Really blessed by the protection of God throughout this trip, a lot of "mishaps" happened along the way but we were not hurt, neither were we under any danger...:)
More of "fei3-llowship" with the brothers and sisters from Hope Jakarta, I was personally touched by their willingness and their heart of service towards God and His people. Although the church there is small with only an attendance of 50 people and 30 committed members, the people's hearts were on fire for God!! Set in the rather bustling area in Jakarta, the church is located on a 3-storey shophouse of this placed called Jalan Mangga Dua "Two Mangoes". :)
When there was a call for some of them to change their current jobs and to move on to another part of the country to help build up or plant a church there..I witnessed that the brothers and sisters readily responded to the Pastor's call. Indeed it was the true embodiment of the Great Commission and the vision of our Hope Church! Matthew 28:19!
Young brothers from Hope JB, willingly applied for scholarships to attend school in Jakarta so that they can help strengthen the church there, another brother Yovan, putting down his current job in Jakarta to move to Medan to help out too. I was so inspired! With such a small group of people, with hearts united to do the work of Christ! WHat's more with our church in Singapore? 2400 plus people, it was already so hard to find someone who would wanna respond to church planting..let alone this small church back in Jakarta.
We saw quite a lot of sights and sounds of Jakarta, the traffic, the city sights, the slums, the bestest of all , the FOOD!! Gado-Gado, BAK-MIE ROCKS!!! The Hope Jakarta bros and sis took great care of us, driving us around for sight-seeing even taking the tab for our food, we were so blessed! oh yeah, who can forget the shopping??? Some of the bros and sis bought guitars at one-third the prices in Singapore! On the first day we were there, we swept up the Hope Store and the snacks from the Hope Caffee from the church!!
Too pampered by the comforts of Singapore I am, i began to appreciate what we have back home, the convenience, the ease of travel back home..to think that I can complain with only half an hour's time travelling to any where else on the island!!
We attended the church's leadership training sessions and Word for life classes and one very interesting event that happened was that to start of the day's sharing, we have to go around introducing ourselves by our names and our 5-YEAR PLAN! wow! such an inspiring start to the teaching! We also did street evax and follow-up on the second and third day after much prayer and finding out from the bros and sis there, the cultural differences and the mindset of the expatriates in Indonesia..we really learnt how to appreciate the different cultures of the up-market people in the business district Jakarta. Also managed to help organise a Matthew CG for brother Paul Liew's contacts at his posh condominium in South Jakarta.
Even though we could have done the same things in Singapore, but the heart of this missions trip is to allow myself to immerse and be sensitive to another culture and how I could learn to have a burden for global missions next time. Think its a small start somewhere bah...I think it was really an enriching experience for me to find out that most of the people that we talked to there are really entrepreneurs, who had great plans and a great mind to start their business and to make a difference in their lives, and we could see how these people need God in their lives too..:) We should be the examples to the people around us that WE CAN make a difference too!!
The last day went by quickly with Sunday Service where Pastor Mariska shared about being committed to a church and how to share Christ to the other people around us. I also shared my testimony on how i decided to commit to Hope Singapore with the help of dear sis Lydia who interpreted for me. The Missions team also sang "It's a Small, Small World" for the church and celebrated Keng Suan's birthday..:)It was really a fulfilling experience for me...:) Thank God for Pastor Mariska and the brothers and sisters if Hope Jakarta for their kindness and their hospitality to us!! :)
Here are some pics from the trip:- for more please visit the link here => http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?&mode=fromsite&collid=84924010805.229667624305.1142572691156&conn_speed=1
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