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Most of the smaller neighborhood streets are
too small for cars. |
As we got settled in and hired our driver, we were now ready to tackle the world. We started by going with our branch president, President Soewardi, to visit some members of the branch who were less active. The first house was way out west, more than an hour from our house, but first we had to find the branch president. Whew! That took an hour and he only lives 15 minutes from our apartment! Ofni kept asking people on the street, the stores, the becak drivers and even talking on the phone to President Soewardi. We finally found his little street and his house. But now Ofni knew exactly how to find him and drives straight there every Friday. That first day we went from the west end of the branch to the farthest east end and then to the far south end of the branch! We about died! The next time we went out, we suggested that possibly we could visit the members in one area, but that was not to be. We wandered all over the branch the 2nd Friday. But now, we were getting the lay of the land, we started taking matters in our own hands! During the weeks, we visited people on our own and studied the maps of Surabaya. We tried to get Ofni to find where members live on the map, but he didn't want any part of that exercise. "The map is in my head, I don't need to look at a paper map." It took us a long time to convince him that we could be more efficient with our days if we could go to one area and visit all the members in that one area. We still, after 3 1/2 months haven't fully convinced him, but at least he's more patient with us and will look at the map sometimes. And now, we often direct the visits with President Soewardi on Fridays. Out of 111 households listed on our branch roster, we have 16 left to visit. Whew!
At first the visits took a long time because Ofni felt an obligation to preach to the people. He would often go at it for 15-20 minutes at a stretch. We would sometimes try to get a word in, but since we didn't really know what he was saying, it was hard to contribute to the conversation. Now, we are mostly trying to track down people who have moved and left no forwarding address.
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| Back on this little walkway are several more houses. |
We've had a few miracles in that regard. We'll find the house at the given address is occupied by someone else and Ofni will ask several neighbors or nearby vendors about the people. Twice someone happened to walk by and overheard the conversation and said, "I know where they live." Then they will help us find the new location. Once a neighbor took us around the corner to someone who knew the person's brother. Once the occupant said, "He's my older brother. I'll show you where he lives." He rode on his motorcycle with his cute daughter in front, to show us the new neighborhood. He took Ofni partway down the narrow walk to point out the house and then gave this admonition: "Please don't tell my brother that I showed you where he lives." So of course, we didn't :)
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| Beautiful orchids along the path. |
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| Our guide's 4-year old daughter. |
Many times the whole neighborhood will turn out to try to help us. It's been quite delightful to us that most of them are Muslem, but will still try to help. If no one in the crowd knows of the family, they'll take us to another older neighbor and ask there, or direct us to the "RT", or "village chief." The RT is over 100 families in each neighborhood and he keeps track of the families under his care. They always know which are Christian and sometimes will direct us there to ask for information.
