Dear Folks,

I send you greetings from Nias. I am once again involved in the thing that I like the least, traveling. However, the traveling has allowed me to be involved in several rewarding ministries. It truly is a joy to be a part of the ministry here in Indonesia.

On Friday morning, January 26, Pastor Markus and I left early in the morning for Nias. The trip is long and involves making good connections. All went as well as could be expected and Pastor Markus and I arrived in Medan about 11am after a two hour delay in Jakarta. Pastor Lukuman met us in Medan with our tickets for Nias, and told us we would need to hurry as the plane to Nias was about to leave. We rushed around, got our baggage checked and waited two more hours due to delays. Around 4pm we touched down at Binaka airport in Nias. It looked like transportation from the airport directly to Teluk Dalam was not available, so we took transportation to the main city of Gunung Sitoli. However, on the way to Gunug Sitoli, we were able to work a deal with our driver and he agreed to take us all the way to Soonegeu Baptist church in South Nias. After a long tiring journey we arrived at 7pm that evening. I was exhausted, but before I was able to take a bath and get in bed several folks had arrived. Long discussions continued and finally at 10pm, I excused myself and went to bed. However, before I went to bed I had committed to make the trip to Hilimondegeraya and Hilifalage to visit the churches there.

Gasing Up For Hilimondegeraya -(click image)

Early Saturday morning I was greeted by Amos from the village of Hilinawale Fau. This is one of the villages where we have placed a water filter. He wanted to discuss some problems that they were having with the generator. During the discussion, he offered to take me on his motorcycle to Hilimondegeraya. As it is a 8 kiliometer walk into the village, I agreed, little realizing that later I would wish that I had walked. I was able to rent another motorcycle for Pastor Erliaman, who pastors the work in Hilimondegeraya.

On The Road to Hilimodegeraya

We finally left for Hilimondegeraya around noon. It was a perilous journey which saw me off and on the back of the motorcycle as we pushed, pulled, lifted out of holes, but most of the time just tried to hold on for dear life. Two hours latter we finally arrived in Hilmondegeraya. The other motorcycle that was carrying Pastor Erliaman finally gave up the effort about 1 kiliometer out of Hilimondegeraya. The driver of the other motorcycle later had a bad fall as he returned to Teluk Dalam, putting himself in the hospital and totally destroying his motorcycle.

Tired, but eager to get started, Pastor Erliman and I bathed (in a bathroom next to the pigs) and began receiving guests. Several folks had gathered that wanted to talk to us and to whom we hoped to witness or strengthen their faith. I soon found that I was stuck meeting with the main men in the church who were interested in two main things, getting a generator for their village, and money for the church building.

I started out explaining to them that our church organization (GBII) here in Indonesia doesn't have any money, and they need to believe that the Lord would provide their needs through their own church or churches of like faith here in Indonesia. They were convinced that Pastor Erliaman had stole some of the money that I had sent to them, but I made it clear that it was my oversight not Pastor Erliaman. Clearly, I had just failed to send them the money, and I promised to send it to them when I returned to Jakarta.

There are many problems in this church, most of them originate from two problems. The church is built around one main family that has a lot of influence in the community. The main man in this family has professed Christ, but his leadership in the church knows nothing of Biblical principles. The second problem is the church building. The building was laid out by this man and some friends before they became Baptists. It is a huge church constructed with cement which suffered quite a bit of damage during the earthquake. At the time of the earthquake the church was only about one third built and the earthquake resulted in damage that would really require the whole church to be torn down and rebuilt. These folks cannot shake the idea that the church is the building, so Pastor Erliaman faces an uphill battle with the church.

Evening Service at Hilimondegeraya

However, all is not bad here. We had good services with lots of Bible questions. There have been several young families saved over the past few months and there are several folks that have presented themselves for baptism.

Sunday School	Adult Service
Pastor Erliaman	Some men at the church

After the morning service in Hilimodegeraya, we walked to Pastor Arohati's work in Hilifalage. By the time we reached Hilialage, I was covered with sweat and mud, other than that it was an easy hike.
Pastor Arohati took me to the river to bathe. A good portion of the village gathered to watch the missionary bathe. However, I'm not really a private type person and this is not the first time that I have bathed in front of a village. Oh, the bath felt good and I was ready to go.

Pastor Arohati

Church building in Hilifalge

Pastor Arohati took us down to the small building he and his folks have constructed. It is a small wooden structure that they built themselves using a huge tree that was located on their property.

