Travels during the summer

I didn't get to write anything in my blog during the summer because I was on the road so much.

Time was very scarce and it wasn't possible to get to the internet.

In August I went to Africa. I went to Kenya and spoke at a conference in Meru. About 4000 leaders and pastors attended.

I was with Edward and Fridah Buria, who lead about 200 churches across East Africa. These are quality people and the churches they oversee are quality churches. Being with them and observing how they deal with people and situations was an eyeopener for me. I was greatly blessed by being with them.

I also met a leader from Ethiopia and one from Tanzania.

From there I took the long and uncomfortable bus ride to Kisumu where both Nehemia and Forum Leben has projects.

Nehemia has a farm and a programme for caring for needy children. Forum Leben has a Bible School there.

The journey to Kampala, Uganda was much less difficult. From there we travelled on to Rwanda. I will write about my time in Rwanda in a later post.

During my stay in Africa, I read a book by Martin Meridith, The State of Africa. This touched me. It is a history book of the last fifty or so years in Africa. It begins with the end of the colonial system and the struggle for self-determination. (By the way, nothing like I learned at school in England. Many of the nations were gaining their independence, while I was sitting behind a school desk).

Meridith goes on to modern times and shows the difficulties the continent is going through. Its difficult to suggest a solution! Corruption and band governance seem to be the main causes of poverty and hardship for the vast majority of people. However it seems that the West is supporting people who seem to be favourable to them, no matter what record they have of corruption or violation of human rights.

The West is still using Africa for eploitation as in the days of the empire.

That doesn't excuse Africans for not keeping their house in order though.

As I ponder what I have written, my thoughts go back to Meru and the confernce... Now there is a group of people who are making a real difference and are working to change the face of Africa (and the church in Africa).

THINK OF THE SUFFERING IN THE WORLD

THE WORLD'S NEEDS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz99g5Pv0GE


THERE MUST BE A REASON TO HOPE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ij1Ik9XRU

The Battle of Blenheim

Last Saturday we attended a wedding. It was in Bavaria. It was a nice do.
We drove to the reception to a typical Bavarian establishment on a hill overlooking the Danube valley. After parking the car, we proceeded to go to have a glass of bubbly to wish the bride and groom God's blessings.
I noticed a rock - a memorial stone, commemorating the spot as being the place where the French commanders stood at a battle on 13th August, 1713. This was during the War of Spanish Succession.
I did wonder about that.
When I go home and was able to access the internet, I found out that it was the Battle of Blenheim. Actually the place in Blindheim and that was over the valley and was where the British and Dutch had their headquarters.
It was John Churchill of church, the Duke of Marlborough who was the commander of the British. Later he built Blenheim Palace in England and that's where one of his seed was born, Winston Churchill.

Normandy

Just after Pentecost, Elisabeth and I went to France for a few days.
Our first target was Paris. The weather wasn't too good though.
We found our Etap Hotel to the north of Paris and then went out to look at the sites - that we have seen many times in Paris.
The drizzle and the cold turned out to a bit much for us. We got back onto the metro and made our way back to the hotel.
We wanted to spend the morning in Paris and travel on to Normandy on Tuesday afternoon.
We decided to take the car instead of using the Metro.
Off we went to the Eiffel Tower. Although we found a parking spot, it wasn't easy finding out how to pay for it. The meter didn't accept money neither did it accept our credit card, so in the end, after viewing the tower for a short time, we decided to move on to Normandy.

On our way to towards the motorway, we saw signs to Versailles. But that wasn't in our plans. It was good not needing to be anywhere at any special time. We drove into Versailles and went into the palace gardens. It is really lovely there. We had a nice time just walking through the magnificent and very large palace gardens and most important of all - it didn't cost us anything!

Eventually we did move on and arrived in Normandy. We had booked into an Etap Hotel just outside the city of Caen.
Elisabeth needed some fresh air, some sea air. She had been having some trouble with a cough for a few months now and her doctor suggested a change of air would do her good.

We decided that we would go off to the coast. What did we discover? Of course Normandy is D-Day country. On nearly every street corner there was some commemorative plaque.
So we visited a few museums and walked on the beached, where the d-day landings had taken place. It was very interesting for me and Elisabeth beared up to it.

