A First For Me

Today I had a "first" experience you might be interested in. I was invited to join a Women’s Bible Study that met this afternoon. The invitation came by way of a photocopied notice left on our porch furniture yesterday afternoon. The person who left it would have known for sure that I was a believer, or it wouldn’t have been left.

The study took place in the home of a lady who lives a five minute walk from our house. I didn’t know her name (the invitation said “Ibu ______’s house - no address) so Josh checked with a friend of his who is a believer and he said his wife would stop by and pick me up on her way there. We walked in the rain, each carrying our own umbrella.

It started at 4:30 with women arriving and shaking hands when they entered the home of the hostess. Everyone shook everyone else’s hand. Each time a person entered the room, they went around and shook the hands of everyone already present. After a while, the lady who was leading it started (in the local language, of course). The study was about grace and the reference was Ephesians 1: 3-8. (I only know that because the leader was a western lady who’d been living in the neighborhood for 8-10 years, and as the ladies were gathering, she told me what it would be about.)

After she was finished, an hour later, we sang a number of songs from books the ladies all had a copy of. There were no musical instruments – there were just numbers above the words and they all followed the tune. Someone prayed, then some women shared testimonies, maybe related to the lesson (?) (I know because I know the word for testimony and it sounded like the ladies were telling stories about their experiences – also they used “normal” words.) Then more songs, some prayer requests (they wanted me to pray but I only know the basics – thanks for this day and please help us to learn - from school – so I declined) and then they passed an offering plate – a bowl covered with a towel. Only, I didn’t know it was an offering plate – I thought it was communion or something so I peeked under the towel. When I saw cash, I put the towel back (I hadn’t brought any money– didn’t know what to expect at all) and passed it on. Then there was more praying.

After that they brought out a snack – not sure what it was – it was flat and circular and had some egg/greens or something with a side of very hot peppers that the ladies were all casually eating. The egg thing tasted good. The pepper was too hot for me. There were also some lovely cakes which I declined, having already experienced their style cakes – pretty but mostly flavorless and somewhat dry – not sweet really. There was also a side of salak – which is snakeskin fruit. Ladies mostly put those into the bags provided and took them home to their families.

It was over after 6:00. Most of the time that this study was going on, there was a terrific thunderstorm going on as well. Sometimes it was so loud I could hardly hear the speaker – wait, maybe that was also because they speak fairly softly here! In all, there were 12 local ladies  and 2 westerners in attendance. I was able to understand about 30% or so of what they were saying – but the trade langauge was mixed with the local dialect, so that’s not surprising. Also, I haven’t gotten to the unit in school where they teach you “Spiritual Vocabulary”. I did write down some of the words I heard a lot so I can look them up!

Itu pengalaman saya. (That was my experience.)

My next great "first" experience will be… Sunday afternoon. I have an “ibu-ibu” meeting – that would be “Mrs-Mrs” in English. Yes, a ladies meeting – all of the women in our neighborhood get together once a month on the 10th at 4:30. Will let you know what I experience!