The Final Words

Time has flown by and we are nearing the end of the trip already! So much ministry has happened through seeds that have been sown over the past three weeks. We are thankful that God is the one who brings the increase and though we may never see all the increase that God brings we can rest knowing that He is fully able and in control. 

On a personal note I’d like to share with you a few things the Lord has taught me on this trip. First of all life is short so be intentional! When I see life from the perspective that I am dying it causes me to check my motives in what I’m doing and depth of conversations I have with others. This trip we’ve been teaching the kids in CI about the seven “I Am’s” Jesus says He is in the book of John. Everyday Jesus gives me a fresh perspective of how great He is and yet He says let Me tell you who I am and let’s live in fellowship through a relationship. Spend three weeks pondering who Jesus says He is and I’ve come to a new level of desperation for Him when I realize just how much I can’t live this life without Him.       

CI has finished but the trip is not over. Today we traveled to Villa Bukit Pinus for a few days of final team time and fellowship with some of the local families. It’s great to get away from the city for a bit and enjoy the mountains and cool air. Tonight we had church with Mr. Teh and then family game night of occupational charades. It’s quite fun seeing everyone's creativity come alive as they crack out of their comfort zones to pass the message to their teammates through acting. And we can’t forget to say Happy Birthday to our teammate Grace and celebrate with a little cake!

I’m so grateful the Lord brought me back to Southeast Asia to serve with this amazing team and of course all the lessons God has taught me along the way. 

- Elizabeth Shoemaker (Eltz) 

Staff Team

June 25, 2016

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The Beginning of the End

Hello Everyone! This is Krystal reporting from Jakarta! Today was our last day of CI. We had to reach church really early in the morning, so everyone was really tired. But we all reminded ourselves in prayer that we need God’s strength to go through today – that using our own strength would be useless.

Well, most of the teams had an awesome day. We reminded ourselves that this was the last day we had to spend with the kids, and it was our last chance to sow seeds and make an impact on their lives. I’m really proud of all the leaders because of their eternal perspective – they pushed back their tiredness and gave their all to build relationships with the kids on their team, putting others’ needs before their own. They even jumped in during large group to help spice up singing and memorizing our songs and verses.

For me personally, I had an awesome day too! It was really encouraging to see that even some of the kids did not really understand or speak English, they really made effort in singing the songs and doing the hand motions. They were such a sweet bunch of children with such cheerfulness and willingness to learn. I must sincerely say that I will miss them as this CI ends.

After CI, we had dinner with the Indonesian families. It was really refreshing to talk to them and see their kindness and generosity in hosting us.

God has been teaching me on this trip to put others before myself. I’m still learning that and I pray that God will continue to teach me that even after I go home.

All right, that’s all for now! God bless!

Krystal

Staff Team

June 24, 2016

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The End of the Beginning

Hey people, we've arrived at the 3rd day of the C.I's 3rd week. Hailing from Jakarta!

When the majority of teachers and translators arrived at the IBLP office, Sam started the group with a few songs of beautiful worship. The songs always does its job of opening our hearts for our morning devotions, and it's always a pleasant time singing those sweet and lovely melodies! The morning devotions content yet again challenged us to contemplate on how we can make God applicable and real to our lives. Pretty deep stuff! So it was beneficial but hard to swallow... 

Moving on, the staff team surprised us with incredible information on Tuesday about the trip to the old folks home, and Y to Y (youth to youth). So today's discussion was dedicated to finalizing the schedules and performances. Marietta and Mary Jane did an awesome job and organized their programs like seasoned veterans! 

Following the briefing regarding Thursday, the team leaders and assistants rushed to complete their arts and crafts materials for Thursday and Friday. It looked as if a twister of colorful cardstock and foam swept through the room!

While getting to the seminar location, the traffic was horrible as usual, but it was definitely a cloud with a silver lining, as we get to catch a small snooze before facing the storm of children.... 

The lesson for that day was Jesus as the door and self-control. The teachers shared their ideas for the self-control lesson, and as a result they all ruled that character! One trending idea was to gift each child with a candy in the beginning of the lesson, and inform them that if they wait ‘til the end, without eating their candy. They earn another one! Absolutely gratifying to see the children practicing the same character their teachers are teaching during the lesson!

Truly a testament to God's blessing on how well the day passed. Praise the love of God

Sarah Lim

Team Member

June 22, 2016

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Prep, Practicums, and Ping

Greetings!

Today, we started off by meeting at the IBLP office in the late morning where we had a refreshing session of worship and devotion.

After devotions, we had prep time for our practicums, followed by a scrumptious lunch of pasta!