Sri Lanka

Link to photos

The last leg of my journey took me to Sri Lanka.
It was good to fly in from India, because I didn't have any jet lag.
The flight only took two hours and was uneventful, except that I had to wait for my luggage. I had two bags, a case and a rucksack. The rucksack was probably the first off the plane but I had to wait for my case. The plane was going to to somewhere else and everybody else had got their stuff, I was alone. I asked if everything was off and they asked me to wait a little longer. Then as a single piece of luggage my case came onto the conveyer belt and I could leave the airport!

It was about 1,30am by the time I got to bed - getting used to this of course.
The next morning I was awakened by the Buddhist chanting. They have illegally built a shrine just about 20 metres from the front door. Every morning at 6am and every evening at 6pm they begin their chanting. Not that people are chanting, its a recording. It blasts out over two big loudspeakers aimed at the church. It is loud! Sometimes no one is at the shrine. No one understand the chanting because it is in Sanskrit!

Later during my stay I had an even earlier start and heard chanting coming from another shrine at the back of the church! That was at 5am!

My first day started with me teaching at the Bible School, which was going to be my main job at this time round. My theme was Church History and I had to teach 64 hours. It was quite tedious but I enjoyed it.
Only when I started teaching it did I realise that 80% of Church History is European or American history.
The students and there were 18 of them who are nearly all in some kind of ministry, were very interested and asked lots of questions.
We also had an ordination and laid hands on five pastors.

Perhaps the climax of my stay this time was the dedication of the children's home.
We had bought some land and a house and built another house and have also built up a farm to provide the children's home with food and with a little bit of revenue.

After the dedication we spoke to a pastor who had come from the East and he told us about the great need there. In one district alone there were 17000 homeless children, that had lost one of both of their parents. He himself said that he was hiding a 14 years old boy in his house because the Tigers (the militant breakaway Tamils), were abducting boys in his age to force them to take up arms and fight.
Could we take more children? But how? We were now very full.

As we thought of ways and means, we did think of a way to house more children. We would build another house for the leader and his family who could then move out of the main house, thus making more room for the children.

More children though, mean more costs and now its up to us to raise some support.

Link to photos

India

Link to photos of India

After leaving Nepal, I flew into Dehli in India. From there I flew down to Hyderabad where I was met by two old friends. They drove me to Chillakallu. It took us longer than expected because something went wrong with the car.
I suppose it was about 3am by the time I got to bed!
It was good to meet Ruth and Prabhudas again and to catch up with them.
I was to spend my time doing pastors' conferences and teaching at the Bible School. I enjoyed both activities. God showed up and the pastors were very encouraged.
During my stay in Chillakallu, we also had Easter. What a celebration. The service on Easter Sunday started at 5am. I didn't get there until 6. By that time there were already about 1000 people gathered.
I felt that I wasn't prepared enough and that my message wouldn't be fitting for the occaision. However when I started to preach, the Holy Spirit took over and what a meeting. During the ministry time, people were healed, filled with the Spirit and others were delivered of evil spirits!
I preached 4 times on Easter Sunday!
I interupted my stay in Chillakallu by going to Rajahmundry. This city is about four hours away. The Nehemia-Team have a project there and I have been asked to give some oversight to it.
Raja and Ebbe lead the work. They have a children's home with sixty children. Raja also looks after a number of churches, some are church plants.
During my stay there we had a pastors' seminar and 150 pastors came to attend. That was a wonderful experience.
The ministry is just startind and lots of things need attending too.

Carri MacFarlane and Horst and Hannah Zimmerman were also there. Carri has written a letter to the children's sponsors (which are too few!), if you read it, you get an impression of how things are there:

NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - - - - FROM NEHEMIA CHILDREN'S HOME INDIA - - - - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS
Dear friends, pray-ers and sponsors,
When I was a child, I had a prayer of Francis of Assisi beside my bed. The words became embedded in my heart and it is my daily prayer that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will live accordingly. Here it is:
Teach me O Lord, to serve You as You deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and not to ask for any reward
save that of knowing that I do Your Will.

Although you have had little feedback, you have faithfully supported these needy children, in whatever way you have been able. Some of you have had to say 'good-bye' to children you have supported. Some have wept tears of sadness. Some can say 'good-bye' with gratitude and satisfaction as boys leave to do a mechanics apprenticeship, and some have continued to support another child.
This is giving and not counting the cost. Thank you, and may God bless you for your tender hearts and commitment. Your prayers and support are more than worthwhile!

