March Feeding Program

Delivery of foodstuffs for the Kids of Indonesia. $15 feeds one child one meal a day for a month. $300 feeds 20.

Food for March children

Rice, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, noodles...these are some of the foods that will be divided up into smaller sacks and delivered to the children for March. We are feeding 20 of the poorest-of-the-poor in Jakarta. No one else is helping these people. They do not have and cannot afford to get government documentation so they are left out of the government's help programs. Few of the children attend school, many are forced to beg to help out with family expenses while the parents scavenge through the garbage dumps looking for any materials that can be recycled for money. If the parents are fortunate, they might earn $1 a day. The government wants them to return to their home villages, but they would be no better off there. They have no land, no job, and no hope. They ask us for nothing and accept what we offer them.

2nd request

Edison asked Daniel again today if we could raise his adopted son for him like Eli reared Samuel. Daniel replied that we would take him as soon as the present school year is ended so he won't miss any school. This will be an added expense and one that we had not planned on at this time but God will provide. I'm not sure, at this time, what the expenses will be for this child. Any help you can send will be appreciated. Thanks.

Will you rear my adopted child?

Daniel writes,

"Edison H, 46 years old, became a student of the English/Bible course three weeks ago and has now attended four classes. He states that he was baptized when he was a baby but doesn't know why, exactly. He didn't learn to read until he was 34 years old. He worked washing cars and learned to drive from moving the cars around the lot. After learning to drive he became a taxi driver and learned to read from using the Bible. His wife left him and their adopted son about 2 years ago after returning to her village to receive her inheritance where she met up with her ex-boyfriend and committed adultery.

Edison now studies with me and today asked how to become a true Christian. He also asked if his infant baptism was valid.

Amazingly, he told me today that he is willing to leave his adopted child (7 years old and in 1st grade) with us to be trained like Samuel (left by his mother, Hannah, with Eli, the High  Priest) The child is now living in an orphanage but Edison can't always visit him. The orphanage makes rules that the children can only be visited once a month and only for 2 hours. Edison loves the child even though adopted, and he wants the child to become a good man like Samuel. Edison doesn't want the child to be like himself: uneducated with feelings of guilt. Edison wants somebody to train the child, teach him how to live right, and how to be received by others without isolating himself because of poverty or status.

Edison asks many questions in class and said he intends to invite many of his friends and taxi drivers to study with us."

Can you feel Edison's pain? Can you help us take care of children like this child, in a place where they can be taught the word of God and be given hope for a better future? We have plans to rent a house soon where children like this can prepare for this life and the life to come. Call me if you have questions or suggestions. Donations for the work can be made through the address on the right. Thanks

Steve Cate

This is why we keep a low profile

Go to the following link to read about the forced closure of two congregations in Bekasi a suburb of Jakarta.

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/11625883/

More Students

Another class of students.

Bible/English Students

These are a few of our Bible/English students. They come to us from the radio program (World Radio) and use materials from World English Institute. The English courses use Bible stories to illustrate English grammar principles and the students often find themselves more intrested in the Bible lessons than the Enlgish. Several private Bible studies result from these classes. All classes are offered to the students free of charge. Funding for these courses comes out of the regular fund and your contributions help to make this work possible. Administrative costs for the KOI (Kids Of Indonesia) work also comes out of the regular fund so that all contributions to the feeding program (KOI) can go to feed the children. No KOI money is used for any other purpose. It all goes for food. But, again, your contributions to the regular fund make all of this work possible. Please call me if you have questions or comments and thanks for your support.

What a joy to be able to help

"Bro. Steve, Today I went to the garbage people's village giving plastic bottles for one of the men we help. This man's daughter is still studying at the school but her shoes are worn out, so I gave her the money to buy the new ones. I met the man with his wife and one of his children under the bridge close to the mall. The man searched the garbage while his wife and the child waited under the bridge. We collected the plastic bottles from our class, my house and from the members and gave all those to him this afternoon. You can see from the photos that most of the people who live in that village do the same kind of work - collecting garbage and sometimes they have to beg in order to make enough money to survive. I think they share what they get with each other. They have the same problems and no one will use them for work or business. Some of them were ex employees who lost their job because of the economic crisis. Most of them are uneducated and homeless except for a cardboard, one room hut with dirt floor in this make-shift village.
Daniel"

Today, Daniel met with the local government official for this village and found that there are 300 families in the village and all in the same financial condition. This official thanked Daniel for what we are doing with these children and wished we could do more.
We also wish we could do more and with your help we could. Remember $15 will feed a child one meal a day for a month. $300 will feed 20 children.
These are the poorest-of-the-poor in Jakarta and we are making a difference in the lives of those we help. I thought about that this morning as I read Daniel's letter and found my eyes welling up with tears. What a joy to be able to help those truly in need.

Berastagi Shop House

This is a shop house that, for $500, can be rented for one year.

About a year ago, Tuloasa baptized several people from near the city of Berastagi up in the table top area of Tanah Karo not too far from Medan. They have been meeting in member's homes all this time but now are out growing these very small homes and need a larger place in which to meet.

If you or anyone you know could help us rent this shop house it would be a tremendous help to the brethren in this area who are very poor. With more members they would eventually be able to pay the rent themselves. Your donation now would help them get started. The address for receiving donations is listed in the column to the right.

If you have questions, please call me.  Thanks.