|
Jerry Schmalenberger's June 10, 2002 Newsletter
From: Jerry L. Schmalenberger Report #7: Sumatra, Indonesia #2 June 10, 2002 It is Sunday afternoon and I have just returned from my weeklong trip lecturing for the HKBP. After a very nice farewell at HKBP headquarters where I taught the 35 or so staff members of the Ephorus (Bishop), I traveled to Locobodi to the Bibel Frau (Bible Women's) School. Started by missionary Nommensen, this institution in a remote village has a long history of preparing young women to work with women and Sunday Schools. It is a three-year course right out of high school. The lecturers are all women, but the director is a young Pandita I had in class in STT in 1997. After three years of study, they do two years vicarage and then are ordained as official Bible Women. They often work in a parish directed by a Pandita. I lectured to these bright happy smiling faces with a Pastor Monolu translating for the 65 who sang for my farewell and presented me with an ulos. The fact that the school is named Bibel Frau is an indicator of the heavy, ever present German missionary presence here beginning in 1863 with Ingwer Nommensen, "the Apostle to the Bataks." In sweltering heat, the Panditas still wear a black gown with the traditional German white preaching tabs. When I arrived at the school, Todo Tao was there waiting for me. After my teaching I went with him to a market in Balige to greet his old widowed mother who sits on the ground and sells ulos. She travels to four different "markets" each week to eek out a living for them. She is rather superstitious and told people that when I came to her in the market it looked like the ghost of Nommensen returning! Todo has not left my side since! (St.John's, Antioch, CA, supported Todo in seminary). In Balige I stayed in an old former missionary's house and lectured on discipleship. But I think they were the ones lecturing to me by their sacrificial lives. These are the women preparing to be deaconesses in HKBP who lost their property during the "crisis" in HKBP in the '90s, so now they all live and study in the old motherhouse next to the HKBP hospital and nursing school. I think there are around 60 who live under the official title: Lembago Pendidikan Diakones, HKBP. Five students to a room with three double bunk beds but only three mattresses! It is a three year course and interspersed are month-long opportunities to do service in the church. These women are often by themselves in a remote village serving after their ordination and are the real disciples of Christ. They work for almost no salary, live sacrificially, smile, sing a lot and love the Christ of the church. They are allowed to marry and continue their work, often marrying the male Pandita. The evening of my arrival, they all sang and danced for me, put an ulos on me, and asked me to dance with them. When I did, they were astonished. All assembled in front to bid me farewell. I wish you could have seen 65 hands in the air waving goodbye! And singing! They are my delight. LWF will send one of them to South Africa to learn how to care for AIDS patients this summer. One nurse from the school of nursing will also go. On June 8, our anniversary, they came to my window, brought flowers, and sang happy birthday to my wedding. The director is a tough, smart woman I have met before and a graduate of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong. There is one girl I would like to see get help. Tioria Sihombine is finishing her first year and is an orphan; she has learned fairly good English and is deeply motivated. It will cost $480 USD per year to sponsor her. From this deaconess school I traveled over dirt, deeply rutted, reddish sticky mud roads to the most heart-wrenching place I have ever been. It is an institution of the HKBP called Pantikarya Hephata. Way out in the bush they have gathered the blind, lame, and mentally challenged to care for them. Three of the deaconesses serve there in a compassionate ministry I could not bear. I believe there are better than 100 dispersed in huts out on this farmland. While the motivation is great, the conditions are wretched. The Pandita/Director took me around and I did my best to embrace, touch, shake hands with the heart touch and pray for them. I cry now to describe the emotional pull on my heart. They, of course, were thrilled to meet and touch an American Pandita. I still am, because of present fatigue, upset over these very special poor whom God loves also. It troubles me that I felt the need to bathe so carefully late that night after arriving in Parapot. (I wonder if Jesus bathed and how meticulously?) The rest of the trip was easy. An old van with spring exposed seats and holes in the floor boards appeared out of the bush. It was loaded with many young deaconess students and they wanted to ride with me to Parapot and swim in Lake Toba. The engine often died, but there was resurrection and we chugged on. Lake Toba was refreshing and we swam with all our clothes on! They dried quickly as the water escaped through the floor boards. There was some kind of all night hula-hula near my overnight room at Benny Sinaga's parents' home, so I slept little. In the morning I preached my heart out with Pandita Simandjuntak translating. I