pray for safety and wisdom as decisions are being made and lots of flying is being done!

For more pictures of this past month, click here!

Cutting down banana trees with our neighbor

We have a concrete ditch in front of our fence. Ditches are used throughout this area for dumping and burning trash among other things.  When we moved in our house our ditch was almost completely full and I had no idea what to do about it. 

A few weeks ago we had our bathroom remodeled.  The workers cleaned up after themselves by dumping all the debris into our ditch.  This seems to be common practice here.  Afterwards I decided to try to rearrange the debris and break up the bigger pieces with a hammer to make it look “nice.”

While in the process I was met by a neighbor who explained that no one liked our ditch being full because it looked bad and caused flooding.  He said he and some friends would be willing to clean it out, for a small price, of course.  For only $12 these guys are willing to clean up my ditch for me.  “Wow what a deal!” I went to bed very proud of myself.

If only I knew. The next day, while I was at work, four men came and dug out the ditch and they left all the debris in the road.  This became problem 1… Problem 2 arose when our next door neighbor came over and said that if we did not put all that stuff back in the ditch, during rainy season, his house would flood!

So another adventure in language and culture began.  With the help of Melissa, we consulted all the neighbors who were happy to educate us about Indonesian ditch etiquette.

After much consultation with the neighbors, we discovered that a previous resident had actually paid to have the ditch filled up halfway to prevent flooding…However, over time the ditch had become a convenient dumping place and was completely full, until I took the bait.

All the neighbors agreed that the ditch needed to be at least half full of dirt to prevent flooding.  The man whom I paid to remove the dirt came by later that day to collect his payment and also volunteered to fill the ditch back in for me!  I declined his offer, he was not surprised, but glad to get his money anyways.

I decided to finish this ordeal myself so I could sort out the trash from the dirt and refill the ditch properly.  So, mom would be proud, I am officially a “ditch re-filler.”  I always told the Lord that if He needed me to, I would dig ditches for Him, I never thought I would be refilling ditches instead.

Initially, I was annoyed by all the problems that came from this ditch dilemma.  Yet not two days later, other neighbors started cleaning up their own ditches and even offered to plant some flowers alongside of our renovated ditch.  The flowers were later eaten by transient goats, but it is the thought that counts.

Wow! If a little gesture like this spurs neighbors to action, we can be thankful for the hassle. Now we just pray that our actions won’t just promote cleanliness but will spur these dear neighbors to pursue the One True God. Pray with us for more opportunities to use our actions to point people to Christ!

Happy Newly Weds and neighbor kids who love pictures

Weddings in Indonesia are community events. All the neighbors pitch in and for a non-Christian wedding, the ceremony and reception are held in the person’s home or a large tent set up in the street in front of the home.

The morning of the wedding, most all the ladies in the neighborhood got together to cook – butchering, seasoning, chopping and socializing. Another committee started the day before decorating the home with colorful sheets.

This particular wedding did not start till 8pm, but I got to take a “sneak peek” beforehand around 4… Brides in Indonesian rarely wear white, instead, they dress in their traditional tribal attire – this couple being from the prominent Kaili tribe. It takes the bride all day to get dressed and the adornments laced throughout her hair. By the time she is done, the head piece is so heavy that it is difficult to smile and often results in a splitting headache.

At 8pm, the yard in front of the bride’s family’s home was filled with people. Yet the actual ceremony was only witnessed by the closest relatives. Following the prayer time, the father of the bride was read the marriage contract and gave his blessing. Then the Wali summoned the groom and the contract was read, then the oaths were said. The joining of thumbs signified the marriage of the couple complete and the groom was allowed to enter the bride’s quarters. The groom entered, along with the Wali, and the bride was given a dowry and given the marriage license to sign. Once complete, the couple was considered wed. No “You may kiss the bride” here.

At this point, the groom changed into matching attire as the bride. Then they made their first public appearance as husband and wife. Once seated in their places of honor, all the guests got up and ate while the couple looked on. After the majority were done eating, the couple was ushered back inside for another prayer time. Again, the guest did not get to witness this.

