Dear Friends,

Janice and I send you greetings from Jakarta. Over the past few weeks I have spent a good portion of my time in Nias working with the churches and also the water filtration plants. The churches in Nias are doing good, but the water filtration plants continue to be a headache! However, I don't want you folks to forget the work in Jakarta which is facing real challenges. So, there is lots of news (good and bad), a lot of prayer requests, and a desire to once again share with you folks how much you are appreciated.

The work here in Jakarta is doing good for the most part. I would ask you to pray for the two struggling works, Sunter (Pastor Hadir) and Pelumpang (Pastor Munjait). Both of these works are slowly dwindling away. Both have a couple of faithful families left, but that is about it. Both are located in areas where they should grow!

Then, please don't forget to pray for our churches that are facing opposition from fanatic elements. Pastor Raso's church in Cileduk is under attack and several other of our Jakarta pastors are spending major portions of their time trying to keep the fanatics from closing down their churches. One point, I would like you to understand is that all of our churches here in Indonesia are legal churches. The problem is not that we do not have permission to meet as a church, but that the buildings we are using are not registered as church buildings. It is extremely difficult to get permission to have a church building in the greater Jakarta area. Fanatics have been using a governmental decree (not a law) issued in 1979 that forbids the use of homes as churches. Using this decree, many churches have been forcibly closed within the past few months with the aid of the local government and the police. Pray for these embattled churches as they seek to preach the gospel. The gospel sure stirs up a storm!

The churches in Nias are doing good. One of the real joys of working with aid projects in Nias has been that I have been involved in getting two churches in the Gunung Sitoli area started. Both of these churches are doing well, however, the work in Botalakha really needs more attention. We provided Bibles for the folks in Botalakha, and they started in Genesis reading through their Bibles together. Each time that I go there, I spend several hours answering Bible questions. These folks really want somebody to come and teach them, however, the problem is transportation, or the lack thereof. Pastor Julianus is the only minister we have in the Gunung Sitoli area, and it is impossible for him to regularly travel back and forth to Botalakha using public transportation. He needs a motorcycle! I would appreciate any help you could give him in getting the motorcycle.

On the horizon, I'm preparing for a medical team that will visit Nias in November. Operation Renewed Hope plans to bring a medical team (about 23 people) to South Nias where we will hold medical clinics in several village areas. The team will consist of doctors (several from Panama), dentists and Dr. Tom Ferrell, an evangelist. The evening before each clinic we will hold evangelistic meetings and then have the clinic the following day. Many things need to come together to make these clinics productive for the ministry in Nias. The medical supplies need to be transported to the various villages, the Nias pastors will need to get the clinic areas set up, transportation and sleeping facilities will need to be provided for the team, translators will need to be provided, and it would be nice if we had decent weather. I do covet your prayers for this project. I have never done anything like this in my ministry, but I do feel it can be a real blessing for the Nias people and the folks in our churches in South Nias.

On the home front, Janice and I are fine. I would ask you to pray for my health as I have battled the flu recently. Janice keeps me well dosed with her huge array of vitamins, home remedies, folk medicine, local remedies and other well attested medical remedies. So, with your prayers, I should arrive back in Nias super healthy!

For your faithful prayers over the past month we are truly thankful.

In Christ,