could not yet mention Hephata, as it was too raw a memory for my delicate psyche. There were about 400 Bataks waiting to worship and hear the American grandfather of Benny and Deonal. Only a few of the older women chewed tobacco, but the men were still continuous chimneys. We ate sak-sang and rice in Benny's home and then made the now familiar trip to STT where little Santi was waiting, fearing her ompung had returned to America. She ran, embraced, and would not let go. Now I will try to mail this letter and purchase a few school clothes for her. June 11, 2002 (snail mail) I am trying to take a couple days now to rest before the 8 hour bus trip to Ballin where Rospita is serving. Her boyfriend will go with me. I took Omega Sitorus (Deonal's fiancée) and Todo Tao to town today to buy some clothing for Santi and a pair of shoes for Omega. I also took two of my ulos to a tailor who remembered me for the bags he made in '97. Todo Tao and I went to the email café this day and I could read my 27 emails, but could not send any. AOL is worse here than in Hong Kong! It kept telling me my time has expired even though I had just signed on. I can use my bank card at one bank here and feel more secure knowing that. June 18, 2002 I will try again to email from Pematang-Siantar in a second backroom cafe. I have just returned from lecturing to a group of church leaders about 35 miles from here. I am really being used here this time! Shortly after we arrived in Pematang-Siantar , they moved me to church headquarters in Tarutung for a week from where I lectured and taught sometimes two times a day. I have been to the headquarters, preacher\teacher seminary, youth workers retreat center, Bibel Frau school, deaconess school, HKBP hospital, Parapot district, Parapot preaching, etc. They are hungry for every word. A Pandita asked today, "Where does all that come from?" The trip to Balam to see Rospita's internship site was really hard. She makes me so proud. I have many deep bruises and a very sore bottom from the trip there but otherwise my health is fine. I will work very hard in July as I will lecture to 60 graduate students from all over Indonesia in the a.m. and teach English to the new students in the afternoon. Jerry L. Schmalenberger, ELCA Global Mission Volunteer Jerry Schmalenberger's June 1, 2002 Newsletter From: Jerry L. Schmalenberger June 1, 2002 Report #6: Sumatra, Indonesia After a tearful farewell to friends at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong, Rospita Siahaan (who had been visiting from Sumatra) and I flew to Singapore and then on to Medan, North Sumatra. There her mother and sister were waiting. Also there to greet us were Principal Jamilin Sirait and Benny Sinaga, a recent graduate. We drove the 3 hours to Pematang- Siantar where the seminary is located, then ate the traditional raw goldfish and sac-sang (blood, chopped pork, and lard all boiled and with very hot peppers. Now that I have arrived, they have started to prepare for my arrival (!) by painting over the termites who were circled around the guest house holding hands to keep it from collapsing, so I have been living with paint smell. Sixteen-year-old Santi, who lives nearby, ran to me, grabbed hold, and would not let go as if afraid I would leave. She cried with joy. Before I unpacked, Wilda Simanjuntak came in a panic. Her father had been taken to the local hospital, very serious. We walked to the hospital and prayed for him, along with his wife. The three seminary students watched every move, as they have no training in pastoral care. The hospital here is full of men dying from lung cancer. It is very over-crowded and dirty. All Batak men are heavy smokers and US companies are promoting it everywhere. That first evening the two musangs (wild cats) who live above my sleeping area came out to greet me. I finally collapsed into the bed only to discover most of the slats are missing and the mattress pad has further disintegrated. Benny Sinaga (who was supported in seminary for a time by St. John's, Antioch, CA, youth group) is a joy. She has started a group of twenty youth as disciples. They met at my house and cleaned out all my drinks and food. Benny's group is a direct result of her being sent to Geneva and coached by our PLTS graduate, Tita Valeriano. They all pray for each other at the same time each day and have fixed up a "base camp" near the campus. One of their assignments is to reach out to marginalized people. So they have worked with the "market polishers" (read shoe shine boys). Benny and Wilda are two of the 13 out of 126 who passed the exam for internship. They will go for training late June and start their two-year Vikar Yahr (internship) about Sept. 1. The youth we have supported planned a retreat to Tuk Tuk for us. It is an island in the middle of Lake Toba where we sang, danced, hiked, studied scripture, and prayed together. I have learned a lot more about the Batak’s god that many worship. Mulajadinaloloa means the almighty creator. Those who worship this god are called "Barmalin." I am looking for intersections where we can find an opening for witness. They mostly climb the mountain to pray for husbands for their daughters. The pioneer German missionary Nommensen's work is not yet done.
