Weiders Abroad

My goodness time flies!  Sorry for the long delay in a new post.  If you haven’t already checked out our newsletter on here, please do.  Hopefully it won’t be too boring.

We are almost officially done with our first school year here in Indonesia!!  Gabe and Sheralynn survived.  So did Mike and Sarah.  Even Bethany has come through victoriously.  I can only pray that next year will be as fruitful and blessed as this year has been.  I also pray that God will continue to open doors for us in our ministry here.

We will be returning to Indo for another year and we are certain that this is the right place and the right time for us.  We will be making tough decisions within the next six months about our future.  We are considering many things: staying here, moving to an LCMS international school, or returning home to the seminary.  We hare been praying that God will open doors for us to determine where we could serve Him.  If our time here has taught us nothing else, we have certainly learned to “be still and wait” for God’s leading.  We are not expecting a lightning bolt, but we would wish that His path for us would become clear.

As for you, whoever you are reading this, I pray that God will bless you, too, and lead you to paths of service for Him!!

I continue to be involved with the mother-child home in Lippo Village.  It has now been named The Rose Garden and they have added one more thing:  their first baby!!  I was able to go visit and bring baby items to the house today.  Tina, the young mother, was up and looking healthy.  The baby was sleeping.  Things are progressing there slowly, but surely.  They have an office for the house mother, who is aptly named Rose.  They have a baby bed coming from other sources.  It is coming together for Tina and Matthew (the baby).  I’m so pleased to report that many needs have been and continue to be met for this ministry.

Gabe and I had the opportunity to go to SeaWorld with some children from a local orphanage.  It was a wonderful experience, not just for the kids we took, but for Gabe and me as well.  We brought UNO cards and played with some of the kids.  UNO was our choice because it is easy to play even if you don’t speak the same language.  Gabe had fun, they seemed to have fun, and I definitely had fun watching the boys play.

It is true that very few words passed between the boys, but they communicated in other ways.  They shared a book (Cars, of course), they played games, they walked around together.  I was pleased to be part of this excursion.  This orphanage is a place which we will continue to visit and support.

I ask, as always, that you keep the Rose Garden in your prayers.  And now I would like to ask you to pray for Tina and baby Matthew.  I will post pictures soon.  If you haven’t had a chance to see our April newsletter, please take a look.  Blessings to all of you!

Today I had the pleasure of taking Aas, our helper, to school with Sheralynn (Gabe was sick today!).  This is part of their Christian Service Project (CSP) which they have done three times before now.  Basically the kids bring their nannies, helpers, etc. to school with them and sing, play, etc. together.  Each time, however, there has been the opportunity to present the Gospel in some form.  It’s pretty cool, you know, because almost every one of those women are muslims.

But today seemed most important to me as they were doing the Easter story.  Sheralynn was so excited to give her surprise gift to Aas.  It was a cross that she made at school specifically for this event and specially for Aas.  They walked off holding hands and I knew that this little girl would tell the most important story of all time to a grown woman.  What a privilege she has at the age of 3 and a half!  She is young, but powerful already since He has intrusted her with this message!!

Yesterday I was at work with some colleagues and I was given an Easter gift- candy!  I thanked this friend and said “Happy Easter!”  Then I realized what I had said and thought better.  “He is risen!” I amended, but wondered if there would be a reply.  Another friend looked pleased and answered, “He is risen indeed!”  I was so comforted by that response.  This particular friend is from Canada, doesn’t share many of my doctrinal ideas, and we see things differently on many levels, but we SHARE CHRIST!  We share His dying, His rising, and His glory!  What a blessing to find unity, identity, and purpose in Christ!

We pray that you will find unity, identity, and purpose in Christ this Easter.  We pray that you will either hear the Gospel in a renewing way or that you will share it with someone (or both!).  We will be thinking of all of you with love and thanksgiving as we once again celebrate the wonderful work of God through Christ!

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Some of you may have heard about the recent dam bursting and killing some people here in Jakarta.  This actually was something close to us (unlike the earthquakes, etc. that everyone always asks about!) but we were not in harm’s way.  We live in the same “county” Tangerang, but we are far from that situation.

Others, however, some unsuspecting Indonesians, are very much at a disadvantage now.  They have little to begin with . . . and now they have nothing.  Some have lost family members while others have lost every personal belonging they once had.  Please hold these people in your prayers as they struggle to put their lives back together.

Another person I’d like to ask you to pray for is our helper, Aas, and her family.  Last week I woke up and went to get the kids ready for school and I heard her crying very loudly.  I went down to make sure that things were ok and she told me that her mother had died in the night.  She must have received a phone call the previous night.  We sent her home right away and, as is the tradition in Indonesia, her mother was buried very quickly.  Do not think for a minute that there was a funeral home and a wake/visitation involved.  There is no money for these kinds of western traditions.  Instead the deceased are laid out in the home and respects are paid briefly there.  Burial is quick because there is no embalming process involved either.

