ministry

So I got randomly volunteered (without my knowing) to lead a ministry trip this weekend. Not that I mind. I was planning on going anyways. Leading it is a bit more intimidating. So here's the rundown. We're leaving today right after school to travel to a town about 4 hours north of us. While we're there, we will be sleeping/eating in a church gracious enough to host us. Between Friday evening and Sunday morning, these things are on our agenda: visit 2 youth groups, visit a Christian school, visit an orphanage, visit widows, beach ministry, Indonesian church. This is the first ministry trip that our school has ever taken to this town, so the hope is that we will build bridges through relationships there for future trips/ministry efforts. At the youth groups and school we'll just be hanging out, talking, sharing testimonies, etc. When we go visit the orphans and widows, we'll be taking clothes and toiletries (soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.) and just spending time loving. At the beach, we're just planning on hanging out and having good conversations with whoever we can find. And at church, I've been informed that we're expected to get up and sing for them. Perfect.

Anyways, bottom line is: please pray. We will need it. I'll be traveling with a local family of 5, two American short-termers who only arrived in the country on Wednesday, and 6 students (5 of which are boys). The most important things to pray for go as follows:
1. A willingness in all our hearts to be used in any way.
2. Eyes to see the opportunities placed before us.
3. That love will reach the places where language (or lack thereof) cannot.
4. Safety.

Talk to you again next week!

God gave me good friends

So I put in a good 10.5 hours at school yesterday.
Then another hour at a soccer game.
It was craziness.
Kids everywhere.
By the time I got home, I just plain didn't feel good.
It hit me hard. I laid down on the couch for about 15 minutes.
But then it was time to go out for dinner.
A friend came to pick me up and saw the state I was in.
So he decided to make me better.
This involved making me sit down on the couch while he played guitar and sang to me.
It was nice.
This is what happened.

Him: "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy....."
Me: Awwwwwwwww........
Him: "Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry......"
Me: My dad sings me this song to wake me up in the morning.
Him: Really?
Me: But he mostly says polebarn instead of sunshine.
Him: "Sunshine on the water looks so lovely......"
Me: And then I would punch him in the stomach and tell him to go away.
Him: Are you going to punch me in the stomach?
Me: Noooooooooo.
Him: "Sunshine almost always makes me cry....." Wait. I think it's "high".
Me: Yeah. It would be dumb to rhyme cry and cry. It's high.
Him: "Sunshine almost always makes me high....."
Me: Sounds about right.
Him: "If I had a day that I could give you..... I'd give to you a day just like today......"
Me: But I didn't like today! That's the whole reason you're singing to me right now.
Him: I would give you the hypothetical day in the song, which is a good day.
Me: Then that should be the words.
Him: "If I had a day that I could give you..... It would be the hypothetical day in this song....."
Me: But now the last line won't rhyme!
Him: "If I had a song that I could sing for you..... I'd sing a song that made you happy all along."
Me: Better than was I was thinking of. "I'd sing a song that made you happy on the lawn."
Him: No. I like yours better.
Me: Naaaaaaaaah.
Him: "If I had a tale that I could tell you, Id tell a tale sure to make you smile, If I had a wish that I could wish for you, Id make a wish for sunshine all the while."

We were late for dinner.
But I felt better.
God gave me better friends than I ever expected to have.

Oh, and I miss you dad.
But even if you came here and sang that song to me early in the morning, I would probably still punch you in the stomach and tell you to go away.

i.... just got a job offer.
teaching pre-calc and prob & stats.
in honduras.
for the school that i was going to go work at originally.
i told them no.
but it's nice to be remembered.
and even nicer to be wanted.

it's thundering out.

we're going to karaoke tonight.

welcome to another wonderful day in indonesia.

a line by one of the characters in the last lemony snicket book.
it is my new favorite poem....

the night has a thousand eyes
and the day but one
yet the light of the bright world dies
with the dying sun.

the mind has a thousand eyes
and the heart but one
yet the light of a whole life dies
when love is done.

barack hussein obama

unfortunately, i did not get to see the inauguration yesterday.

because unfortunately, it was on tv in the middle of the night here.

and unfortunately, i do not own a tv.

fortunately, the history teacher streamed it online and showed it during u.s. history.

unfortunately, we have very slow third world internet.

so unfortunately, we only saw the first 10 minutes of obama's address. (it buffered for 7 hours!)

this was my favorite part.

obama: we remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

me: uhmmmmm.......

mike: i think that was a little out of context.

me: uhmmmmmm........ yeah?

obama: ....that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness....

me: uhmmmmm......

mike: yeah.

me: does he THINK he's quoting scripture?!

mike: oh yeah, that's in second jefferson, i think.

right.

i took a picture.
for history's sake.

in history class.

in this picture, there are:

a dutchman

3 koreans

a brit

an afghani

an indonesian

2 americans.

*EDIT*

after writing this, i was talking to an american friend serving in indonesia...

he summed up both of our feelings about the inaugural address spot on.

