Short-term Mission Trips

Our ministry team of five gathered at YVR at midnight on Monday October 9th, took together a 30-hours long travel with two flight transfers plus a road trip, arriving safely in Malang, our first STM destination. Although we were inevitably physically tired after long traveling, we thank the Lord for the smooth trip without any flight delays nor loss of luggage, and for regaining strength the next morning after a night of good rest. Malang is about 2 hours drive on the highway East of Surabaya. Despite this place is well known for Christian theological seminary and evangelistic ministries, Malang is actually a Muslim area where Christian evangelism encounters many difficulties and challenges. Our STM team will be in Malang for 4 days (till Sunday afternoon) for missionary exploration and participation, working together with Hope Ministry in Malang, learning about cross-cultural ministry. The Hope Ministry team members in Malang are all of the younger generation, bright and energetic. Even though their ministry facilities are unattractive in appearance, and they have been facing many spiritual battles and financial challenges in their ministry operation, the energetic Hope Ministry team members are serving cohesively, wholeheartedly, joyfully for the Lord. Their outstanding dedication to God and commitment in ministry are much appreciated by our Canadian STM team. Our STM participation could be an encouragement to them in some ways, but there is so much we can learn from them in serving God. It is such a great enjoyment for our STM team to be able to serve together with them in God's army for the kingdom of God. In our first morning in Malang, the Hope Ministry team members took us to have a brief "site" seeing of the local community around Central Park where the city icon locates. There is the largest Muslim Mosque right across the park; we could hear the loud prayers outside coming out from the Mosque, while Muslim people were going inside in formal dresses. There is a Christian church right beside the Mosque. When Indonesia was formerly a Dutch colony, the government at that time tried to generate harmony between the two religions, yet it turned out to be unsuccessful historically. There were many children in school uniform at Central Park for outdoor activities when we were there. The students appeared to be very friendly, greeting strangers politely. For the STM team members, such brief browsing helped us to sense that people here need the Lord! We were praying quietly for the Indonesian people as we walked through the busy streets. After lunch, the Hope Ministry team members took our STM team on curvy roads for a 2-hour drive up the steep mountain to the villages where the Tengger people reside. We had the opportunity to visit the Tengger people, which is one of the Unreached People Groups in this area. They are mainly from Hindu background. Direct preaching the Gospel is restricted. Through loving ministry by means of Learning Center for children after school, Hope Ministry has gained acceptance from the local government and people, letting the local children to attend the regular Learning Center program, as well as the outreaching Food Program twice a month. The gospel is told and demonstrated gradually through relationship building not only among the children but also significantly influencing the parents. Some parents are starting to open their hearts to the gospel. We have sensed that indeed God is currently doing something marvelous in Indonesia, moving our hearts to show more support for the faithful laborers. As the driveways and roads in the villages at the mountainside are narrow and steep, motorcycles are the most common transportation. Owing to the urgent needs, a special donation of US$3,000.00 was given from people in Vancouver in the name of K-PACT Canada to purchase two motorbikes to be used for Hope Ministry among the villages of Tengger people. Our STM team will continue ministry among the Tengger people tomorrow, followed by visiting the youth residing at the House of Peace Children Home in Malang in the evening. It is our desire to be a neighbor to these people in these places as well as to those who are serving here. We feel that we are privileged to minister among them, and it is worthwhile to show them some support in various ways. We praise God for Hope Ministry in Malang, being a light shining for Jesus among unreached people of the gospel. Updates will be continued.... please stay tuned.

