sigafoose robert diane 1974 indonesia
TRANSCRIPT
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8/11/2019 Sigafoose Robert Diane 1974 Indonesia
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IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD
AND
THE WORD WAS
WITH GOD.
HE WAS
VrtTH
GOD N THE BEGINNING.
THROUGH HIM ALL
THINGS
WERE MADE;
WITHOUT HIM
NOTHING WAS MADE
THAT
HAS
BEEN MADE.
IN
HIM
WAS
LIFE,
AND THAT
LIFE WAS
THE
LIGHT OF MEN.
THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS,
BUT THE DARKNESS HAS NOT UNDERSTOOD T
NO MAN
HAS EVER SEEN GOD,
BUT GOD THE ONLY SON
WHO
S AT THE FATHER S SIDE,
HAS
MADE HIM KNOWN.
JOHN 1:1-5 , 18
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Dear
f r iends
As
we
share
together
i n love
and fellowship t h i s
special
time
of
the
year
ou r f am il y p ra ys that
each
of
you might be showered
with gif ts of
joy and
comfort
and
glorious thoughts of
im vho
reigns
on
High|
seciu^e
in
Chr is t
v io
i s
th e
King
o f
a l l
Kings
I
S e r v a n t s
o f the K i ng
Bob
and Diane and g i r l s
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8/11/2019 Sigafoose Robert Diane 1974 Indonesia
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6*00(1
to
IndoneaUt
D e a r hristianFriends
October/November 1974
Millf
We
have been home now
fo r
s e v e r a l months ,
i n f a c t , it is hard to
be l i eve
our fur lough t ime
is more than ha l f
over . Our speak ing dates
dur ing
the
summer months
took us th rough
some twenty s t a t e s , with little
t ime
be
tween
engagements to
en joy f ami l i e s .
Even though ,
it ce r t a i n l y was our
thrill
and b le ss in g to be ab le to see the beau t i f u l
count rys ide
and
s igh t s fo r which we had lo ng ed while away from our nat ive America. The
warm fe l lowship we have
received
from
those
we
met
and v i s i t ed cannot
be desc r ibed
as they a re beyond de sc r i p t i on . What a joy fo r
us
to
ex
per ience
such s p i r i t u a l bless ings from you dear fo lks .
Diane i s
now
spending
most
o f her
t ime s t ay ing a t home with Debbie
and
Laur i e .
The g i r l s
a re having a very i n t e r e s t in g ? ? ? t ime ad ju s t
ing
to the school atmosphere , the bigges t problem
being
d i sc ip l ined
t h i nk ing and soc i a l di f fe rences . More and more we
r e a l i z e
how much o f
the
Eas tern
cu l tu re
they
have
adopted .
We
a re
sure
the
s t o r i e s
they
r e l a t e to
t h e i r f r i end s
abou t all o f our i n s e c t s and bugs
must seem
g ro s s . Then, too , you
should hea r
some o f our s to r i e s
Bob is cont inu ing histrave ls to congr ega t i ons who have helpedwi-th
our suppor t during our t ime
in
Indones ia . He i s a l so v i s i t i ng our
Bible
Col leges ,
cha l leng ing o the r s
to
sha re
in our
wider
v is ion o f
l o s t sou l s and
seek ing workers
who
might be
wi l l ing to go and tell
th e
Good News,
NOW ,
while
the
door is still open.
During
our first few months o f cu l t u ra l shock which we encounte red
^pon returning to the
States ,
.no t ed the
fast
pace of
l iv ing , the style
of
dress, the apathy of Christ ians (?) and
of
^ourse, the
extremely
high
cost
of food and
clothing.
do offer
a SPECI L t hanks to
those
o f
you ( indiv iduals and congregat ions)
who have dug deep ly
i n to
p oc ke ts , g iv in g us t h a t
b i t
o f EXTR nec
essary fo r our needed
l i v ing
expenses he re . How the Lord wi l l b l e s s
you
fo r
shar ing
yours w ith
us
during
t h i s
spec ia l
t ime
o f
need
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PRESENT
NEEDS:
F u n d s
f o r o u r return t o
t h e
field w h i t e
\ m t o
harvest
(Current
ra tes
have
increased ^0% above our
re turn
t r ip 6 months
ago)
. A motorcyc le needed fo r v i l l age work a s an i nexpens ive means
o f t ra n spo rt at ion
th i s can be
purchased on the
f ie ld) . o
Typewriter (comparable machine
to
the
one
borrowed for th is
news letter. . . 3^nmi Camera ......
