sigafoose robert diane 1974 indonesia

8/11/2019 Sigafoose Robert Diane 1974 Indonesia

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IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD

AND

THE WORD WAS

WITH GOD.

HE WAS

VrtTH

GOD N THE BEGINNING.

THROUGH HIM ALL

THINGS

WERE MADE;

WITHOUT HIM

NOTHING WAS MADE

THAT

HAS

BEEN MADE.

IN

HIM

WAS

LIFE,

AND THAT

LIFE WAS

THE

LIGHT OF MEN.

THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS,

BUT THE DARKNESS HAS NOT UNDERSTOOD T

NO MAN

HAS EVER SEEN GOD,

BUT GOD THE ONLY SON

WHO

S AT THE FATHER S SIDE,

HAS

MADE HIM KNOWN.

JOHN 1:1-5 , 18


2/20

Dear

f r iends

As

we

share

together

i n love

and fellowship t h i s

special

time

of

the

year

ou r f am il y p ra ys that

each

of

you might be showered

with gif ts of

joy and

comfort

and

glorious thoughts of

im vho

reigns

on

High|

seciu^e

in

Chr is t

v io

i s

th e

King

o f

a l l

Kings

I

S e r v a n t s

o f the K i ng

Bob

and Diane and g i r l s

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3/20

6*00(1

to

IndoneaUt

D e a r hristianFriends

October/November 1974

Millf

We

have been home now

fo r

s e v e r a l months ,

i n f a c t , it is hard to

be l i eve

our fur lough t ime

is more than ha l f

over . Our speak ing dates

dur ing

the

summer months

took us th rough

some twenty s t a t e s , with little

t ime

be

tween

engagements to

en joy f ami l i e s .

Even though ,

it ce r t a i n l y was our

thrill

and b le ss in g to be ab le to see the beau t i f u l

count rys ide

and

s igh t s fo r which we had lo ng ed while away from our nat ive America. The

warm fe l lowship we have

received

from

those

we

met

and v i s i t ed cannot

be desc r ibed

as they a re beyond de sc r i p t i on . What a joy fo r

us

to

ex

per ience

such s p i r i t u a l bless ings from you dear fo lks .

Diane i s

now

spending

most

o f her

t ime s t ay ing a t home with Debbie

and

Laur i e .

The g i r l s

a re having a very i n t e r e s t in g ? ? ? t ime ad ju s t

ing

to the school atmosphere , the bigges t problem

being

d i sc ip l ined

t h i nk ing and soc i a l di f fe rences . More and more we

r e a l i z e

how much o f

the

Eas tern

cu l tu re

they

have

adopted .

We

a re

sure

the

s t o r i e s

they

r e l a t e to

t h e i r f r i end s

abou t all o f our i n s e c t s and bugs

must seem

g ro s s . Then, too , you

should hea r

some o f our s to r i e s

Bob is cont inu ing histrave ls to congr ega t i ons who have helpedwi-th

our suppor t during our t ime

in

Indones ia . He i s a l so v i s i t i ng our

Bible

Col leges ,

cha l leng ing o the r s

to

sha re

in our

wider

v is ion o f

l o s t sou l s and

seek ing workers

who

might be

wi l l ing to go and tell

th e

Good News,

NOW ,

while

the

door is still open.

During

our first few months o f cu l t u ra l shock which we encounte red

^pon returning to the

States ,

.no t ed the

fast

pace of

l iv ing , the style

of

dress, the apathy of Christ ians (?) and

of

^ourse, the

extremely

high

cost

of food and

clothing.

do offer

a SPECI L t hanks to

those

o f

you ( indiv iduals and congregat ions)

who have dug deep ly

i n to

p oc ke ts , g iv in g us t h a t

b i t

o f EXTR nec

essary fo r our needed

l i v ing

expenses he re . How the Lord wi l l b l e s s

you

fo r

shar ing

yours w ith

us

during

t h i s

spec ia l

t ime

o f

need


4/20

PRESENT

NEEDS:

F u n d s

f o r o u r return t o

t h e

field w h i t e

\ m t o

harvest

(Current

ra tes

have

increased ^0% above our

re turn

t r ip 6 months

ago)

. A motorcyc le needed fo r v i l l age work a s an i nexpens ive means

o f t ra n spo rt at ion

th i s can be

purchased on the

f ie ld) . o

Typewriter (comparable machine

to

the

one

borrowed for th is

news letter. . . 3^nmi Camera ......