I have just returned from India and my heart is full. Horst and his 9 yr old daughter, Hannah, were with me. They are praying about whether to go and serve as a family.
We were impressed by Raja and Ebba's diligence and by how well the children are developing. At the same time we were sorry about the living conditions. The children used to be in two separate houses, one a 10 minute walk away.
Raja, in time, was able to rent three houses next door to each other and move the children. They were then together and could separate boys and girls. He had a house for his own family and guests. The problem - Two houseowners complained that the children were ruining the houses and ordered them out.
Consequently, 60 children are now living in one small house, with two toilets and one shower. This house owner is more lenient and has built two more stories.
The boys are however upstairs under a makshift roof - rather hot at night. The sanitation is overlaoded and Raja had fixed an overflow pipe which rerouted the sewage onto the field behind the house. The stench was unbearable and children were beginning to get infections.
We asked him to have the sewage buried.
Horst gave him money towards the enlargement of the underground tank. This should sort out the problem for a time. Another issue is that boys and girls need to be separated. Raja has searched in vein for larger houses but no one wants children.
He must build.
The good news - Despite land prices rocketing ( we looked at several plots all out of our range) the Indian government has returned the 2 acres land at the original price, which they had bought off us in order to build a canal. The canal did not go through the land as anticipated, but behind it. A huge pile of earth from the dig out, heaped across one corner of the land can be removed at a price. The government will allow Raja to use the strip of land along the canal for planting vegetables, until further notice. The 2 acres are enough to build the children's home, a guest house, the 'John Mac Farlane Memorial School' and a church. An Indian architekt has drawn up simple plans and has suggested buying the small piece of adjoining land as a playground for the children.
This is all progress! Now patience is required once again, as we pray and seek the Lord for funding. Bob Hatton, our new Indian Team leader, is attending seminars in order to be able to apply for German government funding! This is a long and tedious process.
Raja is champing at the bit because the situation with the sanitation and the 'too little space' will not improve til he moves. He is not allowed to build before permission is given, but has errected a protective fence, two sturdy gates and a small hut for a watchman to keep squatters at bay. Next the long awaited well will be dug and electric cables laid. Then we must wait! This is the lesson God has been teaching me over the last 4 years. It's not easy, but those who do wait on the Lord will rise up as Eagles... Hallelujah!
Please join us in praying that this will all happen faster than estimated. Several boys have left to train as mechanics and girls have left for various reasons. Relatives move and wish to take the children with them. Two children have been adopted by relatives. One teenage girl had to leave in order to look after her parents buffalo. Please pray that Raja will be given official permission to keep the children until they leave school. Until then, he cannot override the wishes of family and relatives. It is tradition in the villages to intermarry. Our hope is that these children will finish school and be able to train on site. The longer the children are in Raja's care, the more likely it will be for them to enter Christian marriages. Already some girls are hoping to marry pastors. Please pray for this too. When children leave, their places are filled immediately.
The need is great.
We witnessed Mothers bringing their children to Raja asking him to take them in. They are unable to cope. One elderly widow begged Raja to take her in. She had lost not only her husband but all her children. She was lonely, and saw no way forward. She turned from Raja to Horst and cried pitifully on his shoulder as he held her frail frame in his strong arms. Compassion takes over and one can understand Raja's heart.
It is easy for us to criticise the unconventional, even chaotic way of going about things, but for Indians it is nothing out of the ordinary. They are grateful to have food, a roof over their heads and to be given hope and a future. Raja longs to be able to help more families but his hands are tied.
Please bear with us as we venture forward, often not knowing how best to help. Our team is small and we contend not only with lack of funds but also lack of knowledge about this extremely different culture. It is a daily struggle learning to communicate so that each party understands the other. Both sides have made mistakes leading to frayed nerves and tension but with prayer and by the power of the Holy Spirit, guiding and teaching us, we have made steps in the right direction. We still have a long way to go and so please know how thankful we are for each one of you who have taken an interest.
We need you! Don't hesitate to call or email us if you wish for more information. We will do our best to answer your questions.