A t
this
t im e we
have
sufficient
B i b l e
S c h o o l
m a t e r i a l
t o
t a k e
back
with us
for
use
in
t r ans l a t i ng , personal
s tudy
and teaching mission
ary chi ldren. We have had
such
a
good response
for th is par t i cu la r
need
and
we
wish
to
t h ank
all
t ho s e who have
s h a r e d .
SIGHHTS SOUNDS STATESIDE
How g re a t
it would
be fo r our v is io n a ls o to
grow
as God
g ran t
the i n c rease
higher ^
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Bob,
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G^ooil
liuloaedla
Chr i s t i an Gree t ings :
9
J ... yr
/ . . . /,
June/July
1974
CULTUR L
SHOCK??? In
America, yes
espec ia l ly when you
have
been away for awhile way from
this
land of plenty
The
smooth
highways,
the
many
available
i tems
in
s tores
the
high prices ,
many changes
in clothing s tyles especial ly for
the
men,
a l l
of which takes much get t ing used tOo
So many
t imes
when t ry ing to
decide
what to
buy
wel l , we
have j u s t walked out
of
the s to re empty handed with the
dec i s ion o f what to buy
be ing
too
much
fo r
u s .
We
have been offe red a
complete ly
furnished home in
which
to
l i ve while on
furlough. The Lord
has
t ru ly
blessed us in t h i s
way
and
we
know
the
Lord wi l l
b les s
the one
who
has
been
so
wil l ing to
s ac r i f i c e
her
home
fo r
our comfort
and joy .
Our
t r ip
home
was de l igh t fu l
s topping
over
in
Hong
Kong
one
n igh t in order to break the
lengthy journey . . . .
One
constant
problem was our speaking to o-thers
in
the Indone sia n language
while in
Singapore,
Taiwan
and
other refuel ing s tops
as
we
winged
our
way home.
Needless to say
the puzzled
l ooks
o f
others over our s t range
speech
l e f t them
wondering where
in
th e world we
came
f rom. Even now, a t
home
i n th e
Uni ted
S t a t e s
it is d i f f i c u l t
fo r
us
to think* i n American Engl i sh a t
t imes .
There fore
when we
meet ,
p lease don*t
be
alarmed o r f ee l
s l igh ted as we s t rugg le
to
communicate .
\ Our summer season w ill c on sist
of '
Vacat ion Bib le
School
pres
en ta t ions and speak ing
to
s uppo r ti ng congrega t ion s.
Then
in
September,
the
g i r l s
w il l e n ro l l
i n
the
Cat l in
I l l i no i s
school
sys tem. They a re look ing forward to having a
*true*
school
atmosphere with
American f r i ends . Indonesian
school ing
cons i s t ed
o f
home t u t o r i ng and correspondence
cou r s e s .
Thanks
to all fo r your c o ns ta nt p ra y er s and concern as
we
e n d e a v o r t o c o n t i n u e in t h e
Lo r d s work
t o I n d o n e s i a .
Since re ly
i n
Chr i s t
Bob, D iane and g i r l s
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8/11/2019 Sigafoose Robert Diane 1974 Indonesia
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ATJAR NANAS
P e e l pineapple and remove core* Cut i n t o
s e r v i n g
p o r t i o n s .
Tack
a
n a i l - s h a p e d
clove i n t o each
p i e c e
o f p i n e a p p l e .
1
s m a l l
p i n e a p p l e
2/3 cup
water
1/2
cup
vinegar
1/Zf cup sugar
P l a c e i n t o e a r t h e n bean p o t .
Meanwhile,
^ ^
in
a sauce pan, bring to a slow boil a
whole c l o v e s mixture
o f
w a t e r v i n e g a r
and
s u g a r .
Simmer
f o r 10
minutes and
pour over
p i n e a p p l e . Cool. Cover and p i c k l e
a t
l e a s t s i x h o u r s .
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WHAT
DO
YOU
HAVE???
