The end

I am going to share excerpts from my journal from the last few days of my stay.  This might be a little more personal, but I don't feel like writing anything, and they express the end of my journey fairly well.

The last few weeks

 The last 3 or so weeks of my stay in Indonesia were very different from the rest of my stay.  A lot started clicking for me about the culture, people, poverty, and spiritual practices.  I finally felt like I started to understand how they all work together and why they exist and function as they do.

12/13/10   3 days left

     It's starting to feel like I'm actually about to leave now.  The end of my time here has been the best as is almost always the case, but I'm more than ready to go home.  This has been a long and trying journey - as well as one of the best ones.  I still don't really know what I'm doing here or how I got here, but I do know why I'm here.  God brought me here for many reasons I think.  He showed me so much of Himself here, led me to meet all the right people, read all the perfect books, and see first-hand His work here.  I learned I need to rely on Him fully and know better how to do that; I saw the darkness of a place that calls down other spirits to worship and the effects of that on its society; I saw how Jesus can take those same people and bring them to a place of true freedom, to the one place of light shining in the dark; I learned what poverty does to people and how Satan uses their situation against them; I experienced God's heart for this broken country within each individual; I saw how desperately lost the people are here, how blindly deceived, and how paramount their fear; I saw the truth that although they are too scared to ever be alone, they are always lonely because their trust in other people was broken at a young age; I saw the sparkle of hope, a moments flicker of life in their eyes when I shared the Gospel with them.
       The situation here is so dire.  I no longer wonder how such injustice and corruption can occur in this country or in this world, but rather I wonder how it can not occur.


Aftermath 

Here is some of what I wrote in my journal right after I flew from Indonesia to Spain.

12/18/10   On the bus from Barcelona to Madrid

• The first step off the plane: The air was brisk and fresh.  So foreign and seemingly unnatural, yet completely natural-feeling.  I felt cold air.  Natural, cold air.  I started crying. 
• A few minutes later: The guy running the taxi line is trying to help me find the Spanish words that I was looking for since I could only remember a few words.  Among the phrases he helped me with: "Cuanto cuesta" and "cuanto tiempo".  I said "lo siento" because I was wasting his time.  He said don't worry, calm down, and he'll help me figure it all out.  I couldn't believe the amount of energy, enthusiasm and kindness he used helping me, a complete stranger - American at that - who could barely speak his language.  One of the nicest men I've met in a long time.  Since then (in the last few hours) almost everyone I've asked questions to is just as understanding and helpful.  I never realized Spaniards were like that - I think when I lived here I took the good for granted (or as a requirement) and only the bad was left to see. 
• Bus just stopped at a stoplight - almost no cars passed - yet the bus just sat there at this quiet intersection and waited.  Weird.  I think Indonesians would not be able to comprehend that/would not abide by it/would think it doesn't make sense.  It was a really weird feeling just now- I wondered what we were doing and why and consider it very bizarre.  The streets are no longer a free-for-all.
• Cafe's, cervecerias, and little places everywhere you can go sit in and get coffee and sit or get a nepolitana or chorizo.  No one bothers you or notices you.  Only a few people are in each cafe.  Sepi.  So inviting and nice.  I feel so happy seeing these places - I'm almost moved to tears.  No one here is looking at me.
• I swear the guy behind me was speaking bahasa but when I started listening I realized it is Spanish.  I'm going crazy.  I hear Indonesian everywhere.
• I once again remember how sunlight can be pleasing, or even heavenly.  Sitting outside on the cold concrete bench before I got on this bus the sun-rays lightly warmed me.  They felt so far away.  So beautiful. 
• I remember how Spain is my second home now.  Although I am once again a foreigner here, I feel like I'm home, like I'm visiting a home from my past.  I understand the culture so much more here (than Indo) because I was once part of it.  It's so comforting and assuring to understand what is going on around me.  My heart is full of happiness and again I want to cry.
• I haven't slept in 33 hours.  It feels longer.  That means I've been traveling for 31 hours.  7.5 left till I reach Madrid.  It's 11:15am in Spain, 5:15pm in Sumatra.
• Right now I almost can't even fathom how I considered Spain barely civilized/developed country.  It seems so nice and developed/modern to me right now.  I'm almost scared to see what America will look like.

12/20/10  In a cafe in Madrid

• Only 2.4 years since I left here and I've forgotten 90% of it - and almost all of the feel of it - which is the essence of a place, its core.  And that very thing is the part that is almost impossible to retain in memory.
• Looking around, I don't remember feeling or being so similar to people here - part of that I'm sure is due to the fact that I'm in Madrid, not Alcalá, [the small Spanish city I lived in,] right now, but I don't feel out of place at all.
• I know this is strange, but it's almost comforting to know the few looks I am getting here (which are all from men) are because they find me attractive.  Though I remember hating that, as I'm sure I would again if I stayed here longer, it somehow affirms that I am seen as a human being to them rather than some sort of fantastical creature (like in Indo.) that is awed at because it is so rare, but that is also laughed at, chased, ran away from, exploited, talked about directly in front of; basically it is treated as it is seen: an animal.  Very few, if not none, see past its exterior and realize that the fantastical animal they see is only fantasy -- what they see masks its true identity.

Thank you everyone for reading and supporting me for the last 5 months.  Happy New Year!

Where I live...

Hello! 

