Two things:
First of all, my reading is done! I actually finished two weeks ago (school does make it hard to be a punctual blogger...) having zipped through the end of Paul, the Catholic Epistles, and Revelation all in a day. I'll hopefully blog through some of the New Testament books in the months leading up to my departure for Indonesia in January.
Second, for this post I want to take a break from discussing Scripture to give a glimpse of how our trip preparation has been going. Since starting the semester, our team has met once every Wednesday night. In addition to prayer, we've spent the last few weeks discussing how to get ready for our ministry in Indonesia.
Our main outreach will be teaching short English lessons in a university and/or high-school setting. Our job is twofold: first, our simple presence helps improve the credibility of our partner ministry. Since their main outreach is to plant libraries and literacy centers around the country, using native English-speakers in their educational programs strongly increases the ministry's credibility in the eyes of the Indonesian government.
Second, we hope to build relationships with Indonesian students that can eventually lead to friendship with our Indonesian ministry partners. We know that because our time in the country is short, our Indonesian brothers and sisters will have a far better chance of leading these students to Christ than we will. I know from my time in China that many young people from other parts of the world are eager to befriend foreigners, especially Americans. Our hope, therefore, is that our American faces will be "bait" that will allow us to connect our student friends to our Indonesian brothers and sisters, who will then build long-term relationships that preach the gospel.
Since teaching English is integral to our work, we were blessed to participate in a coaching session two weeks ago with a missionary who has had much experience teaching English with the very ministry we'll be serving. Talk about helpful!
Then last week, we Skyped a Partners International worker with experience in Indonesia. He gave us great answers to some of our questions about the nitty-gritty of Indonesian culture: "Do women have to wear head coverings?" (rarely) "What's the proper way to greet someone?" (never with your left hand) "Is it offensive to take pictures of people?" (nope). So on and so forth.
As we move into November, my guess is that now that we know a little about teaching English and Indonesian culture, we'll start formulating some lesson plans. We've already bought our plane tickets, and I myself am currently working on getting my passport renewed. With only two and a half months until our departure, Indonesia is beginning to feel closer and closer indeed.
What of my team? Every member is fabulous to say the least. Here's a group photo:
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| From left to right: Will Pollock (my roommate!), Sam Miyauchi, me, Cristi Bratt, Dottie Mohrlang, Kayley Riesenhoover, Stacey Eyman, Anneliese Dailey & Sarah Sauter. As you can see, women are far more spiritual than men when it comes to mission work... |
We've had a great time getting to know one another, praying for one another, and learning with one another. Even now, it's clear there's a great deal of spiritual maturity in the group, not to mention unity. We laugh a lot and genuinely enjoy each other's company. I don't think I could have asked for a better team.
Prayers for us always appreciated!
