On Christmas Celebrations

I would like to talk this time (in the manner of so many schoolchildren upon returning to their classrooms) about my holiday.

Holiday celebrations started here on Christmas Eve, with Maranatha’s celebration. On one hand, this was quite different from home (we’ve never really had lines of dancers or loud music) but in other senses it was quite similar. Children performing? Check. Larger than normal (church-filling) turnout? check. Cold weather? Well, not that one. But still, it did actually feel to an extent like Christmas.

That celebration was lots of fun, and I liked the upbeat approach (it IS a celebration, after all), but that wasn’t the end of the celebration.

The city-wide Christmas celebration started at 4:00 (am) the next morning. The christmas eve celebration had ended at around 10:00 pm, and I got to sleep at maybe 11:00, so I was fairly tired when I woke up at 3:30 to prepare. However when I heard that many of the people there (including the lead pastor, who also preached at the Eve service) hadn’t even slept, I decided I probably shouldn’t whine.

The celebration was very interesting, and I really enjoyed it. Contrary to what I’m used to, the service started with the candle-lighting, (as opposed to at the end of the Christmas Eve service). I was stuck this year of the metaphorical nature of candle lighting. Of several metaphors that came my mind, I was interested that the spread of fire through the candles makes an apt comparison to how christianity spread in its very early days. A single source (Jesus) lit the fires of a few (the early disciples) and they went out into the world and spread the word. However, once the word went to the world, it didn’t have to be spread by a single person (or even a few). Person to person, the movement spread across the world until we are where we are today. The movement of religion is an interesting topic, one I may discuss in a later blog. However, right now I am very sidetracked. Back to Christmas.

After the candle-lighting service, there was some singing, a message, and then a traditional dance. At first, I was surprised that a dance that had nothing to do with Jesus would be a part of Christmas. Then I considered the irony of my surprise and decided to just enjoy it (it was quite interesting!)

What about the other essay I promised?

As has become my (unhappy) tradition, I must apologise for being late. I figured that, as all the schools in the US were out, and I was on vacation myself, I had some excuse to skip a couple weeks. When I heard yesterday that one of my friends in college had committed 6 hours to math homework IN THAT SINGLE DAY, however, I decided it was probably time that I at least start blogging again.

This blog is going to be the back half of the last blog I put up last time. In that one, I said that in another essay, I would speak about what I am learning and gaining from my experiences so far. Here is that essay.  

In my last essay about taking a gap year, I answered only one of many questions that could be posed to a person about their gap year: “why?”. While answering that question is important (and required by the common app), only discussing the “why?” portion of an experience such as this one literally ends the story before it has begun. There are other questions, equal in value to “why?”, such as: “what have you gained?”, which need to be addressed in order to create a complete picture of the experience.

So, what have I gained?

Glad you asked!

I would say one of the largest ways in which I have grown is through my perspective. Prior to leaving, I had one perspective: the one I gained from my surroundings growing up. I liked to think that I was very good at seeing situations through many perspectives, as I can usually understand both sides of a given controversial issue, be it international or domestic.

However, as I learned when I arrived here, having perspective on many issues in the United States definitely does not equate to cultural perspective. The differences that I have taken note of while living and working here have pointed out many aspects of culture from home that I had mostly taken for granted. This perspective shift has had a very large impact in how I think, and I am very interested to see how I look at culture when I get home.
The second field in which I would say I’ve grown is the language. I’ve learned a surprising amount of Bahasa Indonesia, to the point where (depending on the topic) I can have basic conversations. I have enjoyed understanding that each new word or phrase makes it easier for me to communicate with thousands of people who I couldn’t have before. Immersion in the language has meant that I get constant practice, which gift. I am very excited to see what level of fluency I can gain by the end of my time here.
The last item that I feel needs to be addressed under “what I’ve gained” is that I’ve learned how to be wrong. Well, perhaps that’s a misnomer. I’ve learned how to accept being wrong. At home, I had a serious aversion to being or looking unintelligent.

However, when I walked out the door of the airplane I was essentially re-born, arriving illiterate, culturally ignorant, and fully dependent on others. Anyone in that situation is going to be wrong quite a bit. I’ll admit that at first, it was still very frustrating to make mistakes. I was extremely self concious of my language skills, and was often frustrated. However, as time progressed, I have slowly learned to recognise when I’m wrong, laugh at myself, and take note of where I made the mistake so that I can correct it. I still aspire to be right, but I now see being wrong as step on the path towards that goal.

These first few months in Indonesia have taught me an incredible amount, both about myself and the world around me. I’m sure that as my time here continues, I will be challenged to learn and adapt even more, and I am very excited to see what I ultimately gain through the experience.

