this past month has been really intense, i have completely immersed and made a niche for myself in Jakarta, with GREAT friends at school, an AMAZING church family, involving myself in church, growing with God on my own, and enjoying my time. But i haven't been discovering Indonesia much in the midst of this immersing into my Jakarta.
I've been learning about wisdom with God, and props to Lee, now i actually look up the Hebrew and Greek meanings of the word. There has been a lot of things that i've needed wisdom for here:I'll be having my ACT next week and I need discernment and wisdom for understanding the material, in school- i've been asking for wisdom to how i should approach my friends with feelings, since it's hard to do that with Indonesians, and wisdom with family.
He challenged me to not talk unless it was beautiful, good, true, helpful, necessary, God-inspired, praise-worthy, excellent, or thoughtful. if not i wouldn't speak. because wisdom truly comes out in the way you talk. because your words either build up or destroy.
so i talked, and then i didn't talk at other times.
a couple days later- i realized i was becoming a bit introverted with my feelings, because i didn't know how to say them. and so God said: TALK! and i did, even if the feelings were ugly, even if they were weird, or different. I talked, oh boy did i talk! Crying to friends and family about what was really on my heart. and it reaped great results: I had to show my utter weakness, for God's power to work through me, and now- I point out God, and talk about Him during the day at school, and at home- things are lighter. It's BEAUTIFUL!
this past weekend, since Ailin- a foriegn exchange student from indonesia, Dasha- foreign exchange from Russia, and I hadn't been travelling and discovering Indonesia in the last three months, we said: NO MORE! and decided to go to Bogor with what ended up as 4 German Interns who were working here and one that we knew from the Jakarta Roteract.
At first this was going to happen, and then not happen because i had to go to church- but then, i sincerely asked God what he wanted me to do- and low and behold, he wanted my church service to be in Bogor.
So we went.
It was a beautiful mess of a trip : )
the most beautiful i've had here so far. More than Jogja even. because you truly saw our flaws of Bahasa Indonesia, understanding in Indonesia, and seriously learning great things. and how to protect ourselves here.
We had one girl who knew how to speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently *lancar* because she had lived here for 10 years, so she was getting our negotiations with taxi drivers down pact. it was perfect.
we took the train to Bogor, and arrived there in one piece. We grabbed a taxi and headed to the Botanical Garden, which we thought was going to be holding tons of amazing, exotic flowers- but there were only TONS of trees. which was just as fine at the time, because of the MOST AMAZING fresh air! we took tons of photos and tried to see this humongus (Sp) flower which was supposed to smell so nasty. but the thing was- it wasn't even in bloom yet. which was a funny disappointment.
ADD MOMENT: golden nugget of indonesia, there are lizards throughout your house always- i'm looking at one right now hanging out next to the fridge, they seem so normal now. haha.
so we continued on our journey after taking pictures with a tree with the biggest roots i've ever sat on, kind of like in the lion king, to Dedaunan Cafe in the Botanical Gardens. Which was Lovely! they had music playing, even Stairway to Heaven--if that's the name of that really long awesome american song.
While i was figuring out a way to get to the waterfalls my friend Brillianti from Jakarta Roteract had recommended to me, we all ate- i had Nasi Bali, which is supposed to be intensely spicy, but actually wasn't at all. alongside of pineapple juice, delicious : )
one of the german interns, Elgin, had a coconut drink- that was seriously in a coconut too! I LOVED IT! don't worry i took a picture. haha.
so we all decided that even if it was a little late in the day, we wanted to go see waterfalls.
so we did.
Sarah- the really good Bahasa speaker, set us up with a mikrolet driver, who would take us, wait for us, and bring us back for 150,000 Rupiah, which is about $15.
so 5 of us went, Sarah and the only guy- Till, had to go back to Jakarta for a Regaae Festival.
on the way up, it was raining heavily, and we were thinking we weren't going to be able to actually go- but since we didn't know bahasa THAT fluently, we decided to just go and see what happened.
so we did.
and OH BOY DID WE!
when we got to the camping ground where the waterfall was at, it was still raining, but it smelled SO fresh, and it was all misty around us. it was just a singular valley surrounded by forest. so we started hiking, and asking: "curug nganka". we started walking up the rocks and water that led to the waterfall and it was great. i stopped to take pictures of everyone walking- but then they didn't stop walking! So i picked up all their stuff and started climbing, without shoes on- through the water, over the rocks, and at that moment, i thanked God for swimming, being a mokey when i was little, and having an amazing sense of equilibrium : ) when i met up with them, they took their stuff, said sorry. and we continued walking- not even 10ft forward. we all stopped.
a monkey was coming our way- i took a video :)
Dasha started to try to hand it food, and it actually sat down to wait for her to give it to him. and i started yelling. they bite, you know. that's insane.
so it continued on and we took pictures, and almost started walking- but not before the WHOLE PACK followed hiim! there were about 15 monkeys that were running by and around us. we didn't move.
and then didn't mind us. Saskia, the German intern we knew best, was so scared- but said all of this with the straightest face, so much so that i couldn't stand still and i laughed so hard because it was the most ridiculous situation. i loved it.
we took pictures, and continued on to what else we would find.
after a little while, one of the interns thought we should go back, but we all thought- come on, let's keep going, we're only going to be here once.
so we went on, not more than 40ft. did we see it: The image of a cascading waterfall that was setting the entire valley into a misty haze.
and we started shouting, and going faster.
a couple had passed us a couple minutes before really fast, even though we didn't understand why- but then, we saw the guy had stripped down to his boxers, and we knew why- he was going swimming!
and so were we : )
i haven't told you, but i had on a huge backpack full of clothes for 3 days, including church, because i had slept over at my aunt's house, then a friend's house, then i was going straight to church and Bogor, so i thought- so i had piles of extra clothes.
and we were going swimming : ) for sure.
some of the girls were behind. so i stopped- and screamed, and almost cried, and yelled. it was the most beautiful thing, so beautiful. it wasn't as big as you see in the movies, but then again- if it was, there was no way we could go in it : )
Go God, this was my church service.