The K-PACT Canada Mission team stayed overnight in the Tengger Village "Guests House" on Thursday October 12th, allowing us to have a glimpse of the Tengger people livelihoods and their distinct environment. It was quite chilly on the high mountain at night. Although there was no airconditioning in the guest house, internet access was made available to us. The guest house is situated in a scattered residential area, surrounded by steep slopes of agricultural land where crops are grown, and wholesale pick up by motorcycles is just right next door in the early morning before dawn. School starts early morning at 6:30am for primary and secondary school students, the younger ones finish school before 11am, they can easily attend the Hope Ministry Learning Center program for the rest of the day. The mountain roads are narrow and curvy, but the Tengger people are open and simple in their lifestyle; they are so friendly to foreigners even though they don't speak our language. The Hope Ministry team took our STM team to visit one Muslim family at 9:00 in the morning, we were well received there with kind hospitality, reflecting that Hope Ministry has developed very good relationship with the Tengger people, and has gained steady trust through loving care for them. This is truly a good evangelistic strategy, and indeed so important to Christian witnessing especially among the Tengger people. There was also a brief gathering for young mothers with chats and laughs at the Learning Center in the morning before kids got off school. Food gifts were presented to the mothers to show our Christian love and care for them. Our STM team members had ample opportunities to chat with the young fellow workers from Hope Ministry for encouragement, getting to know them more by listening to their stories, most of all, there are actually much to learn from them. Before our departure from the Tengger Village, we visited an old local Christian School, formerly operated by a Korean Mission, but the school had become independent operationally due to some previous leadership changes. Though the school facilities are quite old due to lack of maintenance, the opportunity to show seeds of the Gospel is seized through education. This really reflects the biblical picture of carrying seeds to sow and return with songs of joy, as said in Psalm 126:6. Our STM team returned to Malang from the Tengger Village in the afternoon, visited the 19 youth (age ranges 14-18 years old) who resided at House of Peace, the Children Home of Hope Ministry for discipleship for youth, supervised by a young couple as house parents. We had a great time sharing with the youth over dinner. They are very polite and responsive; active and mature in personality. They follow closely the daily schedule with discipline, doing daily household chores and Bible devotional study according to divided responsibilities, besides attending different schools. From the sharing of their stories, we learned that they were from various places and background in Indonesia, yet they were brought here in Hope Ministry Malang for discipleship training by Pastor Vernando, so that they wouldn't be lost in the worldly corruption. As they shared individually their dreams in life, we were impressed that among the 19 youth, 4 of them said that their dream is to become a pastor, 2 of them said that they want to become a missionary; the rest of the group have all sorts of occupational dreams like business man, judge, lawyers, policenan, etc. These youth were originally lost among the marginalized in society, yet we are so thankful for them that they have been found by Jesus, and are receiving discipleship training now to be equipped in working hard to reach their life goals to serve others. To our STM team members, the gathering with the youth at House of Peace that evening was striking, allowed us to see once again God's marvelous work in people's lives, helped us to visualize firmly in faith the dream of "Indonesia for God's Glory" to be fulfilled in the future.

Our ministry team of five gathered at YVR at midnight on Monday October 9th, took together a 30-hours long travel with two flight transfers plus a road trip, arriving safely in Malang, our first STM destination. Although we were inevitably physically tired after long traveling, we thank the Lord for the smooth trip without any flight delays nor loss of luggage, and for regaining strength the next morning after a night of good rest. Malang is about 2 hours drive on the highway East of Surabaya. Despite this place is well known for Christian theological seminary and evangelistic ministries, Malang is actually a Muslim area where Christian evangelism encounters many difficulties and challenges. Our STM team will be in Malang for 4 days (till Sunday afternoon) for missionary exploration and participation, working together with Hope Ministry in Malang, learning about cross-cultural ministry. The Hope Ministry team members in Malang are all of the younger generation, bright and energetic. Even though their ministry facilities are unattractive in appearance, and they have been facing many spiritual battles and financial challenges in their ministry operation, the energetic Hope Ministry team members are serving cohesively, wholeheartedly, joyfully for the Lord. Their outstanding dedication to God and commitment in ministry are much appreciated by our Canadian STM team. Our STM participation could be an encouragement to them in some ways, but there is so much we can learn from them in serving God. It is such a great enjoyment for our STM team to be able to serve together with them in God's army for the kingdom of God. In our first morning in Malang, the Hope Ministry team members took us to have a brief "site" seeing of the local community around Central Park where the city icon locates. There is the largest Muslim Mosque right across the park; we could hear the loud prayers outside coming out from the Mosque, while Muslim people were going inside in formal dresses. There is a Christian church right beside the Mosque. When Indonesia was formerly a Dutch colony, the government at that time tried to generate harmony between the two religions, yet it turned out to be unsuccessful historically. There were many children in school uniform at Central Park for outdoor activities when we were there. The students appeared to be very friendly, greeting strangers politely. For the STM team members, such brief browsing helped us to sense that people here need the Lord! We were praying quietly for the Indonesian people as we walked through the busy streets. After lunch, the Hope Ministry team members took our STM team on curvy roads for a 2-hour drive up the steep mountain to the villages where the Tengger people reside. We had the opportunity to visit the Tengger people, which is one of the Unreached People Groups in this area. They are mainly from Hindu background. Direct preaching the Gospel is restricted. Through loving ministry by means of Learning Center for children after school, Hope Ministry has gained acceptance from the local government and people, letting the local children to attend the regular Learning Center program, as well as the outreaching Food Program twice a month. The gospel is told and demonstrated gradually through relationship building not only among the children but also significantly influencing the parents. Some parents are starting to open their hearts to the gospel. We have sensed that indeed God is currently doing something marvelous in Indonesia, moving our hearts to show more support for the faithful laborers. As the driveways and roads in the villages at the mountainside are narrow and steep, motorcycles are the most common transportation. Owing to the urgent needs, a special donation of US$3,000.00 was given from people in Vancouver in the name of K-PACT Canada to purchase two motorbikes to be used for Hope Ministry among the villages of Tengger people. Our STM team will continue ministry among the Tengger people tomorrow, followed by visiting the youth residing at the House of Peace Children Home in Malang in the evening. It is our desire to be a neighbor to these people in these places as well as to those who are serving here. We feel that we are privileged to minister among them, and it is worthwhile to show them some support in various ways. We praise God for Hope Ministry in Malang, being a light shining for Jesus among unreached people of the gospel. Updates will be continued.... please stay tuned.