A t

this

t im e we

have

sufficient

B i b l e

S c h o o l

m a t e r i a l

t o

t a k e

back

with us

for

use

in

t r ans l a t i ng , personal

s tudy

and teaching mission

ary chi ldren. We have had

such

a

good response

for th is par t i cu la r

need

and

we

wish

to

t h ank

all

t ho s e who have

s h a r e d .

SIGHHTS SOUNDS STATESIDE

How g re a t

it would

be fo r our v is io n a ls o to

grow

as God

g ran t

the i n c rease

higher ^

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Serv ing

C h r i s t

Bob,

D iane and g i r l s

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5/20

G^ooil

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Chr i s t i an Gree t ings :

9

J ... yr

/ . . . /,

June/July

1974

CULTUR L

SHOCK??? In

America, yes

espec ia l ly when you

have

been away for awhile way from

this

land of plenty

The

smooth

highways,

the

many

available

i tems

in

s tores

the

high prices ,

many changes

in clothing s tyles especial ly for

the

men,

a l l

of which takes much get t ing used tOo

So many

t imes

when t ry ing to

decide

what to

buy

wel l , we

have j u s t walked out

of

the s to re empty handed with the

dec i s ion o f what to buy

be ing

too

much

fo r

u s .

We

have been offe red a

complete ly

furnished home in

which

to

l i ve while on

furlough. The Lord

has

t ru ly

blessed us in t h i s

way

and

we

know

the

Lord wi l l

b les s

the one

who

has

been

so

wil l ing to

s ac r i f i c e

her

home

fo r

our comfort

and joy .

Our

t r ip

home

was de l igh t fu l

s topping

over

in

Hong

Kong

one

n igh t in order to break the

lengthy journey . . . .

One

constant

problem was our speaking to o-thers

in

the Indone sia n language

while in

Singapore,

Taiwan

and

other refuel ing s tops

as

we

winged

our

way home.

Needless to say

the puzzled

l ooks

o f

others over our s t range

speech

l e f t them

wondering where

in

th e world we

came

f rom. Even now, a t

home

i n th e

Uni ted

S t a t e s

it is d i f f i c u l t

fo r

us

to think* i n American Engl i sh a t

t imes .

There fore

when we

meet ,

p lease don*t

be

alarmed o r f ee l

s l igh ted as we s t rugg le

to

communicate .

\ Our summer season w ill c on sist

of '

Vacat ion Bib le

School

pres

en ta t ions and speak ing

to

s uppo r ti ng congrega t ion s.

Then

in

September,

the

g i r l s

w il l e n ro l l

i n

the

Cat l in

I l l i no i s

school

sys tem. They a re look ing forward to having a

*true*

school

atmosphere with

American f r i ends . Indonesian

school ing

cons i s t ed

o f

home t u t o r i ng and correspondence

cou r s e s .

Thanks

to all fo r your c o ns ta nt p ra y er s and concern as

we

e n d e a v o r t o c o n t i n u e in t h e

Lo r d s work

t o I n d o n e s i a .

Since re ly

i n

Chr i s t

Bob, D iane and g i r l s


6/20

ATJAR NANAS

P e e l pineapple and remove core* Cut i n t o

s e r v i n g

p o r t i o n s .

Tack

a

n a i l - s h a p e d

clove i n t o each

p i e c e

o f p i n e a p p l e .

1

s m a l l

p i n e a p p l e

2/3 cup

water

1/2

cup

vinegar

1/Zf cup sugar

P l a c e i n t o e a r t h e n bean p o t .

Meanwhile,

^ ^

in

a sauce pan, bring to a slow boil a

whole c l o v e s mixture

o f

w a t e r v i n e g a r

and

s u g a r .

Simmer

f o r 10

minutes and

pour over

p i n e a p p l e . Cool. Cover and p i c k l e

a t

l e a s t s i x h o u r s .

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DO

YOU

HAVE???

Pickled

Pineapple

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If

you

wish

t o

c o n t i n u e r e

c e i v i n g

our n e w s l e t t e r

p l e a s e

m a i l

back

t h e e n c l o s e d

p o s t

c a r d . With ou t y ou r r e s p o n s e

you w i l l be

a u t o m a t i c a l l y r e

moved

from o u r

m a i l i n g

list

S P E C I A L

NOTE:

I OUR

NEWSLETTER

I S D I S T R I

BUTED I N YOUR CHURCH BULLETIN

DO

NOT RETURN THE POST

CARD

AS

YOU

WILL

CONTINUE

TO RECEIVE

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I N THAT MANNER

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7/20

G ood

Selamat dalam Tuhan Yesus

Vy

75

December J anua ry

We

would

l i k e

you to

meet your

new

b ro the r s and s i s t e r s

in

Chr i s t

Twenty e igh t

persons have

j u s t r ecen t l y

been brought

i n to

His

fo l d

What

a t h r i l l fo r us

to

be ce lebra t ing the Chris tmas

Season

t h i s

year

wi t h so many new Chr i s t i an s

I

O ld

Faithful

We were

able

to buy sack the 1967 Volkswagan van t h a t

we had sold

when

we

went home on iur lough.

