And That’s a Wrap...
- Vivian Foley
- May 18
- 8 min read
What do senior missionaries who serve so far from home often do before returning home? Our last post ended with a picture of us at a bus stop, heading off into the wild. As many do, we added some time traveling at the end of our mission. As you will see, we definitely did not take the shortest or most common route home!
At times during our mission when the days felt REALLY long I would dream about taking a real island vacation and relaxing on a beach. (Yes Singapore is a real island, but it was no vacation and does not have the greatest beaches.) With that in mind we planned for some time on Bali. We also originally planned to spend five days in New Zealand but that plan changed when our daughter Sage requested that we make a trip to Kazakhstan to meet her birth mother. We realized that we would not have a better chance than on our way home from halfway across the world. So what would have been a direct journey of 10,000 miles, 24 hours, and one stop became much more. We spent 13 days and 13,000 miles comprised of five restful days in Bali, one wrap up day back in Singapore, six days in Kazakhstan, and more than a full day of flights and layovers via airports in Singapore, Bali, Bangkok, Almaty, Astana, Frankfurt, and Chicago. It was an amazing trek at the end of an amazing 18 months. I will try to cover some of the highlights, knowing that as with the rest of our mission there is no way to capture ALL of the experience and emotions that have been part of this wrapping up.
Bali: Rest, Sights, and Culture
In Bali we chose to keep things simple and to spend the majority of our time at the resort where we could relax instead of doing too many touristy things. We loved laying on the beach, riding bikes along the boardwalk, swimming in the ocean and pools, eating at different restaurants, doing a little shopping, and catching up with family.
We did spend one very full day (6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.) in the mountains and that was also amazing. One “funny” thing that happened there was going on a touristy ATV ride and having the attendants apologetically tell us we couldn’t ride if we were over 65. We just smiled and said that was fine since we aren’t over 65. I later felt vindicated when our tour leader told me at the end that I was a great ATV driver. I told him I grew up driving ATVs on a farm and could have also told him that my dad still drove an ATV when he was in his 80s.
One thing that I always love to do when we travel is learn all that I can about how the people in the area really live. We did two things on our trip that gave us a good look at some of the people of Bali. The first was on our day in the mountains where we went on a bike ride through a traditional Balinese village. We were able to stop and walk through an actual family compound that included a shrine, the homes of generations of family members, and a pig farm. Most of the native Balinese practice a form of Hinduism and while we were there it was a major holiday for them. We were able to see decorations and offerings in many places and particularly in the small villages we passed through. We also stopped at a rice field and learned about the process of growing rice. Our guide also taught us about the offerings to the Gods they make to help their rice grow.
The second thing of connection (with God and with the people) was to attend Sunday services at the small branch in Bali. The branch was a mixture of native Indonesians, tourists, and expats living in Bali. It was Fast and Testimony meeting and it was very sweet hearing from representatives of each of these. After church we also visited a beautiful Balinese temple on the coast.
Back to Singapore
It turns out that Astana, Kazakhstan is not a major route for flying! We ended up going back to Singapore overnight to collect the rest of our luggage and to take an early flight through Bangkok and Almaty to our destination in Astana. During our half-day back in Singapore we had a wonderful meet up with the Jensens. We went with them to make one last trek to the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay. The exhibit there changes every few months and this time we were able to catch my second favorite of all the displays I have seen there: Tulipmania! We also had our last dinner in Singapore with the Jensens at the same restaurant where we had our first dinner in Singapore with the Odells back when we started. That really brought things full circle for our final wrap up in Singapore.
Kazakhstan
Tuesday morning started out REALLY early as we caught our flight to Bangkok. After a brief layover we flew to Almaty on a long flight made even longer as we navigated around disputed airspace over Pakistan and India. After another layover in Almaty we arrived back in Astana. As Sean enjoyed sharing with people during our time there, it was 118 degrees warmer when we arrived in Astana than the coldest point of our last trip in February of 2001.
