Furnas Ed Louise 1977 Indonesia

8/13/2019 Furnas Ed Louise 1977 Indonesia

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INDONESIAN CHURCH OF CHRIST tSSSIONBox 3 J l Merbabu 7SVermilion, 111iROis Boyolal i, Jateng

. 61955 Indonesia

Dear, friends in Christ,OulT greetings to you and the Lord s blessings on you in this New Year. For us ,the Lord s blessings have,already beguno ,As you may recall from our.last newsletters - so long ago oior change of plans set us right in the middle of the islandof Java instead of Sumatra. Even as the transition was taidiig place, 21 villageswere offered to uo just for s t a r t s I n d e e d i t has been just for starts^ The 3.ocalgovernment leader (somewhat comparable to a State Senator) has promised full cooperation not oniy in opening those 21 villag;es but also all other religiously .-nonaligned viLlages under Ms jurisdiction which means a total of well over 100 villagesin that one district alonei P,ToL, There has been one string attached vA dch we havereadily accepted and that is that we not expand before the May 2 elections,- ^gbtnew, xve're only in one village but that s enough.*, Our language study is ocudng along

very wsjJ. and lesson preparations are going well but the cxbra few months vailpr'ovide us the needed .cushion to get everything just right fo r the really big majorevangelistic program to come-. But that s future. VAiat about now?POIg Lessons began in the small village of Pule about 6 weeks ago.. The first 2weeks we had only about 20 people which isn t bad when you consider that Fale..hasonly 11 families But then we started shoT/ing filmstrips or using chalk talks. Theattendance immediately jumped to almost 200i That number has included about 35-40adults and the rest children, 10-15 years old, some younger. Most of these peopleare illiterate so visusi aids are really essential. It became evident just howessential when l a s t week there, was no movie screen or blackboai*d for t h e ^ e c i a lChristmas program. After the special music,, aluiost half of the crowd got up andleft I In a planning session with the village leaders a few ni^ts ago, we decidedto divide the study into 2 pairts - one for the children, the other for the- adults^th would be taught essentially the same thing but the significant point is thatthe adults wi3J. be free to ask questions now. With children present they weren'tabout to show their ignorance. Sounds familieu: doean t it?]^RO LEMS lrt here there-are blessings there-.are always a few problems and since ourshave been big blessings* . . . Foreigners are always vulnerable to being usedand we have been, too, or at least i t has been tried. Some of the leaders wouldlike us to move into other villages immediately - not for the sake of the gospelout to create a political issue prior to the elections. I'hey have tried to pressureus into making hasty moves that would only hurt us, Fort-unately our frisndship withhe ^vemment people and the valuable advice of Pak Oediyanto, the foremost Christian leader in the area for our group (baptized by ô^ John Harper) has saved usfrom disaster. We cannot possibly read the hearts''o2'*^î^^^'Serr'But the Lord, can andoes and He takes care of His own. After th e elections are over i t will become clear^ wheat and which the tares Please just pray that we -will have visdomand discernment during this interim time,i ^^^ TU iE STU Y^ It s horrible We thought we were through with language studyexcept for a little brusliing up but since we're among the Javanese and most do notspeak or \mderstand Indonesian we've had to start all ove^, Sept.1, we'vebeen spending 4 hoxirs daily in a language school along with 3 other families,

Javatiese has 9 distinct levels and several in between. There are 3 major ]i.eve3 swn^h we are studying and all are compietely different languages= The trouble is IQU^ speak to someone on one level and he may answer on another level. It s coming -we re aût to go crazy - but it 3 coming. Louise does terrific but as withIndonesian, she is becoming more specialized in household words and I in religiouswords. Hopefully she will soon get the religious words, too. Already our 2 servantshave asked her if they can be taught and baptized and the village people want lessonsf o r t h e women,

the critical factor for us though, Louise is not only trying to be astudent, a mother, a vife and a housekeeper but also a teacher for Karen. That'spother problem. Sumatra offered a school ^stem but here, there is nothing sothe kids will all eventually be on correspondoice courses. Right now, i t s justKaren bat next year Jeanne s t ar t s