As

you

remember

in 1973?

we bought

t h i s

car

for

1700. In

9 ^^

we sold i t for

1700 and now

we have purchased

it

again

for tunate ly

fdr

the same pr ice

1700 as

the se l l ing pr ice of

t h a t ca r

i s now

2500.


8/20

The motorcycle

i s

used f j r

quick

t r i pshard to

ge t - i n -v i l l age

areas

and a

gas

saver a l so , -he

down payment

on

t h i s veh ic l e

was our

washing

m a c h i n e l

Please note

our address

R. S ige foo s e

Jl Irran Bonjo l 65

S a la t ig a , J at e ng

Indonesia

d

At the

t ime of

t h i s

wr i t i ng , we have

j u s t

had a

hxirglary . Thieves came

in

the

middle

of the nigh t and

s t o l e

our

t oo l s , mainly

car

t oo l s , an

estimated 800

worth,

which just about

cleaned

us out.

Laurie , l a t e r , came

out

of her

room

with a nice sized screw dr ive r .

Her comment, Dad, a r e n t you

glad

I never put th ings

back where

they

belong?

We

pray

you and

yours

are

enjoying

t h i s

very

spec i a l

t ime

of th e year

In

Chr i s t ,

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Bob,

Diane, Debbie

Laurie

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9/20

October 70

May

7 1

Ju ly 7 2

Apr i l 74

Apri l 7 5

OUTLINE

OF WORK

L e f t U.S.A.

fo r

Sin^japore

Lived in Singapore fo r 7 months w a iting fo r

v i s a s )

to

Indonesia

1

Tr i ed

to

st rt

a w o r k bu t

door s

w e r e

c l o s ed f o r

ne w

work

in November

o f

tha t ye a r .

2 . Taught a weekly B ible School class in an

exist ing

c o n g r e g a t i o n , also worked w ith

th e

youth

3 . Taught and preached when and wherever possi bl e

Left S i n g a p o r e fo r I n d o n e s i a

L iv ed

in

Bandung

fo r

more

t h a n

13 m on ths

D u r i n g

t h i s t i m e ,

Bo b

1 . S tu d ie d th e I n d o n e s i a n l a n g u a g e

2 . T au g h t th e

Bib le

in tw o

c h u r c h e s

by using

E n g l i s h

3 . Taught Young P e o p l e s

grou p e ac h

Sunday evening

4 .

Made seve r a l

t r i p s

to o th er a re as

to h ol d m e et in g s,

s e m i n a r s

and

a lso

s u r v e y work

fo r he lp ing new

m i ss io n ar i e s to loc te

ove to

Sal at i ga

Central

Java)

almost 2

years

1 .

O c t . 7 2

Sta r ted v i l l age work in

Pendingan

F e b . 73 bap t ized

2 0

2 .

May *7 3

Opened

new work

in vi l lage o f

Sumagawe

Sep t 7 5

bapt ized 14

3

O c t .

7 3

Opened

work

in v i l l age

of

Patemon

Nov. 73

b a p t i z e d 18

from

Sumagawe

and Patemon

D e c . 7 3

bap t ized 14 from Sumagawe and Patemon

4 J a n .

*7 4 Sumagawe

and

Patemon tak en o v e r by N a t i o n a l s

R e t u r n

to U.S.A.

fo r

year

f u r l o u g h .

FUTURE P L A N S :

R e t u r n

to

Sa la t iga

to

c o n t i n u e vi l l age

work-opening new

v i l l ages

a n d t r a i n i ng l e ade r s


10/20

Outline - page 2

FUTURE

NEEDS

Motorcycle

fo r vi l l age work

F ilmst ri p P roj ec to r and Material

Flannelgraph

mater i a l

Simple

s tudy

books

which

can

be t ra n sl at ed i nt o Indonesian

All

types

of Sunday School mater ia l

F i n a n c i a l

Expense s

p e r

Month;

Salary - 500.00

Schooling

fo r

g i r l s - 150.00

T r a v e l

Fund

-

100 . 00

Mission Expenses on the

f i e ld

Rent

-

50 . 00

to

75 .00

Travel

expenses

within

th e c ou ntry - 50 00

Mis c e l l a n e ou s

Paper Equipment

e tc .

fo r

mimeographing

Trans la to r fo r

t r an s l a t i ng

mater i a l

Postage

F i lm for sli s

Trac t s Bib l e s eitc.

