Today I embarked on a 7-hour drive from Medan to the southern side of Lake Toba. I’ve been invited to be the guest preacher and teacher for the GKLI, the partner Lutheran church we work with in Indonesia. Formerly my colleague, Rev. Wood, has done the honors but he and his family are currently in the US as he knocks out the last of his doctoral coursework in St. Louis.
This is my first time working with the GKLI. All of my work thus far, and the lion’s share looking forward, is beyond Indonesia. So it’s nice to feel a little useful closer to home for a change.
The car ride was surprisingly pleasant, or as pleasant as seven hours in a car can be. My international drivers permit has expired so I hired a rental car and driver. The driver was a nice young man who, blessedly, was fine with a lot of silence. He didn’t speak much English at all so that probably helped! A little conversation is fine, but seven hours of speaking and listening in a foreign language can be exhausting!
In the photo above you can see a sign for a church to the left side – GBKP, next to a banner wishing Muslims a happy Idul Fitr, which was in May. Religions are side by side here in Sumatra, though I noticed that as we journeyed further south, there were fewer mosques and more churches.
It’s hard to capture what life is like in the smaller towns around Sumatra. I’ve only seen a handful of them, and most of them in the past week! They range from a scattering of small homes that double as businesses selling whatever sundries they think travelers might stop for, to larger towns like this one, where traffic was backed up because of a terrible road.
Yes, roads are a mixed lot here. Some of them are just gravel. Some are paved – or at least to be but are now crumbling into a state where it would frankly be better without any of the remaining paving at all. And some are nearly brand new. I was surprised (pleasantly!) that the last hour or two of the drive was on a newly asphalted road that was also twice as wide as most roads I’ve been on. That’s a relief in the mountains!
I arrived in Dolok Sanggul at my hotel about 4pm, slightly earlier than expected. It’s a very nice hotel and I’m looking forward to resting up before a marathon day tomorrow. My driver want to pick me up by 6am to be sure he can get me to the location by 7:30am. I’m preaching at their opening Matins service at 8am and then delivering two 90-minute teaching sessions on the theme of I Am a Lutheran Youth.
The Nelson Family Indonesia 