Aunti and Santi will do
some cooking for me. I still must bathe with a plastic bucket and eat
with my fingers. The seminary has installed a flush toilet but today the
water line broke. I also have a propane hot plate and a working
refrigerator! Right now there are 208 taking the admission exam for 80
spots here at the seminary. This country is in its 5th year of
financial crises. The exchange rate is $1 US dollar=$8,500 Rupea. It takes
some real math. There are no tourists and very little commerce. People are
so very poor! I preach tomorrow and make a 10-hour trip to lecture to
Panditas (pastors).
I am now at HKBP
headquarters staying in the guesthouse newly built and finished as much as
it will ever be. It is very comfortable and two Batak women prepare my
meals when I am here for them. I really appreciate the cooler weather up
here in Taratung in the mountains near where Nommensen began all his
missionary work so long ago (1860). However, the house is full of ants!
I have to brush them off whatever I eat or drink. From here, a driver
takes me to the place where I am to teach. Sometimes with only 15 minutes
warning, we are off to go to yet another location over horrible roads.
In most instances I have no idea where we are going or what my audience
will be or for how long I'll have to present. My background in impromptu
speaking is very essential! In the evening back here, a group of Deonal's student friends took me out for dinner in a Batak restaurant. They wanted to talk about the deep divisions still in the HKBP church. This morning I preached to about 35 of Bishop's "staff" here at Taratung and then lectured for 2 1/2 hours on new paradigms. They were so excited about new ways to them of thinking about the role of the synod in HKBP. They asked if I would return and teach these ideas at their Synod convention. I said no. Tonight the ephorus (Bishop) has a dinner in his home for me and his staff in my honor. Tomorrow I travel to the Bible Women's School in Lokabodi to teach about preaching. After that we go to the Deaconess school where again I speak on Discipleship. I will stay in the guest house there and then move on to Lake Toba staying somewhere with a family Sinaga (Benny's relatives) then preaching in the very large church there on Sunday morning. I'm not sure, but I believe I will catch a public bus from there back to STT-HKBP (the seminary) where Santi is waiting to help me wash my clothes. On Tuesday I lecture there to a district meeting of pastors and then meet with the Bishops of several other Protestant churches, which are break offs of HKBP. I have made some really great friends during my stay in Taratung and feel treasured by the leadership of this church now. The General Secretary asked me to write an introduction for him for my book, Preparation for Discipleship, which Deonal translated into Indonesian. It's done. I feel good but get tired easier than I used to, especially traveling over these roads and trails. I have lost some weight already and had to punch a new hole in my belt. When I came here last Monday, Rospita left for Medan and then will return to her intern site with her mother. Wilda Simanjuntak rode with me all the way to Taratung in the seminary car last week just to have time with her "Ompung." When I visited her father in the hospital, I had along a group of our STT students and tried to model good hospital visits. The man next to her father was Muslim and wanted me to pray for him. As I went to his bedside, everyone kept signaling me not to because he was Muslim. But I prayed for him, laying on hands and using the name Allah a lot. He was deeply appreciative. The students were shocked and in the hall we talked and talked about pastoral calling and other religions. It was something I learned to do from Lucretia in Suriname! While talking, the request came from a nurse to go downstairs where a HKBP Pandita was dying … I had Rospita and Benny pray. We all learned. That's what I do best here – model a kind of lifestyle and ministry and then discuss it with my many students who trail me wherever I go. The situation is really grim in Ache. The local Islamic government forbade Christian congregations from singing or from calling as pastor from outside Ache, so the four out of 26 congregations which are still open send one of their own to be trained so they can return and serve them as spiritual leader. When a Muslim converts to Christianity, the community throws stones at them and sometimes kills them. When a Christian converts to Islam, the whole community holds a celebration. Speaking of throwing stones, I learned that at STT-HKBP one side attacked the other side of HKBP throwing stones and it was a real fight. Rajagukguk left instead of joining in, so that is why the faculty did not re-elect him for a second term as principal. Okay, now I will try again to locate a computer working at the same time as the phone line and see if I can read any email! I doubt it. I have not yet been able to do so.