Medical

coverage

Committed Support a t

th is

time:

750.00

Additional

Needed:

250.00 per month committed

Robert

D. Sigafoose

Home Add r e s s :

P.O. Box 569

Ca t l i n

I I .

61817


11/20

CHURCH

GROWTH I N

CENTRAL

JAVA

AN EXAMPLE

^ ^ 6 : 7

God i s working

today

i n the

l i v e s o f m illio ns

of people. I

thank

Him

f o r

the

way He i s working i n my l i f e . I

would

l i k e to t e l l how God i s

using

us t o

h e l p

C h r i s t s

Church

grow

here

i n

Indonesia

and

hope

t h i s w i l l

h e l p o t h e r s

serve God

b e t t e r . This

a r t i c l e attempts t o

t e l l

how God gave

us answers t o tw o

b as ic q ue st io n s m is si on ar ie s

ask.

These questions are:

where

should

one

work;

how.should one work i n

order

t o p l a n t growing i nd ig eon o us ch u rch es.

Indonesia i s an i s l a n d

nat ion i n

Southeast

Asia

and has a

populat ion

of

approximately

120 000 000

people. I t i s a new

f i e l d

of service fo r the Churches

of Christ/Christian

Churches od

led

us

to come

to Indonesia

after we

heard

reports

about the

many people who were accepting

C h r i s t .

We

s t a r t e d preparing

to

come i n

1968.

I n October o f 1970 we

l e f t

the U.S. and came

to

Singapore fol low

ing the advise

o f o t h e r miss ionar ies . Then i n May of 97 we received our semi

permanent

v i s a

allowing

us to

come to Indones ia .

y

family

and I now l i v e i n the c i t y of Salat iga which

i s

located i n c e n t r a l

Java. Previously

our home was

i n

Bandung

Western

Java. Lew Cass

another Church

of Christ missionary was

a l s o

located i n Bandung. After

an

extensive survey of

Java

the

most densely populated island

of

Indonesia Lew

Cass and

I

found

the

c e n t r a l

par t

of

Java more responsive to

the

Gospel. This was e sp e ci al ly t ru e

of

the v i l l a g e

a r e a s .

y family and I f e l t the need

to

evangel ize these people . I t

was

decided t h a t

my

family

along

with the

Lew

Cass

family would move

to

t h i s

p a r t i c u l a r

a r e a .

Finding a c e n t r a l l y located

town was t ime

consuming but we

f i n a l l y

decided

on

the

area

around

Salat iga a

small

town

with

a

populat ion of

approximately 55 000. We chose t h i s c i t y because of i t s locat ion. I t i s located

twenty f ive miles f rom Semarang the

c a p i t a l c i t y

o f C en tra l Java.

S a l a t i g a

i s

also

twenty f ive miles from Surakarta and t h i r t y f i v e miles from Yokyakarta two

major

c i t i e s .

The

populat ion d e n s i t y i n

t h i s

a r e a i s

approximately

1 100

people

p e r

s q u a r e

m i l e .


12/20

2

We proposed two

things

fo r th is area

Fi r s t

we

decided

to

work

with

the

exis t ing churches. I t was our plan

to

help

restore the churches

according to

New Testament teachings.

Second, we

decided

to

s ta r t churches in the vi l lages

where there a re no

exi s t ing churches .

There a re now fourteen churches

in

the

ci ty of Salat iga ,

and

we a t the

present

time,

do not

have

any plans to s t a r t a

new chu r ch

h e r e

Making

plans

i s one th ing but carrying them out i s

another .

We

found

that

i f

you are

wil l ing

to

work for

the Lord

and open

your heart

and

mind

to

tha t

purpose. He

wi l l

f ind a way to use you.

One of

th e b ig ge st

jobs was to f ind housing.

Finding

a house

was d i f f i cu l t

enough,

but then

one

must

bargain

fo r

the

price

All

Indonesians

th ink

that

because a person i s a foreigner he i s r ich They s t a r t

out

by asking

two

or

three times what

the

house i s

worth,

and

then one

has to b arg ain t o

get

them

down to a

reasonable

price

Sometimes

th i s

takes

a month.

