Almost time to say goodbye to Bali

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Apologies for the lack of blogs since outreach started! I can't even begin to think where I should start! We've done so much!

So we're leaving Bali on Friday morning and will be heading to Flores (another Indonesian Island). We initially planned to come here for 9 days and have ended up staying for 3 weeks for a variety of reasons. It's been so nice and the base has gone above and beyond making our time really special. Everyone is seriously nice here and they are so hospitable...they have blown my mind with how hospitable they have been! Seriously nice people in a seriously nice location. The more I am here the more I love it and the more I love the people that are here.

So since my last blog we've been involved in quite a few other ministries which the Bali base runs/is partnered with. For such a small base they are linked with an impressive amount of ministries! We've been to an orphanage which was cool and definitely one of my favourite ministries so far. The kids were so welcoming and just immediately involved you in their life which was so cool. It was so funny just watching them interact and they were all just crazy in various different ways. We've seen the kids on a few occasions since and they have remembered us each time and greet us with hugs and start play fighting with us again. I could seriously smuggle some of those kids back home!
The kids here in indonesia really do just welcome you and aren't afraid to start jumping all over you, it's such a nice change from the quiet reserved kids or aggressive and disrespectful kids you often get in England. We've also been to a slum where we worked with the kids, we've been part of a few of the kids club which the base runs with local kids and we've helped out at the soccer ministry. Plenty of kids ministries to be a part of and each of them full of eager kids to interact with you!

We've also been back to the prison twice. The second time back i didn't get to talk to the woman who i orginially talked to but I did get to talk to a woman from the Philippines who is a mother of 3 and is a Christian. Once again it was heartbreaking to talk to someone in such a desperate situation especially hearing about her kids and what she is missing out on. The way in which she talked about her faith in God despite what she was experiencing and the pain she felt from being seperated from her family was truly inspiring. Even though she hated being seperated from her family and she felt a sense of injustice about her sentence, she was continuining to trust that God was using her and that there was a greater purpose to serve, to bring God's light to those in darkness. A very humbling experience and another one which I won't forget anytime soon.
The third and possibly final time we went back was today and was pretty hectic. Today was some sort of Balinese holiday so the prison was packed full of family members and friends who wanted to visit their nearest and dearest so most of the time we were there we were queing in the baking heat. When we eventually got in it was pretty hectic trying to find the prisoners we were there to talk to and we only really had 10 minutes until we had to leave again (usually we would have an hour and a half...a lot of queing was done!) so we talked to and prayed for a guy who wasn't on the list and he said that afterwards he felt released which was pretty cool and he seemed touched and pretty happy that people took the time to talk to him and pray. I also got to see the first person i met in the prison and we had time to hug a few times and it was time to go. It was nice to see her though and she seemed genuinely happy to see me which was really nice. She didn't really understand me when I said I may not be coming back...although I did say that last time I talked to her and we went back 2 more times so who knows!

A lot of what we've been doing here has been serving the base as they have recently started a school of worship, are currently accomodating another outreach team from Switzerland and are about to start a DTS...this is a pretty big task for a base this size especially since a lot of the staff are leaders of the ministries or part of the school so they really do feel blessed by us helping them even in the basic tasks like helping and cooking and so many people thank you for the smallest task...nothing really goes un-noticed or taken for granted here. Everyone pitches in, puts their whole heart into it and is really thankful for any/all the help that they can get. It is a really sweet base and if anyone reading this is wondering about where they should go to serve God/do a DTS or some form of school I would highly recommend the Bali base! Great people, good views and pretty good weather (if you don't mind humidity) and plenty of adventures to be had!

So yer...I'm really enjoying my time here in Bali. It's not been easy and it's taken a lot of adjusting but I feel at home here even after 3 weeks of being here. The next part of outreach could be pretty interesting. Apparently the contact we have there is pretty spontaneous and the schedule is probably going to be pretty full...which is pretty different from the time we've had in Bali on both counts! Although we have had to be flexible and there has been an element of spontaneity due to not being very prepared or aware of what has been expected of us, things haven't really been all that spontaneous and there does tend to be a few 'empty spaces' of time between ministries and meals so time to collect yourself and even have a nap has been more that available...but i have a feeling this may not be the case in Flores...but it's all good 😊 in our weakness God is strong and God's grace is more than enough to get us through the hectic schedules and random requests to speak in front of churches/youth groups/anyone and everyone! Will definitely be an experience! I am not looking forward to the weather though! Apparently it's hotter than here...I may die!

That's all for me for now! Hope you've enjoyed another installment of my life! Thanks for reading!

Much love and blessings,
Rachel

p.s. If anyone is wanting to send me things for my birthday (*cough* I'm 22 on Sunday May 1st *cough*) it would probably be best to send them to Perth or my address at home in England...probably the latter as I have no idea how i'm going to get what i've accumulated home as it is! If you don't know either of the addresses please feel free to facebook me 😊 Have a great week!

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