Greetings from all of us here in North Sumatra, Indonesia!
This year has been tough to schedule ministry because of a couple of covid waves that were creating havoc on traveling and ministry plans. Thankfully, the last few months have been good. I was finally able to travel to Timor, do our Bible camp and more.. Here is a brief report.
Indonesia needs your prayer right now. As the delta variant is ripping through the nation, we are experiencing the biggest surge we have seen so far. Here in our small town, we are also experiencing an increase in cases. As a result all public gatherings have been stopped by the local government. Our weekly meetings have moved online and all ministry trips have been postponed for the moment.
Warmest Greetings from Indonesia! We hope and pray you are in good health. This past year has been difficult on all of us but we thank God for His help through it all. Our small town here in North Sumatra is still fairing well compared to other parts of Indonesia. Thank God we still have some freedom to live and minister locally. We even managed to make a few short ministry trips these past months. Here is a brief report on what has been happening.
Itraveled back to the Riau Islands with a team of four during the last two weeks in November 2020. In all we visited nine islands and ministered in nine services. The main tribe we were trying to reach with the gospel is called the Laut (Sea) tribe. The Laut communities live on stilt houses built on top of the sea. The first place we visited was very familiar because I had spent my Christmas there twelve years ago. Back then there were only a few Christian families. Since then a Church has been planted there by one of the missionaries who joined us on that first trip twelve years ago and she is still ministering there with her husband and two kids. There is also an elementary school that was started up just a few years ago. I was very blessed to see how the Kingdom of God has advanced in the area since my first trip.
Hello from Indonesia! I hope and pray that you and your loved ones remain healthy and well taken care of. All of us here are doing good. Our small town in the mountains of North Sumatra is doing much better compared to the rest of the country. We currently have just over a hundred total confirmed cases. Yet we still limit our travels outside our region since the pandemic is still raging in the densely populated bigger cities not too far from where we are. We thank God for His protection during this unprecedented time we are living in and ministering in.
Please join me in giving God a big shout of praise for what He just did for the people of Borneo. This was the first ever outdoor Christian event in the area and the response of the local people was very enthusiastic! We witnessed over a hundred recorded miracles during the three nights event.
New years greetings from Indonesia! We had a wonderful trip to the central part of Indonesian Borneo. It was the location of our Jesus festival back in 2015. This time we were invited to minister in a Christmas outreach service. It all started as one of the pastors there was dining in a restaurant and while there she met a woman who had received a miracle during the Jesus festival back in 2015. As a result we were invited to do this Christmas outreach service. We had a great time ministering the word of God and praying for the sick.
On September 28, 2018 a 7.5 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami devastated the city of Palu in Indonesia. At this time of writing the official death toll is just over 1,700 people with thousands still missing. The first time I heard about the earthquake and tsunami was during our 2nd night of the Jesus festival in Timor. It had just happened a few hours ago we were all in shock. It took me back to the time when I first came to Indonesia back in 2004. Two months after I arrived, an earthquake and tsunami struck Aceh which is the province to the north of our hometown in Indonesia. Over 200,000 lives were lost during that time.
Our trip to North Maluku started with two flights followed by a boat ride and a four hour drive. We had to break our trip into three days so we will not be exhausted by the time we arrive there. While in Ternate island we ministered in a Sunday Church service. This is one of the few Churches still left standing after the religious conflicts in early 2000s. Most of the Christians fled the island when the killings started.
The three nights in Timor were a great victory for the gospel. Thousands were in attendance. Local government leaders were present too. The police were there protecting us. As we shared the simple message of God’s love for the people of Timor, many people repented and believed in Jesus.