By Cyndi

2024 marked the 25th anniversary of our move to Indonesia. Our tickets had been booked for August 12th, and the night before, we were surrounded and strengthened by the send-off prayers of our home church. Twelve hours later, we were reeling under a desperate crisis as our baby son fought for his life after being found unconscious in the pool. The breathtaking miracle of God’s merciful intervention saved our son and seared our hearts with a fresh reminder that life and breath are a gift.

Five weeks after Miracle Day, we boarded a jet and headed for a crash landing into a foreign world that held greater challenges than anything we had imagined. Culture shock, accidents, illnesses, heat, humidity, robberies, threats, and even the mosquitoes seemed to gang up in a unified effort to make us give up, check out, and shut down.

Hope could appear thin, if it weren’t for the people back home who carried us, holding up our weary arms, lifting up our heavy souls to our loving God, who one-day-at-a-time carried us. In time, a vision took shape, and over the years, happy memories, real relationships, momentum, dreams, and miracles have enlarged our hearts.

As we look back over 2024, there were tragedies, heartbreaks, and accidents, none of which we experienced alone, but incommunity. We also safely and joyfully traveled to remote villages in the mountains and on the rivers where our Mustard Seed partners are serving. A dozen new TransformNation (TfN) students arrived to begin their journey of teacher training. And when we weren’t even looking, God surprised us with the opportunity to acquire a much-needed property to be used as a dorm.

We stand in awe of God. Our TfN graduates and ministry partners are reaching children on nine different islands, and on some of these islands, there are multiple locations of ministry. The network of men and women who serve as teachers, site leaders, children’s home staff, and support staff proves to us that God is igniting a unified commitment to bring hope to the next generation in this country, no matter how poor, under-served, or isolated their homes might be. And at the Mustard Seed Lab School, founded in 2001, over a thousand children and teenagers arrive on campus every school day ready to learn, grow, and discover their God-given potential.

We can’t think of anything better to communicate in an update about twenty-five years in Indonesia than the simple words: THANK YOU. Thank you for your generosity and prayers. Thank you for participating in the vision of providing transformative Christian education to children in remote areas of this nation. And most of all, thank You, Jesus, for never leaving us on our own, but for always being with us, and for giving us meaningful work to do in the company and service of so many others.

Let us welcome 2025 with hope, fresh commitment, and renewed faith in Jesus and His immeasurable love for the world (John 3:16).

Photo: Girls from a village school in Sumba Island. The school opened in 2024.