Worship with Ompung-ompung

After returning from Penang, Malaysia with my visa earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit a village with one of the students. As I mentioned previously, they go out each week to serve in the communities—they visit the sick, visit the prison, minister to sellers at the market, and more. This visit, I accompanied Arlisna as she went to a village to lead a worship for elderly women.

First we walked up the road calling to each home where one of the Ompung (grandparent) resides. When it was time for the worship, we gathered on the floor in one of the homes, sitting on top of mats laid out on the floor. This is common here in Indonesia. I greeted the Ompung-Ompung in the Batak language (“Horas”). The words and prhases of Bahasa Indonesia I have learned were of no use, as these elderly women only know Batak. For some of them, I was the first American they had met and who sat in their midst. I was welcomed and greeted with smiles and laughter; Arlisna, being our translator between English and Batak.

About a dozen women were there. Most did not have hymnals, but could sing along from memory. There were hymns, Scripture, and a brief devotion. Through the time, I sat silently, yet with reverence and attention to the Spirit’s presence among us. An offering was taken, to be given to the local church.

After the worship, we ate bread and drank tea. I prayed a prayer of blessing and thanks for them in English, my words, again being translated. I was invited back to worship with them again. If I have the opportunity, I would like to return and pray with them. It was a blessed time.

Tags: ompung, village, worship

Brief Update

Hello. I’m still here! I am getting closer to having my visa finalized. Last week I was in Penang, Malaysia arranging the visa (it has to be done outside Indonesia). I have the sticker in my passport that is good for 1 year. Now I am back in Indonesia, and have submitted a stack of paperwork, my fingerprints, passport photos and paid another fee. It may be a few days before I hear back about that. So now I wait.

The last few weeks have been full of experiences, which I do want to share. I have been very blessed by my time here—now it has been 5 weeks. This post however, is just to say hello, I’m still here, and look forward to stories and pictures of life here, and of teaching.

World Malaria Day

April 25th is World Malaria Day. Although much of the focus goes to parts of Africa, malaria is prevalent here in Indonesia, in particular the rural areas (I read in the English language news that Indonesia had 256,000 cases last year, of which 1,000 deaths). When we visited the hospital here in Balige, we prayed for a young man with malaria.

I’ll tell you that one night 2 weeks ago, the night of the earthquake in Sumatra, I woke up in the middle of the night sweaty and feeling hot. Somehow in my dreams I thought I had a fever and that it was malaria. I woke in the early morning and used my thermometer–no fever, no sickness. I am thankful to have medicine to prevent the disease, but most here do not have medicine. When I saw the young man with malaria tossing in his bed, I was filled with compassion.

Click here to learn more about World Malaria Day.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has a malaria campaign. Please consider donating to help eradicate this disease. You can find resources through this link, as well as a link to donate, specifically for work in Liberia. Thank you.

Tags: malaria

A Servant’s Heart

“For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you came to look after me, I was in prison and you visited me.” — Matthew 25:35-36

I recently had the opportunity to go with some of the students to visit people in the hospital across the street from the school. Every weekend, the students go out to the people to serve. Some of them help the elderly, some of them visit the prison, some of them work with children, some visit the sick.

These young women have committed their lives to faith and service in Christ, and they come to the deaconess school for training in Biblical studies, community organizing, Church history, health, sociology, English language and theology, and more, though it is serving the people that gives them joy.

The hospital is laid out in separate buildings with covered walkways as corridors between the buildings. Some rooms have one patient, others have 2 or as many as 6 beds in the larger rooms. Every Saturday the 3rd year deaconess students come to the hospital to sing hymns, read a Bible passage, and visit patients. They do this by first going to a section and singing from their choir book. Then a Bible passage is read in Batak and Bahasa Indonesia. After this, they visit the rooms. I sang and prayed with them, even though I could not understand the words.

As is customary here, we greeted everyone in the room with a handshake, each time touching the right hand to the heart. Sometimes we stopped in a room for prayer and a hymn. In a room with a mother and new baby, I was asked to pray; my prayer in English was then translated into Batak. In all, we saw new babies (one very premature), people with diabetes, the elderly, young children, a young man with a broken arm, a young man with malaria, and others whose illnesses I don’t know.

It is early in my time in Indonesia, so I am just becoming acquainted with the food, culture, the students themselves and their way of life at the school. Nevertheless, their way of life as joy in serving others is very apparent. They give of themselves, showing the love of God, and attend to the needs of the people. For the deaconess students here, serving is a way of life.

