A letter from Rebecca Young in Indonesia
November 2012
Dear friends in Christ,
Ellen, Ginnie and Bobbi surrounded by the students of the mission studies class, Jakarta Theological Seminary, Sept 7, 2012
Indonesians have the most wonderful way of saying “yes.” They drag it out and make it seem like they are really committed to it. When writing it down, they also extend it, like this: “iyaaa.” They pronounce it “eey-yaaaah,” and they seem to be singing a song. It’s such a wonderful sound that I love asking them questions just so I can hear that yes.
It is also an Indonesian custom never to say no, which makes it even easier to get such a great affirmation of whatever I say. In general, Indonesians are a remarkably warm and welcoming people, and their always positive “iyaaa” extends into enthusiastic hospitality wherever I go.
I got to share some of that enthusiasm and hospitality back in September when I enjoyed a visit by friends Bobbi White, Ellen Dozier and Ginnie Stevens from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina.
After they first arrived, I immediately put them to work teaching a class at Jakarta Theological Seminary, where I am a professor. They spoke to a mission class about their views on mission. The students were very inspired to see these three dedicated women who have spent their lives serving the church in different yet interrelated ways.
Bobbi, Ellen and Ginnie after the Friday chapel service, attended by professors, students and staff of Jakarta Seminary, Sept 7, 2012
One particularly moving statement was made by Ellen Dozier to the students gathered in the class. She pointed out that Americans love to fix things. “When we go abroad, we tend to look around for things that need to be repaired, improved, adjusted, and otherwise tinkered with. Of course this is a great asset that we can offer to places where things are in bad need of tinkering. But because we are so sure that we can fix everything through our ingenuity, we forget to hand things over to God.” Ellen told the students, “This is where we need you: you have the level of spirituality that we have lost, so we need to learn from you how to be more faithful to God. We can come and help you get clean drinking water, but it is from you that we learn about living water, from which we will never be thirsty.”
All three woman also gave short meditations during the Friday chapel service, each one building on the other and providing the students with a new perspective on how mission is not just conversion to Christianity, but is about how mission is at the core of all we do as Christians and as the church, in worship, in service, and in our lifestyles.
After the worship service we visited some Christian organizations that are doing disaster response and preparedness, first in Jakarta, then after a long train ride in central Java, which was hard hit by a volcano last year. By coincidence many of the most disaster-prone areas of Indonesia also happen to be predominantly Christian, and the church can play a very significant role in helping the people both before and after disasters so that they do not suffer as badly from the earthquakes, volcanoes and tidal waves that are inevitable in this part of the world.
Then finally, late one Saturday afternoon, Ginnie and I were riding in one pedicab, while Ellen and Bobbi were in another. I asked the pedicab driver whether he knew the name of the driver peddling Ellen and Bobbi’s pedicab. “Iyaaa,” he said, “his name is Petrus.” [He answered in Indonesia but I’ve translated most of his answer for you.]
As soon as he said Petrus, I thought, “I bet he’s a Christian,” and before the thought had formed in my mind, I heard the pedicab driver saying, “Iyaaa, he’s Christian, so I like to tease him and call him Judas, just for fun.” I was translating for Ginnie as he spoke, and once I translated that last sentence, he started up again.
“Now, I know what you are thinking—a Muslim shouldn’t tease a Christian like that, but we do it to each other all the time. Here we don’t separate ourselves according to faith. We are all brothers and sisters under the one God, so we can tease each other like that and still remain friends. Don’t think I’m being mean to him; he’s used to it and he will get me back with some teasing next chance he gets. That’s how we do it around here, to show our affection for one another.”
Ginnie, Bobbi, Ellen and Becca tour an area devastated by a volcano in Central Java, where relief programs were funded by our ACT partners in Indonesia. Kaliurang, Sept 9, 2012
Before I even had a chance to translate all of this for Ginny, he was going again, this time with something I never would have expected:
“Bapak kami yang di sorga, kuduskanlah namaMu…” (“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…”)
When he had finished praying the entire prayer, and before I had time to ask, he said, “Iyaaa, I went to a Catholic school as a child, so we had to memorize the Lord’s Prayer. I still remember it, 20 years later.”
It was an unforgettable experience and a testimony to the way in which people can live in peace between religions, maintaining friendship through a healthy sense of humor.
As the Christmas season comes upon us, I ask us all to reflect upon the amazing “iyaaa” that God has expressed to us in a babe on Christmas morning. Through Jesus Christ, God says yes to the whole world, and yes to our lives together as human beings in all our diversity.
Let us answer God with a resounding “iyaaa” and a promise to be God’s faithful disciples, spreading the enthusiasm and hospitality of Jesus to our brothers and sisters in need, just as the Indonesians have shown it to those of us who have come to spend time with them.
Iyaaa! Hallelujah! Amen! And a very merry Christmas to you all.
Love,
Becca
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 189
The 2013 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 199
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