Five-year-old Adriel was getting restless and clamouring for his mother’s attention. No wonder— I had spent more than an hour chatting with Erlina, listening to her personal life story, and the little one was tired of roaming the church grounds with his father. His face brightened up when I made it up to him by getting him some snacks from the nearby vending machine.
I marvelled at the story that Erlina had shared with me. Her life journey was an unusual one, and in our conversation, she emphasised more than once that it all began with the kindness and hospitality shown to her by God’s people.
“I first met Jesus through His people, through my employers…and I want to be like them: in whatever I say and do, I want to reflect the light of my Lord Jesus to other people.”
Receiving kindness
Erlina set foot in Singapore at the age of 22 to become a migrant domestic worker. Coming from a big family with four sisters and two brothers, she needed to earn money to support them after her father passed away. While she had hoped that her employers would be kind and reasonable, she did not quite expect that this first family she worked for and remained in service for 12 years would make such a huge impact on her and changed the course of her life—from working as a domestic help to eventually answering God’s call to serve in Kalimantan.
She recounted that Jack and Alvina, both members of SJSM, treated her well. In fact, other helpers who became her friends envied her, commenting that her employers were ‘very good to her’ and not demanding. They helped carry heavy bags of groceries after trips to the supermarket; they brought her to see a doctor when she was unwell and let her rest to recover; she ate at the same table with the family. She found them to be humble and kind. Unsurprisingly, she became very attached to the family, especially their two young daughters, Sarah and Celestine.
In her fourth year at work, her family back home arranged for her to be married to the son of a village headman. It was a good match in financial terms but was called off after Erlina requested to stay on one more year in Singapore. She loved the two girls as her own and could not bear to leave them, as they were still very young. Unfortunately, her family were furious with her and cut off ties.
In that same year, she was at a church service taking care of Celestine while a visiting preacher ministered to the congregation with healing and other miraculous signs. Stirred within, she could not stop the tears that flowed, thinking about the broken ties with her family. Jack and Alvina found out about it, prayed for her, and shared the gospel with her, but she was not ready to receive Jesus there and then. Strangely, after this incident, she was disturbed by uneasy dreams at night.
“Actually, I used to be fearful of death and what will happen to me when I die,” she admitted.
Alvina prayed with her every night. Subsequently, Erlina sensed the presence of God with her while she went about her daily household chores; it was a good and peaceful feeling. She even had a dream of blue skies, dazzling sun, and Jesus smiling at her!
Eventually, one night, when Jack and Alvina prayed with her, Erlina made the decision to receive Jesus into her life. She attributed a large part of it to seeing Christ in them. Their kindness to her had made a difference. They also had this genuine faith, joy, and peace that she longed for. Up to that point, she felt that there was only anger, disappointment, and resentment building up inside her. She prayed for reconciliation with her mother. A few months later, her heart leapt for joy when she received an unexpected phone call from her mother saying that she missed her! God had answered her prayer.
Finding love
Following her decision to become a Christian, Erlina started attending SJSM’s Indonesian Fellowship. Jack and Alvina encouraged her spiritual growth, allowing her to go on a short mission trip to Batam, where the team visited a bible school and distributed groceries to needy families. It was there that she met Firman, who was the assigned guide to the group, and she was immediately attracted to this earnest young man studying at the bible school, training to become a pastor. Love blossomed between them and they got married in 2007. Erlina stayed on in Singapore to finish her two-year contract. During this period of time, she was given weekends off and extra days to spend time with her husband. Occasionally, Firman was invited over to Singapore to speak at the Indonesian Fellowship meetings. He was then serving as a youth pastor in a church in Batam.
God’s call
One night as she was going to sleep in Celestine’s room, Erlina saw a calendar on her table. She was drawn to the picture of some pitiful, starving children with distended bellies. Compassion welled up within her and she was moved to tears. She knelt down and told God that she ‘wanted to go and feed those children’. It was the call of God upon her life.
This birthed the desire to leave for Batam in 2010 to begin theological studies at a bible school. It was time to equip herself to serve God together with her husband. Jack and Alvina gave their blessings and the church gave some financial support.
In Batam, the couple ministered to the poor in the slums and built houses for the people. Then the door opened for them to go to a village in Kalimantan to oversee a church and run a children’s home. God had answered Erlina’s prayer to care for needy children. However, all this meant that she took a long time to complete her studies. She had to shuttle between Batam and Kalimantan. It took a toll on her and when she developed some major health issues, she was forced to take a break. It was a challenging season but God was faithful and gave her perseverance.
“I cried a lot when I finally graduated in 2019, because it was not easy studying while taking care of the children in the home and pastoring the church.”
Today, as a family of three, they continue to faithfully minister to the unreached in the eastern part of Kalimantan. With God’s blessings, they have planted three other churches. In the children’s home, they take in 15 children of varying ages, who come from abusive and troubled backgrounds. Some of the children have been with them for a long time, the oldest being 26. It is Erlina’s desire to see these children grow up to know and worship God. Together, they run a weekly programme to feed other less fortunate children. In this way, she is teaching them to be a blessing to others.
At the end of our conversation, I learnt that Alvina and Erlina were going to Bintan to do some ministry work together. It was lovely to see the enduring relationship between Alvina and Erlina: no longer employer and employee but fellow sisters in Christ Jesus! Erlina’s life is testament to the goodness of God. It’s also a great reminder of how sowing seeds of God’s kindness and hospitality in others can reap a harvest of righteousness and joy!