The K-PACT Canada Mission team stayed overnight in the Tengger Village "Guests House" on Thursday October 12th, allowing us to have a glimpse of the Tengger people livelihoods and their distinct environment. It was quite chilly on the high mountain at night. Although there was no airconditioning in the guest house, internet access was made available to us. The guest house is situated in a scattered residential area, surrounded by steep slopes of agricultural land where crops are grown, and wholesale pick up by motorcycles is just right next door in the early morning before dawn. School starts early morning at 6:30am for primary and secondary school students, the younger ones finish school before 11am, they can easily attend the Hope Ministry Learning Center program for the rest of the day. The mountain roads are narrow and curvy, but the Tengger people are open and simple in their lifestyle; they are so friendly to foreigners even though they don't speak our language. The Hope Ministry team took our STM team to visit one Muslim family at 9:00 in the morning, we were well received there with kind hospitality, reflecting that Hope Ministry has developed very good relationship with the Tengger people, and has gained steady trust through loving care for them. This is truly a good evangelistic strategy, and indeed so important to Christian witnessing especially among the Tengger people. There was also a brief gathering for young mothers with chats and laughs at the Learning Center in the morning before kids got off school. Food gifts were presented to the mothers to show our Christian love and care for them. Our STM team members had ample opportunities to chat with the young fellow workers from Hope Ministry for encouragement, getting to know them more by listening to their stories, most of all, there are actually much to learn from them. Before our departure from the Tengger Village, we visited an old local Christian School, formerly operated by a Korean Mission, but the school had become independent operationally due to some previous leadership changes. Though the school facilities are quite old due to lack of maintenance, the opportunity to show seeds of the Gospel is seized through education. This really reflects the biblical picture of carrying seeds to sow and return with songs of joy, as said in Psalm 126:6. Our STM team returned to Malang from the Tengger Village in the afternoon, visited the 19 youth (age ranges 14-18 years old) who resided at House of Peace, the Children Home of Hope Ministry for discipleship for youth, supervised by a young couple as house parents. We had a great time sharing with the youth over dinner. They are very polite and responsive; active and mature in personality. They follow closely the daily schedule with discipline, doing daily household chores and Bible devotional study according to divided responsibilities, besides attending different schools. From the sharing of their stories, we learned that they were from various places and background in Indonesia, yet they were brought here in Hope Ministry Malang for discipleship training by Pastor Vernando, so that they wouldn't be lost in the worldly corruption. As they shared individually their dreams in life, we were impressed that among the 19 youth, 4 of them said that their dream is to become a pastor, 2 of them said that they want to become a missionary; the rest of the group have all sorts of occupational dreams like business man, judge, lawyers, policenan, etc. These youth were originally lost among the marginalized in society, yet we are so thankful for them that they have been found by Jesus, and are receiving discipleship training now to be equipped in working hard to reach their life goals to serve others. To our STM team members, the gathering with the youth at House of Peace that evening was striking, allowed us to see once again God's marvelous work in people's lives, helped us to visualize firmly in faith the dream of "Indonesia for God's Glory" to be fulfilled in the future.