I am very exhausted right now.. I only have 3 days left here including today, so I've been pretty busy wrapping everything up.  I'll post later and talk more about the end of my time here and thoughts - right now I want to talk about where I've been living.  I noticed my blog makes it look like I've been traveling a lot, which is pretty inaccurate.  Yes, I've gone on 3 trips total, but together they were 12 days total.. so the vast majority of this 4.5 month period of time has been spent in one city.  After I had been here a while I actually decided not to travel in order to get to better know this one place and people here.  The thing is is that I haven't written much about my daily life here and this place... mainly because it seems so normal/boring to me now that I feel like it is not worth writing about.  People always say it's best to take pictures and write down observations that strike you the first few days you go somewhere.  They're right -- very quickly things that seemed crazy/different become normal.  

A market street.

Daily Life
FOOD
Man - I don't know what to say.  I mainly eat rice with fried meat/tofu/dough on top of it.  I try to only have that once a day, instead of 3 times like most people here, but it's pretty tricky finding other things to eat.  It feels so unhealthy to me to be eating so much fried food. It's crazy that, according to nutrition statistics, the food here is still healthier than American processed food.  I think I've eaten most of the different types of animal organs now.  When I was in that village in Sept I didn't look up the words they were telling me in the dictionary because I didn't want to find out what organs we were eating since we had to eat that dish for 3 days straight.  Typically families will cook one dish of food and then put it under a sort of mesh cage thing so bugs can't get in (they still do), and then the family eats that dish for every meal until its gone... it usually lasts for about 2 days.  They do not reheat the food, so its almost always cold.  That's the case at most "warungs" too.. the food is all cold.  It's all made in the morning and then sits there until it is eaten.  Even meat and fish and eggs.  I'm not sure if it's sanitary or not- I always thought you couldn't do that - but I haven't gotten sick from it!  My favorite two dishes here are Soto - a brothy soup with thin, clear noodles and fried onions.. not much substance but you eat it with rice and it's not fried! - and Mie Ayam - thin spaghetti-like noodles with small pieces of chicken (well.. half meat and half fat and skin) and cucumber and green leafy vegetables with broth poured over it.

Ok, I don't really have time to write more, so maybe I'll continue this later.  I'll let some photos speak for themselves.

This seems to be one of the main hubs of activity in Bandar Lampung.  Ramayana market is to the right.  This is where you switch angkots... you can see the light blue angkot in the foreground.. the light blue one goes north, so its the one I take home.

Typical Bandar Lampung. 

Friends in the back room of the church. 

With my friends from church.  Grilling fish out back at the pastor's house.

Friends from church again. This was the farewell dinner they had for me.

Outing with the family I'm living with now.  Eating at a warung on the side of a busy road around midnight... probably my lastest night here so far!

Carolina and her mom in Carolina's room.  I sleep on the trundle bed.

On our way to the art festival here in the beg. of Nov.

The market inside of Ramayana.

Bali

Hi everyone!
I went to Bali 2.5 weeks ago and stayed in Ubud for 5 days.  Ubud is the artistic, cultural center city of the island of Bali.  It is in the center of the island.. so no, I did not go to any of Bali's famous islands... I've been hot all the time for many months now. the thought of a vacation where I willingly subject myself to the heat by laying directly under the sun sounds horrible.  Maybe a clean beach would have been a nice change, but still Ubud sounded more interesting to me.  It was a pretty small town, with artists everywhere.  It is the heart of Balinese art and performances.

Kecak
I only went to one performance - a Kecak dance, where the only music is a hundred male voices chanting and moving their bodies to the sounds while the story is told through the dance by eccentrically costumed characters.  It was really awesome.  There were around 100 performers or so and I think 10 or 15 audience members.. we were sitting outside on plastic chairs in one line in a stone plaza in the middle of Indonesian homes.  The group was known to be one of the best Kecak troupes.  It surprised me that the audience was so small, but I guess it makes sense given there are 10+ performances per night (maybe 3 or 4 different Kecak dances) in Ubud every night of the week.  But it made me think about how much we paid for the show.  I added the total amount that we audience members had paid, subtracted an average production cost, and then divided the amount by the number of performers, and it turns out that each performer would make somewhere around 10,000 Rupiah for the night's performance.  That is equivalent to about $1.

That's where I stayed - Alamanda! It was basically a family's house that had a spare bedroom on the 2nd story (like most accommodations in Ubud) .  It was really nice a - I highly recommend it.  And the Ibu (mother), is very sweet old lady.

Keliling Bali

Tanah Lot temple
(Click on any of the photos to enlarge)

After the first day in Ubud I started asking tour companies how much it cost to go see the historic sites/famous temples/etc around the island and they were all around $30 ish for a half a day tour.. which might sound reasonable, but that's 300,000 Rupiah, which is outrageous!  Ubud is definitely a tourist destination which you can see in the crazy-high prices there.  For example, ojek drivers (the guys on scooters) were telling me it cost 20,000 rupiah from the market to where i lived (about a 20 minute walk).  Then I would start speaking Indonesian to them (and they would be extremely surprised) and explain that I knew the price of gas and how much that service is supposed to cost - 3,000 rupiah - and then we'd settle for something like 5,000 Rp.  That's 50 cents versus $2.  They are ripping people off so badly!  It's hard to know how to feel about it since most ojek drivers are pretty poor.  Sometimes after I bargained with them I would give them extra money anyhow if they were really nice or something.. I just don't like the dishonesty/ripping-off part that they do.  My Indonesian came in handy soo much in Ubud - it probably made my trip 1/3 of the price, as well as making me a few friends :).  

