Hey all so this was supposed to be a video but because of slow Wi-Fi I had to type this one out. There will be a slight with holding of information on behalf of our hosts due to this blog being public and we don’t want to damage their ministry. So, I am in Sri Lanka now. I flew into Columbo, was in Unawatuna for a couple days had a squad debrief, and now I’m in Pottuvil/Arugam Bay with all the guys from our squad. So, without further ado….
Indonesia…
Each of our teams in the squad got a people group to work with/share Jesus with and Team FreeFall got the Sundanese people. The Sunda people do not like outsiders they don’t want foreign influence. We were told that a long time ago they made sacrifices and things with other “gods” to protect them from outsiders. So, it makes it hard to share the gospel with the people.
We landed in Bali and we stayed there for couple days and then we took a bus to Bandung which took 38hrs straight, longest bus ride I have ever had. Two days after my team and I arrived in Bandung we went up to a village a couple of hours away where we got to meet a bunch of local people. The girls on our team went with a group of ladies to help cook lunch and they were able to talk with them and me and the other guys went around to other houses in the village and we met an older guy who we were able to pray for who hurt is leg. God healed him!!! God healed so many people in Indonesia not just the physical needs but also healed inner things as well. We went to villages on the outskirts of Bandung and prayed for people and just share who Jesus is and that he loves them.
One night we were able to be apart of a bible study where they had the Quran and the Bible side by side and comparing text and different things in them. It was hard to understand because most of it wasn’t in English, but they were taking “Light” in a person text (human attributes) and John 1:1-14ish taking the “Word” and “Light” as human attributes and showing that they are Jesus and that Jesus is more then just a prophet like the Quran says. So, it was really cool even though I didn’t understand much, and we were only able to throw in bits and pieces but to watch peoples minds get “blown” and start to understand who Jesus really is.
For those who don’t know during launch each person is given a key that is prayed over, and they inscribe a word/verse on it that the Lord gives them for that person. The word I received was “Brave”. While traveling to different villages we stayed at a believer’s house who we were able to worship with and pray over him and his family. There was a boy(Darius) there who was nine years old and he asked us to pray for him. His father had passed away recently and now this boy was the man of the family and in their culture, it added all these responsibilities to him and in school he had a bunch of test that he needed to pass so all this pressure and responsibilities were just thrown in his lap. As we were praying for him I felt that I needed to give him my key. After we prayed for him I give the key, I explained what “brave” meant and I told him that he is loved.
So much happened in Indonesia and the people are so amazing and if the opportunity arises to go back to Bandung I will be going back.
Thank you all who donated this far I still need a little over $2000 to be fully funded and the deadline is the end of April. Thank you all for praying for me and my squad and I ask for your continued prayer and for the prayer of the people who we are all going to encounter that their hearts will be open to receive what God has to say.
God Bless
Jacob Richardson
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
