2013  is a fresh start — a road never traveled. It has 365 days of hopes and dreams.  We all know it will bring its share of  challenges, but IFC/Hohidiai has always faced each year with optimism and hope.  Our passion is to help the poorest-of-the-poor as they come to our clinics and hospital asking for help. I so admire the leaders and staff at the base in Halmahera–they serve with compassion. They sacrifice so much to be a part...

The beautiful palm trees of the islands of Indonesia have greeted me some 30 plus times. I anticipate each trip and look forward to spending time serving alongside the amazing Indonesian staff. I have fond memories of the amazing experiences I have had with hundreds of volunteers who have paid their own way to touch the poorest-of-the-poor. Respect is too small a word to express my feelings for these volunteers. At the end of this month another...

The little three letter word we use so often has so much power. It is the word “YES”. I can see myself as a child anticipating that word after asking a hope filled question. It might have been: Can I go to the lake? Can I have some candy? Can I stay overnight at my friend’s house? I can remember waiting to hear that little word — “Yes”. When you think about it, it is a very powerful word. It can bring a smile and the hope of a good...

Clean water is vital to good health. There are several ways to transform marginally safe or contaminated water into drinkable water. A common practice in the remote islands of Indonesia is to boil the water. It takes time and fuel to boil every drop of water a family drinks. A well (bore) can be drilled at a per-foot cost. It can be too expensive for some villages. Another option is to hand dig a well. This is a lot of work and the well remains...

I would confidently say that minus 50 or 60 degrees Fahrenheit is extreme cold. How about over 300 inches of snow accumulation and the winter isn’t even close to being finished? That is an extreme amount of snow. Alaska is beautiful by any measure and it is a place of many extremes. It gets dangerous to drive in these extremes. There are plenty of documentaries and reality shows about life in the Great North Land. The crab fisherman, gold...

When I was a child we used to take two opened tin cans, punch a hole in the bottom of the cans and put a string in the holes. We would stretch the string out until it was tight then we would talk into one can and the other end was placed on the ear. This was a lot of fun as we would play for hours with our home-made phones. It hardly seemed possible that within my lifetime we would be able to not only talk to people anywhere in the world but...

The wide-eyes of our school age children gazed in excitement in the new classes they are now attending—21 pre-school and 25 in the combined kindergarten and grade one class. The school is an investment in the future. The children are unwanted by their parents but we see them as beautiful and full of potential. It is a huge commitment with a big payoff. These children will be the best educated in their generation in this remote region. Yes—2011...

Today I wrote several “Thank You” notes to some of our partners. I like to send a short personal note to those who pray and support our efforts. I have done this for the past 10 years–every time I write a note, I am awed by at the faithfulness and kindness of our partners. I know many of these donors personally.In these difficult economic times it is amazing that so many are willing to help. Another amazing thing is that we...

I have traveled all over the world to build partnerships for the work in Indonesia. I am away from home a good part of the year traveling in the U.S. and other points on the planet. I am so fortunate to have amazing friends all over this globe.The one thing that I notice about being back home is how many people I know or am acquainted. I was a baseball and football coach here when my son was growing up and later into his High School years. I...

Thirty years ago–we thought a window was an opening in a structure. Today the term “Windows” takes on a more technical definition. We are in a completely new world of communication and information acquisition. Then there are the new terms–booting–downloading–email–utilities–we have to learn how to use properly.The youth cannot remember NOT having a computer. It is my generation that has lived in...