Jerry L. Schmalenberger,
Global Mission Volunteer, Sumatra, Indonesia From: Jerry L. Schmalenberger Dear Friends and Family, Today is May one – a holiday here. In Mainland they take a week off to celebrate this Communist holiday. I began the day with a table talk at Tau Fong Shan Christian center because no food is served at the seminary on this “Labor Day.” We had ten for the free breakfast and to talk about the Kingdom of God. We also celebrated the good news that the military in Myanmar is going to free the woman leader under house arrest there for 18 months. Language: Here are some interesting words and phrases used in Hong Kong, partly influenced by the earlier English presence. The weather report often says only “fine and hot today and the rest of the week.” Sometimes it will predict, “Rain patches which can lead to hill slips.” We also talk of “air con” and “car parks.” “Black whistles” are soccer refs who take bribes. Then there are many lines called “queues.” My name is “Dr. Jelly.” A new legislature was recently elected by the name of “Fanny Law!” And in chapel last week the following words were printed in the worship bulletin: “Milanie Catolico will sing – see backside.” A student from Viet Nam trying to be complimentary on the singing pointed to the bulletin item and said, “Veeery nice.” My connections with the Nepalese of Yuen Long continue. I preached there again last week with about 100 in attendance. Our little flat church is a bit small now with all the tambourines, guitars, electric piano and drums to liven up the Pentecostal/Lutheran service. Last week it went from 10:30 until 1:00. Then there was the line up for blessing and laying on of hands. Don and Beth Maxwell have come through again with a contribution that enables Raju, our only Nepali student, to stay in seminary. Thus we will have a real indigenous Pastor for them in another 2 years. I did march with the Muslim community in protest to the Israeli and American Embassies. At the American they received our petition asking for an immediate cease-fire. But the Israelis would not let us close to the building. The media was there and so were the police who took our pictures and seemed to be making many notes. A couple days later the police went in and forced the “Right of Abode” protesters out of the same area. And it got ugly! Many were arrested and deported. I have just begun a new project with Philippine student Wendell Aquino for his M. Div. thesis that is required at LTS. He will explore the governance of these many congregations of domestic workers and recommend an efficient organization for such a transient group. We will continue this work by e-mail after I leave. I have agreed to preach at the huge congregation of these workers again in a couple weeks. We now have four students from the Mainland on campus. None are believers yet. They can now come here for study under an agreement with the Shandong University where the faculty visited a few weeks ago. We also go there to lecture on the history of the Christian faith on Fridays. Two of the four I am now meeting with privately as they requested I teach them about the Bible and the Christian faith. If they would return as Christian believers the program might be halted. So we must handle the whole thing delicately. One of the four is writing her second volume on the history of the Christian faith. She speaks no English but is fluent in German. We do very elementary German. In discussions in my apartment her frank unbelieving answers and opinions can really shock our naïve Hong Kong students. But she also has asked to speak with me about my belief and her lack of it. The spirit is at work. She has no idea I am working with the other two. Last week I had the D. Min. students for a 30-hour week on Collegiality. I passed all but one who was quite shocked when she did not because of so many late arrivals and absence during the week. She will make it up. In the class were mainly Chinese Pastors: Pentecostal, Lutheran, Malay Methodist, and YWCA workers. Because we have three Vietnamese students here preparing to go back home and teach, we had a delegation from there last week. I spent long hours one evening talking with an old Pastor from there. They want to open a Bible school this fall but our students won’t be ready for another year. Next spring they want me to come to Phnom Penh to help get them organized. The need for leadership is very great in these many formerly closed countries now opening up. Suddenly we Christians no longer threaten these Communists. Do you think they are just becoming more open or is our practice of the faith becoming less potent and thus less threatening? Or is there a Kairos moment here? Now this rather unpleasant bit of history I did not know. Living in a country not your own you learn some of the more seamy side of your own history. During WW2 after they occupied China, the Japanese developed and used germ warfare. At what was called Unit 731, they developed and mass-produced Anthrax, Cholera, Bubonic Plague, Glanders, and Smallpox. It was accomplished by infecting Chinese prisoners of war and then cutting them open before they died (human vivisection). The stuff was taken out from Unit 731 by car, train, and plane. Nearly 250,000 civilians were killed. No one was ever prosecuted for these experiments because we Americans wanted all the scientific data (keeping the Russians from getting it) and traded that for not prosecuting it in the Japanese war trials. You can still see the ruins of Unit 731 and I heard interviewed one of the men charged with burning down the unit, killing the 400 prisoners and destroying the evidence. The records were first carried to the US. Infected rats inside were set free. There are still traces of this stuff in the surrounding villages. A memorial to those who served in Unit 731 is outside Tokyo. But there is none in China for the victims. However, this matter is now in the Japanese courts where they are suing for compensation The same historians who denied that the Koreans ever had to furnish “comfort women” for the soldiers omit all this from the new Japanese history books. Here in Hong Kong the unemployment rate is now over 7% and there is a lot of hardship because of the "economic downturn." It is interesting to me that one of the big impacts on the New Territories is the relocation of many factories into mainland just like the US is experiencing. The other thing which seems to be happening is that Beijing is consolidating its power over Hong Kong as many predicted would take place after the turnover. Without any participation by the so-called legislature, the chief executive has announced a sweeping reform called "accountability system." It means he appoints the ministers and they are accountable only to him! It starts July 1. Wow, what a take-over! The noose tightens. I have recently finished two articles which were such fun to research and write. The first is for a festschrift to be published by the seminary in Sumatra where I teach. It is titled: "New Paradigms for a Homogeneous Church in a Heterogeneous society." The second is for dialogue, a theological journal, and is the result of my study of the rite and the ministry of Confirmation in a number of Asian countries and cultures. I am going with the idea that confirmation ministry is the stewardship of our baptism and recommending it have a global dimension which can be used after discipling the adult received by baptism as well. Let’s end with this: On an old 20/20 on Chinese TV they showed art therapy being done with the children of parents killed 9/11. One little tike said he has “belly” aches since that time. Another said that her “…heart hurts” when she thinks about it. There are many hearts which hurt, and we have the Christ who came to ease the pain of those hurting hearts. Jerry L. Schmalenberger, Hong Kong, ELCA Global Mission Volunteer Back To Top Jerry Schmalenberger's April 4, 2002 Newsletter
From: Jerry L.