Gunung Tampak Siring, one of the oldest
and largest sites in Bali. 

      Anyways.. back to my story.  So since the tours were expensive I decided to see how much it would be to rent my own moped thing and drive around the island myself trying to find the temples and other sites.  I asked a bunch of locals that I met and people that had lived in Ubud for a while, so that I could know what price to bargain for.  I ended up paying $10 to rent a moped for 2 full days.. and that included the insurance!  So for days 2 and 3 I went/toured around (keliling) Bali on my moped.  Right after I rented it (which I wasn't planning on doing), I started driving and didn't stop until I reached the southwestern coast of the island (about 1.5-2 hours away) where the temple Tanah Lot (pictured above) is located.  I didn't think anything of driving the moped the way I was until I returned to Ubud after dark and some girl I met who was also from the US but had lived in Ubud for a few years told me I was crazy and that she would never ever drive a moped that far in Indonesia.  It was my first time driving in Indonesia, but I think since I had been observing the crazy driving for so long, doing it was a piece of cake.  Luckily, I had a small map with me, but I ended up having to ask random people in random villages which way to go numerous times b/c the map only showed major roads, and the way to the temple was mainly on small back roads.  There was a lot of traffic, so I weaved in and out of busses and cars, beeping at practically everyone I passed, driving on sidewalks, or the other side of the road if it was empty, and passing lots of people... basically I was pretending I was an Indonesian driver.  If I had been in Lampung I would have felt weird doing this, but in Bali everything seemed so different, so international, that I felt fine (like I wasn't being continuously observed by many pairs of eyes at each second), so I felt fine with driving like that.  Only once in a while, when I was at a stoplight, did I notice that I was really the only foreigner that was driving a moped.  Towards the end of the trip, I started noticing the rest of the Indonesians around me on mopeds were looking at me in a sort of shocked and amused way.

Tirta Empol

The second day with the moped I drove north - again going on little tiny 6 ft wide roads and found my way to Tampaksiring, where I saw both the old holy pools of Tirte Empol and Gunung Kawi Siring.  The entire area is hilly and beautiful (the moped ride was fu-un!), and is all being considered for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

      On the left you can see one of the holy pools - Bali Hinduism is the most eccentric thing I've ever seen.  There are little shrines on every corner of every thing.  The yellow table-like thing in the picture is to build your own shrine to offer to the gods in the pool at each of the water fountains.  

Lunchtime adventure

Notice all the old t-shirts and other random objects hanging from
the sticks that are stuck into the field... those are the Hindu shrines.
They are supposed to protect their fields. 

I made a lot of friends traveling alone while I was in Ubud - it was a pretty interesting experience.  I met people wherever I went.  It was sort of funny actually,.. I kept happening to make friends with couples and then we'd plan to meet again later and it'd be me and the couple.  haha.  One day I walked to this restaurant out in the middle of nowhere.  I walked for like a half an hour through a 1 ft. wide path in between rice paddys.  Eventually when I thought that couldn't be the way to a restaurant, a cute little organic lunch hut place showed up.  It was really yummy.  I couldn't get enough fresh fruits and vegetables in my 5 days in Bali.. I have been deprived.. here in Lampung there is only rice and fried meats or vegetables to go on top.  Which is good, but ends up not being very good when it is the only choice for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner.  Anyways, pictured above is the path I took to the little restaurant.  That is one of the many adventures.  I really liked Bali - or at least Ubud.  The tourism might get old, but there are still more locals than tourists.  I think the biggest difference was the Hinduism coming out (versus the Islam in Lampung).  It made the Bali and Lampung feel like completely different cultures and even countries.  

Life update/ The Volcano Situation

Selamat malam!
 Life here has been going so much better, it's hard to believe.  Although, I may have just had a good week so I forget how tough it can be here sometimes.  But still - a whole week that is good!  That is amazing!  Thank you Lord!  I think I am beginning to adjust to the way of life here.  Even (most of) the yelling and pointing and laughing at me on the streets didn't seem to bug me that much this week.  Sometimes I even say Hi back or answer one of the questions or smile at people.  It's been nice.  Church this Sunday and the young ppl's get together on Sunday night was really good; I am starting to feel more like I am part of the church there.  It's been really hard (for me & them) to get over how different I am and try to act normal.  There's still a huge division, but now it seems to be more of a lighthearted joke than a huge obstacle.

Tonight (Monday night) was the worship/Bible study I go to, but today was Becca's birthday, so we all celebrated.  The Indonesian girls threw water on her, then buckets of flour and blue powder and then confetti.  They wanted to throw eggs too (which is customary), but we said that would probably not be the best idea since Becca is from the US and that would most likely be considered mean.  I have to say, she was an extremely good sport about their whole "surprise" (I had nothing to do with it), I don't think I would have handled that quite as well!  We also had a cake for her, Batik clothes (the traditional clothing here.. Tika and I went to the mall/market and got them on Saturday), and a volcano formed out of rice.  Then we sang worship songs for the rest of the night.  It was super fun.  There were a few friends that joined since it was a Birthday party too, so I think there were 2 or 3 Muslim girls there that stayed for worship which was cool.

