Dear Friends,

Janice and I send you greetings from Jakarta. We do want to thank all of you folks for your faithful prayers over the past couple of months. There is a lot of news to share with you, so let's get started.

Back in July 2007, I first wrote to you about the project to put a Bible into the hands of each junior high student on the island of Nias. The total amount of Bibles needed to do the project has continued to change. First we thought we needed 20,000 Bibles, then it became clear we needed at least 30,000. Last week I ordered another 5,000 Bibles. Today, even as I am writing this letter, I have received a fax informing me that we will need to order another 7,000 Bibles to complete the project (total 47,000 Bibles). You folks have been wonderful in providing the funds for us to pay for these Bibles. But more important you have prayed for the distribution of these Bibles, and this last month I had the joy of taking part in placing some of those Bibles into the hands of junior high students, seeing their joy and hearing them say, "Thank you, Mr."

On July 18, my fellow missionary Jim Daley and I met a team of pastors from America in Medan, North Sumatra. The team was led by Alan Brooks, BIMI assistant director for Southeast Asia, who had brought four pastors with him to help in distributing the Bibles. All the pastors (Don Smith, Denny Patterson, Mark Falls and Vincent Estill) had led their churches to take part in providing funds for the Nias Bible Project, and now they wanted to take part in the distribution of the Bibles. Over the next 18 days we distributed almost 19,000 Bibles in 46 junior high schools throughout Nias island. At each junior high school we: would have a short message where we clearly explained God's plan of salvation, have a brief prayer time where we encouraged the young people to personally receive the Lord Jesus Christ, present a special Bible to the headmaster of the school, and then distribute the Bibles individually to each of the students. It was a wonderful experience, and I do wish that each of you could have been there to take part.

After my return to Jakarta, I got the next 10,000 Bibles headed toward Nias. As I am writing the Bibles are on a truck headed to Nias Island. Brother Bazatulo Telaumbanua (Ama Luther) who has led and organized the distribution of the Bibles in Nias already has 61 more junior high schools awaiting the arrival of the Bibles. Over the next few weeks, Ama Luther, and his fellow members of Eksodus Independent Baptist church in Gunung Sitoli plan to distribute these Bibles to the different schools.

I have also ordered 12,000 more Bibles to be printed. The Indonesian Bible Society has informed me that these Bibles will not be ready until the middle of December. Lord willing, we will be able to distribute these 12,000 Bibles in South Nias around the first of next year. We do need you folks to continue you help. First of all, notice the new payment schedule. Right now we

have enough money to make the first payment on this group of 12,000 Bibles. However, we also have to pay for another 80 Bibles that we will give to the headmasters ($1,800). I also need to pay for the truck that will be used by the Gunung Sitoli church for the distribution of the 10,000 Bibles that are en route to Nias ($1,325).

Secondly, pray for the young people that have received the Bibles. Pray that God will raise up a generation of young people totally committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nias is a failed Christian society - that's right, a failed Christian society. Although ninety percent of the Nias people profess to be Christian, most are devoid of any spiritual strength. The Nias people are no match for the bright, well educated Islamic young people that are step-by-step taking over their island. The older Nias people complain bitterly that they are being discriminated against (they are), they complain that they are poor (they are), they complain about everything and then stick their hand out to whomever comes by. How do we change the situation? We raise up a generation of young people who know the Lord Jesus Christ, and who can take their Indonesian Bible and show their Islamic friends how they too can know the Lord Jesus Christ and have eternal life. My prayer is that the Lord will raise up a generation of Nias young people that will carry the gospel not only to their own island of Nias but to people all over this great archipelago.

By the time that I returned from Nias, the Bible school had already started a new semester, so I need to catch up on my classes for this semester. I have a good group of students in my classes, but only a couple of new students. While in Nias, several young people expressed interest in attending our Bible school. Pray that the Lord will send us students that He has called.

For the most part our churches here in Jakarta are doing fine. They face a lot of opposition right now, and as we are heading into the fasting month, they do need your prayers. This last Sunday, Janice and I were with the Cipulir Baptist Church for their 33rd anniversary. This is the first church we started here in Jakarta, and this year the young families in the church were in charge of the program. They had me preach and then they presented Janice and I with a pencil caricature of the two of us. They said they just wanted to give us something that was funny. Janice thinks they didn't get something right with her? What do you think?

I do want to remind you that we are planning to be in the States starting in September 2009 through April 2010. If you would like to have me come to your church on a special date, or for your missions conference please drop me an email at tjcford@gmail.com as soon as possible. We are looking forward to sharing the work the Lord has done and is doing here in Indonesia.

Janice and I both want to thank you for all the birthday cards you sent our way. We do appreciate your thoughtfulness toward us.

For your faithful financial support and prayers over the past two months we are thankful.

In Christ,