Impacted in One Way: Jesus

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.