MISSION INDONESIA

Welcome to Phil & Carrie's Mission Indonesia

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Arch Book - Indonesian Distribution, April 2006

Poster child for Arch books: Part of the Easter Saturday egg hunt was an opportunity for our small church group to distribute Arch books translated into the Indonesian language. The young man pictured on the left was so engrossed in reading his new found friend that he was bumping into others! We were able to give away 1000 books in just a short two hours. Our Church of All Nations through the encouragement of Audra M. (a former CPH employee now teaching in our SPH system) has taken on the task of translating Arch books for distribution throughout Indonesia. CPH has been very generous in supplying us with computer based English layouts for a number of their titles. We are then locally having these translated and printed. They are identical to the English ones in quality including the same glossy artwork. Our cost is 35 cents per book. We ambitiously want to produce thousands of these books for distribution through the generosity of people from America. Our first printing was a total of 15,000 paid for by one congregation from America. Pray for the success of this endeavor!

Easter Saturday - The Great Egg Hunt - April, 2006

Easter Saturday was a special day for residents in and around our community of Karawaci. The youth group that meets at Phil’s school every Friday evening took on an ambitious community service in hosting a huge Easter egg hunt. 100,000 plastic eggs were stuffed with candy and Bible verses. Approximately 10,000 neighboring children were witnessed to through this event. The 7^th grade students from Phil’s school listened to each child read a scripture verse found in one of their eggs. Then the children each received another bag of goodies. We don’t know what the future results will hold for many of these children. We do know that the Holy Spirit used this event to further the Kingdom! (Couldn't resist taking photo to the right with a young man trying to find one more piece of candy!)

Good Friday-Easter, 2006

Scene One: a small group of international Christians gathered together on Good Friday to reflect on the awesome things our Savior accomplished for us as we traveled through 7 stations of the cross set up at our in-home congregation. The Smiths established for us a series of stations as we moved from one to the next at various places indoors and outdoors. It was inspiring to know that our Lord gave His life for us, a collection of Christians from America, Australia, Scotland, Germany, and Indonesia. We were blessed to have two special Indonesians worshipping with us, one a recent convert from Hinduism, and the second a young man from the island of Sumatra who has been a HKBP (Batak Christian church) member for his entire life.

Scene Two: an inspiring Easter Sunday worship event to celebrate Christ’s victory in our place. Enjoyed by all prior to worship was a breakfast potluck provided by an accomplished contingent of cooks. Our worship reflected on our risen Savior and concluded with a beautiful solo sung by the young man from Sumatra who again worshipped with us. The Lord truly blessed us on our celebration of His victory!

Pictured on the right is our Sumatran Christian friend singing a beautiful solo for us in his native Batak language!

Carrie's Break - March, 2006

Arrived in Batan Aceh late afternoon. The left two pictures are the mass grave sight for the tsunami victums. The house is where the Muslims go to pray and mourn for the dead.

The picture to the right is the main mosque in the province of Aceh.

The pink house is where I stayed while in Aceh. It is where the World Harvest center is located. The white second floor by the arch was my bedroom. Yes, they gave me a room with air-con as it is called here!

The man in the black shirt is Sam. He is in charge of the center where I stayed and also the refuge camps that I visited.

He wants more Lutherans to come to Aceh to help in the schools and with the people. He is associated with World Harvest Ministry. All the workers under him are all volunteers. Sam has been at the center since the tsunami. Above are Dotty and Ray from Seward, NE who are LCMS voluunteer teachers for six months in Aceh. They are teaching in the middle grades in a Muslim school. They are in their uniforms. The female expats are not required to wear the head dress, but out of respect for them, many do.

The next four pictures are from the refuge camp that I call 'tent city'. There are still 10,000 people living in the tents with no hope when they will get regular housing.
Right after the tsunami, there were 40,000 people living here.

The boy to the right is blind. His name is Ferry. He is a bright young boy and very smart. What will happen to him once he grows up is not really known, but most likely he will become a beggar. He can read braile, and loves stories to be read to him. He asked me to tell him a story about a fox and the only one I could think of was the 'Three Little Pigs'. Oops, I had to quickly change the pigs to goats. It ended up being really funny. He loved it!