Volcanoes
I'm sure many of you have been hearing about Indonesia in the news due to the huge earthquake that caused the tsunami that practially wiped out the islands to the west of here as well as Gunung (Mt.) Merapi errupting in central Java near Yogyakarta.  I wanted to go do relief work at the islands after the tsunami hit b/c the country is now severely short on relief workers and supplies, but my program wouldn't let me.  I may go anyways sometime later, as I'm sure relief help will still be needed.  The volcano that is the closest to me is Gunung Krakatau (or Anak Krakatau - they are the same volcano, don't let the news confuse you), which started errupting about a week ago.  So far it has just been very small amounts of ash/gas/or lava that it has released.  Nothing major.  No one has moved out of the villages yet.  If you are unfamiliar with the geography, Krakatau is basically a volcano in the middle of the ocean (an island, i guess).  Is is almost exactly between Sumatra and Java, but a little closer to Sumatra, so it is considered part of the Lampung region (where I am).  The villages closest to it are on the southernmost shores of Sumatra - so near Canti, where I went in the hot springs and wrote about.  So no one is leaving from there yet, but you can see it errupting from the coast (the Polish couple went down there 2 days ago and brought back photos).  Where I am is about 2 hours north of Canti, so pretty far away from Krakatau.  Everyone is thinking it will errupt soon.  Hopefully if it does, it won't reach here, or it will be gradual enough that everyone will have time to evacuate.  It's just crazy how this is all happening right now.  Scientists are saying the plates moving that caused the earthquake, are causing volcanic activity... apparently numerous volcanoes all around Indonesia are now reporting "increased activity" since the earthquake ~2 weeks ago.


ok, Selamat tidur (Happy sleep)!

Semi-Recent Happenings

Here are some photos from some things I've been up to recently.  There are many cool activities I'm not including.  I will very soon upload those photos though! I feel like my English is getting bad again.  All the sentences I'm writing right now sound really weird to me.

Anyways, everything has been going pretty well here.  Everything seems to be progressing slowly but surely: language, friendships, cultural understanding/acceptance, etc.  I had a really good day today.  After I volunteered at the orphanage, I went to the young ppl's worship at my church and I had a really good time there.  Mainly, God helped me understand a lot of the frustrations that I have been going through here lately and he gave me encouragement and love for his people.  So, not very coincidentally, after the worship I had some of the best talks I've had since I got here with the other students that were at the worship meeting.  It was really nice because it has been really hard for me to feel at ease at church.. or anywhere in this city because of how different I am here, but after worship God seemed to take that burden from me.  I felt fully relaxed for the first time since I've been here and felt as though I was talking to peers - my friends, brothers and sisters in Christ - rather than an American talking to Indonesians (or trying to). 

The following 2 photos are from a spelling bee that Valorie and I judged last Saturday. 

This was the final round for the Elementary schoolers.  Whoever buzzed first had to spell the word outloud.

First round, they had to write the words down.

This is Tika, my best Indonesian friend, and I at Conversation Corner, the English learning school that the American family here is running for University students and teachers in BL to improve the education system here, which is quite bad.

This is a typical outdoor "warung".  I eat most lunches after classes at different warungs along the road.  That is Andry and Tayuko sitting at our table.

Andry and Tayuko eating.  We also got Es Buah (Fruit Soup) from the warung next to this warung, so it was a yummy meal.

The front of the orphanage I teach at.  Those are some of the silly boys.

I went with the orphanage on their fieldtrip to a park in Bandar Lampung and did this while I was there.

The pool in the park.  I was basically dragged down (and up) slides and through the water for about 2 hours. :)

Monday night worship/Bible study.  My favorite time of the week.  On the far left is Valorie, then Tika, then Risty, then some girl I just met and forgot her name.

All of us Darmasiswa students decided to go do karaokee on Thursday night.

We went and did woodcarving on Friday in Metro, which is about an hour away from BL.  There is Tayuko and I working on some elephant carvings.  Sitting next to us is the university's traditional dance professor, who took us to the carving place.

At first I was just doing it because everyone kept nagging me to "just tryy it", and then, as I feared, I got really into it and couldn't stop until I had fixed the gouges in the elephant's leg.  It was pretty fun I guess.

okay, that's all folks! 
haha, okay that made me miss looney tunes on saturday mornings.  weird.
ignore that comment. 

Going to Malaysia!

So, I'm going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in like.. Ahhh-- 6 hours!!!!  I have to sleep.  Well, I'll write about this real quick because it's an AWESOME story!

So I asked the director of the Darmasiswa program multiple times about my visa and he told me I could leave the country one time (So I went to Singapore/the Phillipines).  However, when I tried to get back into Indonesia from Singapore they wouldn't let me and I had to buy a new visa that is only good for one month.   Then the director of my program here tells me (about 2 weeks ago) that he actually can't get me a new visa and that I have to leave the country before October 19th to apply for a new visa.  Considering this was really last minute and completely the program's fault, I told them many times that I did not have the money to pay for this trip and that they were responsible for the cost.  I had one phone call with a woman in Jakarta who was very unsympathetic and told me they don't do that, I will have to pay.  I started praying about it and after 3 days I decided it would be better to not wait for them to come through (in case they never did), because by then the ticket price would be even higher.  So I went online to book a ticket from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hoping I could get it below $150, but God had a little surprise for me: The ticket cost $1 each way, for a grand total of $2.  I kidd you not, you can check my bank statement!  It gets better:  This was apparently an airline deal, but the ONLY day for booking was that exact day, and to get that price you had to leave after OCT 18 (the day before my visa expires).  ALSO... I went and told the Polish couple who live here in case they wanted to travel to Kuala Lumpur for cheap (oh... that was also the ONLY city that had the deal.. which is the city I had to go to for the visa).  When the Polish couple checked many different combinations of flights they were all pricing at the cheapest around $150.. apparently the deal was sold out.. and this was about 5 minutes after I went on.  So, Amazing God answered my 3 days of prayers.  I still can't believe it - $2!

