A Journey Overseas

Week Three:

Meeting the People in my Inbox

I realized that I couldn't sum up a three week trip overseas in one blog post, so I hope you enjoy this three part series!

It seemed like everywhere we went, teens and kids wanted their picture taken with us.  White people are celebrities in Indonesia, apparently.  Here's my friend Cedric (from Switzerland but lives in Indonesia) with a group of teen girls which turned into a group of about 25 teens.

When I open my work e-mail each day, I often find stories from the people working in the field with poor villages.  Most days there is a specific story of a specific person or family’s changed life because of the work of GHNI.  I know that these people are real and that their lives and stories matter.  I even experience along with them the pain, compassion, joy, and gratitude of their situation to some degree.  However, seeing these people’s faces in a digital photograph attached in an e-mail and seeing their smile resulting from my interaction with them are two vastly different things.  Reading about the conditions in which these children live daily and smelling the sewers running alongside their streets bring a whole new perspective to the stories I post on our website.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I was sick with a stomach bug the whole last week of my journey.  I think it was some fresh lettuce I stupidly ate the weekend before even though I know that the water wasn’t safe and fresh produce is likely washed in that water.  I was sick.  I was hot.  I was missing my husband; my home.  Yet, with all of these discomforts, it didn’t matter because the people I was around that week lived with more discomforts than you or I could ever imagine on a daily basis.  I was a broken mess in the morning as our team met but when we arrived in the village after lunch, none of those thoughts entered my mind.

Camba Berua is the name of the slum village where I spent most of my time.  The other village, Tanah Keke, was on an island involving a two hour boat-ride and overnight visit with minimal toilet access, so I was unable to go because of my stomach issues.  I was pretty mad to be in that situation, after all, I had come all the way around the world for this!  However, I came to terms with the situation and used the time I had with the other village wisely and it was definitely worth it.

Me with the sewing ladies of Camba Berua

We were able to visit some women in Camba Berua who had been loaned sewing machines and given sewing lessons.  They then made aprons to sell to be able to pay off their sewing machines and generate business which would provide additional income to their husband’s meager salaries.  Meeting these women was a huge joy because I heard the stories of how hard they worked to get to where they are today.  I especially was excited because of my personal joy in sewing.  I’ve often thought of selling some of my creations (quilts and purses) to provide a little more income for my husband and I but have often doubted whether anyone would buy my work.  I told these women, through a translator, that their success had inspired me.  I was told later by the people that work with these women that my encouragement was a huge blessing to them; showing them that they aren’t the only ones that struggle and that their efforts can encourage others.

Though this visit with these amazing women was a joy, it was really the children in the village that stole my heart.  From the moment we arrived, they began following us around.  The longer we were there, the more children gathered at our feet.  Language didn’t matter.  These little people absorbed every move we made and every word we spoke.  They often told us every English word they knew.  The more they saw how interested I was in interacting with them, the more they wanted to engage. 

Children waiting outside of the home we were visiting along with my teammate, Jim, on our first visit to Camba Berua.

By the end of that week, the rest of my team started affectionately calling me the “Pied Piper” (Honestly, I had to look up what that meant.  If you are like me, you might be interested in this link “Pied Piper”).  I realized that they saw the joy and gift I have working with children and didn’t even know that what I have is something special.  Yes, I was overwhelmed by the poverty and subsequent dreadful conditions that these children lived in but I also found joy in being able to give them the gift of games and song.  I was asked to help lead the children’s program on the last day we met in the village and never enjoyed doing the “Hokey Pokey” over and over again so much in my life!

I started teaching these kids "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on the first day and as soon as they saw me the next day, all they could say was "isty bitsy!  itsy bitsy!" and held their fingers up like a spider climbing the water spout.

"Put your head in and shake it all about!"

