[caption id="attachment_1254" align="aligncenter" width="563" caption="----Indonesia is made up of over 17,000 islands----"][/caption]
So that’s it.
I’ve accepted the offer from Indonesia and starting in August I will be the Vice President of Sustainability and Stakeholder Relationships for my friend’s Indonesian company. We will be there for at least two years.
I can’t mention too much more about the organization until they finish the IPO process (I described it a little in my last post), but Rocio and I are thrilled to be embarking on this adventure together. And we are expecting many visitors. The island of Bali is right next door after all.
Last week Rocio and I were there, checking out housing and looking at potential jobs for her. We both feel like we have had special direction and insight from above, and we are excited to have to depend on each other in a new culture/country/continent/climate.
Change anyone?
Some pictures from Indonesia:
[caption id="attachment_1255" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="----A couple of the islands----"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1256" align="aligncenter" width="416" caption="----We saw a ton of these hats while we were on the rivers----"][/caption]…
[caption id="attachment_1238" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="----Oil palm trees are different than regular palm trees----"][/caption]
As you may have read in my latest blog post (http://mattelsberry.com/its-time-to-part-ways-with-crown/), I am no longer with Crown Financial Ministries. And while my time there has been most memorable, it’s time to move on to what’s next.
I have been talking with a good friend of mine who owns a oil palm plantation in Indonesia. He has been incredibly successful in business, and is getting ready to take his private company public next month.
This may sound blase at best, but wait until you hear…the rest of the story.
Many oil palm plantations are destructive to the environment as well as to the employees they use to make a profit.
Not this one.
My friend’s company operates under a “triple bottom line”.
People. Planet. Profit.
People
When the company employs people they go well beyond the established minimums most companies are required to pay people. In fact, they build villages, complete with houses, education, health care, sanitation, clean water and a ton of other …
Is not something I’ve had much of since coming back from Asia. It has been a battle to get back into any sort of schedule and make my body want to eat and sleep during the times that this culture dictates.
The work that God is doing in Asia through Crown is glorious. It is a high privilege to serve these leaders. Korea is doing extraordinarily well. Taiwan has a solid foundation and great future plans.
Our time in the Philippines was met with a great leadership team, and a cool, young, edgy set of volunteers that are carrying the ministry forward. It was fun to join in with the stuff that God is up to over there.
Here are some more photos:
[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Me with the interpreter in Taipei"]
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[caption id="attachment_638" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Leading Stewards Course"]
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[caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Leading Stewards discussion"]
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You should never side with 3% of the population, it puts you in a tiny minority. In Taiwan, only 3% of the population considers themselves followers of Christ.
However, 24 leaders just finished Crown’s Leading Steward’s Course. Our Board Chairman was leading the charge. Donald Wu is pictured below leading a prayer for the work getting ready to begin in this island nation.
He is one of the prinipal officers in an extremely large textile company. He is well respected in all kinds of circles in Taiwan. He’s been a great friend of mine for several years now.
Getting to this training was no easy effort for him. He cut his visit to the US short and left right after his nephew’s wedding. This was the day before we started the training. He came straight from his travels (up all night in the air, then all night again so he could travel with his wife to their home city, Tainan and back). He refused to leave and give his body the rest it was desperately calling for. He was committed to this training and to what it could mean for his country.
It’s leaders like Donald that make me want to bet on the …