I, too, experienced the love of God as I looked into the eyes of those in the hospital and their families. I cannot yet speak their language, but the language of love centered in Christ isn’t English, Bahasa Indonesia, Batak, or German.

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

A heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. This, I believe, is a central part to the diaconal identity. It is such a blessing to be living with sisters in Christ.

Visiting the hospital with the students

Tags: chaplain, deaconess, hospital

Lake Toba, Samosir, and Batak culture

I am catching up on posting, so this story is from a week and a half ago, just after Easter. For now I’ll write details, and later I can write more reflection about my experiences.

Relaxing at Lake Toba

On Easter Sunday, after lunch, I traveled around Lake Toba with some of my sisters from the school. From Balige we drove to Parapat and took a ferry across the lake to Samosir island in the middle of the Lake. After a restful night at a beautiful spot by the lake, we drove on a windy road up the mountains.

Traditional Batak houses

On Monday, the 9th of April, after some sightseeing, we were invited to lunch at the home of one of the students. The Ibu (mother) had prepared a meal of chicken, boiled eggs, dried fish, and soup, together with rice that I’m told had just been harvested. All together, we ate in a circle on large mats on the floor. I was asked to pray in English before the meal, but because I do not speak the Batak language, most of the time I listened but did not understand. The food was prepared in sauces, and all tasted very good, but it made my lips and mouth burn. I have heard it said that in Indonesia, they are not satisfied if the food does not have hot chilis in it.

Sitting after the meal

As is custom in Batak culture, I was treated well as a guest. They are welcoming, and always offer and make sure I have enough. After lunch we drank coffee. I formally thanked Bapak and Ibu (father and mother) for the meal and their generous hospitality and prayed for God to bless them. I told them I was looking forward to teaching their daughter. The family invited me again to be a guest in their home and they gave me an ulos. An ulos is a special woven blanket used by the Batak people in parties, ceremonies, or even as decoration. There are many different kinds of ulos, and variations depend upon the the different tribes within the Batak people. This ulos is of Toba Batak.

It was a great honor for me to be welcomed so warmly. They opened their home to me, and although we do not speak the same language, we are family in Christ. I am so grateful for this experience and for their gift of the ulos.

Tags: Batak, Lake Toba, Samosir

Sumatra Earthquake (updated)

As I wrote yesterday, I had been listening to the deep booms of an approaching thunderstorm. Barely 10 minutes after I posted my previous entry, the ground started to shake. It took a few seconds for my brain to register that this was, in fact, an earthquake.

Balige is well inland, and was far from the epicenter. Nevertheless, we felt some shaking. It was not violent enough cause damage here or knock anything over. I came out of the school and waited with students and others for the shaking to stop.

Then, as I was trying to update to family and friends what had happened, as I was sure this would make the news in America, the second one came.

I am well, and have made it through my first earthquakes. It was a concern at first, what would happen in the Aceh and West Sumatra provinces, as well as the chain of small islands to Sumatra’s west. People here have deep memories of the quake and tsunami that hit Banda Aceh in December 2004. Live news reports here showed people leaving the city.

We are very thankful there was no tsunami. Please, however, continue to keep this region in your prayers.

EDIT – 13 April:
Below is a link to a report by a local partner to the ELCA Disaster Response.
Final Report Earthquake 11 April 2012
The report has a map of each of the earthquakes and aftershocks, and details the situation. All the contacts have reported, and thankfully, very little damage has been reported.

Tags: earthquake, Indonesia, Sumatra

Easter Greetings

Selamat Paskah!

Easter greetings. I have many experiences to write about. So much has happened in the 11 days that I have been in Indonesia, it is difficult to keep up with writing and sharing it all. Good Friday and Easter are special here in Sumatra, and I learned a lot about the customs and culture of the Batak people.

Good Friday is a holiday for all of the country, even though it is a Christian celebration. Here in Sumatra, singing is a big part of the Batak people’s culture. In their churches, they go to Good Friday service in the morning, sing a lot of hymns in beautiful harmony, hear a sermon, and the entire life of Jesus is read. There is a break in the afternoon for lunch. Then in the afternoon, Holy Communion. I attended a much shorter worship at the nearby hospital, then went out for a picnic at a spot with a scenic view of Lake Toba.

