Mission for the Poor: Serving the people of Flores and Timor Leste

Our second visit to the Labuan Bajo mission was in late March 2011. We were much better prepared for this visit and were able to purchase extra luggage on the Brisbane-Denpasar sector. This allowed us to take up more essential supplies for the mission, including gifts and teaching aids for the children of the English class. The local domestic carrier we used from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo was ‘Merpati’ airline. We were privileged to be present for the profession of the first four Indonesian MOP novices. Three of these young men left later that year for novice training in Naga City, Philippines. We took the brothers shopping again to the super market, to the fruit and vegetable market and bought bulk rice and sugar. This visit also saw the choosing of the land on which future building of the MOP monastery would be undertaken. On our return, our domestic flight to Denpasar was cancelled the very same morning it was due to fly out and we had to plead with the international Australian carrier for seats on a subsequent day out of Denpasar. Divine providence assisted us with a return flight to Australia two days later.