MONTH FOUR: Indonesia Stories

• We kicked off our last month in Asia with a time of Debrief – the most beautiful 5 days of celebration, worship, teaching, one-on-one mentoring, vision casting, prayer, and FUN as a whole squad. During which we were introduced to (Wo)Manistry – meaning for the rest of April, all 9 guys were together and all 11 girls were together. My initial thoughts were that of overwhelm but the Lord was sweetly brewing in my spirit this unshakeable excitement. One afternoon at Debrief we spent time praying and asking the Lord for His dreams and heart for us in the coming month, and crikey it was the BEST. Hospitality, Sisterhood, Behold, Childlike, Freedom, and Nature were among some of the many recurring themes, words, and pictures the Lord gave us. A few girls had a vision of a concrete walled/barbed wire compound house and as it turned out, the next house we stayed in (through the sweet provision of a new local friend Yosi) exactly matched the shared vision with no prior knowledge! Just a foretaste of all the goodness the Lord brought during this month.

• What a WOMAN. Sweet sweet Yosi. Our squad was blessed to meet her through Hunter, as they connected on the travelling app Couchsurfing. Yosi hasn’t been on this app in years and just happened to check it when we were in town! She met up with Hunter, then connected with Sam and the rest is history. Yosi found us a place to stay, stayed WITH us for protection/translation, and basically became part of our Girl Gang – travelling with us all the way til our flight to Africa. The Lord’s timing is just the best, honestly. She had just resigned from her job and was looking for a new career, thus free to spend most of her time with us. We were able to encourage her so richly in our times of corporate worship and prayer, and shared what we’ve learned of discerning God’s voice as she walked a discernment journey for her career. Yosi also connected us with a few churches, a school for the disabled and a pregnancy care centre for rape victims that we were able to serve. One of my fav Indonesia memories was a late night conversation I had with Yosi on the train from Bandung to Jakarta. We spoke so honestly and freely about empathy, carrying others’ burdens, identity, discernment, and family. I love love LOVE the depth of sisterhood the Lord is able to weave in such a short time!

• Note the affectionate name we gave our next house in Bandung. So many cockroaches made us pitch our tents inside to keep them at bay lololol #worldrace. Most of us were down with a 48hr diarrhoea/vomit bug, which for sure led to some beautiful team bonding haha. We threw a party on the last night and invited all the sweet friends we had made during our time in Bandung. From the local coffee shop, our AirBnB host, Yosi, another Yosi we met while getting pedicures etc. Pure Unscripted styles. This night was legit the most fun, and heaps of rad Jesus convos happened. So much JOY! We all stepped up in our different strengths to create a beautiful atmosphere. While there, Lindsay and I went to Yosi’s Good Friday service and were asked to share our testimonies on arrival – seriously what an honour speaking about all the goodness the Lord has brought in my life. I LOVE this story He has given me.

• I found the most rad coffee shop during our last week in Jakarta, and spent like all of my free time there. Made the sweetest barista friends and journaled through so much stuff the Lord was teaching me. Specifically around my avoidance/justification of things He is calling me into. Eg: not giving my best as Team Leader thanks to some two year old fears that He had already healed! Or vibes re false humility, and seeing how unhelpful it is to not steward well the gifts and people God has trusted us with. Felt like God was writing as I journaled – my faaaave. SO powerful. So much sweet redemption and empowerment from Jesus to be all that He has created me to be!! Indonesia turned into the most beautiful pause & reset month for me, as my soul soaked up the deep community in this sisterhood, and as I dreamed and planned with the Lord for the return to Team Deep in Botswana.

What a month! Thanks to some needed feedback and encouragement from my sweet team, you’ll hopefully see a few more frequent blogs coming your way. Also this blog is far less edited or detailed than I’d like it to be – but let’s be real, perfectionism is my biggest hurdle to getting these blogs out, so here goes…

xo hanfran