We are in Indonesia!!!

So…What have we been doing lately?

Well – the blog has been quiet recently because we have been very very busy! We heard February 22nd that all of our visas had been approved to travel to Indonesia! This in itself was no small feat and involved so much work from people at Goshen College, folks in Philadelphia with Taproot & the Philadelphia Praise Center, as well as in-country community partners and sponsors in Indonesia. This meant that we had to move fast to get the Mischler family to Indonesia by the end of February and all of the students departing Philly March 4th! Planning a trip like this is always complicated, but even more so during the COVID pandemic. We needed vaccine cards & boosters, eHacs (Indonesian documents regarding COVID tests & vaccines), quarantine hotel reservations (all visitors to Indonesia must first quarantine when they enter the country), PCR tests for COVID (both before leaving and once arriving in Indonesia), a place for everyone to stay after quarantine was done, and then transport to various islands, host families, and placements for students….

WE DID IT! This post is to let you know that all students are now in Indonesia, have safely traveled to their island for placement, and have settled in with their host families. We are so thankful for all of the people who have worked so hard to get us to this point. I will fill in more detail in subsequent posts about the students’ last week in Philly, their reflections on their time in Philly, and their arrival here in Indonesia. You will also get to see more about our orientation time on the island of Bali and learn more about student placements as we visit each island to see how the students are doing. Here is to a phenomenal next 6 weeks!