Weiders Abroad

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.

I must apologize for the length of time since my last post.  The Christmas season is upon us and that gets busy no matter where you are. 

One thing I like about being here is that there are so many hands on ways to get involved with helping people.  In the states, as Christmas approaches, many agencies offer opportunities to give clothes, food, books, toys, etc. to a local donation site and promise to get it into the hands of those who need it.  God bless them for their efforts.

Here, however, has been easier to be part of the process.  Perhaps because the need is so much greater, perhaps less red tape . . . I don’t know, but it has been good for us to play our part in bringing gifts to those who are in need. 

We were able to take two shoeboxes and fill them with gifts for kids (ages similar to Gabe and Sheralynn) at a local orphanage.  I don’t feel bad to say this:  I was proud of my children as I watched them choose gifts that were not for themselves, but instead for kids who would not get gifts from anyone else.  We talked about it for several days before and they knew what was going on with the recipients.  They are well aware that the gifts we get in our house are from us: mom and dad.  The fact that these children had no mom and dad was understandable and so we had fun choosing gifts for them.  They didn’t even ask for something similar for themselves.

But even more special was the activity that a group of women called “The Karawaci Ladies” was able to pull off.  Money was given and bags were made full of goods for babies and kids.  Then each of us put a card in a bag that sent Christmas greetings and also told where we were from.  The village these were given to is quite close to our town and can be considered especially needy.  They live in box homes built up under bridges.  Not a one of them speaks English, but their gratitude was conveyed wonderfully.

As for our own home, we were able to give gifts to our helper, Aas and our driver, Eman.  The kids were just as excited about giving as Aas and Eman were about getting.  It was so much fun to see them hand the gifts over and yell, “Merry Christmas!”  And it was interesting that both of them said the same to us in return.  To be clear, they do understand what Christmas means.  There were many hugs and smiles and I prayed that our Christian example would be more than I could hope.  I prayed that God would work through us to plant seeds and change hearts.

To all of you, we pray that God will work in your heart during this busy season.  Thanks again to those who have supported us thus far in prayer and in financial giving.  Your support means more to us than you can imagine.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!  Merry Christmas to all!

I have suffered moments in our time here when I am full of doubt . . . can we make a difference in this place?  Can we attempt to make Christians in a socieyt so entrenched in something radically different?  It seems impossible at times. Even the people I have the most contact with- Aas, my helper, and Eman, the driver- seem unlikely to be reached.  Especially those people.

So, it was a great thrill to me to hear something which made me hope!  I was talking with Eman about school for my children.  He told me about a local Buddhist preschool that is well-known within our community.  He wanted to know if I would send Bethany there eventually.  I answered with an emphatic NO!  He asked why and I told him that because I’m a Christian it is important to me to have my children at a Christian school, etc.  He then said, “I would send my children to a Christian school if I could afford it.”

This is a chance!  An unexpected, but very welcome chance!  There are Christian village schools in and around our neighborhood.  Schools that would educate AND tell of Christ.  This maybe the only chance his children have to hear about the Good News.  So now we are working to see how we might see this through.

The Lentara Harapan schools are the third tier of Christian schools in the Yayasan (foundation) that is also in charge of SPH (and a middle level, Dian Harapan).  We would like to send his children to one of these schools.  I can tell more about that in an upcoming post.

In the meantime, please pray that Eman and his family will be open to this opportunity.  We have not yet approached them about this as we have not gathered all the information we need.  But it is our fervent prayer that this may be an opportunity for us to share Christ with this family.  Our hope is that it will be accepted and received within their family.  As always, we are overwhelmed and thankful for the support we receive from our family in Christ!  We will keep you updated on this situation!

In the Muslim tradition Lebaran is a time of repentance and forgiveness.  We actually saw a card in a store with the M&M guy on the front and on the inside it said, “Please forgive me.”  And that is what Mohon Maaf means:  “Please forgive me”. 

Until I understood more about this, I thought this was touching.  I was even a little in awe of the whole deal: a month of good feelings about our neighbors, a month of recognizing the sins we have committed and asking for forgivenss, and a month of receiving forgiveness!  What was wrong with that?

It wasn’t until Mike returned from a spiritual retreat he was leading for students at our school that I realized that this was an empty tradition for many Muslims.  One of the challenges Mike put before the students was to spend time recognizing their sin before God and neighbors.  Moreover, they were to follow God’s word and ask for forgiveness from a person they had wronged.  They were to repent, make it right, and receive forgiveness. 

Then another teacher stood up and addressed the students, saying, “I would like to remind the students that this is more than just saying “mohon maaf”.  This should be a specific thing and a truly contrite spirit.” 

So, we did more asking around about this repent and forgive tradition and found that most folks simply use the same line to everyone they know.  “Mohon maaf” - please forgive me for anything I may have done to you.  One article we read had the author admitting that he found himself greeting his friends and neighbors with something like, “I forgive you for anything you’ve ever done”.  So, out goes the repentance. Empty is the tradition. 

And then I considered our God.  The God who paid the ultimate price for our forgiveness.  There is no emptiness in the cross.  And therefore, we understand as Christians, that we must follow God’s commands to “. . . love your neighbor as yourself.”  And this includes recognizing our sins against them and forgiving them when they recognize their sins against us. 

Praise God that He has redeemed all things; that He has already paid the price and we will someday live in Heaven with the peace of sinless existence.  Until that day, however, let us humbly confess our sins to God and to one another, forgive one another, and live in peace.

We are experiencing less and less of that “strange land” feeling.  It is amazing how comfortable a place can become and how fast you can make a new home your own.  No framed pictures or art work hang on our walls, but it is our house and our car and so on.  Plus, we have started getting quite comfortable in our small Christian community.  Safe in the SPH community it is not difficult to become lulled into a feeling of security.

And then you are quickly and decisively reminded that we are NOT in the U.S.  Though the Indonesian government claims that there are 5 acceptable religions, there is really only one: Islam.  Christians are tolerated at times, persecuted at others.  They are certainly not protected by the police, nor by the elected officials. 

Just the same, Christian churches exist and thrive.  The official number of Christians here is less than 10 percent, but, we are learning, the truth is closer to 20 percent.  An expat theology teacher who has been here for 10 years told me that people are quietly turning to Christianity all over.  God is building His Church here.  “What would happen?” he asked, “If we just stayed in Indonesia?”  The implication of course, is what would God do to use us to build His church here?

We are learning the answer to that every day.  Please pray that God would open our eyes to the opportunities here to grow Indonesian Christians- Christians who may change the course of history for this country.  It will not be the expat faces who change the outlook, but the Indonesians who live for Christ here.  We specifically want to ask that you pray for Aas and Eman- the two Muslim people we see most often.  Pray that God would help us to be a clear, strong witness to them. 

Thank you to the many Christian churches and individuals that pray for us on a regular basis.  We are grateful for your uplifted prayers.

I write this tongue-in-cheek title to answer a question posed by Mark Thoelke (we’re glad you are reading, by the way).  There are lots of churches in and around Jakarta.  Some of them are Baptist, some are non-denominational, and some are “reformed pentecostal” (not sure what that really means here in Indonesia).  They are large and most have services in English.  We’ve been to one: Jakarta International Christian Fellowship.  What a lovely bunch of people they were and so many different cultures represented!!

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Today I went to a Bible study for women called, “After the bags are unpacked . . . ” It is all about people moving and adjusting to a new life style, etc. It will be a great experience, I think.

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