Carri Mac Farlane (for the Nehemia India Team)

Link to photos of India

Nepal - India - Sri Lanka

I was away for six weeks in all. This was quite a long time. The time past for me very fast and I seemed nearly always to be busy.
The first two weeks I spent in Nepal and I have written quite a long report of my time in the mountains down below.
From there I went back to Kathmandu, the captial.
I was to stay in a hotel which was on the other side of the city from where we had to go to pick up my luggage. That shouldn't be a problem.
But it was. Some people group were protesting because they thought they would not be properly represented in the political talks that are going on. Therefore they closed the border with India. That's were the fuel enters the country.
We couldn't find a taxi to take us because of the shortage of petrol. In the end we offered to pay a taxi driver double and he was willing to take us.
So the second round of seminars started.
Just as in the village the people are hungry and open to God's word in Kathmandu. It was thrilling to see about 150 people gather and listen to my preaching and teaching.
As we have now experienced many times God baptised them in the Spirit.
That was very encouraging for me.
The two day seminar with the Eternal Life Church went by very quickly. I preached on Saturday (the day when the churches have their regular gatherings) in a small church outside of Kathmandu. The church met in a home that had been converted into a meeting place. There was no sign for the church and we had to walk quite away after getting of the motor bike (I haven't been on a motor bike for ages!). This just reminds us that Nepal is by now means an Christian country and sometimes the Christians are treated with hostility.
Sunday was a free day. I used that day to do some more preparation for my teaching in Sri Lanka.
My friend Satya came to see me on Monday and introduced his wife to me. Satya had travelled with me the last time I was in Nepal. He is a good friend. He had been a fervourent anti-charismatic until Jesus baptised him in the Spirit. Now he is an ardent charismatic! Because he has a job, he couldn't come with us this time.
We spent the morning together and then they accompanied me to the airport.
I was so encouraged by seeing them.
They encourged me to write down the teaching so that they could translate it into Nepali and circulate it around the country. I really should do that.

Links

Have a look at my photos from Nepal:

http://bobhatton.typepad.com/photos/trip_to_nepal_2007/2007_nepal_indien_sri_lanka_209.html

Links

Here's a link to some photos of the Children's Home in Sri Lanka

http://bobhatton.typepad.com/photos/sri_lanka_daniels_childre/

Nepal 2007

Jiri, Thursday, 15.03.07
I left home at 6.30am on Tuesday morning. At the airport I had lots of time before my plane left. The flight was uneventful. I arrived in Qatar on time and had an eight hour wait for my next aeroplane.
That time past, even if it was so very slowly. It was 11am on Wednesday, when I had finally got my luggage and left the airport.
Beki was waiting to pick me up.
We spent the day visiting a few places and people.
I stayed the night in the Marco Polo Guest House, which is alright, although it was quite noisy.

We left this morning at 6.30am to get a bus that left at 7.30. Beki introduced me to his friend, who, he informed me, was going to be with us. As the time came for us to leave came - we couldn’t find Beki´s friend anywhere. He had disappeared! We had to leave without him.
The journey was long and tiring and we did suffer a number of delays. But we did drive through some roads, where the scenery was no less than spectacular. The valleys and gorges were very steep. At one point we could see the majestic Himalayas, with there majestic snow-clad peaks.
In one small town, they told me that we were less than 2 1/2 hours from the Tibetan border. However, we turned off the main road to travel in direction of Mt Everest. We encountered snow on the road and I must admit I had a funny feeling seeing the very steep drop at one side of the road.
We arrived safely though, in the small town of Jiri.
Jiri is located in a valley and had used to have been the starting point for the Everest expeditions. Mt Everest base camp only being 14 days walking away.
Since the Maoist insurgency, tourists had stopped coming there. Jiri was controlled by Maoists, however now the place was safe.
We spent the night in a travellers´ lodge. The advert declaring there to be a hot shower waiting for the guests, turned out to be a myth. There was though, a clean western toilet, which is always a joy to me.
As the sun went down, it got cold. Although my room was also the place where the blankets were kept, still with three thick blankets, I froze! It took quite a while for me to get warm and I slept with my cap on.