Pickled
Pineapple
i c
SyOSV
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If
you
wish
t o
c o n t i n u e r e
c e i v i n g
our n e w s l e t t e r
p l e a s e
m a i l
back
t h e e n c l o s e d
p o s t
c a r d . With ou t y ou r r e s p o n s e
you w i l l be
a u t o m a t i c a l l y r e
moved
from o u r
m a i l i n g
list
S P E C I A L
NOTE:
I OUR
NEWSLETTER
I S D I S T R I
BUTED I N YOUR CHURCH BULLETIN
DO
NOT RETURN THE POST
CARD
AS
YOU
WILL
CONTINUE
TO RECEIVE
THEM
I N THAT MANNER
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8/11/2019 Sigafoose Robert Diane 1974 Indonesia
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G ood
Selamat dalam Tuhan Yesus
Vy
75
December J anua ry
We
would
l i k e
you to
meet your
new
b ro the r s and s i s t e r s
in
Chr i s t
Twenty e igh t
persons have
j u s t r ecen t l y
been brought
i n to
His
fo l d
What
a t h r i l l fo r us
to
be ce lebra t ing the Chris tmas
Season
t h i s
year
wi t h so many new Chr i s t i an s
I
O ld
Faithful
We were
able
to buy sack the 1967 Volkswagan van t h a t
we had sold
when
we
went home on iur lough.
As
you
remember
in 1973?
we bought
t h i s
car
for
1700. In
9 ^^
we sold i t for
1700 and now
we have purchased
it
again
for tunate ly
fdr
the same pr ice
1700 as
the se l l ing pr ice of
t h a t ca r
i s now
2500.
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The motorcycle
i s
used f j r
quick
t r i pshard to
ge t - i n -v i l l age
areas
and a
gas
saver a l so , -he
down payment
on
t h i s veh ic l e
was our
washing
m a c h i n e l
Please note
our address
R. S ige foo s e
Jl Irran Bonjo l 65
S a la t ig a , J at e ng
Indonesia
d
At the
t ime of
t h i s
wr i t i ng , we have
j u s t
had a
hxirglary . Thieves came
in
the
middle
of the nigh t and
s t o l e
our
t oo l s , mainly
car
t oo l s , an
estimated 800
worth,
which just about
cleaned
us out.
Laurie , l a t e r , came
out
of her
room
with a nice sized screw dr ive r .
Her comment, Dad, a r e n t you
glad
I never put th ings
back where
they
belong?
We
pray
you and
yours
are
enjoying
t h i s
very
spec i a l
t ime
of th e year
In
Chr i s t ,
Ziei9 III 'U||(D3
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Bob,
Diane, Debbie
Laurie
Sigafoose
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October 70
May
7 1
Ju ly 7 2
Apr i l 74
Apri l 7 5
OUTLINE
OF WORK
L e f t U.S.A.
fo r
Sin^japore
Lived in Singapore fo r 7 months w a iting fo r
v i s a s )
to
Indonesia
1
Tr i ed
to
st rt
a w o r k bu t
door s
w e r e
c l o s ed f o r
ne w
work
in November
o f
tha t ye a r .
2 . Taught a weekly B ible School class in an
exist ing
c o n g r e g a t i o n , also worked w ith
th e
youth
3 . Taught and preached when and wherever possi bl e
Left S i n g a p o r e fo r I n d o n e s i a
L iv ed
in
Bandung
fo r
more
t h a n
13 m on ths
D u r i n g
t h i s t i m e ,
Bo b
1 . S tu d ie d th e I n d o n e s i a n l a n g u a g e
2 . T au g h t th e
Bib le
in tw o
c h u r c h e s
by using
E n g l i s h
3 . Taught Young P e o p l e s
grou p e ac h
Sunday evening
4 .
Made seve r a l
t r i p s
to o th er a re as
to h ol d m e et in g s,
s e m i n a r s
and
a lso
s u r v e y work
fo r he lp ing new
m i ss io n ar i e s to loc te
ove to
Sal at i ga
Central
Java)
almost 2
years
1 .
O c t . 7 2
Sta r ted v i l l age work in
Pendingan
F e b . 73 bap t ized
2 0
2 .
May *7 3
Opened
new work
in vi l lage o f
Sumagawe
Sep t 7 5
bapt ized 14
3
O c t .
7 3
Opened
work
in v i l l age
of
Patemon
Nov. 73
b a p t i z e d 18
from
Sumagawe
and Patemon
D e c . 7 3
bap t ized 14 from Sumagawe and Patemon
4 J a n .
*7 4 Sumagawe
and
Patemon tak en o v e r by N a t i o n a l s
R e t u r n
to U.S.A.
fo r
year
f u r l o u g h .
