Indonesia Report

Picture a tropical paradise covered in exotic plants, smelling of fresh rain and sweet fruit, with gorgeous views of the open ocean and mountains. You are on the island of Nias in Indonesia. Now picture rubble, piles of tile, drywall, broken wood, and the faces of people who have survived devastation. Some have lost friends or family, others have lost homes, and some have lost hope. In December, a massive earthquake rocked the seabed a few miles away from Nias island. The extreme vibration birthed massive tsunami waves which caused havoc as far away as Africa. The wrecked buildings, ruined water supply and struggling survivors were evidence to the quake’s massive power.

In spite of the devastation, the people live with smiles and staunch perseverance. For a startlingly brief five weeks, our team of 11 had the incredible opportunity to live in Indonesia, experience their culture, their humidity and their food. We were ready and willing to show the love of Christ in any way we could. We painted walls, cleaned hospital rooms, played games with children, delivered clean water, visited with adults, taught English, spoke at churches and worked on construction projects.

A favorite activity was water distribution. One of the biggest problems on Nias is finding clean water. So, a center was built that has an ultraviolet purification system. Some of the permanent YWAM staff realized that many people did not have the transportation it took to get to the center, so we would take water to these tent colonies in a truck.

For the first two-and-a-half weeks of our trip, we were on Nias . Then, one dark ferry ride plus a long mountain bus ride later, we went to Pekanbaru on Northern Sumatra. We lived there for a week in an orphanage surrounded by smiling, fun kids. We played, sang with them and took them all out to eat the last day we were with them. While the children were at school, we visited churches and worked on construction projects. The last three days were spent in the nation’s capital, Jakarta.

What sticks out most in our minds are the things God taught us about how valuable people are to Him and also how He is always taking care of us, even when things don’t go the way we had originally planned. As our team leader said, God is organized, sometimes we just don’t see it right away.

Back from Hong Kong

It's a strategic location where our team of 31 spent five weeks this summer and had a great experience serving the Lord. Why is ministry in Hong Kong important? 95% of the people there do not know the Lord. 400,000 cross the border with Mainland China daily (we could see it from the base, not far away) so what happens in Hong Kong affects China as a whole. Hong Kong is the only place in China where the Gospel can be legally, publicly presented.

Here are some of the places where the team ministered:

an English camp with a church in Shatin, another big city with endless high rise apartment buildings up to about 35 stories. The team taught Christian songs, Bible stories and other "English" lessons to neighborhood children who were energetic, to say the least, and kept our kids busy. At the end we saw children coming to the Lord and our kids making friends with Chinese Christian teenagers

Dale Kauffman, the founder and international director of King’s Kids, invited us to HK to work with him on a major project. The Gateway Camp was held at the Hong Kong Baptist University with guest speakers focusing on China and teams from Canada, Argentina, Japan, Scotland, Switzerland, Taiwan and other places who came to prepare for mission outreach in China. Our band led powerful worship. The camp was very inspiring to the team regarding ministry in China and working with local churches. We participated in a great multi- church youth rally and a prayer day on the island with a total of about 900 kids. There was also an outreach on the university campus (which has mostly non-Christian students), prayer meetings, leadership meetings, meetings to plan meetings, and very little sleep. All the key youth leaders in the city were at our rallies and meetings and came away with a better picture of what King's Kids is and how we can work together.

the boys' detention center in Shatin, where 80 teenage boys live. Most are from wealthy families, but they are neglected and angry, so they get into gangs and trouble. The team ministered very powerfully, and 25-30 boys prayed to give their lives to the Lord. The YWAM sports evangelism ministry has ongoing programs there but had never seen any of the boys come to the Lord before, and they are very excited about it. Their people translated as we had small group ministry and prayer for the boys' needs afterward. Returning the next week was a lot of fun for the team as they played various sports with the boys, and several of them spontaneously came to our team and told them they wanted to give their lives to the Lord! Our team kids were touched by their sincerity.

a school where 100+ kids came to sports, dance and drama workshops

One of the key churches in Hong Kong invited us to do a youth rally for kids from their 8 congregations and their unsaved friends. Our band led worship for an hour, with some of their singers joining in to do the same songs in English and Cantonese. Next came an hour of performing arts, testimonies and preaching, followed by ministry time. The 100+ youth were very responsive, about 15 raised their hands to meet the Lord and ALL of them came up for prayer at the end! We had a lengthy ministry time with many tears and intense things happening afterward.

Hopi Reservation Outreach

Kings Kids was blessed again this year to send out a team to the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona. This was our second time to go and as we prayed, we felt the Lord would have us go and encourage.

First, we really wanted to encourage the YWAM base leaders and staff. Some of the ways we were able to do that was by doing some much needed work on their property like building a deck and a brick sidewalk, painting, framing a wash room and installing a swamp cooler in the house. One of our team members also donated a brand new basketball goal that would give the staff some R and R options out in the barren Arizona desert. Even just getting to worship, pray and minister with them was also an encouragement to both them and us.

Second, we wanted to encourage the Hopi Christians. They were excited to see us and we were equally excited. The church has grown so much in number and in the Lord . The church has probably doubled in size and, while last year the congregation was made up of mostly women and children, the number of men now exceeds the number of women. One couple, who have five children, decided to honor God and “get married” and are taking a more active role in the ministry at their church. We also had some time to get to know some of the ladies and pray with them, and listen to their stories, and encourage them. One thing we received through prayer prior to the trip was to have a “beauty shop” time with the girls and ladies. This was a really fun time and brought a lot of laughs and good fellowship.

Third, we wanted to bless the children and we had some excellent times doing this. Our team members took an active role in praying for and planning the activities and teachings for the children. Each day, after activities and teaching, we broke up into small groups and prayed with the kids and many prayed to receive the Lord. These children live with a lot of hopelessness, depression and fear. We found it is not uncommon for children to be living with grandparents or friends because of a parents’ problem with alcoholism and consequently imprisonment. It's sad. It's a big problem for the Hopis. One day while taking some kids home, we found their mom was drunk. The kids began crying and didn’t want to get out of the van and had to be taken to a friend’s house. We prayed one on one with many of them for these issues and the tough things they have to face. We just tried to hold them and love them, too.