The trip to Jakarta December 1-6
was packed with activity and very fruitful. My plane was 2 hours late getting to Jakarta (par for course here) so it was quite late at night when I arrived Saturday night.
Sunday we drove a bit over an hour to get to the church where I spoke. In the afternoon we visited a former disciple (you can see his wedding photos in January 2007) who has a new baby boy!
Sorry, I carried my camera but each time got so involved with the ‘program’ that I forgot to take pictures, so I only have a few from the last day there.
Monday morning was preparation for the FLO meeting in the afternoon. The meeting was fun but the turnout was disappointing two couples were nearly on time. One couple came two hours late, and another nearly three hours late. Three pastors were there without their wives. This is from a group of 14 couples who requested we create the community. Seems that interest is waning, especially from the group that attended the first retreat in March 2007. More on FLO Blog.
Tuesday was spent with a former coordinator and interpreter, Jantze Lans. We worked together from around 1997 - 2001, and I haven’t seen her for quite awhile, so it was a nice reunion.
Morning meeting was a Bible study group that was nearly all women. It was actually quite an exciting meeting. While we were waiting for all to arrive, one lady asked a question which actually was a great opening for the topic I had prepared. At the end I prayed and many were touched.
Five elderly ladies all had foot, leg, or knee pains, so I gathered them together. One especially explained that they couldn’t exercise (like walking) because of the pain. When I asked her after prayer where her pain was, she explained it was in her knee. Three times I asked "Where is your pain now?" and each time she said in her knee. She did not get the point, though most everyone ilse in the meeting did. Finally I just repeated ‘right now!’ and she eventually got it, focused on her knee, and realized there was no more pain.
Since she had complained about not being able to exercise, I made her jog around the room, to prove to herself that really there was not more pain!! The others all joined her as they realized there was no more pain in legs or feet.
I love it!!
In the afternoon we went to an orphanage where we inspected the vast grounds, met the young men (ages 6-20) and then had a meeting with them. There are several locations for this group, the one we visited is just the guys.
Wednesday we met all day reviewing our plans for the March retreat where we will train three or four couples (if there are that many serious volunteers). We are completing a retreat manual complete with Trainer notes as well as instructions for hospitality, facilities, program, etc. The manual itself is a major undertaking, but essentially just forces us to document properly, so is good discipline for us (though a lot of work).
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