FUTURE P L A N S :
R e t u r n
to
Sa la t iga
to
c o n t i n u e vi l l age
work-opening new
v i l l ages
a n d t r a i n i ng l e ade r s
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Outline - page 2
FUTURE
NEEDS
Motorcycle
fo r vi l l age work
F ilmst ri p P roj ec to r and Material
Flannelgraph
mater i a l
Simple
s tudy
books
which
can
be t ra n sl at ed i nt o Indonesian
All
types
of Sunday School mater ia l
F i n a n c i a l
Expense s
p e r
Month;
Salary - 500.00
Schooling
fo r
g i r l s - 150.00
T r a v e l
Fund
-
100 . 00
Mission Expenses on the
f i e ld
Rent
-
50 . 00
to
75 .00
Travel
expenses
within
th e c ou ntry - 50 00
Mis c e l l a n e ou s
Paper Equipment
e tc .
fo r
mimeographing
Trans la to r fo r
t r an s l a t i ng
mater i a l
Postage
F i lm for sli s
Trac t s Bib l e s eitc.
Medical
coverage
Committed Support a t
th is
time:
750.00
Additional
Needed:
250.00 per month committed
Robert
D. Sigafoose
Home Add r e s s :
P.O. Box 569
Ca t l i n
I I .
61817
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CHURCH
GROWTH I N
CENTRAL
JAVA
AN EXAMPLE
^ ^ 6 : 7
God i s working
today
i n the
l i v e s o f m illio ns
of people. I
thank
Him
f o r
the
way He i s working i n my l i f e . I
would
l i k e to t e l l how God i s
using
us t o
h e l p
C h r i s t s
Church
grow
here
i n
Indonesia
and
hope
t h i s w i l l
h e l p o t h e r s
serve God
b e t t e r . This
a r t i c l e attempts t o
t e l l
how God gave
us answers t o tw o
b as ic q ue st io n s m is si on ar ie s
ask.
These questions are:
where
should
one
work;
how.should one work i n
order
t o p l a n t growing i nd ig eon o us ch u rch es.
Indonesia i s an i s l a n d
nat ion i n
Southeast
Asia
and has a
populat ion
of
approximately
120 000 000
people. I t i s a new
f i e l d
of service fo r the Churches
of Christ/Christian
Churches od
led
us
to come
to Indonesia
after we
heard
reports
about the
many people who were accepting
C h r i s t .
We
s t a r t e d preparing
to
come i n
1968.
I n October o f 1970 we
l e f t
the U.S. and came
to
Singapore fol low
ing the advise
o f o t h e r miss ionar ies . Then i n May of 97 we received our semi
permanent
v i s a
allowing
us to
come to Indones ia .
y
family
and I now l i v e i n the c i t y of Salat iga which
i s
located i n c e n t r a l
Java. Previously
our home was
i n
Bandung
Western
Java. Lew Cass
another Church
of Christ missionary was
a l s o
located i n Bandung. After
an
extensive survey of
Java
the
most densely populated island
of
Indonesia Lew
Cass and
I
found
the
c e n t r a l
par t
of
Java more responsive to
the
Gospel. This was e sp e ci al ly t ru e
of
the v i l l a g e
a r e a s .
y family and I f e l t the need
to
evangel ize these people . I t
was
decided t h a t
my
family
along
with the
Lew
Cass
family would move
to
t h i s
p a r t i c u l a r
a r e a .
Finding a c e n t r a l l y located
town was t ime
consuming but we
f i n a l l y
decided
on
the
area
around
Salat iga a
small
town
with
a
populat ion of
approximately 55 000. We chose t h i s c i t y because of i t s locat ion. I t i s located
twenty f ive miles f rom Semarang the
c a p i t a l c i t y
o f C en tra l Java.
S a l a t i g a
i s
also
twenty f ive miles from Surakarta and t h i r t y f i v e miles from Yokyakarta two
major
c i t i e s .
The
populat ion d e n s i t y i n
t h i s
a r e a i s
approximately
1 100
people
p e r
s q u a r e
m i l e .
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2
We proposed two
things
fo r th is area
Fi r s t
we
decided
to
work
with
the
exis t ing churches. I t was our plan
to
help
restore the churches
according to
New Testament teachings.
Second, we
decided
to
s ta r t churches in the vi l lages
where there a re no
exi s t ing churches .
There a re now fourteen churches
in
the
ci ty of Salat iga ,
and
we a t the
present
time,
do not
have
any plans to s t a r t a
new chu r ch
h e r e
Making
plans
i s one th ing but carrying them out i s
another .
We
found
that
i f
you are
wil l ing
to
work for
the Lord
and open
your heart
and
mind
to
tha t
purpose. He
wi l l
f ind a way to use you.
One of
th e b ig ge st
jobs was to f ind housing.
Finding
a house
was d i f f i cu l t
enough,
but then
one
must
bargain
fo r
the
price
All
Indonesians
th ink
that
because a person i s a foreigner he i s r ich They s t a r t
out
by asking
two
or
three times what
the
house i s
worth,
and
then one
has to b arg ain t o
get
them
down to a
reasonable
price
Sometimes
th i s
takes
a month.
