Hanging at A and T's House

Yesterday we took the train at 7 in the morning to A and T's house. I have been looking so forward in spending time with them here.

Right away A took a couple of us to the local worship center here. On Friday it is the equivelant of their Sunday service for our fellowships in America. A said that this is the time that the town shuts down in a sense and many come to this main worship center for a sermon, and to do their prayers. We didn't go in it but from the outside we observed men doing their prayers. As I watched tears filled my eyes as I thought of P and his heart and how much he loved the people here and so much desperately wanted them to come to a relationship with the Lord.

I have really been wrestling with God since being here concering P's death. While I know that God is bigger than us and that he has a huge plan that we can't see and that we need to trust him, it's just the reality of seeing so many that need him and how few people are here that know the Lord. In the town where we are at, there are 4 million in the area and maybe only 2000 that know the Lord. I'm hearing so much how good P was at the language and how much he loved the people. He was so effective here and so why did God just take him away as he was getting started. Think of how many C's and how many fellowships there are in the states and so few here so to take one away is so devastating. I can still go back to God's sovereignty and that helps but it's hard being here on the ground and realizing how effective he could have been.

We had a really wild experience yesterday. They have men that have bicycles that have carts that you ride in the front of them. I will show pictures later. What's so funny is that they are build for smaller people not large Americans. So I squeezed in and was being pushed through the city. I told A that he needed to pay the guy double for pushing me around. It was an incredible experience.

It's just amazing how many people are here. The Island of Java has 120 million. Even areas that are considered more rural are just packed and packed.

Learning about the Eastern mindsight is very interesting especially in how different the west thinks. We are all trained to think individually and here everything is viewed as a community and family and not many decisions are made independantly. This has big implications in the way they do work here.

It was great seeing E and A. Their plane travel went great. A has been a lot of fun and she is doing great. Today we are going up to the farm where they grow organic vegatables.

It is so hot all the time but I am managing and drinking so many fluids. I still feel great and am grateful that I haven't been sick.

I have now been here a full 4 days and have a full 4 left. While in reality this time isn't that long it's leaving such a deep impact on my heart and life.

On Thursday night here we had dinner at some friend's of P and E that lived close to them. They were fellow students here and getting ready to go to a different Island to live. They were English so C and I had a blast listening to their accent and learning new words. My favorite was niggles, or niggling. It means being bothered or annoyed. so I could say, The hot weather is really niggling me here.

Well I guess that's it for now. Thanks again for all your prayers.