Dear Friends,

Janice and I send you greetings from Jakarta . The last few weeks have mostly been filled with teaching and working with the Bible school students. To say the least, I have enjoyed this time. I'm not sure how much the students have learned, but my heart has been thrilled again as I taught the life of Christ, the doctrine of Christ, I Corinthians and Galatians. I'm humbled anew as I consider the incarnation, the atonement, the resurrection and the Word that willingly tabernacled among us. I rejoice in knowing that I am His child, a saint called to proclaim His glorious gospel of grace; and I've once again been challenged by the tender nudging of the Holy Spirit to faithfully live the pilgrim life while looking for His sure return. Now, Janice would remind me at this point to skip the sermonizing and get to the point. The point is simple, we appreciate you folks, covet your prayers and we do want you to know what is going on in the work here in Jakarta !

The news from the churches here in Jakarta is a mixed bag. Pastor Hadir at the Sunter Jaya church just needs your continued prayers. Basically, the church is dead. It appears they only have services if I am present. It's not that the core people have left, they just want Pastor Hadir to leave. Please continue to pray for this work. Also, pray for the Cibubur work (Pastor Yusuf) and the Pelumpang work (Pastor Munjait) as their works aren't doing much. Then there is the good news. Pastor Raso and the folks at Cileduk just continue to grow, the Cipulir work is doing well, and the Cijantung work is a joy. These last three works have all had folks saved and baptized over the past few weeks.

The government has finally finalized a nasty bylaw that makes it extremely difficult for small churches (less then100 adult people) to have a legal church building. Actually, the law makes it very difficult for any minority religion to have a legal place of worship. Most of our churches here in Jakarta do not have 100 adult believers, and all of our churches are located in areas where Islam is the major religion of the residents. The irony of this is that all of our churhes are legal, and they supposedly all have the right to gather and worship. How all of this will work out is difficult to ascertain. Our believers here are very concerned. Pray that the Lord will give them strength in these difficult times.

The Bible school is going well. We have a good group of students this year. Besides teaching my Bible classes, I have worked on installing a linux computer lab at our Mampang campus while upgrading the computers we have at the Palmerah campus. On Tuesdays and Saturdays I run computer classes. I'd like to tell you that my computer classes are going as well as my Bible classes, but that isn't the case. Lots of frustration, but hopefully, in time they will learn to not only use the applications, but know how to actually set up a linux system. The students at the Palmerah campus prepared a nice presentation for a recent city wide youth meeting using the open office impress presentation program. So, little by little we may be getting there.

Dedicating the church building in North Nias

During our mid semester break, Pastor Markus and I traveled to Nias island to dedicate the church building in Gunung Sitoli. The trip, from beginning to end, was a disaster: lost tickets, cancelled flights, disgruntled pastors, and snarled traveling conditions that left us stranded in a river in Nias and traffic gridlock in Jakarta . Yet, in the end, the Lord blessed as 300 people attended the four hour dedication service for the building in Gunung Sitoli, the head government official of a village that has in the past forbid us to evangelize near his village received Christ, 16 adults were baptized in the Gunung Sitoli church, and 14 adults were baptized in the Soonegeu church in South Nias. Please remember to pray for our churches and pastors in Nias.

Also while we were in Nias, we hiked to a village nestled in a beautiful mountian valley where we have been asked to install a water filtration system. It looks to me like it would be impossible to transport the filters over the difficult terrain, but the folks in the village assure me they will take full responsibility for getting the filters from the nearest road to the village. Also, they sweetened the offer by promising to allow us to hold evangelistic meetings in the village while we are installing the filters.

Janice and I are fine. Next month we will have to start working on extending our visas. This only comes around once every five years, but it involves a lot of extra time. We will need to get our passports extented first, then begin to work on the local papers. Also, the contract on the house where we are living is coming due this summer. Right now our present house leaks when it rains, is eaten out with termites, and the ceramic tile on the floor is coming loose. It reminds me of that song, This old house . Obviously, Janice is not happy with all these conditions, and she really expects me to do something about it! Hmm, perhaps I will buy her a tool kit. Actually, we would appreciate if you would remember to pray that the visa extention will go smoothly and that at our housing situation can be resolved in a timely manner.

For your faithful prayers we are truly thankful.

In Christ,