Furthermore, Arohati has built a church of young families that are not linked through any of the main families in the village. Arohati's father is a member of another church and consequently he must oppose his son's church openly. Privately, he is proud of his son, but his opposition has made it possible for his son to build a church that really doesn't have the backing of any particular family in the community. There are 7 other churches in a community of 1800 people, and all the other churches have opposed the little Baptist church that Arohati has started. At one time Arohati had over 100 children attending his Sunday school, but now due to the open opposition of the other churches he has only 20 to 30 children. However, the 20-30 children in the Sunday school are there because they want to be there. In the end all the opposition has worked to Pastor Arohati's good. He now has about 8 good families in his church.

On Sunday evening we had a service at Pastor Arohati's father's home with well over 50 adults in attendance. We had good service with a long period of questions and answers after the service. A prominent member of the Salvation Army church attended the services apparently to question a lot of the doctrine that Pastor Arohati has been teaching. The question and answer time went well as I answered questions about salvation, the eternalness of salvation, how a person can know God, how a person can fellowship with God and various other questions. It was a good session.

This morning (Monday, January 29), we made the trip down the mountain on motorcycles. However, the trip down from Hilifalge was quite easy as the trail is well built.

We are now back at Pastor Formil's in Soonegeu.

Seminar - Pastor Markus

Today, Tuesday January 30, Pastor Markus began a seminar for the pastors and workers in South Nias with more than 30 workers in attendance. They come from 9 different churches: Soonegeu, Siforasi, Hilimodegeraya, Hilinifaeo, Gomo Lahusa, Sooto, Hilinawale Fau, Hilifalage, Gamo Gungung Sitoli. The names are difficult but the men are familiar as most of these men have been in my classes in Jakarta. The material that Pastor Markus is

Soonegeu Folks at Seminar	Siforasi Pastor Fama and wife
Hilinifaeo Pastor Saro wife and daughters	Gamo Lahusa who attended seminar
Sooto Pastor Wetis	Hilinawale Fau
Hilifalge Pastor Arohati	Gamo Gunung Sitoli
Attendees Seminar Soonegeu

covering is basic, but the reality of trying to start a church here in Nias has beat most of these men down to the place they have forgotten the basic principles that need to be developed in their lives if they are going to let God start a church through their ministry and not just labor with their own devices. The problems they face can only be defeated with a strong faith in God, His word, and His calling in their life.

The communities where they minister believe the church is a building and salvation is by works, which means attending church in a big building on Sunday, reading a passage of scripture at dusk and singing a song praising God. The singing is beautiful to hear, the attendance is nice, but few of these folks personally know the God they are praising in song each evening. Their daily lives reject most of God's word as being impractical in their lives, and their day-to-day decisions know nothing of walking in God's Spirit. Naturally, they lack all confidence of salvation and consequently their lives become continual periods of renewal and failure. Today, they believe 100% in God and are determined to change their lives, yet the next week they are depressed, drinking, smoking and living destructive lives in their homes and communities.

Pastor Formil wife and child

The problem does not end in the communities where these men minister, but much of the problem involves the whole island of Nias. The island is a Christian island where the vast majority of the people profess Christianity as their religion. This island was evangelized by some wonderful Christians from Germany. The missionaries that came here and evangelized this island were not professional people, but common folks who felt the call of God in their life. They were farmers, factory workers and other common folk who were saved and answered the call of God to spread the Gospel to this island. They evangelized this island starting in the late 1800's and by the 1920's had spread the Gospel to every part of this island. This island became a testimony to the power of the Gospel to make everything better. This island became an oasis for people from all over Southeast Asia to come and obtain the best medical help while enjoying the marvelous beauty of a tropical island in a total Christian setting. Yet, since the 1960's when the Indonesian government began to take over all the facilities of these islands, little by little the situation has completely changed. The beauty of the island is still here, but nothing else.

The decline of the spiritual health of the Nias people from the majority having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to a Christian religiosity is the result of the institutionalization of the church. The idealistic missionaries that came from Germany did a great job of evangelizing this island, but in the end, they planted the seeds of disaster by gathering the local churches into a synod. The churches no longer looked to their own community of believers for leadership or for the finances to support their church. Everything came from the synod: the leaders, the finances which were gathered locally but sent to the synod to be redivided to each church, only a minister from the synod could baptize or give communion. Baby baptism and belief that the Lord's supper was a sacrament became the doctrine of their church because the synod said that was how it should be. The next generation were born “Christians”, baptized as babies and told they were Christians. Slowly, almost everyone on the island became Christian but knew nothing of a new birth that would transform their life. They were and still are intensely religious, but lost.

