I have now been in Indonesia for 7 weeks. We just finished our first quarter of the school year and I spent last weekend averaging grades and filling in report cards. What a relief that's done! Two weeks ago, I visited an Indonesian church with another teacher. She and I had a great time and I really enjoyed being immersed in the culture. Since I live at the school, I don't get to interact with Indonesians too much. Before church started, the power had gone out, which happens all the time. So instead of using the keyboard and the microphones, the music leaders just switched over to guitar and sang out the songs. I would guess that there were about 50 or more people there and the room was almost full. I can't even describe the feelings I had when I heard all these people praising God and singing out to him - the very same God that I have known and worshipped my whole life! What a blessing to get this small glimpse of heaven; I can't wait to be around the throne of God and hear all the people singing in thousands of different languages. Just hearing one is amazing! The other teacher I was with translated for me and I really enjoyed the sermon. Afterward, I met several of the church leaders as they stood outside the door and shook our hands as we left. The pastor's wife began a conversation with us and invited us to dinner. So this past Tuesday, we went to their house for dinner. We arrived promptly at 7pm (as polite Americans ought to) and as we pulled in the driveway, the teacher I was with realized that we should have been more "culturally appropriate" and waited until after 7 to arrive. Just as we were contemplating this, we saw the pastor and his wife pulling in behind us on their motorbike - the guests had arrived before the hosts! We felt a bit embarrassed, but fortunately, they were very kind people and told us not to worry about it. While the pastor's wife cooked dinner, we sat in the living room and looked through a wedding album - the pastor's wife's sister was recently married this summer. The sister was also at the house and she explained to us how an Indonesian wedding goes while we explained to her the details of an American wedding. We had a great time just chatting and soon dinner was ready. We went to the back of the house and sat in various chairs while we ate and watched the video of the wedding. The food was delicious! We had rice (of course) with two different "toppings" - one was a mixture of beans and beef while the other was a mixture of carrots and other vegetables. We also had small bits of chicken that had been fried - this may offend some southern people I know :) but it was the best fried chicken ever! It was different than fried chicken in the States (a lot smaller for one), but it was so crispy and so full of flavor. I ate so much and went back for seconds and thirds (much to the pleasure of the pastor's wife). We had such a great time fellowshipping with them and even though I really didn't understand very much of the language (the lady I was with translated when she could), I felt like I was with real down-to-earth people as opposed to strange people from a foreign land. It goes to show that when you have the common bond of being a part of God's family, you can feel a sense of belonging anywhere.
One more bit of news - praise the Lord that the science teacher is finally coming! He'll be here tomorrow. We've been asking God for a long time to bring in his finances and he has answered our prayers (just as he did when people were praying that my finances would come in and I could come). Thank you all for the comments you are leaving. I enjoy getting them so please continue posting your comments. God Bless.
