Here is a list of FAQs that we have recently heard. If you have any other questions, feel free to email them to us at [email protected] & [email protected]
LHow often will you get to come home to visit? A term for us is 4 years. That means after 21 months we will return for a short one-month visit to touch base and recharge, then 21 months later we will return for 5 months for a more in-depth time of catching up with our lovely supporters. This pattern will repeat each 4-year term that we are on the field. Will Alex be away from home for days/weeks at a time? Thank goodness no! The areas that Alex will be flying into will be near enough (by airplane) to the area we are living to fly in and out in a day. In fact, most days he will visit several villages each day between sunrise and sunset. All of the flying will be done during daylight because of the lack of electricity in the villages mean there wont be runway lights to land. It's another safety measure with an added bonus of dad being home before supper. During days where Alex is in the maintenance hangar working on the aircraft, days might be a little longer. However, he's only a dirt bike ride away from home. Of course there will be exceptions here and there: if weather keeps Alex in a village overnight, or maintenance issues happen. But that's all part of the ministry! To check out a normal day of flying in Papua in the airplane PK-MEA, watch it HERE. What does discipleship look like for Alex if he just flies all the time? Some of the flight aspect will include serving and encouraging the missionaries in isolated areas, sharing with passengers why we left America to serve them, and praying with them before flights. Life on base means that we will have the opportunity to support missionaries from interior as they take a break in town at our guest house. Also, the local staff on base have a huge desire to learn English and that is a great way to invest into the local church/community. As a mechanic, Alex will have more one-on-one discipleship time as he works alongside local Indonesians who are learning how to fix aircraft, who will one day take over the MAF base in Papua. Of course there will be plenty of Bible study/outreach time at home with coworkers and neighbors. Who can forget about family ministry! Life will be busy! Some pilots even partake in the same ministry as the missionaries that they serve. Check out a VIDEO of a pilot witnessing and celebrating with a tribe who got the entire Bible in their language for the first time. How will we be able to communicate with you? Like stated above, we will have spotty internet. More than likely it will be working fine, but with the possibility of outages that can last days at a time. That being said, we will have all the access to emails, Skype, What'sApp, and any other crazy form of communication that might come out. We will make it a priority to our ministry to keep all of our supporters and prayer warriors up to speed as to what is going on. They all are as much part of the ministry as we are, and will receive stories, pictures, videos prayer requests and the like so they know how God is moving in the peoples of Papua, Indonesia. Verbally spank us if we do not. What will Tricia be doing? The answer here is twofold. My primary responsibility will be to the family. Daily tasks like laundry and making dinner are not so simple in a place where box mixes and dryers are unheard of. Beyond that, the opportunities for ministry are as varied as the needs in the community. That is to say, I don't know what I will be involved with yet but in time I hope to find something that fits my giftings and interests. MAF put together THIS video to address this very question. How long will you be living there? Indefinitely. As we mentioned earlier, a term is 4 years. We hope to be on the field for several terms, or until God changes our plans. Some reasons that may bring us back stateside include health concerns, the need to care for our parents, or children's education (possibly for high school as we do not plan on sending them to boarding school). That being said, please pray for us that we are able to stay on the field until God calls us elsewhere, rather than leaving prematurely due to human sin and spiritual warfare. What will you live in… a hut?! Not exactly. MAF provides housing that has been more-or-less westernized. That means indoor plumbing and real toilets instead of squatty-potties. We will also have both intermittent electricity and a generator, a water purifier in the kitchen, and a gas stove. The homes are very "livable" (by western standards) and built so that it encourages longevity on the field.