An application essay?

Yep, this is an application essay. Recently I have been very busy with revisions for my essays that are due at the end of this month (11 days?!!?) so I figured I would just post one of the ones that’s relevant to my experience here. As part of my application, I must provide an explanation as to why I decided to take a gap year. I realized that many of my friends and family might not know this about me, so here it is:

In my freshman year, when my brother decided to take a gap year, I was quite unsure about the idea. Why would anyone decide to interrupt the normal flow of education to go do something else for a year?

I suppose that’s probably why I’m writing this. To explain my reasoning in deciding to take a break from structured education. It’s a big task: a decision like this one usually isn’t an exceptionally simple one to make. With limited space, however, I will simply touch on my main reasons, and hope that they provide effective insight into my motivations.

When I asked my brother about his reasoning, he simply said: “if I’m going to have an experience that influences me so much that I want to change my life path, like a year of service, I want to do it before I’m already down a path.” An answer that made sense wasn’t something that I was prepared for. It made me realize that for some people (especially those who aren’t quite sure where they belong) a gap year could be a very positive experience.

I was still fairly convinced that I would go straight to college, however. I hadn’t given the issue that much thought, and even though I didn’t have a life plan, I was sure I would gain certainty of my path and calling as I grew older.

As I moved into Junior and Senior years, however, I found myself in a state of indecision. Simply put, in reference to those people who say “You can be anything you want!” I would’ve said “What if I want to be everything?!”. I couldn’t narrow down what I wanted to do. STEM, graphic design, English, history, farming, and social sciences were all options I had considered, and all seemed like fields I could see myself pursuing.

One day, as I was out driving the tractor for my father (one of the rare activities during which one can think in endless tangents and still get work done), a piece about gap years came up on NPR. It spoke very highly of the idea of a gap year, and said that students who take a gap year usually enter college more focused, sure of themselves, prepared, and motivated than before. At the time, I was feeling motivated, but definitely not sure of myself or prepared, so the idea appealed to me.

As Junior year continued, I still found myself facing a swirling mass of indecision. I knew that many colleges allow for exploration of major programs, but I wanted to get to know myself better, as well as have some time to gain perspective on all of my interests, and perhaps have a chance to categorize and prioritize them.

Realizing that a gap year might be a good way to do this, I asked a few people how their experience with gap years had been. I knew my brother’s experience had been positive, but wanted more information. I only heard positive feedback. In fact, most of these people ended the conversation with “if you’re even thinking about taking a gap year to do service, do it.”

Needless to say, I was convinced. Choosing a program was very easy. I wanted to do service (my family has a long tradition of service, and I believe thoroughly that world citizenship and cross-cultural learning are extremely important), and our church offers monetary support to those who participate in Mennonite service programs.

Location was slightly more difficult, but I chose Indonesia because I wanted to learn a second language, as well as the fact that experiencing the world’s second highest biodiversity rate was impossible to resist.

I plan to touch more on what I’m actually gaining from this experience in the other essay, but I feel that explaining my motivations here would allow some insight into my thought processes, and through that, offer a window of understanding into who I am as a person.

Sunday Service

As a breif preface, I had this written last week but forgot to post it until now, many apologies! Looks like I still have to catch up.

The last section of church life is Sunday service. Unlike at home (with a single service Sunday morning), there are three services each Sunday. Two, the morning and evening services, are the same. I will touch on these services first. The morning service starts at 6:00 AM, which, while it may seem slightly insane, I’ll admit. However, when the sun rises at 5:30 it’s only a little earlier than most people would be going to work anyways (around 7). The evening service is just before sundown, starting at 5:00 PM.

These two are gauged towards the adult members of the congregation, but younger people are definitely welcome. They start with singing, which is definitely more contemporary than I was used to when I arrived. Electric bass, keyboard, and drums are almost always used, and music is led by a group of 5 people. Music is also less defined by the verse, chorus, verse, and so on structure, instead just moving as the leaders go. Song books are not around; the lyrics are on the screen, and most members of the congregation seem to have the lyrics memorized anyways.

After singing is the sermon, generally delivered by the Church’s head pastor. This is more similar to what I’m used to, and is not by any means a ‘fire and brimstone’ approach. I would say, however, that congregational responses/ affirmations (“amen!”, etc.) are much more common, and are encouraged by the pastor.

After the sermon is more singing, and then the offering. This is followed by the weekly announcements, in the form of a short video (one of Travis’s frequent projects). After this is a prayer for any congregational concerns (sick people, good news, etc.), and then a closing video.

