A NOTE FROM DENNIS ABOUT THE WORK ON NIAS

National elections are in a  few days.  Ceri says this is not a good time for someone to move, so he has arranged for the supervisor of the children's home and his family to move to the home about the 15th of April. The man in this family has been to one of the ten day seminars in the past  and is the leader in their village church.  The only negative in this selection was that it will hurt that village church when they move.  We have had him come to the 2nd ten day seminar which was in session while Colin was there.  We will be starting a congregation where the children's home is and he will need to be the lead man on that.  His name is Bazhrudin Zalukhu.  He is 27 and a relative of Ceri but not close.  I don't know his wife's name.  They have two kids of their own, 3 1/2 and 1 year old.  It is our plan to start with 16 children ages 6-12.  This will not be an orphanage but a children's home at the advice of other children's homes on Nias and the head of Department Sosial.  We are looking for children who are the poorest of the poor.  We cannot replace their biological family, a mother's love, etc. but we except to train and educate them and give them opportunities that surpass even the kids who are now better off who they leave behind in the villages.  We feel the children's home will accomplish three things:  (1) meaningful benevolence for extremely poor children, (2) let those outside the church who look on know we are people who care for people and (3) result in the establishment of another congregation.  The 16 children and the supervisor's family will fill the present building.  The way it is built a partial second floor can be added and at least one more cottage.  In May we will consider erecting a free standing building on the front corner of the property.  We will probably call it an auditorium or something like that, where the kids can have a daily devotional, do their homework, probably a ping pong table, etc, but which can be used as a meeting place for the church. It won't be large or elaborate