Dethan Family, Ed, Femmy, Moses, Grace, and Micah

Karen and I arrived safely in Kupang, Timor, and Femmy, Moses, Grace, and Micah were there at the airport to welcome us and pick us up. We were happy to finally get here, as you can only handle so much down time. So, Ed and Femmy graciously took us in at their home, which is also the home of New Hope Ministries, the orphanage, in which they have taken in about 10 beautiful children/teens.
After we got settled in and met some of the children we headed up to the church for Kidz Klub. We had fun with the children, as we learned some Indonesian songs and taught some English ones, played musical chairs, and listened to a message. It was a nice way to begin our time here.

Thursday ? after spending time just hanging out with the Dethans, Ed asked us to help train the youth to work with children and teach them about telling Bible stories, because they were planning to have a children?s camp again this summer and they want the youth to lead it. So, we are planning a kind of pre-camp for them, and have a few sessions with the youth in order to try to equip them to be leaders, and show them how they can use their talents in service to the LORD. So we spent the rest of the day preparing for our first session, which was at night. Our first session was a blast, to us anyway, they are probably just scared. It?s interesting, cuz everything takes twice as long, because everything has to be translated. Sometimes I wish I could pick up languages real quick.

Friday- On Friday morning we went to the hospital to drop off some samples from the children so the doctors could do some tests. While we were there we got a tour of the hospital, the different labs, and then visited the different wards and visited with the patients. It was fun, and the language barrier is always cause for more fun - trying to communicate but having a very tough time doing it. But it makes for a lot of laughs. When we got back to the house we started
building a playground for the children. We had some of the guys help us, as we dug the holes and cut the posts for it. By the time that was done, we had to leave for the Christmas program. In Canada we celebrate Christmas for about a month before Christmas day, but after the 25th Christmas celebrations are over. Here in Indonesia, Christmas celebrations last for the month of January as well. So we had a children?s Christmas program on Jan.19. The children were very cute, and it was nice to sing Christmas carols in the Indonesian language, and to celebrate again the Lord coming down and becoming a man to save us all. It?s great to celebrate that! After the program we went out for traditional BBQ?d corn and soup. It was pretty good, I must admit.

Saturday ? Karen and I visited Jonson and Mary-Lynn Dethan, who live just down the road. We spent most of the day with them, as we caught up, played with their children, toured the Reformed school, and saw the church. We also went swimming behind the school in a little creek which was quite refreshing. And they also took us out for lunch. It was a nice day, it was great to see them again, and learn about the ministries they are involved in, and their plans for the future. On Saturday night we attended Youth Group. We discussed the Great Commission, and how the disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work. It?s great getting to know the youth and seeing how the Lord is working here. After Youth group we went home, had dinner and played ping-ping with the youth.

Sunday ? For those of us that thought 9:30 was early for church, how about 7:30? Yep, bright and early we rose. Although we didn't understand most of the service, there were a few tunes we recongnized, and it was beautiful to worship the LORD nonetheless. Once again, it was so beautiful to participate in a worship service in another language, in another culture. It just shows to me again how Awesome and big our God is, and how He calls people from all over the world to be His children. The rest of the day was nice. We enjoyed the communion of saints, just hanging out at the Dethan house and chatting with Ed and Femmy. After a nice afternoon snooze we headed back to church for Bible Study, where we discussed the mornings sermon and text and dove further into it. After church, after supper we played with the children UNO. The children were giggling the whole time, it was a lot of fun.

Monday - In the morning we went to the market in the city to do some groceries, and we visited the hospital again. The market is always an interesting place, every country you visit you should go to the market. And in the afternoon we prepared for youth group, our next session with them, which was at night. About half the youth didn't show however, because they thought it was going to be a different night, so it was post-poned until Wednesday. While we were at the church we got to do some singing and we played some games. We played musical chairs, but only 3 rounds, because we had broken 2 chairs already by then. When we got home we played UNO with the children again, who never stopped giggling again.

Tuesday - well today we just booked our ticket back to Bali, for the end of next week, and now we are here in the city doing email and internet. We hope to work on the playground this afternoon and Karen is going to prepare for helping with the Sprouts program as well.

Anyway, we are enjoying our time here in Kupang, and we are learning lots from the Dethans. It is great to see the work that is being done here, it is very exciting. Let me summarize a little of it for you. Ed and Femmy, besides the work with their home congregation, also have the New Hope Orphanage. There is an office at their house which they employ 2 ladies to do the administration for the orphanage and all the details that go along with it, including education and health. They are also hoping to start another orphanage home right in the city, where a lady from the church will live there and take care of the children. Ed is also involved with training evangelists and other preachers, as they now have 4 mission posts. They are also involved in Setting up a training center/theological school in the city, along with Jonson's church. they are also working with the various programs in the church - Youth, childrens, sprouts, and the Bible studies, and setting up a camp, kind of like campfire. Jonson and Mary-Lynn, in addition to the regular church work, have also the Children of Light program, which has to do with the education of children. The Reformed school is across the road from their house and has, i think, about 500 students, and growing. There is the elementary school, junior high, and high school, as well as a trade school, that teaches welding, carpentry, auto mechanics, computers, building, etc. They have dorms on site as well for some of the children. They also are doing a mission post right now in Kupang city.
Anyway, this is just a bit of the work that is happening. Its nice to see some of it, and next week we will get to visit a few mission posts D.V.
Anyway, this blog entry is long enough.
We hope everyone at home is doing well. People have passed on various prayer requests and we will be sure to remember those things in prayer. We have a few prayer requests as well. Could you pray for sustained health for us. I am continuing to battle infection, sore throats, and i burn't my lips pretty bad, and they are all blistered right now. And Karen, well, she is tough, she is doing well. We also pray that we can be a blessing to Ed and Femmy and the children here, and that the opportunities that we have, that we can make the most of them, and really share the love of Christ. And the language barrier can be tough, especially when we are trying to share with them. Anyway, thank-you. It is also Karen's B-day on Saturday -the 27th - just a little heads up for everyone, including myself.
We will include more picture next time, hopefully...
Strength and Peace,
Randy and Karen