Ajaib!
Last time I wrote I was just finishing up my last few days of January in Banda, Aceh. The Muslim province above me. Well I started my month of February up there too. On the 1st I took a bus that went from the very tip of the top of the province down to the border.. although many people assured me this would only take around 5 hours I didn’t really believe them.. rightly so. It took 13! By the time I met up with the rest of my team in a village called Bukit Selmat I was really really tired of sitting on that seat in that mini bus! Haha
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Our time in Bukit Selmat was an really amazing and unforgettable time! The day after I arrived we held a crusade meeting in the church, because it is against the law to preach the gospel outside of the church there. But in the midst of a Muslim Community the speakers blared out the good news! Since all other churches in the area had been closed and this church had holes in its steel roof from being stoned on a regular basis there was an excitement about the meeting that night. The regular church attendance on a Sunday is only 15 people. But I sat in the front with my team and the pastor with us, totally amazed as the people poured into the church building! They all sat squished on the floor.. and it became fuller and fuller and fuller..until it was impossible for even one more body to squish in! (and believe me!! Indonesians know how to squish!! Haha) About 300 of them! So they crowded around the windows and the door! They had never seen such a crowd like this before! They were so excited jumping around and praising God! It was a truly amazing time!! (pics below) They just ate up the gospel message I preached and after we prayed for them they stood up and testified about what God had done! Amazing things had taken place.. one woman had been healed after being sick for 10 years!!!
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The next day we had planned to go to a small island nearby for another meeting that night. We took the bus to a nearby house and walked to the coast.. and this is where the adventure began! There was no real boat there.. only these little wooden rickety things.. so ok. We climbed in.. but so did everyone else! 12 people climbed in until we were sitting just barely above the water! The motor started.. the black smoke poured out and we putt putt putted off…towards the dark clouds which started raining on us! And then we veered off the main channel and began traveling through these small channels of this erie jungle marsh! Sometimes our boat could barely fit through! It was like something you would only see on tv! Once I think I even looked around to make sure there was no tv crew behind me! No it was real, very real…and a little scary! Haha. But we arrived.. and our arrival was celebrated since we were the 1st white people to ever go there! (pic below) We had a great time on that beautiful island and a wonderful meeting! The attendance was about the same as the population of the village! Then to go home we had to wait till almost midnight till the tide was high enough.. but even then it wasn’t so we had to hike up our pants and slide down the slope into the nastiest mud I have ever walked through in my whole life!! Climb into the boat and head back the same way we came.. in the pitch black!! And I thought the way there was scary! Hahaha.. But we arrived safely and happy. The only misfortune we had was that something bit me in the gross mud we hiked through and my foot was really swollen for a few days. But it’s all part of the adventure of bringing the gospel where no one has ever ventured to go before!!!
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After the adventures in Aceh we headed to Malaysia for new social visas. Thanks for your prayers.. we got the visas in just 2 days!
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I asked you a few months ago to pray for us to have opportunities with our neighbors. I can see how our prayers are being answered! A few weeks ago one of our elderly neighbours was sick in the hospital. So we went to go visit him one afternoon. We sat around his bed having a great time.. laughing it up. In fact we laughed so hard we got in trouble for disturbing the other patients! Then I told him that laughter is good for you.. it works like medicine. He answered “well if that’s true Susan has to come visit me tomorrow too!†He has come home from the hospital and now is very open, inviting us into his house regularly and even told some nieghbours how he was wrong about me. How I really am really nice and really do care about them. I really think God is changing their hearts to become more open to hear His amazing news!
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I don’t know if you remember Tika. She was a girl in the youth I was discipling last year. She was saved from a Muslim family and I even had the joy of baptizing her. But when I came back from Canada she had already moved in with her family in the city 2 hours away and I had no way of contacting her. I was worried about her. Families here can be very harsh on anyone who becomes a believer. But one Sunday this month I was preaching in a church in the city.. and I looked down.. and there was Tika! Not only was she attending church there but that day she had brought some new friends to church for the 1st time! After church she sent me a text message that asked me to pray for her because she wants serve God like I do! It gave my heart so much joy to see her growing in Christ!!
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Ok..it’s been a while since I shared an embarrassing story. Here goes… at least once a week I go down to Bandar Baru (the prostitution village). I usually only tell the bus conductor at the last minute where I want to get off because they always get the wrong idea about us and can make the bus ride very unpleasant. One day we were actually heading off to Malaysia but we stopped to visit the girls in Bandar Baru first. As usual we got off the bus.. and everyone stared..but then it got worse than usual.. now the bus was in an aproar..and then I realized why!! The bus conductor was unloading all of our bags.. the whole bus thought we were moving into the prostitution village!! I could only laugh about it as I knew there was no way I could convince the whole bus that I was not a foreigner becoming a prostitute in Indonesia!
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I’ve spent about the last two weeks in Berastagi preparing for next youth festival in the village of Tiga Panah (3 arrows)! It has been such a great time! Yesterday I was at our final practice..I looked around at the band, the singers, the big group of dancers.. I remembered so long ago I had dreamed of doing these creative outreaches.. but it seemed impossible, never having been done before..but now it is a reality! We are really doing it! The youth have totally taken over and it is amazing!! It gave me goosebumps just watching them yesterday! Young people with so much potential and energy.. using it to reach their generation!! Totally awesome!
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I’ve tried to get my thinking outside of the box.. way out! It’s hard.. especially in an area so tied to tradition. I’ve realized music is the key to reach the young people here.. but I knew using the band from the church services wasn’t going to cut it.. I realized there were so many young guys with amazing talents as musicians. But because the church hadn’t let them play they were not involved at all..and instead played for the world and were influenced by it..it was really sad to me. So I decided to chose them as the band… not many people agreed with me.. infact I think almost everyone opposed me. But after we realize how we’ve experienced God’s grace.. how can we not use that grace towards others?!? I believe if God can use me..He can use anyone! The most important thing to me is not whether or not they smoke but the only thing I asked was that they had a desire to serve God and use their gifts to bring the gospel. It is amazing.. all I did was give them an opportunity.. and now God’s grace is doing huge things in their life! Even one of their mothers came up and thanked me.. her son has changed so much in the past month! Other friends have told me too how they have never seen these guys so happy before! I can’t believe it either! Now they come a few times a week to my house… faithful in everything I ask them to do. And they have such an excitement and joy about doing these outreaches! Wow. God’s grace is such a life changer!
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We will be hitting the youth in Tiga Panah with an exciting 2 night program on March 6th and 7th including: a big screen movie, games and prizes, live big drama, and music concert! It’s so exciting.. I really think this is the beginning of an amazing way to reach the young people of this country!!
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Your prayers and support make a such a huge difference.. thank you!!
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Tetap senyum, (keep smiling!)
Susan Joy