straks in Papua...

Hallo dan!

Ja het is gelukt om alweer achter de comnputer te kunnen kruipen. Dat is ook wel tof, want ik verwacht de komende twee weken niets te kunnen schrijven.
Afgelopen week is een week geweest met aardig wat ups en downs. Echt hele goede momenten en een fijne tijd gehad. Als team en persoonlijk best bezig geweest met hoe we elkaar echt kunnen liefhebben. Dat het niet alleen woorden en daden zijn, maar dat het van je hart komt en echt oprecht gemeend is. Ik ben er nog lang niet, maar ben wel aan het leren. Het is ook iets wat ik uit handen moet geven en moet vertrouwen dat God het zelfs aan mij wil geven en zal geven. (en ter bemoediging ook aan jou, als je erom vraagt)
Maargoed dat is dus een van de onderwerpen geweest waar ik deze afgelopen week in het bijzonder mee bezig ben geweest.
We zijn vandaag weer naar het strand geweest om te evangeliseren. Op de een of andere manier is dat geen vervelende plek om te zijn. (o.. ik merk dat mn toetsenbord geen smilies doet...) Maar k heb een heel fijn gesprek gehad en ik merkte dat ik ook meer vanuit eigen ervaring kon vertellen.
Verder hebben we een update gehad over de komende periode, die ik graag met jullie wil delen. Want na deze periode van overvloed lijkt het er eindelijk op dat we een wat meer primitieve staat van leven aan zullen gaan nemen. De eerste week in Papua verwachten we te wonen in een dorp met de naam Baje. Het schijnt er best traditioneel aan toe te gaan.. dat kan van alles betekenen.
We vliegen trouwens dinsdag- op woensdagnacht rond 1 uur en we arriveren om 7.50 in Papua.
Maargoed, er is geen watersysteem in dit dorp, dat zal dus wel interessant worden. We verblijven in het huis van de locale voorganger en hopen de mensen die terplekke werken te helpen.
De tweede week zal in het dorp Lereh ofzo zijn. Daar is nog nooit een team van jeugd met een Opdracht geweest, maar er schijnt wel iets van water te zijn. Het is nog niet bekend waar we kunnen slapen daar, ook wel interessant. In een van beide dorpen schijnt geen mogelijkheid te zijn om voedsel te kopen en electriciteit is ook een vraag, lekker primitief dus de komende twee weken!
Daarna zullen we in Sentany doorbrengen, een wat grotere plaats. Daar zullen we praktisch werk gaan doen en ook in een soort ziekenhuisje (voor zover ik het kan begrijpen) helpen. Daar gaan we ook naar scholen en zullen we engelse lessen verzorgen.
Gedurende deze weken zullen we in verschillende kerken ook onderdeel zijn van de diensten. Afgelopen zondag had de kerk, waar we de zondag ervoor ook waren geweest, een jeugddienst opgezet, die wij hebben geleid. Mijn rol was nogal minimaal, maar ook de kleinere bijdrages zijn waardevol voor God. Dus ook jou kleine bijdrages maken verschil!
Morgen is dus onze grote pakdag en in de middag gaan we eten uitdelen onder de zwerfkinderen. Ik ben benieuwd hoe dat zal zijn. Ik voel me echt heel erg bevoorrecht, er komen zoveel mogelijkheden op me af en ik mag gewoon proberen en kijken hoe het gaat, leren vertrouwen op God en zien dat Hij echt werkt. Super!
Ik heb nu trouwens een half uur lang geprobeerd mn hotmail te openen, wat niet is gelukt... sorry dus dat ik niet op mails reageer...

Bedankt voor het meeleven en de reacties!

Een hele dikke knuffel &
Blessings
Maaike

Hieronder ook de uitgebreide engelse update van ons team...

Hello friends!
Wow another year has come! We were so blessed to have been able to ring in the new year outside on the balcony of a nearly completed new children's home here on the island of Bali, with about 30 children and staff, oh what joy! We enjoyed excellent Indonesian food that they prepared, our team and the children's home people took turns praising God through dance, a fun skit, worship and then we prayed over each other's groups, asking for the Lord's protection and blessing... Oh, what beauty there is in coming together with brothers and sisters, little ones and older ones from another land!

We arrived here in Bali on Saturday the 30th, we were the last team to leave Singapore, but God still gave us a sweet opportunity to minister in another prison during our last days there. Our team was given 3 hours to speak truth through sharing parts of our stories, a dance, a skit and worship. It was just a special time to just love on this group of about 70 inmates by praying for each of them and hearing some of their stories as well. Again we partnered with an ongoing international ministry called Prison Fellowship, it's so cool to see how these inmates are getting discipled as they serve their time. (oh, and yes we did the Bambelayla!)