Schmalenberger
April 4, 2002 Greetings from noodle bowl and rice kingdom. Today is Ching Ming, which is a holiday when the Buddhists visit their ancestors' graves. So this mountain is crawling with Chinese cleaning around scattered graves after which there is a very sacred washing of the marker and then a picnic. A little later on they will set off fireworks. It was announced there were 81 "hill fires" in the New Territories today because of the Buddhist Ching Ming practices of burning paper money and josh sticks at the grave sites. Our Christians also observe this national holiday with an outing to the cemetery to place flowers on the grave and have a family gathering. We have a Christian cemetery on Tau Fong Shan so they are coming up here in droves. There are several important graves here: Missionary Reichelt, who bought the mountain for the Norwegian Mission to the Buddhists, and Anna Martinson who lived to the age of 101 and was a missionary here most of her life. Reichelt did some experimentation in reaching out to the Buddhists by including some of their worship practices in Christian worship and incorporating their architecture in the mission buildings. He was soundly criticized for it. These are the ELCA Missionaries now serving in Hong Kong: The Rev. Dr. Ted Zimmerman, born in China to missionary parents and who teaches New Testament Greek here at LTS, lives at the old missionary house at the foot of this Mountain where he grew up years ago. His wife Janie serves as a guidance counselor at the International School in Hong Kong. The Rev. Dr. John LeMond and his wife Barbara also live in the compound. He teaches Church history and ecumenism at LTS and is also in charge of the English service up here on Sunday evenings where I sometimes preach. Barbara teaches at the International School. PLTS alum Rev. Steve Ray is just about to return home. He has served in the China Program that furnishes schoolteachers in mainland China where missionaries have not been allowed to go. The Revs John and Valerie Peterson live in the same compound. He serves as interim Pastor and communion Pastor in several Chinese congregations and serves as maintenance officer of the mission. Valerie has a Philippina ministry going which meets each Sunday afternoon in the compound. There are 200,000 Philippina domestic servants in Hong Kong. GTU/ PLTS alum, Rev. Dr. Royan Yuen and his wife Candace serve here as ELCA missionaries. He teaches Old Testament. Candice teaches English in a private school. They live in the new housing on the side of the mountain. There is also a young woman in the second year of language study who lives in the compound. and will work in the whole ELCHK (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong) in Youth Ministry. Next fall LTS is hoping for a teacher of English here. We believe Amy Whittmer, who attended Luther Seminary and was a high school teacher in German and English, will come as another Global Mission Volunteer. In the fall Rev. Dr. Jim Berquist will return as still another DGM Global Mission volunteer to teach New Testament. Two weeks ago the McGilvary faculty of Theology at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, was here to visit. They are connected to a University where Lennart Persson has served for many years. We spent considerable time together. He also served in Sumatra and thus we could do some Batak language. Lennart serves as South Asia regional consultant in Theological Education and is Swedish, but has served as an ELCA missionary for almost 30 years. Next year they want me to lecture there for a week on discipling and practical theology. The ELCA Division for Global Mission program director for Asia, the Rev. Thomas Schaeffer, visited us last week. During Easter Vacation this past week, some of our faculty went into Mainland China as tourists. We spent some time on the new grounds of the seminary in Guangzhou and had lunch with several of the faculty who are my D-Min students. Because I have been with them many times it was a fun reunion. There are now 73 students preparing for ministry. The President of the seminary is 78 years old but he knows his way around politically and is very helpful. On the new grounds is also a large care center for the elderly, which will be an interesting experiment in theological education. We then visited two campuses of Zhongshan University, one in Guangzhou where we lecture on Fridays on the history of the Christian faith. Then on to the year old Zhuhai campus, which houses 8000 students, who have 20,000 squeaky, rusty bicycles? We now have 3 students from their Philosophy department at LTS. Some precious contacts were quietly made for more. We booked passage on a boat from Zhuhai to Hong Kong Island for a beautiful trip back to Hong Kong. Upon departure, I got quite a grilling as to why I had gone to Mainland so many times the last couple of years. Oh, how China is opening up!! What a difference in just the last few years. I predict it will soon be a “sending Church,” sending missionaries to other countries including the US. And we all know the vitality of a sending church contrasted with that of a passive self-satisfied congregation. The nine Rhenish congregations (German background) in Hong Kong are now trying a new strategy. They have sent a Chinese missionary to Guam to evangelize the thousands of cheap laborers brought in from China by American manufacturers for a two-year stay. (Guam - so their products can say “made in America.”) These laborers return to China where Missionaries are not yet allowed, discipled and ready to evangelize there. Waaa, every year new converts return to China. My table talk is so rewarding. In Luther's tradition, I gather around 10 students each week for breakfast. We eat and talk theology. It is serious theological reflection of students from Myanmar, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Sumatra, Philippines, Viet Nam and Korea. When 4-Toast Henry finishes his fourth piece of toast, it is time to go to class where the other professors tell me the discussion often resurfaces. I was able to gather 3 of our PLTS alums for a meal: Solomon Wong who is now serving in The Lutheran Church of Hong Kong and Macao; Solomon Lee who is developing expertise as a translator: and Jannie Lee who serves as a Pastor in an old traditional Anglican church in Kowloon. Since she was one of my homiletics students at PLTS, I enjoyed hearing her preach last Sunday. I also got to visit the Leung family on Duck’s Tongue Island overlooking Aberdeen harbor. They were members of our Antioch, California, St. John's Church before moving back to Hong Kong where Mickey is high up in Wharf Industries. My daughter Bethany, her children Hannah and Haden, Hannah’s friend Jessica, and part of the Des Moines Wu Shu group, Stephen, spent a week here exploring Hong Kong and Chinese culture. The week’s activities were varied. We hiked up and around this mountain. We also walked down and then hiked up to the Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas. It was then time for visiting the markets of Tai Wai where I must do my shopping. The kids had some problem with smells and live animals ready for butcher. A daylong trip on bus, train and MTR (subway) took us to Aberdeen where we hired a junk and went out around the boat people who are fishermen who live on the water in their boats. Then we ate on the large floating Jumbo restaurant. Another day was spent in getting visas, going on the railroad to Lo Wu, and then crossing over to mainland China where they all got a great kick out of bargaining for what they bought. (Pang de!) Perhaps one of the nicest day trips was the one to Lantal Island to see the largest Buddha in the world. We went by train, then MTR, then a ferry out through Hong Kong Harbor around the islands to Lantal where we then took a bus to the monastery. Lunch was at the traditional vegetarian restaurant. There we saw even more temples and a try at shaking the josh sticks for our fortune. This day really provided a look at the harbor and Hong Kong Island and the outlying islands. The group met each morning at Tau Fong Shan Christian Center (formally The Norwegian Mission to the Buddhists.) to work out, demonstrating their Wu Shu to the delight of students and local mountain residents often applauding the display of Chinese martial arts. On Friday, the last day here, we visited the local Tai Wai Temple, toured the Heritage museum, and then went up Monkey Mountain to see all the monkeys. In the evening we ate at Fung Lum’s restaurant in Tai Wai with four LTS students joining us: 4-Toast Henry from Myanmar, Corn and Punkin who are Chinese from New Territories, and our Batak, Deonal Sinaga from Sumatra. Having the live eel brought out and squirm on the table first was a mistake as they were rather reticent to eat it when served to us later. It is much quieter now as the monsoon rain pours down on our little seminary. I miss them already but will treasure the fun memories of their visit. March 16 a scientist by the name of Galvin from London announced the theory that the Chinese had discovered America in 1491, 17 months before Columbus. At that time China was one of the world’s greatest sailing fleets. My many Chinese friends are having a ball teasing me about this. I wonder what the Native Americans think about being “discovered” by either of these adventurers. And what sad news Charles Gibson of ABC news announced when he said that for the first time Jews are permitted to bring guns to Passover celebration. And one thought about Easter. A little boy coming out of church told the Pastor, “When I grow up I will get a job and give you some money.” The preacher said that was a nice thought. The boy added, “Because my daddy said you were one of the poorest preachers he ever met!” Easter makes me a poor preacher. Just how can we ever say it as well as it deserves?
