1. Welcome Home
I have been for good since last year but it was just by mid this year that I can finally back pad myself and say, welcome home Elle. Many of us experienced this struggle too I believe, but only by His strength I can go through all these. Jakarta's traffic is still a joke everyday but rather than cursing and crying over the joke, I say grace and pray for this city as I commute back and forth. Going back home and actually living under the same roof with the parent and siblings too were (and are) a struggle, all the curfew, don't do this and that. Not easy, y'all but I chose to see it in a different way. I am grateful that I have people who get my breakfast ready (a very nutritious breakfast unlike those bread and coffee I grabbed every morning in Beijing), people who get my clothes all squeaky clean and ironed. Think of those privileges and be grateful.
2. Working, surviving and striving
It's my first time to get a full time job in Jakarta and well... the first legit job as graduates and all I can say is: cari duit susah. Not "susah" but rather a realisation there is not such thing as luck. You work hard hence you get paid. But beyond just working because I need to, it has taught me more about bearing professional responsibility. Its not the matter of tapping in and out on time or crossing the project list, but rather investing yourself to your work. Own it as if its your own company. Be it 10 clients or 100 clients, own it. I can't be more thankful for having a super sassy yet gracious manager and team at work, they have displayed what it means to be humble #bosslady.
3. Planted and Rooted
Glad to say I have finally come to an end of Sunday hopping sessions and came to a home church this year. You know those Sundays where I have to question: which church should I visit today? So I gave myself a timeline last year, by March 2017 I should have make up my mind and heart. Yes, after much prayers. I am home. Instead of asking what the church can offer me, I told myself to learn more about the church: the vision, mission and actually how the church outreach to the youth. Its not the end of the story yet, praying that soon I can server His kingdom here too.
4. Dreams are meant to be shared
I guess the older you grow, the more you learn that life is meant to be shared. Less of the perfectionist soul, less of my own ego and less of thinking about my own priority. In compare to 2016, I visited less new places this year. I met almost the same faces every working days, the same faces on Friday night and sometime a new faces on weekend. But this year too, I have learnt to let go some of my dreams. Hard to say but letting go of my Sydney dream was the hardest. I have never imagine going back for good means settling down too in Jakarta. It was hard but if you ask me now, it is actually the answer to my other prayer.
So to close down:
Thank you small group Gading family: For growing together, sharpening one another. For the very dearest koko and cici who endlessly poke me genteelly, pointing out my flaws with abundant grace and discipline. Let us grow and bear more fruits in the coming season.
Thank you to my Yo ladies: For the group of friends who understand the power of coffee in the morning, the 4pm sugar craving and the can't wait for 6pm. Above all, for the friendship I have never imagine I can have from office settings.
and above all thank you, Jesus. 2018, Nothing but deeper in love with Christ. Teach me to be a better version of 2017: to live humbly, to work with integrity, to always be a bundle of joy wherever I go. As cliche as it sounds, let it be more of you and less of me. Let it be your dream and not mine. Take me to places I have never imagine before.
Selah.