The house

we chose

needed

many

repa i r s

I

could

not

possibly

do a l l the

work t h a t

needed

to be

done.

The only

th ing

fo r us to do was hi re

some

men to

help

us

ge t

the house ready. At

the t ime of hi r ing these men, we

did not

know

where they

were

from and did

not

rea l ly make much

difference

to

me.

All

t ha t

mattered

was tha t they were able to

do

th e work tha t was

needed.

As I worked

with

these

men and ta lked to them

I

f e l t

the

need to

t a lk to them

about Chr i s t

These men told me that they were a l l registered as Moslems but they a lso said

that none

of them were very

active in the i r re l ig ion.

Everyone in

Indonesia must

reg is ter

in

some re l ig ion. There

are

only five religions which

are

recognized

by

the

government: they are

Moslem, Chris t ian

Hindu,

Cathol ic

and

Buddhis t ,

At

the

present

time

this country is

said to be over 8 ^ oslem I gave

these

men

some

t racts that I

had

about Christ, Some

of

them said that

they could not read but

they

knew some one

who

would

read to

them A

small booklet

on

the l i fe of

Christ,

which was

writ ten

in the Indonesian language ,

was given

to

them.


13/20

5

Latsr,

I asked one

of

the

men i f

he would go with me to

some of the

small

villages

which are

located

on the side of the mountain I wanted to pass out

tracts and to see how the people lived. The culture in Central Java is

quite

different from that of West Java. The man that I asked to go with me as a guide

told me

tha t

he l ived in one

of

the small vi l lages in the footh i l l s of the

mountain. When

I

arrived at his

home I

found that not

only

he was v/illing

to

go

with me but eight others were waiting there. s we were walking along from

village

to

village

they began to ask me

many

questions. At t irs t the questions

were about America and also about our

plans

for

working

in

Indonesia.

Then one

man

named

Pak Harjo

began

to question

me

about the

Lord

Jesus

Christ. e said

that he had

read the

book v;hich I had given him several weeks earlier . Harjo

told

me that he had talked to some of his friends about

the

book He asked i f I

would come to their village, Pendingan and

talk

to them about Christ. The Lord

had ansered our prayers The door

was now

open to begin teaching Jesus Christ to

these

people .

I began immediately to find out what

must

be

done in

order fo r us to hold a

meeting

in

this

village

of Pendingan

You

can not

just

enter into

a

village

and

start teaching

First

of

all ,

one must have someone

who is wil ling to

open

his

house for the meetings Then one must get permission from the

local

government

There

are

five different offices from which one must receive permission.

First

of all , you must see the head of the village and then the next man who is over

several

villages;

next,

the man over him e had

to

visit the offices all in

order.

t

is not possible to go to a

man in

a higher office before seeing the

man

in th e lower office.

Most of

the

men

were not there

the

f i r s t

time I

went to

see them. I had to re turn several times before seeing them.

t

took us more

than a week

to

t he se

people

Written permission was then received to go

into

this nominal Moslem village,

freeing us to tell them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. This

village

of over

four

hundred adults and twice as many children had

never

before

heard the

story


14/20

4

of Jesus

Chris t .

I know of

only one vi l lager

who had

ever

been

inside

a

church

and he had j u s t moved there from another

a rea

Many homes were open to us

in

the beginning. One of the homes was the home

of a man who was a

leader of

the

people.

His name was Martono. He was

chosen

by the people in an election.

fe l t

that i f he had been chosen by the people

as

the i r leader,

then that would be

the

logical place for us

to

s ta r t our work.

The house was

not large but

was big enough. There were

not

enough chairs

for

the

people.

We asked ourselves, what

do we

do?

Should

we

use

mission

funds or

wait

for them to get their own chairs? I was

praying

about

this

problem and what

to do

in this situation. One of the churches in Salatiga

offered

to loan folding

chairs to

us

for

the meeting. This

was

our answer

to pr ayer.

Then we

asked

what

should we do about

Bibles.

Should

we

buy

Bibles

and give them to

the

people or

should

we make them buy their own? A Bible costs 250 Rupiahs or 620,

and

most of

these

people,

when working only

make

200 Rupiahs per day. Bibles have now gone

up

to

550 Rupiahs I

knew

from past

experiences

that

i f things are

just

given to

them that they do not take good care of them.

decided

to just loan the Bibles

to

them. That way

they

would be

kept

in

one

place

and

i f they

wanted

to

borrow

the

Bibles

they could, but they

must be returned every Sunday in time for

the

meet ing

began

our

meetings

in October,

1972 even though I

thought i t

would be

bet ter to

wait for at l eas t another

month.

