We've had a powerful 2023!
After over six years of mission service in Indonesia, I am writing our first newsletter. Our first years included a lot of personal growth, legal red tape, and figuring out what worked. Today, although we still have a lot to do, we’ve mostly got things figured out—visas, foundation requirements, business licenses, bus registration, drivers licenses, how to operate a school, and so much more. At the present we have three school locations that provide English, math, and science education, as well as homeschooling to five children that live with us. Our primary location is located at Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Our secondary base is located about 3.5 hours away in a nice touristy town of Balige; right on the beautiful lake Toba. In between these two locations we work out of two small locations, an Adventist school and a tribal museum and restaurant owned by a methodist pastor and her family that wanted us to teach their kids, inviting others to join them at their place of business. We’ve been blessed to work with a community outreach program called Sopo Safari, a ministry that educates the children whose families primarily subsist from sorting recyclables from the dump. I spend my Tuesday mornings teaching the children and teachers English. When we first began our homeschool, they helped us a lot, even helping us with registering our students. Currently, our students take a few of their classes from this fantastic ministry. About our Homeschool Although we provide the required courses outlined by the Indonesian government, we focus on reading and writing in both Indonesian and English, and mathematics. We also believe in providing a practical education, teaching the children about agriculture, cooking, taking care of a home, hygiene, first aid, swimming, building, and many others. Our Current Developments New Professional Building We have a new professional school building! We have taken this 13 by 55-foot three-story building and built partitioning walls for two large classrooms and one medium classroom, four study nooks, an office, a music room, and a medical room. We also have an open fourth floor for a green roof and possibly for a woodshop. We will be opening by our next newsletter release, and will give a full photo update on our new building. Rebuilding our Bus We’ve had an Isuzu 14 passenger bus with a four-ton cargo capacity that we’ve used for our large homeschool family. However, we’ve had it out of commission as we’ve been removing rust, and doing some seating and other modifications. We will be installing a roof rack, an awning, extra batteries, and a new rear door. This bus will be used to provide mobile clinics, emergency medical transport, transport for cargo and building supplies, support for mobile meetings, and general student transportation. My Wife is Going to College! Getting qualified teachers is quite difficult in our region of Indonesia. So, my wife decided to go back to college and get her degree in biology education. This has been very challenging for her, as she doesn’t have a background in the sciences, but instead had studied on a social track. The difficulties she is facing in college, the lack of quality education in her college, has led her to learn on her own in order to do her assignments. At the same time, she is realizing the challenges students face in the current educational system and is compiling methods on how to better educate our students. We have also been rewarded with the opportunity of sharing Jesus and God’s word with her classmates, most of whom are Muslim. As she is the oldest student attending her program, many of them look up to her for guidance. New Team Member! We have a new team member coming the end of January or early February! We’ve been praying for a dedicated and talented team member to join us for over a year, and God has provided! “M”, as we’ll call her, is a dedicated Christian, an experienced teacher, is passionate about the health message, and has many other talents to share with our mission. Please pray for “M” as she makes the transition to foreign mission life. Holiday Greetings! This Christmas season, most I assume, are busy putting up their decorations, making plans to visit with family, practicing for Christmas plays and songs, and a host of fun activities. We also are very busy, but as we are generally swamped during the rest of the year, we are taking this break to get some extra projects completed. For us, this is a Christmas treat! We are so blessed to be working for Jesus and receive the joy of working for Him. In the next newsletter, we will share some of what we’ve been working on during the Christmas break. Whatever you are doing this season, we hope and pray that you will experience the Joy of the Lord! ~Josh & Jovanna *(AKA Githa) |
Current needsJoin our Mission Sumatra Team!
Donate for General Expenses: □ $500/mo. □ $250/mo. □ $100/mo. □ $50/mo. □ $25/mo. Annual Rents: $5700/yr. Food: $350/mo. Utilities: $150 Transportation: $100/mo. Sponsor a homeschool student: □ ¼ Sponsorship $25/mo. □ ½ Sponsorship $50/mo. □ Full Sponsorship $100/mo. College Scholarships: □ Edi $700/yr. □ Firda $700/yr. □ Putri $700/yr. □ Orissa $700/yr. Donate a laptop: □ ⅓ $100 □ $300 Full Donate for Special Ministries: □ Visiting the orphans $____ □ Literature Evangelism $____ □ Remote Village Outreach $____ □ Micro-Business Dev. $____ □ Bible Verse T-Shirts $____ Sponsor a student missionary: $4800/yr. or $400/mo. Bus Rebuilding and Outfitting Fund: $2500 Liang Merdeka Village Ministry: House Remodel $1000 Med. Equip. $750 Educational Supplies & Equipment $1200 Community Bathrooms Remodel $2500 Seven Stars Academy-SiantarSeven Stars Academy-Sipitu-PituSeven Stars Academy-Balige |
Site powered by Weebly. Managed by Netfirms