Friday, 16.03.2007
We had a very good breakfast. I took porridge and vegetable soup with noodles. Both were hot and helped to warm me up after the cold night.
We took a bus at 7.30 hrs to take to the top of the hill. I guess saved us an hour’s waking.
We arrived in a village and were told that we would get lunch before we could proceed.
I would have rather liked to have started to get it behind us.
We started at 11.25am with the very steep descent. I did wonder how we were - how I was going to get back up that hill. The descent took about 45 minutes. On the way down, we had a wonderful view of the valleys and hills, with there terraces. I took a lot of photos, but am sure they will be a disappointment after seeing the real thing.
At the bottom of our fist hill, we crossed over a bridge and went through a village. I was attacked here by a horde of geese. They snapped at me and bit me a couple of times. Although I laughed, it did hurt quite a bit!
Our hard work was well rewarded in with the beautiful scenery and the friendly greetings of the villagers, whose villages we past through.
I had got in mind that we needed seven hours to get to our destination. However it took us five. We arrived at 4.30 pm at our destination. We had taken a hours´ rest too. I was so glad to have arrived. The last kilometre or more had really taken me to the brink of my strength.
Within minutes of us arriving and being served with tea, the porters arrived too one after another. They hadn’t left until 2pm! Some of them carried 40kg rice.
We have a nice clean room, with a wonderful view. I can’t describe how magnificent and picturesque it is. During the daytime we were very warm. I guess the temperatures were in the 20´s. My vest, t-shirt, shirt and even pullover were wet though with my sweat. They haven’t dried either although I needed my pullover tomorrow.
Its night as I write this and the temperatures have plummeted. I am using a very thin sleeping bag, which guarantees to keep you warm by-30*. I guess its about 0 and the sleeping bag is doing a good job.

Saturday, 17.03.2007
During the night, I got used to the hard bed. I wasn’t cold either. The view is once more magnificent. The sun is shining, but there’s a cold wind blowing.
Church starts at about 10am, its closer to 10.30 though. They tell me that some have walked around 3 hours to be here. Considering that the ground is not level here, that is remarkable.
Church goes on for about 3 hours. I preached about the 10 lepers in Lk 17. We had communion with coke. That was a first-timer.
Just before lunch, I found a vantage point in the village from where I could see some snow-capped mountains. After lunch, I went back to take a photo, but evening mist had already started coming down and it wasn’t possible to see anything.
In the afternoon, I met with the pastor and others members of the leadership. He told me the story of his church. It started in 1996. The church has grown to about 500 members, but they have also planted 13 other churches, with a membership of 1500.There are many needs here. The Maoist insurgency was especially bad here many were kidnapped and killed. There are many widows and orphans to be looked after.

Sunday, 18th March 2007
It doesn’t feel like Sunday!
We got t
E schedule at about 6, 40 this morning - I was still in bed - apparently, the programme started at 7am!
As I hurried over to the public wash place, I was once more overwhelmed by the beauty of the valley. It is majestic, huge, and so beautiful - but the people are so poor. Everything has to be carried to the place.
Tithe start at 7am - well is 7.20 by the time I am ready, is a welcome session. Towards the end of the session, I am greeted and get a rosette pinned on by pullover, declaring that I am the CHEEPA Guest!
By this time about 60 people are present for the leaders´ and pastors´ conference. Beki and I unveil the well used banner, declaring the conference open and then its time for breakfast and after the first point on the agenda, we are already 45 minutes behind schedule!
My session started only 15 minutes late, so we made up time.
I speak about "Who we are" Who we were" and where we are going.
I try to explain to them the concept of our SHAPE
S - Spiritual gifts
H - Heart (passion)
A - Ability
P - Personality
E - Experience
During the lunch break I have the opportunity of speaking to two senior pastors.
They tell me how they became Christians. It was a very moving story. Ps Gan told me that he was really in slavery in Hinduism. They had many wild feasts at the place where the church now stands. Being a Hindu didn’t bring him any peace though. Many times he thought about committing suicide. In Kathmandu, he was given a tract. This pointed him to Jesus. He did become a Christian and started a small fellowship at his home. After they killed a cow, he was arrested and charged with this "crime". However the charge wouldn’t stick, so they decided to charge him with changing his religion, which was illegal in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal. He spent 11 months in jail before he was finally released. Now his small fellowship has 500 members and they have planted 13 other churches.
Ps Lok had also a very moving testimony. The thing that sticks out in my mind is that he started a church and they locked him and the other believers in the church for 3 days without food or water. They finally let them out, giving the pastor a beating and throwing him in a river.
That didn’t deter him. He is now responsible of more than 100 (newly planted) churches.
In the afternoon session, I had planned just to say a few words about being a son of God, but went on to speak about rejection. I then taught about the baptism in the spirit. The people were very open and we had a good time of ministry at the end of the session.

