Indonesia

About a month ago, my husband and I went to Indonesia for two days as an anniversary gift from many of the people from church.  Here's a glimpse into that country, beginning with some of the sights on our 55-minute bus ride from the ferry terminal to the resort:

The following pictures show a "gas station" we stopped at with our bus.  But there were no gas pumps!  Instead, the fuel was stored in the side room of a rundown building.  A woman came out with a big funnel, followed by a man carrying two big containers of gas.  She held the funnel, he poured the gas in, and we were on our way!  Both of them gave service with a smile, and that was true of everyone we ran into in Indonesia--the people were so happy, and very helpful and pleasant to be around.

A few groceries in the room to the left, and gas in the room to the right

Indonesia's money, the rupiah, is practically worthless.  The current exchange rate is one U.S. dollar to 11,494.25 rupiah.  We bought snacks at the resort gift shop and were charged 95,000.  It seemed so strange to be paying 95,000 for anything, much less a few snacks! :-)

We were served lunch and supper at the resort.  We got to pick out our supper menu. Finding amid the Chinese dishes on the menu something called "chicken gordon blue," I said to my husband, "Hey!  Do you think that's chicken cordon bleu?!"  We decided to try it out, and sure enough, it was. :-)  

Chili crab--very popular over here--along with some soup

My "chicken gordon blue"--very good!

A few random pictures:

An Indonesian cutting open a coconut

A fresh coconut

A fishing hut out in the water

 On White Sands Island--We stayed on Bintan Island, but this 

was nearby, and we took a small boat here for an hour.

 Finally, a few pictures of the beauty of God's creation in Indonesia:

The beach at the resort

Coming up to White Sands Island

The White Sands Island beach

"O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth"!

Ghost Month

Hebrews 2:15 talks about those "who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."  The meaning of that verse cannot be seen any more clearly, I don't think, than during Ghost Month in Singapore.  Ghost Month occurs during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, this year August 7 - September 4.  Buddhists and Taoists believe that their ancestors come back from the dead during this month and walk around on the earth. If these ghosts are not kept happy, or have not received enough offerings in the afterlife, they may hurt those who are still living.  So there are many extra offerings placed out, and many extra burnings of incense and joss paper.  Joss paper is explained a bit in part of an email I received from someone from church:  "For the Chinese, they offer anything they can imagine that the deceased liked while still alive. If you happen to walk past any shop selling joss papers and stuff, you will be amused. Paper computer, money, cigarettes, hats, clothing, etc., now durian is offered. What they did on earth, they imagine, they will do in hell."  (How striking that they know their ancestors are in hell!)

We often smelled the burning going on around us.  In addition to the extra offerings, some people hold feasts with empty seats for their ancestors' ghosts to sit at, and there are performances held (singing, dancing, etc.) in which the first row of seats is left open for the ghosts to use.  At the end of the month the gates of hell are again closed, so the ghosts can no longer roam the earth and cause harm to the people still living.  People can go back to swimming without fear of being drowned by an angry ghost, or move to a new house without fear of a ghost harming you or bringing bad luck to you.

 Offerings being made right outside the elevator to our flat

A burn barrel and offerings below our flat

An extra-large place for offerings on our street

This was only there for a few days.  The bottom is full of ashes.

Burn barrels, ashes, and offerings outside a Singapore mall

A sign on our way to the mall -- "Let's keep our environment
clean by practicing responsible joss paper burning."

People burning joss paper for their ancestors

This picture was taken a couple weeks before Ghost Month started.  This 

goes on all year in Singapore, but much more during Ghost Month.

Our church meets on the fourth floor of an industrial building.  

This offering was left out near the stairs on the third floor of that building.

The offering closer-up -- a complete waste of 

those little cookies, one of our kids thought :-)

A hell note

 Look at the amount!  This can supposedly be used by the dead

to buy things in the afterlife, or to buy their way out of hell.

Now you can see the bondage that the fear of death brings.  During Singapore's Ghost Month, several families in the PRC were touched by the loss of a dear relative or friend. When we see the fear of death that the unbelievers have, the comfort of us as God's people is all the more striking.  We do not have to keep our loved ones happy in the afterlife--they are perfectly happy with their Lord in heaven!  We do not expect that they are in hell and hope that they won't come back to earth to harm us--they are in the perfection of heaven, dwelling with God as "the spirits of just men made perfect"!  Here is the rest of the verse I quoted at the beginning of this blog, along with part of the verse before it:  "Through death (Jesus) might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."  Blessed deliverance!

A Day at Church

When my dad was here, he took pictures of many of the Sunday activities.  Thanks to him, I can put together this blog to give you a glimpse into what a normal Sunday is like here.

