We were delightfully busy with ministry while we were there (hence- no updates before now). Speaking to various cell groups within the church, preaching at the main Sunday church service… and for the first time we both got to do radio ministry! It was great fun! Steve and I each did our own half hour message. They even recorded mine so that they could play it again at a later date! My voice is quite soothing.
I don’t know why but the picture Steve took of me on the radio did not transfer to the computer. So here is one of him:
Afterwards, they had us each record commercials, so that they could have proof that white people think they are cool. It was a lot of fun. It made me miss work somewhat; if you tune in to Grace TV, you will hear my soothing voice advertising such things as the Grace Prayer Centre, Celebration Bible College, the Grace Israel Biblical Forest… you get the idea. Oh memories. Anyways…
We also did some prison ministry! Again, we each got to preach one service, on separate days. So it was a great experience for us both.
The first day, it was actually supposed to be Steve preaching, but he was not feeling well and couldn’t do it, so I subbed in. At first I was nervous. It would be me speaking to 200+ men—hardened criminals no doubt. It wasn’t until I got there and was actually speaking that I realized –wait a minute- I always prefer talking to men rather than women! If women look bored or whatever I always get really self-conscience (I know how judgmental my gender is), but with men it’s like “Oh please, I’ll charm you yet.” And I pretty much can. And did! … of course, you may be thinking, ‘How hard could it be for a young white woman to capture the attention of a prison full of Indonesian men who never get to leave the prison walls?’. Ummm…. Shut up.
Anyways, I loved it! And as for the hardened criminals… a fair number came in nice pants, collared shirts, and with Bibles in hand. I laughed to myself about that. I was somewhat disappointed that it didn’t seem like I was telling anything new to these people. I mean— was I just another preacher in a long line of preachers? Was I making a difference? I still can’t answer that, but I remember when I was about halfway through my preach thing, I looked out at the crowd. And past the well-dressed Bible carriers, I could see outside. And what I saw were men – lots of them—men who weren’t dressed up nicely, men who really didn’t look like they even owned Bibles, much less carried them around the prison with them. They were outside, lined up close to the windows, being still and quiet, listening to what I was saying.
At the end, I stood at the front of the room with my translator, and we waited while everyone filed by us and shook our hands. Then after I went over to the windows and shook hands with the guys outside. They thought it was funny.
Here are some pictures from when I went:
Indonesia's Most Wanted!
Tee hee. Look at that jolly monk beside me. More on him coming soon.
Riff-raff from outside.
Ok this cute monk man was great. He's not a monk, but a priest. A Catholic evangelical priest is how he described himself. Anyways, two funny things.
1. When he was thanking me at the end (in front of everyone) he said, "Thank you sister Emily, for your very long explanation of God's love for us."
2. Also in his thank you speech, he said "When I see you, and hear of your husband also doing the work of God like this, I am jealous that I can only ever be one." because he can't get married. I almost died laughing.
As we were leaving they asked if Steve would be able to come and speak later on in the week. So he did!
As we were leaving they asked if Steve would be able to come and speak later on in the week. So he did!
Here are some pictures from that:
So festive for a prison!
Listening with rapt attention. Oh yes, there are 7 or 8 women prisoners as well.
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