The light is in Christ
Revelation in the Heavenly Father
Walk in the Holy Spirit
Moving in the Gospel
I. The Light is in Christ
Unexpectedly, God once again blessed us with a breakthrough method! Running a Christian school in Indonesia allows the gospel to take root in children's hearts as soon as possible and hopes to reach Muslims. The school's position is to preach the gospel directly.
A. Muslim adults and children are in front of you
One day a mother arrived angrily with her son, Nobel, and asked to be admitted. With tears in her eyes, the mother pleaded with the school to take in her son because his parents were divorced and his son did not have to go to school, and he became increasingly eccentric and uneducated. When the teacher talked to Nobel and asked about his faith, he answered that he was a Muslim! The Indonesian government does not stipulate that children must receive a kindergarten education, so registering is unnecessary and a waste of money. But Nobel will be enrolled in Primary One in the new semester in July.
Now that Nobel has been enrolled for about a month, thank God, the school reports that Nobel has begun to pray in the name of Jesus Christ!
Another Muslim adult was the school's security guard. Mr. Senen is in his fifties. He came to the school for some time and did not resist the Christian gathering of the school. We want Jesus to come into personal contact with Senen as He did so that He could know the true God!
B. Visiting a Muslim orphanage
Running an orphanage has always been difficult, requiring a lot of resources and education. The Muslim orphanage near Light & Hope School has lost ample funding due to the pandemic, so when we saw that our Christian education team was willing to lend a hand, we gladly accepted it. In addition to delivering food, Light & Hope school teachers also designed six courses, including personal hygiene, social interaction, language, etc. They visited once a month, hoping to open the door to the gospel in the future.
C. Poor Muslim households
One parent wanted us to support a single-parent Muslim family. The family's husband slipped away, leaving the woman facing five children. Because of the large number of children and the young age, the woman cannot go out and work, and it is conceivable that her pressure is not slight. But this is a challenge for us because poverty alleviation requires strategy, and the other party only needs material support; plus, we do not know her Muslim background, so we cannot rush to agree to the funding. Missionaries proposed to use the money left over from other ministries as emergency food aid. We pray to the Lord for wisdom in how to deal with this.
II. Revelation in heavenly Father
This year's Lunar New Year is different. Everyone hopes that the day of freedom will come soon and life can return to the right track. But the days of waiting are not easy, especially the empty and rambling waiting. In the days of strict social distancing, people have less dinner and less tourism; economic motivation is seriously hindered.
"Brothers, be patient until the Lord comes. Behold, the farmer waited patiently for the precious produce in the field until the autumn rains and spring rains were reached.
Blessed are those who endured before; we call them. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know the end that the Lord gave him; it is clear that the Lord is full of mercy and mercy. 」
James 5 :7，11
A. The farmer endures producing
God inspired me to use my free time to write about the Light and Hope school establishing process. I knew in my heart that I would bear witness to God, but I was afraid of the complexity and dullness of the writing, so I kept procrastinating. But God kept pushing, so I obeyed. Thank God for his grace so that the writing process flows smoothly and takes less than a week to complete.
But I never expected to run into a problem with the printing company. I remember mentioning in the January newsletter that there was one print shop to cut the price by 40% and took my small order. Finally, when I handed in the manuscript, they proofread it but suddenly couldn't publish a book for me, saying that publishing religious books in Hong Kong would cause trouble! I didn't lose my temper; I didn't question. I just said yes. I wonder why there is such a reaction.
I found another print shop, but their price was super high, and I couldn't cope. Finally found another one on the Internet, although the advertisement is doing very well. Still, after contact, their work is not dealing with their promotion. The email, and the phone, have no one to answer. If I do not rely on prayer, I must be worried.