Once outside again, the guest all ushered by to offer their congratulations and give them monetary gifts. After this, the wedding was considered over and the majority went home. I, too, went home only to discover that the real party with loud rock music was just beginning. This celebration continued till 3am and while I enjoyed the festivities, the cultural experience and the opportunity to build deeper relationships with our neighbors, the rattling of the windows and lack of sleep have led me to decide that one wedding was enough for a while!

Flight Following begins as soon as the pilot takes off!

Last Friday began my training for a very vital ministry here in Indonesia – Flight Following. Although this job has its downsides – such as having to stay close to the phone/ radio for the duration of the flight, it is a great way for me to feel connected with the flight program and ensure that we are fulfilling one of our key goals in the flight program – safety for everyone.

Little did I know that this particular flight would also involve a medical evacuation – so not only was I learning the ropes of following the pilot’s flight path and noting coordinates, but I was also involved in medical consultation.

At 5am, our pilot called Bryan, asking him to prep the helicopter for an emergency flight. A fellow co-worker had injured his foot while on a tribal group assessment and after 2 days in the jungle, his foot was swollen, he was in severe pain and suffering from a high fever. An emergency flight was needed.  At this point, I consulted with the patient and then sent my recommendations via SMS and made sure proper treatments and meds were available. Then, I focused on my training at hand.

Thankfully due to the helicopter, our co-worker was able to get the necessary medical care in only 2 hours compared to 40 hours. A real confirmation to the essentiality of a flight program and one reason I’m thankful to have a small part through flight following. Now I just have to learn how to read a flight map.   

Kakak (Detin) with the Kids

No, we are not expecting again, but we do have a new addition.

Let us introduce: Detin (or fondly called “Kakak” by Andrew meaning “older sibling”).

Originally from the Wana tribe, she was first exposed to missionaries when she was 12 years. Now 23, she has seriously been contemplating becoming a missionary herself and going through the missionary training here in Indonesia for nationals.
She moved from her tribal home to our home town 2 years ago and now into one of our spare bedrooms upstairs. She has worked in several occupations with missionary family’s throughout the years and since she needs a place to live for the time being as she waits on the Lord’s leading and confirmation, she helps around the house, helps Melissa learn more about Indonesian cooking and enjoys hanging out with our family.

Kayla adores Detin - smiles each time she walks in the room

In many ways, it is like having a teenager because she asks permission before she goes anywhere and we have to take her to her various social activities. Likewise, Melissa is trying to help her with studies (as her tribal village did not have a school) and encourage her to follow the Lord’s leading now and not wait because of lack of finances, fear of failure, etc…
With her living here, Melissa and Andrew pretty much converse in Indonesian most of the day. Therefore, her living here has been beneficial for all parties and she has indeed become a special part of our family! Pray with us for Kakak — we are excited to see where the Lord will lead her in the future!

Little Puput - her name means Princess

My life as a missionary mom is much like any mother. I still have to change diapers, wake up with crying kids in the middle of the night, enjoy playing in the sandbox with my little boy and get excited about every new food Kayla eats. The only difference is that I am watched not just by my kids, but by everyone, wherever we go. We are orang Barat — white skinned people — and that makes us stand out.

The little faces that peer in the window as I read books with Andrew, hands that rest up on the counter waiting to try a tortilla or the Western man’s bread, constant stares as we shop at the market or drive down the street and frequent interruptions with calls for ”Misus” at our gate remind me that people are always watching. While this constant attention can sometimes be overwhelming, making us just want to lock our doors and close our curtains (wait, we still don’t have any), it is a daily reminder that we [CHRISTIANS] are the salt of earth, the light of the world and the chosen to reflect the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthian 3:18). A high calling and one in which I know I often fall short. I overreact with my kids, get annoyed by the neighbor kids, turn a cold shoulder to those in the market because I am tired of them trying to pinch my child’s cheek, etc… Yet my prayer is that when Indonesians or my children question me about “My God,” they will see more than just a religious façade but the image of Christ which He stamped on me back at Creation. May my life be worthy of emulation!