Jottings from Jakarta

“Hey Emmy did you go cycling on Sunday?” “No I went to church instead.” You don’t expect to hear these words said in the world’s most populous Muslim nation but the Lord moves in mysterious ways!
The Mimster is back on the road again and my first instalment this year is from Makassar and Jakarta in Indonesia. It was ironic that I left for Indonesia on Sunday night after having listened to Ted Hand’s testimony of how a simple Christmas lunch invite had paved the way for a Muslim family to seek baptism.

Emmy is one of our employees at our site in Makassar and the exchange referenced above happened at dinner on my first evening there. I was obviously surprised to hear them and certainly made a note to follow up with her as I was spending the whole day with her as part of some training I was doing there. I managed to talk to her in private later in the day and she told me she was in fact a Christian. For the past 18 years (she is now 30) she has taught Sunday school at a local church that is about 1000 strong (multiple sites). Being curious I asked how she became a Christian. Apparently her grandfather was a pastor and so it flowed on from there. An interesting comment she made was that her father would insist that they all get up at 5 am every morning for daily prayer. I say "this is interesting" because for all the negative press that the Muslim faith gets it’s hard not to admire the discipline that the followers have when it comes to prayer…5 times a day starting before sunrise! How many Christians can say that? So I think the early morning prayer for Emmy and her family were a spin off from this common practice in Indonesia.

I also asked her how difficult it was to be open about her faith. Her reply was that she is proud to be open about her faith but that some people shy away from her when they find out. Not welcomed with open arms but not targeted either is how I summarised it. As well as teaching Sunday school she also looks after children in a Muslim orphanage and just want to share with you some lines in an email she sent me after our discussion.

"As for my personal duty, I am very pleased to become “an ambassador of Christ”. What can I do now, just being a Sunday school teacher and teach children in two orphanages (Christian and Muslim). For children from orphanage, I have a mission for them to really understand and believe in their hearts that they were born into this world because they are important to themselves, others and of course GOD. I really want them to find the meaning behind “incompleteness”."

I know Judy (ex RE teacher) will be more than willing to help with ideas and resources to help her with the Sunday school side of things.

Arriving at Jakarta airport from Makassar later in the day I was frustrated that my pick up wasn’t there and no amount of calls could provide me with any clarity on when I would be picked up. After nearly two hours of standing in a hot and humid airport arrival lobby warding off persistent offers of “Taxi”, or “want to buy a watch”or “want to buy perfume” etc I was finally told by the hotel to get into a taxi anyway! Again though, I felt the Lord with me during this period of waiting as standing nearby were some Indonesians proudly displaying their crucifixes around the necks. However, by the time I got into the taxi it was now super peak-hour in Jakarta and, well, another 2 hrs were wasted. Simply put…traffic in Jakarta is hideous! I am actually typing this in traffic on my way back to the airport as I knew it would be easy to type given that for most of the time we will either be stationery or crawling along. Along the way I also notice a Christian church near the road and again feel a sense of peace.

Finally get to my hotel and whilst doing some work at my desk I open the drawer and what should be there…lo and behold, a Bible in Bahasa left there by the Gideons. God bless them! Arrive into the office this morning and again notice that one of our employees is again proudly wearing her crucifix around her neck.

I am sharing all this because whilst we are all probably noticing more and more Muslims in our communities it’s nice to be able to write that I am also seeing more and more signs of Christianity in a country where 75% of the population is Muslim. We pray for these crusaders for Christ and hope they are able to keep growing in number and influence.

Well I think we have travelled all of 2 km since I started writing this so I think there is much more of the beeping horns and chaotic driving to go before I get to the airport. I have long since stopped worrying about oncoming vehicles in our lane and cars meandering over as we overtake them. The best is when you get to an intersection though. It’s just inch your way forward into every space you can find (side of the road is irrelevant) until you get to the other side or you have turned into the general direction you want to go. I’m just not sure why they go to the expense of putting blinkers on cars and painting lines on the roads. Total waste of money!

God bless. Next instalment will be from India in a few weeks time.

Nice from New Zealand

After months of planning and scheming the time came for Jude and I to depart on our trip to New Zealand which was part work for me and part holidays to celebrate our 25 years of marriage. Once in Naw Zuland (bad attempt at accent) we spent a few days in Auckland where we went to church at the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle church just around the corner from our hotel. Interesting as everyone started off together in the one church and then it was time for the non New Zealanders to leave for the sermon "in simple English". More than half the church got up and left. Apparently being in the centre of Auckand they get a lot of international students and have found that by providing English lessons they are able to attaract quite a following. It was great to see. Then it was time for our sermon...given to us by a 91 year old grey haired man wearing a brightly coloured vest and Indian leather thongs. He had spent many years in India as a missionary. A great speaker and a great message.

Walking the streets of Auckland I came across this sign on a union building. It made me think that it was a great message if we only added the letters "comm" to the front of it.

A few days in Auckland and Jude still didn't know where we were going to be spending our actual anniversary. I was giving her clue a day until I had no choice but to tell her where we going on the actual day. By this stage though she had guessed. It was a lovely place that we had been to and stayed on our actual honeymoon. See photo.

Is there a better place on earth to see God's majesty when it comes to natural beauty? We were blessed with so many wonderful sights and creations that it was truly awe inspiring. We thanked God many a time for what we were able to witness and experience.

