My wife, Caroline, and I are going to spend thirteen days in Indonesia this summer, and I am going to use this blog to share with those of you who want to keep up with us.
Here's why we're going.
This is our friend Joanna. She is amazing for many, many reasons. Not only is she a Dr. Pepper drinking, adventure seeking, Jesus loving, Whovian, she also lives in Medan, Indonesia. A few months ago she asked me when Caroline and I were going to fly over there and visit her. Explaining that finances were a bit tight and it wasn't the best timing did not sway her enthusiasm. I said that unless the money just fell out of the sky, it wasn't a possibility. She boldly said that she was going to start praying that the money fell out of the sky because she really wanted to see us. Caroline and I talked, and we decided that if the money for the plane tickets (about $4,000-$5,000) just showed up unexpectedly, then we would know that God wanted us to use that money to go visit Joanna.
4 days later.
The University of North Florida sent me an email that basically said "we had some leftover money and we thought you might need it. Here's $2,000." I told Caroline and she said, "maybe we're supposed to go to Indonesia this summer?"
7 days later.
UNF sends me another email that basically says "we had some more money, and we think you might want it, so...here's another $2,000."
$4,000 in 11 days, out of the blue. So we said, "let's go to Indonesia!" The tickets were exactly $2,000 each.
In the process of telling people how amazing God is, Caroline told a coworker named Alicia. Her daughter, Abbie, was eager to do more traveling and she asked us if she could come with us. We talked about it, prayed about it, talked to Joanna, and said, "the more the merrier!"
We got our passports, got our immunizations, took every precaution we could, and now, we are boldly heading where we have never gone before.
If you would like to pray for us, here are some things we would love prayer about:
-Safe travels and minimal jet lag.
-No complications with any of the baggage, tickets, transfers, or layovers.
-Whatever reason God decided to send us there, please pray that we would be able to recognize that and do it without fear.
-That there would be no financial trouble with us missing work and having unexpected expenses and that the last bit of money we need for travel would be provided.
-That our health would not be compromised while we are there.
I am going to try to post to this blog as often as I can while we are there, and it will be my main place to upload pictures, so hang tight for that!