HIS BEAUTY ! HIS MAJESTY ! HIS CREATION !
at this moment there were two thoughts in my mind:
How good God is, that i'm in Indonesia discovering His beauty, and that I wished Alan was there- it would've been amazing to discover God's beauty together and praise Him.
so then, I got back into reality- which was that God's beauty was phenomenal, and i was in it! And boy, did i go in it :)
walked into the water, which held the biggest rocks that i've had to step on, and we crawled along the way, even to underneath the falls- it was OUTSTANDING!
there was just enough room, two spots, underneath the actual falls- where you could sit under and watch the falls around you. it was scary, stepping underneath, because i wasn't sure if there was nothing there, or something there.
and so- i stepped, and prayed.
and God blessed me. and i sat under there, smiling : )
then, i let go- and flew out, but not too fast, to where everyone else was. And we started yelling, screaming, laughing, loving- ailin, me, and dasha. and how amazing we WERE IN INDONESIA! and GOD was SO GOOD! and it was BEAUTIFUL! and we were swimming underneath a WATERFALL that made the entire valley misty! so much so that all my pictures were foggy : )
god is so good.
so we had to get out, and started to walk down, because it was starting to get dark, and since we ran into the monkies, we didn't know what else we would run into.
we gathered our happiness, and walked down in a pile of giddiness, me the only one without shoes- since my mocassins would totally get wet from my feet, and i was walking in water anyways.
and i was able to walk! over all the painful rocks that hurt the first time, but it was so easy the second time. This is because of what happened at my aunt's house, which i'll be writing about soon enough.
we stopped quickly though, because the monkies were coming back up the falls, and right in the middle of the path we were walking on, not even 5 ft. in front of us, the biggest monkey sat. like it was the king.
which it probably was. so we didn't move. just in case it was mean.
and after about 50seconds, it just rolled down the hill to go onto the rocks, and we started walking again. but not after i felt something touch my leg.
i loooked down and Elgin was touching a leech that had attached itself to my leg. SO COOL! i pulled it off and started to check myself for more. i found another one in between my right pinky toe and the toe right next to that. and it was actually getting blood. for a moment when i pulled, it didn't come off and was afraid, but i pulled harder, and he came off. no worries at all. but it was so cool to say i had leeches on me from swimming under a waterfall.
the rocks under the falls were so big, but sometimes so small that my feet curled around them and i got cramps, so my feet were already in a bit of pain.
we continued down the waterfall and got to the bottom, where we changed clothes- with the clothes i had packed, and they fit, Dasha- Elgin-Saskia.- and myself. it was beautiful
we packed into the mikrolet and headed down the mountain again, to catch a train home. when we got to the train station the driver said we owed him 20000. which we all knew was wrong.
so- we gave him 15000 and ran, while he smiled. because he totally didn't get us : ) we're not that stupid.
we got tickets, where they gave me the wrong change back and i paid for two tickets instead of one. BUT i got my money back when Dasha's teacher showed up out of the blue saying he came to visit his son in school, and was going home- so he helped me get my money back, and brought us to the right train. We hopped on, got a couple seats- i stood the entire way, and as people passed trying to sell things and get money, i looked out for the train station in jakarta, ate a ton of crackers and water that only cost me 80cents, and talked to ailin until we were laughing as people packed in all around us. our bags were in front of us, sitting on ailin and elgin's lap, while dasha and i stood in front of them. and we were safe : )
we asked many people who helped us to find which station was Juanda, and at the train station, Dasha's papa picked us up safetly and we all headed home.
it was amazing, going like that.
it was an amazing day.
and now i sit here, reflecting on it. reflecting on HOW I'M IN INDONESIA! and how i haven't been writing anything, because i haven't been doing much. but things happen everyday.
little things that rock my world- that i don't take into account, or tell you. or even write down in a journal.
and i don't want to forget.
so that wasn't even my whole weekend.
you can stop reading now if you want : ) this part is just for me to have. because it was a great weekend, with friday and saturday as well. not just sunday. with mess ups, and things working out perfectly.
the whole thing needs actually a whole new title.
so enjoy reading if you want.
if you don't want. you can skip it : ) haha.
Golden Nugget:
it's december now.
it doesn't feel like Christmas, or look like Christmas in america-
but the thing is. that that does not make it christmas
it's your perspective.
and honestly- it's not supposed to be like that.
it's supposed to be a silent night, where Jesus was born.
without the presents, lights, or snow even.
there was no snow where Jesus was.
so here we go- christmas without snow, many presents, and much heat.
but it's still christmas- because Jesus was still born.
and there will be still nights.
and what he did still counts.
and you don't realize this perspective until your in this situation.
so i hope each of you experience this so that you can see too- that even though we say that christmas is truly about Christ, you don't feel it until your in this situation.
so you need to expereince it : )
experience a different christmas - natal beda :)
i hope you do.
love you guys- i'll be talking about the rest of the weekend in t