The house
we chose
needed
many
repa i r s
I
could
not
possibly
do a l l the
work t h a t
needed
to be
done.
The only
th ing
fo r us to do was hi re
some
men to
help
us
ge t
the house ready. At
the t ime of hi r ing these men, we
did not
know
where they
were
from and did
not
rea l ly make much
difference
to
me.
All
t ha t
mattered
was tha t they were able to
do
th e work tha t was
needed.
As I worked
with
these
men and ta lked to them
I
f e l t
the
need to
t a lk to them
about Chr i s t
These men told me that they were a l l registered as Moslems but they a lso said
that none
of them were very
active in the i r re l ig ion.
Everyone in
Indonesia must
reg is ter
in
some re l ig ion. There
are
only five religions which
are
recognized
by
the
government: they are
Moslem, Chris t ian
Hindu,
Cathol ic
and
Buddhis t ,
At
the
present
time
this country is
said to be over 8 ^ oslem I gave
these
men
some
t racts that I
had
about Christ, Some
of
them said that
they could not read but
they
knew some one
who
would
read to
them A
small booklet
on
the l i fe of
Christ,
which was
writ ten
in the Indonesian language ,
was given
to
them.
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5
Latsr,
I asked one
of
the
men i f
he would go with me to
some of the
small
villages
which are
located
on the side of the mountain I wanted to pass out
tracts and to see how the people lived. The culture in Central Java is
quite
different from that of West Java. The man that I asked to go with me as a guide
told me
tha t
he l ived in one
of
the small vi l lages in the footh i l l s of the
mountain. When
I
arrived at his
home I
found that not
only
he was v/illing
to
go
with me but eight others were waiting there. s we were walking along from
village
to
village
they began to ask me
many
questions. At t irs t the questions
were about America and also about our
plans
for
working
in
Indonesia.
Then one
man
named
Pak Harjo
began
to question
me
about the
Lord
Jesus
Christ. e said
that he had
read the
book v;hich I had given him several weeks earlier . Harjo
told
me that he had talked to some of his friends about
the
book He asked i f I
would come to their village, Pendingan and
talk
to them about Christ. The Lord
had ansered our prayers The door
was now
open to begin teaching Jesus Christ to
these
people .
I began immediately to find out what
must
be
done in
order fo r us to hold a
meeting
in
this
village
of Pendingan
You
can not
just
enter into
a
village
and
start teaching
First
of
all ,
one must have someone
who is wil ling to
open
his
house for the meetings Then one must get permission from the
local
government
There
are
five different offices from which one must receive permission.
First
of all , you must see the head of the village and then the next man who is over
several
villages;
next,
the man over him e had
to
visit the offices all in
order.
t
is not possible to go to a
man in
a higher office before seeing the
man
in th e lower office.
Most of
the
men
were not there
the
f i r s t
time I
went to
see them. I had to re turn several times before seeing them.
t
took us more
than a week
to
t he se
people
Written permission was then received to go
into
this nominal Moslem village,
freeing us to tell them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. This
village
of over
four
hundred adults and twice as many children had
never
before
heard the
story
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of Jesus
Chris t .
I know of
only one vi l lager
who had
ever
been
inside
a
church
and he had j u s t moved there from another
a rea
Many homes were open to us
in
the beginning. One of the homes was the home
of a man who was a
leader of
the
people.
His name was Martono. He was
chosen
by the people in an election.
fe l t
that i f he had been chosen by the people
as
the i r leader,
then that would be
the
logical place for us
to
s ta r t our work.
The house was
not large but
was big enough. There were
not
enough chairs
for
the
people.
We asked ourselves, what
do we
do?
Should
we
use
mission
funds or
wait
for them to get their own chairs? I was
praying
about
this
problem and what
to do
in this situation. One of the churches in Salatiga
offered
to loan folding
chairs to
us
for
the meeting. This
was
our answer
to pr ayer.
Then we
asked
what
should we do about
Bibles.
Should
we
buy
Bibles
and give them to
the
people or
should
we make them buy their own? A Bible costs 250 Rupiahs or 620,
and
most of
these
people,
when working only
make
200 Rupiahs per day. Bibles have now gone
up
to
550 Rupiahs I
knew
from past
experiences
that
i f things are
just
given to
them that they do not take good care of them.
decided
to just loan the Bibles
to
them. That way
they
would be
kept
in
one
place
and
i f they
wanted
to
borrow
the
Bibles
they could, but they
must be returned every Sunday in time for
the
meet ing
began
our
meetings
in October,
1972 even though I
thought i t
would be
bet ter to
wait for at l eas t another
month.
