It’s official, we’ve been here exactly a month! We’re here, doin’ the thing! So, about time I write a blog about it, huh? It’s hard, ya know, wanting to find a balance between being present to the people and work at hand, but at the same time realizing that friends and family and supporters genuinely want to hear what’s going on. To those who have been supporting and keeping up — thank you a million times over. I’ve tried my best, on a personal level, to process just a little and journal everyday. I have many different trains of thought running, things God has been teaching me, and personal experiences with growing pains that I could share. My hope is to capture those on a blog sometime in the future, but for this one, I just wanted to give you guys an overview of last month.
We landed in Jakarta on January 14th, and then traveled to Bundung where we stayed with a family of one of our leaders. After recovering from a near death experience, a.k.a. jet lag, we started our orientation for life in Indo, which included mountain hiking, cultural awareness, and martabak (chocolate, cheese, and peanuts sandwiched between two buttery pieces of heaven).
We did relaxing things like this:
Within a couple days, we headed back to Jakarta to meet and settle in with our wonderful hosts for the next three weeks. I was blown away and overwhelmed the moment I stepped off of our van onto Jagat ‘Arsy Islamic School’s campus, as we were greeted with a slew of eager students with a hand made sign just for us. We shared a few nervous giggles, with myself stumbling through Indonesian while trying to understand their English.
It was not long before we discovered the true depth of generosity and hospitality of our hosts. Seriously though, they schooled us in showing what love and service really looks like. “Men of peace” is what we called them. It is a term we use for someone who welcomes us in and acts as a bridge between us and people within the culture and community, allowing us to communicate and connect about Jesus. They made sure we had every necessity as well as thorough enculturation. We ate rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I took a few “adventures,” as my host would say, and would try and eat anything I thought looked weird. My running list now includes cow brain, cow lung, curried squid, fish head, fried eel, and leek and mushroom tea. And they made sure to expose us to their culture, truly bringing us into their very lives. I will remember for the rest of my life the time that we rode in a police escorted motorcade to the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia to watch Abba Aos, a Sufi leader, speak to over 15,000 followers. All because of the generosity of our hosts.
I witnessed a lot of beauty this last month. Some of it in creation– mountains, tropical jungles and beaches, and river canyons in the middle of jungle wilderness. But most of it through the relationships. The ones with our hosts and getting to take part in their work to make this world a better place. And also the relationships with all of the students we had the opportunity to visit and speak with. The most meaningful moments, for me, were spent in this space.
We visited quite a few schools, either public of Islamic, and met hundreds of students. We would tell them about our lives in the U.S.A., why we were there, our lives as followers of Eissa (Jesus) and talk about our differences and our similarities. Inevitably, most conversations led to questions about Trump. Some students genuinely expressed fear and wondered whether everyone in America hated Muslims. We did our best to empathize and give a loving, reassuring response.
Some days, we had a particular host leading the way. This man and his wife…I want to be them when I grow up. They have a non-profit, and do social and sustainable work ranging in all different areas. And whenever he led us in conversations with the students, he went straight for the heart, opening up dialogues about gratitude, forgiveness, and loving each other and the earth. Even though he was a Muslim, he urged us to share our own faith, testimony, and experiences as Christians. It reminded me that people are people everywhere you go– there are those universal and transcendant experiences and emotions that effect all of us, no matter what language one speaks, or where one was born and their inherited culture. We can all find common ground in a space of love, kindness, grace, and acceptance…and from there, we can work towards change.
We’re now in Malaysia for some debriefing and rest time. The guys and girls will be breaking up for the next month with the girls and I heading to Thailand with the hopes of working within the sex-trafficking world. Please keep my team and I in your prayers, because we’ll definitely need it :).
Also, I’m currently at $10,220 for my fundraising for this trip. My total fundraising goal is $17,617. If you are able and would like to help, feel free to contact me! Any and every bit of support matters.
All my love, and God Bless. Happy Valentine’s. Day :).
