During my first year at UMM, I met a good friend that played a key role in coming to a persoanl relationship with God. He was from Indonesia; probably the first person I've met from this country (almost next door to the Philippines). He helped me with reading the Bible by sending me weekly Bible Devotional verses via internet, which was very timely encouraging evertime I get them.
Poniman, 95'-97, with his fellow Indonesians at the Festival of Nations in St. Paul in 97'
From what I've learned and experience in meeting Indonesians, this is what I've come up with...
"Welcome to America
Ajeng Puspitasari,
Guest Writer
"You must study hard so you can go to America one day." That was what my father always said. A lot of people all around the world see America as a dream, a goal, and a final destination of their lives. I always wanted to study in the United States. Before, I pictured this country as a glamorous land. I imagined cities all around the country, high buildings, traffics everywhere, being able to see Julia Roberts, Michael Jackson, and Paris Hilton on the street. Now, I blame myself for watching too much MTV, Friends and Sex And The City only before I came here, because obviously I was totally wrong.
So last year in the middle of August I finally arrived in the Minneapolis Airport after a 23 hour flight from the other sight of the world, Indonesia. Unfortunately, nobody from the campus was able to pick me up, so I had to take shuttle bus to go to Morris. At that time I had no idea where Morris is. I thought it would only take twenty minutes from the airport to go here. On the way here, I was so stressed out, panicked, felt totally lost, because I thought I took the wrong shuttle bus. I was wondering where are the buildings? The Malls? Great restaurants? All I could see were farms and corn fields. Thank God every time I'm panicked I always feel sleepy. So I slept most of the time on the way here. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Starbuck town's sign board. I said to my self "Morris can't be so bad than 'coz at least there is still Starbucks Caf? here".
The first time I saw UMM, I instantly fell in love. I just think that this school is so pretty. In the middle of nowhere, but so pretty. Suddenly, I know that everything will be very different. I start my life as a college student and live in a dorm with a lot of "used to be strangers." I felt half excited and half terrified to death. I did not know anybody. I found out later that I am the only Indonesian person here in Morris. I then realized that a lot of things have changed now. I used to be a majority but now I am a minority. I used to live in a big city with seven million people and here I am, spending four years of my life in Morris with only five thousand people. But the worst thing is as the only Indonesian, it means I will not be able to use my language at all here. That is frustrating. The first month was just not so good. I missed my family and friends, I had to adjust with the classes, I had to meet a lot of new people. I just felt that I did not belong.
Fortunately, it only took one month to adjust to my new environment. I instantly realized that people are very friendly here. I always heard that it is hard to be a minority. Well in a way perhaps it is, but I always try to see the good part of being a minority. A lot of people come to me asking millions of questions about my country and my background, and I just love it because it gives me that chance to make new friends. I start to respect my own culture and even want to learn more about my own country, something that I used to take for granted. I experience many new things. I saw snow for the first time in my entire life, and it was fabulous. I got the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving, filled my stomach with scrumptious food until I could barely breathe. I join edsome clubs, such as IR club, Women of Color, ASA, and International Student Association. UMM always keeps me busy. I cannot even believe that I have been here for seven months already.
Morris has become part of my life now and hopefully I have also become part of Morris and UMM. I really enjoy every day of my life here now. When the temperature has risen back to 80 degrees it will be even more perfect."
Many were shocked of the "sad news" after Christmas as they first heard in or after Sunday church services in the U.S.A. As I heard about the on-going increasing death toll throughout Sunday and today (Tuesday, Decemeber 28th 2004), names of people I know/know of someone in this region popped up including the following:
Anonymous Missionary (fear of persecution)
From:
To:
Subject:Earthquake in Indonesia
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 13:37:44 +0700
Dear family and friends,
As you may have heard by now, a massive magnitude 9 earthquake struck Indonesia on the morning of Dec. 26 (evening of Dec. 25 in the U.S.). The epicenter of the quake was off the coast of Acehn (map) province in northern Sumatra island. The quake caused massive tsunamis (tidal waves), some over 20 feet high, that destroyed villages and resorts along the coastlines of seven Asian nations: Sri Langka, India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The current estimated death toll is over 11,000, with 4,000 of those being in northern Sumatra (Indonesia). Many areas have been cut off from communication and/or transportation due to the destructive force of the waves. Please see a major news source for more information.
I'm also writing to let you know that we are OK. Jakarta is over 1,000 miles from the place the earthquake struck, and this city was not in the path of any resulting tsunamis.
Please pray for those affected by this natural disaster, which includes both local villagers and foreign vacationers in the various nations listed above. Thank you for your continued prayers for safety for us and our coworkers here in Indonesia, and for your concerned emails and calls.
Also, I just talked to my friend Jovita
Asian Tsunami Banda Aceh jan 4th 2005
Funds for Vicitms and Relief: Missions Opportunities
-Muslims in Indonesia receiving help, Christians still in need: teen missions based in Florida-from mission network news
College Campus Groups
How to help:
To get detail information about this Fund Raising please click=>
If you have more question regarding this relief fund, please call Minnesota Indonesia Society at 952-882-8993
Media
Persecution of the church in indonesia
Travel
I have a "perecution" section in this particular webpage because my first impression/exposure on this country from my Indonesian friend were similar websites like above that he showed me before.
"Po" (pictures) went to UMM from 95'-97', then transferred to the UofM-TC Main Campus to further his chemistry major. He encouraged my early years after coming to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the winter of 96. As I reflect back, he inspired me to do internet ministry after e-mailing me weekly a Devotional Bible Verse. Also, he was the first person to educate me about the reality of christian persecution through his "graphic" websites from Indonesia (see links above). Thanks for sharing your heart and joy through your laughter and jokes as a brother in Christ!
Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire. Please come back and visit again!
"The refugee agency is airlifting hundreds of tons of supplies from its stockpiles in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the first shipments are now being transported from Indonesia's capital Jakarta to Aceh, Redmond said."
"A report by Richard Bestic from Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesai 9 days after the city was struck by a 130 foot Tsunami wave"
Asian Tsunami - Live in Banda Aceh
"Chris Roberts reports live from Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia on the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami disaster of December 26th 2004.
9 Days later and Aid agencies were doing their best to deal with a situation on such a huge scale. We met one Aid Worker and asked him how things were going at this very early stage,"
-Minnesota Indonesian Fund, in WCCO's "Marshall Native Survives Tsunami In Malaysia" feature story
May 2006 Earthquake
Aid starts to trickle in for Java earthquake survivors
By Jenny Booth and agencies (Times Online)
"Emergency aid has started to arrive in the areas of Java worst affected by Saturday's earthquake in which more than 5,000 people are now known to have died.
The Indonesian island was struck before dawn by a quake 6.3 in magnitude. More than 200,000 people have been left homeless in the rainy season, and shelter, food, clean drinking water and medical equipment are in short supply.
Today Indonesia's social affairs ministry placed the latest official death toll at 5,136. Of these, 3,082 were killed in the district of Bantul, south of the tourist city of Yogyakarta, and a further 1,660 died in Klaten district in central Java. A disproportionate number of the dead were children and the elderly, who found it harder to escape from collapsing homes."
Death toll rises, rescue efforts go on
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"The death toll from Saturday's earthquake had reached more than 4,600 as of late Sunday, as rescue workers continued to search for survivors."
Reccomended Resources
Please send your check payable to: "Indonesian Tsunamis Relief Fund" at TCF Bank, 3380 Denmark Ave. S. Eagan, MN - 55121
Related Sites:
" In Indonesia in the 1960s came remarkable reports of children ages six to ten that would gather daily for prayer meetings, weeping at times for the whole world. They would often lay hands on people, pray for them and saw many healings take place. In one city many children accepted the Lord, but many of the adults refused to do so. "Then the Lord gave the children a word of knowledge so that they knew the secret sins of people's hearts. But when they told the people these things--especially when they told all these secret things right out in church--some of the people got mad and persecuted the children." (Like a Mighty Wind, Mel Tari, Creation House, pg 54.)"
"The (Catholic) priest was upset. "Those are not idols," he said indignantly. "Those are just Paul and Mary and Jesus and John and other saints."
"But the Lord told us that they are idols."
When the team saw that arguing wasn't going to accomplish anything, one of the team members said, "Since none of us knows if these are idols or not, let us ask God to show us. Do you remember the story in the Bible about Elijah and the Baal priest? Well, let us pray, and gather these images and ask the Lord to burn them with fire from heaven if He is displeased with them."
So they gathered all the idols into the middle of the room. They were made of brass, wood and plaster. The people stood back away from the pile of images, and one of the team prayed that the Lord Himself would give the final decision or proof by burning the pile if He wished. After the closing amens, there was a short silence, then a sharp crashing bolt of fire - like lightning - which hit only the pile of images and burned them to ashes.
The priest was so excited, he rubbed his hands together and kept repeating, "We must get the rest of them to burn. They are in the back. We must get them and burn them, too." So they went into the back of the church and dragged out the other images and they were all burned even those of metal. And nothing else in the church was harmed.
Many repented and turned to Christ that day. And when the team left, the priest said, "If the Lord tells you to come again, you'd better come."
Update Sites:
"It has been said that the greatest revival in the 20th century was on the Island of Timor, Indonesia, where I was born. As the Holy Spirit swept across my country, I was privileged to see the dead rise, the blind see, the cripple walk, water turn into wine and millions come to experience the saving grace of Jesus Christ, which I chronicled in my book “Like a Mighty Wind”.
In the midst of this great revival, the Lord spoke to me to go to America. I did not want to leave my country, but the Lord told me that if I would obey He would take me into all the world to preach the Gospel and that He would make me a “greater blessing” to my country by going rather than staying.
The Lord is faithful to fulfill His promises! For nearly 40 years I have traveled the world preaching the Gospel, literally in every nation, seein many come to know the Lord. However, the “greater blessing” promise the Lord has kept until today.
Now, in my nation’s dark hour, we can partner together and become the“greater blessing”.
Astounding Church Growth
Geoff Waugh
The Rev Dr Geoff Waugh is editor of the Renewal Journal.
"God moved upon the mountain town of Soe in Timor on Sunday 26 September 1965. That night people heard the sound of a tornado wind and flames above the Reformed Church building prompted police to set off the fire alarm. Healings and evangelism increased dramatically. Hundreds of thousands were converted. About 90 evangelistic teams were formed which functioned powerfully with spiritual gifts. The first team saw 9,000 people converted in two weeks in one town alone. In the first three years of this revival 200,000 became Christians in Timor, and on another small island where few had been Christians 20,000 became believers."
Higher Grond Bible College-World Missions, a response from Mel Tari himself on the Asian Tsunami aftermath
"My name is Mel Tari, I am an evangelist and author of the book "Like a Mighty Wind." Indonesia is my home country and I am personally organizing a response to the disaster there. You can be assured that the funds you contribute to this ministry will make it directly to the people in need."
(2)
'A church burned down in Ache"
Sunday School Teachers in Indonesia Jailed
"Teachers jailed for converting Muslim children"
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