Indonesia
December 25th, 2015
Day 8
We are travelling today from Medan to the camp ground, which is situated in the mountains of North Sumatra in a small village called Nagasaribu – in Humbang Hasundutan Regency, in English ‘Sunset High Plane.’ It is supposed to be much cooler up there than in Medan. Depending on the traffic the drive will take us about 7 hours.
While getting ready to leave Medan, Brother Itok testifies to us about Sister Esdi, who first heard about the Message via Facebook, whereby Brother Johny uses this social media to spread the Message. He kept following up with Sister Esdi by phone, and she started to join the streaming of the services at Brother Dwi’s house, who works as a mariner in the city of Surabaya/Java Island.
She was working in Surabaya, when she got the news that her father fell seriously sick and was admitted to the hospital. Her mother asked her to come home to the island, which is called Dragon Komodo Island. She phoned and consulted Brother Itok and he told her, it would be a trap for her and that her family would not allow her to go back to Surabaya for her studies. Her father, who was a chief of a tribe on the island, was dying and because of the pressure of the family, she decided to fly home. When she arrived there, her father was already dead. And now the family didn’t allow her to go back to Surabaya, just as Brother Itok had told her. She really wanted to come to the camp meetings. The family had started to persecute and abuse her because she now believed something that they couldn’t conceive with their mind.
Just one week ago, after everybody went to bed, she slipped out alone at midnight, just walking on a little dirt road surrounded by jungle and somehow hoping, that a truck or car would stop. After a while an old cattle truck stopped and she jumped on and told her story. The drive to the airport from that point was about 3 hours. The driver promised to bring her to the airport, but he wanted to stop at his house first to get some rest. They went into the house to rest, but she couldn’t fall asleep and decided to walk out again to find another car. An oil truck stopped and she told her story again and the driver sympathized with her and dropped her off at the airport. She was still full of fear that the members of her family would look for her now and catch her before she got on the plane.
During the beating from the family her cellphone dropped and stopped working, which was her only means of communication. At the airport now she borrowed a cellphone and contacted a brother in Surabaya, who had made arrangements for her to get a ticket and fly out. It was not easy, and after he was able to give her the booking code, she got on the plane and arrived last night at Brother Itok’s house.
The light is still moving across the face of the earth to quicken His Seeds. No matter the conditions and circumstances, God finds His elect.
While fellowshipping around the table, the brothers are loading tarps and tools, suitcases and sleeping bags, food items and all kinds of pots and pans on their pick-up truck.
When we see the kind of sacrifice which is put into these meetings, the sisters singing, serving, the brothers working so hard…their reward will be very great!
Last photo before we are on our way to the camp.
A group of us is travelling by bus.
As soon as we leave the crowded city we drive through beautiful country sides with large rubber tree plantations, plenty green rice fields,
small peaceful looking villages and bustling towns with over-crowded colorful market places.
The drive takes us for a couple of hours along Lake Toba, which covers an area of 440 square miles and is the largest lake in Indonesia.
It’s pitch dark when we arrive at the camp site and many brothers and sisters are still working hard and tirelessly to get the final touches done before the meetings will start tomorrow night.
They received this property as a gift from a family, who lives in a village close by, the only family in this area, who followed Brother Itok’s radio ministry in the year 2009, and now they are also live-streaming the services. There is something more to mention about them. Their son Samuel, when he was just 15 years old, had to leave the school because they abused him for not bringing a stamp of the local church on one of his papers. The parents sent him to Brother Itok’s house in 2012, where he now is involved in the work and has taken responsibility for many of the technical things. He is playing the guitar, and he also designed the poster for the camp. With the age of 18 years he is an amazing dedicated and gifted young man.
While the sisters are preparing supper for everybody we have a nice time of fellowship.
It is way after midnight when we go to sleep in our little dwellings. Originally it was planned that we would stay in a hotel close by, but we decided rather to stay right here in the camp with the believers.
In all these things we can see the supernatural Hand of God, and we feel so privileged and inspired by the faith and acts of this little group of genuine believers here. It’s the first time they ever conduct a camp meeting and it truly takes a lot of faith. At the same time it brings out the different gifts that are in the members of this Body here.