There were two reasons fo r th is
First
of
all ,
this
was
the
month
of Lebaran which is the largest oslemholiday
of
the year.
This
month
of fasting is observed only during the
day-light
hours,
but at night they are
allowed to
eat .
All
Itoslems, and even non oslems
celebrate
this
holiday.
Since this
village
was a ll registered as oslem I thought i t
better
to wait
until November The
people in Pendingan wanted to go ahead as planned.
The other reason I
did not
want to
start
in October
was that
I had promised
I
would
go
to
Manado
in
Northern
Indonesia with
Brother Lew Cass and
hold
a
preachers training cl inic.
were to leave the l as t week in
October,
t was de-
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5)
cided that a
young
man who was working with us as a translator could t each the
people
in
Pendingan Lie Sing Tioe
my
translator, and I
worked
together pre
paring the lesson he
would
teach to the people at Pendingan in the next four
weeks. In this way Brother Lew Cass and I were
able
to hold the meeting
in
Manado
which
proved
to be a glorious experience.
hen
we
returned
home
the
work
was continuing to grow. Things
were
going so well t ha t we decided i t best
that
I not go to the village every Sunday. I taught only every other week. In
this
way the people would not think
that
the only time they could
have
a meeting
was
when I was th ere. I did
not
want them to be
dependent upon th e
missionary.
At
first many
people came to see what was going on.
They
wanted to see
if
we
were going to give them anything. Usually the missionary
and
other people
who
come to
the
village,
pass out something to the people.
They wanted
to know
why
we had come
to
their village. As time passed the Sunday evening
service
settled
down
to
ten or
fifteen adults. Many children were coming
to th e
meeting. e
s tar te d a
program
for the children by
first
teaching them Christian songs in the
Javanese language and then teaching
them
Bible stories.
The
meeting
started at
6:00 P.M. for th e children and then
a t 7:00
P.M. for th e adults,
as
most of the
adults were in
th e fields
until
dark. Many
people would
no t enter th e
house
bu t
stood
o utsid e to l i s ten
T hi s c on ti nu ed fo r the next
few months.
Later the
men
of the group started a Bible reading class on Thursday evening.
They asked if Lie would come
and
help them in their Bible reading. Only about
four of th e men
who
were coming on Sunday could read
bu t
they
started
reading to
others. ow
they
were meeting together twice a week. A
prayer
meeting was
started
along with the Bible reading.
e
taught
them
to pray.
They
learned to
pray for others for the
government
and for the opening of other work. e also
s t r ted
t e a c h i n g them
p e r so n a l
evangelism.
The f i r s t Sunday in February an
invitation
was given. They had been
studying and
some
perhaps
were
now ready to accept Jesus as their personal
Saviour.
When
asked i f there were any
ready
to accept th e Lord as their Saviour,
every adu lt and two of the older children raised their hands. I was so surprised
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6)
t h a t
I coul dn t
think
what to say. I
fe l t
some were
ready to accept C hrist, hut
I d id no t
know
ll
o f th em w ou ld
a t t h i s t ime
t
was decided that they would be b ap ti ze d t he
following
Sunday morning. I
know that many of our brethren would not agree that we should wait a full week
to
baptize anyone
a fte r
they had accepted the Lord. I would not approve of i t either,
i f I were in
the
United S t a t e s . However, we
a re not in the
United
S t a t e s
an d the
situation
here
is
quite
different.
do not have a baptistry where
we
can take
them. The
closest
place
to baptize
them was a
swimming
pool which was
over six
miles from th e village.
had
to
arrange for
transportation, plus request
th e
use of the pool. While waiting this one
week
five others
who
had been attending
th e
Bi b l e
Study
a lso
decided
fo r C h r i s t .
In
Salatiga,
a Bible Study group had been started by Lew Cass with
th e
help
of a
man
named Willy
Worang
Willy
is
a Manadonese who had been
helping
with
ou r mission work for about two years. Some of the people who had been studying
from this particular group had also asked to be baptized. So, th e following
Sunday,
sixteen
people were baptized from Pendingan, four from Salatiga, and my
daughter, Laurie.
The
next Sunday,
six
more
were
baptized
from the Bible study
group in Sala t iga
Several family units from Pendingan a cc ep te d t he Lord. The man in whose
home we were meeting Martono along
with
his wife and two of his children ac
cepted the Lord. This
man also
brought his sister and he r husband to the meetings.