Okay, and to top it all off (yes, there's more!), the day after that Darmasiswa told me they would pay for my trip.  So they will give me a set amount which is to cover the flight, other transportation, food, and lodging.  Anyways, my prayers were answered double!

So, I'll be gone from tomorrow morning until Friday evening!  Toodles!

Beautiful Canti and Shadow Puppets!

 Trip to Kalianda and Canti

Tayu with Krakatau behind her -the furthest peak on the left. You can barely see it.

Last weekend Tayu (Japan), Mariola & Yan (Polish couple) and I went to a small town called Kalianda a few hours South of Bandar Lampung, but still in the Lampung province.  Apparently the nicest beaches are there.  Also, the famous  Krakatau volcano is off the coast from there.  We looked into taking a boat to the island/volcano of Krakatau, but everyone was trying to rip us off and it was really expensive.  We could see it though!  When we got to the Kalianda beach the first day after a 5 hour bus ride due to traffic jams due to meteor-shaped potholes, we were pretty disappointed because the entire beach was filled with trash and the muddy water carried garbage with it as it lapped back and forth.  This would be fine near BL, but since we came all the way to Kalianda for some ocean-swimming, it was far from ideal.  There were a few groups of Indonesian friends there but that's about it.  We stayed until dinner and then checked into the hotel.  It was $3.50 per person for the night, which is pretty expensive for Indonesian standards.  This means $7.00 per room, or 70,000 Rupiah which is quite a lot.  The room Tayu and I shared was kind of gross, although Tayu reassured me that this was one of the better Indonesian hotels she had been to.  I still haven't traveled around Indonesia- this was my first hostel/hotel experience- so I'll take her word for it, however surprising it might be.  The room had huge cobwebs everywhere, the mattresses were thin pieces of foam, the walls were dirty, there was dirt/dust/etc everywhere, under the beds was a lot of dirty stuff, there was still trash in the garbage can, the exposed light bulb hanging from the ceiling was extremely dim (this made it hard to do an animal/spider check at night), and I won't even start on the bathroom.  The room itself would have been fine had the hotel staff taken the time to CLEAN it.  That is the part that I cannot understand.  I saw people at the desk (multiple people) every time I came in and out, so there is definitely not a shortage of time.  I guess it just blows my mind, coming from America, that the hotel staff would just not clean a room (for who knows how many months), when it is their job to do so.  Yan and Mariola said it was one of the best hotels they had stayed at in Indonesia too.  Yikes!  Maybe it's okay I won't get to do too much more traveling here.  haha, jk. 

On the way to Canti.

Tayu searching for the hot springs. Behind her is Krakatau (on left w/smoke coming out of it)

Our second day (Saturday), we went to the hamburger place again for breakfast (we went there Friday night too).  They also had fried bananas with chocolate and cheese which is what we tried for breakfast.  There is not typical "breakfast food" here.  You basically have the same options for breakfast as you have for lunch and dinner.  Rice, or rice, or something else if you can find it.  These were the first hamburgers I had had for the past 2 months - although a little different, still yummy!!  Tayu and I decided to go to the village nearby called Canti because, according to my guide book there was a natural hot springs in Canti.  Eventually Mariola and Yan decided they wanted to come too.  We took a series of angkots (the public transportation in Indonesia - similar to gouged-out mini-vans from the 60s that have 2 benches inside) and ojeks (a guy that gives you a ride on the back of his small scooter) to get there.  The last angkot dropped us off at Pantai (Beach) Wartawan and there was a little old lady who lived there and made us pay her before she would show us where the hot springs were.  I thought it was a little weird, but then I found out that that is actually protocol - if you want to go to Pantai Wartawan or the hot springs, you have to pay her.  So she led us about 15 steps to our right, to some rocks on the side of the ocean and said there was a hot springs under the water there.  It took us a while to find, but eventually we (or Tayu), found this huge hole under the water with extremely hot water coming up (actually, she found it right when I took the picture above this, so that's where the hot spring was).  We all walked over and joined her and sat around it with our feet dangling into its dark depths.  The scenery was spectacular from there and the water was clear and clean.  It was probably the best few hours I've had since I got here.  It just felt so nice to be in clean water and breathing clean air and see beautiful nature again.  It also felt strangely untouched.  I still wonder if that's really what my guide book was talking about.  It seems so hidden and small and almost a coincidence we ended up there, that I feel like it couldn't be in a guide book already.  That'd be crazy!  It's just like the corner shore of this woman's yard basically! haha

Yan and Mariola sitting in the warm water.

On our way back to Kalianda.  We found a pretty rice field.

