Our 6th Discovery Trip (DT) theme is “Preparing to go back to Indonesia”. In the summer of 2005, we interviewed several alumni that have returned to Indonesia for few months to 2 years. There were common challenges such as traffic jams, lack of regulations and laws, chaos, hot weather and hot temper of the people. However, the pressure felt by the alumni is really high especially for the newly returned. Internally, the newly returned alumni want to pursue the ideal vision or dream. Externally, they are facing pressure from their family, friends, work, and society to conform to the norm. The tension, existed between the internal and external pressures, energizes the newly returned alumni, especially the alumni with strong conviction to their vision.
The alumni returning to Indonesia for more than 2 years do not find this tension particularly energizing. Instead the tension is viewed as an unwanted baggage. Most of them have either pursuing their vision or living somebody else vision. We found the first two years of going back to be critical and had to be carefully planned. From our interview, we were reminded the two most important things to prepare before going back home for good are: 1. having a godly vision and 2. having a support / accountability group.
River in Indonesia filled with garbage
A godly vision has to be based on 3 things: 1. our passion and talent, 2. reality, and 3. God’s truth. One of the alumni said that if she could go back in time, she will definitely choose a different field of study. She said it is getting harder to work in a field that we are not passionate about. We would need extra motivation to do the work and is harder to be the best in the field.
Our vision also needs to be based on the reality of Indonesia and our personal situation. For example, it is hard for us to go back to teach in a rural village, if we have always live in big city and have no experience in teaching. For this reason, DT is very helpful in forming our vision because it gives us a real taste of the reality on the ground.
Our vision also has to be grounded on God’s truth. There is no substitute for reading the bible daily. We need to immerse ourselves daily to be able to answer our daily challenge. One of the alumni reminded us that living as a Christian in Indonesia is much harder than in the US. We are called to be totally engaged to build social capital. To do that, we need to set a good ethical standard and to be courageous to create change.
Finally, all the alumni we interviewed reminded us the importance of having an accountability or a support group. This is in line with God’s design for us to have fellowship with our brother and sister of faith. If we could, we need to set the support system while we are in the US. Once we go back, things will be more hectic and could be potentially set aside. Furthermore, we need a mentor and a mentee. We need a mentor to challenge us spiritually and a mentee to push us to keep growing in Christ.