Tuesday, 20th March 2007
The seminar yesterday went well. People were filled with the Spirit and there was a general sense of encouragement.
Besides talking about the baptism in the spirit - which they all seemed to understand - I spoke about the need of having fathers and mothers in the church.
I finished off with a word about stirring up the gift of God that is within you.
At the moment I am writing this, we are preparing to leave (walking). However it seems we won’t be leaving for another couple of hours, as they want to give us something substantial to eat for the journey.

We left at 10.30am and were back at our night accommodation at 2.30pm. I did it in just under 4 hours!
The views were magnificent on the way. As we proceeded down the first mountain, my legs were very shaky, but as we continued, they got used to the hard work. We went up and down. Coming back there seemed to be much more up than down!
Actually, I am sure it was doing me good. After resting a little while at our destination, my legs would hardly move, so I went to have a lie down. After that, I went to wash my feet! That was something I hadn’t been able to do for the past four days.

KENYAN DROUGHT / FAMINE

In October we were in Kenya and visited Edward and Fridah Buria. Just before Christmas they sent us and other friends a report of what had happened in the area of famine relief:

The last one year or so has been a year in which we were so overstretched by a prolonged and a wide spread drought that brought about serious famine that affected well over 4 million Kenyans, our own people were not spared. All this forced us to step out in faith and stand with our people fully - this forced me to put together an initiative coded Together Against Famine (TAF)

Together against famine has therefore been an amazing vehicle that has helped us sustain well over 11,000 souls amongst the worst hit areas and where we have churches for the last 11 months or so. We have supplied close to 2 million kgs of cereals, and almost 100 tons of children food supplies throughout the year, that atleast provided a meal each day to the targeted families for a whole year. Our greatest joy has been getting to know that not one in the areas of our concentration died as a result of famine. Where death occurred, it was due to other causes.

As we celebrated the arrival of the much awaited rains after much prayer before rains, we distributed tens of thousands kgs of planting seeds to our people. Little did we know that it was a matter of time for the same rains to become another major national crisis. As I write this letter, hundreds of thousands of people have been misplaced by floods that have affected over 3/4 of the country killing so many lives, causing major destruction to our infrastructure hampering rescue emergency operations.

Looking back to the said period, I also noticed that God's kingdom advanced to amazing proportions in so many ways. Just to mention but a few:-

(1) Reports received from the various relief centres show that close to 2,000 have responded to the gospel and added to the local churches
(2) Over 20,000 have been touched by His love and compassion, opening their minds to the existence of God who loves and cares
(3) An amazing fund was created attracting millions and millions of shillings from God's family worldwide. Still the most exciting part has been seeing corporate companies and the government recognizing our God-given mandate and entrusting us with huge resources for distribution to the affected.
(4) The general high recognition of the church by the authorities

All these considerations and happenings have greatly encouraged us despite the magnititude of our challenges. It is amazing to see how God has used our challenges and difficulties to advance His kingdom. I am also so encouraged and impressed by the effectiveness of all our teams that are involved in the responses. To all these, a very special thank you! Without you, thousands of people would not have been sustained so far.

At the moment the following measures are under way that are aimed at bringing hope and a more lasting solutions - We already have purchased around 162 cows, several hundreds of goats that will be distributed from the 18th December. We will also at some point distribute thousands of chickens. Also planned is kick off of several small businesses through revolving small loans

