A Wonderful Sunday with Many Friends

Sunday, July 24

With Jacob only half awake, we met Hanna at 7:00 am at the security gate at the front of Nommensen. Hanna is a student at Nommensen who also has regularly attended the Sunday School workshops we have taught on campus. Her English is good, she has a gentle, loving spirit, and beautiful long black hair. Together, we hopped on the GMSS micro-bus to drive toward her village to attend church with her. She had invited us yesterday to attend her GKPS church (this is another branch of the Lutheran church) and we were thrilled to join her.

Our micro-bus ride took us through the traditional market, which was jumping at 7:15 on a Sunday morning. The place was jammed and our bus crawled through the crowds: women with baskets, men on motorbikes, people shouting, people smiling, piles of fresh vegetables on blankets by the street, smells of fish and smoke and… while we sat and watched out the window, people were hopping on and off the bus with baskets overflowing with fresh greens. After 25 minutes, we got off the bus, and walked down a quiet, dirt path through small homes toward Hanna’s church in Rambung Merah, Pasar (her village). We passed small wooden houses with precious children peering out from the doorstep, some were eating, some were sweeping, all would stop and stare up at the big white foreigners walking by. I can assure you, no tourists, no Americans, have been to this area before.

We turn a few corners, walk past palm trees, banana trees, chickens, ducks, trash, and there is the beautiful GKPS church, with a tall white steeple and cross on top. Hanna leads us inside, and at 8:00 it is open, but very quiet. We are assuming (incorrectly, of course) that worship would start at 8:00, last one hour, and we’d be back on our bus by 9:30 or 10:00. Well, 8:00 is when Sunday School begins. We know that Hanna is the SS teacher and now we know that WE will be leading SS class. No problem. Within 15 minutes, the sanctuary is filled with over 40 children ages 3 – 16, all of whom walk by themselves, or with an older sibling, to attend SS. No adults yet. Just Hanna and, after a while, another woman arrived. We taught songs and had them repeat the lyrics with us. They were ADORABLE! Children kept arriving… by 8:40, the older students moved into a nearby room with Hanna and us, while the younger ones stayed in the sanctuary with a different leader. In this room, with narrow wooden desks and benches, over 40 children crammed in, each with their Bible and their SS booklet. They marked the date, the scripture, and had room to take notes for the day’s lesson. Then, the teacher (that would be us, for this week) signs it at the end of class. Hanna had us introduce ourselves, Jacob read the scripture in English, then the children read it in bahasa Indonesia. Everyone in Indonesia has the same Bible – there is not NIV, or The Message – there is only the King James version in their language. SS lasts for 1 ½ hours, after which time we started taking pictures (of course!). All the girls wanted pictures with Jacob (of course!). I’m sure he is on 1,000 facebook pages in Siantar.

Worship began at 10:00 and we were invited (told) to sit in the front row. (Which was a shame, because I’m sure no one behind us could see a thing.) Even without being able to read or understand the language, the worship was very familiar. The chalkboard at the front had a list of hymns and indicated it was the 5^th Sunday in Trinity, the altar had a green cloth, the Apostle’s creed was spoken, the Lord’s prayer, a sermon (36 minutes – but who’s counting), the offering, and - the highlight – there were two children being baptized! Two sets of parents walked up, the young mothers beautifully dressed in their cabayas, the men in dark suits and ties, and their babies (probably 7-8 months old) in white outfits. The pastor said some words, and though we didn’t understand, you could hear the parents respond saying in Indonesian: “Yes, and I ask God to help me.” One baby slept. The other baby cried while being baptized. It was beautiful!!

During worship, Jim was invited to the front to read the scripture in English. Then, after the sermon, we all went to the front to say hello and our thanks and send greetings from America. After worship, we had many people want to take pictures with us (those big white foreigners), and we smiled and smiled… Then, as we were ready to head home, first the choir wanted us to stay and participate in their practice, then the counselmen wanted to do more pictures, then they wanted us to stay for the 3:00 worship event, then Hanna wanted us to come to her house for lunch…After our crazy day yesterday, we just wanted to go home. But, we also wanted to visit Hanna’s home. So, we walked back to the bus stop with Hanna and her brother and sister and stood by the side of the road waiting for the microbus to take us to her house. We were standing on a narrow (4’wide maybe) dirt path, and motor bikes would drive by us with a husband and wife driving home from church. Ducks were on one side of us. Chickens and 8 children staring at us from the other side. When the bus didn’t come for 25 minutes, we decided to walk. We walked at Indonesian-pace (think s-l-o-w) and arrived at the lovely home of Hanna and her family.

The front yard had a big area for drying corn, and many flowering plants and bushes were on a wide front porch. The home was open and clean and the loveliest we have seen since being here in Siantar! Her parents (Juliana, Haposam Sitio) and brother and sister (Julhafriando and Evi) were there. They served us Coke and Sprite, peanuts, and a bread with green/red filling. It was so comfortable being there with them. Mom and Dad don’t speak English, but were kind and welcoming and were very proud of Hanna. Hanna said it had been her dream to have English speaking foreigners in her home some day. Her dream! And there we were! The Lutheran church had told us that “just being there” would be enough… we are honored and humbled to “just be.”

After a wonderful visit, we returned home on the microbus, arriving at 1:30… just in time for Marnala, Krystin, and Esra to pick us up to go to Pasa Horas (traditional market). Going to Pasa Horas for the second time was not nearly as overwhelming. The crowded aisles, the people staring, the smells, the piles of food, the flies on the chicken… all beginning to look normal. (Is this good or bad?) Jim and I were looking for a batik style shirt, and tried on several which was very entertaining! We ended up getting one very cool shirt for Jacob. We also bought: tomatoes, potatoes, beans, 3-pineapples, and watermelon. The return trip on the micro-bus and walk is much more challenging with a backpack filled with pineapples and watermelon. Whew!

We immediately cut up the watermelon and pineapple and ate quite a bit with ‘Nala, Krystin, and Esra. Yum! The pineapples here are amazing – and cost 4,000 rp (about 50-cents).

For dinner, Jim was going to fry up potatoes, onions, and beans, but we couldn’t get our propane stove to turn on. We looked for Putra (our young nextdoor neighbor) but his motorbike wasn’t by our porch. So, Jim walked over to Dean Tagor’s house to fry up everything. The girls (Nala, krystin, and Esra) thought it was hysterical Jim would walk 300 meters to fry up dinner, turn around, and walk back to serve it to us. He said they giggled (at him? With him?) the entire time! : )