Can not believe I’m typing this but we are in INDONESIAAAA!!! My mind is blown away by how beautiful and lush this country is and how genuinely welcoming Indonesians are. The squad flew out from Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday morning at 10am and did not land into Jakarta, Indonesia until Thursday morning at 12:30am…so you can believe I got to watch lots of movies, hang with new friends, and slept for an entire 3 hours. We were welcomed by 72 degree weather (sorry to everyone back home who are stuck in the snow) and squatty potty’s!
We ended up getting cabs and going to a hostel for the night. My team was the first one’s to make it to the hostel at 2am and were greeted by two guys, Ferry like the boat and Kai. They provided us with our own little concert with an original song. I am not a music label or anything but I would definitely hire them. Once everyone got to the hostel, we got to bed around 4am and our team had to be at the train station by 9am to get to Bandung. Our train was supposed to leave at 10:30 but the tickets did not go through so we ended up having to switch the tickets to 6pm. We decided to hang out in the train station for the day where we enjoyed Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, KFC, and CFC (which is pretty much an off brand to KFC). It was a wonderful bonding time where it was great to just relax and get replenished. I am already so thankful for these amazing group of girls who so easily go with the flow and make the best out of situations.
Once on the train, we all crashed for about 3 hours until we finally reached Bandung. Our host family, Jason and Tyra Whitehurst and their daughter Mia, welcomed us at the train station with 3 taxis to take us to our house that we will be staying for the month in Kotabaru. The Lord truly blessed us with a lovely house that has 3 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms! There is even a cute little balcony that we get to hang out on (exactly where I am writing this blog right now). To ensure all of y’all we will never stay somewhere this luxurious again so we are trying to take full advantage of it and soak it all in, especially the kitchen.
This month we are going to be helping out at a school called BAIS, Bandung Alliance Intercultural School, which is a Christian school for PreK-12th grade. This school is unique in that the students their are a mix between missionary children and Muslim background. The students are required to go to Chapel and bible study which is so awesome. Each day will look different with what we will be doing at the school but I am very excited to be helping in every way that I can, especially with sports. The school has basketball, cross-country, swimming, and badminton..so glad I packed my racket!
I can imagine that this might not sound like the kind of mission work that people may have expected, however, God calls us to help everyone and anyone. Of course we want to reach those in poverty and who are severely struggling and we are for sure going to be doing that very soon. But when individuals in authority and higher up turn to the Lord, it makes a trickle down effect which can change countries. Think about how God called Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago to reach the more fortunate and brought countless to grow God’s Kingdom. As Westerner’s, we can get blinded by believing missions is ONLY for the less fortunate….I can honestly say I have thought that before, but that is not the case. I am not saying that it is a bad thing to think that because it is remarkable to be helping the needy, however we need to remember EVERYONE should get to experience the beauty of the gospel.
I am beyond pumped to see what the good Lord has in store for this month with the fabulous team of girls and fabulous staff we get to work alongside. If you’re interested to see what the team is doing, follow @wrpuppypack on instagram!:D
Until next time, God bless!