 Shadow Puppet Show

Us at the show with the bride and groom.  From L to R: Mariola (Poland), Chandra (Cambodia), me, the groom, the bride, Moonly (Cambodia - she already went home), Andry (Madagascar), Digdem (Turkey), Safa (Cambodia), and Yan (Poland).

A few Saturday's ago the Rektorat (like the Dean but more important politically) of the University invited us (the Darmasiswa students) to see a traditional Indonesian shadow puppet show (wayang kulit).  Other than Tayu, we all were able to go.  The show was about an hour from BL in a small village.  There was a tent set up for a couple's wedding.. I think they had this show going as a sort of reception for their wedding or something, but it was also open to the public.. I'm not sure how wedding traditions work here yet.  I sort of expected to not like the show because I just feel like I wouldn't like puppets, but it was actually quite cool.  The music was my favorite part.  It was seriously awesome - gamelan music - I may start learning how to play it next week!  But beside the music, the puppets were exquisitely made out of off-white paper and painted with beautiful, traditional paints.  A lot of golds and reds.  They were incredibly detailed.  They cast shadows on the sheet behind them, so if you walked behind the stage you see cool shadows (I don't know if I was supposed to do this - it was pretty much on someone's front step and a bunch of teenagers were having a party there (completely taboo in Lampung culture - they told me they were drinking milk) and watching the wayang kulit).   It was really cool-looking anyhow - the whole performance.  I also learned a lot about its form, classic plot line and characters, and what music goes with what, which was very interesting.  It definitely is its own classical art form.  Soooo..., we left BL at 7pm and the show started at 9pm.  Around 12am I finally asked when the show was supposed to end and was told "4am".  Considering I had to wake up around 7am, this was not the best, plus we were not forewarned at all.  We ended up staying until a little past 1am and then were able to get a ride home with someone.  It was a long night, but overall pretty enjoyable.

The Lampungese People

I recently learned that Lampungese people are one of the most unreached people groups in the world.  (I am living in Lampung if you didn't know.. similar to a county or State in the U.S.).  Close to 100% of Lampungese people have not heard the Gospel.  Here is the data about it if you are interested in taking a look and/or joining me in prayer:

This is the exact area within the region I'm in, and the specific type of Lampungese people:  http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=12976&rog3=ID

More general.  This is the region I am in (notice the percentage for being unreached for ALL of the people groups is 100%):   http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php?peo2=209


BL Airport

The one (and only) room in the Bandar Lampung airport.  It's extremely unpleasant, to say the least.  It is also quite comical.  When I took this picture I was standing at the end of the security belt, grabbing my backpack.  The security line blends in with the room and it is so crowded that people are waiting and eating next to you while you are going through security.  Maybe they should change the name of it, I'm not sure "security" is accurate.

I am going to try and post more often, maybe shorter, but more frequently.  I think that will be easier for me, because by the time I write I've forgotten so much of what I wanted to share!

Hope you ppl are still reading this!!

The Philippines, Singapore, and Spiritual Practices

Hello friends,
I hope you are all well!

A lot has happened since I last wrote.  I am much busier than before, and, well, writing has never exactly been a passion of mine, but I will try to continue documenting my time here. This might be a long one.  I have 3 sections, so maybe read one at a time :) Haha.  They're all really good!!! I promise!!

Our holiday break for Idul Fitri is now over.  Classes started last Tuesday (they were pushed back 1 more day).  I haven't really gotten a sense for classes yet; we did mostly introductions.  If I write about my first impressions, it will come across very pessimistic, so I will hold off until next week to talk about school. :)

PS (okay, I know PS usually goes at the end, whoops): Some of you have asked for prayer requests.  Most of what I am going to write about needs prayer.  I will also mention a few of them as I go along for those of you who want to pray for me/SE Asia.

The Madagascar Guy's Crazy Life Story

We called him the Madagascar Guy for the last 6 weeks because he was the last Darmasiswa student to arrive and we didn't know his name.  He (Andry) got here 5 days ago, and does not speak any Bahasa and very little English.  He speaks French and Malagasy, which btw, is a very cool-sounding language.  The second night he was here he and I had a very long talk about the spiritual things that go on in Madagascar.  (The talk was probably equivalent to an hour long talk, but it took 2.5 hours for us to understand each other and what was being said using English and a few French and Indonesian words.)

    For 5 years, from the time he was 10 years old until he was 15 years old, Andry practiced what he kept referring to as "power yoga" or spiritual forces using the mind. He left his parents' home during this time and lived on his own, going to school only on days when he wasn't with his "master" practicing.  He explained a lot about the specific spiritual practices he did and the organization/hierarchy of the spirits and how everything worked. I wrote a lot of it down and we googled a lot of the terms so I could read about them. It was very interesting seeing how wikipedia described specific terms.. it made them sound like some strange spiritual, peaceful belief that no one probably ACTUALLY believes in and that has no REAL power. Quite the contrary is true. In reality these beliefs and spirits are very real and had complete control over Andry's life for 5 years.

   Andry's teacher/master of yoga is apparently able to move things and make things happen with his mind. Andry learned how to do this too, but did not reach the same level as his teacher. Andry said he also never used the practice to hurt anyone or anything although he knew the spirits he was dealing with were evil ones.  His teacher is involved in very dark magic (as all of this spiritual realm is). In order to become a master of the particular type of yoga/magic, he was required to kill someone (with his mind/Voodoo). Andry explained it to me like this: All the people who practice this religion/Voodoo are connected spiritually. They are interconnected similar to as if they are in a physical network with each other where they have ropes that tie each of them to one another.  Therefore they are vulnerable to the others in the network and able to be controlled or killed by each other. So his teacher did end up killing someone with Voodoo. His teacher told Andry when Andry started studying with him that he didn't kill his students, so Andry shouldn't worry. However, during the time Andry studied with him, 3 students were killed.  

