Here's a short clip from our last trip out to the reef at Tanjung Karang. About 1 hour north of where we live.
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This last week I've been in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a CLA (culture & language acquisition) workshop. I got to meet a lot of consultants from other countries and hear how they are running their CLA programs. All in all it was a great learning experience. And I also got to know some fantastic people from all around the globe.
Esther seemed to handle being on her own quite well considering she's had a difficult last few weeks and experienced a regression in her overall health. This is a post I planned on posting several months ago, but only now got around to it. Over the last few years we've been trying to find a way to take better care of the kids that come out from our tribal villages to go to school here in town. Up until recently they've been staying in various locations all over town, with little or no oversight. Because of their naive approach to city life they have been easy prey for those who'd take advantage of them.
The decision was made to rent a building and turn it into a dorm. It took a few weeks to make it livable, there was no running water and the electric system was at best unstable. The roof had several leaks, and all the walls needed a new coat of paint. Now two months later there are 13 children and a family to take care of them living there. The parents send whatever money they can each month, in addition to a few sacks of rice. This dorm situation not only provides the kids with a safe environment in which to live and study, it also allows us to meet their spiritual needs through daily bible studies. Just a quick note to say that we are still very much alive and well. It's been far too long since our last blog update, for that I humbly apologize. I'm aware that for many people this blog is the only way of keeping up with us and our ministry here.
Here's a short update: - The kids are doing fine. Anna their new school teacher arrived in August and has been a huge blessing to our family. Relieving Esther of a lot of pressure by taking complete charge of the home schooling situation. - Esther enjoys no longer having to balance the role of teacher and that of being a mother. She still isn't 100% fit, however she's learning to live with her limitations. - Daniel's been quite involved with our various teams in the region. Helping them with their language and culture studies. This has involved a lot more travel than we had first anticipated. Of course having Anna's company at home has made these journeys take less of a toll on Esther. - We now have about 25 - 30 young people come to our house each week to go through Romans. It's been exciting to hear back from several of them how the teaching is influencing their everyday life. This week we were able to finish the water project in Nggea. Below are some pictures with explanations.
This coming week we are going to install a water system for one of our tribal villages. A few months back Esther and I were able to visit one of the nearby Da'a villages called Nggea. (I wrote a short post about it and posted some pictures, scroll down to read). It's located just up in the mountains surrounding Palu, and although it's only a 7 minute helicopter trip, many of the people there have never set foot in the city. Our project will help give the people of Nggea easy access to clean water and also help strengthen the relationship between our team and the locals.
A few days ago we put the water tanks and the other supplies for the project on a truck and sent it as far up the mountain as the road goes. From there the helicopter airlifted it all into the village. (I was invited along to take pictures) Kids Ariel, Samson and Aisa have been off school for the last three or four weeks. They have enjoyed spending lots of time playing with their friends, and even helping mom and dad with various projects around the house. They are all excited about the near arrival of Anna our Norwegian school helper. Anna will live with us for the next 6 months (possibly a year if she enjoys it) with the aim of helping Esther with home schooling. Esther and I
Esther has started her final stage of CLA (Culture Language Acquisition), and if all goes according to plan she'll be finished with her language learning by Christmas. Her health is still not as we would desire, but she's learning to live with the limitations it puts on her. The pain in her joints is quite intense most mornings, and throughout the day if she's done any form of physical activity. There's no hiding that the last few years have been very difficult for Esther, and inability to function at a 100% continues to be a source of discouragement. However, we try to see it as an opportunity to lean on God and to be formed by him. "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." - James 1:3-4 I, Daniel, have been involved in quite a few different things since we got back. I suppose my main "job" is to help our newer families with their CLA. I feel privileged to be helping such a wonderful group of people, who have patiently allowed me to learn how to function in this role through making plenty of mistakes. We have been implementing a "new" way of studying texts and analysing them to help us become more natural speakers in the Indonesian language. It's exciting to see how it's helping, although it's also caused us to make some adjustments in how we go about our studies. Esther and I have also been quite heavily involved in the local church, through both teaching and working with the youth. Currently we're helping the team open up a dorm here in town to allow for more school students from the more remote villages. It is very exciting as it gives us a unique opportunity to have an influence in their lives, and teach them about the wonderful truth of freedom in Christ. Reaching the second generation has always been the most difficult part of any church plant. Our aim and our desire is to buy land and build a dorm that can suit the needs of the children from a number of different people groups where we currently have tribal church plants. This had been the desire of the church for a number of years. It's a huge project, far beyond the means of the church. So if anyone would like to be involved, please get in touch. Here are a few church pictures from the last few weeks. We just finished up teaching through 2 Corinthians and are getting ready to teach James. We're excited to see some foundational truths take root and have a real influence on some of the younger believers.
A few weeks ago Esther, Samson, and I had an opportunity to visit one our tribal works in the mountains near Palu. It is a 7 minute helicopter ride from our hangar, or a 3 hour motorcycle ride up the mountain. A Wana family and two single ladies (one from Wana, and one from this village) make up our church planting team. They have all been through the national training center in Manado. In many ways this is a very unique church plant, and we're super excited to have a small part in it. They are just in the latter stages of language and culture study, and will hopefully be able to start teaching soon. The village is an old Salvation Army outpost, and they see themselves as 100% Christian. That represents a whole new set of challenges for our team. Our enemy knows that a light shining in the darkness is a bright beacon indeed, but when the darkness is replaced by a dense religious fog.....that light no longer has the same effect. This is a reality we're facing all over Indo, and there is no quick fix. Deep and lasting relationships are the only way to pierce through the fog.
In the near future we are going back up to work on a water project for the whole village, and to install a solar power system for our team there. Please pray for Doni & Ita and their three children. And for Rofi and Chine, who have sacrificed so much to reach their Indonsian brothers and sister in Da'a. This last week I had the joy of visiting one of the Wana villages and being a part of their yearly Bible conference. It's such a privilege to see how God has so wonderfully worked among these people. The challenges they face are immense, they are met with opposition at every turn, yet they are counting it all joy as they continue serving their saviour. The Wana believers now number in the thousands, and they have numerous outreaches to neighbouring villages and people-groups.
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