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IMTERlISHIr PhOGRM we as a to ta l group of ioissionaries have tabled the idea of anin ternship program for one year dus to the coming elect ions but as individuals ares t i l l somev/hat free to a ct e sp ec ia ll y in special si tuat ions. A very specia l s i tuation has arisen for us. Louise s s is ter Nancjr Bates wil l be coming in May onan internship program from Ozark Bi.ble CollegeT 1/e are really looking forward toher v is i t not only because she i s fami.l^/ but because she i s very talented and vjefee l she -will be a tremendous help to us in the vi l lages, in teaching Karen, andin working with the other missionary ohj^ldren. I f you are interested in helpingher, she can be contacted a t: Nancy Bates, 1111 N. Main, Joplin, Missouri64801.HOUSING TRANSPORTATION Victory When we f i r s t arrived here in Central Java,we stayred-with Ron-.and Ellen Ritchey. Then we moved into a very sma ll 2 bedroomhouse where we ve been since just before Thanksgiving, Vie only got this place for3 monthB with the hope that we would find a place in Boyolali. Just today (Jaa. 15;we signed the contract for a place in the very heart of Boyolali.

Cur poor old Chevy I I just hasn t been able to take these rough roads but inspite of that we've been using i t d nyT^a y Now after a week of hunting, we havepurchased a 196? Jeep Landrover (British built). I t needs tuned and several smallrepairs but is in generally good condition. By the Indonesian car market ^ the pricewas pretty good, too, -.16200. A new Landrover after taxes costs almost l2,000iVJe are hoping to now get the Chevy fixed up a l i t t l e and get i t sold.FAMILY Vfe're a l l well. Karen has finally gotten front teeth again. Jeanneand l^ren are both sti l l acting excited that over the Christmas break I finallypu t their bunk bed together and they re off the floor. Michelle doesn t care whereshe sleeps as long as she has her thumb and blanket. Louise is try ing to get usedto not carrying a diaper bag for the f i rst time j.n 7 years. Arid as far as I mconcerned, according to Louise and our forwarding agents^ I m just as wiusualas ever. Cn t ha t , I ll close

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I ndone s i an Church o f Ch r i s t Miss i onBox 3Vermilion, I l l inois 61955

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S d 4 Lcavse.September , 1977

INDONESIi^ CHURCH OF CHRIST ASSIGNBojC 3Vermilion^ I l l i n o i s 61955

Greetings t o each of you in the nane of our Lord J es us Chr is t*We returned to Indonesia from fUrloiigh 15 months ago, and those monthshave cettainly been action packed pur plans for working in Sumatra fel lthrbtigh due to resistance in high placesi Biit In late July *76, doors wereopened for work in the fioyolali area of Cehttal Java* So we began studyingJavanese in Sept *76, rented and practically rebuilt, an old Boyolali house(Jan-May, *77), and now are going full swing in village worko

VILUfiB OF iyjLE - A STEPPING STONE *Sttldies began itTthii^small (14 families) village last November 18Attendatice averaged about 35 except that nijghts when we had a filmstrip, i tjumped to 200 or mor^* TjHihgs deemed to be going well until Then thepeople had come to a point ôf/.decision .and realized that they must give up

thesir spirit worship i f th ^ were to become Christian* A leader in Pule refused to do this, and people iii Pule agreed with him that the Bible studiesthere be stopped June 2We're grateful to Pak Oediyanto ^ d Pak bAilyana from Salatiga who haveheavy schedules assisting Bro. Jtohn H^per ^d Bro* Ron Ritchey in theirvillage worko Oedi and Mul dê reigulariy to l^lp teach and translatein Pule, since, at that time, vaa only beginning to study Javanese*VILLAGE OF NGRANDU - CHRISTIiSN NUTURE SESSIONS

