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This week our academic theme is Indonesian Arts. Of course we have been experiencing all kinds of beauty, music and culture each day since we arrived on the island, but this week we are paying specific attention to a few…
During environment week we spent 3 days in the village of Pedak-Gower, in Pati, five hours northeast of Yogyakarta. MDSI (Mennonite Diakonia Service Indonesia) hosted us and invited a number of local religious leaders, farmers, and leaders of Javanese cultural…
We are halfway through our study portion and our language skills are improving, slowly but surely. Each morning is spent in Spanish language classes with our three wonderful teachers, Silvia, Loli, and Fernanda. They help reinforce vocabulary and common phrases…
Our academic theme for week 3 is Environment. This week we learned about Indonesia’s incredible biodiversity by reading articles and stories, hearing lectures from experts, visiting and learning from people who live along the Code river in Yogyakarta, and touring…
This weekend, we visited the beautiful city of Mindo in the cloudforest. In an effort to onset our carbon footprint from the flights to Ecuador, we partnered with our friend Klever Tello, an employee in the Mindo municipal government, in…
Our SSTers learned to make their own lunch! Nasi Goreng, Indonesia’s classic everyday meal, is a basic fried rice recipe with many variations. Usually containing flavors of shallots, garlic, chili (made as spicy as you like it!), some kind of…
A major highlight of our trip so far was visiting the famous Prambanan, a UNESCO world heritage site and the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. We toured the temple complex, and climbed many stairs to greet the Hindu pantheon of…
The academic theme for our second week of Study is Religion in Indonesia. Indonesia’s 17,000 islands contain incredibly diverse expressions of culture and faith. While there are 6 nationally recognized religions here (Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism), we…
Our academic theme for Week 1 has been Indonesian History & Politics. We heard two lecturers on this theme, visited the Kraton (Palace and home of Yogyakarta’s Sultan), read historical sources and listened to an audiobook overviewing Indonesia’s dynamic history.…
Daily life on SST provides incredibly rich learning experiences, from living with host families to simply experiencing waking up in a new culture each day. But the learning doesn’t stop there. Students also attend language class each afternoon, hear lectures…
On SST Indonesia ’26, students spent their first few days getting to know Yogyakarta: learning to use various transportation systems, trying new foods, exploring new places, and getting acquainted with the universities where they will learn from lecturers and language…
We had an active weekend! Many host families took their students on adventures in and around Quito. They visited Parque Metropolitano, centro histórico, teleférico, Otavalo, Pichincha, Parque Bicentenario, Mitad del Mundo, Lago San Pablo, Nono, Tabacundo, among others. Here are…
This week, we became acquainted with Ecuador’s history and art, beginning with a tour of churches in Quito’s centro histórico. One of the largest and most notable is the Basilica, which serves as a large cultural and religious landmark in…
On Monday evening, 11 host families gathered at Rumah Goshen to meet the SSTers who will be living with them for the next 6 weeks. SST leaders Luke and Janie Beck Kreider hosted the event, and students expressed their gratitude…
On Friday afternoon, January 9, after over 30 hours of travel, all 11 students arrived together on Java. Getting to Yogyakarta, our Study Term home base for 6 weeks, involved multiple flights, trains, cars, and taxis. We are settling in,…
The Ecuador SST unit kicked off their first few days in Quito.
Students in the spring 2026 Ecuador SST unit arrived safely to Quito.
The Ecuador SST leaders arrived in Quito and preparations for the unit are underway.
We are Luke Kreider, Ph.D., and Janie Beck Kreider (M.Div., R.N.), and we are excited to lead the spring 2026 Indonesia SST unit. I teach religion, ethics and sustainability at Goshen College, and Janie is a nurse at Goshen Hospital…
Jan Kauffman and Kristin Waltner will lead the spring 2026 SST unit to Ecuador.
Goshen College’s “SST for all” makes global education more accessible with flexible study options at home and abroad.
Goshen College builds SST reciprocity with Ecuador through campus visits and solar projects that support local communities.
Goshen College’s sequential SST courses take students from India’s Himalayas to Detroit, exploring ecology, resilience and community renewal.
Since being stationed in the town of Mindo for my service portion of SST, I’ve noticed a big cultural difference between U.S. Mennonites and Ecuadorian “Mindo-nites” – pun intended 🙂 approaches to life. There’s a palpable sense of serenity and…
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