Snapshots of Indonesia: A Picture Blog
One of the 17,000+ islands that make of the archipelago of Indonesia.
X-Stream Team on the way to one of our first team meetings at orientation in Indonesia.
X-Stream Team’s first introduction to Indonesian cuisine. We devoured ‘satae’ (a dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat smothered in the most delicious sauce) with our hosts Charity and Manatap.
The dirt road we walked each day on our way to and from ministry.
Our first three days at the international school were spent helping prepare the grounds for an upcoming celebration ceremony. Caleb, Alissa, Alex, and Aaron were the jackhammer crew and spent most of the time tearing up concrete while Arlene, Krista, Esther and myself mowed lawns and weed whacked.
Herman was the keeper of the school store. We bought ice cream from him most days and he liked to practice his English with us. He practices Islam, but on our last day he let us pray for him and his wife.
On Fridays our team had the privilege of attending and being the guests of honor at a local church for the hearing impaired. Each time we would learn a couple of songs in sign language and worship the Lord with the incredible crew you see in this photo. My heart was deeply moved by this experience and the joy-filled spirits that are pictured above.
One day we had the opportunity to venture into the city. This is one of the many mosques where Islam, the dominant religion of Indonesia, is practiced.
One day we visited a nearby seminary school for an afternoon of cultural sharing. The conversation was rich and encouraging. Pictured above are our very smart seminary sisters. They are the faces of the future leaders of the Church in Indonesia.
Here is a picture of riverside housing in urban Indonesia.
A “becak” driver taking a break in the heat of the day.
A rainy day shot of the lake near our home that I used to run past. The weather in Indonesia was pretty consistent. Typically we were greeted by clear skies and sunshine each morning and thunder and rain each afternoon.
One afternoon our team explored and prayed our way through one of the “kampung’s” or neighborhoods in the city where we were living. As you can see it was a mix of both homes and fields of rice.
Another photo of the rice fields we marveled at on our “jalan-jalan” or “walk” through the nearby “kampung.” Indonesia is the third largest producer of rice in the world and our stomachs were certainly convinced of this fact during our time there.
“Bule” is the term used to describe foreigners/Caucasians in the Bahasa language that is spoken by most Indonesians. Being white in Indonesia was like being famous, everybody wanted a photo with the strange “bule’s.” Including these friends we encountered on one of our visits to the “kampung.”
A family of smiles who we were privileged to sit with for a short while.
Once a week in the evenings a few of us would go with a local missionary and spend time with Nunung, the beautiful woman standing next to me in this picture. We would sit on the small wooden bench outside of her one room shop and talk about God. Sometimes her husband and son would be there too.
Our friend Nunung invited our team to a traditional Sundanese Circumcision Ceremony one Sunday afternoon. We ended up being the guest of honor and my teammate Aaron and I were invited up on stage to dance.
The city we stayed outside of during our time in Indonesia is nicknamed “the city of flowers.” For those of you who know me and my love for flowers, its needless to say, I was BEYOND THRILLED and the pictures on my camera lend proof to my desire to document every single one. This is one such photo 😉
On one of our last days working with the international school we were partnered with for the month, my team and I got to go on a field trip with the first grade class. Upon arriving at our destination, I was given two first grade buddies to look after and keep safe. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that they ended up having to look after me for most of the day as I struggled not to get carried away by fairyland forest pictured above.
My eyes never did quite get used to the sight of entire families on motorbikes – a cultural norm in Indonesia.
A Bali sunset where we ended our first month with our first all squad debrief.
