Evans Steve 1991 Indonesia

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ST VV NS

Short term ssociateIndonesia


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Steve Evans will serve for two years with the Indonesia Teamas a science teacher at Central Java Inter Mission School.Steve s placement at JIMSwill fill an urgent need. He isqxialified to serve as teaching staff and qualified to serve as acaring Christian model to the students at JIMSPlease pray for Steve s:

Language and cultural adjustment. Physical emotional and spiritual well-being.

Financial and prayer partners.

Christian Missionary FellowshipP.O. Box 26306 Indianapoli s IN 46226-0306317 542 ^256


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STEVE EVANSShort term Assis tant to Indonesia

October 1991Dear Friends,Greetings from Salatiga AsI writetoyou I have completed my firstmonthofliving and serving ourLord hereinIndonesia. I must say that I amfeehng quite satisfied with thehfehere. I continue to remain veryhealthy;the newclimate and foodshave so far beenpleasant. And, mystudents as well as th e localIndonesians have been friendly to me.The Lordhas been sogood during thisentire transition. Thank youforthemany prayers onmy behalfduringthis time.There havebeen a number ofthingsthat I havehad toadjust tohere inIndonesia. The language barrier, ofcourse, is an obvious onethat Ianticipated. My language learninghasbeen going slowly so far because ofthe timeand energy that I havehad toconcentrate onmy teaching role.Nowthat two and one-halfweeks of schoolhavegone by, I am adjustedtomyteaching loadandam ready to pick upthe pace onmy language study.Another big adjustment wasgettingused totheprayercalls at 4:20 everymorning. There are many smallMuslim mosques scatteredthroughout Salatiga, andmany ofthem have excellentloudspeaker

Central Java Inter Mission SchoolP .O . B ox

Salatiga JatengIndones ia

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP PrayerNewsletter

systems. Thisis just oneofthereminders that Indonesia is anIslamic country.Therehave been some changes that Ihave experienced inthe field ofteaching. Some ofthese havepresenteda challenge. Others . -vare no sweat.I am now an officialguru. No,I havecertainly not becomea Hindu master ofmeditation. Rather,the Indonesian titlefor teacher happenstohegurul mmw

with some language barriers. Only35of the 101 students are American. Ifone includes th e few Australian andNewZealander students, westill haveless than half of the students whoseprimary language isEnglish. Alarge

Second- and third-grade Physical Education students pose infrontofbanana plants at the elementary school. They enjoy relay racesand playing games such asCat Rat, Tag, andDrop theHandkerchief.

I have also become an ^uncle to 1 1 children ^At theCentralJava Second-and thirdInter-Mission School ofbanana plants(CJIMS), the andplaying istudents call meUncle Steve. Thissystem ofreferring toteachers asauntand uncle dates backto the verybeginning ofthe school when therewere only 17 students and3 teachers.The biggest changes that I haveexperienced are my teaching load andsome language barriers. The schoolenrollment jumped over 20 from lastyear.That plus some turnover inteaching staffcaused ourentire stafftodemonstrate a great amount offlexibility. For example, my teachingloadincludes just oneScience class.One of the Science teachers from lastyear remained onboard andis

number ofour students this year arefrom Korea, Japan, andTaiwan. Mostofthemhave a good graspoftheEnghsh language, but a few Asianstudents who have chosen to enrollpossess very hmited capabilities inspeaking and comprehendingEnglish. Fortunately, we have otherstudents whocan interpret for usineach of these situations.Another interesting facet about ourstudentbody is that over 30 ofthe 101children are NOT missionary kids(MKs). Their parentsareworking inIndonesia in business-related areas.


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day begins at 7:45 a.m. witha15-minuteassemblytime formorningdevotions. On Mondays andWednesdays, the Elementarystudents jointhe Junior and Senior

