 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
News Item: 2000 Apr 24 - Pres Subandriyo Letter
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 -- Add News
| 2000 Apr 24 - Pres Subandriyo Letter | 10 Mar 2002 |
|
24 Apr 2000 - Jakarta Things are moving on the right direction for the Church in Indonesia. Never the Church is recognized by the government and other Churches today than ever before. The Church sent Elder Merrill Bateman and one of the Dean of BYU to Indonesia to attend international religious conference under the invitation of President Gus Dur. We then met with high ranking officials from the Department of Education. Five applicants for BYU scholarship are being processed. These applicants are college instructors. Several humanitarian projects in Bogor receive good comment and publication from local government and community and benefit the poor. A new chapel is being built in Bogor, we hope to complete the chapel by the end of this year. However, missionary work is growing slow. We continue trying, and improving our missionary efforts. Missionaries spend more time in direct finding. We taught how members can help their relatives and friends to be interested in the gospel truths. As the door is becoming to open, I know that not far distance, more of the good Indonesians will recognize the truth and willing to make covenant with the Lord in his Church. March 21, I was invited to attend non Moslems leaders dialog with President Gus Dur. During the meeting I had the opportunity to introduce myself as representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the audience about 200 leaders, presented to President Gus Dur the self reliance concepts in our Church. This dialog was on national televison, and some members have the chance to see me sitting at the front row...A couple weeks later, a Christian weekly magazine came to see me and interviewed me about the Church. This month we have public affairs activities in two cities, Jakarta and Solo. In Jakarta, we had sport competition with other Churches in our neighborhood, community cleaning project and an open house. We did not get referral from Jakarta activities, but the Church is well accepted in our community. In Solo, we have the same activities. The open house was open for three days and missionaries have 70 contacts and 11 are potential for missionary discussions. April 14, I started my mission trip by the mission van with Steffi and our little 4 years Diandra. We left Jakarta 3.30 AM, stop in Semarang for two hours to meet with missionaries and continue our journey to Surabaya, that was 16 hours on the busy roads. We followed up our four areas of goals as we met with priesthood leaders: 1. Baptism and retention. 2. Selective reactivation. 3. Strengthening families. 4. Implementing the Church Self Reliance program. I am happy to tell you that we are moving to the right direction. With limitations they have in their daily life, our leaders are trying to do their best for the people and the kingdom. It builds me up as I felt their sincerity to serve. I went to Malang and did the same thing. We drove back home from Solo April 19, arrived home at midnight, after driving for 13 hours. The next morning, 6 AM I left for West Timor with two visitors from Church Humanitarian office. The Church has committed to the Indonesian government to help the refugees in west Timor. The request came from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We spent Easter in Kupang, West Timor where the majority of the people are Christian. I have witnessed for the first time the suffering of war. People lost most of what they have, it is a very difficult situation. We reported to the Minister of Foreign Affairs this morning our findings and recommendation , and was grateful for the Church' help. Elder/Sister Morris will work closely with the foundation appointed by the minister to carry out the project. Minister Shihab also made an urgent request that the Church provide English Teachers for government officials who are being prepared to study abroad. He admitted that proficiency in English has been a problem to sent people study abroad. Well, you see how the door is more open for the Lord's work. I should thank to Brother Hal Jensen for making all of this opportunity to happen. Minister Shihab told to us that he will mentioned in his press conference today about the Church donation for refugees. Well, we do not need recognition from public for what we do, however, it surely helps bringing up the image of the Church. I foresee more humanitarian projects are coming, and eventually, we will have "blue collar" young men and women to come to help our nation and bring them the restored truth in their life. President and Sister Tandiman (Juswan and Aischa) have been called to preside over Indonesia Jakarta Mission starting July 01. They will do just great. Steffi and I will go home and ready to serve in any calling to continue build the kingdom. Thank you for your supports while we are serving as mission president. I know you will extend ever greater supports for Juswan and Aischa as their responsibility increase as the Church progress. The Church is true...yes, it's always true!!! Your brother, Subandriyo |
|
| David Brewer | Send Email |
