Once upon a time on an island far away from the United States
Greetings from a small island in Indonesia named Ambon! We are partnering with Wycliffe Bible Translators this month. The vision of Wycliffe is to translate the Bible into languages all over the world so that people can read the Bible for themselves in their own language. We spent our first few days here getting to know the Wycliffe staff. We did a cross cultural training about Indonesia, we learned the various steps of Bible translation, learned about the religion of Islam, and met some of the church leaders. We attended a outdoor church service that was spoken entirely in Indonesian. I did not understand the Indonesian language being spoken, but I greatly enjoyed listening to the worship music knowing that they worship the same God I do. Our ministry for this month is to develop relationships with the young people at the local church and provide them an opportunity to practice speaking English with us. The island of Ambon, along with many other parts of Asia, is a culture that is very relationally oriented and it has been exciting to engage with ministry that primarily focuses on building relationships. Next week we are traveling as a team to the island of Saparua, a two hour boat ride from Ambon. We are not entirely sure what ministry opportunities we will have in Saparua, but excited for whatever opportunities arise.
Here is a YouTube video from the Wycliffe Staff in Ambon. I am excited to be able to be partnering with these missionaries for a month:
Financial update: Thanks to the generosity of family and friends I have $14,678 of the $18,200 I need to be fully funded. My final fundraising deadline is coming up at the end of the month. Would you consider partnering with me with a financial gift? A gift of any size is greatly appreciated.
Beautiful island of Ambon
Fun coffee date with some of the Freedom Fighters. Thank goodness coffee can be found all over the world!
Meeting with church leadership