The irwst difficult thingaboutvolleyball is untangling thenet

Indonesian Bible)so that I can followalong with the Scripture readings. Ithen open my EngHsh Bible andtranslate back-and-forth so that I canat least become famihar with th eScripturetext.I During the week I listen to sermon tapes/ -' -Wl that one of the

famihes receives fromjiwr^ their church back inthe States

develop friendshipswith two of th e sons of- ^ our Indonesianminister. They are

both young men who can speak very clear^ * I ngHsh their namesingling the net areMartono andMaryono.This pastweekthey cametomy house and started teaching mehow to play theguitarto some ofthesongs we singat church. Bothofthemplay during theworship time. Theguitar is the only instrumentthat isbeingusedwith ourworship. Martonowould likeme tojoin them once Ilearn to playthe songs well enough.It would beveryoutofcharacterforme if I failed to make mention of theflora andfaunaofthis tropical island.In the small yard around my houseIhave some banana plants, papayatrees, poinsettia shrubs,hibiscus, andseveral other varieties offloweringbushesthat produce a continualsupply ofbrightly colored blossoms.Coconut trees ar e also abundantthroughout the neighborhood.I havebeenfascinatedby the animallife, too. For example, this countryhosts some rather large cockroaches.The few that I have seen were aboutthe sizeofa largepotato chip. Theywere probably just as crunchy, tooEarly onemorningseveralof usteachers cameacross a large, blackscorpion lying along the edge ofthesidewalkat school. This five-inch longspecimen made the scorpions that Iused to see in Oklahoma look Hkeants. Wecaughtit, showed it to the

High students for this gathering.Weusually start bysinginga couple ofpraisechoruses. I havebeen abletosharemyguitar playing abilityinleadingthese songs.Some of our students live in th edormitories either full-timeor justduringthe weekdays. Oneofthedorms has a concretevolleyball/basketball courtin its playarea. The Junior and SeniorHighboys and girls like touse it after schooland on weekends for recreation. Thereseems tobe an interest especiallyamong someofthe Asian students involleyball. I appearedat the dormafter school one day and ended uphelping themset up the volleyball net;then I decided to stay and play. I wasable to show a few of th e kids how toimprove their game. Several timessincethen I have heard, Hey UncleSteve, willyouplay volleyball withus?Attending worship service withtheIndonesians has proven tobeunique.The church that I attend meets at 6:30a.m.Theserviceusually is finishedbyaround 8:15 These times work outquitewell since itis somuchcoolerearly in the mornings. I amunable tounderstand the sermons, but I haveobtained a copy oftheAlkitab (the

students, then made a preservedspecimen outofit for our science room.Not all of the wildlife is as dreadful asthe crittersihai I have just mentioned.Inmynext letter perhapsI will tellyouaboutsomething a bitmoregentle.Asyou can see a verybusyandchallenging school year liesaheadofme. I thank you foryour support inthis work to which God ha s called me.Many missionaries feel much morecomfortable serving here in Indonesiabecause ofthe confidence that theyhave in CJIMS meeting theeducational needs of their children Icontinue to ask for your prayersconcerning myworkand the workofthe entireCJIMS staff.Also please bein prayer for the following needs: The students who are strugglingwith the English language at

CJIMS The students who do not yet knowJesus Christ Mylearning ofthe Indonesianlanguage. RAIN: the dry seasonhas gone ontoolong and has become a droughtin many places. Indonesian farmersand villagersin somelocationsstrugglewith a water shortagebecause they have seen norain infour months

In Christ's Love,

Steve Evans

Loaded coconut trees and a bamboo fencesurround one ofthe many small mesjids(mosques) inSalatiga. Thisam sitsacrossfrom thebackyard ofthesecoiidary school.


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STEVE EVANSShor t- te rm Ass istan t to Indones ia

Cen t ra l J a v a In ter -Miss ion SchoolP.O. Box 4 2Salatiga, Jateng

I n d o n e s i a

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Prayer NmsletterN o v e m b e r 1991Dear Friends,Greetings from Java,I ndones ia . We a r e now a t t h ebeginning ofour second quarterh e r e a t C e n t r a l J a v aInter-Mission School (CJIMS).We just recently held an openhouse with parent-teacherconferences. It was good to beable to meet the parents ofsome ofmy students and sharew i t h t h e m a b o u t t h e i rchildren s progress in school.The v i s i t I h a d w i t h t h e m o th erof one of our Japanese childrenillustrates well the impactCJIMS is having on ourstudents. It was so exciting andencouraging fo r me to hear thiss tu d en t s m o t h e r t a l k a b o u thow wonderfu l C JI M S w as forher daughter, Naomi.N a o m i e n r o l l e d i n C JI M S l a s tFebruary. Her parents are no tmissionaries, but a re located inIndonesia through a business.Before coming to CJIMS,Naomi had been in Japaneseschools in Japan as well asIndonesia. She did n o t like h e rteachers, was very timid inclass, and did not do well.Since moving to CJIMS,Naomi's grades have improved,she enjoys her teachers, and

