Another Year in Indonesia Begins!
For the 4th year in a row I celebrated the beginning of a new year in Berastagi, North Sumatera, Indonesia. It’s really exciting to look at all this year holds.. beginning to end!
It’s been a great start! I have spent most of this month working with the youth in my hometown of Berastagi. We are getting ready to hit our area with some awesome youth festivals! All the youth are working hard! There is a lot of time practicing and planning but I think it’s going to be really awesome! I’ve noticed that this world is really good at attracting young people..but churches aren’t. We think doing a service is enough.. I don’t think it is.. If this world (which has nothing to offer) can get their attention.. what more can we do!! (who have Jesus.. the reason for living!!) So through dramas, games, movies, bands, etc… we will draw this young generation to Jesus!
It’s such a joy to continue on the work in Bandar Baru (the prostitution village). The girls have recently become much more open with us and sit down and seriously talk about their work and their problems. Sometimes they call me on the phone several times a week..they are really trusting us and letting us get close! And God is so faithful to open up doors! This month we met a woman there who has a house full of young girls working as prostitutes. She is like their pimp. But yet we were able to go into her house and just sit and chat. And the next week she actually came and joined our little weekly gathering!! In February we are moving the gathering to a new day and better time so that more of the prostitutes are able to come! I’m so excited!! Thank you for your prayers!!
Do you remember my Hindu friend, Seeta? She received Jesus into her life over a year ago. Since then she’s moved to the city to go to University so I don’t get to see her much anymore. But we were able to get together for dinner a few weeks ago.. and I can only praise God!! She came to dinner with her really nice, Christian boyfriend! We sat and talked about God! And she was disappointed that she couldn’t make it to hear me preach in church on Sunday! Jesus is the life changer!
When I went to Desa Gajah (the Elephant Village) for the first time over 3 years ago they said we were probably the first ‘bule’ (white people there) and from the reactions we got I believe them! But since then I’ve visited this village many times! Last January we did a festival there and almost the whole village came to hear the good news of Jesus. Since then I’ve done a lot of follow-up work there, going house to house. After a long time of not being able to go I traveled out there again. Many of the villagers recognized me. But many new people didn’t know me. They just kept saying “bule masuk kampungâ€. (A title of one of their favorite comedies, which means ‘the white person enters the village’). And they would watch intently to see if I would fall in the mud or do something similar to the stupid white people on their tv show. But since I am pretty Indonesian now I managed not to do anything too drastic. But as I passed by one coffee shop a man was walking out.. when he saw me his jaw dropped, his eyes almost popped out of his head, he grabbed his head and began to scream….’buuuuuuuule’!! This poor guy probably thought he was halluncinating watching a white girl walk by! He ran around in circles yelling at the top of his lungs!! As the people ran out of their homes all they saw was the back of me walking by, laughing to myself..
As usual, this month I also preached quite a bit in Sunday Church Services. One Sunday I was preaching about how miracles and great things can happen through us every day! Not because of what we do.. but because the Unchangeable Jesus does the work through us! He lives inside of us! Afterwards a young girl came up to me to thank me. ‘Thank you so much for what you spoke today’, She said, “God had given me a vision of great things He wanted to do through me. But I was scared. I thought I couldn’t do it. But I remembered it today. And I want to do it now. I want God to use me in a big way.†It’s great to see how the truth of God’s work frees us and enables us.
For a while now I’ve been thinking about 1 Cor 9. In verse 22 Paul says, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.†He would become as Jew, as one under the law, as one without the law, or be as weak.. so that all of them could be won. What a great example for us! To win someone to Jesus.. we need to be like them! We need to respect them to understand them.. so that we might be able to bring them to Jesus! How far am I willing to go?! Paul was willing to become weak.. to win the weak! Who do I want to win? Well..being here my biggest aim is for the Muslims. So how will I win the Muslims? By becoming like a Muslim! Don’t worry.. I’m not crazy.. and I would not give up my Jesus for anything in this world.. But.. what if I could become more like a Muslim so that I could become closer to them so that I could introduce Jesus to them…? I really ask you to pray for me.. the last couple of months I’ve been learning a lot about the beautiful Muslim people here..and this month I just bought my own Al’Quran in Indonesin…I want to become more like them.. to be more accepted by them..so that I can bring Jesus to them! Use all means.. so that some may be saved!
In the last 3 days of the month I got to practise some of this! The province of Aceh is above us but is very different because it is under Muslim Law. Which means you are not allowed to preach the gospel! I have not been there since the Tsunami disaster 2 years ago. But God put Aceh on my heart again. Within days after I prayed about it I had an amazing opportunity given to me to join with some friends who were reaching children in the rebel war camps! Since the Tsunami hit the war has not continued. But the rebels have not been accepted back into society at all. So they, and their children are left totally rejected in their camps. Most locals, even though they are Muslims are afraid for their lives to go into these areas. But they were wide open to us! I spent two days doing classes and games with the kids there! They were adorable children. And I was so glad to be able to encourage the team that’s working there! They are doing such great work.
The village is so open! They even gave us the Mosque to do our classes in the 2nd day! And the children totally surprised me by giving me a farewell party and even gifts! It meant so much to them that I came and cared about them! It was incredibly touching! Please continue to pray for Robert, Nolan and Elsa who continue to work in that village 2 days a week.
While there I respected the Muslims laws of dress. Even though it was blazing hot I wore all long sleeves and pants and even a ‘jilbab’ (head covering). Being a foreigner I could have gotten away without it.. but why did I go there? Not for my comfort.. but so that by all means some might be saved! And I found it helped me to be closer to the people because they respected me for respecting their laws. This helped in an English class I taught in the mornings with young, Muslim girls who were survivors of the Tsunami. I really had a great time with them. One day they asked me to sing. I hate singing in front of people. But finally we made a deal. If they sang an English song I would sing an Indonesian song. I was shocked when they actually sang in English.. oh no! now I had to sing! Haha.. one song popped into my head. And I realized this was an amazing opportunity!! I sang this new song I had just learned. It says: Â
â€The strength in this life I find in Jesus,
â€The strength in this life I find in Jesus,
He will never leave me,
But will always hold me,
Call out to, and hope in Jesus.
You are wonderful Lord,
Full of power, able to restore me,
In your hand, my whole life will never be shaken forever.â€
The girls sat with eyes wide just staring at me.. just listening to the words of the song. I could normally never say the name Jesus to them! But God provided a beautiful opportunity through them asking me to sing a song! God was able to some fun in English class and my ‘only in the shower voice to somehow let them hear the name of Jesus!
The beautiful things I have been able to experience this month is a result of your prayers and support…thank you so much!!
Let’s do whatever it takes .. let’s even be a little crazy.. let’s have one goal.. to bring them to Jesus!
Susan Joy