The time has come…

Friends, I have never led SST before, so I do not know how unusual our experience in Yogyakarta was, but I have been astounded at every turn with the kindness and generosity of our host families, our teachers, the international offices at the two universities that we partnered with, our lecturers, and many many other people who worked to bring together this study portion.  I only hope that each of us has opportunities in the future to pay these kindnesses forward, giving to others the way that we have been generously attended to.

There were tears and there was laughter at our farewell party on Friday (February 23) at UKDW.  We invited language buddies, our teachers, our families, and the international office at UKDW.  Ibu Diyah, our fearless local coordinator organized the food, students put together the program (I did nothing!), and Brenton organized gift bags for the host families and small tokens for our language buddies.

The program commenced.  I was so touched by the work that the students put into pulling all the pieces together.  They danced, sang, played games, and honored the relationships that grew during SST.

After certificates were awarded, family members were invited forward to take a picture with their SST student.  There were some teary eyes as we all thought about these last moments here in Yogyakarta.

One last night… then off to service each student went on Saturday.  Evan is staying in Yogyakarta and Gavin’s Yogya host father gave him a lift to his new location, so I don’t have their Saturday departure pictures, but the others are below.

And folks, that’s a wrap on study.  I’ll post some pictures soon of the first days with service host families and service placements.