First Year Reflections

Beautiful mountains can be seen from just about anywhere on a clear day 

Some days it feels like we just arrived in Indonesia, while other days it seems like we’ve been here for years. No matter what it feels like, the return of the dry season reminds us that our first year in Indonesia is over.

We’ve waited until now to reflect on our choice to obey God’s call to serve in Indonesia. God has certainly cared for us during this first year and has used us to help meet the needs of the students at Mountainview International School.

Transition is rarely easy. Transition into life in Indonesia has not been easy. Freedom is the greatest thing missed; freedom to speak and listen with whoever you want, freedom to go wherever you want and freedom to get whatever you want.

Home Sweet Home

Our language study has been slow. Dana and I can read a little Indonesian, but struggle to hear it spoken. The result is an inability to converse with neighbors beyond just saying “Hello” and “How are you?” In a culture where community is everything, not being able to communicate has been disappointing. Our language learning struggles has certainly given us both greater appreciation for those who can speak the language and greater empathy for those trying to learn English.

It’s surprising how trapped one feels when you can’t go where you want. Of course, the lack of language is a big part of this but the inability to jump in a car and go where you want can feel really limiting. We have a motorcycle which helps but it is just a bit small for the whole family. Of course having a larger vehicle doesn’t necessarily solve your problems. Getting from one city to the next isn’t as simple as jumping on the highway or the interstate. In Indonesia, most roads are lined with stores, street vendors and homes. The constant merging of people and machines makes traveling slow and tiresome, not to mention dangerous. The upside to this sense of a lack of freedom is that you plan trips more carefully, even when just shopping downtown. When we go out of town we hire a driver. This is a blessing for everyone. For our driver it is a blessing because he can provide food and shelter for his family. For us, me specifically, I can sit back and enjoy the trip without experiencing the exhaustion of driving in Indonesia.

Fresh food, very fresh food

In the US, a person can get just about anything they want. Moreover, they can get the product they want in a certain brand that they prefer. This is true in Indonesia if you’re buying rice, cooking oil or Coca-Cola. Of course we miss the things that we can’t always get like pancake syrup, popcorn, Milo (a type of breakfast cereal) and most recently whipping cream. Please know that we’re not complaining, but just identifying some of the differences that limit our freedom to get the products we want whenever we want them. Again, it is not a bad thing to not always get what you want. In fact, it teaches us to enjoy things a bit more when we can find them. For example, Dana went shopping in Semarang (a large city about one hour from Salatiga) with some ladies from school. She brought me back a treat that I could enjoy in the states daily if I chose; cheese (real cheese that tasted like real cheese!) and saltine crackers. I savored them over the next two weeks enjoying only a small quantity at a time. Actually, once you get past the initial frustration of not getting what you want when you want it, it can end up feeling quite liberating.

Even a smile can be charity

At the core of our experience of life I think we must ask one simple question, how well are we cooperating with what God is trying to do in our world (for us, Indonesia)? Some days, I’m quite confident of our cooperation with God in our service at Mountainview. Life is good when prayers are answered, students do well on tests and our own children don’t complain about being here. Of course, there are other days; days when God is silent, teachers and students don’t feel like being in the classroom and our children speak of nothing except of how wonderful the food is in America. Yet, through it all we seek shalom and shalom is what God is all about. We end this first year, much like we started it, seeking shalom. Of course, we know more Indonesian now than we did, our students learned something if only that we love them and our neighbors know we smile a lot. Even a smile can be an act of charity or that’s what it feels like when they smile at us.