Men from other villages ( in^y ,of them leaders) had been attending thePule Bible study, and on May 12, thirteen of them were baptized into theLord These men cane from 6 different villages and wanted studies started ineach of theseo In the meantim^V wb begati June 5, to hold Sunday PM servicesin the centrally located villê of Ngrandu home to 4 of the new Christians)until there were more Christies ijn the other villages*provided, an ideal place of worship JMeeJiin^ ln,j3x>meUaoaescould have had poli t ical repercussions, due to many former communist ties*The lurah and camat ( township and county leaders) saw to i t that alarge, empty, woven bamboo house was donated for our use* I t has dirtfloors, no windows, one wide open door; i t s flnei About 40 children andadults have regularly come to the evangelistic service* Often, there s acrowd in the doorway, too timid to come in* This is followed by Bible study,

p r a y e r and communion f o r the Chris t ians*VILLAGE OF PURWOKERTO - JELOK PRAISE GOD FOR VICTORY

June 23, Bob MacLean began teaching in thi s v il lage of about 225 fami-lies, every Thursday night* The MacLean family is working with us in a teaaministry and every other village becomes their responsibility* Attendanceruns above 100 every week, and Sept* 4, eleven men from this vil lage werebaptizedl We praise the Lord when anyone becomes a Christian* We, also,praise Him when we see new Christians bearing fruit* Three men from Jelok,who became Christian in May, have shared the Gospel with these new Brothers.The enthusiasm and changed lives of nat ional Chr is tians is what makes otherswant to l isten to the Gospel messageVILLAGE OF RANCAH - NEEDS SPECIAL PRAYER

As our fellow/missionary John Harper says, It s always nice to know wehave some opposition* * pit just proves that the Word is getting through andthe devil s squlpming.Aig^ 9, I began teaching here every Tues* P*M* Attendance is over 100Two of those who bâme Christian in May, Pak Suwito and Pak Parmono, arefrom Rancaho The local dukun (witchdoctor) there has so frightened.the manin whose home the studies began, that the man requested we move locations*So we're now in Pak Suwito's home; it s smaller* Parmono has, also, beenfrightened by the dukun* Since he won t answer questions about why he nolonger attends, It s only speculation on our part that, perhaps, he fears be-cause of threats to his family, sti l l outside of Christ* Please pray for thewhole village, and, especially, for Parmono* Initially, he was so enthusiastic, and his seeming rejection of Christ now, is heartbreaking*


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VILLi^E OF GONDi^GBob MacLean began here Aug* 2^* I haven t been to that study sincei t s on Weda evenings, when I have a Bib le s tudy in Salatiga for the teen

age missionary kidsENGLISH BIBLE STUDY CLASSES..

began June 27 here in our home. Attendance (9 - 13) i s lower than expected,but in clude s neighbors who may be won to Jesus as we study Mark s Gospelevery Mond^ S e l f i s h l y , we f ind ourselves thinking, Wouldn t Pak Martonoand Pak Jono make t e r r i f i c teachers in the villages I No matter what, they '

become f o r u s , we know our Lord loves them and wants them to becomeh i s o b ed ie n t c h il dr e n

OUR STOLEN DOCUMENTS rThank you for your many prayers and encouraging l e t t e r s concerning the

t h e f t of a l l our legal papers, October 76 Most of them haven t been rep laced , but we have obtained new passports and car papers Two key off ices,which formerly had been unwilling to help us, have now softened t h e i r posit ions, and we know this is an answer to prayer I Immigration s office nowsays they wil l eventually give us new immigration cards (without which wecan t leave or re-enter Indonesia), and the police a re wai ting to see i t a llbefore they wil l give us new police ID papers Our visas expired June iand our applicat ion i s s t i l l in renewal p ro cess, b ut we have f a i t h t h a t theLord will see to th e renewal and get us new immigration papers^ He s alreadyblessed us with so many open doors, despite our missing documents,largely. becaus,e of your p ra yers o f f a i t h .

May God r i c h l y bless you,Ed and L o u is e F u r n asJ a l a n M e r b a b u 78-Boyolal i , J a t e n g jI n d o n e s i a : .

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I n d o n e s i a Church o f C h r i s t Miss ionMr. and Mrs . H a ro ld E a st ha nForwarding Agentsfeox 3Vennil ion, I l l i n o i s 61955

Furnas Ed Louise 1977 Indonesia

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