Learning Thai

I spent the last week in Medan, Indonesia, at the International Mission Association meeting. It was a gathering of roughly 50 people from Anabaptist missions organizations around the world. We were joined by members of the Indonesian Mennonite congregations for times of teaching, worship, and ministry trips. This was my first exposure to IMA and I came away feeling very blessed. We were hosted in homes the entire time and that was a great time of bonding with our Indonesian brothers and sisters. The sessions - focusing on Hebrews 11 - were good, but what impressed me the most was the prayer times and the informal interaction with believes from so many different cultures. I had the privilege of traveling with a Kenyan bishop and two Indonesian mission workers to a very remote part of North Sumatra. We rode in a Jeep and bounced along the bumpiest road I've ever seen for about an hour and a half to reach one village. There we were welcomed by about 30 Christians who meet in one of their homes. We worshiped and shared with them one evening and again the following morning before we left for another location. On Sunday morning we gathered with believers from 9 different congregations as they held a commissioning service for two pastors. Our small team bonded very quickly in spite of the cultural differences and I think that we all learned a lot from each other.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the Indonesian culture and food (except for the goat skin and buffalo intestines!) If you've been reading this blog you know that the past month has not been very easy. These meetings helped to re-energize me and give me a broader perspective.

Here are a few pictures that I borrowed from Bishop Joseph.

I was very encouraged by our two meetings with this group in a remote village. We sang with them, listened to some of their testimonies, shared from the Bible, and prayed for them.

Many villagers grow oranges. I've never seen such fruitful orange trees. And I've never eaten fresher oranges! Here Joseph and I pose with one of the church leaders who owns this orchard.

On the second evening of our trip we met with another small house fellowship. We had a special time of prayer for John, a 7 year old who wants to be a missionary to America!

Sunday-morning gathering at a large public pavilion.

After the service we all ate together. The local custom is to eat without any silverware - so we followed suit and tried not to make too much of a mess!

-Tom