After the morning service, there is a meal outside the church, which is a good time to talk to people and fellowship together. I particularly enjoy it because I generally don’t wake up early enough to eat before church.

The other service during the day is the Youthteen service. This is a service for anyone from Junior high age to out of college. This service is structured much the same as the as the other two services in the day, but is gauged more towards young people. That just means slight changes in each element of the service.

Music is slightly more upbeat (and louder), usually includes an electric guitar as well. For anyone reading this who has been to Mennonite Youth Convention, imagine a smaller version of that. Lighting, dancing/ jumping, etc. At first this was a little intimidating, but since then I have grown to enjoy it.

The sermon is usually delivered by the youth pastor (Anton, who is married to our local team leader) or one of the church ministry team members.

I wanted to give a special place to youthteen because of how remarkable I find it. Youthteen is organized and run primarily by youth members, and it regularly brings in probably 40 to 50 people. I’m just continually amazed by the amount of initiative that these people (many of whom have become my friends) are willing to take within their church so that there can be a place just for the youth.

The last difference that I would like to take note of between Alexanderwohl and Maranatha is that communion in maranatha is once a month. Interestingly enough, because I got baptised this summer, my first three communions happened on the first sunday I was here, when we went to every service so we could introduce ourselves to the congregation.

 

Spiritual life, round 2

Well, as has begun to seem like a trend, I’m late. I am officially a week behind on blogging once a week, so this will one of two installations this week. Since I have two remaining days of weekly worship in Maranatha, I think I will probably make a post about each of them this week to catch up.

I suppose that since I started with Friday and the prayer meeting, the logical continuation is Saturday. Saturday is HOME day (it’s actually an acronym, Healing, Outreach, MEntoring). I would equate this roughly to Sunday School, but there are a few differences. First off, the most glaring difference, we meet on Saturday evening as opposed to Sunday morning. Generally HOME starts around 6, but length depends on the specific one. There are something like 6 different groups, each with 10-15 people, depending on the week. Two of these groups are for college-age people, and the others are for high school and younger. I am with the younger of two college age groups, which still puts me solidly as the youngest person there, by probably 2 years.  That’s not an issue, though, and they have all been wonderfully accepting and very tolerant of my language deficiencies.

All the HOME groups operate slightly differently, but the way mine usually goes is: people arrive at the house (which depends on the week, but it’s usually someone who has room for a group, my family has hosted before), opening prayer, (people trickle in through this sometimes, but not nearly as much as I expected culturally), some sort of game, prayer and singing (some English songs, some in Indonesian) the songs are usually one or two upbeat ones (accompanied by guitar and then a slower song, which usually feels a lot like the prayer meeting, with praying and singing flowing into and through each other. Then there is a meditation from one of the older members, which is generally a reflection on the past week’s sermon on Sunday.

After the meditation, there is a closing prayer, then a prayer for anyone who has prayer concerns, as well as for members of the congregation who are sick. I especially appreciate this time, because it’s not just one person praying, lots of people take a topic or two. That is really interesting to me, and I like it a lot, because it is a wonderful reminder that we can all pray, that it’s not just something pastors can do.

On a tangent, one of the wonderful things that I’ve noticed while I spend time with my friends here is that prayer is very common. Before traveling, before eating with friends at a restaurant, etc. This kind of constant prayer is something that I’ve noticed grows on itself, and I find myself praying more often, even when I’m not around people.

Anyways, back to HOME, after the group prayer there is food from the hosting family, usually a small meal, which I could tell you all about, but I’ll just leave that for my next food blog.

Busy, busy, busy!

First off, I am aware that I haven’t blogged in almost two weeks (and I’m feeling pretty behind because of that!). This blog is going to be primarily devoted to catching everyone at home up on what I’ve been doing recently, because I’ve been quite busy (too busy to blog), so I should probably say why! Feel free to email me or comment if you want to hear about any of these subjects more in depth.

First off, the main reason that this blog comes belatedly is that about a week and a half ago, I came home from a trip to a nearby city and walked into my room to find that my computer, Ipod and external hard drive gone. It would appear that someone came into our house (while my host dad was home!), went into my room, grabbed what they could find, and left. They seem to have been in a hurry because the power chords were left behind. Anyways, that has been a detriment to my ability to blog. Luckily, Travis has a tablet and keyboard that he was willing to lend me, so I can start catching up on all the writing that I’ve fallen behind on.

