Off to Indonesia

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! Here you will be able to find frequent updates concerning the opportunity I have been given to live and work in Indonesia this summer. I will do my best to keep you as informed and up to date as possible!

For this first post I wanted to share with you a little bit about the process of application, placement and pursuit of this crazy adventure.

This fall I began considering different ways to spend my summer. I thought about staying here in Bloomington again, working and hanging out with the friends I have grown to love in the town that has become my home. I even considered heading back to good ol' Jasper. I could make more money staying with mom and dad and would finally have the chance to work with the band. "Ok Andrew," I thought to myself, "this is your last summer before you graduate. Why don't you DO something with it."

So I began looking into some mission organizations. I started with groups that work in Latin America. Given my LOOOOOVE for the language and culture of hispanohablantes I thought it made perfect sense that God would send me somewhere down there! But I was still coming up short.

And then Google directed me to the website of a group called Food for the Hungry. Perusing the website I saw that they do work in some pretty sweet places; Bangladesh, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan...but no Spanish speaking countries.

I chalked this one up as another failed attempt. Until I saw the verse that guides their organization, Micah 8:6.

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."

In the spirit of internship searching I had been reading a lot about serving the poor and the oppressed, fighting injustice and the like. Isaiah 1:17 became a verse that held onto me for awhile. But I couldn't shake how perfectly Micah 6:8 suited my passions.

With a new found excitement for this organization I spent time looking deeper into what they do and where they do it. By December I had decided to apply for FH's summer internship program.

And this is where things REALLY start happening...

During the application process there was an issue with my faculty references. I didn't know that FH hadn't received the reference from him until the deadline to apply had passed.

Meanwhile I had been pursuing a backup plan with a group in Pittsburgh. I even had the opportunity to visit the organization over spring break. So with a sigh I took this as a sign from God that FH wasn't for me.

As time passed I became more and more unsettle about all of this. So I called FH. "Better late than never!" was the response I received.

I talked with a professor that I loved from my freshman year. With only a day's notice she wrote and submitted a flattering (from what FH told me) recommendation letter (thanks again Nicole!).

Within 2 weeks I did my phone interview with FH and before I knew it was starting a blog to share the progress of this amazing opportunity.

Stay tuned! In my next post I will divulge a little on the significance of my placement in Indonesia and share more about what I will be doing there.

Cheers :)