I love the culture of the island we are on. It's a southern culture, with a heart for hospitality and community. It's a place where the cultural norms dictate an atmosphere where your neighbors are family, helping one another is as helping yourself, community is everything, and unity is king. 

I got a first hand lesson in all of these aspects of culture the other day when I attended my first neighborhood ladies meeting. Here we live in kampungs (much like a neighborhood), led by a leader (called the RT [ahr-tay]) who governs and leads. The leader's wife is in charge of the women affairs. All the adult women of the neighborhood meet at her house every 2 weeks. 

About 40 other women and I huddled in the small room, all dressed alike in a uniform to symbolize unity and equality. Waiting for the meeting to start there was chatter and laughter all about as we talked about the leaders son's wedding just 1 week ago. A large wedding of over 500 hundred held in the neighborhood streets. 

At the start of the meeting, there were the usual events that you would expect to take place, greetings, announcements, etc. That's were the "usual" for me ended and the cultural learning began. Every woman got out her dues and gave it to various secretaries. There were three things happening. 

1. A benevolence fund. Everyone is required to give the same amount to this fund and it is distributed to those in need in the neighborhood.
   
2. A lottery. Again everyone gives a set amount and then every meeting names are drawn for the lottery.
3. A saving account.  Since many people here don't have access to a bank, their neighborhood secretary holds their money, keeps a detailed record, and makes it available for withdrawal at each meetings.

After the collections and lottery drawings, it was time for more "personal" topics. Among which was each married woman reporting aloud, recorded by the RT's wife, their form of birth control and other personal matters. When it came to one woman's turn, who as obviously pregnant, their was a great burst of laughter, for obvious reasons! Now to you, this might seem strange; but to this community it is no different then you sitting at coffee with your girlfriend discussing such matters.  Although more formal than you're used to, it is a way of education and friendship that is vital to the workings of this community! 

This event taught me much about the local culture here. It was an experience that caused me to long to belong here and be a part of this community. 

Just look around--there are so many evidences of God's goodness in so many little things of life. I'm going to start sharing some of those "glimpses" from over here in Indonesia. Sometimes it will be something fun we did, a new person we met, an activity we experienced, a new aspect of language, a spiritual lesson along the way. But we hope that each post will be "a little portal where you get a better view" of the goodness of God in a place that you may never be able to personally visit. 

Hopefully there will be at least one post a week, so don't forget to click the RSS Feed on the page so you'll know when a new post comes.