There are several reasons for the decline of this island from an island paradise where the majority of the residents knew the Lord Jesus Christ personally to a poor Christian island where the majority of residents only know the religiosity of the Christian religion. Clearly the island has been marginalized by the central government, and clearly this marginalization was influenced because Nias was a large Christian island. However, much of the blame for the marginalization of Nias must be borne by the people of Nias themselves. The Nias people have refused to assimilate the Indonesian language into their culture. The result has been disastrous for them as the books used in their schools are all in the Indonesian language yet their grade school teachers continue to use the Nias language while teaching. As a result many of the Nias people are functionally illiterate in their own country. Anybody can see what the result has and will continue to be, Nias students are unable to compete in Indonesian schools of higher learning. Little by little the important positions in the local government, business, health and technical services have been taken by people from outside Nias. Moreover, the people of Nias find themselves with few people of any influence outside of the island. About the only place you will find a few Nias people of importance outside of Nias is in the Protestant division of the department of religion.

Many of the people that come from other areas of Indonesia to Nias are clear in their beliefs. For them, every person should live under Islamic law and every woman's head should be covered. For them the undisciplined lives of the Nias people can be cured by the application of Islamic law. For these fanatic Islamic people, they have no doubts about the rightness of their beliefs, their principles are absolute and their goal is clear. The normal Nias individual with no clear convictions, a traditional religion and limited literary skills is no match for these well educated fanatic Islamic people. Little by little the middle governmental positions, the businesses, and the technical jobs are being filled by these folks. Slowly, starting from the coastal areas the Nias people are losing the island they have known. Clearly, these fanatic folks will return this island to a paradise, but it will be an Islamic paradise with a sprinkling of quaint stone churches located in the central part of the island that will be visited by tourists.

Let me do a little free thinking. Years ago when I was a young man, I often read an illustration that pointed out why communists were successful in convincing people and Christians failed. The illustration pointed out that a few communists were able to defeat far larger groups because the communists knew they had a better plan for mankind and they were committed to their ideals. Communists were willing to sacrifice everything for their beliefs. They had no qualms in removing anybody or anything that stood in their way because they believed they were building a better society. Over the years I could watch the illustration unfold before my eyes. Then the wall fell in Berlin. Once again the great effort of mankind lay in ruins. Today, I watch the same thing at work on the island of Nias, a weak Christianity is slowly but surely being defeated by the strong idealism of the few that are sure they are leading mankind to a better society.

Years ago the communist illustration didn't lead me to give up following Christ or quit being a Bible believing Baptist. Some folks really don't like my insistence that what this island needs is God called independent Baptist preachers whose sole aim is to build good local Baptist churches. They say, lets just all work together and help these folks. I like to help, I have helped, I still try to help, but what the people of Nias need is to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally. They need to know that they have eternal salvation, that the scriptures are the pure absolute Word of God, and that they are the children of God placed in their village to declare the Gospel to the world. They need to have the confidence that God has called them to gather together to carry out the Great Commission in their community.

Last night, I taught a short class on preaching to the men that have gathered for the seminar. I enjoyed myself, however, I'm sure several of the men were not able to follow the presentation as they do not speak Indonesian and the lecture was not translated.

Tuesday afternoon, Amos Harifa came by with information about the generator that he has installed in his village. The generator comes with a water filter unit and he has installed the unit in his village of Hilinawlo Fau. On Thursday, I will travel there to see the situation.

Today, Wednesday, January 31, 2007, we are starting the second day of the seminar. Pastor Markus is sick, but he is teaching on dispensations. I'm not a believer in the seven dispensations as I only see two in the scriptures. However, this is a popular teaching we use to often hear. Most of the other missionaries teach the seven dispensations, and I don't make it a big issue. Of course, in my classes I teach them what I believe. I like the idea of the students getting a different view point on Bible issues as I think this does encourage them to search the scriptures themselves. Of course, I usually get of bit of my thinking into the discussion that always follows the teaching!

Bright and early this morning, Thursday, 1 February 2007, I walked 8 kilometers to the village of Hilinawlo Fau. I have placed a water filter with a 15,000 watt generator in this village. Pastor Saro and his wife went with me as Pastor Saro's wife is from this village. The trip took about 2 hours and we were met in the village by Amos Harifa who has promoted the water filter project in his village.