Yes, we've been having a good time, but we're also being stretched and challenged, not everything has been fun and games. On the 2 and a half hour plane ride over from Singapore, one of our leaders Michelle started to get sick and ended up having a really high fever of about 40 degrees celsius. She also got a throat infection, thankfully she was feeling heaps better a day later after much prayer and rest.
Yesterday, the 1st of 2007, was a long day for our team... (we've been helping here at a YWAM children's home the last few days)
...yesterday afternoon one of our team members, Beatriz (from Venezuela) started having a hard time breathing, her heart was beating really fast and her left arm started to go numb... so staff quickly took her to a nearby hospital. It turns out that her stomach lining has been eaten away, probably do to too many unfamiliar, spicy foods which her stomach has had a difficult time accepting. She spent last night in the hospital, is in stable condition, is on a limited/special diet and is now resting back where we're staying. We praise the Lord that she'll be okay but it was quite a scare for all of us.
While Beatriz was in the hospital yesterday afternoon the rest of our team began a program that we had prepared for the children, we were playing the second game when one of the guys on our team lifted up little Caleb on his shoulder not realizing that there was a low ceiling fan right above. Yeah, our good time came to a rather abrupt stop... Caleb's forehead had been sliced by the fan... he too was taken to the same hospital for stitches. After each incident we spent time praying together as a group with the children and staff.
We've been wondering how much of all these things are spiritual and how much are just accidents or normal physical conditions... how and where does the spiritual and physical world connect? Well, if anything we're recognizing our desperate need for the Lord, His protection and discernment.
K, my internet time is wrapping up.

How can you pray for us?
-Protection in every way
- Discernment in fighting the spiritual strongholds that are heavy here such as fear (many people live to appease the gods- Bali is highly Hindu, plus there's much ancestor worship and black magic here), corruption, and immorality are also heavy spirits here.
-Sensitivity to know how to love and serve well.


PART 2 (since most of the team hasn't had time to get the last update out to everyone yet) Here's what's happened since Jan 1st.
We spent about a week helping out with the children at the orphanage in Singa Raja (in the North of Bali), skits, games, art, going to the beach with them, the guys did some manual labor preparing the new orphanage for them to move into, we did a prayer ride with the leader of the orphanage through the area, we helped build good connections with a completely Hindu Balinese village (the lady overseeing the orphanage dreams/plans to start a school there, hoping to use that as a bridge to the gospel), we also joined the orphanage to the hot springs. It was sad to have to leave the children after a week, they're so beautiful and it was super encouraging to see them growing up with Christ (I'd say it was a
pretty solid orphanage).


Last Saturday we took the 3 hour car trip back here to Jimbaran, where the YWAM base is. We've spent the past week putting on programs for children at another orphanage here in Kuta (talking with them about the Father Heart of God and Identity in Christ), in the evenings we had times of worship with them, beautiful! We have also picked up trash along the beach, done some beach evangelism, shared in a church and led a youth service at a local church here. The beach is literally about a 5 minute walk from where we're staying! God is graciously allowing us to enjoy this beautiful island and people, what an incredible God we have! We have a time for group processing every week and it is evident that God is busy with each of us, oh for more of Him!! It's really special to have the opportunity to grow in this context with these people! Praise the Lord that no one else has really gotten sick or hurt since that first week.

Tomorrow evening (super late) we head out for Papua! Most of the Indonesians give us a funny look when we tell them that that's where we're going (supposedly it's rather primitive). There are many unknowns but we're excited to see what God has in store for us there, I think it will be quite a change from what we've been experiencing here.
Here's the tentative plan:
Papua from January 17 to February 12
2 weeks in the villages
week 1- Baja
-it's a transmigration region where people from other places in the
jungle have come.
-we'll be doing church and house visits along with a lot of Muslim
friendship evangelism and we'll be putting on evening services for the youth
Week 2- Lereh
-It's the first time that they've ever had a team here
-the plan is to do church and house visits as well as manual labor
Week 3 & 4- Sentani
-we'll be teaching at schools - english & art
-basic healthcare at a medical/maternity clinic
-home church ministry
-doing community development

Sorry this was so long but now you have a better idea of what we've been up to, how we are, and what we're hoping to do. We have no idea how much internet access we'll have in Papua so you may not hear from us for about a month... but who knows.


You are all loved heaps and we greatly appreciate your prayers and support. May we continue to persevere in the race God has us on.

The Indonesia Team

"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love..."