Bandung

We toured the city of Bandung the 3rd largest city of Indonesia with a population of 4 million.  It has a history of Dutch rule which defines the style of the older architecture.  The city bustles with cars and trucks like any large city of the world, but it also accommodates thousands of motorbikes carrying one, two, three or four riders--as well as pedal taxis and horse drawn carts.  The motorbikes squeeze between lines of traffic and cross the center lane line in order to pass.  Motor vehicles are right hand steering and drive on the left side of the road as in England.

We wandered through "Paris von Java" a modern shopping mall and ate hot dogs and drank Orange Julius's at the Dairy Queen.

Sunday morning begins with Warren preaching at the Sundanese Church worship service following which  David will speak at the Indonesian service and Steve will provide the communion meditation for both.  Sunday afternoon we fly to central Java and updates may be less frequent--particularly while we are in rural West Kalimantan for the second half of the week and weekend.

Gi in front of Governor's Mansion

mall shopping cart on escalator

Idul Fitri - Muslim Holiday

Today we enjoyed the generous hospitality of friends and neighbors around the mission.  We were invited to the home of an official in the local mosque to have refreshments and we enjoyed meeting the neighbors.  Gi and Mei are a blessing to their village and their neighbors appreciate and love them dearly.  We foreigners are humbled by the gracious reception we have received and pray that all these people come to know the saving grace of our heavenly Father.

Mosque official and family

Holiday feast

Home prepared foods

the way to greet every person

Neighborhood near the mission

There's a monkey in the cage and a strange creature outside too.

Ramadan Ends

This morning we enjoyed the Mission Staff devotional time.  We prayed for the requests presented and for the church planters and for unreached people groups.  Afterwards the staff practiced their English by each reading a verse from an English language Bible followed by the same verse being read in Indonesian.  Warren and David read verses from the Indonesian Bible although they didn't know what they were saying.

Mission Library

After lunch we took a trip to see a volcano.  Although the steam rises from the ground and the air is filled with a strong smell of sulphur, there is no historical record of this volcano erupting.

After 6 pm Ramadan ended and the night air filled with prayers broadcast from every mosque.  The surround sound cacophony will last all night long.

Beginning the First Day

We arrived at the APCMI Mission Training School and Church campus at 5 am following a 6 hour drive from the Jakarta airport.  Holiday travel meant the 3 lane highway became 5 lanes bumper to bumper using the shoulders as driving lanes except when blocked by people taking a rest stop or having a family meal on the roadside before dawn during the Ramadan fast.

After breakfast we enjoyed a 4 hour praise and worship service with testimonies and group prayer time.  The worship was beautiful, heartfelt and inspiring.  It was a glimpse of heaven when people from every nation and tribe gather before God's throne to worship and enjoy Him together forever.

We received a beautiful, traditional, peacock dance reception just before our lunch feast in the beautiful gardens of the mission compound.

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Activity Schedule

We are going to hit the ground running.  After only a few hours sleep we will begin our activities meeting with the APCMI team for worship, encouragement, prayer and reporting.  You can follow the general schedule that was given to us by the mission just before we left.  Click on the following link to download the file which contains our daily schedule.

Activity Schedule

Team Departure

We arrived at the St.Louis airport at 5:30 am Monday to begin our journey.  The team members (l-r) are:  Warren Brosi, Steve Stewart, and David McClary.  Warren and Steve have known each other before but I met these brothers for the first time Sunday night.  We're excited about the things God will show us over the next 2 weeks!

Christian Experience in Indonesia

The following link contains an inspiring report from a previous mission trip to APCMI.  It tells the challenges Christians face and the courageous faith they exhibit.

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