Sage was already in Astana so she met us at the airport where we were carrying our five large pieces of luggage and two backpacks. It turns out that packing up your life of 18 months isn’t as easy as you might think! We were pretty wiped out that night so we went to the hotel to drop things off, had dinner with Sage at a nice Central Asian restaurant down the street, and headed to bed to rest up before meeting with her family the next few days.
The next few days were indeed a whirlwind! We first met Sage’s birth mother, biological sister and nieces, and biological half-brother. We then met MANY extended family members and friends. There were so many people who wanted to meet us and thank us for parenting Sage. We were honored with many beautiful traditional Kazakh gifts and with being fed beshbarmak, the traditional national meal of horse meat and homemade noodles....three days in a row. I was nervous about eating horse meat but it turns out that it tastes pretty good as was almost everything we ate during our time. And we ate A LOT while there - the food just kept coming and coming!
More importantly we had many tender conversations and shed many tears as we talked (mostly through human interpreters or Google Translate) about the beautiful and miraculous blessing of having our families brought together through Sage’s adoption. All sides agreed that only God could have brought us all together.
We really loved learning more about the Kazakh people and their history and were touched by their closeness as a family and the care that they give to each other. Between family visits we walked the city and swam in the pool. We also had the chance to have lunch with two of our church’s missionaries serving there, with an amazing example of the small world we live in being that one of those missionaries is from the Kansas City area and we have known his family for almost twenty years. And if that’s not enough, the branch president in Astana is the brother of a very good friend of our three sons!
Orphanage
One of the many highlights of our time in Kazakhstan was visiting the orphanage where we first met Sage. It is the same building with much of the same layout from 24 years ago and floods of memories came back. There have been renovations to some areas, but the room where we first met her still has even the same shelves. Even more amazing than the building being the same was that there were many women who worked there when Sage was there that are still there.
Knowing that we were coming, they greeted us at the door with a lot of excitement and several of the workers remembered working with Sage and shared things about her. The orphanage doctor was our primary host and we remembered her well as she greeted us at the door. After a few minutes I asked them about the specific caregiver I remembered most, the one with long blond hair that had worked most closely with Sage. They said, “yes she is still here too, today in fact!” I had so many emotions flooding me from the moment we walked through the door and my biggest tears came when I was able to meet that caregiver I had remembered so well from our time there. There were lots of tears shed all around and I am so grateful for these dedicated women and the work they have done for decades to care for those in such need.
Final Leg Home
Who has ever heard of a 4:10 a.m. flight? Well that’s what we had from Astana to Frankfurt, so it was a VERY early morning and VERY long day. We had layovers in Frankfurt and Chicago, but all our flights were on time and travel was smooth and we made it home to be greeted by many of our beautiful family members waiting at the airport. We came home, visited for a while, and then finally headed to sleep in our own bed! The next morning we woke up and started what felt like “the rest of our lives”...but Sean will have to share some of that in a future post.
P.S. If you just couldn't get enough of Tulipmania, or if you just really need to see us trying to teach our new Kazakh family to dance to Earth, Wind, and First, here is some bonus content:
New bucket list item - travel to places with horsemeat on the menu - then you know you've really gotten off the beaten path! Seriously though the cool things were the group photos in Kazakhstan and the welcome home photo at the airport. Thanks for being such great travel writers. This could be your new gig!
Where do I begin?!!! Well obviously the dancing is my favorite. We are talking EPIC level. I love you both so much. ALso isn't BALI HEAVEN? I can't wait to hear more about it! I love love love that now 3 of us have been there. The people are so beautiful and kind. I WISH I had been able to go to church there. That would have been amazing. And Sage. How totally lovely. I love the picture of the two moms. And I had no idea you went to the ophanage. How sweet. And that so many workers are still there. That is phenomenal. My heartwould hae really exploded. And of course your airport reunion. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Jus…