We are currently on week 7 of the World Race, it seems crazy to think that we’ve already been out of the states for this long. After leaving Australia and arriving to Indonesia, we spent the first 10 days on the island of Bali, where we debriefed and went through more on-the-field training. After debrief and training, each of the teams on the squad got together and prayed about where God was calling us to go next in the country, and we packed our bags and headed out. We took a 10 hour bus ride, 1 hour ferry ride, slept in the train station for 4 hours, and then hopped on a 16 hour train to get to this city. Bandung is the third largest city in the country, right under the capital, Jakarta. Here in Indonesia, about 2% of the population are Christians. So there is a great need for Jesus.
We are staying in a school and our host’s name is Desy. She is so kind and fun and takes wonderful care of us! She also has a lot of friends that we get to meet and spend time with, they are all so welcoming and warm. The people of Indonesia are very hospitable and light-hearted, they love to smile, laugh, make sure that we are taken care of and they especially love to give us food. So we have been eating…. a lot. Most people don’t speak English here, so we have to use google translate to have conversations with them. They love Americans and always want to take pictures with us, which is very foreign to us, we kind of feel famous! My favorite thing is when we are walking down the street and people get their English words mixed up and say “hey mister!” to me. Cracks me up every time.
We have been very busy with meeting people and teaching at the schools and attending bible studies. We have gotten to spend time talking with Muslim moms while their children are in class at the school we are staying at. They were very funny, we laughed together, they sang songs for us, and we sang songs for them as well! Many of the women thought the men on our team were “very handsome”, so they wanted to take pictures with our guys. In Asian cultures, people are very effectionate, so they would hold our hands and sit right next to us. It was so sweet to see that the more comfortable they got with us, the closer to us they sat. I talked to a mom for a very long time about traveling and her family, by the time we were finished with our conversation, she was basically sitting in my seat! I loved it.
We got to be guests of honor at an award ceremony. We eventually learned that it was an inauguration ceremony for midwives. We were a guest of a lady named Irma, she is one of our host’s friends. A few years ago, Irma and her husband were struggling to have a baby and my team leader, Nora and her team at the time prayed for her to have a baby. Flash forward to now, 2 years later, they have a beautiful 2 year old boy! Irma’s mother owns a traditional Indonesian dress shop, so she brought us traditional Indonesian clothes for us to wear at the ceremony. They were so beautiful. At the ceremony, all of the men and women were Muslim but the hospital itself was actually Christian, so they read from the Quran and it was interesting to be a part of that. We were asked to sing a song and dance with the people at the event. The songs we sang were Christian songs, because that’s all we knew, but we did have to be careful about the words that we sang. They loved TikTok (a social media app), and so they wanted us to make some with them, and we got pulled to the stage many times, it was nothing like a professional event that we Americans are used to, they danced and sang and laughed and were actually having FUN. They even asked us to give a speech to the midwives and Joe was brave enough to step up and give an encouraging speech.
After church on Sunday, we got to be the guests of honor at another celebration, but this one was VERY different. This was a young boy’s circumcision party. Yep, you heard me. In Islamic culture, a boy gets to make the decision to become circumcised around 5-6 years old (kind of similar to a child’s decision to get baptized). It’s almost like a “coming of age” and religious declaration celebration. So after the boy makes and follows through with his decision, they throw him a big party and all of his friends and family and community come together to celebrate him. We ate lots of food, signed the boy’s guest book, took photos with his family and listened to young men perform live Muslim music. It was actually a very beautiful sound. They had us come on stage and sing some songs for them! Nora brings her ukulele almost everywhere we go, so we’re always prepared now!
Tomorrow, we leave Bandung and make our way to Jakarta for a few days before we fly to India. We don’t have set partners there, so we will be praying and asking God for direction in ministry when we get there!
Some things you can pray for:
1. Finances for our host school, they are in need of more supplies and more supporters to help keep the school funded.
2. Our host Desy, she is actually going to New Zealand for a month, so pray that she travels safely and that God uses her to do great things!
3. Continued endurance in discipline.
4. Safe travels to Jakarta and an abundance of opportunities to share the Gospel with the people in our hostel and the people of Jakarta!
Shea, Jackie and Joe on our hour long ferry from Bali to Java. This was in the middle of our 10 hour bus ride, so it made the trip go by so much faster. This ferry ride is also where we got our first real-world experience with squatty pottys! (We’re still learning the ropes)
Joe with some of the mothers that we got to visit with at our host school! They were so affectionate and fun.
One of the neighborhoods we got to explore. It’s so peaceful here, I think it is my favorite street of Bandung. People would come out of their homes to say “Hello Miss!” or “Good morning, Miss!”. They love practicing their English and get excited that we respond back them.
The Floating Market in Lembang, about an hour outside of Bandung in the mountains. Each little boat was a different “restaurant“. We ate lamb sate, chocolate bao, chicken bao and fried potato swirls!
One of the ladies who pulled me up to the stage at the midwife inauguration. She taught me the moves to a few dances that they were doing at the ceremony. She didn’t speak English, but we both understood how to have fun!
Joe, Brandon, and Tito before the inauguration ceremony for midwives.
One night, we went to visit another school and ended up having an incredible time of fellowship, snacks, prayer and worship! We ate our weight in coconut cookies and drank HOT sweet tea. We got to sing the same songs in our own languages, pray in the spirit and they even played traditional Indonesian music for us! Not to mention, I got to hold the most precious baby! This night was very special and encouraging to each of us.