Jerry Schmalenberger Jerry Schmalenberger's March 31, 2002 Newsletter
From: Jerry L.
Schmalenberger
Easter Two in Hong Kong Because of the serious chicken epidemic in Yuen Long I was not permitted to go there to preach in my Nepali congregation on Sunday. So early morning I walked down the Tau Fong Shan mountain road to the railroad station in Tai Wai. There I caught the train to Kowloon Tong, then transferred to the underground and with another transfer at Mon Kok finally got to Central on Hong Kong Island. Janny Lee, alum of LTS and PLTS, met me. We walked up the hill to 92-year-old St. Paul Anglican Church where she has served for the last 5 years. This is a cathedral style church where she is one of four pastors. It was her Sunday to preach. She spoke confidently, using an extended metaphor, good humor, and with excellent eye contact. She introduced me as her professor of preaching. Her husband, Solomon, sat next to me and helped me with the Cantonese. There were about 600 in attendance. The senior Pastor told me that the congregation had declined rapidly when the take over took place but that now people were returning and the membership has doubled in the last two years. Janny has served there for 5 years but is not yet ordained. This seems to be up to the congregation they serve and the powerful male pastor. Sometimes they can wait 10 years after seminary graduation for ordination. After communing the 600+ in the sanctuary, I heard a great roar of commotion and excitement. Suddenly about 200 children came bounding into the sanctuary and right on up to the communion rail. It is a sight I shall not forget! It was their Sunday to take communion and they acted as if they were starved for it. What joy and holy confusion as they received from the smiling pastors who soon ran out of bread. The service ran 1 hour 45 minutes. But I would have sat all day to see kids so enjoy the real presence of the risen Easter Christ. Jonathan, the 8-year-old son of Solomon and Janny said his favorite food was “cow” so we walked to a restaurant to eat Kung Po beef and noodles. I traveled back to Tai Wai and then walked part way up the mountain to ELCA missionary Rev. Valerie Peterson’s house. There, her 4 PM Filipina Fellowship started at 4:37. A Filipina laywoman now attending our seminary part time and preparing to take over this ministry which has been going on since 1990, led the worship. Valerie presided at Eucharist and preached. They all wanted to know about Rebecca Schlatter’s ministry, as she lived here, was very active in their ministry, and loved by them all. There are better than 200,000 Filipinas in Hong Kong and the New Territories who serve as domestic servants with six 14-hour days a week. They are often abused and taken advantage of because their visa depends on their keeping their employment.These very much enslaved domestic workers, on their only day off each week, gulped down that real presence as if it were their only meal since last Sunday. It was a special Easter Peace we extended to each other as well. I then walked back to Tai Wai and hitched a ride up the hill to my dorm room. When I arrived, the parade to my door began as students returned from Easter vacation and wanted to say hello to me. The joy of friendship in the risen Christ was celebrated over and over. Easter was celebrated and the real presence experienced again in the sacrament, fellowship and friendships. “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” –Matt. 28:20b
Jerry Schmalenberger,
ELCA Global Mission Volunteer, Hong Kong
From: Jlschmalen@aol.com Jerry Schmalenberger's March 1, 2002 Newsletter From:
Jlschmalen@aol.com Jerry Schmalenberger's December 5, 2001 Newsletter From:
Jlschmalen@aol.com Jerry Schmalenberger's November 30, 2001 Newsletter From:
Jlschmalen@aol.com Jerry Schmalenberger's November 7, 2001 Newsletter From:
Jlschmalen@aol.com
Back
To Top From:
Jlschmalen@aol.com In contrast to the Pharisee,
Jesus said a tax collector (who faced great
temptation to cheat his fellow Jews in collecting taxes from them)
“...stood
at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast
and
said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’ ” (Luke 18:13). |
|
From Jerry L. Schmalenberger, Global
Mission Volunteer, ELCA, Report # 9 e-mail: jlschmalen@aol.com August 2001 Dear friends and family, I am now back from Bavaria, Germany, in our home at Pittsburg in the San Francisco Bay Area trying to overcome the jet lag. The last few weeks in the Augustana Hochschule continued to be a joy. What wonderful farewells! It was hard to say farewell to some faculty and students with whom I have become close, especially the beautiful Lechner-Schmidt family with their four German-speaking Liberian children. And Klaus-Ulrich and Katzie in Nuremberg with whom I have worked and fellowshiped since 1995 in researching the life and preaching of Wilhelm Loehe. In addition to my lectures with The Rev. Lydia Manawu Weagba from Liberia on Wednesday evenings on Global