Gereja Kristen Indonesia Seattle

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

Ooohh!! I just had such a great Saturday! Earlier today, I went to MissionsFest Seattle. Think of this as being very similar to a mission conference / BASS convention kind of things. Lots of missions organizations and their members were present, either providing info at the booths or presenting seminars. The messages from the plenary sessions are simply WOW!! Yeap... that's why I'm sitting here writing this email, instead of doing my reading assignments for my class. =P

Joanne Shetler from Wycliffe Bible Translators spoke at one of the plenaries today. I was just way too excited and encouraged by the message she shared with the crowd. Joanne joined Wycliffe and went to the Philippines in 1962, where she worked with the Balangao people of the northern Philippines (back in those days, it was about a 5-day trip from Manila!). [Note that 'Quami' is her Balangao name --> not sure of the exact spelling]

In the early years of her ministry, 2 women became believers. She was of course joyful about it. After 5 years, it was time for her furlough, and she was a little concerned about the situation. The organization (Wycliffe)... the church who has sent and supported her... she had the proper training... she worked really hard... but she wondered what they would think of that there were only 2 believers after 5 years of ministry there. She was afraid that they would cross her off and stop supporting her ministry. But they didn't! The church continued to support her work and they PRAYED for her. Throughout her entire message, she kept on saying of how powerful prayer is and one crucial point that she reiterated over and over...

GOD WILL ANSWER ALL OUR PRAYERS THAT WILL BRING HIM GLORY

*wow*

Back in the Philippines, she continued to work on translating the New Testament. One day, as she was asking her Balangao father ('adopted father') to proofread her translation of 1 John (checking for grammars etc.), her Balangao father stopped and exclaimed, "This is good stuff!!" He went outside and called on other people, telling them about this Book... and the crowd of people wanted to know more. Joanne just continued to emphasize what amazing things happen when God's holy people pray. The church was praying for her! And now... these people wanted to know more and more!!

After some time, Joanne knew that she also wanted the Balangaos to grow in their faith. She wanted them to start praying. However, the Balangaos wouldn't pray... and she had no idea how to get them to pray. She prayed to God, asking Him that He may do WHATEVER IT TAKES that these people will learn to pray. Long story short... one day... she and a few other people were on their way to Balangao when their helicopter crashed. A doctor on the chopper died in the crash... she was severely injured -- her bones were crushed, cement & dust were in her eyes -- people were trying to pull her out and wash the cement out of her eyes. When the Balangaos heard of this crash, they panicked, went up to the mountain... and THEY PRAYED!! She found out about this later on, but this was what they prayed for: "God, please don't let 'Quami' die, because the Book isn't finished yet!"

GOD WILL ANSWER ALL OUR PRAYERS THAT WILL BRING HIM GLORY

Tekla (the first Balangao believer) ran to the mountain, knelt down and prayed to God, asking God if He was mad at the people... she asked God if God was angry that His Word was being desecrated to a lowly language (Balangao)... then she prayed to God, asking God that if God was not angry, that if He desired that His Word be translated into this lowly language, then He would not let 'Quami' die.

GOD WILL ANSWER ALL OUR PRAYERS THAT WILL BRING HIM GLORY

Joanne survived the crash, continued translating the New Testament... finished the project and had a dedication for the completion. When she was about to take off and head back to the US... as she was about to board her helicopter, her Bangalao father came up to her and said the following (of course I'm paraphrasing this to best of my memory)...

Thank you for coming here. Thank your parents for letting you come here. Thank your church for sending you here.

Those words were just soooo powerful and I was completely blown away as I was hearing it. This is what Joanne said to all of us:

It takes a lot of people... a whole crew... to do missions. We all take part in it. One day, YOU are going to meet a lot of people who will thank you for telling them about Jesus.

Isn't that just awesome?!?!?! One way or another, we are taking part in spreading God's kingdom!! =D

Paul Borthwick (another plenary speaker) made an interesting comment... just like how in a court room, there's someone presenting a case, and someone who's called to testify.... Jesus is the One presenting the case; we are just called to witness. =)

I'm just completely encouraged by the message today and whewwww & woooowwwww... I hope this can be a blessing to all of you. :)

GOD WILL ANSWER ALL OUR PRAYERS THAT WILL BRING HIM GLORY

Wiwil

--

"For from Him and through Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!"

In addition:

1 – We are amazed and reminded that Indonesia is one of the top 5 missionary destinations. It is amazing to think about how the missionaries let go of all their comfort and worldly belongings only to spread the Gospel for His glory.  We are encouraged to use the knowledge that we have gained in US to help spreading the Gospel in our home country, Indonesia.

2 – International students – It is very important to ministry to international students as they will make significant impact when they return to their home countries.  One of the effective way to spread the gospel is to ministry to those who are currently studying in the US as they might not have quite the same opportunity to hear the Gospel back from where they came from.  Many of the world leaders were once international students themselves. At one of the presentation, we learn about how the ministry to Chinese scholars is one of the most effective way to reach Chinese nowadays.