On the trail to Hilnawlo Fau

Filter in Hilinawlo Fau

Lunch in Hilinawlo Fau

Amos is an intelligent man who is quite capable of carrying out the project. He has got most of the village involved in the project. Over 100 men from the village carried a 1 ton generator and a three quarter ton filter over 2 kilometers to get them into their village. However, in the process the generator was damaged, but Amos with his buddy Hikayat tore the generator down and transported it into Teluk Dalam where the generator has been rewired and reworked to better withstand the conditions where it will be used. The community has already donated about $1,500 to the project and they are a bit antsy about contributing more to project. Thanks to Kelview Baptist Church I was able to donate $1,000 to helping them get the generator fixed and buying some cable.

Hililnawlo Fau

This project in Hilinawlo Fau has become a bit of a pilot project to get these units into high mountain villages. If this project works well, there are several other villages that would like to get one of the units. In anticipation, I have told the Water Missions organization folks that I would take two more of the units. I will need to get the units transported from Medan to Nias which will involve me coming up with $1,500.

However, the idea is that each village has to form a cooperative to move the unit to their village from the nearest place it can be dropped by a truck. The village must also develop a plan to operate the unit without any more aid from me! I am determined to stick to this plan and not accept any more requests until they supply me with the information that they have formed a cooperative and have at least $1,500 before the unit is dropped.

The really neat thing of this walk today is that we got a very good chance to witness while we were in the village. Pastor Saro and I had the opportunity to teach a good group of men about salvation and what a church is. At the same time Pastor Saro's wife was able to witness to her family and several ladies in the community. It is clear that we could start a church in this community, but the problem is a simple one – we really don't have anybody that could take responsibility for the work.

Tonight we are suppose to go to Teluk Dalam and preach to the folks there. Sad to say, that over the last 2 months the ministry in Teluk Dalam has been let go without anybody working with the folks there.

Teluk Dalam Service

Teluk Dalam Pastor Markus Preaching

We took two motorcycles into Teluk Dalam this evening arriving about 8:30 pm. Over 40 young people gathered for the service that was held on a volleyball court. Pastor Markus preached. There is a tremendous opportunity to have a good church right in Teluk Dalam which is the main town in South Nias. Some property has been given to us, over 25 adults have been baptized. The problem is that there just isn't anyone to take the work and work with it.

Today, Friday, 2 February, we made our way to Gunung Sitoli, the main town in North Nias. We have two good churches in the Gunung Sitoli area. We are staying at the main work that is in Gamo which is about 7 kilometers from Gunung Sitoli. This work has a nice building, and about 70 adult members. This work really got started due to the tsunami. Jim Daley, Larry Quinlan and I started coming to Nias to help after the tsunami. At that time one of our Bible school students, Julianus, was trying to start a work in Gunung Sitoli. After the huge earthquake we began to stay with the folks here in Gamo as accommodations were difficult after the earthquake. During that time about 20 adults received the Lord and finally decided that they wanted to start a Baptist Church. The church has done well, and another small but good church has been started in Botalakha which is about 20 kilometers from Gamo.

Gamo Gunung Sitoli Friday Prayer Service

Gamo folks presenting selves for Baptisim

The Church at Botalakha

When we arrived here this afternoon. Brother Luther, one of the good men in the church, invited us to his house as he wanted to complain about Pastor Julianus. Come to find out his complaints were substantial and could be substantiated. Pastor Markus and I immediately went and talked with Pastor Julianus about the problems. At first, he denied the whole situation, but later admitted that he had made a mess of his testimony among these people. He claims he wants to repent and will make it right with the people, and that's what the people seem to really want.

As I took my bath this evening I was totally depressed. It seems to me that Pastor Julianus should move on, but the truth is that we really don't have anyone that can come and take this work. The folks here are willing to accept Pastor Julianus because he is quite capable, but what they really need is a spirit filled pastor to lead them to live holy lives. What a mess! However, by the time I had finished my bath (actually a mandi – you just stand and throw water over yourself), God had touched my heart with the reality that these are His people and we need to trust Him to build His church. So this evening I preached to a good group of people out of Romans 6. That's all for this evening as I am being eaten alive by huge mosquitoes.

It is Monday, February 5, and I am sitting in the airport waiting room in Medan. Hopefully, in a few minutes we will be boarding the plane to go home to Jakarta. Seems, I have left out quite a bit that has happened the last couple of days. Let's see if I can get it all caught up.