Last week was also a difficult time to blog because we were all just very busy! At the beginning of the week we went on a mission trip with our pastor and the church’s worship team to a city named Wonosobo, where we helped to run a church service. The drive up was about four hours, but it was incredibly beautiful, so I didn’t mind at all (though some others were feeling a bit carsick because of how twisty the road was). The city is known for how cold it is, which meant that I actually got to wear a hoodie at night (not really because I had to, but I brought it along, figured I should).

When we got back from Wonosobo, we caught our breath for a day, and then went to the church’s seminary college for a program called “golden times” which is the first year of the program, which involves lots of guest speakers, and basically preparation for studying to become a pastor. I could actually resonate a lot with the idea behind the program: finding out more about yourself and the world before you go to do more studying is, well, I suppose exactly what I’m trying to do. Anyways, we were there with one of the pastors from Maranatha (who just happens to be married to our local leader, Lilly), to watch and then give testimony. I ended up the only one who gave mine (time limitations), and I spoke about how God influenced my decision to do a year of service.

After returning home, we went to go buy food before staring work on thanksgiving dinner (which we finally ended up eating yesterday) There was quite a bit of “this is close enough to the same, right?” involved, but it was definitely a lot of fun to make all these foods that I’ve always eaten but never really been too in involved in the process of cooking. Luckily for me, Travis and Ashlynn both really know what they’re doing in a kitchen, so I could basically just come along for the ride and follow recipes.

This meal was one of the ways that we’re getting involved in the church, because the people who came were cell group and worship leaders in the church. Many of these people we knew already, but it was still good to get to know them better. The food seemed reasonably well accepted.

All in all, despite loosing some tech stuff, It’s been an ok couple of weeks! I’ll probably put up a more in-depth, descriptive blog this weekend, because I lost a week in there somewhere.

Traffic

I usually try to mix up blog posts, so don’t think I’ve forgotten about Church and Cell Group, but since writing (and reading) about the same subject over and over can get less interesting, here’s a blog about traffic.

Traffic here is both extremely interesting and a little terrifying. Traffic laws are more of ‘suggestions’, but intelligence and group think seem to be the standard. Explaining all of the aspects of traffic flow is a daunting task, so I’m just going to summarize my commute every day.

In the mornings, I go running. People generally (nearly always) move over for me. I did learn to pay attention early on though, when I had to do a football style swim move to avoid being clipped by a motorcycle (Jr. High football appears to have made itself useful!). Perhaps once a week I move off the road (shoulders aren’t really a thing) to give someone room, but otherwise running is quite uneventful.

To go to Happy Holy Kids (HHK), I ride with one of my family’s helpers on a motorcycle (actually would be better defined as a moped). That’s a little more interesting. The road we take is usually a two way, but in the mornings, because it gets excessively congested with buses and motorcycles (by which I mean about 90 percent mopeds and 10 percent the definition that my friends in Kansas would use), the road goes from one lane for each direction to 1 ¾ going and ¼ coming. Luckily, we move with traffic, so it’s not too stressful.

By the time I finish HHK, the road is usually less congested, so the drive back is fairly serene compared to the morning.

At noon, I get on a bike and drive to Maranatha. This is usually not very scary, unless there are buses, which generally get the right of way no matter what (because who wants to get hit by a bus?), and act like it, going fast, stopping short, and honking a lot. However, people generally move out of the way, and I can just slow down, gauge traffic, and glide right through a gap. It became quite easy when I stopped thinking (as I do in the US) about the flow of traffic and who was wrong/right. Instead, I generally just use the head-on-a-swivel principle, figure out where I can go, and go there. It sounds quite unorganized because it is, but also, I haven’t seen many wrecks. The one close call I had with a motorcycle was at low speed in a place where two roads cross. We both came to a full stop well before anywhere that could have been dangerous.

The ride home is uphill so I can’t keep up with traffic. Generally people move out and around, but again my old nemesis the bus has buzzed past me pretty close a couple times.

Really, I don’t mean to scare people with this. Traffic is intense, but it works. The stoplight next to my house is broken, and traffic is functioning as normal. Speed regulates itself (usually in the form of people lined up behind a few slow moving trucks), and it’s incredible to see what can happen when people shed their entitlement complexes and just try to get on their way safely.

Spiritual Life, round 1 of many

I want everyone reading this to take a moment to think about your faith life in a week or a month. When do you do things? how do you do them? Etc.

I’m serious. Do it.

Thanks for humoring me!

Before I talk about my faith (or ‘church’) life in Indonesia, I wanted everyone to think about their own, so that this is less of a ‘this is how it is here’ and more of a ‘how does this compare to my setting? What do I like about both? What can we learn from each other?’ sort of thing.