    When Andry was 15 he was pulled out of this realm by Jesus and moved back in with his family (and his Dad who is a pastor). He told his teacher he wanted to live a different life and to please grant him the peace to do so. Andry said that he knows this master guy has tried multiple times to mess with him, but he has no power over him because the blood of Jesus protects him. He explained to me that the only thing in the world that could possibly protect him is the blood of Jesus and that his teacher knows it too. Andry sometimes still has dreams that he is practicing this type of yoga and when he wakes up in the morning, sometimes multiple things in his room have moved positions or are on the opposite side of the room. He says when this happens, he knows that it was his teacher trying to mess with him. However, no harm can come to Andry now, Hallelujah!  

    I have left out a TON from this. First, because I don't fully understand it all. Second, I still have a lot of questions for Andry myself about the specifics of things that he told me so I don't want to give you incorrect information or an inaccurate report on what he said (part of that is, I'm sure due our to language/communication barrier). And third, I'm not sure how important it is (or even if it is a good idea) to know about this stuff in depth. I've heard from multiple people how the U.S./the Western world is a place of spiritual quietness, and the rest of the world is a place of spiritual loudness. I definitely am seeing and hearing more and more how true that is. It is crazy that all these things exist, but in the U.S. we (or at least the majority of ppl) think all this spiritual stuff/magic is fake. Maybe its just me, but I've always thought that EVERYone thinks, knows, and believes that dark magic like Andry was involved in was completely fake. That is definitely, definitely not the case, and I wonder how the word doesn't spread from Madagascar to the U.S. for instance and people don't see what is going on and the truth of the spiritual battle going on in our world. It is Jesus that we must put our trust in to be saved from this world!

Tagaytay Volcano on the right side of the photo.  
PS: This shot was taken from the Starbuck's patio.

The Philippines

In the Philippines I stayed with a missionary and his family.  He is a Pastor originally from the U.S. but has been in the Philippines for 27 years now, since he was about 23 years old.  He and his wife started a ministry about 4 hours South of Manila, called Rich in Jesus, and they've started 8 churches there now.  They were very giving and amazing hosts.  They took me around the entire time I was there, including picking me up and dropping me off at the Clark airport (~6 hour drive from their house).  They were truly a reflection of Jesus in how they cared for me when they were under no obligation to.  We went to Tagaytay the last day and saw a volcano in the middle of a lake.  It was very beautiful.

Also in Tagaytay.  Beautiful country.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Political and Religious Situation
    The most fascinating thing about the Philippines was the political and religious situation.  I started learning about this from the aforementioned book I was reading ("Good News About Injustice").  It talked about the corruption in the Philippine government and military.  I learned more on my flight to the Philippines when I sat next to a young man who was part of a religious organization (aka cult).  And then when I was there I learned a lot from Rich and his family as well as from International Justice Mission (I visited the Manila HQ on my 3rd day there-which was awesome).
     Basically, it seems like there is a lot of corruption within both the political and religious bodies in the Philippines.  There is an organization called the NPA (New People's Army) and they are a Communist rebel group that blackmails people and is known for violent behavior.  They have a lot of anger and hate towards 1. the Philippine government, 2. Christians, and 3. anyone who doesn't agree with them.  To sum up: they basically hate everyone except for themselves.  They also specifically target anyone who they think has a substantial amount of money.  This includes all white people, even if the person doesn't actually have money, they are assumed to since they are white.  They blackmail them and if the person doesn't pay the NPA a certain amount of money per month they will most likely kill them.   Pastor Rich told me about a young missionary couple he knew that refused to pay them and a few nights later in the middle of the night their home exploded in flames.

Iglesia Ni Christo 
    On the plane ride to the Philippines I talked to a Philippino man about my age named Marvin (who I briefly mentioned at the beginning).  He was reading the Bible when I sat down next to him.  We started talking about the Bible and he started explaining his beliefs to me.  For the most part he was on the right track, but he also seemed to be misinterpreting some things that were pretty important.  I am obviously in no place to say whether or not he is truly a believer, I am only going to re-tell the story of our conversation.  He explained to me that his church, Iglesia Ng Dios (Church of God), was started when it broke off from the church Iglesia Ni Christo (Church of Christ).

Iglesia Ni Christo.  Notice they do not use the symbol

of the cross.  All of their buildings have this exact same

architectural design and color but vary in size.  The

buildings cost a lot of money, which has created some

skepticism/controversy in the Philippines where many

of their members are living in poverty.

