Dear Friends,

Greetings from Jakarta. Janice and I want to thank all of you folks for your faithful prayers for us over the past couple of months. During these past couple of months, Janice and I have been deeply involved in my least favorite activity – traveling.

It's not that I don't like meeting folks, preaching meetings or visiting my churches, it's just the traveling. When we arrived back in Jakarta from our last furlough in 2004, I was determined that the Bible school here in Jakarta would be the center of all my activity and that I would not let anybody extend the circle beyond the Bible school to be more than a 45 minute motorcycle ride. Ah, life was going to be good.

Like most of my plans, this one just hasn't worked out. It started with the tsunami and earthquake in North Sumatra. The island of Nias located off the west coast of North Sumatra is a bit more than a 45 minute motorcycle drive from the Bible school in Jakarta, in fact, it is a hard day of tricky air traveling that often leaves me stranded in Medan, North Sumatra. This trip leaves me exhausted, often frustrated and always vowing to not make it again. Yet, over the past couple of years I have made it at least 10 times. During that time, I have been involved in getting two good churches started in North Nias, helping in seven churches in South Nias and providing humanitarian aid to people in South Nias. I may not have enjoyed the trips, but the results have been most satisfying. I will be making more of the cursed trips to Nias.

As if Nias wasn't bad enough there is also Batam island where Pastor Andar has started a good church. This young man with his family was sent out of the Cipulir church here in Jakarta. He is persistent, a pest, always bugging me about coming to help him in Batam. He grates on my nerves, but Janice and I have made several trips to Batam island. Now Batam island is a paradise compared to Nias, but it is still a trip and I try my best to avoid the trip to Batam. However, the church has done well, it has grown and Andar has now started teaching some Bible school courses to some prospective Bible school students that are in his church. Alas, Janice and I will spend the first week of December on Batam island. This means I have to get my final tests at the Bible school here in Jakarta all sorted out early. Why do I get into these things? The church in Batam is really a thrill, that's why!

Then to top all things off, Janice's sister, Arlene, who was struggling with leukemia, requested Janice to return to States. The request couldn't have come at a worse time as we were in the process of fixing up our house. Things were a mess, and Janice was determined that she would not make the trip by herself. I was determined to not leave Jakarta as I was in the middle of a semester and I knew a trip to Nias was coming up the first week of October during semester break. In the end, I committed to return to the States five days before we left. We left Jakarta on the 31st of August and made ten plane trips before returning to Jakarta the 9th of October. The trip was not only tiring, but left both Janice and I emotionally drained. On the 28th of September, Arlene Sutton, passed away. The following Tuesday, I officiated at Arlene's funeral service.

Yet, the trip to States had it's bright sides. Bob and Tracy McClendon and the folks at Village East Baptist Church provided spiritual and financial support while we were in Denver. Bob and Tracy just hung out with us to help us through a very difficult time. Tracy gave us her car to drive while in Denver and the folks at Village East provided a motel room where Janice and I could retreat and recoup.

In Colorado, we were able to visit with my sister and brother-in-law in Canon City. Wayne, my brother-in-law is going through difficult health issues. He was going to get a hip replacement, but had a heart attack right before the operation, so instead he had to have a heart operation. He is still suffering with his hip, but must wait until his heart heals. Please remember to pray for Sue and Wayne.

While in Virginia, we were able to be with our home church, Great Hope Baptist, in Chesapeake. We were able to enjoy the annual church wide barbecue while catching up with all the news. Pastor Godfrey and folks gave us a warm welcome and a nice check to help with the trip.

I must mention that we were able to be with three of our children while in the states. We stayed with Jeff, Jennifer and their children (got to see the grand children) in Massachusetts, Sam and Alyssa in Connecticut and Jana in Virginia.

Course all of this travel not only makes us tired, but depletes the finances. One of my goals when I returned from furlough in 2004 was to get one month ahead in my finances. Seemed like that would be easy with my plan to plant in Jakarta and not be moved. I'm still not a month ahead in my finances, but you folks have helped keep us current! What more could we really want. Thank you for your faithful financial support. We do appreciate you folks.

Now I know the folks at Calvary Baptist in Sterling, Kansas will be able to appreciate the following picture – our new roof! We now have this nice roof over our heads, however, it doesn't do much to mute the noise from the mosque in the background. We are still working on our house, but hopefully there won't be any more delays and we will soon have it all fixed up.

One other thing that I would like to mention is that during our travels our email got totally messed up. If you wrote and I did not respond, it was because I did not get the message. Both the tjcford@telkom.net address and the tjcford@gmail.com address were down at different times over the past couple of months. It seems that the tjcford@gmail.com address is working properly again, so it would probably be best to use that address or use the email address on my letterhead tjeford@cbn.net.id . (Note it is tje not tjc)

Once again, a big thanks to all of you folks for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ,