Mixup Monday

You are all probably really confused right about now. Maybe you are thinking, "whoa guys, I expected a Wednesday update, not a Monday one. Why you gotta throw my week off like that?"

Okay maybe nobody is thinking that. However, the reason for today's update is because James and I will be in the jungle from Wednesday until Friday. Therefore, we wanted to give you guys a quick briefing of what we have been up to this past week.

We are going to Kalimantan on Wednesday. We have heard that it is home to some pretty awesome animals such as tigers, boa constrictors, cobras, monkeys, crazy bugs, etc. It's a jungle. Also, I wanted to note to all of those people who watched our last video and heard James say the "I" word (Indonesia), that it is okay. We can freely use the name of the country. We talked to the company we are working with and they said no problem. However, we will probably continue to use The East Pole just cause it sounds pretty sweet.

In Kalimantan we are going to be putting on a children's camp where we will play games, do teachings, sing songs, and probably get asked a bunch of questions like, "what kind of animals are there where you live?" To which we will disappointingly have to explain to them a squirrel...doesn't sound too cool when you live in a jungle with tigers. Oh well. We are excited to be going!

This past weekend we spent a lot of time with the company we work with. They had a retreat and it was a great time to grow closer to them and just hang out. We went to a cave a couple hours away and then to a beach. Following this beach James and I parted ways with the company and went with our friends Wisnu, Ferii, and Letto to two other beaches. These were the three best beaches I have ever been to in my life. Words don't do it justice and pictures hardly do either. But here are a few...

These are the beaches. Again, pictures don't do them justice. The last picture was a private beach where James and I were finally able to swim. There was literally no one else there other than James and I and Wisnu, Ferii, and Letto. Most beaches prohibit swimming...try and stop us. Here is a picture of the cave we went to...

Okay okay, it's really just a picture of James and I with a cave behind us. So what? 

Following the cave James and I got to stay at our friend Ferii's house. His family was incredibly kind. In fact, everyone here is kind. You almost have to be careful of making a joking comment about something you want or wished for. For example, James was sitting near a window and it started to rain. A small drop fell on James' shoulder and he began to joke about how water was coming through the roof. Probably would have gotten some laughs in America. But here, Ferii's father grabbed a tarp, climbed a pole in the house, and walked outside onto the roof in the rain just to cover it so no more water would fall on James. Can we think about that for a second? How many times would you, me, or anyone else we know do that? I can honestly say that at this point, I wouldn't.

I have never seen such selfless people who genuinely care more about others than themselves. It seems to be the case with everyone here. It has been so humbling for James and I to be around. We talk a lot in America about honoring others before yourself. We talk about outdoing each other in kindness and every once in a while you will see little sparks of that here and there. But never have I seen a majority of people give all the food they have, offer their homes, climb a roof in a rainstorm to stop a drop of water, and constantly offer warm smiles and tea. Lots of tea. This kindness is so foreign to me. Sure, I know kind people. What I don't know are the people that have nothing and instead of asking for help or a handout, they are giving all they can simply to make someone else happy. I don't know why these people are so kind. Perhaps they have it figured out that being selfless is a better way to live than being selfish? I don't know the answer. All I know is that I am humbled.

This is Ferii and his family serving us a great meal. James, unfortunately, took the picture.

This is the family again just before we headed back home. We were blessed to spend time with them.

Here is Wisnu and I trying to outdo one another in kindness by insisting the other go down the stairs first. In the end, we decided to go together.

It is pretty surreal to be surrounded by such beauty. The other day James and I took the bike out to find a spot to read and relax. We found our way to a rice field and walked out to the middle. As far as we could see were fields of lush green rice plants. Beyond that was Mt. Merapi, a volcano that looks a lot like Mt. Doom. I would be lying if I said I didn't pretend every once in a while that it was indeed Mt. Doom and that James and I were on a mission to destroy the... okay I am getting a little off topic here. 

As we sat there and read I couldn't help but think to myself, "God did this. I have lived my whole life not ever thinking about or seeing this place, and yet here it is." There are people hard at work in the fields collecting rice in a process that I can only pretend to understand. This is their life and this is where they work. I will leave here in a few months and they will continue on. It made me feel so small and made God seem really big to me. In that moment, being surrounded by the beauty and the people, I sat and admired God's creativity and the fact that He really is everywhere.

I think that James said it perfectly in his last post about missions. I just wanted to make the point again. It has been interesting for both of us to live here. Most of the time the short term trips are full of schedules and pre-assigned tasks of work. There are sermons and a few prayer groups here and there. I suppose that in my mind I romanticized missions. I took a short-term trip in my mind and multiplied it until it reached a period of six months. That has not been the case. Missions has looked, I would say, almost 100% different than I had thought. James and I are here living our lives with these people. We aren't carrying a Bible and throwing it in the face of strangers who we assume are not saved (not that I would do that anyway), we are not building homes, painting houses, walking through poor villages and returning thankful with the thought 'man I sure have it made back home' stuck in our heads as we skip back to our car and drive away. 

We are living life and we are building friendships. I suppose I thought that something would change in me. Maybe I thought that I would get here and be ready to take the streets, go door to door, and shout the Gospel anywhere I could. But I am still me, just in a different place. I am still building friendships and loving those who are around me just like I would be doing back home. It has made me realize something...that we are all missionaries. That may sound redundant. But we are. James and I are not missionaries overseas facing the wild unknown for the name of Jesus. We are James and Jared loving Jesus and loving those around us like we should in every single place that we are. The same goes for anyone who is reading this. 

We spoke to one of the few guys who speaks English here and were asking him about missions. He told us that perhaps loving others is the most important. He said, 'we see Jesus and how He loved and so we want to love others too. It doesn't matter if they are Muslim, Hindu, or whatever. We want to love them. And perhaps in the end they will see the love of Jesus in us.'

It was encouraging to hear. And it seems strange to me right now. It is so simple and yet it is what we are supposed to do. Love others. It isn't a hard job here. Everyone, as I mentioned earlier, is incredibly kind to us. What can I say to someone who lives all the way across the world, who thinks differently, who talks differently, and even eat differently than I do. This language barrier has caused me to stop relying on myself. I can do and say nothing apart from Him. And that has been comforting. I know that the Lord will present us with opportunities to speak of Him and to share our love for Christ. I hope to see new brothers and sisters in the Lord. And perhaps the way to that is simply by loving and letting the Lord pull on their hearts and open their eyes. 

I know that there will be trials. I know that the Lord will teach us more. But for now, I am comforted in the thought that missions is different than we thought and that is okay.