Before we left for our picnic, I heard the voices echoing from the nearby HKBP church. Then, softly in the background, I heard the chant of the muezzin singing the Muslim call to prayer. Balige is mostly Christian, but there are some Muslims here. It was a reminder of the many cultures and faiths here in Indonesia.

Picnic with scenic view of Lake Toba

After a ride on narrow, windy, and sometimes broken roads (with a slight scenic wrong-turn detour), we found our picnic spot. And what a sight! With a blanket laid out, we began to eat our fried noodles against the panoramic backdrop of lush green mountains, deep valleys and the blue of Lake Toba. Five minutes later, however, the nearby mountains disappeared under a gray band of rain shower, forcing us to finish our meal in the car.

Panorama of Lake Toba

Nunga hehe Kristus i, Haleluya!
(“Christ is risen, Alleluia” in the Batak language)

HKBP Balige - Easter morning

These were the words I heard and spoke on Easter morning. I experienced the Batak church at 5am. This early service was the important one for the day. The church was packed full of people, including many children. We sang hymns, heard Scripture and a sermon. Then after worship, the kids received boiled eggs dyed in bright colors and a special cake made of coconut, rice, and sugar wrapped in a banana leaf. Everyone also got coffee or tea.

At the school the students had fun searching for hidden eggs before the sunrise.

Later in the morning after breakfast, I went with a few others to Lake Toba for the rest of the Easter holiday. Stay tuned for another post about my experience of Lake Toba, Samosir Island, and Batak family culture.

Tags: Batak, Easter, Good Friday, Toba

A visit with Ibu

with Ibu Gultom

The other day, I had the great pleasure of visiting an 85-year old Indonesian deaconess, Ibu Gultom (“Ibu” translates to “mother” in English, and in Indonesia is used as a term of respect. Perhaps it’s equivalent in English would be “m’am”). She helped start the HKBP deaconess school and also spent nearly 6 years living and working in Germany with the deaconesses there. We spoke in German, as that was the best common language for both of us. What a surprise that my German skills would be useful so far away from home and from Germany.

Mostly, I sat with my coffee and listened to Ibu Gultom tell stories about her work in Germany (in Kaiserswerth, and other places, including Tuebingen, the city where once I studied for a year) and her family. She also told me some history of the Batak people and their culture, as well as some history of Indonesia. The younger generation of Bataks sometimes do not know the Batak language well. The children only learn Bahasa Indonesia in school, and it is then up to the parents to teach their children the language and culture. Batak is only one of about 300 languages spoken by the peoples of Indonesia. Therefore, Bahasa Indonesia is used as a unifying language. But it is important that the different cultures continue to pass on their own languages.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to listen to such wisdom in the presence of a woman who has committed a long life to service of others.

Tags: Batak, deaconess, Indonesia

Arrival and Orientation

I have been in Indonesia now for 5 days. Much has happened in such a short time. After a long journey from Medan—through towns, forests, and a pot-hole covered road—I arrived in Balige. I was tired from the day’s journey, and the previous day’s journey from the US to Indonesia. As I stepped out of the car at the school, the students gathered and sang in beautiful harmony. Light rain fell, and I listened to them with joy.

The few days that I have been here have been spent getting oriented to the culture—of the school, in Indonesia, and of the Batak people. The students have a rhythm to their days, taking care of daily tasks, morning worship, class time, lunch, and studies. It will be quiet at the school for the next week, as the students are now on Easter holiday. I will use the time to continue with my orientation, to experience more Indonesian culture, and explore the Lake Toba region.

Below is a video of the students singing the day I arrived.

Here are a few more photos:

Deaconess School

Dancing the Tor Tor at the Batak Museum

Balige

Horas from Indonesia

This post is a brief hello to say that I have made it and am doing well on my 3rd day here. After 28 hours of travel time, I finally arrived in Medan (Indonesia’s 3rd largest city and provincial capital of North Sumatra) on Sunday morning, April 1st. We spent the night there and then traveled by car to Balige on Monday. Because of traffic and a windy road with potholes, the journey took about 7 hours.

Enjoy these two photos below. First, one in Medan, then one of some of the students singing as I arrived at the HKBP Deaconess School. Stories, more photos, and video (I hope) to come.

enjoying fresh coconut

the students sing their greetings

Tags: Balige, Indonesia, Medan, Sumatra