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.