"reminds me how americans are characterized by pursuing what they think is happiness. and how sacrificing a little of that ideal is never done for the good of america, let alone the rest of the world. all in the name of upholding a 'right' that we inherently possess solely because of our place of birth."

i thought about that for a long time. and all i was eventually able to say back was "amen and amen."

Weather forecast for Friday, 16 January 2009.
Predicted highs.
Waterloo, Indiana, USA = 0 degrees Farenheit
Semarang, Jateng, Indonesia = 84 degrees Farenheit

but you can't sleep.....

At about 2 AM, I was feeling pretty amazed at how much I accomplished after midnight compared to how much I accomplished all day BEFORE midnight. I am undoubtedly a night person. Too bad I don't often have the luxury of being a night person here. Anyways, I made an impressive list. But then I just kept going and going and going and going. It's 9:30 AM now. I'm still not tired. Here's my lists.

List 1 (Or: Things I did before midnight)
Woke up at 12:36 (Don't judge me. I'm still sick a little. I definitely needed extra sleep.)
Took a shower.
Ate an apple.
Sporadically watched 6 hours of The Office while doing a cross-stitch gramma sent me.
Played guitar.
Ate a tuna sandwich. (First meat since being sick!)
Walked up to school to check my email.

List 2 (Or: When I come alive)
Fixed the decorations in my room.
Hung up my mirror that has been sitting on my desk since I got here. I used tools.
Put all my Yiddish magnets on my refridgerator.
Fixed all my candles that swallowed their own wicks.
Rearranged my lemari (wardrobe/shelving) to open up more room for books/dvds.
Cleaned out the fridge.
Cleaned my house.
Killed a lot of ants.
Swapped out computer batteries in my laptop. Put the old one back in. The charger is bad.
Wrote out three weeks worth of lesson plans.
Did three weeks worth of Math 7 homework. (The power was out and I was working by candlelight at this point)
Called home and located a paper I need, via Kyley. (Thanks)
Ate dinner. (Seaweed and cold rice!)
Read my Indonesian dictionary and learned a few new words.
Took some pictures in the dark.
Wrote a math quiz.
Brainstormed and typed up guidelines for 2 different quarter projects.
Played mahjongg.
Played guitar.
Had a brilliant idea for my class bulletin board.
Changed my handwriting. Again.
Freed up a ton of space on my hard drive.
Got the pick out of the inside of my guitar. Finally.
Made Chai. And drank it. Duh.
Read the first 20 chapters of Around the World in 80 Days.
Did situps.
Got dressed.
Walked to school.
Typed this dumb list.

Church starts in 30 minutes.

in all my talk about bali, i totally forgot to mention anything about the flight there. or, more accurately, the flight security in the jogja airport. let me list my favorites.
1. mari had water bottles in her carry-on. and got to keep them.
2. i set off the metal detector, so they pulled me aside to wand me. i set the wand off in the general area of my right pants pocket. they waved me on anyways.
3. when i checked in and went through three security checks, i never once showed a single form of id.
4. i was never asked to remove my shoes.
5. i left the airport and came back in without getting security checked.

i watched the curious something or rather of benjamin button last night. it's a movie. and that's not its actual name. i just can't remember it right now. it was long, but actually a rather good story. i understand it's still in theaters in the states. there were subtitles. in english. done by indonesians. these ones were, however, better than the ones in meet dave (see some other blog i wrote on some other date in recent history). they at least tried to write what they heard. it's understandable. i mean, even native english speakers have trouble sometimes. take the old creedence song, for example, "there's a bad moon on the rise". don't worry dad, i think it says "there's a bathroom on the right" too. some subtitles and (actual lines) from the movie. the only ones i can remember, sorry.

i'm old enough for love things (i'm old enough for a lot of things)
you look fantastic (you're a lucky b*****d)
she had a 2,380 kg baby (she had a 6 lb 4 oz baby)

and that last one is especially funny because here in indonesia, a period is a actually comma. so what it really says (american style) is a 2.38 kilo baby. which is, in fact, 6 pounds 4 ounces. (i checked)

new years eve

New Year's Eve. It deserves its own blog, really. How eventful... First off, all the girls wore dresses, which was fun all by itself. Also, by this point, we had accumulated about 15 friends, so we had quite a crowd going. Also fun. The evening's adventures began with dinner. Indian food. a-MAZ-ing! Yohanes told us that the restaurant was about a 30 minute walk away from our hotel, so we all set out in high hopes, knowing that we were hungry enough to get us there in 20 minutes. An HOUR later, we arrived, sweaty and famished. Between the food and the company, the walk was well worth it! (Cashew curry chicken and garlic naan? Divine!) After eating our fill and spending a bit of time just relaxing and conversing, we decided to change locales. We paid up and left the restaurant, stopping briefly on the way out for Yo to buy some obnoxious noisemakers from someone on the sidewalk. One for everyone! We also took about a hundred pictures to commemorate the blessed event, much to my chagrin.

