INDONESIA: Mission Trip 2011 Day I

After a long and patient wait, finally!!!!! I'm back in Canada now and I'm very sorry for all the pending. I thought I could have started this blog posting series back in June, but it turned out I was kept occupied by family matters and didn't have much time to sit down and post. SO, to all my loyal and faithful readers, I offer my huge apology. I was back in Canada 3 days ago, on June 27. It's been rather a [jet lagged] rest, but now I'm ready to start this mission series. The format is simple: I will be writing in a diary mode. I brought my favourite notebook with me on the trip and I wrote down everything every day for the 9 days that I was there. I may not reference what I've already mentioned in my earlier blog posts regarding the mission trip. If you have not read them already, here are the links (earliest-latest):

• Indonesia: Pre-Mission Trip 2011 pt. I

• Indonesia: Pre-Mission Trip 2011 pt. II

• Indonesia: Pre-Mission Trip 2011 pt. III

• INDONESIA: Mission Trip {Introduction}

Jagalan, Surakarta

Saturday May 21, 2011

At 22:06

We flew from Jakarta at 11:40 in the morning by Sriwijaya Air and arrived in Surakarta (Solo) at 12:55. The first thing I noticed when I got here is that Solo is much less crowded than Jakarta. But it's HOT, and I don't mean that figuratively. It was a scorching afternoon, as the sun played her joke on us. The other 3 people who came with me on this mission trip are Kak Ester, Kak Elyda, and Ko Steven. All three have a theological title: Evangelist, Junior Pastor, and Pastor, respectively. I surely felt a bit out of place being the only one with no title whatsoever, but I didn't let that stop me anyway. One of the pastors (whose name escaped my mind) fetched us from the airport, accompanied by the senior pastor, Pak Markuat ('Pak' means 'Mr.' in English). He drove us in a mini-bus type of car. I was humbled by his car - an old, beaten down, shoddy vehicle, whose machine clonked and clanked as it went, but it was able to carry us to our destination without a single scratch. OK, maybe the car was not completely beaten down, but it was definitely not your average car, accessorized with a radio and/or a functioning air conditioning system. In exchange for those, we got to indulge in the 'natural' Solo air.. and smell.