engelse update (team)

Greetings from Java, Indonesia!
Last time you heard from us was more than a month ago now as we were about to embark to Papua. I think our whole team would agree that God did a lot through us and within each of us during our time there. We went to Papua expecting the worst in regards to living conditions, having enough drinking water, and so forth, however God more than abundantly provided for all of our needs. We primarily worked with and through a group of Indonesian YWAMers there- they were a huge blessing to us and apparently we brought much encouragement and edification to them as well.

During the first 2 weeks we went to a transmigration village (basically this means that since the island of Java is getting soo crowded many of them are moving to villages such as this in Papua) called Taja. We probably lived most primitively here, but we all rather enjoyed it quite thoroughly. In Taja we did some manual labor in a field of the pastor and around the property where he lived/we stayed and taught english classes at the public school. We spent the majority of our time preparing talks and programs for the various youth services and church/community services that we led. Although the majority of Papuans call themselves “Christians” it was apparent that there is a considerable lack in discipling them. For example, even the pastor and the YWAMers were challenged by watching each of our team have our quiet time (being alone learning from God through His word and prayer) each day.
It has been really cool to find out later that God used a prayer, something we said or how we acted to encourage or challenge fellow believers here. May our entire lives be lived in a way that builds others up without us needing to be aware of it.

The final 2 weeks were spent in a place called Sentani where we taught English classes, shared truth, love and I think some joy at a number of different youth groups and schools. It was encouraging to see how eager these students were to receive and learn from us. All of us have had a number of opportunities to speak/teach/preach. God also set up some cool opportunities for us to learn from and bless full-time missionaries from other organizations.
Wow, so much has happened, unfortunately words cannot begin to express everything we have done, experienced and learned.

This past Monday we made the journey here to Malang, which is in the east of Java. During our time here we have encouraged a small congregation in a beautiful mountain village here, shared truth with a Dutch man named Tony that we met along the road, fellowshipped with a long term YWAM team based here, received teaching on the fear of the Lord, and enjoyed God’s beautiful creation. Tomorrow, February 18th we’re taking a 15 hour train ride to Jakarta. Jakarta was the only place that we didn’t have any contacts however God has already provided a place for us to stay. As many of you know, there has been much flooding there recently and so we all go with the expectation that God has some specific work for us to do there, however that may look. On the 26th we will Lord willing, head back to Singapore to meet up with the other two teams once again and to begin our debriefing process before we head back to Amsterdam on March 3rd for the final week of this Discipleship Training school.

Prayer Points:
-Praise God that none of us have gotten seriously sick or hurt in any way.
-Please continue to pray for protection physically and for spiritual covering.
-May the Holy Spirit continue to convict, stir, teach and prompt us in each moment.
-That we would finish strong in unity and love, keeping the focus on Jesus.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support, you are a blessing!
The Indonesia Team
YWAM DTS- Amsterdam