Monday, October 03, 2011

Indonesia 1 - What! No Icebreakers!


Here is part one for real. It counts this time because I finally made it to Indonesia, and I actually talked to other people from other countries and other churches. Let’s see if I can remember everyone I talked to:

The Lutheran(s) from Sweden
The Presbyterian from India
The Salvation Army person from London
The Dominican Nun from Chicago (that’s a foreign country, right?)
The Para-church Evangelical from North Carolina
The Methodist from Connecticut who works in NYC and (no big surprise), knows the Reverend Dr. Donald Anderson.

I also talked to a man in a purple shirt, which I guess means he is a bishop, and two other men dressed all in black. I’m told they are also bishops. All three are from the Middle East (one from Egypt) – I’ll make it a point to get to know them a little better in the week.

Tonight, very soon, we all are going to the Governor of Sulawesi’s home for dinner. It will just be a cozy dinner of the Governor, his family, and about 300 of us. I’ll say “hi” to him from all you Rhode Island fans of Sulawesi.

So far the conversation is fairly superficial, which is to be expected when people are just meeting. Maybe I’ll just start doing what I do and pushing ideas, queries, and wonderings. If you see me running from a bunch of angry bishops, Salvation Army chaps, Lutherans, and others on the news tomorrow night, you’ll know why.

I only got to take a couple of pictures on the ride to the convention center and the hotel. The area reminded me of La Romana in the Dominican Republic – clearly not overwhelmed with riches. Poverty is everywhere, and looks very similar everywhere you see it. The convention center looks nothing like the neighborhood.





I’ll try take more and more pictures, but I don’t want people to freak out and think I am a stalker… at least not yet anyway.

No comments: