The countdown has begun. T-minus less than five months until we board the plane and head off to our first assignment with MAF in Indonesia.

These past several months have been a whirlwind of support raising and sharing our mission with as many people as possible. Jack is completing some additional aircraft maintenance training in order to receive the proper certificates he needs to obtain an Indonesian visa. Now, we head to headquarters in Nampa, Idaho, to finish up and be commissioned for work overseas.

As the time to depart draws near, a whole roller coaster of emotions flood each of us. We are excited to begin this adventure that God has clearly called us to, but also feeling the deep sorrow of the goodbyes that are coming. We are honored that God would choose us, but also scared at the thought of learning a whole new language and culture.

We see this tug-of-war of emotions for our three teenagers as well. As if teens don’t have enough emotion already! Our sixteen-year-old recently got her driver’s license and is enjoying the freedom that comes with that. She has been driving her brother around, going to basketball games and grabbing ice cream with friends. The kids find themselves having so much fun but at the end of the day sad because they know very soon life will be different. At the same time, they are very excited to be done homeschooling and get into their international schools in Indonesia. They see pictures and videos of all the activities that they will get to be a part of, like trips out to the jungle villages, and their excitement builds.

The Hamstra kids are ready to go.

When someone asks how I feel about moving to the other end of the planet, I simply answer, “I feel every emotion.” I feel joy, sorrow, deep excitement, longing, hesitation… but most of all peace. I’m so thankful to serve a God who walked this earth and who understands emotion. I turn to Him and without fail He confirms over and over His plan for our family. He brings peace and calm to the tug-of-war. We have spent almost 19 years building a foundation of faith in our marriage and we are grateful to know that God truly does have “plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).