I was struck by the intimacy these people share with death.  When we lose someone there are a team of people from the hospital or from the local funeral home to take care of everything.  They take care of the body, take care of the activities, etc.  Don’t misunderstand me, I am grateful for that.  It is simply something else that is different for most Indonesians.

In the meantime, Aas is healing slowly.  She returned and is just as wonderful with the kids as she was before.  I think being with Bethany in particular has been great for her.  She dotes on that child so much and I am pleased at the kind of happiness that Bethany’s attention gives to her.

On the other hand, I long to talk with her about her grieving process.  As most of you know, I’ve lost my own mom.  She died in August 2002.  It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to experience . . . and yet I’ve seen God use it for my growth and to serve others.  I wish I could share that with her in some way.  I have prayed that God would give me an opportunity to share Christ with her in a real way . . . perhaps this is it?  Muslims do believe that Heaven exists and I am thinking that might be a good place to start.

Thanks, as always, for reading.  I’ll try to post some newer pictures soon!!

I have been able now to visit with the Mother-Child house different times and feel very good about the work they are doing.  The church is committed to saving the lives of babies and restoring the lives of women who find themselves in a difficult position.  Their vision and mission are focused on preserving the sanctity of human life which is God-given and I fully support this, but I am pleased to report that they envision a Christian orphanage as well.  Adoption is difficult here, even though there are so many children who need parents, because the laws require orphans and potential parents to have the same religion (one of the five recognized by the Indonesian gov’t) and they determine that by the religion of the birth mother.

As we spoke I asked about abortion rates, etc. here so that I could report to the church here as well as to anyone reading this blog.  There are no official clinics here, but the women are often taken to doctors who perform any number of procedures to abort the baby.  In addition, often these women take herbal medicines or try to force abortions through punching themselves and end up with massive internal bleeding.  There are no real statistics about the number, but it is more pervasive than I guessed.  Especially here in the Jakarta area.

I will continue to work with them both through my own individual efforts and I plan to utilize the SPH community as well.  I met a young woman today who is about 4 weeks from her due date.  She is quiet, but helpful and she was quite taken with Bethany, who happened to join me in my visit.  Please pray for this young girl and for the Living Faith church as well, that they might continue to shine a light for the women who feel they are in the darkest of places.

Now, on to family updates, for anyone interested:

It is difficult to believe that we have been here for 8 months, that we can now call this place home, and that the kids are completely settled here.  Bethany is the most surprising of the kids- she loves rice and eggs, which are both a staple of any Indonesian’s diet.  She can count to three in Bahasa- “Satu, dua, tiga!”.  She is our little Indonesian baby!!  But Gabe and Sheralynn, too, have found that they can navigate this place and they are so internationally minded, as well as starting to ask questions about God and faith that demonstrate real desire to know God and develop a personal relationship with Jesus.  It is quite satisfying, though it is still my daily prayer that God will keep them close and help me to be a good example for them in that way.

As for Mike and I, we are finding ourselves more and more apart of this community.  There are opportunities and challenges every day, but we feel it is not the being here that makes us sad, it is missing our family and friends from home.  We have agreed that once we are able to visit on a more regular basis it will be a relief to all of us.  In the meantime, we are still praying that we make it to Christmas 2009 since that is when we will return to visit.  Most of the expats will return home at summer, but it isn’t our plan to do that.  We are excited about seeing snow and celebrating our Lord’s birth at home, however, and we think we can keep each other’s spirits up until then!  We pray that all of you are well, too, and looking forward to Easter as we are!!

The circle of women in Lippo Village is small.  There are many of us, but it is a fishbowl, and you find that no matter where you go, there will be someone else, too.  It’s ok.  In some ways, it’s very comforting.  Mind you, not all work at SPH or are even affiliated with the school.  Lippo has a large number of expats here- from Scotland to New Zealand and Australia to Canada and the U.S.  Some are here because their husbands work here, some single women are here to teach . . . we find commonality in our expat status.

But we are diverse.  And even though most of the women here feel a need to serve the underprivileged, they do not all share the same motivation.  In fact, a group that I support does a great deal to help children with medical needs (severe medical needs) and sends money to an orphanage in Jakarta.  Because there are no gov’t social services, they usually do their work through a church body of some kind.  Recently, however, the tide has turned against working through a church body.  The reason:  the group is not specifically religious and we don’t want to be seen as such.

This hit home for me when I learned that the local “Mother-Child house” sponsored by a local church was an agency looking for community support.  This home exists for the unwed pregnant women in this culture.  It matters not if you are Christian or Muslim- if you are pregnant and need help, they are there for you.  In fact, I believe it is to be used as an outreach tool for young Muslim women.

Some of you may know that I worked for a short time at a shelter for pregnant women and may also know that God has placed a great burden on my heart for this kind of work.  At home, the consequences for these women were typically financial and social.  Here it is much more severe.  A Muslim women who is found to be pregnant and unwed can be killed by her family.  At best, they are cut off from their only community.  At worst, they are killed.

