*Coming to you from Jakarta, Indonesia*
The word ‘ministry’ can be sort of intimidating. I’ve spoken about how ‘ministry is life’ and ‘life is ministry’ but there’s still this expectation that something ‘big’ and ‘tangible’ is supposed to happen. But the beauty of ministry is that God knows what needs to be done for his Kingdom. As his followers, we are simply called to do just that – follow.
That is why we are encouraged to live out an ATL lifestyle aka “Ask the Lord”. Who needs prayer? Ask the Lord. What’s a word of encouragement for someone? Ask the Lord. Where should we go? Ask the Lord. What should we do? Ask the Lord. You get the picture.
Three days before debrief ended it was time for our team, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Backpacks, to separate from the squad and ask the Lord where we should be spending our remaining time in Indonesia. When it was time to share with each other what the Holy Spirit put on our hearts our responses were as follows:
- Muslim nation
- Pink
- Three islands over
- Go the wrong way
- Kids ministry
- Little girl
- Pink sand
- Pink flowers
- Man in a fishing boat
- South
My initial reaction was, “Well, that’s cute. God gave the only all girls team visions of pink.” Little did we know, this place is real, and we will get to go there.
Our flight out of Indonesia is from Jakarta, which is the Island of Java. Java is north of Bali. So, it makes sense that South of Bali would also be going in the opposite direction of where we were supposed to be headed. It took about 30 minutes of research beyond that, and everything came to fruition. According to our research there is only eight pink beaches in the world and three of them are in Indonesia. One of the three beaches, appropriately named Pink Beach, is located South of Bali three islands over on Komodo Island. When researching Komodo Island we discovered there is a small fishing village of about 2,000 people. They’re an Islamic nation and our research showed that there was a school. It was incredibly unifying for our team to experience such clear direction from God with such an obvious answer. Komodo Island, specifically Kampung Komodo (Komodo Village).
The next day, we received a validating sign that this is the place we should go. A couple of my teammates were at a local bookstore in Canggu and they met a girl there. After striking up conversation with her they learned that not only was she Christian but that she’d also been to Komodo before and gave us a contact name for someone that we should meet once we arrive. She left my teammates by saying, “You must go!”
Komodo Island is actually known for Komodo National Park, the only place in the world where you can see Komodo Dragons!! We had no idea, but it was the gateway for us to be able to go. Tourists visit the island with the intent of going to see Komodo dragons at the National Park and the beaches. After our proposal to travel to Komodo Island got approved, our team spent another afternoon in prayer together about whether this was the right decision. It’s a big undertaking to travel to the unknown; is it safe? Does anyone speak English? What is our purpose? But our answer was so clear, God placed this village on our hearts. Any unknown details will shake themselves out when we put ourselves in the palm of His hands. None of us signed up for this journey to be comfortable but to step out in faith and do as the Lord asks. With that, we started booking flights, ferry’s, and finding a place to stay.
Occasionally people stay in the village for a night or two if they’ve visited the park. When we got in contact with a local who offered to have us as a homestay, he was quite surprised by our request to be able to stay for up to twelve days. We learned we would fly into Labuan Bajo and a ferry would take us to the island’s only village. Before we left, he sent us a picture of his family and it made my heart so full. We don’t know yet why we’ve been called to Kampung Komodo, but I can’t wait to find out!
We are the first World Race team to ever travel to Komodo. It’s incredibly powerful to have been chosen for such a unique adventure. So overall, pink is cute, but dragons are pretty legendary and so is this team. Let’s goooo.
