In my opinion, nothing can truly prepare you for The World Race. I tried my best to watch videos on people’s experiences and talk with some who had been on the race before. I also tried to rely/reflect on past international mission trip experiences to Haiti, but even then I’m comparing apples to candy bars. It would be a tough comparison because Haiti is obviously and definitely will never be Indonesia. The past year in 2015 was like going up a huge roller coaster of preparation and as soon as we landed in Indonesia the roller coaster finally began to drop down the hill and what a ride it has been so far…
Ministry looks different from month to month and even from team to team within our squad as our squad was split into five groups. Therefore our squad had five different ministries across different areas of Indonesia.
Ministry
Our team (X-Stream) was based in Bandung, Indonesia at a Christian international school that taught kindergarten through 12th grade. Throughout the month we would assist the school in a multitude of ways. The first week we were there we worked on construction projects to help the school prepare for a grand opening of two new facilities. The school was opening a swimming pool and soccer field for the athletic teams and it was a blessing to be a part of it. The construction projects included demolishing a barrier around a storage building to be replaced later on. I will admit it was fun being able to demolish something with shovels, pickaxes, and a jackhammer. In addition, our team also completed lawn projects such as mowing and weed-wacking the campus lawns so the grand opening would give the campus a nice appearance.
The following weeks allowed our team to work with the actual school schedule with the teachers and students in the classroom setting. This was a fun challenge because the school had such a huge age difference between kindergarten and high school. God literally took me back to what it was like to be their ages and that’s so cool!
For the younger ages we were able to teach the Bible for the Bible classes. We got the opportunity to dig deep into our creative selves to see how we could interact with the younger age groups. We would pick out stories in the Bible, act them out for the kids, and explain God’s love for them. In addition, we were able to give our testimonies to show them how much God loved us. We also assisted teachers with field trips and knowledge about Indonesia.
For the older ages (high school), we were able assist with classroom settings as well. Sometimes we would play games to interact and get to know the students better and sometimes we would focus on sharing our testimonies in how we came to know Christ.
Ministry also took forms in athletics for our team this month. We were able to help out with high school basketball practices after school as well by participating in conditioning and drills. Also, team X-Stream played in faculty ultimate frisbee & soccer matches post school time. It was a fun way to interact with the body of Christ at the school who minister to the students everyday. It was also a great way to interact with those who were faculty at the school, but not teachers because some of them were not Christians. It was fun and awesome to see what they believed in and just as great to be able to pray with them.
Our time at this month’s ministry was amazing in more ways than one. Even though it was a Christian based school, not all of the students were believers and some of the parents of the students weren’t believers as well. It was so cool to be able to work in an environment where there is so much potential to see His Kingdom grow. We were able to help to minister to students who in their time at the school could become believers through our ministry’s work, but mainly through the work of the teachers. If the children become believers then the students are able to take their relationship with Christ into their homes. Some of these parents are leaders in their communities and country as a whole so the possibilities of God coming into their lives and changing nations as a whole is endless!
Extras
Other ministries throughout the month included being able to attend churches every other Sunday and also participating in “kampung walks”. These walks allowed a handful of people from our team to journey out into close by neighborhoods (kampungs) with one of our ministry hosts and translators. While we were there we would have the opportunity to talk with groups of locals and simply just hangout. We would talk about simple things such what life looks like in Indonesia versus in the United States. There were more deeper talks as well based on what they believed versus what we believed. They were very respectful of the fact we believed in Jesus and we were just as respectful towards their Muslim beliefs…
It was interesting to hear what their perceptions were about us Americans. They had asked us if our Christian religion was linked to Hollywood. In other words, they think that Christianity is intertwined with partying and people like Kim Kardashian. This gave us an opportunity to clarify that that is not the case, but it still made me step back and think. This is just a small group of people who have this opinion or stereotype in their heads about Americans & Christians. This means that in a nation filled with millions of people (mainly Muslims) that most of them have this same opinion. I didn’t see this as alarming, I saw this as an opportunity to spread God’s Kingdom in the correct light. We did so by explaining about what we believe and who we believe in. We believe in Jesus because it is a personal relationship with Him and His love is real. We don’t worship a God that we’re afraid of because we know Him and we want everyone else in the world to know Him because His love is in fact infinite.
They were also somewhat shocked to see that the women on our team had their shoulders and legs covered when they were out in public. They assumed that all women from the United States wear nothing, but revealing clothing.
Overall, our time in Indonesia was an absolute blessing and an unreal way to start our journey. If I had to describe the people of Indonesia and the country as a whole, I’d use the words joyful, gracious, passionate, happy, beautiful and just a huge blast to be around. Everywhere we went it seemed as if we were being waved at by smiling faces, by people we had never seen before. They cared about where we were from and how we were doing. They were always making sure we were as comfortable as possible in the time we had in the country.
Now I may get some grief from some of my friends from the South, but the southern hospitality has some competition haha. I had the pleasure of living in North Carolina in college for four years and some of the nicest people I’ve ever met was in that state because of the hospitality and who the people were. If southern hospitality exists, then Indonesian hospitality is on the equivalent level.
God Bless & Enjoy The Pics!
