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Communicating the activities of our short-term mission trip to Asia Pacific Christian Mission International - September 2010 - so you can PRAY!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Pontianak

We have just finished 4 and 1/2 days in the Indonesian State of West Kalimantan.  Pontianak, the capital, is a city of more than 2 million people that sits on the equator, and I had never heard of it before.  We arrived Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by the API church planter who leads a congregation in Pontianak and serves as the regional director for API.  Our team of 6 includes the Americans, Herman from API, Eddie from Jakarta and Nikopolis from Kalimantan.  Herman is the Coordinator for all 104 API church planters all across Indonesia.  He is our primary translator and Eddie is our skillful driver.  They have served us excellently and made this trip possible for us.

We have visited 16 churches in these few days.  We have covered hundreds of kilometers on crowded, challenging highways and rugged mountainous paths.  We have traveled via the ubiquitous Indonesian motorbike and we have hiked in the jungle and oil plantation country.  (An oil plantation is a grove of palm trees from which oil is extracted from its fruit.)  We have traveled in the rain and in the darkness and under the equatorial sun.  (Thank God for a van with air conditioning--working most of the time.)  Everywhere we have been received graciously and with much anticipation.  The church in Sangwakang waited for nearly 2 hours for us to arrive.  Everywhere we have been served hot tea and rice accompanied with various vegetables, chicken, fish, pork and beef, cassava, fried bananas, various cakes and crackers and things we don't remember (or maybe don't want to.) We spent a night in a home in the jungle without electricity and showered in the mountain spring.  Everywhere we have prayed earnestly with brothers and sisters who completely depend on God for all they have.  Some have very little else, but that is having more than having everything without God.  We have prayed and worshipped by kerosene light, under a palm tree, in tin roof churches, in bare wood huts and in dirt floor homes.  We have greeted people who have never seen an Amercan before except on tv.  We have smiled and shaken hands and communicated through our eyes and with our body language as best we could.  We have garbled phrases like "treima casi" (thank you), "Tuhan membe gati" (God bless you), and "Selamat bagi/ciang" (Good morning/afternoon).  We have met dozens of faithful church members and leaders--men and women who courageously follow God in a muslim culture and work fervently for the expansion of God's Kingdom in the middle of a spiritually difficult field.  They cherish our prayers on their behalf and they worship exhuberantly.  We have been blessed and pray that God has given them a blessing with our visit to them.

4 comments:

  1. Wow! What a life changing experience is sounds like you are having. Prayed for you (all) this morning and will continue to. I know God is doing a great work in you and through you. Love Trish

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  2. It sounds like this is an experience that you guys will never forget. God bless you for being courageous enough to go. We prayed for you today during worship and again this afternoon at our missions meeting. I can't wait to see what God is going to do because of your trip. Love, Ma Brosi

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  3. I'm so proud of all of you guys and the great ambassadors you are being for Christ!

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  4. I know that this experience has been one which will sit deeply in your hearts for years to come. It will be one which in days to come will amaze you when you see the people here who have so much in so much termoil and sorrow while those who live in peril and with so little live in peace and in joy and in faith in God. It makes you wonder "why?" Yet the answer lies in those two factors. Living in peril and living without causes a person who loves God to put all their faith in God just for day to day activities which we take for granted and when you put God in areas such as these you see God working daily. Seeing God work on a daily basis strengthens your faith which in turn gives your heart great joy.

    We are looking forward to your return and are awaiting in great anticipation your personal accounts of the activities there.

    Love in Christ,
    Linda

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