In high spirits once again, we began the arduous trek back. As we neared the heart of Kuta (the highly tourist-y/resort-y/ritz-y area of Bali where our hotel was located), we encoutered throngs of people heading out to clubs and parties all over town. The place was a mess. So we took the road less traveled - a side street that took us directly to the beach! Without ever really discussing it, we unanimously decided that this was the place to be. I mean, there were fireworks and firedancers. What else could we need? The beach was absolutely packed. I actually never even saw the water, which became a bit of a concern for me as people started shooting off random fireworks from within the crowd. Unlicensed unprofessionals shooting off things that explode just a few meters over my head does not instill a sense of safety in my heart. Or liver. Or any other internal organ. Oh well.

As midnight approached, we realized that every single one of us had a different time on our handphones. Did anyone actually know when the new year would arrive? We made the best of it and counted down the new year at least 4 times, much to the amusement of the Indonesians around us. I took that opportunity to call Katy, my bestest and dearest friend with whom I have spent every New Years since about 1997, give or take. (I heart you.) Unfortunately, by this point, the crowd was so loud that I couldn't hear her, but she could her me wishing her a selamat tahun baru at 1:00 in the afternoon. Time zones are funny things. Shortly after that, a roar of voices came from behind us, which spread like a fire fueled by a powerful accelerant down the waterfront. The new year was finally here. Or at least someone had managed to convince us that it was.

After much general gaiety and thousands more pictures taken on the beach, Peco remembered an earlier desire that I had expressed for ice cream. So we went to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach, where he kindly bought me an ice cream cone. I have not had soft-serv in 6 months. Oh, man..... Here, we accidentally met up with even MORE friends of ours from Salatiga who were holiday-ing in Bali, and we hung out for a bit, watching the beach crowd disperse. After awhile, we were ready to head back to our hotel, none of us being the party/club type. So we walked to our road, conveniently located right next to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach.

There were a lot of people on our road. So many, in fact, that they formed an impenetrable wall. The whole road is about 4 meters wide and is walled in on both sides, thereby forming a chute of sorts. A chute that was completely plugged and entirely impassable. Our hotel was about half a kilometer down this road. We decided to see how far we could get, but some important looking guys started yelling at people to turn back and get off this road. So we went back near the McDonalds and pondered our course of action. Shortly, Peco and Yohanes, who we had previously left at the McDonald's, joined us. Quickly assessing the situation, they decided we should try again. So we did. It was a mess. Our group got separated in the crowd, and I found myself at the tail end with Peco and Yo. In about 15 minutes, we made it no more than a meter or two into the human wall, with more and more people coming from behind, pressing us forward, a direction in which we could not go. It was a very hot and claustraphobic experience. The guys took excellent care to protect me. In a crowd that tightly packed, I don't think anyone even brushed against me, so good were they at defending my right to breathe. Faced with the realization of how long it would take us to reach our hotel, we decided once again to turn back.

Finding ourselves again at the waterfront, we decided to walk farther down the main road and take the long way around back to the hotel. But not until Yo took 50 more pictures. It is quite a walk, but we figured it would be much quicker than waiting for the crowd to thin out. And it was. There were still masses of loud and drunk people everywhere, but we made it back to the hotel easily in less than 30 minutes. We were hot, tired, and sweaty. So we all ran to our rooms, threw our suits on, and jumped into the pool! Eventually, other friends started trickling back from their arduous walk, and so enticed were they by the pool, that they all jumped in with their clothes still on! Now, why didn't WE think of that?? We were having such a good time that the hotel guard had to come tell us to be a little quieter. Because who is asleep at 2 AM on New Years Eve in Bali?!

After cooling off and drying off, we all went to the guys' room to hang out on their massive balcony. One by one, people said their goodnights as the hour became too much for their sleepy eyes to bear. By about 3, only Peco, the 2 South Africans, the German, and me remained. By 5:30, when we were all still wide awake, we decided that we should definitely see the first sun rise of the year. But where at? Kuta is on the west side of Bali - not a good place to see the sunrise in all its glory. But wait! - Sanur! It's on the East side of the island! Yup. We definitely woke a taxi driver up at 5:30 AM so he could come pick us up and drive us across the island just in time to see the first amazing sunrise of 2009. Once it was up, we all realized how incredibly tired we were, so we all came home and went to bed. All before anyone in the States had even finished their New Years Eve dinner. And THAT..... was New Years.

in which i emerge from my cave

so. i got back from bali on saturday morning.
the 18 hour bus ride was actually great.
got to ride a ferry to java at sunset.
i even saw orion! my favorite! he was upside down.
got to hang out with some good friends.
got to see more of indonesia.
got to eat supper at midnight.
got to sleep a lot.
got to almost die like 27 times.
excellent.

chilled sunday.
had movie/pizza night with friends on monday.
barfed my guts up on tuesday.
writhed in pain on my couch on wednesday.
vowed never to eat pizza again on thursday.
i can't wait to see what friday holds in store.