I’ve been internally comparing Maranatha to my home church ever since I got here, and have noticed a few differences. I can honestly say, however, I really appreciate both churches’ ways of conducting services. I may talk more about what I’ve noticed later, as well.

Maranatha is more active than your typical Mennonite church in almost every sense of that word. As our leader, Lilly put it “we’re like Mennonite, with a kick”. Which actually describes it pretty well. Music is definitely louder, and is accompanied by most of a band (drums, bass, keyboard, sometimes guitar) as opposed to just piano or organ. I’ve been enjoying it a lot, as it reminds me of convention.

There is also definitely more charismatic worship, which has been both interesting and stimulating spiritually, as I had never experienced anything like that before coming here.

Church events happen every Friday night (prayer meeting) Saturday Night (cell group) and three times on Sunday (two times for adults, once for youth and young adults). This may sound like a very busy schedule, but it actually ends up feeling like both a good ending and beginning to every week.

The aforementioned prayer meeting is generally starts with singing, which usually fades into prayer out loud, both in tongues and in Indonesian (seamlessly, I might add, which is an absolute mystery to me). These prayers are sometimes about specific subjects but are also used as a time for individuals to pray for anything they have been struggling with. Usually after that there is a short message from the lead pastor (pastor David), and then one or two members of the congregation pray. Sometimes there is more singing at the end, sometimes not.

I’ve come to really appreciate these prayer meetings (even if I sometimes want to go explore the city when everyone is out on Friday nights), as a time when I can reflect on my week, give thanks for all the blessings I have experienced, and pray for any concerns I may have moving into the next week.

Reasons I’m going to come (go) home fat!

Coming to Indonesia I had very little (no) knowledge of local foods beside what I had been told by others who had previously lived here (and all they really told me was that there was lots of rice). Once I arrived, however, I discovered a myriad of foods that I absolutely love, with many (many) ingredients, that I know very little about. I still want to establish some manner of context as to what we’re eating over here, so that’s what I’m going to try to do!

Friends and or relatives who are experienced foodies, don’t judge me!

Rice is a staple. By ‘staple’ I mean that there is a common expression that says “If I haven’t eaten rice, I haven’t eaten”. So every meal includes (or at least has the option of including) rice and/ or rice noodles. Rice here is better than at home, by the way, so I don’t mind it at all. Haven’t heard Ashlynn or Travis complain either.

Along with lots of rice, we’re eating lots of fried things. This can vary from French Fries (yep) to small patties of a sort of thick batter with vegetables (usually corn) and spices to fried chicken (which is better than home in my opinion).

Fish and seafood are definitely prevalent, and are excellent. Sometimes they can give slightly accusatory looks, however.

From a deeper thinking point, I am very interested by the juxtaposition of traditional foods (for example sate, which is basically meat on a stick with special seasonings, also fantastic) with more modern foods (like french fries or pizza hut… or haagen das). Coming from an area where I only get traditional foods a few times a year, in a country with no traditional foods, I have no context on this sort of thing. Does it feel like a threat to traditional foods? Perhaps even culture? Having always had access to a myriad of choices in food, I can’t imagine what emotions it stirs up to see these restaurants. I should probably just ask one of my friends.

In any case, I don’t think the traditional foods are going anywhere fast, they seem to have been perfected over a very long time.

That’s just a little note on food. If anyone has any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me!

Heath

I’m no longer an unemployment statistic!

I just started work this week, so I’ve been busy and haven’t been thinking about much else, so I figured I would just do a brief description of my job schedule.

At 7 in the morning, I go to Happy Holy Kids (a christian preschool), where I am a teacher’s assistant. Two days in I am just barely getting a handle on my responsibilities, but basically (spoiler alert) I’m assisting the teacher. So right now I’m walking around (desks that are the exact right height to break a knee on), trying to teach in a language that I definitely do not have a secure handle on just yet, handing out supplies for the various activities (colored pencils, glue, etc.).

I’m also spending lots of time giving puzzled looks to the kids. To be fair, it’s usually only when they speak fast/slurred/fast+slurred/ a mixture of Indonesian and Javanese. Luckily my teacher is very kind and she is putting up with me as I get further along the learning curve.

The kids are all extremely friendly, and it’s definitely somewhere I think I will enjoy working.

The preschool gets let out around 10:30, and I have a little time off before I start working at the church at 12:00. At the church, it looks like I will be primarily working with graphic design and collaborating with Travis on a website project. I think it will be lots of fun, and the Church Office is air conditioned to boot.

Haven’t started any specific projects just yet, so I’ve been brushing up my (very) rusty photoshop skills.