Sunday 24th
We went to Church. Two wonderful women sat among us and translated. At the end we shared some scripture, songs and words from the heart with the congregation.
……..Later in the week, our Squad leader Brandon was at a Gym and ran into a girl from church named Grace. She told us that what we said really touched and inspired her!!! Surprise encouragement and blessing to hear!!!
After church we were invited to a boys post-circumcision party. This is a big traditional coming of age deal in Muslim culture. There was great food, we presented gifts to the boy and his mom was dressed in her wedding attire. Several teen boys played drums and sang from the Quran on a stage. They soon asked us to go up and share a song.
I played:
Praises
Open The Eyes Of My Heart
Here I Am To Worship
As we sang, the boys played hand drums in the bg. Some sang along to the repetative choruses. And some raised and waved their hands.
God reminded me that He told me in early 2019 that He would use worship/singing in my life for a purpose. I know this is not the full picture of IT, but it certainly excited me.
GOD also has been opening my mind and heart to different ways of seeing His glory, what sharing Him looks like with a cultural and language barrier. And how many people in the Western World, including myself, can be judgmental. We see though our own lense and think that a relationship with Jesus has to look a specific way or it’s not right. God is so much bigger than we think. Everything is held together by Him. He is the ultimate Judge. He changes hearts, we just sow seed and obey. We are only called to love, and the way we all love even looks different. He created us all so uniquely. Creatively doesnt call for a method. We just love with what we have, and He grows it as we use it… and He works out the rest. I am so glad God is the most patient and merciful being. Because I have at times held myself to a religious expectation…. without asking God “what are you already doing here?” Or How can I honor You and how can I best love and honor the people around me that I am serving, especially on my team.
Monday 24th
We spent all day with different classes at the school we sleep at. We did songs and games with the young ones. And taught on Character Building with the older kids. We used various illustrations to show the Beauty of Differnce (Paul would say, one body with many memebers) and God as the Creator.
We based the lesson on Psalms 104:24
The last 3 days we spent in Bandung were primarily with the Christian school.
Tuesday 25th
I was honestly feeling eaten up with anxiety because I was to teach a Junior High class. So I stayed up late the night before preparing. I ended up teaching/preaching on the Creativity of God, how we can follow Him into what He has called us to do, Psalms, and I played my uke for them. It was a mixture of Bible and Creative Writing. And of course English practice!
Wednesday 26th
I taught kindergarden, which was a breeze. Mostly just a physical work-out of over expression and movement. Songs included but were not limited to:
You are my sunshine, Father Abraham, A tootie ta, I’ve got joy down in my heart…..
I got them to act out while I taught on the story in Daniel, about his 3 friends who did not burn in the furnace.
Thursday 27th
I spent my last day at School with the Primary Class.
One of the little boys asked “what do you do when you are mad?” And another little girl asked “how do you hear Gods voice?“.
The opportunity at that school was a big responsibility, and I am so grateful that we were able to see some of the fruit of it, for the children, the teachers and us.
That afternoon they held a ceremony for us where we received gifts, 100s of hand written notes from the students, and they gave speeches. They even made a short video with footage from the short time we were at the school.
I felt so over the top honored. That is the Indonesian way.
I have loads more I could say about the details of our 9days. But I have written enough. I will tell you in person. God is so good.
