It has been weird here in Karawaci because even though I am getting a few hours of sleep, I feel pretty rested. Maybe it is all the high pace of meetings and trying to get everything done before we leave on Sunday.
Early this morning, I was awakened by the Muslim call to prayer. There is a mosque several hundred yards away. The night before, I slept right through it, but this morning I woke up to the call to prayer at 4:30AM! Instead of going back to sleep, I felt led to spend some time in prayer.
Then we had our first meeting with the spiritual growth director at UPH. There was a Michigan connection because he went to Calvin College in Grand Rapids. It was good connecting with him and hearing about the spiritual climate of the students in Karawaci. There is truly a great need to reach out to the college students in Indonesia.
We tried to look at a few more places for housing in the afternoon. We have until tomorrow to make a decision. Then we had Christina visit the school that our kids will be attending. It was great meeting another Indonesian who studied in the States and is now back in Jakarta working for an IT company. This is a people group that is growing in Indonesia and around the world. They are unique people. They have a perspective that is different from a typical American and also from a typical Indonesian mindset. They are in a category all by themselves and I believe that God is going to use them to bring transformation to Indonesia.
Then we headed out to Jakarta to meet up with some people who were interested in starting the church with us. Throughout the last couple of days here in Indonesia, I have been sharing the vision of the future international church plant. It has been refreshing for me. Every time I share it, the more I am reminded of the awesome privilege I have in being part of God’s bigger plan.
Tomorrow morning we will be heading out to an international church that is doing some great things to reach out to the city. I’m looking forward to worshiping with other believers in the international community.
Met up with some leaders from UPH in the morning
A view from one of the future member’s house. He built it from scratch and wants to use it for ministry purpose – praise God!
There have been rapid growth in various neighborhoods around the city of Jakarta. This is one of the nicer areas near the ocean.
Cathy is one of the expats who have been hosting us along with Dan, her husband. They have been a blessing to us.