Words are a bit elusive today.
I don’t know how to express how incredible the past month has been. Sounds hyperbolic, I know, but it’s true. When talking to friends and family, I’ve been sticking with generalities like “it was so amazing” and “I’ve been teaching English in the jungle” because I can’t quite explain what I have experienced.
I will try to make this blog a bit of a exception by telling you this: I encountered God in that jungle.
I met people with servant hearts, exuberant joy, and abounding faith. I heard students speak full, unique sentences in English for the first time. I learned more about how to love myself well and how to give myself over to living in community. I felt God moving and witnessed His miracles in the lives of the people we served. I heard stories that broke my heart and testimonies that restored my faith.
I know that God has given me a gift to love those I serve deeply and with abandon, and as I grow in relationship with Him, my capacity to love others continues to swell. Perhaps that’s why leaving Indonesia feels so hard. However, it is time to move on, so I will choose to think that I left a piece of my heart in Indonesia with them, and that I filled the empty spaces in my heart with pieces of theirs.
I am so thankful for my time at the mission training center. I say goodbye to such wonderful people with a heavy heart, but I look forward with hope and expectation to what God has in store for me in the Philippines and beyond.
Here are just a few of my favorite snapshots of my time in Indonesia. A wrap up video is coming soon!
Until the whole world hears,
Mia
The students singing at the Christmas festival.
Being silly with Pide and Evan.
Indah and Erna doing laundry with a smile 🙂
Emmi showing off her study swag.
Ingath studying her prepositions.
One of the preschoolers deciding what to think of me.
Davey hanging her laundry out to dry.
Apini, JeJe, and Syukur working hard in class.
The young ladies are ready for the volleyball tournament.
Ibu Yafeni heading to work for the day.
We all worked on building a terrace for the garden.
A quick selfie with some of the young men.
My guitar teacher, looking fresh.
Pide and Hibur heading to pick up their diplomas.
The ultimate group photo of students, staff, and racers.
Team Seekers doing the “Brother Jeris” face.
The last photo I took. Man, I sure will miss them.