And all too soon, it was time for practicums! The translators went downstairs to prepare while the rest of us were divided into two groups

Personally, I really didn’t want to do practicums because I was afraid that I would get a mind-blank (which I did) and I felt that my lessons weren’t good enough. However, I didn’t have a choice, so I did it; thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be. Eltz and Krystal gave me very relevant feedback, and everyone else was so extremely… After practicums, we were briefed about the activities for the rest of the week and then we headed to church in our respective cars.

Tonight, we learnt about Persuasiveness and Jesus being the light of the World. I acted in one of the skits as Ping, a blind Chinese girl. Tonight was a night of new experiences for me because I was teaching Persuasiveness and acting blind for the first time. My team leader has been really great in encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone to learn new things.

Oh, I almost forgotJ. We had two new kids in the team who only spoke Indonesian. I spoke as much Malay as I coud to them, and the younger sibling started thinking I spoke Indonesian. I can’t always understand her, but the cuteness will definitely be one of the most memorable memories of the Jakarta CI week for me

Blessings,

Charis Chen

Team Member

June 21, 2016

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Day 17 and Counting

Today is day 17 of 26 and were in beautiful Indonesia. To start off our Monday we met at the IBLP office where we met our interpreters, sang songs and planned our lessons. We then had lunch listened to devotions and then broke up into small groups for a rich time of sharing. We then headed to church for our first night of CI in Indonesia and we are all so excited to meet our team of kids.

I personally am so very blessed to be attending again this year and to have the opportunity to work along side like minded Christians and to be encouraged by fellow teachers. It's also so encouraging to see everyone have to fully rely on God and call on his name for strength to teach and to make it through the challenges of everyday struggles. I look forward to seeing what God will do for each of us this week and to experience his true power. Thank you to all our wonderful host family's who have been beyond generous to each of us. Until next time.

Adlai Welfel

Team Member

June 20, 2016

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Apa Kabar, Indonesia!

Hi y’all! My name is Jaeriel Sia from Malaysia. Singapore week have just finished and we are on the way to our next port of call, Jakarta! But first things first, this is Sunday so we went to church today where the pastor spoke a very powerful sermon about the Christian’s main business, making disciples!

Today was going to be a long day as we had to transit in KL first after leaving Singapore, and then go to Jakarta. By the time we arrived, it was already getting dark, so we hurried to grab our luggage and went outside to meet the host families. As soon as we got to the house, we all went for a delicious dinner of mie bakso and roti panggang.

Following dinner, we got sent to our host homes for a good night’s rest. We had a great time with our hosts before hitting the hay in preparation of tomorrow.

This is Jaeriel Sia, signing off.

June 19, 2016

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One More Chance

Ay, the time flies by so fast. It seems like we began but a few days ago and now we are at the last day of CI Singapore. Before we know it, the trip will soon  come to an end and all we have left would be the memories.

But this is no time to depressed (one can do that once the trip is over)! Today's Saturday and we are gonna leave Singapore with a bang, so let's get this started!

We left early in the morning to arrive at the church around 8 in the morning, eating our breakfast on the go. Most of the teams were ahead in their craft cutting so most of them hunkered down to nail their lessons. I was personally busy separating crafts that teams might still need and the ones that I need to clean up. The TNTTM's (our personal slaves Temporarily Not Teaching Team Members) were also preparing for the final large group that Sam had put them in charge of.

The first half of the day went off pretty much without a hitch, something which I thoroughly liked, yet it was the second half where things got real fun. Soon after lunch, the kids rehearsed one final time before presenting to their parents. At the presentation, they almost quite literally brought the house down! Everyone was singing so loudly and yet so beautifully. We then took the opportunity to thank the people who made the CI possible by handing them the thank-you notes the kids had made.

With all the stressful stuff over, we all went upstairs where Erik was prepared to tell the skit, and he delivered! Kids were laughing, people had a great time, and the story's lesson was captured. Yet, just as the old saying says, all good things must come to an end. The parents had already come to collect their children and the teachers barely had half an hour to say goodbye.

And just like that, it was all over. Everything we did this week could not be changed. All we could do was pray that everything we taught the kids would stay with them long enough that it would be relevant in their lives. We all cleaned out the place and headed home; tired, but satisfied.

At the hotel, a wonderful dinner of chicken chops and burgers awaited us. They were good on its own, but I think being hungry made it taste better than usual. After dinner, the guys and the girls separated for their respective pajama parties.

Sadly, as if saying goodbye to the children wasn't enough, we had to say adios to one of our teachers, Erik, who will not be joining us for the Jakarta week. We managed to pull of a surprise farewell session before he had to leave in a few hours.

We wrapped up the day with a good night's rest. Tomorrow morning was still busy with final packing and stuff before we had to go to the airport and fly to our final CI of 2016, Jakarta!

James Pasaribu

Staff Team

June 18, 2016

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