That one time when we went interior...

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to go along with Sean on a survey trip interior.    I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I'd been wanting to go interior for a long time. We live in a pretty modern city that is nothing like the villages Sean flies to each day, and I wanted to see that world, meet those people. This was a crazy trip to volunteer to go on, and if I'd known what I was getting into, I'd have said "no way!"  I decided to go rather spontaneously and then spent the next three days freaking out.  I didn't let myself talk myself out of it, though, and I'm glad I didn't.  

This trip changed my life.

A bit too dramatic?  Maybe.  But I'm telling you that three weeks later, I'm still processing what I saw and experienced on that trip.  

We flew deep into "the heart of Borneo"  to check the river for possible future MAF service in one of the most isolated villages in Central Kalimantan (a 2.5 hour trip upriver from the closest place MAF can currently fly).  With the plane at our disposal for a day, we also took the opportunity to make few extra stops to visit pastors in other villages with the hope of offering them some encouragement and to remind them that MAF is there to support them.  

• I met Indonesian pastor-missionaries and their families who faithfully serve their Jesus and communities in some of the darkest, most spiritually oppressive places I've seen.

• I saw parts of virgin rainforest that took my breath away, watched monkeys play high in trees, woke to the unique sound of gibbons singing somewhere in the forest.

• Speaking of wildlife, I ate monkey meat and a kind of slightly "past date" pork that made the monkey meat quite the attractive alternative.

• I slept on a hard wood floor.  I didn't sleep on a hard wood floor.  (Why do I feel the need to say a "hard" wood floor?  Aren't all wood floors hard?  Yes, but...I SLEPT ON A HARD WOOD FLOOR, you see.)

• I sat in on a meeting of village leaders that felt like a scene from Dances with Wolves - a bunch of men arguing and joking in their tribal language as they smoked their cigarettes and made important decisions for their people. (I was also the only woman there.  Awkward!)

• I watched my husband be really good at his job. I love seeing him in his element.

• I  witnessed village life from a front porch, listened to true stories that felt raw and impossible in this day and age, watched these pastors patiently minister to the same men who'd tried to kill them not two years ago.

• I was humbled by the hospitality of the people when we showed up unexpectedly at their doorsteps. I watched wives scurry to make us tea and a meal while their husbands urged us to sit, eat, and chat (even though they had a million other things to do and had to scrounge to come up with food to serve us).

• I experienced firsthand the lifeline that MAF is while waiting for our other MAF pilot to bring a spare part when we were stranded in a village.

• I felt God's hand of protection in very literal and breathtaking ways. I felt the power of prayer.  If you were praying for us during this trip, those prayers were literally the difference between a small incident and a terrible accident. (Vague much?  Sorry.  This is a story for sharing in person.)

I came home stinky, dehydrated, sore, relieved and humbled.  Before the trip, when I was freaking out a little bit, God very clearly spoke to my heart and reminded me that He was going with us, that whatever we faced, He'd be there to carry us through it.  After several people prayed with us and many others told us they would be praying for us, I felt completely at peace.  You know how sometimes, you don't really see God's protection happening?  Most of the time, you know - or guess - He's there guarding you from things you don't see and you are grateful. But you don't think about it much, you don't really understand what He's just rescued you from.  

This wasn't one of those times.  

This entire trip, I saw - really saw - what God was doing to keep us safe.  His love for us and His response to the prayers others were making on our behalf was the biggest part of the trip for me.  Prayer works.  God moves on behalf of His people.  We know this to be true, but seeing it so vividly can sort of shake a person up!  Our God is BIG!

I'll be processing this trip for a long time yet.  So much happened in that 36 hours that I feel it will take a year to unravel.  It was a grace-filled trip.  A Borneo adventure of the best kind. I found out that I love trips interior and I'm going back.

But next time I'm taking an air mattress.

 

A preview photo.  Sean will be sharing more on his blog soon.  This is us heading upriver on our way to the village of Tumbang Tohan with Pendeta Rony our host, guide, and pastor friend.