One day God's Word came, asking me to take a picture of the printed book and send it to the company that had previously quoted the wrong price. Oh, I see. God wanted me to testify. I pointed out to the offerer that many religious books were published in Hong Kong, but I accepted his "special answer" to understand that he was wronged. The quoter replied apologetically and thanked me for my understanding and tolerance. Because of God's peace, I can tolerate and appreciate his sufferings, and I hope he will one day know the true God.
B. Job was blessed by patience
Light & Hope School went through a year without any students and was finally ready to enroll in early 2021. However, the epidemic in Batam is still in the high-end red alert zone, and the enrollment progress is not ideal. Fortunately, we have a good team, and teachers are willing to shoulder the responsibility of promotion. They are constantly promoting on their social media and even handing out leaflets throughout the districts. The earlier introduction I made for the school was also printed, and the teachers brought back their churches and tried to promote them! Finally, God had unexpected blessings and gave the school team a shot in the arm!
A father came with his son to sign up, and he and his son liked the school environment. It turned out that he was the head of the online newspaper, and he took the initiative to suggest that it should be promoted for the school. He then sent reporters to visit the Principal and the head of Solar Act Batam. The reporter is also a Christian. She not only appreciates the school's environment and facilities but also agrees with the school's philosophy and vision!
III. Walk in the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit gives wisdom to the truth and to ward oneself away from evil. At the same time, the nine attributes of the fruit of the Holy Spirit teach people to draw near to God, love the Lord, and love people in the image of God.
A. Caring missionaries
Under the epidemic situation, many missionaries have returned to Hong Kong from the workshop. Still, some ready to leave the workshop have not yet set off on a definite date because of the epidemic. Some missionaries in Hong Kong began to face financial pressure because their workplaces were overseas. Still, in Hong Kong, they have considered only part-time jobs, so their salaries were reduced. The missionaries were anxious to leave the workshop; now, it was as if they should not be paid if they did not work. However, missionaries return to Hong Kong to report for duty, and often they have to run around to share or understand, etc., the workload is heavy and heavy, but there is no compensation. Seeing these unbalanced burdens and lives, we made a short cartoon film on "How to Care for Missionaries," hoping to attract everyone's attention and reflection.
Using cartoons rather than live-action pictures or videos is not intended to cause unnecessary misunderstandings in individual churches or institutions. But here's the problem: we have to find the right but not too expensive software and learn to use it again! It's not a pleasure! Thank God, Who made me stumble on the Internet to find cheap and suitable software and gave me the wisdom to learn the necessary skills in one day and conceive the content quickly. When the short film was made, it got a good response!
B. Walk southeast, northwest, southeast
The new book was written and printed under God's protection. The good news is that many orders have been received in a short period. In less than two weeks, we had sent a hundred new books! As planned, due to social distancing controls, we would send them by post; but I did not expect that the postage would be costly with such great demand. So the final decision was to drive ourselves to deliver because it was more cost-effective! The Holy Spirit walked with us, made the traffic smooth, and the building administrator did not stop him. Even if the recipient is at home, they talk directly to the administrator, and everything is solved!
IV. Moving in the Gospel
The gospel saves people and gives them new life. The gospel makes people no longer live in darkness but can abandon night and cast light!
However, churches cannot have physical meetings during the epidemic, and most of them have moved to the Internet. The Indonesian maid work supported by the Solar Act cannot be broadcast live online sermons or prayers because of the limited conditions. Even if there were, not many Indonesian maids would watch it. The reason is that Indonesian maids will take advantage of the holidays to go out and will not use telephone data outdoors to participate in online worship, increasing their financial pressure.
Seeing this, the Indonesian missionary couple would gather the congregation back to the square outside the "Pak Tin Center" and arrange for them to sit separately and pray two or two prayers. Missionaries continue to lead meetings, preach and lead poems.
Indonesian maids attach great importance to fellowship life, so missionaries and members will go on outdoor outings to different attractions to help Indonesian maids reduce work stress and have healthy social activities.
In short, although the environment changes, the motivation and will to evangelize will not change. Indonesian missionaries teach us that God will be perfect if we have a heart!