For those of you who don’t know, my current adventure is working at the front desk of a local hotel.  I started in the slow season between Thanksgiving and Christmas and am now learning what the meaning of busy is.  I love the work–not that I hated my former job, but I didn’t realize how much this introvert really likes the personal contact…with people, not just with the phone.  I truly like to see people, talk with people, be able to solve their problems within 15 minutes (i.e. I need 3 sets of towels).  In my last job, all I could do was give them a number to somewhere else, listen briefly, but always on the phone. 

I really miss my former co-workers, all the laughs, the lunches taken together, the crazy afternoons when it seemed like we all had ADHD, the prank calls from each other.  They also gave me my first nickname (and hundreds of subsequent nicknames) since I was 3 years old.  But I’m meeting more of my co-workers now and am learning to appreciate their differences and trying to be a friend as my last job taught me.  I love the fact the most of them are from different countries…and, yes, I’m trying to pick up their different languages as well.  I’ve only been there 2 months and I really love the work I do. 

 I promise it won’t be another 3 months before I write again.

For those of you who don’t know me personally, you may or may not have guessed that I am a Christian.  This post is referencing my pastor’s sermon from last night (yes, I go to church on Tuesday night) in which he started a series on what non-Christians think of Christians. 

I must admit that ever since I watched the movie Saved, I have thought about this subject–how do I present Jesus?  How do they know that I belong to Him and that He is my best friend? I realize that when it comes to media coverage, most people would think that Christians are either sanctimonious hypocrites or psycho-Bible beaters (literally), and that church is a boring 30-90 minutes that you can check off your “spiritual to-do list” for the week. 

I have to apologize to any non-Christians (and Christians) reading this because I have been hypocritcal at times, but primarily, I’ve been so fearful about what others think that I don’t actually live like Jesus would.  I have held grudges against people; I have judged people, including whether or not they were Christians; I have not loved people as Jesus loved them and have not really cared to help them when needed.  For these things, I understand why you wouldn’t want to be a Christian, much less come to church in the first place. 

Having said that, I also must say that many churches (including my own) is a place where I myself have found healing and grace, where everyone is welcomed.

 I also welcome any comments about anything on this subject: what you think about Christianity and what has happened to you to make you dilike Christians in general.  I’m looking to build bridges here–not burn them. 

That night, I got to eat dinner with D., one of my friends who has been in Africa for the last 3 years.  The only ethnic food she served was “bee-sop” juice, a drink made from the hibiscus plant.  Not wanting to stay in the US myself, I loved hearing all her adventures, joys, struggles, etc.  

I can never think of Seinfeld without thinking of my old Oral Interpretation class and N’s performance from Seinlanguage.  We would go to the JDC to help the teachers get the youth interested in reading–one DM was so strict with his guys that they didn’t…well couldn’t laugh, even though it was so incredibly funny.  From the back, we could see them looking at him, every time N made a joke, but his face was just so hard, that they didn’t dare to laugh. 

 I don’t watch sitcoms anymore–they’re just too vulgar and they aren’t as funny as the shows in the 80′s and 90′s like Home Improvement and Frasier; if I’m lucky, I might catch these reruns sometime on CW or Fox.  I also don’t like to allow the TV to order my life, so at this point in time, there are only 2 shows that I make a point to watch every week–Numbers and Cold Case; every other night of the week I’m so busy I don’t get a chance to watch the more popular CSI’s or Lost.

Last night, I did watch the drama Brothers & Sisters.  It’s pretty much the same old-same old family drama with mother-daughter conflict, child has disease (granddaughter w/ diabetes), woman between 2 men, brother-sister conflict, token gay brother, etc. It was entertaining for an hour, but I don’t think I’ll watch it again. 

Well, maybe I did just write a post about nothing…I’ll let you be the judge of that. 

Hopefully next time I’ll have a more interesting post.

I’ve been 2 weeks on K-island in a little village/neighborhood called Landau Kantu with a wonderful lady named Lalani.  I and 2 other people (Dave and Citra) have been helping her to prepare for a workshop that promotes the use of a specific legume that will help add nitrogen to the soil and prevent erosion, therefore allowing the people a greater land use.  Lalani also wants to use this to promote a greater appreciation for reading.  I have done everything from washing dishes, clothes, and myself in the very same river and have been protected by a very great God.  No health problems, only one mosquito bite (malaria is not an issue there), not even any rats. 

These people are very hospitable, as most people of this country seem to be.  They are “Christian” but it is very syncretistic in nature–they still appeal to the spirits (like many Catholics pray to the saints) to intercede on their behalf of the “great spirit.”  Another thing Lalani wants to promote through the workshop that’s happening this week is to teach more of God’s character so that they will learn who He really is and that He is trustworthy. 

 My time is running out, but I will post one more time to tell you a bit about B-island and the debriefing process.  Lots of love to all!

It’s great to hear about the Zambia team getting back safely. I can’t wait to compare notes in another month!

Ibu lives in a great neighborhood with great neighbors including Pastor and Ibu Suharto, and a sweet “cousin” (I’ll have to explain this term later, along with a lot of other abbreviations 8-( Sorry) named Dini whom Lisa and I spent a lot of time with. During our stay, we went to Ibu’s church 3 times (twice for Wednesday night prayer), went to Taman Mini (a miniature park of the country’s provinces along with different science museums), the fair, and visited the “mal” that our Ibu works at selling handbags.

Speaking of malls, I am absolutely amazed at the number of malls they have here…and how crowded they are. But I do like that most malls have a grocery store in them; you can truly get anything you need at a mall. Because of travelling everyday to and from our homestay, I also learned how truly large J-town is. It took us about two hours there and back everyday… and others had to travel almost four hours to and from Kantor SIL!

Anyway, I know that this post is longer than most, and I so appreciate hearing from you. I’ll write one more time before one team splits into three to go to other islands. More to come…

After coming back to J-town, we split up to be guests of different homes. Lisa (from LA) and I are guests of Ibu Terrigan; her husband is away from home on a ship and 2 of her 3 children are away at school. We have been there since Monday and have gone to her church's Wednesday night prayer meeting and met some of her neighbors. In fact, we have already been invited out for dinner tonight with a family down the street–very close friends with our Ibu.

It's so hard to consolidate a week and a half in one post, but I'll just have to give more details when I get back in a month. Just to say, I'm praying for you, specifically the Zambia team and the Indiana Conference. _\,,/