There were two reasons fo r th is

First

of

all ,

this

was

the

month

of Lebaran which is the largest oslemholiday

of

the year.

This

month

of fasting is observed only during the

day-light

hours,

but at night they are

allowed to

eat .

All

Itoslems, and even non oslems

celebrate

this

holiday.

Since this

village

was a ll registered as oslem I thought i t

better

to wait

until November The

people in Pendingan wanted to go ahead as planned.

The other reason I

did not

want to

start

in October

was that

I had promised

I

would

go

to

Manado

in

Northern

Indonesia with

Brother Lew Cass and

hold

a

preachers training cl inic.

were to leave the l as t week in

October,

t was de-


15/20

5)

cided that a

young

man who was working with us as a translator could t each the

people

in

Pendingan Lie Sing Tioe

my

translator, and I

worked

together pre

paring the lesson he

would

teach to the people at Pendingan in the next four

weeks. In this way Brother Lew Cass and I were

able

to hold the meeting

in

Manado

which

proved

to be a glorious experience.

hen

we

returned

home

the

work

was continuing to grow. Things

were

going so well t ha t we decided i t best

that

I not go to the village every Sunday. I taught only every other week. In

this

way the people would not think

that

the only time they could

have

a meeting

was

when I was th ere. I did

not

want them to be

dependent upon th e

missionary.

At

first many

people came to see what was going on.

They

wanted to see

if

we

were going to give them anything. Usually the missionary

and

other people

who

come to

the

village,

pass out something to the people.

They wanted

to know

why

we had come

to

their village. As time passed the Sunday evening

service

settled

down

to

ten or

fifteen adults. Many children were coming

to th e

meeting. e

s tar te d a

program

for the children by

first

teaching them Christian songs in the

Javanese language and then teaching

them

Bible stories.

The

meeting

started at

6:00 P.M. for th e children and then

a t 7:00

P.M. for th e adults,

as

most of the

adults were in

th e fields

until

dark. Many

people would

no t enter th e

house

bu t

stood

o utsid e to l i s ten

T hi s c on ti nu ed fo r the next

few months.

Later the

men

of the group started a Bible reading class on Thursday evening.

They asked if Lie would come

and

help them in their Bible reading. Only about

four of th e men

who

were coming on Sunday could read

bu t

they

started

reading to

others. ow

they

were meeting together twice a week. A

prayer

meeting was

started

along with the Bible reading.

e

taught

them

to pray.

They

learned to

pray for others for the

government

and for the opening of other work. e also

s t r ted

t e a c h i n g them

p e r so n a l

evangelism.

The f i r s t Sunday in February an

invitation

was given. They had been

studying and

some

perhaps

were

now ready to accept Jesus as their personal

Saviour.

When

asked i f there were any

ready

to accept th e Lord as their Saviour,

every adu lt and two of the older children raised their hands. I was so surprised


16/20

6)

t h a t

I coul dn t

think

what to say. I

fe l t

some were

ready to accept C hrist, hut

I d id no t

know

ll

o f th em w ou ld

a t t h i s t ime

t

was decided that they would be b ap ti ze d t he

following

Sunday morning. I

know that many of our brethren would not agree that we should wait a full week

to

baptize anyone

a fte r

they had accepted the Lord. I would not approve of i t either,

i f I were in

the

United S t a t e s . However, we

a re not in the

United

S t a t e s

an d the

situation

here

is

quite

different.

do not have a baptistry where

we

can take

them. The

closest

place

to baptize

them was a

swimming

pool which was

over six

miles from th e village.

had

to

arrange for

transportation, plus request

th e

use of the pool. While waiting this one

week

five others

who

had been attending

th e

Bi b l e

Study

a lso

decided

fo r C h r i s t .

In

Salatiga,

a Bible Study group had been started by Lew Cass with

th e

help

of a

man

named Willy

Worang

Willy

is

a Manadonese who had been

helping

with

ou r mission work for about two years. Some of the people who had been studying

from this particular group had also asked to be baptized. So, th e following

Sunday,

sixteen

people were baptized from Pendingan, four from Salatiga, and my

daughter, Laurie.

The

next Sunday,

six

more

were

baptized

from the Bible study

group in Sala t iga

Several family units from Pendingan a cc ep te d t he Lord. The man in whose

home we were meeting Martono along

with

his wife and two of his children ac

cepted the Lord. This

man also

brought his sister and he r husband to the meetings.