You can imagine what a ministry this opportunity can be.  I jumped at the chance to work with this church- even though it is not my own.  But some of the women felt that we should not continue to affiliate ourselves with a specific church.   I felt discouraged that the group I found so helpful would turn their backs on this project.

So my plan now is to do it on my own.  I will meet with the pastors of this church in a week and plan to learn as much as I can about their needs, their goals, etc.  I have resources in my neighborhood and in the SPH student body and, of course, our Lutheran church.  I plan to use them.  I will post information as I get it for anyone who is looking to help through prayer.  At this point, the prayer request is simply that I find a way to really impact this ministry and am able to take the love of Christ to these young women in a very tangible way.

Before we came here we had lots of conversations with expats “on the ground”.  We asked them what is was like, what should we expect, etc.  Many of our conversations had to do with what could we buy there vs. what would we need to bring with us.  We were told that we could buy pretty much anything we really needed, though it may be different quality, more expensive, etc.

When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised at how many products I could find that were the same as I would buy at home.  I was unpleasantly surprised by the cost of some of those things, but if I desired to spend the money I could get a comfort item.  On one of my first trips to an expat store I bought Diet Dr. Pepper for Mike and some Old El Paso salsa for our Tostitos (oh, I miss Mexican food!!).

But the times have changed in the last few months.  I can’t imagine where I would find Diet Dr. Pepper.  And, oh, the days of salsa are long gone.  We went two weeks without finding flour in the local grocery store.  The shelves are emptying around us.

The falling world economy has come to us in a unique fashion.  In an attempt to keep Indonesian products selling, imports have now been limited.  We’ve heard reports of shipments of food being held up at the docks for months.  We’ve even heard that the food is at the store, but can not be placed in the shelf because the packaging is not in Bahasa.

This has been taken a step further by the Indonesian government now issuing a decree that any employee of the government must now buy only Indonesian products.  Clothes, food, cars . . . all must be made in Indonesia to be purchased.  Any failure to do so will result in a fine for the employee.

I don’t know if this will work or not, but it certainly made me shake my head.  Would this happen, could this happen in the U.S.?!  It’s just another example of what I took for granted before I moved here.

Out on the Pier in Bali

After a seafood dinner on the beach

So when we told people we were moving to Indonesia they all asked, “Are you crazy?”

As you can see by the pictures it’s not all bad here!!  Year round warm weather and beautiful beaches help a bit with the homesickness and cultural differences.

We still miss home, but there’s some real beauty here in this country that we’re only beginning to discover.  Hopefully there will be more to come!

Bali and covered statues!!

Sheralynn with a woman in traditional Balinese costume

These pictures are from our trip to Bali over the Christmas holiday.  We went for a week and we enjoyed  incredible hospitality and kid-friendly Balinese people.  We were impressed right away with how different Bali felt from Jakarta.  It still has many people, but the main religion in Bali is Hindu.  These people are faithful in putting up statues and covering them in cloths.  They type of covering lets you know what god it is that the statue represents.  In addition, the Balinese are VERY faithful about the fragrant offerings to the statues.  Every morning we watched women go out to the street and offer sweet smelling flowers and incense to the statues.  Even cars had small offerings in them.

Bali is known as an exotic get away, but I’m not sure that it completely lives up to its reputation.  There is plenty to do and the prices can’t be beat.  It is very much like the rest of Indonesia- slightly undone, somewhat broken.  The people there, however, are certainly worth meeting and if you are a surfer you will have found a little bit of heaven!!

This is a bit of an update about an earlier post on Setia Bible College.  The students are still split up, living and learning in tents in and around Jakarta.  They are still working to get their schooling in and become pastors, teachers, and the like.  Our Lutheran church here supports them financially with our offerings, but I fear it is not enough.  They are still 80 meals short on every meal.  Basically, if they were to actually give everyone a full meal, there would be 80 people who would go without.  As it is, they stretch it out as much as possible.

A woman at my Bible study group shared a great story about her time with some of the female students.  She was recently visiting them, praying and talking to them.  She asked, “Do you ever get angry with God for this?  Do you ever ask ‘Why me?’” 

The girl’s answer was, “No, usually I just think: ‘Why NOT me?’”

We talked about that at our Bible study and, of course, we talked about the issue of human suffering.  And it was on all our minds and lips: are we above suffering?  And if we are, why? 

The truth is, even after all the books about bad things happening to good people, etc. have been written, there is no one answer.  There is just sin in the world, sinful people, and a creation longing for it’s creator to return.  No one, no matter what they have done or have not done, is above suffering. 

The only human who ever lived that was above suffering was Jesus.  Ironically, he took on great sorrow and suffering FOR US.  Throughout the book of Acts, the disciples give thanks that they COULD SUFFER for the sake of Jesus. 

At the time of this writing, the school is looking to buy some land in a city called Sentul.  I encourage you to keep these students in your prayers as they attempt to find money to help them make that purchase.  These are surely the people that will help bring Christ to Indonesia in a very real way.