Skip to main content

Impacted in One Way: Jesus

By

By Grace Wan

Bandung, Indonesia: the week-long home for fourteen students gifted with the ability to weave the upbeat chorus of ‘One Way, Jesus’ into any song on earth.

As these students spent their fall break on the service learning trip known as Impact, spontaneous karaoke sessions were not the only thing they enjoyed. Through activities such as hiking with the local youth, playing soccer with kids, visiting women and juvenile boys’ prisons, farming, and visiting Rumah Ruth (a shelter with babies up for adoption), the Impact team wove their anthem ‘One Way’ into all they did, loving and living for Jesus.

Jesus’ transformational power was evident in the small yet significant acts of service the team carried out - one of which was holding babies who often didn’t receive as much love and attention as they needed. Although these acts were small, they were still important pieces that fit a larger puzzle that the team grew to understand more and more, as time went by.

As Joseph Chandra (12) said, ‘Prior to going to Rumah Ruth, I didn’t really understand what the big deal was about small people (babies), but when I held one of the two-month-old babies, it was like that scene in The Grinch where my heart grew like 3 sizes bigger. I mean it was crazy; I was actually considering becoming a father then and there, but then I was like wait no, that’s not biblical. Babies make you do strange things, man.’

It’s true that those babies, as well as many other people, impacted each member of the Impact team, allowing the team to understand what it means to love others as God loves us. Whether goofing off with kids or listening to the stories of people from various backgrounds, these many relational acts of service connected the Impact team with everyone they came across; connecting them in ways so powerful that they could have only been the result of Jesus’ hand at work. Hearts definitely expanded through those quality moments, and those same hearts burst when the time came to say goodbye to the many babies, children, youth, and adults who had impacted the Impact team.

Over 3000 photos documenting this trip cannot come close to capturing what it was like to physically be there, living and loving among the people of Bandung. Saying ‘I love you 3000’ wouldn’t even come close to the love that overflowed in the time spent there either. There only seems to be one fitting way to describe the infinite, sacrificial love the Impact team experienced and carried out onto the people they served around them, and that One Way is the result of a simple yet powerful name: Jesus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

By Anonymous
Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...
6 comments
Read more

"Spikeball, Swimming, and Sickness: The Remnants of Senior Sneak" by Ee Rynn Ong

By
“Guys, I think we’re here,” said Jonathan Ooi (12) as he peeked out of the lorry to catch the first glimpse of our Senior Sneak location. This year’s Senior Sneak was held in Nomad Adventure, Gopeng, and the organizers planned many activities for the Class of 2026, ranging from traditional games like congkak and batu seremban to adrenaline-pumping ropes courses and whitewater rafting. These scheduled activities proved to be some of the best highlights of the trip, but top of that, the seniors were also given some daily free time to chat, explore, and relax. Josh Stevens (12) had come prepared for this with two spikeball nets, which immediately attracted attention from people eager to spend time in the outdoor sun. The next five days saw spikeball veterans and newcomers alike, spending their precious one and a half hours daily around the unassuming circular net, smashing the yellow ball in hopes of a victory.  Caleb Evans (12) was one of the newbies to spikeball, learning how the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

By
While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...
Post a Comment
Read more