They,

too,

accepted

th e

Lord and la te r Martono

talked to

his mother and she

was

baptized. In another family

unit,

the husband Sumarto , his wife

and two

of

his children accepted

Jesus.

Also, two

other families of

husband and wife

accepted

the Lord

as

their P e rs o na l S a vi o ur .

All

of

these villagers were baptized

into Christ

on Sunday morning and that

evening

everyone

of

them

came to

th e

service

where

they

had the ir

f irs t

communion.

Also, that evening, they gave their

fi rst

offering.

t

was no t much bu t a t least

t wa s a

s t a r t fo r

them to be abl e

to

shar e. This congregation

i s

d oin g e ve ry

thing

for

themselves which

is

th e

most important

thing.

They have

already


17/20

7)

elec ted t h r e e

men

from the i r

group

a s leaders

e

do n o t ca l l them eld ers as

yet

h u t th e y

do

take

ca re o f

th e

o f f e r i n g money an d

serve

a t th e L ord s

t a b l e

each

Sunday.

e

have

been teaching p e r s o n a l evangelism from th e v ery be gi nni ng.

These

Chr i s t i ans

a r e

now

going out

to o th e r s an d

te l l ing them about J e s u s C h r i s t .

One o f

th e

men in

th e

c ongr e ga t i on ta lk e d

to

h is

f r iend

who i s a B uddhi s t , an d

he i s now coming to th e

services

A f t e r a

s h o r t

t ime, th is man s ta r ted b r in g in g

s o m e o f

his

Buddh i s t

friends

Th e Chris t ians from Pendingan

have

been

i n s t r u m e n t a l

in s ta r t ing new

work.

Soon

a f t e r

the i r b ap ti sm s, t he y were

ta lk in g to

some

o f

the

people

in a nearby

v i l l a g e .

These

people

wanted

to

know more

about

the

Lord

an d

asked

i f

I

would

come

and

t a lk to

them.

On E a s t e r

Sunday

a

fellov/ship meal

wa s

he l d

in

Pendingan

an d we i nv i t ed ll

o f

those wh o

w an t ed

to a t tend from

th e

o the r v i l l age

w h i ch

is

only one

mile from

Pendingan, c a lle d Sumagawe I was then asked to

s t a r t

holding m e e t i n g s t he re

The people in Sumagawe were much bet ter e du ca te d t ha n those in

Pendingan,

so

i t was not

p os sib le to

teach them

in

th e same way e ha d

to

find new

ma te ria l.

Most o f t hos e who a tte nd ed th e meetings were

young

people between th e ages o f

seventeen

an d twenty-six. Some were

school

t eacher s

in

the v i l l a g e school an d

ot her s

were

at t endi ng a

t ea ch e r s t ra in in g school in S a l a t i g a .

I f e l t

th is would

be a r e a l opportunity fo r us to t r a i n some of these young men to become involved

in

th e

Lo r d s

work

in th is

a r e a . In

September

o f t h a t y e a r , n i n e

people

from th e

v i l l a g e

o f

Sumagawe accepted

Jesus Chr i s t as

the i r Personal

Saviour.

A ll

were

young people lthough I w s very happy with

these

new Christians, I w s a l i t t le

c onc e rne d

tha t

we mi g h t

have

c u t off

th e

older pe ople in th e v i l l age

so

a

Wednesday

n i g h t

Bible Study was star ted a lo ng w it h our Sunday s e r v i c e s . I t was

f e l t tha t if we v/ere

to

meet in

a n

i n f o r m a l g ro u p

it

would

be

be t te r fo r th e

older people as many

of

them could

not read o r

write .

Those

who could re ad

were

t o h e lp

those

who

could

n o t. I n th is

way,

we read an d d i s c u s s e d th e Word o f God

Jus t

two

weeks a f t e r

th e

f i r s t

baptism,

five

more

young

people

came

an d

asked

i f


18/20

8)

they could be baptized i nt o C h ri st , I ha d never

given

an i n v i t a t i o n to the

people i n t h i s v i l l a g e . They came to me and requested that I baptize them

However

the

baptizing was done by th e fe llo w who was working with me I t seemed

much

be t t e r

t h i s wa s

done

by

a n

Indones ian

Among those who were b a p tiz e d was a young man

o f

21 year s . This young man

had been s i c k

f o r

more than two year s . He was not even abl e to g e t

out

o f

bed

and walk. Tracts had been passed out i n th i s village and one t h a t he ha d received

told about

Ch ris t

the

Physician.