They,
too,
accepted
th e
Lord and la te r Martono
talked to
his mother and she
was
baptized. In another family
unit,
the husband Sumarto , his wife
and two
of
his children accepted
Jesus.
Also, two
other families of
husband and wife
accepted
the Lord
as
their P e rs o na l S a vi o ur .
All
of
these villagers were baptized
into Christ
on Sunday morning and that
evening
everyone
of
them
came to
th e
service
where
they
had the ir
f irs t
communion.
Also, that evening, they gave their
fi rst
offering.
t
was no t much bu t a t least
t wa s a
s t a r t fo r
them to be abl e
to
shar e. This congregation
i s
d oin g e ve ry
thing
for
themselves which
is
th e
most important
thing.
They have
already
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7)
elec ted t h r e e
men
from the i r
group
a s leaders
e
do n o t ca l l them eld ers as
yet
h u t th e y
do
take
ca re o f
th e
o f f e r i n g money an d
serve
a t th e L ord s
t a b l e
each
Sunday.
e
have
been teaching p e r s o n a l evangelism from th e v ery be gi nni ng.
These
Chr i s t i ans
a r e
now
going out
to o th e r s an d
te l l ing them about J e s u s C h r i s t .
One o f
th e
men in
th e
c ongr e ga t i on ta lk e d
to
h is
f r iend
who i s a B uddhi s t , an d
he i s now coming to th e
services
A f t e r a
s h o r t
t ime, th is man s ta r ted b r in g in g
s o m e o f
his
Buddh i s t
friends
Th e Chris t ians from Pendingan
have
been
i n s t r u m e n t a l
in s ta r t ing new
work.
Soon
a f t e r
the i r b ap ti sm s, t he y were
ta lk in g to
some
o f
the
people
in a nearby
v i l l a g e .
These
people
wanted
to
know more
about
the
Lord
an d
asked
i f
I
would
come
and
t a lk to
them.
On E a s t e r
Sunday
a
fellov/ship meal
wa s
he l d
in
Pendingan
an d we i nv i t ed ll
o f
those wh o
w an t ed
to a t tend from
th e
o the r v i l l age
w h i ch
is
only one
mile from
Pendingan, c a lle d Sumagawe I was then asked to
s t a r t
holding m e e t i n g s t he re
The people in Sumagawe were much bet ter e du ca te d t ha n those in
Pendingan,
so
i t was not
p os sib le to
teach them
in
th e same way e ha d
to
find new
ma te ria l.
Most o f t hos e who a tte nd ed th e meetings were
young
people between th e ages o f
seventeen
an d twenty-six. Some were
school
t eacher s
in
the v i l l a g e school an d
ot her s
were
at t endi ng a
t ea ch e r s t ra in in g school in S a l a t i g a .
I f e l t
th is would
be a r e a l opportunity fo r us to t r a i n some of these young men to become involved
in
th e
Lo r d s
work
in th is
a r e a . In
September
o f t h a t y e a r , n i n e
people
from th e
v i l l a g e
o f
Sumagawe accepted
Jesus Chr i s t as
the i r Personal
Saviour.
A ll
were
young people lthough I w s very happy with
these
new Christians, I w s a l i t t le
c onc e rne d
tha t
we mi g h t
have
c u t off
th e
older pe ople in th e v i l l age
so
a
Wednesday
n i g h t
Bible Study was star ted a lo ng w it h our Sunday s e r v i c e s . I t was
f e l t tha t if we v/ere
to
meet in
a n
i n f o r m a l g ro u p
it
would
be
be t te r fo r th e
older people as many
of
them could
not read o r
write .
Those
who could re ad
were
t o h e lp
those
who
could
n o t. I n th is
way,
we read an d d i s c u s s e d th e Word o f God
Jus t
two
weeks a f t e r
th e
f i r s t
baptism,
five
more
young
people
came
an d
asked
i f
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8)
they could be baptized i nt o C h ri st , I ha d never
given
an i n v i t a t i o n to the
people i n t h i s v i l l a g e . They came to me and requested that I baptize them
However
the
baptizing was done by th e fe llo w who was working with me I t seemed
much
be t t e r
t h i s wa s
done
by
a n
Indones ian
Among those who were b a p tiz e d was a young man
o f
21 year s . This young man
had been s i c k
f o r
more than two year s . He was not even abl e to g e t
out
o f
bed
and walk. Tracts had been passed out i n th i s village and one t h a t he ha d received
told about
Ch ris t
the
Physician.
