Surabaya - Jakarta

I had a chance to visit Surabaya and Jakarta for about a week recently. Didn't do much except some shopping and business activities. It was quite an enjoyable experience since this is only the third time I went to Jakarta in my entire life ... hahahahah ... I stayed in Ibis Hotel mangga dua, pretty close to Pasar pagi, ITC, and Mangga Dua Mall. Not a bad place to stay in Jakarta considering its strategic location ...

In Jakarta I saw quite a number of old friends. Met Christanto during IPC reunion. He's currently working with IBM, already has 1 child and really blessed by the Lord. Another person that I met is Mariana who by the way looks really really thin. She does not change much, still calm and mature in the Lord like before. Jemmy who used to be in one bible study group with me is still waiting for His Aussie PR to be processed. Ryan who went back to indo this year is also well and blessed by the Lord. Kevin Rusly and Jimmy are also doing well. They are so busy these days with their family business. They told me that it is not as easy as people might think to help their parents in the family business. There are many challenges and competition especially in Jakarta ... I also met edwin and christine. It is still a mystery for me whether they are a couple or not, but they already got a job and are doing well in indo in terms of settling down and all that, thank God.

In surabaya, I met some of my friends from my old church in Malang. They have not changed much at all. I am glad to see them. We had dinner in one restaurant, did some catching up and organize another gathering at my friend's place. It was quite fun.

God also gave me one or two chances in these past couple of weeks to talk about Jesus to my auntie, cousins, and mum. It wasn't planned at all, and it just happened that I had a chance. I was so scared to share the gospel to my relatives. It is easier to share it with a friend or someone that you meet on the street. With family, you usually know each other well and I am not used to do it anyway. If I could, I don't want to share at that time, but I did. All of them told me that they either had some bad experiences with christian, or have seen things which preacher, church or christians should not do. These days, they mainly think that church has become some kind of business organization. The large part of it is about money, offering. The church/preacher expect the congregation to give lots of money and when the congregation needs help financially, no one at church are willing to help. I guess it is not a fair comment considering there are many missionaries in indo, risking their neck for the sake of the gospel. Mum also raise issues of worshipping ancestors according to chinese customs, money, and so on. Tried to explain gently to her, and I think she understand but still disagree with me on many things. At least I've let her know my beliefs and feelings in God. It is very rare that I open myself that much to her and I am glad I did share. As for my dad, we also talked a lot which is very rare. I got to know and understand him better and although he is not as expressive as my mum in showing his love for me, I know that deep down he loves me. We laughed a lot during the trip to Jakarta and it was quite fun.

Fiuhh .. Indo ... I am gonna miss you

Sydney: too good to be true

I had this feeling that sydney is such a good place for me. What more can you ask? I had wonderful friends, fellowship, workplace, and place to stay (the last one is relative though :) ) ... It is like everything is going well when I am in sydney ... But is it a real world? Can all the good things that happen to me in sydney continue forever?

In indo, I see many things differently ... The world here is so much different to sydney ... To start, I don't have fellowship where I can serve and to support me as well since I became a christian in Malang and the church that I went to was a pentacostal church .. In business world it is a lot dirtier than I thought ... In terms of relationship between my family and relatives, there are many politics going on ... Here, my relatives look up to me .. They think very highly of me, it is like i am a superstar or somethin ... I also see many sufferings in indo ... so many of them, even among people close to my heart .. Whether I like it or not, it is just much more complicated here ... Many things I don't want to do, but I just have to do it ...

I realize that as adult I can't run from all those problems ... I don't want to run .. I want to face them ... I just thought, are all the good things that happen to me in sydney somethin that real to me? Real means that is where God wants me to be ... Should I be in indo and facing all these problems? I don't know ... Only time will tell later ...

On a happier note, God has blessed me in my study .. I've been accepted for master degree for next year ... and I've been able to keep my weight despite all the "Good" food, snacks in indo ... hahahahhaaha ..... thank you Lord ... cen te xie2 NI ..

Joshua 24:
14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD . 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD ."