INDONESIA: Mission Trip 2011 Day II

Jagalan, Surakarta

Sunday, May 22, 2011

I thought I had the strangest dream when I woke up this morning. I heard sounds I would perceive as the excruciating screams and cries of a man being possessed by a demon. It was tremendously audible from where I was sleeping in my pastor's room. Later on in the day I asked Kak Elyda (she and Kak Ester lived in this dormitory several years ago) what those sounds were and where they came from. She casually said they were the sounds of pigs being slaughtered. It would appear that there is a pig slaughterhouse situated right behind the building in which we are staying. Well, that uh... explains a lot.

The abattoir

This morning we were supposed to wake up at 4am for our daily morning prayer and devotions. However, my roommates and I misunderstood the given information and set our alarm to 4:30 instead, so we missed this morning's devotional meeting. The prayer is usually held inside the church, which is located upstairs. The only way to go upstairs is to first go outside, where the stairs are, through the front door. At 4:30, we found that the front door was already locked from the outside. To compensate for our negligence, the three of us did our own prayer and devotion session together in our room.

At 7am, we were set and ready to go to GBAP Smirna church for Sunday morning service, as well as our first ministry on this mission trip. When we arrived at this church, I was taken aback by the building itself. The building isn't a mega-church type of premise. It is rather a small property that connects to the humble abode of the senior pastor there. The service was very modest. It didn't need the loud music and extravagant instruments churches nowadays present. The aura was cordial and inviting, and the message was also simple and straightforward. The senior pastor of the church, who was also the host of the place, is 90% visually impaired. His name is Pak Stevanus. Praise and worship was an hour long! The songs kept being repeated over and over, but no doubt God's presence was there. It was utterly encouraging to see the congregation so keen and enthusiastic to praise the Lord. Ko Steven shared the Word of God, and I gave a song offering before the sermon. Brunch was served after the service and it was absolutely delicious! The pastor's wife prepared some great meals for us. We had sauced squid, fried chicken, shrimp, tempeh, and rice. Following our fantastic brunch, Kak Ester and Kak Elyda met with the Sunday School children and their teachers, while Ko Steven and I gathered the youth and had a little discussion with them. We shared our stories and we heard theirs. What an eye and mind opener it was to hear them. Although the youth is still growing, we saw huge prospectives in their individual development. I was touched by some of them as they narrated their stories. One of the older girls is a recent believer of Christ and she's getting baptized within the next few weeks.

Praise and Worship

View of the congregation

My song offering

Presenting my album to the senior pastor

People of GBAP Smirna

Sunday school dept

Youth discussion

Sunday school ministry

In the afternoon, we went to Ko Sonny/Kak Dita's house to relax and get some rest before resuming. We then headed back to church for the second Sunday service at 5pm. The meals we are served in the dormitory are ordinary, but also VERY tasty! What can I say, I stay true to my Indonesian roots. I LOVE Indonesian food. I couldn't imagine living without eating Indonesian food. I am thankful and grateful for the food that is served to us. We do everything ourselves here: we wash our own dishes and we do our own laundry. The only difficult challenge for me lies in the bathroom. Thus far, I have only stumbled upon a cockroach. But that's not the only treasure one could find in the bathroom. Today, I found a dash of dead ants and mosquitoes scattered in the bathtub, floating on the stagnant water. I swallowed my disgust and slowly but persistently scooped them out of the water with a gayung. I'm not sure what you call that in English. Moreover, the bathroom has a few glitches here and there: rust on the metal shelves, a broken toilet seat, etc. Nevertheless, I'm still thankful I can take a bath twice a day every day in that bathroom. Anywho, I'm sleep deprived, but still grateful.

Praise and worship + dancers

Praise and worship team of GBAP Solo

2nd day lesson: GIVE THANKS

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

LESSON 2: Focusing on deficiency decreases the sufficiency of provision, thus curtailing one's potential to live life to the fullest.

Ofttimes I would forget what I have and start sulking because I don't have or get what I want. Throughout this mission trip, my basic necessities were held back to the minimum. This has taught me to live on marginal circumstances and be grateful for what I have been provided with. No matter the situation, I should always give thanks because I'm still living life. I realized that if I concentrated my attention on what was lacking, I would not be able to discern, even to receive the blessings that God had intended for me, and as a result, I could not live my life for all that's worth. I now choose to always be joyful in God, regardless, and offer my utmost gratitude to The One who has given me life and all of the gifted blessings I may have in it.

I hope that gave you a bit of insight, at the least :-).

Love always,

H.