Discipleship, I also met with the international students and Recktor Dieter Becker on Friday mornings. We read and discussed the book “Translating the Message” by Lamin Sanneh, Orbis Books, 1998. The collection of different translations of our Bible is fascinating. They will preach.The Bible has been translated into 286 complete Bibles in different languages. There are 6 North American editions, 109 African, 90 Asian, 55 European. In trying to use the local dialect and metaphors, we have come up with interesting concepts, not all accurate portrayal of the Word. In Bakau, Gambia, John the Baptist is called “John the Swimmer.” And this for a culture who know not the ocean or bodies of water! In 1 Corinthians 9:5 “leading around like an unruly animal” means “leading a wife around like an ox.” (I am only reporting the facts, Carol) “Holy Spirit” in the Sudan is called, “clean breath.” In Central Africa a wrong translation for “Enter the Kingdom of Heaven” came out as, “go sit on a stick”. In West Africa, missionaries translated “Mary sat at the feet of Jesus” into “Mary sitting on the lap of Jesus.” (for some reason I like this portrayal of Jesus). And in Liberia in the Lord’s Prayer: “Do not catch us when we sin!” The Mosi of Burkina don’t know ship so they translate Hebrews 6:19 as “A strong and steadfast pickting-peg for the soul.” (A stake to hold cattle). In an Indian language in Mexico, Missionaries translate John 1:14 “The world was full of chicken and truth,” as the only grace gift in their culture is the gift of a live chicken.. In Ethiopia among Uduk people, John 14:1 is a delightful: “Do not shiver in your livers,” But here is the prize: The Cuicatec Indians of Mexico’s word for worship comes from the same root word for tail. So worship becomes, “wagging the tail of God.” The Chinese and Bavarians would say, “Waaa.” I wish I had had this information when I wrote my book on miracles: The Mazatec of Mexico speak of miracles as “long necked things,” They are so amazed that they stretch their necks to see what happened. It will preach! For the Gbeapo people of Liberia, the word for prophet is “God’s town crier” who is often the mouthpiece of the chief. Valientes Indians: “Hope in God” is the “resting of the mind of God.” (Perhaps I must not be so frantic so as to worry God, my holy parent, who loves me. It is a flip side.) And Mark 11:28 “What people on the handle told you to do these things?” The authority in that culture carries a hunting knife with a handle. They also advise to grasp the blade of discipleship. A Sotho poet blends endearment with intimacy by talking of “God of the dewy nose.”- Cattle are very important to this culture. The Karre people of Equatorial Africa call the paraclete of John’s Gospel: “One who falls down beside you.” My Myanmar students translate, “a camel through the eye of a needle” to “ “an elephant through the eye of a needle.” Two more not from the Bible: In Gambia, an airplane is called an “up-boat.” A bicycle is a “rubber hose horse.” The first female to be ordained into the Lutheran Church of Liberia, the Rev. Lydia Manawu Weagba, a spiritual daughter of ours, went with me to a mission festival at the Missions Werk in Neuendettelsau. At the first booth they tried their best to show her how to conserve water from the kitchen facet. I tactfully explained that she doesn’t have a facet or running water. And not a kitchen either! Not to be undone, at the second booth they tried to show her ways of conserving electricity. I explained that there is no electricity in Liberia since the civil war paused in 1996. But they have Jesus whom no one mentioned. An e-mail from one of our Doctoral students in Hong Kong from Myanmar says it all about how hard the conditions are there for Christians: “1. My uncle (My mum's younger brother) from my village got malaria and is taking treatment. He stays with my family. 2. My brother's wife Ms. Sung also is sick and is at the Haka hospital. 3. Her elder sister Gracy, the lady Pastor of Rinpi village Church, the one who was arrested by the military government on 13 February 2001 was sentenced for two years to be sent at labor camp. I told you that her older brother had been arrested last year and was sentenced for 2 years. He is now at the labor camp. My younger brother will accompany Gracy till the labor camp. They may leave Haka on next Monday. At the labor camp, if we can make the soldiers there happy, Gracy may be assigned to do easier works. Other wise, I am very worried about her health. Normally, a very few people can survive more than a year in such a labor camp where the prisoners were treated as animals. The main problem is shortage of food and drink. 4. My daughter Katie is sick. Fortunately Katie is not serious. Meng brought her to the clinic. She is going to have treatment for one week. -Four Toast Henry”
|
|
Copyright 2001 - First English Lutheran Church - All Rights Reserved |
|
Best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer @ 800 x 600 |