Dear Friends,

Greetings from Jakarta. This last month has continued to add new twists into our ministry here in Indonesia. Just as we had settled into handling the ministries that arose in relation to the tsunami aid, we were suddenly inundated with several new situations that forced us to once again break out of our normal comforting routine. Let me share with you some of the news for our corner of the world here in Jakarta.

The last week of March, Janice left for the States to be with our daughter Jennifer Preston. Jennifer's oldest daughter, Alexandra, had become seriously ill and Janice felt she needed to go and be with Jen and Jeff during this difficult time. At this writing, Alexandra is now home and seems to be on the mend from a serious infection that affected her brain and eyes. I'm sure Jeff and Jennifer would appreciate your prayers at this time. Lord willing, Janice will be heading back to Jakarta the last week of April.

On the day that I sent Janice off for the States, my son Sam called me at midnight to tell me that the island of Nias had just been struck with a devastating earthquake. When I tried to contact folks that we know on Nias, I quickly discovered that all telephone contact with the island was down. Providentially, Brother Daley and I were not on the island when the earthquake hit. I had read my calendar wrong concerning the time of our midterm break, and scheduled us to return to Nias the first week of April. Also, providentially, I had made plane reservations well in advance for the first week of April as I had a guest from the States who wanted to visit Nias on that week. Brother Daley and I set about gathering up as much money as possible and made our way to Medan, North Sumatra. In Medan, Brother Irie (a Japanese BBF missionary) had checked on our tickets and found that the plane was going to fly that day. As my guest had wisely decided to skip this trip, Brother Irie asked if he could go along. So three old men took off for Nias.Neither Brother Daley nor I were prepared for what we would find on Nias. First there was the awful destruction. The whole island of Nias was in ruins.

The hotel where we normally stayed in Gunung Sitoli was totally destroyed, and before we left the island even the ruins of the hotel had been tossed into the sea. Many bodies were still in the ruins, scavengers covered the ruins like flies, yet often next to ruins stood buildings that looked untouched by the devastation around them. Eerily, the earthquake had seemed to ravage certain areas while leaving others almost unscathed. This pattern of total destruction beside no apparent destruction gave birth to fantastic stories and lots of lousy theology. The simple truth was Nias had been hit by a horrible natural disaster, and on closer inspection many of the buildings that were still standing had suffered irreparable damage. This was often confirmed, as the daily dose of aftershocks would suddenly bring down the badly damaged structures.

These daily aftershocks helped contribute to the awful desperation we confronted on Nias. From the time we arrived on Nias until we left, desperate folks constantly accosted Brother Daley and me. Although the true numbers are difficult to determine, it is clear that a large portion of the 450,000 people who live on the island of Nias today find themselves without homes and no immediate source of income. Although before we left the island most of the people were receiving food donations, the real future problems of restoring the economy and rebuilding the destroyed island's infrastructure leave many of the people on Nias without much future hope. Limited supplies have lead to exorbitant prices and Brother Daley and I often cringed at the way we were unmercifully forced to pay three or four times the normal price. For the most part, Brother Daley and I distributed what money we had to folks that are in our churches. Yet, it was impossible to reject the constant voices that asked us to help. Desperate hands quickly absorbed the limited resources that Brother Daley and I possessed, and when we finally made it back to Medan, we were literally penniless.
Yet, the most depressing aspect of this natural disaster is the total despair demonstrated by the vast majority of the Nias people. The daily aftershocks combined with baseless predictions of greater imminent disasters have created a mass of people that are totally consumed with fear for their safety.

Practically, all of the Nias people are sleeping outdoors. Everywhere we went people have constructed shelters in which they live and sleep as they are consumed with fear whenever they enter a building. Over one thousand people per day are fleeing the island by whatever means possible. Everyday there seems to be some dire prediction that spreads among the people like wildfire. Most of the people will grab whatever they can carry and head for the hills in total panic. Although, technically, over 90% of the Nias people profess to be Christians, it is obvious that very few are real believers. Each evening Brother Daley, Brother Irie and I had opportunity to preach to folks that would gather in the open places around their villages and towns. Pray that many of these folks will truly find safety in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brother Daley and I will continue to try and direct aid to the island of Nias. We will direct any aid we receive in several directions. First of all we will aid the folks that are in our churches on Nias. All the church buildings were either totally destroyed or suffered heavy damage, and we would like to help them a least get some temporary structures up. At the same time we will try to help the church members develop ways to generate some sustainable income to see them through the difficult months ahead. Also we will continue our efforts to provide community aid in the Teluk Dalam and Gunung Sitoli areas.

There are several other prayer requests that I have. Please do not forget to pray for Pastor Hadir, his family and church in Sunter Jaya. Pastor Yusuf really needs your continued prayers as they are in the process of erecting a building for the Cibubur church. Finally, remember Elian's family and church in prayer, as Pastor Elian passed away this last week. Elian, who was one of our Bible school graduates, had started a church in Papua (West Irian).

It has been a very different year for us here in Jakarta. Pray that Lord will continue to use our lives in this needy land.

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

In Christ,