Archive for January, 2009

APPLE “piggy bank” / Celengan apel merah

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Lisa was upset and confused. It’s a few days before the last exam in Elementary, and yet she has not settled 6 months of school fees. She kept asking her Mom, and the answer is consistent “Later”. She grew up without a father, not like most people. Lisa is sad and can only pray to God.

That morning she was a little late to class cause she has to walk a mile from her house. When the class start, Mr. Agus, her teacher, called her classmate, Vivi, to come forward and give short speech. The class’ piggy-bank (looks like a red apple) is full. The class had contribute a small amount of their allowance to this piggy-bank everyday. Previous plan was to allocate it to graduation party for the whole class. Instead, they all agreed to donate the money to a friend in need.

Suddenly Vivi called my name, Elizabeth, seriously, she called Elizabeth….. I was so touched and happy. The amount gather is more than enough to settled 6 months school fee and half of the exam fee. It was a huge surprise and totally unexpected. I cried. Mixed feelings between sadness and happiness. God has answered my prayer in the most extraordinary, unexpected and amazing way.

My Elementary classmates perhaps just thought that it was an ordinary donation for a simple purpose.
My Elementary classmates perhaps did not realize that what they have done was momentous event in my life.
My Elementary classmates perhaps did not realize that their help had enabled me to help even more people in need. Praise be to God!. During 2004 in Jakarta, I was able to found a charity choir. C-Choir had been successful with many charity projects.

Moral of the story…….

It doesn’t matter how young you are.
It doesn’t matter how limited skill you have.
As long as you say, “Here I am oh God, use me”, God will use you, in anyway, anytime, to bless those in need.
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Lisa bingung sekali, dia kelas 6 SD dan udah 6 bulan belum bayaran, dan belum bayar uang ujian. Dia tanya terus sama Mami-nya, jawabannya selalu nanti. Cuman ada mamiku, aku ndak ada papi seperti orang-orang lain. Lisa sedih sekali dan cuma bisa berdoa.

Pagi itu dia datang ke kelas agak terlambat, karena agak jauh jalan kaki dari rumahnya. Saat kelas dimulai, tiba2 Pak Agus, guruku minta Vivi untuk berikan pidato singkat.
Rupanya Celengan yg selama ini beredar di kelas, yang sudah penuh sekali, akan di-alokasikan. Sebagai Ketua Kelas, Vivi bilang isi celengan yg tadinya akan dimanfaatkan untuk Pesta Lulus-lusan, akan diberikan kepada teman yang membutuhkan.

Tiba-tiba Vivi menyebut namaku, Elizabeth. Aduhhh….. BENERAN….. dia sebut Elizabeth….. aku terharuuuu sekali.
Jumlah yg teman sekelas kumpulkan itu lebih dari cukup untuk bantu hutang bayaran sekolah selama 6 bulan dan separuh uang Ujian. AKu sungguh nggak nyangka. Aku menangis terharu.
Allah menjawab doaku dengan cara yang ‘tidak biasa’ dan ‘luar biasa’!

teman2 SD ku mungkin berfikir bahwa, ah mereka hanya ingin nyumbang isi celengan ajah.

teman2 SD ku, mungkin tidak menyadari, bahwa apa yg mereka lakukan untuk ku, tak akan pernah aku lupakan.

teman2 SD ku, mungkin tidak menyadari, bahwa dengan pertolongan mereka, aku dimampukan untuk bisa menolong lebih banyak orang lagi. Puji Tuhan! aku dimampukan untuk membangun Charity Choir di tahun 2004, dan mereka telah sukses dengan puluhan Charity Projects.

Jadi moral dari cerita diatas adalah….

Semuda apapun usia kita, seminim apapun kemampuan kita, asal kita bersedia, Allah bisa pakai untuk jadi berkat buat mereka yg membutuhkan.

Been a while

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

OK, it’s been a while since the last post.  We’ve been busy.  Over Christmas, we went island hopping in Southeast Asia.  We went to Jakarta (island of Java), then to Medan (island of Sumatera), then Batam Island, then Singapore, then Sentosa Island and finally back to Jakarta.

While in Medan, we stayed with our friends, the Steins.  Thank you Sean, Cici, Alec and Sami for being wonderful hosts!

We went on an excursion into the wilds of Leuser National Park (more info, but we’ll post pictures soon).    While there we were “welcomed” to the jungle by an orangutan named Minah, who was a bit upset we were invading her territory.  Luckily our guides knew how to handle her and Minah cooled off and left us alone.  After that we hopped on inner tubes and went white water rafting back to the hotel (well actually a little farther because it was so fun).

Then we went to Singapore for New Year’s Eve.  Singapore is very nice, a lot of New Year activities and I recommend the night safari and Sentosa Island.

But all good things must come to an end and now we’re back home, knee-deep in snow and below-freezing temperatures.