The building to the left is another center. This one is in a neighborhood. The children come here for recreation and to learn how to use the computer and the girls do needle work.

Here the children are drawing and coloring.


Here the nurse is doing surgery to a young
man's toe--yep--right out in the open where everyone who wants to watch can. No, I did not watch.




I am now on my way to the second refuge camp that I went to. This took me past the area where the tsunami hit. Everything was wiped out except one home.

The river dwellers are all new since the tsunami, yet the shacks all look like they are more than 10 years old. They are made from anything that the people could find.



The tiny dark spot behind the palm tree to the far left is an island. From the road to the sea, I was told was about 1 km. There are some homes built back on the land, however, much of the land is still under water. Many of the people are afraid to live in the houses that have been built in case there is another tsunami. Yet the fishermen need to live near the sea as that is what they do for a living.



The far away palm trees are next to the ocean. To the right are some old foundations from the homes destroyed.



These are some houses built for the people. The houses were mainly pinkish or green. I asked why and they said that's the only colors the builders had, so you knew which builders built the houses.
These homes are not built on the tsunami land.






This is the entrance to another refuge camp I visited. The house is the World Harvest center for the people.
Here the little ones come in the morning for activities and the older children come after their school day.




I am serving the little ones cookies and milk that the center provides.


The center celebrated being in the camp for one year. It was a great big festive day. All of World Harvest workers came for the feast. The elders of the camp came and gave speeches. This dish began the festivity. It's a special sweet dish to say 'thank you' to the elders of the camp.



Little ones doing school work.


Barrack type housing that the people live in. One large room, about 13' x 13' where they live, cook, eat and sleep.






The watering hole where laundry is done.


Everyone wanted their pictue taken with me. The little one belongs to the lady on the right.




I'm holding the little one and I told her to take a picture. She didn't understand, but went to get someone to interpet and the young man took the picture.

In the afternoon, the children recited poems and stories and had a coloring contest.

The little ones were given a picture to color (far right picture) and the older ones were told to draw and color. This is one of which a young girl did. I had to leave before finding out who won.


Here a number of ladies wanted me to be in their picture. The young man once again took our picture. I will be sending a CD with all my pictures on it and Sam will print the pictures of the people and give to them. All in all, the Lord let me show love to these people. They are lost in darkness, yet our outreach to them has made them look at Christians and bules (Westeners) not as enemies, but as friends. One day, they too shall know the Lord as their personal friend and savior.
Our God has opened the doors to these people. Many had never seen a white person before and feared them when they first came. Pray for them that they may come to know the Lord and will accept Him.

March 26-30, 2006

Medan & Lake Toba

Phil recently had a wonderful opportunity to visit on the island of Sumatra. He accompanied two other couples to view firsthand the work being done by the Lutheran Synods in a very Christian part of Indonesia. The first stop was at a seminary in Medan where Rev. Bob and Mr. Richard were guest speakers. They shared vital tips in assisting these young seminary students in their preparation for ministry. The campus was rather spartan but the 400 + students were there to prepare for their future calling.

Pastor Jaharianson and his wife (head of seminary)

Juli (a delightful young student Phil visited with)

The second stop was a resort hotel on Samosir Island, Lake Toba. Here Richard shared how to witness with the catechism (translated in the local dialect) while Bob encouraged the prayer life of the conference attendees. Those present included pastors from local congregations. Our travel through the countryside showed a large number of Christian churches, something that is found few and far between in the Jakarta area. The Holy Spirit was certainly using these two men in their presentations.

Pictures shown below are various scenes as we made our journey between Lake Toba and Medan. Picture 4 is of an active rubber plantation.

March 17, 2006

Happy Birthday Rumah Anugerah!