I was meant to have been in India this week for work but unfortuantely... :-) I wasn't able to get a visa in time and so I have had to stay at home. So that is it for me for this year with trampsing around the world. Global blogging with The Mimster will return next year after a well earned period of R&R in the lovely place called Rosebud...home.

God bless all and have a wonderful Christmas.

Meanderings from Milan

Well after spending a week and a bit in Muslim countries it was nice to arrive in Italy (Milan) where I have a sense of belonging and connection via my parents. Italy is obviously NOT a Muslim country although we did see the occassional hijab clad women in the streets. Our last night together with our team was spent in Milan central which included a brief visit to the magnificent "Duomo di Milano" or for those not fluent in Italian :-), the "Dome of Milan".

This is a magnificent old gothic type cathedral that is very imposing and a huge open square at the front that is obviously a meeting place similar to our Fed Square. I say obviously because to the right of this magnificent historic church was a HUGE screen that was showing commercials etc. I imagine it is also used to show sporting events. However, unlike the screen at Fed Square that tends to blend in with the modern design style of the buildings, this monstrosity of technology was just an unwelcome eyesore. Ugghh! The good news though was that the cathedral has undergone a really good clean and it is now back to the white stone that it originally was and not the grimy grey stone that I remember it from my last visit. Maybe the commercials playing on the huge screen were paying for these refurbishments. I can kind of accept it if that is the case.

I was walking back to my hotel the next day and saw this sign in a bookshop window.

The words read...

It has a word for everyone.

She is holding a Bible.

What a great sentence! It doesn't say "It has a word for every Christian." It says it is for everyone. As I travel around the various parts of my region and see the various faiths that are evident in the various countries, I guess this is a great sentence to keep in mind.

I am typing this from the lounge in Singapore on my way home after two weeks travelling. It will be nice to get home to my loved ones although I have my mother with me at the moment who has travelled back from Italy with me after spending 5 weeks in Europe. It's made this return leg a little "different" and lots more enjoyable.

Blessings to all.

Cairo Capers

I guess you know you are in a different part of the world when your car gets cut off by 2 camels that are weaving their way through VERY congested Cairo traffic! A glance over the right shoulder and there, behind the rows of shoddlily built homes, are the Giza pyramids towering above everything else. There really is something majestic about them. What those blocks of stone will have witnessed during their existence! A little further on and the car crosses a bridge over the Nile which sounds so romantic but unfortunately this part of the Nile has rows and rows of modern (?) buildings along each shore and somehow the romanticsm isn't quite the same.

It's always interesting visiting a Muslim country. Somehow beef bacon and eggs for breakfast doesn't sound quite as appetising! For all that is portrayed about the Muslim faith, I do admire their discipline and public acknowledgement of their faith. How many Christians will pray at least 5 times a day starting with a prayer before sunrise?

I had a rather "warm and fuzzy" experience the last day I was there. I had been reflecting on writing something for this blog as I was being driven to the office and was going through some ideas. As I got to the office, I happened to look down at the drivers key ring. There, wrapped around the steering wheel was a small leather crucifix on the end of a leather strap. Interesting I thought. Something to note in the blog. I then went into the office for a training session with some of our people and lo and behold, if one of the young women there didn't have this massive big gold crucifix around her neck. More stuff to add to the blog! After finishing the training session I asked for a one on one with the young lady and asked her about the cross. She said she was a Christian and her family have been for some generations back. Interestingly though she went on to say that a few years ago she had decided to research religion so she could make up her own mind about faith and what she believed in etc. She said after studying the many forms of religion, Christianity was what made sense for her and that she felt truly blessed to be able to have that renewed faith. I asked her how she felt wearing the crucifix in an an overtly Muslim environment. She said that she tends not to wear it visibly when she walks down the street as she does notice she gets some weird looks, but (I'm happy to say) feels totally comfortable to display it in our workplace and when she is out with her friends. Kudos to her for having the courage to do so and prayers that her faith will be a light for those she comes into contact with.

Blessings to all.

Mim's Tokyo Tales

Howdy all. Well I managed to sign up into this blog even though the blog platform that came up for registration was all in Japanese, which I guess is what should happen if you access it from Japan! A few educated guesses on what goes where and bingo I'm in!

Today is my last day in Tokyo after being here since Monday. It was absolutely bucketing down with rain this morning (made me feel at home :-) ) but the upside is that it has cooled things down. Last week they were sweltering in near 4o deg heat apparently!

Tokyo is a unique place. The streets and train stations (oh for a train system like Japans!) are an eclectic mix of ultra conservative business men and women to youths that push to extremes the boundaries of dress and make-up. Such a "gentle" culture that is full of rituals and courtiousness, especially to foreigners. This can create awkward situations like when you try to allow women into elevators first but they wait for you to go first because you are the "guest". Or you dare not fill your dinner guests cups with tea. Oh no, they have to do that for you! It can be a very subserviant culture. Actually, if I think about it, I could really get used to this culture. Maybe that's why I don't mind coming to Japan! Jude, if you read this I'm only joking...really!
Looking forward to hopping on that plane home tomorrow though.

This is only a brief blog to ensure technology has worked. Blessings to all.

Mim.