Keep Spirit

Finally, an end of the month update!

Month one has come and gone, and I’m so grateful for the blessings the Lord provided on Nias Island. We are now in Malaysia, and headed to Georgetown, Panang soon. I wanted to directly address some Frequently Asked Questions I’ve been getting, and share some insight into what a day in the life was like during my first month! 

Where exactly were you?

We lived up the mountainous jungle of Nias Island, Indonesia. We were three hours from any hospital, bank, or airport. Local huts were our groceries! Motorbikes were more common than cars, and they drove on the left side of the road. Bahasa is Indonesian language, and many spoke it, but West Nias was predominantly speaking local Nias language (Pretty different).  

What were you doing?

A rough schedule of each day: 

4:30am Wake-up call

5:00am Devotion and Worship (Yep, every day.)

7:30am Breakfast

around 8-9am: Ministry starts

This looked like digging a water well in a muddy jungle-surrounded field with the students, hand tilling soil for crops, teaching English in local junior and high schools, and relationship building with the locals.

12:30pm Lunch

2:00pm: Ministry, Fellowship, Sabbath, and People!

This afternoon time varied from day to day, but usually consisted of conversations with the missionaries in training, more English teaching, selling soap on the street to locals to support mission school costs, and learning more about local living.

By 7:00pm, we started dinner.

And by 8:00pm, we were in an evening session of worship and devotion with the Lord.

Fun facts & Daily Insight

• My two girl team members and I shared a snuggly full-sized bed all month.
• They gave us an ‘honoring-welcome food’ on our first day named Beetlenut- it gives you the headspins.
• I experienced ‘preaching’ to an audience and teaching English to a classroom for the first real time.
• My team’s physical demographic was highly uncommon in this region, so we were photographed like celebrities all month.
• I swam in the Indian Ocean for the first time and saw some incredible waves. Even tried surfing some of them.
• The local avocados were the best I’ve ever had.
• God’s joy transcends circumstances.
• Christmas was celebrated locally from about October through January or February. We attended several Christmas functions.
• Nias people love the Cupid Shuffle, thanks to our team!
• Love isn’t only a verb, it’s a noun. So become love.
• Christ-like humility and service can be taken a lot more literally. It’s a beautiful thing to wash another’s feet.
• God doesn’t shout over the world; we have to intentionally listen for Him.
• I read three full books this month (I’m trying to become a stronger reader) 1. Everybody, Always by Bob Goff; 2. Kingdom Journeys by Seth Barnes; 3. The 3D Gospel by Jayson Georges. 10/10 recommend them all!!!
• Our hosts loved to use the phrase, “Keep Spirit.” That’s the plan.

Wifi will seemingly be more accessible this coming month, so I hope you’ll be hearing from me more. I’m absolutely loving life on the mission field. Thank you for covering me in prayer, supporting my journey, and following along throughout.

Check out my Facebook post at https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2589233924730284&id=100009311068061 for photos from Indonesia.