First of all, the following is the schedule for a typical Sunday:

First and third quarters of the year

9:30-11:00 -- Morning church service

11:00-12:15 -- Sunday School for youngest kids

11:30-12:30 -- Catechism for ages 6-12 (Older classes meet on Saturday afternoons.)

                   -- Some type of classes for the young people

                   -- Ladies' Bible Study twice a month

                   -- Men's Bible Study twice a month

                   -- During the weeks off from Bible study, there are sometimes other 

                     activities, such as Shepherding a Child's Heart videos and discussion.

12:30-2:00 -- Lunch

                 -- Library is open

                 -- Time for visiting

                 -- Practice for any upcoming events; for example, a group sang at Paul & 

                    Anthea's wedding in February, and right now a group is practicing an 

                    instrumental number for the church anniversary in September.

2:00-3:00 -- Second church service

Second and fourth quarters of the year

9:30-11:00 -- Morning church service

11:00-12:15 -- Sunday School for ages 1-12

11:30-12:30 -- Canons class for adults -- This consists of a 45-minute speech by my 

                      husband on one article of the Canons, followed by a question and answer

                      period.

                   -- Classes for the young people

12:30-2:00 -- Same as first and third quarters

2:00-3:00 -- Second church service

Here are pictures of some of these groups/activities:

Youngest Sunday School class

Youngest catechism class, minus our Emily

Older catechism class with Elder Chan --  Elder Chan does written work with these kids while my husband teaches the younger ones for half an hour; then a young adult leads the younger kids in singing while my husband teaches the older ones for half an hour.

One of the young people's classes

Another class for the youth

Men's Bible Study

Ladies' Bible Study (with my mom and Erin Braaksma from Georgetown PRC)

Lunch

Library

As you can see, Sundays are very busy days and much different than Sundays in the States. The reason for this is that some people take public transportation to church, and it takes some of them a long time to get there.  And even those who drive can have difficulty due to the traffic here.  So rather than spending hours each Sunday in getting to and from church, once we are at church we stay there! :-)  But it is a blessed time of fellowship with each other.  After a week of living and working among the world, Sunday is truly a wonderful day of rest and fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ.

National Day

Last Friday was Singapore's National Day--similar to the U.S. 4th of July.  On August 9, 1965, Singapore declared its independence from Malaysia.  National Day is celebrated with a big parade and fireworks each year.  About a month prior to National Day, Singapore flags can be seen flying on many of the housing buildings, as well as by landed property (private houses), along the streets, and in many other places.

In addition to the flags, there are signs hung up in various areas regarding each town's celebration of the holiday.  (Singapore has different areas in which to live, and these areas are called "towns.")  Each year there is a new National Day song, and these songs were played on the radio in the grocery store in the weeks leading up to National Day.  There is also a different theme for the celebration each year, with this year's theme being "Many Stories...One Singapore."

Ang Mo Kio and Sengkang are two "towns" of Singapore.

On National Day we got together with a couple families from church to watch the festivities in the comfort of one of their homes.  (The whole celebration was broadcast over the internet.)  As you can see in the following picture, most of our family was dressed in red. We thought this was pretty much a requirement of celebrating National Day here, especially because we had seen a sign for a local celebration that required us to wear red if we went. Not only was red NOT a requirement, but when we got back to our flat, there was quite a group of people waiting for the elevator--and one of them was a young man wearing a USA shirt.  We had to laugh at how we Americans were dressed up for Singapore, and the Singaporean was wearing a USA shirt!

The cupcakes are to celebrate another special birthday--Jael is 2!

We enjoyed our first National Day here.  It was interesting to see another country celebrate its Independence Day.

Sports Day

Today is Hari Raya, a Muslim holiday celebrating the end of their month of fasting (Ramadan).  Hari Raya is a national holiday in Singapore, so with everyone having off work, it was a great day for another church outing.  Usually everyone gets together at a park to play sports together (thus the name "Sports Day"), but this year we did some hiking along the Southern Ridges of Singapore instead.  We had beautiful weather--a little rain before and after the hike, but no sun meant a cooler walk, and the rain stopped during the hike, so it was perfect.

Beginning the day with singing and an exhortation

Starting the hike

One of the views from the trail 

Even the bathrooms had a great view! :-) -- the cablecars to Sentosa Island

All those high-rises!!

Along the way we crossed over the Henderson Waves, a pedestrian bridge that provided a lot of fun for the group.

Daring people to run up the side of the bridge

They both made it!

 After hiking on a while longer, we ate lunch together.

No wild monkeys in sight today, but sometime I'll have to post pictures of a different hike we took with wild monkeys right next to our trail! 

At the end of the hike

Lunchtime!