While I know that my presence was a gift to the women and children of that village, I think God also used them to speak to me.  I have never had so many people take note at how my being around children brings me to life.  After two weeks of sitting in meetings (something I really could do without), I imagine putting me around a bunch of children really changed my team’s perspective on me and allowed them to get to know a truer side of me.  I glowed at the many comments that I’d be a great mom someday, which is honestly something I’m really looking forward to, but also something I’ve doubted whether I’d actually do well.  It was an experience that really rounded out a trip that I didn’t even want to go on, making it a trip that I’m grateful I made.

The view from the airplane arriving in Orlando, Florida.  It was a sweet welcome home!

A Journey Overseas

Week One: 

The Dubious Steps of a Doubting Traveler

I realized that I couldn't sum up a three week trip overseas in one blog post, so I hope you enjoy this three part series!

Spices at a traditional Indonesian market in Denpasar, Bali

I didn’t want to go.  After all, I’d only been married for ten months, so leaving my husband for three weeks seemed ridiculous.  I’d just started this new job and two months later I was getting on a plane to Indonesia. Normally I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to travel and see the world but this time, I wasn’t so sure. 

The day I began my job, my new boss told me that there was no pressure but it would be a great opportunity for me to meet the field staff and experience some of the work we were doing in villages in Indonesia.  When I told Andrew about it that night, I’d pretty much already made the decision not to go.  To my surprise he said, “That sounds like a great opportunity, you should go!”  Darn.  If it was remotely possible for Andrew to come with me, I might have felt differently but I had little choice but to leave him for three weeks.

The weeks and days leading up to the trip seemed full of obstacles.  I had many worries and fears about going on this trip and so for every obstacle I thought, “Well, that’s it.  I shouldn’t go.  I can’t go,” and yet God found a way to obliterate the barrier leaving the door wide open.

Just one example was needing to raise a few hundred dollars for the field experience portion of the trip.  The deal was that the organization would cover my plan ticket and the staff conference costs but that I would need to raise the funds for the field experience the last week (airfare to a different island, hotel, and food).  I had only four weeks to raise these funds, so I sent out a letter to a small handful of people whom I thought would be supportive of such a venture.  A small amount of money came in from some of those friends.  The clock was ticking and I thought, “Well, there you go.  I’m not supposed to go.”

Then, out of nowhere, I received an e-mail from someone whom I hadn’t approached but heard through the grapevine what I was doing and offered to fund the remainder of the balance (over 80% of the cost)!  I had money come from another person following that gift whom had only heard about the trip but whom I hadn’t challenged to contribute.  In the final week which the money was due, I went from having less than 20% of my needs met to having over 130% of the funds needed.  Ok, I get it.  I’m supposed to go.

There were many times throughout the weeks leading up to the trip where I had the same pattern of thought, whether it was the money, expediting my passport (it just happened to expire in August, not to mention having my name change adding to the complication), packing while my husband was very ill, etc.  Each time, the problem was not only solved, but eradicated so completely that I could only point to God being at work.

Then, I boarded the plane and after a long journey (Indonesia is really far away!  Thirteen hours ahead of the Eastern Standard Time Zone...), I arrived in Bali. 

In that first week, aside from jet lag and having to sit in meetings all day, I finally had succumbed to that fact that I was here and there was purpose in my being there.  As I heard reports of what people were doing to help improve lives of the poor, hidden, and hurting people of the world, I could only be encouraged and grateful for having a broader perspective and understanding of the importance of my job.  I was even able to share a little about my job and how the field workers can best communicate their stories.  I was able to get to know people of all different backgrounds, from all over the world--Kenya, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, India, Czech Republic, Switzerland, etc.  I also got to explore with my new friends and have some adventures.

Even though my ties to home were much stronger on this trip than back when I was single, by the end of the week, I was grateful to be there and succumbed to the sacrifice of being away and allowed myself to enjoy the journey.

I love trying new things...like this spiny looking fruit!

Meeting Michel, from Lebanon was inspiring.  He gave up working in his hair salon to do something bigger with his life.  Now, not only does he bring aid to Syrian refugees in his country, but he gives haircuts to orphans.

