We've really wanted to share some pictures of our first several days here in Papua...but unfortunately our digital camera card reader is buried somewhere in a pile of stuff that we have yet to sift through.  I hope it turns up soon!  But in the mean time.....I thought it would be neat to share this video that the Chief Pilot's son made about what MAF does here in Papua.  He did a great job showing not only what the MAF pilots do every day, but also the people we are serving, and how we are serving them.  So here's the video....

One nice perk of living here is that we're relatively close to the beach. So we're planning to go check it out tomorrow with our friends Daniel, Joy and Zoe. Last week Heather and I sat down with our program manager for a pretty thorough orientation. We got to hear specifics about all five active MAF bases here in Papua. It is amazing how many places we serve from our five bases. There is a map in the office of the airstrips scattered throughout Papua, and there are literally hundreds. Right now, I am blessed to be training with our language school friends, "the Daniels" Daniel Perez and Daniel Geaslen. We are enjoying living close to them here on the base. Because the Daniels got here before I did, they started off their orientation here with a focus on flight. And because I am the third, and one of our instructor pilots is home on furlough, I will be focusing on aircraft maintenance for our first couple months here in Sentani. Though a bit of a bummer when I thought I would be jumping into an airplane very soon, it is actually a very good thing. I will be more thoroughly equipped with the knowledge and experience I need when it's time to do maintenance and inspections on the field. And soon enough, it will be time for me to jump in the airplane!

Wow!  We are safe and sound here in Sentani, Papua.  Thank you to all of you who prayed for us on the overnight journey to get here.  It was very obvious to us that you were praying!  We started the night at 7 pm, flying from Semarang to Jakarta.  Then we caught our long 7 hour flight to Jayapura/Sentani that left Jakarta at 9:30 PM.  The flight had two stops at other islands in Indonesia before getting to Jayapura.  So on that first flight, Elise fell asleep (and she slept  right on through till we landed in Jayapura at 7:30 am...we had to wake her up!).  Ian also fell asleep on that flight.  So as we descended to land at the first stop, Heather's head had a lot of pressure because of congestion!  Fortunately I was able to get off there and find some de-congestant medicine, and on the remaining two landings it didnt hurt her as bad. Ian only woke up for the first landing and was up about an hour....other than that he slept the whole flight too.  Also, it never seemed to occur to him that he could get out of our laps and walk around...he was happy sitting in our laps and was really good, he didnt cry much at all.  Again....thanks for your prayers!  So when we landed in Sentani/Jayapura at 7:30 AM, there was a group of several MAF staff here that greeted us and helped us with our bags.  We walked across the street at the airport to our new duplex that we will be in for the next several months (which we love).  Our first day we met many of our new friends here.  We also hung out with our old friends, the Geaslens and Perezes who were with us in Salatiga (we're really excited theyre here).  The Perez's also have two of Elise's good friends, Reece and Joe.  It was special yesterday when Elise got to see Reece and Joe again.  Oh yeah, and there's a huge playground across the grass from our front door!  And Reece and Joe live on the other side of it!  So Elise played a bunch yesterday with them.  MAF people took care of us all day, providing meals and showing us around.  We have a "go-to" couple (their names are David and Natalie Holsten).  They are fairly new here too, but they spent a decade before this on the island of Tarakan, Indonesia.  They drove us around town yesterday and showed us some of the main places we'll need to know.  A nice couple named Darren and Jana had us over for dinner last night.  They've been here for a long time, and they live "up the hill" from here.  The kids especially loved it because they had a puppy, snakes, and a baby crocodile!
So we slept a bunch yesterday too, and we get a few days to settle in before we start orientation here.

Some little things about Papua so far....

I've noticed that living in Java teaches you to smile and nod your head at just about everybody you walk by.  It's not exactly the same here.  Alot of people just look back at you like "who are you?"  However some folks do return the smile.

I borrowed a motorbike to go to the ATM.  On the way home, a Papuan guy pulled up next to me (at full speed on the street) and wanted me to give him a high five.  So I gave a guy a high five while motorbiking down the street.  That would never happen in Java!

Thanks again for the prayers!

Moving! And picture re-post

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!"....

Busy times around here!  We move to Papua in one week.  Yesterday afternoon, to give Heather a few moments of peace and quiet i the house I set out with the kids on a walk.  As we were going we heard a lot of noise coming from down this little alley.  So we headed down there and were greeted by this random scene:

Those kids looked like they were having a blast drumming!  Somebody said they were practicing for August 17th, the Indonesian Independance Day.  Right now, during the month of Ramadan, some of them, if I understand right, play every night.  According to our friends who live close to this place, they are greeted by a drum line every night that passes by their house at 2:30 in the morning!  Yes that is right, I said 2:30 in the morning.  We only live a quarter mile away from them, but we have yet to have a drum line pass in front of our house yet at two AM (unless we have just slept through it!)

Last week Heather's mom Ellen, Stepdad Dave, and sister Holly went back to the US. We had a great time with them! Here's a bunch of pics from their visit....