    Iglesia Ni Christo is an organization (I wouldn't exactly call it a church) that was started in the Philippines and is now in many other countries (including a few in the U.S.). They are the 2nd biggest religious organization in the Philippines (after the Roman Catholic church I would assume).  I saw one of their buildings in every city-even little villages. They have a lot of money, power and very strong political ties with the Philippine government and are a very violent organization. They claim they are Christian (hence the name Church of Christ), but they do not allow their members to read or even touch the Bible.  Instead they are told to read the church's newsletter that is made by the highest ranking leaders of the church who are "allowed" to read the Bible and "interpret" it for the rest of the church.  The rest of their doctrine is equally as ridiculous, including their belief that Jesus was NOT the Son of God (so again, why they are classifying themselves as Christian is beyond me).  Marvin told me that when people become members of Iglesia Ni Christo they are given a firearm and that at most political events in the Philippines, the Philippine government works with Iglesia Ni Christo and members of the Iglesia Ni Christo church patrol the events with machine guns.  The fact that the Philippines and its government is supposed to be Roman Catholic, yet its government partners with the Iglesia Ni Christo and turns a blind eye (or even in some cases, helps) when Iglesia Ni Christo commits crimes and/or murders (yes, they murder people), shows how warped the truth of the Gospel has become there.  Of course this is not everybody in the Philippines, nor even everyone in the Philippine government, I'm sure.  I'm speaking in overall terms.
    So anyways, Marvin's church split off from this church and now there is huge conflict between the churches (the majority of crimes Iglesia Ni Christo commits is towards them).  Marvin told me (among other stories) that some members from his church were tricked into going to a restaurant for an event and when they got there, they were all locked inside and members of Iglesia Ni Christo open-fired on them with machine guns. Another story that I learned from...I think Pastor Rich, is that one of the high-ranked members of Iglesia Ni Christo that was allowed to read the Bible to "interpret" it for the members, was convicted by Christ and became a real Christian.  He left Iglesia Ni Christo and began following Jesus and became a Pastor for some type of Protestant church.  Iglesia Ni Christo tried to kill him several times.  I don't believe they have succeeded yet.  Pray for more stories like this one; for Iglesia Ni Christo's members to learn about who Jesus is and be turned from Iglesia Ni Christo towards Christ.
    Marvin's church, the Church of God, believes that Jesus is the Son of God and allows their members to read the Bible.  However, from the way Marvin talked (as though he were repeating other's words and couldn't/didn't want to think for himself) and from talking with other people in the Philippines I learned that his church is also a cult.  I think they are in a very difficult situation with breaking off from a church like Iglesia Ni Christo, so prayer for Marvin's church and their correct understanding of the Bible would be great!  The second half of the flight I started asking Marvin questions about why he believes certain things about the Bible to make him think for himself.  He seemed to not want to consider any interpretations different from what his church had told him, but when I started talking about Jesus he seemed to start listening.  It was pretty cool, I was able to speak some truth into his life and he seemed to take some of it in.  One good thing was that he agreed with me that we should live according to the Bible and take our beliefs from the Bible, not from what other people - even our pastors - say if it does not agree with the Bible.  I pray he remembers this and that God would show Marvin the truth and true meaning of His Word.  The Church of God also needs prayer! Their doctrine can probably be found online, but if you want more details on their specific beliefs, let me know.

This is the Clarke Quay district where people
go out at night.  The area feels surreal with
 the dollhouse-like buildings, lights on the
ground, and the illusion that you are indoors.

Singapore

I stayed in Singapore for a few nights with a few couchsurfers.  It was a very nice break from third world type living, but quite honestly, I was not very impressed.  Probably because I've heard about how cool Singapore is my whole life, so my expectations were high.  The country, which is also a city, appears to be a big city with its modern architecture and skyscrapers, but it feels more like a small community living inside a bubble.  People I talked to that live there described it the same way.  Although it is not the most interesting place, it is very nice and clean.  It is interesting how society functions there.  People seem to have a strong sense of community and are very obedient to the social norms.  It seems like they think in terms of the community more often than not.  I got a bit of a socialism vibe there.  It's interesting that this idea of the societal unit is so strong there given that the city is far too large for people to know each other and that the Western concept of 'the individual' has permeated the country possibly more than any other SE Asian country.  Nevertheless, everyone follows the rules almost as if they are under control of the power of the government, the government-made identical apartments house the vast majority of the citizens, and the crime rate is one of the lowest in the world.  The mix between the Western world and the Asian world is very interesting as well, but I won't go into that.  The majority of the people there are of Asian descent, although it is a very international city.  If I had to sum up Singapore, I would say it felt similar to a (very nice and large) retirement community in Florida for Asians.

Pulung Kencana (the village) for Idul Fitri

 

A worship time, teaching, prayer, and meal took place in this house in the village.  They were all overjoyed that I was going to take this picture back to America with me.

Ditta's older sister, Pipit cooking duck (??!) for us for dinner out in the hut in the backyard.  She's the one that is the CCC staff worker with her husband.

 

 

 

Ditta in the kitchen.  Also cooking. 

The rice fields with Ditta and Pipit's youngest sister and their oldest sister's baby.

The "sawah" (rice fields) again.

Riding with Mas Nur (Pipit's husband, CCC staff worker) through the "kebun karet" (gum garden/plantation).  If you look closely you will see the little tin jars on the sides of all the trees to collect the gum.

A typical set up for the Idul Fitri holidays.  We stopped by about 12 friends and families houses to visit and they all forced us to eat their typical Idul Fitri snacks.  I'm so glad Ramadan is over - now I don't have to go hide when I eat food in the daylight!

A funeral we attended while in Pulung Kencana.  One of the elders of the church passed away.  This is the burial, much less formal than in the U.S.  Some people were still wearing their pajamas.