An Update – Part One

I am going to change the ‘style’ of this blog a bit. There will be a number of factual updates about what I am doing at the moment. I will still write devotions and share them but due to the amount of things that are going on in my life I might keep it fairly straight forward for a while (then again I might not, only God knows, amen ) This post is feedback to the ‘Busy Month’ post

1) I made a wonderful Shepard’s pie ( if I do say so myself ) and took it to my cell group. Unfortunately, as it was being removed from the car, it got dropped, didn’t look as good but still tasted ok. God put something on my heart during one of our Friday night sessions…….

There were 10-15 people gathered in the room, waiting for things to start. Someone was playing guitar and people were chatting. Then someone said “ Ok, let’s make a start” Someone else nominated a song, the person on guitar started playing and the person who chose the song led. Everyone joined in, in their own way, some tapping their feet, some clapping their hands. My 3 year old daughter even walked to the other side of the room and grabbed a shaker, she came back beside me and started to shake a beat (better than I ever could as I am musically retarded )
After a few songs, someone prayed and then the person who had been nominated gave us a meditation on the meaning of the cross. Next, people were nominated to pray for certain others, we sang and prayed for the evening meal and then ate and chatted.

The thing that God showed me was that that is how the body of Christ should function. Each person just does what God puts on their heart. He puts it all together. All we need to d is be empty vessels so we can clearly understand what it is He wants us to do and then do whatever it is He wants us to do diligently and faithfully.

2) We went to both of the orphanages and it was a very productive day. We shared and prayed with Pak Dodo and Bu Ester from Rumah Sejati. From what we have discussed, we are planning to have the family day with the families of some of the ex-street kids from their orphanage. We also handed over the school fee money.

Andrew had to go home after Rumah Sejati so my wife, 2 kids and I met a friend and went to Karunia together. It was a long, hard, uncomfortable drive to get their and it was a real relief when we finally did. We gave bags of ‘krupuk’ and the money for the school fees. Bu Tin and Bu Silvie are really strong women of faith. They live and support 30 children, who are victims of the East Timor conflict, and when you ask them how they do it they simply say “ Jesus is never late in helping us” I photographed most of the kids there and we were just about to leave when I dropt Andrew’s camera  I just found out it is going to cost me a fortune to fix but that little low light doesn’t show up the wonderful things that were done on that day. Bu Silvie and Bu Tin also told us that they have 1 year to raise Rp300JT (US $ 32,000 ) to buy the house they are living in or the owner will have to sell it to someone else.

3) The visit to Rumah Kehidupan is next Sunday (13th) My wife and I went through all our eldest daughter’s toys and have a great big box of toys to hand over. I hope we can share some love and put some smiles on some dials. I will put up a report as I am not sure what to expect.

4) Andrew, Jos and I had our meeting and are getting steam up for Y4G.

I have to go and get some exercise before work now. I have lots more to share and will hopefully get time tomorrow.

God Bless You

A Busy Month

This is going to be a busy month for me and to top it all off, the Yearn4god website is being rearranged. This will mean that we will have sites that are easier to update and access. Is will also mean that Andrew, Jos and myself can all easily alter the site and post, as at the moment Andrew is the only one with the know how. You can look forward to much more frequent information if you are following the progress of Y4G.

Here’s what I have on my plate this month (apart from my full time job and family life)

1) Tomorrow night (Friday) is a postponed Easter celebration with my church cell group. I’m making shepherd’s pie (never one to miss the opportunity for some irony or a pun or whatever you would call that)

2) On Saturday my family and Andrew will be going to 2 orphanages, Rumah Sejati and Karunia. We aim to begin photographing the kids for the website profile and also to hand over the money Andrew’s church raised from selling Christmas cards. We have worked with the heads of the orphanage and it turns out that the money from the sale of the Christmas cards will send 6 kids to school for a year. I am also looing forward to seeing Bu Silvie and Bu Tin at Karunia as their orphanage is very difficult to get to and I haven’t been there in about a year.

3) Sunday we go to visit an orphanage that is specifically for babies born after failed abortions. In Indonesia, there are common practices of trying to abort using ‘strong massages’, drinking toxic herbal potions etc. These methods often fail but leave the child deformed. Rumah Kehidupan is a place for these children. We will be donating second hand toys and trying to spread a little love there.

4) Next Wednesday, Andrew, Jos and I should finally have our weekly meeting. It has been canceled several times due to people being busy and sick. It is very important as we need to get onto our next CHARGED fellowship and really start putting together the family day.

5) The 12th will be annual work meeting followed by a family gathering. Its my wife’s family tradition to have the whole family gather every month or 2 and eat together and have fun, all 40-50 people !!

6) The 19th is a special little boys birthday party, already got his present.

7) 26th is the joy of job training.

It is going to be a busy month and I sometimes wonder how I end up with such a busy schedule. I will put up photos and reports about the orphanage visits when the Y4G website has been rearranged.
God Bless You