Currently, I’m writing this blog in a KFC near our house that is quite clean compared to our locations in the USA and what a view! The balcony overlooks the beautiful scenery of tropical trees and mountains in Bogor. Stray cats with mangled tails brush up on your leg hoping to entice you into sparing some chicken morsels. Instead of enticing her, my teammate Vielka shrieked and is now precariously balancing on her chair trying to keep her legs from touching the ground. I guess you could say she is more of a dog person.
Being in Indonesia is not what I thought it would be at all.
I am a Christian, which can mean many things to many people.
Here’s what it means to me: I believe that Jesus was not merely a prophet, but the promised Messiah that scripture talks about (Isaiah 42:1-6, Isaiah 53, to name a few.) Jesus is the son of Allah and died for the sins of all mankind. Through him, we can find forgiveness and relationship with Allah. This is the good news that I believe in and know is true in my heart. Who can’t help, but share this joy and wonder? Allah came to Earth to die for us? Yes! It’s crazy! I know!
I thought it would be difficult for me as a Christian being a Muslim-majority country and there has been pressure on local believers, but for the most part everyone has been very open and welcoming. It’s part of their culture, but goes into overdrive when they see foreigners.
I was talking to a local Muslim woman about my trip to the different countries and in her broken English she warned me that I probably wouldn’t like Saudi Arabia (we’re not going there, so I was confused as to why she brought it up. Probably because she discerned I was a Christian before I was able to share.)
Not deterred by the direction of the conversation, I told her, “I’m a single, white, hardworking, Christian woman that loves driving her car and letting her hair down. Trust me, I know Saudi Arabia don’t want me there.”
Translation: Indonesia is very liberal concerning Islam beliefs whereas Saudi Arabia is very conservative.
What I love about God is he in multicultural. He is not just the white man’s god. He doesn’t just speak to people in English. He is the God of every tribe and every nation.
Philippians 2:9-11
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
God is loves you. He loves the color of your skin because in his boundless creativity, he created you that way. He loves the different languages and how people worship him with music.
One of my favorite things is going into local churches and hearing people praise God in their own language. When I’m in these services, my mind drifts back to the United States and thinking of all the people that complain about worship.
Oh, the music is too loud!
Oh, we need more hymns!
Oh, why did we sing a new song? No ones knows the words and can’t enjoy it!
And here I am just wishing I knew Bahasa so I could sing along with my Indonesian brothers and sisters. It really makes you realize how petty we can be about worship when it’s not even about us to begin with, but about bringing glory to God.
This one church we went to I actually could sing along because they had the words in Indonesian on the screen. My teammate Erica told me later that there was a couple sitting in front of us. She thought they were laughing at me as I sang along to their Indonesian worship songs. It’s probably because my pronunciation was terrible, but that’s not going to stop me from trying! Puji Tuhan!
Haters be my motivators. (Right, Jonathan?)
We are meeting refugees here at a school and getting to know them. I will share more about them in a later blog with more stories, but if you would like to see who they are and what they are doing, please check out their website here.
Because they are refugees, they are not allowed to work or study among the locals and they have to create their own space for education. They are a non-profit that relies on donations.
If you feel lead to give, do not hesitate. They are beautiful, humble people trying to create a better life for their families even though everything is stacked against them.
I’m so very proud of you Heidi! This was a wonderful message.
I love this post on so many levels! However, it does bring up a huge question of mine. Perhaps you or Jonathan, or someone there can answer it for me. You talk about Allah, and Jesus being the son. When I went through a membership class at church I asked that very same question, God is God we just calling different names, right?. My pastor said to me if Jesus is not the son of Allah, but Muhammad is the prophet that means Allah is not our God. I am confused. In my heart I believe we all worship the same God and just call him different names, but again, I was told that’s not correct. Do you have any insight?
Hey Kitty, it was a long response so I emailed it to you!
Maybe I will wrote a blog about this very topic so people can understand!
Thank you for asking questions!!
-Heidi
Amazing answer. Yes, you should blog it