A smoky day of flying

One recent day, I (Brad) was in Malinau, sitting in the plane with six passengers behind me. I looked out at the air temperature gauge and it read 112 degrees. In the shade. The spring on one of the windows in my airplane was broken (so it had to be kept shut), so it had to have been 125 degrees inside the airplane. Sweat was pouring out of me, and my clothes were sticking to me.

I was planning to take off from Malinau and go to Long Alongo, one of the toughest strips out here. I felt the weight of doing a good job when I looked behind me at the other six passengers—five adults and a small child.

I taxied out, waiting for the tower to give me permission to take off. Malinau is a small city interior, with a paved runway. It is the closest thing to a runway in the States out here. And yet it is so different. It is poorly and unevenly paved. So, as you’re roaring down the runway, it tends to toss you into the air, but not high enough to actually take off. It makes for a bit of a bumpy take-off.

While I waited, I noticed about 20 piles of dried water buffalo patties on the runway. I wondered how so many water buffalo were walking all over the runway long enough to do their business. It was surreal. I had the thought that this was definitely NOT like life in the States.

Finally, I took off, veering slightly to the right to avoid some of the water buffalo poop. Still sweating like crazy, I climbed up to 3,000 feet. I noticed about 40 fires down below. It is smoky season, which means that farmers are burning their fields, taking advantage of the dry weather to get the job done. It also makes for a lot of smoke, creating low visibility. And I could taste the smoke as I climbed. It was nasty.






The smoke gets thicker and thicker as you go up. Bits of black ash were flying up, looking like birds that I was just about to hit (and adding to the stress of the flight), but really just flowing around with no contact. My eyes were burning and I was coughing. I remember praying a prayer, “Lord, I think that if you decided not to throw Satan into the lake of fire, just send him to Malinau during the smoky season and you’d get the same effect. You’d get the heat, fire, smoke, and the gnashing of teeth and weeping.”

Soon I was nearing Long Alongo. The approach for Alongo is to fly down a river, but someone had lit a fire at the end of the river. So, as I was flying this really difficult approach, now I had to deal with the smoke, along with these big pieces of black ash going over my windshield, and still make a good, safe landing.

I just hope smoky season ends soon.

A Time to Fast and Pray

As guests in a Muslim country, we have grown to love our Muslim friends and neighbors. This weekend, out of this love for them and our great respect for God, we are planning to pray and fast for Indonesia and our Muslim friends. We will also use this time to focus on looking for ways that God would use us to care for them.



We plan to fast from all food and all drinks, except water, from 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7 until 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8. We’ve picked these dates in August in order that our Fast would fall before Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, which begins Aug. 21.

If you are interested in joining us, let us know and we can give you some ideas about which to pray. You can comment on our site or email us at rhopkins@maf.org

Good food and friends at the beach

We’ve enjoyed reconnecting with our Indonesian friends during these first few weeks back in Tarakan. One of our favorite things to do with our friends, Ema and Ilham and their 4-year-old son, Nanda, is eat clams and shrimp and drink young coconut juice at a little eatery by the beach.



So, today, a Sunday, we did just that. The last time we’d gone was the week before we left for our six-month furlough—back in October. This time, Evan, almost 1 year old, is old enough to eat. So, he got to show off his love for Indonesian food by eating rice and fried noodles. This was the first time he’d had the young coconut juice and he loved it. Our friends very generously treated us to the meal, even though Brad kept trying to pay.

Ema had given Evan a shirt that matches the one Nanda was wearing. She had to ask what the English word “Rebel” written on the front of it meant. Evan is easily entertained by other little kids, including his friend, Nanda. And Nanda, an only child, did his best to dangle toys in front of the giggling Evan.





