Sunday, August 19 was Indonesia's Independence Day. I had sort-of forgotten, until I walked into the housewares store in the mall (a cross between IKEA and Bed, Bath, and Beyond) and instead of playing Carly Rae Jepsen and FUN covers, they were playing big band patriotic music. I felt pretty unpatriotic since I was doing normal life on such a big day. I felt like I should be at a picnic or something... but nothing for me, the new expat, still trying to get settled.
But on Monday, I did get to be a part of a celebration! The school was all decked out in red and white banners for the day. All the kids and staff wore red shirts and white bottoms. The moms brought in a huge layout of traditional Indonesian snacks. But before we could let lose and party, we got to sit stand through a flag ceremony, for a half hour. Thirty minutes of watching the guards march across the gym and raise the flag and salute the master of ceremonies. And we had to stand at attention--arms at our sides, hands in fists. Ouch! But my class was amazing! We all moved a little bit... because let's face it, thirty minutes is hard for me to do! But I was so proud of my kids.
It was cool to see another country's celebration. To see the pomp and circumstance of an event as important as the 68th year of independence from Dutch rule. The pride they have in their country, the way they honor their flag, the way they proudly sing the national anthems. Merdeka! Freedom!
Here's the national anthem:
My favorite song that we sang was this one:
I'm actually pretty good with it now... though I don't know what all of the words mean, but I know the general idea of the song!
Once the ceremony was over, we got to have our delicious snacks (according to them... I'm not a huge fan of most of the snacks I've tried so far). And we went out for our competitions! The school is divided into house teams, and each student is put on one of four teams, each named after a different volcano in Indonesia. I have yet to find out my actual team, but I look forward to being part of the friendly competition through the years here.
At the closing ceremony (nothing like the flag ceremony), the new teacher (me!) got to participate in a traditional Indonesian game. I'm not sure what it is called, but we get to eat fishy-tasting puff crackers from the hanging string. Sound fun? Well, the part where your class is screaming your name is fun, the part about eating the fishy-puff... not so much.
The rest of the week went well too. It's been awesome getting into the swing of things. Nailing down procedures, trying to remember to go to specials, and actually getting into some content.
I had a few conversations with some women here that have been really encouraging. As I try to make friends, understand and teach a new curriculum, not completely stick out in the culture, and find a church home, I've started to miss what I had at home. And I long for the days when I can really call these people friends, teach with confidence, go to the market, and feel at home walking into church. But what one of the girls said really stuck out to me. I have to stop wishing for the past or the future. This awkward time now is just where God wants me. It will be hard, and it may be lonely, but He will use these times to help me grow. It's the moments of weakness that we realize that God is our strength. I know He is going to be the one to get me through the moments where I want to give up. I'm not at that point of wanting to give up now. I'm loving my time here. But I know it will come. And I hope and pray (and ask you to pray with me) that God will remind me that it's through His strength that I will get through the next months (and years). I also have to remember that it's His strength that is getting me through these good times. He is blessing me in countless ways, blessing me with things I don't deserve! His plan has been perfect, and I am so grateful to live out His call for my life.
I can already see God working in amazing ways. The wonderful thing about SPH is that Christ is really in the center of everything. And everything else gets pushed aside to make time for Him. Being trained in a high-stakes testing country where we have to spend X-amount of time every day and make sure our kids meet such-and-such by a certain date, the ability to push back English class to talk about Christ is crazy! I had some extra time on Friday because of a welcome assembly we were having. So our fifteen minute morning devotions were stretched into hour-long devotions. Not aware that I would even have to do any devos, I opened up my Bible to a verse we had mentioned in Bible the day before... Luke 12, about treasure in Heaven. This discussion was great, as they discussed how to make God's Word our treasure. But the best was yet to come.
I played a song for the kids that we would be singing in assembly later in the day: Remind Me Who I Am.
They started asking questions about the words that were on the cardboard pieces, such as refugee. We talked about what it means, referring to the word discrimination we had learned during class the day before. And I talked about some new friends at church who are refugees who left because they are persecuted. And I told them about a good friend who moved to a creative-access country to minister to the people there. They were amazed that some people have no idea who God is, let alone that He loves them. When they realized all that persecution entails, they asked to pray for my friend. The prayer of a child, the faith they have that God will provide and that God will protect. The desire they have to see others hear about God's love. It's humbling to me. How often do I forget to stop and pray when I remember those who are risking their lives?
Lord, help me remember all that you have blessed me with in this moment. Help me remember those who are blessed because they are persecuted. Help me to remember to have the faith of a child. If we ask anything in Your name, You are ready to pour out your grace on Your children.
