Sigh; its over too quickly.

I confess; I'm officially a "business missions" trip junkie and places like Indonesia only make it all the more difficult to break the habit. I am not complaining though, I'd rather have this addiction than another anyday.

My trip to Indonesia might be over, but the people are definitely still in my heart. Its hard to explain how a country that is reputed to be so corrupt has some of the coolest and nicest people I have ever met. I know, I know, it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch, but man oh man, what hospitality!

It was awesome to experience God at work as always; that'll never get old for me. I sat there at the client presentation after two weeks of working with business owners we just met and listened to some of the vision and plans for their businesses with utter amazement.
Oh and by this time, they were not only no longer strangers but good friends some of whom I am sure I'll have for a lifetime!

My prayer now is that as each organization begins the hard work of implementing the changes they talked about, they will be encouraged and rewarded with small victories that count towards eternity.

Thanks for supporting me and please keep them all in your prayers.

Today In Jakarta I learned that

- Every Sunday,certain streets and road lanes are shut down until noon so that people can work out in the streets because there is such limited space. In fact, one Sunday every month, certain parts of the city go "carless" until 2pm so people can engage in recreational activities and as part of a means to reduce pollution

- Indonesians clap on the downbeat! At church today I was wondering why my claps seemed faster than anyone else's though THEY all seemed to be clapping at the same time. I was very relieved when my Indonesian friend confirmed that everyone was definitley clapping to a different rhythm!

- The easiest way to indicate a plural in the Indonesian language is to repeat the word. So to give an example in English, products would be said product-product. Its really cute :)

- Indonesians love to feed their guests! we visited 5 different places for lunch just so we could sample foods from different parts of the Java Islands. There are so many different foods and methods of preparation that it could take a month just to sample them all!

- It is possible for an entire group of people to be addicted to one simple fruit... MANGOSTEEN! The team just can't get enough and there definitely be withdrawal symptoms I tell you.

I (HEART) JAKARTA!!

And the love affair begins :) I LOVE this place! Its like my Lagos, only a bit cleaner, with less traffic and definitely much cheaper. The people are very friendly and just so sweet, and the spiritual climate is just so open. For a professed moslem nation, there seems to be a high degree of tolerance and peaceful coexistence ( for the most part :))

The team out here is great and it is exciting to get to know some of my co-consultants better. The food is awesome! and there is just so much of it... I've had to miss breakfast twice already just because I was still full from dinner, and I have only been here 3 days!

After much deliberation and skilful re-arranging :) I finally got my client on Tuesday. Surprise, surprise, he owns a bakery!! Whohoo, talk about God ordained matching ( if you dont know what this is about, remind me to bake you a cake sometime). He told me "Oh I do more on the business side", but then sits around doing product development in his head and coming up with new flavors and products to sell... hmm.

He also has such a big heart for ending poverty, though he'd call it "improving quality of life" and I'm looking forward to working with him on fleshing out some strategy and ideas!

Follow up on the team's adventures on the rep site!

Prayer needs:
- For clarity on what the purpose of the business should be
- For continued alignment between him and his wife as the business grows
- For encouragement for him as he continues to pursue this passion.

... And I guess I really am going!

Wow! This has been one hard trip to get ready for let me tell you. I have been so spoiled by having enough funds, getting visas without issues and leaving exactly when I wanted to on all my other trips that this one came as a surprise.

Just to provide more context, I bought my ticket yesterday and am leaving tomorrow! Talk about cutting it close!

The visa process alone was a trip in itself and all along I've found myself questioning my conviction that this was a trip I was supposed to go on. With each obstacle it was a question back to God as to what the plan was and what I was supposed to do with the obstacle; a sign to quit? Or continue pressing on?

Bottom line is that I pick up my visa in one day though it usualy takes 3 business days, I get a reasonable ticket price though I got one VERY close to departure date, getting on a plane at midnight though funds are not complete yet and sit amazed at the faith I have had to have for what I would consider "small things" and yet how faithful God has been through it all.

I am excited to see what Indonesia holds and the awesome testimonies I know I will experience and look forward to sharing them with you soon :)