On Saturday, Pastor Markus and I visited Brother Fauso. He is one of the main men in the church in Gunung Sitoli, and he has been quite sick. He wanted to talk about the situation with Pastor Julianus also, and his information confirmed much of what we had already heard. Also, for the most part the majority of the church would prefer if Pastor Julianus just moved on. Apparently Pastor Julianus has repeatedly told several of the folks in the church that he wants to become an evangelist.

On Saturday evening we made the trip to Bothalka to be with these folks also. Pastor Markus preached and in the following question time, he lost his temper with Pastor Julianus because he has basically ignored these folks. The sad thing is that there are 10 families who are members of the Bothalka church and they earnestly desire to have somebody help them study the scriptures. In the end we had a good time with the folks in Bothalka. There is one young man, Augustina, that would be a good prospect to become the pastor in Bothalka. However, he is still trying everything else, but so far everything he has tried hasn't worked out like he desired. Perhaps the Lord is trying to get his attention. We finally arrived back at Gomo about 11 pm on Saturday night. I got my bath and went to bed as we had a big day scheduled for Sunday.

Some folks attending dedication service

Choir from Soonegeu sings at Lahusa

Early Sunday morning we headed out for Lahusa, a town about 75 kilometers south of Gunung Sitoli. Going with us using various transportation was most of the church in Gamo, and most of the church in Bothalka. The folks in Bothalka rented and open back truck for the trip (six families, babies and all, loaded into a small pickup), while the folks in Gamo used private transportation and also rented two small minibuses to transport about 50 people. By 10 am folks from our churches all over Nias began to arrive in Lahusa for the ground breaking of the new church that has been started. The folks from Soonegeu rented a large open truck and they loaded over 50 members and lots of extra benches into the truck. Other churches came by minibus and motorcycles. By 11 am the folks had all changed clothes and walked one kilometer up the road to where the service was to be held. Well over 300 people gathered for the service. The service started with preaching, then a time of speeches by folks in the community, some cultural dances, a baby dedication service and then the folks that had recently been saved and wanted to present themselves for baptism were asked to come forward. I had the chance to question the baptismal candidates concerning their salvation in front of all the visitors. I explained baptism and carefully asked the folks one by one if they had personally professed Christ. The process took some time but it gave visitors a chance to hear these folks personally profess their faith in public. All of this was important as there are many churches in this village, but none of them knew anything about Biblical baptism.

Ground breaking Service at Lahusa

Pastor Markus ground breaking at Lahusa

Following the church acceptance to baptize the 20 candidates that had presented themselves for baptism, we moved to the lot where the church will build a building and had a brief ground breaking service. Following the ground breaking service the church served a meal. During the meal a heavy rain began to fall and I worried that all the folks would go home and not attend the baptism service. However, my fears were unfounded, and about 3 pm we headed to a local waterfall for a baptismal service.

I was totally unprepared for what we found when we reached the place for the baptism. A beautiful waterfall fell some 100 meters into a steep ravine. To reach the bottom of the waterfall involved a steep descent over rocky slopes that had been made quite slippery by the recent rain. But, descend we did and in the end had some 100 people down in the ravine to watch the baptism in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

Here is the baptismal pool	Pastor Markus	Pastor Markus with Ebet Helping
		Baptismal service proceeds
Watching from a distance

Back on top after the baptism

I was coated with mud and wet when we finally reached the top again, but we were all enjoying the fellowship too much to take thought of our tiredness at that moment. However, as we piled into our van for our trip home the tiredness overtook us and it seemed like an eternity to get back to Gunung Sitoli.

Arriving in Gunung Sitoli around 8 pm, we showered as Pastor Markus and I had scheduled a meeting with the men of the church to deal with the issue of Pastor Julianus. The meeting continued until 11 pm on Sunday evening, and hopefully, it produced some results. Pastor Julianus participated little and usually only to blame others, but the men of the church listened carefully to the Biblical qualifications of a pastor. It is God's work and we ultimately must leave it there.

This morning, Monday, we flew out of Gunung Sitoli to Medan. In Medan we were met by Brother Hirose and his wife, BBFI missionaries from Japan. They took us to their house for a time of fellowship. Also, on the way back to the airport we stopped to eat durian, and I got my wife a box of durian that I will take back to Jakarta – she loves it.

So hear I sit, the battery on my computer is about gone. Hopefully, we will head for Jakarta in a few minutes.