In 1999 a religious war broke out in Ambon between Christians and Muslims. Many lives were lost and many homes destroyed. From this tragedy a large group of refugee children were brought to Jakarta to begin a new life. These children have shown their resiliency to adversity in their lives. They have become outstanding witnesses to their faith. They have become a very close knit group of young Christians living in a home called Rumah Anugerah. On the 17th we had the priviledge of sharing their 6th birthday party here in Karawaci. Our church, Church for all Nations, is one of many sponsors for this family of believers. In the beginning they had approximately 60. Some have graduated from Senior school and have left the home, while others are in University training. At present time they have 40 young people still under the umbrella of Rumah Anugerah. Many of them still have family back in Ambon while a few have no family to return to. They all have the vision of someday returning to their home and continuing the mission of evangelizing the people. We have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to have them be a part of our worship on two occasions this year. They have beautiful singing voices and love to praise their Savior. Hendrick, the one playing the guitar is currently shadowing teachers at SPH as he has a desire to become a Christian school teacher. We ask that you keep this family of believers at the heart of your prayer list!

March 12, 2006

Pulau Umang R & R

Once in a while a missionary has to take a little bit of R&R to recharge the batteries. That is just what we did over the weekend. We joined three other couples and had a relaxing visit to Palua Umang Resort located on a small island off of the west end of Java. The fellowship, food, and laid-back atmosphere is just what was needed at this time. We had a beautiful location for a worship service overlooking the sea. The view from our villa focused on Krakatoa and the son of Krakatoa. The swimming pool on the edge of the small beach area definitely saw action from all of us. We even went fishing Indonesian style at 10:00 in the evening. It happened to be a full moon time so needless to say the action was a bit slow. We simply dropped a line over the edge of the boat without the need for a fishing pole. Rather interesting way to fish I might say. We were also celebrating Bob's 65th birthday and he is in love with fishing! He was excited to at least hold a fish in his hand even if it was one that was caught by someone else! Enjoy the pictures of our venture!

March 12, 2006

Typical life in West Java

January-February 2006

ACEH Volunteers

What a delight the last month has been serving in Indonesia! Our small group of LCMS missionaries has been blessed with hosting a wide range of volunteers who mainly are coming to work in the Tsunami ravaged area of Aceh. Ray & Dottie from Seward, NE were the first to arrive on their way to spend a 6 month period working with ESL. Right on their heels were 3 delightful young lady volunteers from Taiwan and 2 volunteers from Macau, all planning to spend 9 days of their Chinese New Year holiday assisting with ESL. Next in line saw 6 volunteers arriving from western Iowa on their way to Aceh! Butch and Judy Almstedt (Florida) flew in late on that same evening. Butch, chairman of LCMS World Mission board, was able to see first hand the mission opportunities that abound here. Kim Myers became the next visitor. She and her husband, Matt, will be relocating to Karawaci this summer after spending their last eight years in Vietnam. They will become a part of the local Christian University team. Our final visitors for this stretch of time are John and Linda from Japan. They came to head up a team to present an English teacher workshop in Banda Aceh. It has been somewhat exhausting but exhilarating at the same time to see so many dedicated Christians desiring to serve their Lord! All of these volunteers came knowing that they could not directly present the Gospel message, nevertheless, their presence was one way that the Holy Spirit someday will be able to make a difference in someone’s life. One difference already has been shared in that the short term volunteers have all been literally begged to return for more interaction. Continue to hold the people of Aceh up in your prayers on a regular basis.

Ray & Dottie
Chinese New Year
January 27, 2006

Chinese New Year is celebrated in different ways in the schools. A lot depends on the ancestry of the children. Phil’s school did nothing at his school. Carrie’s school which is mainly Chinese ancestry put on a huge performance for the parents. The children learned Chinese poetry, Chinese dancing and of course Chinese songs. They had the Lion Dance and the Blessing Tree. Both of these brought on big discussions with the teachers. It’s very much like Halloween in America with all the discussions about celebrating it or not. Both the Lion Dance and the Blessing Tree has non-Christian values and some of the teachers didn’t want them. A number of us talked about putting Christian values with the meaning of the two. That’s really what we did with all the other pagan celebrations we took and made them Christian celebrations. The main reason for such a big celebration was to help the children learn about where their families came from. Back in the 70’s through 90’s all the Chinese people had to change their names to Indonesian names and were not allowed to speak their language. Now the new President is allowing them to use their real names and speak their native tongue and the people are taking advantage of it. All in all, everyone at Carrie’s school had a great time.