After dinner, we stopped by Ema’s house to meet with her mother and aunt. They are going to help us with a birthday party for Evan next week. Unlike American parties, where cake is the main food, Indonesian parties serve the guests a main dish. We plan to invite both our American MAF friends and our Indonesian friends and their kids. In Indonesia, the guest is considered a king and must be served well. So, Ema volunteered her family to help buy and prepare the meal, so that it would taste Indonesian-enough, and not be too much trouble for me to pull off. They plan to make Soto Ayam (Chicken Soup). And I’ll make the cake.

While we were there, her aunt, who had just made some fried noodles, insisted we eat some of her food. I’m always amazed at the hospitality of Indonesians, as we were unexpected guests, and yet she generously fed us. So, while we were stuffed, we did enjoy eating her yummy noodles.

While I (Rebecca) chatted with the ladies about the upcoming party for Evan, Brad tried to answer Ilham’s questions about his faith.

We went home stuffed and excited about our time with our friends.

Please pray

Last night, an Indonesian friend of ours called me (Rebecca) with some sad news. Her husband of some 25 years or so is leaving her.

Our friend, who we knew during language school on a different island, has had a hard life. She and her husband have four kids together, and live in poverty. They just can’t seem to get ahead. My friend has worked as a maid since she was a child. Her husband is a driver. But they have been in a good deal of debt for several years due to needing to pay some medical bills when their daughter had dengue fever and spent over a week in the hospital. (Like most Indonesians, they don’t have health insurance.)

Right now, my friend doesn’t have a job because her daughter, now age 9, has been sick often this past year and my friend feels like she needs to stay home and take care of her. She left a job as a maid that was an hour away from her home, and she worked long hours there. She just started running a very small store from her home, selling snacks to school children.

Now her husband has left her. Honestly, he’s never been that good of a husband for her. In many ways, he’s a really good guy. He works really hard. He’s a nice man, so friendly. But he has this other side of him that my friend often sees. He’s been abusing my friend for most of their marriage, usually using his fists, but he has used a hammer to beat my friend.

Now he’s told her he wants the freedom to sleep around and not care for a wife and children anymore. In Indonesia, it is very difficult to get a man to pay child support. So, my unemployed friend will have to take care of herself.

In the meantime, her middle son, 17 years old, has threatened to beat up his dad. Understandably, he is very angry, and has been for a long time, as he has witnessed the abuse. My friend fears a violent confrontation between her husband and her son. And at the least, she worries about the stress and anger her children harbor due to their dad’s behavior.

My friend continues to hope that her husband will change. She asked me to pray that he would, and to tell my friends to pray that way, too. So, I’m spending much of today fasting and praying for my friend and her husband.

Will you join me in praying for comfort and provision for my friend? Please also pray that her husband will choose to change. Her children also need prayer as they deal with their parents’ impending divorce.

Returning to Indonesia

After some 24 hours on an airplane, we are back in Indonesia. Day has become night. Spring has become summer. And English has become Indonesian.

But as we start our second term here, so many things are so much easier. No language to learn. Brad is already a pilot experienced in flying in the jungle of Borneo. Our house is set up. And we’re actually experienced parents now…at least for months 1-11 with this particular child.

We still have to remember to drive on the “wrong” side of the road. And I (Rebecca) keep turning my windshield wiper on when I mean to use the blinker. But in many ways, we feel like we’re coming home. And with a furlough that has refreshed us, we are patient with the things that bother us. And we found that we missed many things about our lives here.

As we begin this next term, please keep certain things in your prayers:
-Safety for Brad as he begins flying again here.
-Unity on our team of MAFers.
-Opportunities to share about God’s love with our friends.
-Wisdom for us as we are parents to Evan.
-That we stay refreshed, patient and encouraging to others as long as possible.

Also, we love hearing from you, so please feel free to leave your comments, questions, etc. on this Web site. We plan to keep this site updated at least once a week so that you know what is going on with us.

Welcome to our new Website

As we embark on our second term in Indonesia, we will continue to use our Web site (http://www.hopkinsmaf.org) to keep you up to date on our work. Check back often to see what we're doing.