A f t e r reading

this

t rac t an d praying, he became

bet ter

an d

within a few days, was out of be d

an d

walking. A ll

o f th e

people in

the

vil lage

knew

about

th is

man.

Because o f what they had

w i t n e s s e d ,

many came

an d

asked i f

they

could a tte n d our

meetings.

Later, t h i s young man s

f a t h e r ,

mother

an d grandmother a l l

a c c e p t e d

C h r i s t an d

v/ere

b a p tiz e d .

During t h i s time, we

were

approached by a group of people from a v i l l a g e

c a l l e d

Patemon

an d

asked i f

we

could

hold

weekly meetings in th is v illa ge

The

people

there

were already meeting together, but no one

who

would

come

on a regular

bas is . Although

they

had been meeting

fo r

a

year,

none of them owned a Bible.

The only one that was

used,

was owned by a man

who

came once i n av/hile

to help

them. Some of

these

v i l l a g e r s

ha d been

baptized by

s p rin k lin g .

Most

of the

teaching

that

ha d

been

done was

actually preaching

and no one had s a t

with

them

and s tudied

the

ib le I t wa s d e c i d e d t ha t I would

h old m e etin gs

w i t h them e a c h

Sunday

morning.

During

this

time we would

read

and study, more l i k e a

Bible

school c la s s than a preaching s e rv ic e .

Bibles

were loaned to them so th a t they

themselves

ha d

the

opportunity

to

read

an d

s t udy,

not only

on

Sundays,

but

a ls o

dur ing

th e

v/eek.

In November, a seminar wa s

h e l d

in th e vi l lage

o f

Sumagawe. This s e m i n a r

was

b a s ic a lly

one on personal

evangelism.

Everyone was invited to attend

these

m eetings. F ive o f

th e

vi l lagers

from

Patemon a tte n d e d each day, a l ong

with

some

o f th e

vi l lagers from Pe ndinga n.

e

n o t o n l y t a u g h t

t hos e

who came b u t

a lso

sen t them

o u t

in teams

to contact t h o s e

homes w he re t h e y

knew

someone

and


19/20

9

invited

them to

come

to the

seminar

and

also the

regular

meetings.

More

than

one hundred and fifty people were contacted and given

tracts

and told about

Jesus Christ during these th ree days. After the seminar eighteen people were

baptized

into

Jesus

Chr is t, five

of

them

being from the

village

of Patemon.

We

continued working

in

a ll villages,

Ron

Ritchey our

other

missionary in

Salatiga,

took over the work in Pendingan on Sunday evenings while I continued to

hold a

Wednesday

Bible study and Sunday evening service in Sumagawe as well as

holding

Sunday morning

services

in Patemon

In

December

fourteen more people were

added to the Lord.

Eight

of them being from

Sumagawe

and six from Patemon

We praise the

Lord

for the

way

that the work has progressed during this

one

year.

wo new

villages were opened .to the Gospel message and sixtysix people

accepted Jesus Christ as

their

personal Saviour

We

are not interested in num

bers for

numbers

sake but I do want you to know what has been taking place here

in Indonesia, We

are

interested in

bringing souls

to

the

Lord Jesus

Christ

and

in order to do this, i t does take numbers. We want you to share with us the joys

of

knowing

that so many who have never before had the opportunity to hear about

Jesus

Christ , are

now

accepting

Him as

their

Saviour,

y

family

and

I are returning to the

States for

furlough.

What

will happen

while

we

are away? wo of the villages have now been taken over by the Nationals

and are continuing to meet each Lord s Day We pray

diligent,ly

that they

will

remain s trong

and s teadfas t in hris t

The Lord is opening so many doors

for

us so

quickly.

Our work here is only

beginning. Our next step is to train leaders, Christian men willing to teach

others. At this

point,

all we can do is to pray that the Holy

Spirit

will lead

these

new Christians

and guide them

as

they

strive to

witness for Him

This is not the

whole

story

of

our

work

here in Indonesia, but we did

want

you to share with us, the

many

opportunities and blessings we have had teaching

Jesus

Christ,

and taking the Good News to those who have never heard. We

are

looking forward

to

a great ministry here. The Lord is working in

Indonesia

today and we

are

so thrilled to be a small part of that work.


20/20

10

O d

9 9

Robert

D. Sigafoose

Jl

Ka r t i n i 1

Sa la t i g a Java Indonesia

Forward ing Agen ts :

Mr and Mrs

Roy

J Pra the r

Box 569

Ca t l i n I I

61817

sigafoose robert diane 1974 indonesia

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