Yesterday I completed teaching these seminary students and friends (photo 1) the last 5.5 hours of my Puritan Theology class in Jakarta, Indonesia. The founder of the seminary, Dr. Steven Tong joined us for the picture of the class and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with him (photo 2). We then enjoyed more fellowship in his office, and got to meet his wife as well (photo 3).
Soon we had to say goodbye to Ardita, who was celebrating his 36th birthday and who had been so helpful to us both throughout our Jakarta stay. Here he is with his wife Christiana and their identical twin boys (photo 4). Before heading out to the airport to fly to Seoul, South Korea, we had a blessed time over dinner with Dr. Tong and several faculty members (photo 5). Dr. Tong kept dishing out various foods on my plate–more than I could eat(!), and then gave me a special pen, after which he gave both Mary and me a special watch that commemorated the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth. In return, I gave him a copy of my “A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life.” By the time we said goodbye to him, we felt that we had known him for years. We found him to be warm, godly, and yet humorous at the same time–a real delight to be with. He and the seminary president, Ben Intan, are pressing us to come back to preach and teach more next year, but we haven’t committed yet!
Despite all kinds of paperwork to fill out in relation to Covid in order to enter South Korea, Mary persevered and completed it all after tens of hours of work (thank you so much, my Queen), and we made it through all the lines and tests, as well as the seven hour overnight flight, and arrived safely at the home of our very good friends in Seoul this morning, Rev. Changwon Shu and Myeungja Yoo, whom we have known for decades. We are enjoying fellowship now, and preparing to speak next week for the conference of ministers that he has founded and led for the last thirty years. Pray for God’s blessing on it.
