Seminary Drama Day

New seminarians at the "STT" go through three weeks of English instruction prior to actually beginning their theological studies. This is a time of bonding for the new students, some of whom don't know very much about English. Others are fluent or close to it. At the end of the three weeks there is a "drama" day where the students are organized into groups and each assigned a parable of Bible study to act out with English as the only spoken language. Since we were leaving town, the dramas were moved up a day. Thanks for the flexibility in planning. We were responsible for coming up with a song, and Nancy and Jacob worked long and hard on "HKBP" which are the initials of the church synod. They wrote some funny lyrics to be sung to "YMCA", and of course we all did the letter formations. Ester was quite entertained by the creativity (at least she smiled and didn't seem too embarrassed by us.) 

Nancy and Jacob are quite the enthusiastic, creative duo.

The seminarians had a little rehearsal time. And here comes Jesus!

These guys absolutely loved to sing, so at the end of their Zacchaeus skit they sang the same song that we all did in Sunday School, only it was in Indonesian (thus violating the rules for the day, but nobody objected).

This is the story of Jesus healing the blind man by mixing spit and dirt and rubbing it in his eyes. Thank goodness the dramatic effect did not go so far as to include the spitting.

This group acted out the story of David and Goliath. That's Goliath on stage, looking BAD in his black leather jacket and sunglasses. The umbrella is actually a big sword...use your imagination!

Poor Goliath didn't fare very well. And yes, the students did their best to include the chopping off his head part.

More violence! This is the story of the Good Samaritan. Our poor traveler was pummeled by the thieves, who didn't pull any punches. Of course it was done with such exaggeration that the audience was howling.  

More songs! The girl in the center wearing the blue shirt serves as the choir director of the group and does a great job. 

It's time for "HKBP" and the crowd goes wild! Someday they will actually hear the "YMCA" song and they'll think "I've heard that one somewhere before...."

Jesus is teaching while the crippled man is lowered through the ceiling. We were afraid they'd drop him, but somehow he made it to the group without injury.

More singing!

Jesus makes a triumphal entry down the chapel aisle.  

Time for a song / dance combo, this is one that Jacob knew from Lutheridge, "thumbs in, elbows out..." 

Jesus tells Zacchaeus to get out of the tree.

Afterwards we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the home of Thomas and Regina. We were joined by our Australian friends, who we joined as English language instructors. And yes, we confirmed that there is a reasonable difference between Australian and American English.

Our Last Hours in Siantar

Before we left for the airport on Friday we had several hours to finish our packing, say a last goodbye to friends, and explore a few last spots in the neighborhood.

This is the canteen in the woods / jungle. We walked by the path every day during two years of visits, but never walked the 50 meter long uneven twisting path to check it out. This was as close as we got...it has a bit of the haunted look.

Speaking of the haunted look, here I am seated on the steps of the Menza building, which is a huge classroom flanked by the spooky and abandoned tower. We have asked many people about this tower and all we have learned is that it was used for faculty housing years ago. Apparently there were better housing options available, so it went unused and has fallen into disrepair. There's a big metal door with a large lock blocking access and unfortunately we were not able to explore inside. We did not have internet access from our home and had to either sit on these steps or be nearby on campus in order to connect with the wi-fi hot spot. 

There are four or five of these "wi-fi huts" which are a new addition to the campus. The idea is that students can use these gathering spots to talk and also access the internet. During the school day they were often jammed with many students, so they are a successful addition to the landscape. I rarely used these as I didn't like the idea of putting my feet into the center area, where I couldn't see what might be in there.

There are still several concrete benches remaining on campus and these were good  hot spot locations. Of course the seating arrangements were less than perfect, as sitting on rebar protruding from concrete can get to be uncomfortable.

These are the last two loaves of bread, baked early Friday morning. 

Our last Pulpy Mango drink. These are delicious, packed with sugar!

The Siahaan family presented us with an ulos, a wonderful symbol of thanks and family unity. Many thanks to our dear friends the Siahaans. Of course Siska is not a Siahaan yet but is engaged to Lolo.

We will miss you Marnala!

Sun shared a beautiful ulos from her family. 

You can see in the background to the right that we haven't finished packing yet!

The car was packed with our luggage and as a final send off, the neighborhood children came running over. Pastor Turnip led us in a departure prayer. We already miss our favorite children, who greeted us several times a day as we walked by their homes.