Dear Friends,

Farsijana and I have just finished a simple but nice Christmas at home. It is such a treat to be together for these few weeks. It has been busy here, but a good busy. We’ve had four house guests—sisters and brothers. On Christmas Eve we prayed and sang together at midnight and

received a lot of phone calls wishing us "Selamat Natal." Farisjana and I also made stockings for everyone in the house, including the Muslims (12 stockings!). We explained that a good jin named Santa Claus came and left treats in stockings for everyone. It was fun, as there was lots of excitement. There doesn’t seem to be any tradition here of giving presents at Christmas, so apart from a couple simple things between Nona and I we didn’t do that. That was a novel experience, quite nice. No shopping!

We are leaving for Surabaya this evening and still have lots of preparations to do. We have bought our tickets to Manado and will leave here this evening with a van to Surabaya and then fly from Surabaya to Manado on the morning of the 28th—unless we hear some drastic news about my mother who has been in the hospital, but she seems to be doing better. We’ll be in the Manado area until January 4 or 5, when we fly to Ternate and take a boat to Halmahera. We plan to see in the new millennium by camping on a deserted tropical island. All alone. Quite a rarity in crowded, communal Jawa. We’ve been saving a bottle of champagne that we bought in Berkeley. But our real hope is to be quiet enough to see into the heart of things as we face a new millennium. Perhaps even meet God face to face while listening to the sound of the surf. Modest hopes (!) but no demands. Going through Ternate is still tense, since there are predictions of trouble on the three big days: Christmas, New Year and Idul Fitri (January 8-9). Fortunately Christmas has passed with no reports of trouble that we’ve heard. (Stop press: I just heard that the largest church building in Ambon was burned to the ground on Christmas Day. That is very bad news.) We want to spend Idul Fitri (the end of the Muslim fasting month), in Nona’s village. Then we’ll both be teaching intensive courses at the theological seminary in Tobelo (a town in Halmahera, North Mollucca) for a couple weeks. After that I will return to Java before the new semester and Farsijana will continue her field research in Halmahera. I hope we can both learn and contribute something to the Church and the Muslim community there, where there has been so much violence recently.

I felt happy and free after finishing my last article on the 23rd. Finally a full night’s sleep! It’s been a killer with three articles due this month. I sent you the human rights report. The other two are in Indonesian. I presented one on civil society in Indonesia at a seminar. It will be presented once more and revised before becoming part of a book on civil society from Christian, Muslim and Jewish perspectives, so it is not really done yet. The other is an article on the task of the Church in an age of globalization and reform. It will also be published and be presented at a conference at the end of January when I get back from Halmahera. I’m writing about reform of the church "lahir dan batin" (outer and inner), in relation to the drastic social, political and economic changes going on. I won’t bore you further with the details, but this is what I’ve been thinking about 18 hours a day for the last few days. Writing is very hard work, but it is rewarding when I’m given the power to concentrate.

Among our recent endless flows of visitors we had five Dutch guests to dinner one evening, including two couples we knew in Salatiga, one of whom is now living in Yogya and the other just visiting from Holland. They are wonderful people who give hope to the world. Henk taught physics and chemistry in Salatiga and has recently been doing consulting work for the Indonesian Department of Education, developing contextual teaching methods in science for grade schools. Such a modest, sensitive, humble guy, but with refreshing clarity of thought and the heart of a servant. The fifth guest was a Dutch professor who has been teaching in Irian Jaya for the last four years. Nice man. Actually it’s politically incorrect to say "Irian Jaya" now. You’re supposed to say West Papua (Papua Barat), at least if you are around people who are sympathetic to the Papuans who want independence from Indonesia. If I was Papuan I would want independence, and the movement is very popular there. But, as someone who loves the diversity of Indonesia, I’ll be sad if Papua splits off. It’s pretty complicated. It appears that Gus Dur is planning to make something like "the United States of Indonesia," i.e. a federation of states rather than a unitary republic. I hope it works.

Anyway, Selamat Natal! (Merry Christmas). May Christ be born again in your hearts. We talked with Jen Marion, Rina, Glenn and Peter on the telephone on Christmas day. They all seem to be doing well. Rina has now given birth to her second baby, Isobel, whom we haven’t met yet. It is hard to be so far away. However, I managed to have quite a philosophical conversation with David. He’s about two and a half going on eleven. I’m not sure what it was all about but it was all quite serious! Farsijana also sends her warm greetings, and we both wish you peace and contentment as you face the coming millennium.

Cheers,

Bernie and Farsijana (Nona) Adeney-Risakotta

The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 154