Dear Friends,

Janice and I send you greetings from Jakarta. We do appreciate your faithfulness in praying for the work here Indonesia. The Lord has blessed in the work the past couple of months and we want to share the blessings with you.

During the middle of January, Janice and I attended the annual fellowship of Indonesian Independent Baptists that was held in North Sumatra province. Although the attendance was down due to the expense of travelling, we had a good group of Indonesian pastors and missionaries that attended the meeting. Clearly, Independent Baptists are alive and well here in Indonesia.

During our time at the fellowship meeting, I was continually working to complete all the arrangements for the planned distribution of Bibles in South Nias. One of the main hang-ups was that the 19,000 Bibles we were planning to distribute were still in the North Sumatra coastal town of Sibolga awaiting transportation to Nias. However, the Lord was gracious and as Janice and I traveled into Medan to meet the team that came from America to help with the Bible distribution, we were informed that the Bibles had arrived in Nias and were being sent to the various distribution points. A further hiccup of a missed flight was able to be overcome and by Friday morning, the 16th of January, the whole team arrived on Nias island to begin the distribution of the Bibles.

The last two weeks of January were spent distributing 16,000 Bibles to junior high schools in South Nias. Each school day, we would visit two or three junior high schools. At each school, with all the students assembled, we were given the opportunity to present the gospel and give a short invitation for the students to receive Jesus Christ as their personal savior. We then distributed the Bibles to each student. With the plan of salvation clearly printed on the inside cover of each Bible, our prayer is that first of all many of these junior high students will truly come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Then our prayer is that these young people, who truly know the Lord, will use their Bibles to grow in the Lord. The island of Nias will be changed as these people let God truly direct their lives.

I had planned to return to Nias to distribute the last 3,000 Bibles to the Batu Islands off the south coast of Nias. However, due to problems with getting to the islands, it has been decided that two of the headmasters of the seven junior high schools located on the islands will travel to Teluk Dalam (the main town in South Nias) and ceremonially receive the Bibles there. As of this writing the headmasters have not yet been able to reach Teluk Dalam to take the Bibles back to the islands. Lord willing, the Bibles will make it to the islands before the end of March.

The final tally for the Nias Bible project is as follows. There were 49,000 Bibles distributed in 214 junior high schools on the island of Nias. The project started in July 2007. Brother Jim Daley, myself and Karen Werth agreed to promote the project in our churches. In October 2007, Brother Daley and I signed our first contract with the Indonesian Bible Society to provide the Bibles. Several contracts followed as the total number of Bibles needed continued to increase. In the end over $155,000 was
given to buy and distribute the Bibles. In July of 2008, we started the distribution of Bibles aiming to have all the Bibles distributed during the 2008 -- 2009 school year. Thanks to your prayers and financial help, we have been able to purchase the Bibles and efficiently distribute the Bibles in a timely manner.

Now, we need your help in bringing the project to completion by praying for the students, their families and the teachers that have received those Bibles. Also, pray for our churches on Nias island that they will use the many opportunities to hold Bible studies and provide weekly services in the junior high schools. Please remember to pray that God will use His Word in a mighty way on Nias island.

I returned to Jakarta just in time to start a new semester in the Bible school. We have several new students, and I have an especially good group of students in my preaching class. Pray for our Bible school here in Jakarta.

Our churches here in Jakarta are doing fine. I would ask you to especially pray for Pastor Supriyanto and the Cipulir Baptist church as they are going through some internal strife in the church. Basically, one of the older families in the church has got disgruntled and they are in the process of leaving the church. Sadly, this disgruntled family is trying to cause as much havoc as possible among the other members. Yes, we also have carnal Christians here in Jakarta!

If you missed getting to give to the Nias Bible Project, don't despair -- Tom has plenty more good projects. I would like you to consider helping Pastor Andar and his folks on Batam island. They are in the process of building a new church building. Pastor Andar and his folks have done a good job in Batam and I would like to help them with their building. I would like to give them $3,000 toward this project. If you would like to have a part in helping this group of young families with their building on Batam island please send in your offering marked "Batam."

I do want to remind you that Janice and I plan to return to the States the last of August 2009. Lord willing, we plan to be in the States from September 2009 through April 2010. The main aim of this trip to the States to to report to our supporting churches. If you want me to be with you at a special time, you can contact me through email (tjcford@gmail.com), telephone (417-429-0398 or 62-21-7395027) or snail mail (Jl. Delman Kencana II/9, Jakarta Selatan 12240 INDONESIA). If you have already contacted me and arranged a date, the confirmation of that date should appear at the bottom of this letter you received via snail mail. We are looking forward to being with you folks while we are in the States.

On a personal side, both Janice and I are doing fine. Today, the 19th of March is our wedding anniversary, and I took my wife out to celebrate 42 years of marriage. Do you know where she wanted to go? A Turkish restaurant. Does it seem right to you to eat at a Turkish restaurant to celebrate this important event? Shouldn't we go to the Texas roadhouse or something like that?

For your faithful financial support and your faithful prayers, we are truly thankful. The Lord bless you.

In Christ,