Fond Farewells

Yesterday, we bid farewell to our friends Martha and Greg and their kids, Gavin (5), Paul (3), and Hazel (1) as they finally began their journey across the Pacific to their new home in Indonesia. The Copeland family departed LAX on Tuesday morning, October 2 at 1:40 a.m. PDT on a Malaysia Airlines flight bound for Taipei, Taiwan and then Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia. From there, they’ll fly to Bali where they will spend a couple of days before arriving at their final destination of Salatiga, Indonesia.

Greg will be teaching art at the Mountainview International Christian School in Salatiga, while Martha helps Gavin, Paul, and Hazel adjust. Fortunately for both Martha and Greg, they are accompanied by a recent college graduate named Mari Yamamoto from Washington who will act as the kids’ nanny. The first time they met in person was Monday night at LAX, as Mari flew in from Washington a few hours before the whole gang was to leave on their trans-Pacific journey.

Gavin will be starting kindergarten when they get there, though his biggest worries seem to be that there won’t be any trick-or-treating to be done at the end of the month and that Christmas isn’t widely celebrated in Indonesia, since the roughly 87% of the population is Muslim (in fact, Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country, though it is a secular state). Paul seemed excited for the trip, especially about getting to ride on three planes and being able to order drinks on the flights.

This is Martha and Greg’s second stint in Indonesia and at Mountainview. They went as a couple shortly after they were married, but had to return following the events of September 11 back in 2001. It will almost be six years to the day when they finally arrive at their new home in Indonesia, this time with a family in tow. They go as a part of OC International, so if you’re interested in helping them out, check out the website or let us know and Kindra can give you some more information.

Kindra, Danica, U.B. and I want to wish the Copeland family all the best in the newest chapter in their lives. They are incredibly brave and faithful. We are fortunate that they have also been great friends to all of us.

You can read about their adventures on their blog at:

http://copelandfive.blogspot.com/

It's also listed to the right in my "Links" section.