Move Again Friend

When Mike and I joined MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship), we were jokingly told that MAF also stands for "Move Again Friend".  I laughed and thought it was a funny joke.  I also thought to myself, "Maybe it is like that for others, but surely not for me and my family."  

Boy was I wrong!  Our family hasn't even reached the field yet and I can safely say that my clothes have probably been in a suitcase more often this year than a dresser drawer.  So far we have moved from Washington to Idaho, back to Washington, back to Idaho, back to Washington, and back to Idaho...see a trend here?  In between our moves we have also traveled to Alaska, Oregon, California, Minnesota, and Arizona.  The goal of course is to eventually live in Tarakan, Indonesia; but first we will move to Salatiga, Indonesia for one year before our final move to Tarakan.

It isn't a joke.  :)

If you have been following our journey with MAF, you are aware of the fact that the original plan was to move to Indonesia directly from our hometown in Washington.  The plan has changed because of the visa delays we have been experiencing trying to reach Indonesia.  This past week we moved out to Idaho to be near MAF headquarters so that Mike can help out in the hanger doing maintenance on the aircraft.  

We said our final goodbyes to our friends and family before we left home because as soon as our visas clear we will move to Indonesia directly from Idaho.  I knew deep down inside that it would be hard to say goodbye to everybody, but it was much harder than I thought it would be.  The reason it ended up being much harder (I am speaking for myself right now) is because I realized as we were saying our goodbyes is the sacrifice we are forcing our friends and family to make.  It is one thing for me to decide to make myself sacrifice, but it is entirely different to make somebody else share in the pain of sacrifice with me.  God called me to sacrifice and move to Indonesia, but by doing that is causes all my friends and family to say goodbye.  It doesn't feel good to make others hurt.  The whole reason we are moving to Indonesia is to share love, God's love, not the pain of loss.  

I guess the reason I am writing this is to tell everybody we are leaving behind, "We love you guys!  We don't leave easily.  Thank you for standing behind us.  Thank you for praying for us.  Thank you for supporting us.  We can't do this without you.  We understand that this whole process isn't easy for any of us."

Now I am starting to get choked up, so I will stop typing and just hit "publish".  :)