A f t e r reading
this
t rac t an d praying, he became
bet ter
an d
within a few days, was out of be d
an d
walking. A ll
o f th e
people in
the
vil lage
knew
about
th is
man.
Because o f what they had
w i t n e s s e d ,
many came
an d
asked i f
they
could a tte n d our
meetings.
Later, t h i s young man s
f a t h e r ,
mother
an d grandmother a l l
a c c e p t e d
C h r i s t an d
v/ere
b a p tiz e d .
During t h i s time, we
were
approached by a group of people from a v i l l a g e
c a l l e d
Patemon
an d
asked i f
we
could
hold
weekly meetings in th is v illa ge
The
people
there
were already meeting together, but no one
who
would
come
on a regular
bas is . Although
they
had been meeting
fo r
a
year,
none of them owned a Bible.
The only one that was
used,
was owned by a man
who
came once i n av/hile
to help
them. Some of
these
v i l l a g e r s
ha d been
baptized by
s p rin k lin g .
Most
of the
teaching
that
ha d
been
done was
actually preaching
and no one had s a t
with
them
and s tudied
the
ib le I t wa s d e c i d e d t ha t I would
h old m e etin gs
w i t h them e a c h
Sunday
morning.
During
this
time we would
read
and study, more l i k e a
Bible
school c la s s than a preaching s e rv ic e .
Bibles
were loaned to them so th a t they
themselves
ha d
the
opportunity
to
read
an d
s t udy,
not only
on
Sundays,
but
a ls o
dur ing
th e
v/eek.
In November, a seminar wa s
h e l d
in th e vi l lage
o f
Sumagawe. This s e m i n a r
was
b a s ic a lly
one on personal
evangelism.
Everyone was invited to attend
these
m eetings. F ive o f
th e
vi l lagers
from
Patemon a tte n d e d each day, a l ong
with
some
o f th e
vi l lagers from Pe ndinga n.
e
n o t o n l y t a u g h t
t hos e
who came b u t
a lso
sen t them
o u t
in teams
to contact t h o s e
homes w he re t h e y
knew
someone
and
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9
invited
them to
come
to the
seminar
and
also the
regular
meetings.
More
than
one hundred and fifty people were contacted and given
tracts
and told about
Jesus Christ during these th ree days. After the seminar eighteen people were
baptized
into
Jesus
Chr is t, five
of
them
being from the
village
of Patemon.
We
continued working
in
a ll villages,
Ron
Ritchey our
other
missionary in
Salatiga,
took over the work in Pendingan on Sunday evenings while I continued to
hold a
Wednesday
Bible study and Sunday evening service in Sumagawe as well as
holding
Sunday morning
services
in Patemon
In
December
fourteen more people were
added to the Lord.
Eight
of them being from
Sumagawe
and six from Patemon
We praise the
Lord
for the
way
that the work has progressed during this
one
year.
wo new
villages were opened .to the Gospel message and sixtysix people
accepted Jesus Christ as
their
personal Saviour
We
are not interested in num
bers for
numbers
sake but I do want you to know what has been taking place here
in Indonesia, We
are
interested in
bringing souls
to
the
Lord Jesus
Christ
and
in order to do this, i t does take numbers. We want you to share with us the joys
of
knowing
that so many who have never before had the opportunity to hear about
Jesus
Christ , are
now
accepting
Him as
their
Saviour,
y
family
and
I are returning to the
States for
furlough.
What
will happen
while
we
are away? wo of the villages have now been taken over by the Nationals
and are continuing to meet each Lord s Day We pray
diligent,ly
that they
will
remain s trong
and s teadfas t in hris t
The Lord is opening so many doors
for
us so
quickly.
Our work here is only
beginning. Our next step is to train leaders, Christian men willing to teach
others. At this
point,
all we can do is to pray that the Holy
Spirit
will lead
these
new Christians
and guide them
as
they
strive to
witness for Him
This is not the
whole
story
of
our
work
here in Indonesia, but we did
want
you to share with us, the
many
opportunities and blessings we have had teaching
Jesus
Christ,
and taking the Good News to those who have never heard. We
are
looking forward
to
a great ministry here. The Lord is working in
Indonesia
today and we
are
so thrilled to be a small part of that work.
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10
O d
9 9
Robert
D. Sigafoose
Jl
Ka r t i n i 1
Sa la t i g a Java Indonesia
Forward ing Agen ts :
Mr and Mrs
Roy
J Pra the r
Box 569
Ca t l i n I I
61817