her Enghsh has become muchstronger. Since she is afull-time boarding student, shegets to live with a great groupof girls and has a wonderful setof Christian dorm parents.According to her mother,Naomi is now a very differentperson. As icing on the cake, itwas my pleasure to informN a o m i s m o t h e r t h a t h e rdaughter was receiving A s inboth ninth grade science andAlgebra I.It is true that CJIMS's primarypurpose is to minister tomissionary families. (And thattask is defmitely beingaccomplished.) But with the30% e n ro l lm e n t o f non-missionchildren like Naomi, theC h r i s t i a n s t a f f a t CJIMS a r eput in another importantposition. When students beginto like their teachers and enjoyschool, they will certainlybecome more open to the ChristWho is working through such adedicated group of teachers.I have not ye t spent much timedescribing to you what life isl i k e h e r e i n I n do n e si a so Iwould like to share with you avariety of sights and soundsthat are truly typical to Java,I n d o n e s i a

My neighbor's fighting cockscrowing a s ea rly a s 4 a.m.The sun always ris ing around5:00 a.m. and setting around5:30 p.m.

The clang ofa spoon against abowl or th e toot of a bicyclehorn as vendors push theirfood carts up and down thestreets selling breakfast ord i n n e r

The smell of smoke risingfrom shallow pits andditches as people bum th ed e a d leaves a n d t r a s h t h a thave been swept from theiryards and the streetsA family of four all r idingtogether on a motorcycle.(The kids are little, ofcourse.)

A m o t he r h e n a n d h e r chicksscrambling out o fmy way asI jog down the road. Ialways knew jogging couldbe a great way to meetchicks )A Guitar Band showing up onyour porch singing you anIndonesian song in exchangefor 100 rupiahs. (Cheapentertainment a t 50.)

I n d o n e s i a n school chi ldrenwearing uniforms wavingand yelling, Hallo, to meas I pass them going toschool .

The thud of coconuts hittingthe ground as my neighbor


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stands in the tree topscutting them loose.The little neighbor boymaking engine noises as hepushes his toy ca r back andforth across the top of aretaining wall in front ofmy

houseThe s t reets l ined withIndonesian flags on everynational holiday. Each housedisplays the red and whiteflag. (Even my house )

The cecaks (small l izards)scurrying up the walls andacross the ceilings in myhouse. These cecaks ea tinsects and are quite helpful.They show up in strangeplaces at times, such asunder clothes, lying on thefloor, or in a open plastic bagof warm banana bread.(Note: Pronounce the C sas a c h in the word cecaks.)

Overloaded buses and vansbelching black exhaust asthey transport peoplearound Salatiga and to othercit ies.

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Children playing soccerbarefoot in a dusty, openfield with a worn-ou t ba lland using small piles of littlerocks to mark the goals.Children and adults playingbadmin ton in th e streets.They use no net but, instead,they just hit the shuttlecockback and f or th t o each other .Indonesian school chi ldreneating rice from a bananaleafplate. They buybreak fas t from a vendor se tup near their school and sitin school yard to eat it .When finished, they throwthe banana lea fon theground and lick theirfmgers. Dishes are done

As you can see, Indonesia offersa very different culture to l iveand work in . But, nevertheless,one cannot forget that JesusChris t i s a bl e to be Lord ofthese I ndon es ia ns a s much a sHe is Lord ofAmericans,Europeans, and so forth.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIPP.O. BOX26306,5674CAiTODRIVEINDIANAPOLIS, IN46226-0306

A D D R ES S C O RR E CT IO N R E QU E ST E D

I t is for tunate t h a tmissionaries from America,Australia, and Asia havegathered in Indonesia to bea ble to s ha re t he Good N ew s o fJ e su s Ch r is t w i th t he sewonderful people. It is just asfor tunate t ha t school teachershave come to allow CJIMS tobe a part of these missionariesl ives.Please pray for the Harvest ofSouls in Indonesia as we a llwork to build the Kingdom ofGod. Thank you for being apar t in this special ministry.Christ is malang a difference inmany more lives thanks toCJIMS and youIn Christ s service,

Steve Evans

NonprofitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 2975Itidianapolis, Indiana

MISS IO^ l S r ^ V I C E SEDITQi^ I f lL 1 P TP 3 tSCX 2 4 2 7KNDXVILL= TN 379

Evans Steve 1991 Indonesia

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