Update for May 2011

Once again I'm a bit behind in posting prayer letters to the blog. For the faithful few who might be following us on this blog, thank you for your patience (then again, you might be receiving the emails anyways..)   So please read this in retrospect.. :)

May 1-16 … among other various activities we will be trying to get most of our belongings sorted and packed away in a room in the church. (The end of June we will have these things transported to a storage company to keep there till we return next year.) We are also finally trying to get some old video 8 tapes put onto DVD’s and scanning slides onto our computer to bring to Kalimantan. There are dental appointments, new assignments related to our employment pass, people to counsel, books to read, the list goes on.  At times I have felt like we were spinning our wheels in the sand a bit, but a recent seminar on “Transitions” has reaffirmed for us that God wants to do something significant in our lives and He is using this ‘time’ to unsettle us so that He can align us to what He wants to do next.

Here’s a quick run down of our proposed trip to Kalimantan:

17^th - fly to Pontianak, get settled at a guest house, pick up a rental car,

18^th - meet with a few of the PPIK leaders, get things ready for trip up country

19^th - drive 200 km to Anik (will take about 5 hours, as we will stop in a few places on the way) 

       -meet with several leaders to discuss strategy for the next year.

20^th  - from Anik to Ngabang (1 hour) later in day, visit several families

21^st  - travel to Serimbu (our old village… about 50 Km from Ngabang, may take about 3 hours +)

22^nd - thanksgiving feast in Serimbu… meeting a lot of people… eating a lot of good food….. for certain Henry will be asked to preach…. We will be there to encourage the believers in their growth…

23^rd - travel back to Ngabang ... meet with a few families,  drive back to Ptk (about 5 hr)

24^th - meet with several PPIK leaders to discuss strategy for the next year.

25^th - visit some pre-believer friends

26^th - fly back to Singapore.

How to pray for us:

Pray for safety on the road (uneven asphalt roads with almost no markings, the odd huge pothole, no street lights, 2 way traffic on a road barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other, motorcycles without lights, pedestrians walking on the highway without reflective clothing … and some of the big buses and trucks go in excess of 100 kph)

Our meetings with church leaders will focus on how we as missionaries can help the church in the next year or so, brainstorming about a few seminars, as well as getting caught up on what is happening in Kalimantan Barat in general. We desire to encourage and challenge our leaders in their roles as well as to pray with them about the future of the church.

Pray that we will have wisdom in giving advice to leaders, to families, to young people.

Kalimantan Barat has become perhaps the most densely “Christian” area of all Indonesia. Pioneered by western-based mission agencies in the 1950’s - RBMU (World Team), CBFMS (World Venture), WEC, Go Ye Fellowship, The Christian & Missionary Alliance,  and later on NTM - this province soon became the target of other groups from Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, the USA and Canada. There are now 105 different church denominations, many of them new within the last 20 years, and most of them “planting” churches in small villages where churches already exist. Sadly, a lot of pastors in our denomination (PPIK) have spent a lot of time defending their territory, and over time have lost a vision for reaching outside their village with the gospel.  While there are still villages in remote areas with no true church, most denominations stick to the main roads. (Since we left Serimbu in 1995, only two other denominations have gone into that area, because it is far from most roads.)  What the churches need is a vision for sending people to other parts of Indonesia where there are still unreached groups. This is the challenge before us.  Please pray with us that the leaders of PPIK and other denominations will see that the distant fields are white with the harvest, but are in need of workers....