by Evita Twerdahl

John 13:14-17
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

We started our first full day at the conference with worshiping, and washing each other’s feet. The washing of the feet is such a powerful reminder that we are here to serve and love each other as Jesus has taught us. The church here is very expressive in their worship and we were really moved and energized through their worship.

We then split into focus groups and Brett facilitated the marketplace track. We have representatives from Indonesia, US, South Africa, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Australia in our track. Part of the time we broke into smaller groups to discuss the definition and purpose of the marketplace from scripture perspective. There is an Indonesian businessperson in my discussion group who had been serving the poor in different islands. He testified that one time the police was going to arrest his wife in Madura island, but the local Moslem cleric protected her. The cleric said that this woman has not done anything wrong but serving the poor and loving them and their children. I’m looking forward to hearing more stories like this.

Our team had done very well to stay awake the whole day considering we only had a few hours of sleep the night before. For some reason all of us got wake up calls twice/three times at 5 AM in the morning. Our program was very packed from 8:30 AM – 9:30 PM. Around 6 PM we managed to break for dinner before we headed back to the church to hear testimonies about world transformations in the Arctic, Philippines, North Uganda, Colombia, etc. God is everywhere and he has a plan for Indonesia as well.

God doesn’t waste our time here. I was supposed to meet my small group to finish our vision paper at 10 PM, but some of our team members had an impromptu meeting with another person and I had to wait for them. While waiting for my team, I met Lany who had been working in Aceh for the last few months and was in the area where we are going to visit this Saturday. She works for a nonprofit who is trying to help create economic development in Aceh. Lany is planning to start a computer vocational training school in Aceh and shared her view of the business environment in Aceh. I have a feeling that our team is going to meet more people like her.

Tuhan berkati - God bless