Meeting people from all over the world is so fun!  Here, Sushil, (center, in the blue shirt) is teaching us an Indian song and dance.

The Job Shuffle

I look around at people's lives around me and I really shouldn't because I see people settled down, buying houses, decorating, going to the same job day after day, month after month.  They are a variety of people who, combined, have the kind of life I want.  It's like the Proverbs 31 woman--all ideal characteristics of a woman, wife, and mother, but that's just it--she's idealistic.  She can't possibly be one woman.  She's a combination of attributes of Godly women.  Here I sit in an apartment that is not going to be mine in a couple of months with a job that, Lord willing, also will not be mine after long.  I seem to be experiencing constant dissatisfaction as I live a life centered on words like:

"For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger; abundance and need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11-13

Of that passage, I think in a lot of ways verse thirteen has become a Christian catch phrase.  It has even been demoted to being a cliche in a lot of instances, which I find quite sad because the words previous get overlooked.  In my experience Christ has too often become an elixir to promote power despite our humanness.  A quick fix.  Rather than seeing the hardship of being without or the willpower of being good stewards of our blessed abundance, so often all we see in that passage is, "I can do all things," and "Strengthens me."

I do this more than I care to admit.  Oh how holy and powerful am I that I have Jesus in my life do "good things."  I am neither holy nor powerful.  In the "good things" that I do, I am daily humbled.  Lately, the only reason I time to do good things is because I'm working a job that I hate where I get scheduled as few as thirteen hours each week.  I am supposed to earn my hours based on how well I do the job.  With several positive reviews sent in by clients as well as a company auditor praising my good work, I still only earned a whopping fourteen hours for this next week.

When I first heard that the hours scheduled were based on work effort, I thought they were talking about choice of shift.  I learned the hard way it was whether or not I even got a shift, much less a shift that lasted more than three hours.  So I thought, well, if I just work harder.  If I make my effort known.  If I just lean on Jesus to strengthen me, then surely I will be rewarded.  The harder I work, the better I get at my job, the more positive feedback my management gets from those I serve, the less hours I've been getting.  So, obviously, this single verse is not a formula for a quick fix during life's hard times or winning a sports game.  My attention has been shifted from, "I can do all things..." to "I know how to be brought low...in any and every circumstance...facing hunger...and need."

It is not my work, my effort, my ability which has been strengthened by Christ.  It is my fortress, my rock, my protection.  In my lowness, Christ has risen me up by putting around me a community of believers who see Christ's Spirit in me and run to protect and encourage me.  In circumstances where my finances are scarce and my resources have run dry, God has not only provided me with a husband who takes lead in carrying the burden but also circumstances which has freed us from need.  My strength has come through reason to have faith that God is good.  The things I do are an expression of my gratitude to my Savior, whom I want to share with the world.  They are a sacrifice of self rather than a promotion of ability.

Andrew, my husband, and I are in the final days of waiting to see if we are accepted into ministry positions through New Tribes Mission.  The jobs we would be doing through this organization are, for both of us, what we feel God is calling us to do for His Kingdom.  All we want to do is to serve Him but in the meantime, our current work situations are less than ideal.  After leaving a ministry position myself, this past August, I've become miserable in the secular work force.  Now on my second job, which I described a bit earlier, I am feeling desperate to get back into a Christian work environment.

Andrew has been struggling on the work-front since before we even began seeing one-another.  Going from bad mechanic job to bad mechanic job.  He's even tried to find other work--any work--to supplement his mechanics job so that he could take some of the pressure off of me before we got married.  It seems like here a job, there a job, or just-a-little-job job, God has provided us with just enough for what we've needed at whatever given moment.

Neither of us happy in our jobs, nor confident from week to week that what we are bringing in is going to be enough after our tithe to the church, we are both constantly on the lookout for something else while desperately guarding our savings account.  The blessing amidst this constant job shuffle is that we have the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ and the shoulder of one-another to lean on when we are exhausted from the shuffle and weary of waiting for God's plan for our life and ministry together to unfold.