It is hard to believe that I only have three days left in Indonesia before I head to the Philippines! This month has flown by! I want to share about all of the amazing kids that I got to work with this month, but I am splitting this into two parts. We have worked with so many different kids in all different parts of Indonesia, and I can’t do them all justice in just one post.
The place we got to go to the most was a Christian orphanage school. The school has over 500 students and they teach kindergarten through high school. Not all of the kids that go to school there live in the orphanage, but most do. We went to every class multiple times in the three days that we were there. We introduced ourselves, and answered questions about America that ranged from the climate and food, to Martin Luther King Jr. We sang worship songs that we all knew in English, and they sang some songs in Indonesian for us. We played “stickman” (we modified hangman so it wouldn’t be quite as morbid.. 😉 ) and they were able to practice their English on us. The teachers were so gracious to let us invade their classrooms to talk to the students.
Speaking of the teachers, they deserve a shout out because they are amazing! They go to work every day wearing long sleeve dress shirts and long pants, teach in a room made of concrete that doesn’t even have a fan nonetheless AC, and they get minimal pay. In spite of everything the teachers have such good attitudes, and I could tell how much they cared about the kids. This one teacher was teaching a kindergarten math class and there must have been at least 50 kids in there with only two adult helpers. The teacher gave the kids an assignment to work on and instantly there was controlled chaos all around me. Everyone was talking at the same time, one boy was crying about something, kids were going up to the teacher to ask questions and then you had me and the other girls from my team helping wherever we could.
Through the whole thing the teacher was incredibly sweet and patient. She talked to the little boy that was crying and by the end of their conversation he was all smiles again, she answered questions from the kids, and helped translate for us. And I thought Wonder Woman was cool!
Our last day we shared our testimonies, our hearts for missions and why we decided to go on the World Race. It was so cool to see how quickly the kids opened up to us as well. One guy in particular, Dony, shared his life story with us and my teammates, Justin and Tessie, made a super cool video of it. Check it out!
I’ve always heard stories about orphanages, but I have never personally seen one that big before. Kids were everywhere, and their need to be known and loved is immense! Like Dony, they all have a story of where they came from, but that story does not determine their future. It was a blessing to be with, love on, and encourage the kids. I wish I would have been able to spend more time there to develop deeper relationships with the students, but I am trusting that God can use even our brief time there to impact their lives. I am sad to leave all the people I have come to love in Indonesia, but I am looking forward to all that God has in store for me in the Philippines.
In Him,
Heidi
This is a drawing that one of the girls did of us. 🙂
One of the 10th grade classes! (photo credit Tessie West)
