Wow....we leave for Papua in two days! It's been a whirlwind here. One thing we didn't think about a whole lot was how hard it is going to be to say goodbye to some of the folks we've gotten to know this past year here in Java. We've had some hard goodbyes already, and have been blessed by the people who we've come to know and love....and who in turn have loved us and our kids!
So what's in store for us, moving to Papua. Well obviously we'll know a lot more about that here soon. Fortunately we've had a few friends (from here in language school in Java) move out there ahead of us. We will be living on an MAF base there with them initially. We are very glad that those friends of ours are there! What a blessing. And the things they have told us have helped put us at ease.
What are some differences between Java and Papua? Believe it or not, Java is quite modern compared to Papua. It really feels like this time we are moving to "the end of the earth" in a way. We learned not long after moving to Java that, though a very different culture, it wasn't back woods by any standards! But now we are moving away from access to some of the things we've been able to cling to here that remind us of home(one small example is fresh milk.....powdered only starting now!) Believe it or not, Papua, though part of Indonesia, is as far away as LA from Washington DC.
Also though both provinces use the language of Indonesian (as well as their respective local languages) the cultures have some very different aspects. We have some language school friends that have visited Papua briefly and came back saying that there are some major differences! One example is Papuans tend to be quite direct and tell you what they are thinking, whereas Javanese people are usually the opposite, always smiling at you and never telling you directly if they have some sort of issue with you.
So we've packed up our house, now we're packing and weighing our bags. Our flight will be an all night flight that lands on a few different islands before it makes it to Papua. (We dont know how this is going to work out with Ian as a lap baby on the flight....Ian is a very active 15 month old toddler who definitely wants nothing to do with being a lap baby!). Prayers appreciated.
When we get to Papua, there's a couple there that volunteered to show us around for a couple days and help us get oriented . Then on Wednesday I will be reporting to the hangar to work for MAF for the first time!! Our lives will radically change, as Heather is at home with the kids every day, and I am at work flying and maintaining all day. (Maybe that's a radical change towards a more "normal" flow of life!).
The other day I posted a picture album of Grandma Ellen, Grandpa Dave and Holly's visit last month. For some reason only several of those pictures ended up on the album. I got the rest of them to download. So for any family members who actually want to see all 100 or so of these pictures, "silakan" which is Indonesian for "knock yourself out!".
I also made an album a few weeks ago that I never put on here. Over a month ago we had a "summer break" from language school that was two weeks long. Heather and I and the kids thorougly enjoyed that, it was a great chance to get out and see some other parts of central Java. So here's some pics from the "summer break!"....
