“Trip to the Office”

Well a “trip to the office” as some would say and probably remember was a bad thing. Well for us it is a rare privilege as we may not see the office again until the end of our first term. I have cherished our brief visits in the past and very thankful that we had the opportunity to spend the day there this week. Working away from the office and never seeing anyone from there has been a different dynamic that I haven’t experienced before. I have always had the privilege of working alongside my coworkers daily and seeing the office staff at a minimal a couple times a month it seemed, and sometimes even daily in my previous work. I have missed that dynamic of face to face contact which is why I look forward to our “trips to the office”.

During our stay we were also privileged to be hosted by a wonderful couple that really made us feel welcome and provided a very warm welcoming basement suit for us to rest in. It has been awhile since I have been able to have a quite time that was actually quite.

We also receive a timeline for our training here before we head overseas. The time line is dependent on our support levels so it is subject to change. We will be starting our preparation journey August 24 2011 at School of Mission Aviation Technology in Ionia Michigan. This will last for 12 months ending August 10 2012. We then well head to Nampa September 2012 till January 2013 where we will go through a series of different types of technical and non technical training provided at MAF US headquarters. And once that is complete we will be climbing on a plane for Indonesia.

We had an interesting trip home as well. The border guard was asking the usual questions and I’m not sure what happened but when he asked us if we had any drugs Julie just happened to nod her head yes? And then the confusion started. And yes they proceeded to send us to the side where they search your vehicle. During the vehicle search they had us inside questioning us further which also lead to us answering some questions wrong as we miss understood what he was asking us. We got through that okay and then they asked different questions of what was in the van we got most of that right. As the guard that had searched the vehicle returned to the desk I could tell he had a question and before he asked I was pretty sure I knew what it was going to be. While at the office I picked up a MAF banner that we will be using at an upcoming missions conference we will be attending here in Indiana. Anyway long story short, the banner was inside a homemade case that happened to be a 3” PVC pipe about 2.5’ long with caps on both ends. Yep that’s right we then had to explain the pipe. I offered to open it for them I haven’t check yet to see if they were brave enough to open it. They did finally let us leave and they even let us keep the mystery pipe, and peanuts Julie bought the day before and even the muffins that our wonderful hosts gave us to eat on the road. All in all it was a new experience that started out confusing and a little scary and ended well.

Blessings

Greg