{"id":244,"date":"2025-09-25T09:22:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T09:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/?p=244"},"modified":"2025-09-26T00:20:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T00:20:21","slug":"tarakan-arrival-first-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/?p=244","title":{"rendered":"Tarakan Arrival &#8211; First week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-a9c1546a\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider glide\" data-per-view=\"1\" data-gap=\"0\" data-peek=\"0\" data-autoplay=\"true\" data-height=\"400px\" data-hide-arrows=\"false\"><div class=\"glide__track\" data-glide-el=\"track\"><div class=\"glide__slides\"><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3340-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"267\"\/><figcaption>Arriving in Tarakan, what a welcome!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3454-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"265\"\/><figcaption>Farming patties? in the shallow swamp area<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3359.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"256\"\/><figcaption>Indonesian language class<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3402.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"255\"\/><figcaption>Goofy weirdos after class<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3344-3-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"268\"\/><figcaption>Our first meal, Ayam Penyet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3375-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"269\"\/><figcaption>Our new home &#8211; under renovation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3480.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"257\"\/><figcaption>Medical transport flight<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2679-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"264\"\/><figcaption>Emely&#8217;s Zumba class<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2664-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"263\"\/><figcaption>Meeting with our neighborhood leader<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3487.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"254\"\/><figcaption>Exploring new foods with the Stricklands<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3460-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"270\"\/><figcaption>Flight to the main island of Borneo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item-wrapper glide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-slider-item\" src=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3509-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-id=\"271\"\/><figcaption>Discovering new yummy foods<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"glide__bullets\" data-glide-el=\"controls[nav]\"><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=0\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=1\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=2\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=3\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=4\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=5\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=6\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=7\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=8\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=9\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=10\"><\/button><button class=\"glide__bullet\" data-glide-dir=\"=11\"><\/button><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week we departed the U.S. on Friday and arrived in Tarakan, Indonesia on Monday. Our MAF team was there to meet us at the airport. Our in-country expat team here currently includes six families, including ourselves and the other new teacher couple. Our awesome team has been enfolding us into life here by showing us around the island and providing meals and company for this first week. The school (and the apartment where we will live) is being completely renovated, but the start date for Ms. Emely\u2019s classes are a week from Monday. The kids have started some of their classes at home, so if the building isn\u2019t ready yet, that is a backup option until everything at the school is finalized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s hard not to skip right to the highlight stories and to pass over the day-to-day errands that we\u2019ve been doing since we\u2019ve arrived. With the help of the finance worker at the MAF office (Herman), we got cell phone plans, opened up bank accounts, registered for an Indonesian tax ID, and signed up for the Indonesian health care system. We also met with the community leader in our neighborhood, went to a new church on Sunday, found cool places to eat out at, and had dinners with our MAF coworkers. We attended our Indonesian language classes, signed up for a gym (and Emely went to a Zumba class), and I put up our little personal weather station. And finally, my personal highlights have been my quiet times on the patio, and walks around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through our conversations this week with our new team, we\u2019ve gotten a small glimpse into the long, important legacy MAF has here in Kalimantan. In the hangar office, a long wall shows pictures and tells the story of five decades of flight support in Kalimantan. That history has built the current reality of flight support that is regular, routine, and ongoing. In total, this week\u2019s flights included three medevac patients, a theology master\u2019s student, transport of a body for funeral ceremonies, and a survey for a possible new landing strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What a packed week of flying! Each of these people and those flights has its own incredible story to unpack, but support like this is so regular and routine that it forms a steady stream of life-saving, community transforming accounts that add up over time to create a real testimony of how God is meeting people here in a special and unique way. Wednesday, for example, started off with a request to transport a body to multiple locations for funeral ceremonies. In the midst of this response to a specific need of great importance for a community grieving loss, help was requested for two medevac patients along the route \u2013 one a woman who was suffering pregnancy complications, and another a small boy who had sustained a head injury. The deceased man\u2019s life was celebrated in two separate locations and then the two medevac patients were taken to a hospital in a nearby town where they were able to receive medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Make the total&nbsp;<em>four medevac patients.&nbsp;<\/em>As I was composing this update on Saturday, I received a text message from the pilot on standby inviting someone to ride along on a medical transport flight from the nearby town of Malinau to our base here in Tarakan. I had about 10 minutes until the pickup for the flight to collect my gear for photography and video, but I recorded the trip and made a short video about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All good for a first week, before the \u201creal work\u201d begins. The \u201creal work\u201d is probably going to be grading papers, meeting students\u2019 needs, upgrading operating systems and installing conference call equipment. But it\u2019s also connected to what we saw this first week, and at church on Sunday \u2013 building a larger story of God\u2019s work in this side of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week we departed the U.S. on Friday and arrived in Tarakan, Indonesia on Monday. Our MAF team was there to meet us at the airport. Our in-country expat team here currently includes six families, including ourselves and the other new teacher couple. Our awesome team has been enfolding us into life here by showing&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/?p=244\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tarakan Arrival &#8211; First week<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273,"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalwanderer.net\/bdlfam\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}