Borneo: Island of Contrasts

by Wesley Kawato
Borneo, the world's third largest island, is a land of darkness and light-a place of stark contrasts. Some of the most Christianized people groups live on this tropical island next to some of the most unreached people groups in the world. Three sovereign nations have holdings on this island: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. The island has deposits of oil, coal, natural gas, and possibly uranium, yet many people groups live in stark poverty.
Borneo's HistoryBorneo's first settlers were the various Kutei people groups who migrated from the neighboring island of Sulawesi around AD 400. At that time the Kutei were Hindus. Chinese traders later brought Buddhism to the Kutei. There were many conversions to the new religion, but the majority remained Hindu. The Kutei people groups lived in the southern half of the island.
Around AD 1200 events in China sparked a second migration to Borneo. As the Mongols, led by Kublai Khan, invaded China, many people groups fled before them. The Dayaks were one such group. They took to the sea and migrated en masse to the north coast of Borneo. As their population grew, the Dayaks migrated south and contacted the various Kutei people groups migrating north because of population pressure. The two groups intermarried between AD 1200 and 1600. During that time languages evolved, and the Dayaks fragmented into over a dozen people groups, each speaking a related language.
But the Dayak conquest of Borneo was never completed. In 1600 there was still an independent Kingdom of the Kuteis on the south coast of the island, barely hanging onto life. Kutei was under attack from the various Dayak tribes, who by this time had lost all traces of Chinese civilization. Head hunting and cannibalism had become common Dayak practices.
Around this time Indian merchants brought Islam to Kutei and mass conversions took place. By the time Dutch explorers contacted Kutei in 1655 the country was completely Muslim. There were no Hindus or Buddhists left among them.
Some time after 1655, the Malays, a people group from the Malay Peninsula, invaded Borneo. The interior Dayak tribes proved too strong for them, so the Malays only managed to conquer and settle the coastal areas. Kutei collapsed as a result of Malay attacks.
After 1700 the Dutch came in force to Borneo looking for spices they could sell in Europe. They conquered the Malay city-states on the south coast of Borneo. The Dutch called their new colony Kalimantan, from a native word that means "River of Diamonds." While the Dutch were conquering Southern Borneo, the city of Brunei on the north coast conquered one neighbor after another. But the fierce Dayak tribes who controlled the interior slowed Brunei's expansion.
Over the years the various sultans of Brunei did conquer some Dayak territory in what is now the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah. This led to frequent revolts. During the 1830s Sultan Hassim, a brutal Malay dictator who understood little about diplomacy, exacerbated the problem. His policies sparked a civil war in Sarawak in 1838. By 1840 the Dayak rebels were at the gates of the capital city of Brunei. Hassim felt he had no choice but to accept British military aid. Britain felt it was in their best interest to prop up Brunei. A military expedition, led by James Brooke, landed in Sarawak. Brooke used a combination of force and diplomacy to crush the Dayak rebellion.
Christian Missionaries Arrive in BorneoOut of gratitude Sultan Hassim made James Brooke the governor of Sarawak. Brooke wanted to "civilize" the Dayak tribes so he opened Sarawak to Christian missionaries. This action angered Sultan Hassim, a Muslim, so he negotiated a compromise: Missionaries could work with the Dayaks, but would be forbidden to witness to Malays or other Muslim people groups.
Brooke, an Anglican, invited his denomination to evangelize Sarawak. They sent their first missionary in 1848. In 1855 the Roman Catholics sent their first long-term missionary to Sarawak. During the previous two hundred years Catholic missionaries had stopped in Borneo on their way to the Philippines. Some of them had secretly won converts, but no follow-up had ever been done.
The Methodists began a work in Sarawak in 1901. Governor Charles Brooke, who'd succeeded his uncle James, gave a group of Chinese Methodists permission to settle in Sarawak. They were looking for a safe haven after China's bloody Boxer Rebellion.
The Chinese settled in the territory of the Iban, a subgroup of the Dayaks, but they ran into problems when they tried to evangelize these tribesmen. The outreach methods that had won them many Chinese converts didn't work. The Methodists failed to understand the communal mindset of the Iban. Few Ibans would think of changing religion without the approval of the tribal elders.
During the 1920s a group of Australian seminary students saw that the various church mission boards weren't winning many genuine converts among the Dayak tribes. Most fell away from God after a few years. In 1928 Hudson Southwell, Carey Tolley and Frank Davidson formed the Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM). Governor Charles Brooke assigned the BEM a territory on the Limbang River near villages inhabited by the Bisaya, the Kelabit and the Iban, all Dayak subgroups. They won only a few converts between 1928 and 1936. Some of those converts took the gospel to the Lun Bawang, outside the territory assigned to the BEM. These local missionaries won few converts, but did create curiosity among the Lun Bawang people, thus planting the seeds for a future harvest.
The Lun Bawang were a Dayak people group who lived on both sides of the Sarawak/Kalimantan border. It was common for this people group to be drunk before dawn 100 days out of the year. Disease, crop failure and drunkenness were gradually reducing the Lun Bawang population, which is what Governor Charles Brooke desired. He wanted this people group to die off so their land could be given to other tribes.
But God had other plans. In 1936 Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) missionaries won converts among the Lun Bawangs in Kalimantan. The Lun Bawang people in Sarawak heard stories of changed lives among their countrymen across the border and remembered that the BEM preached a similar message in the nearby Limbang Valley. They invited BEM missionaries to preach among them.
Governor Brooke, blinded by his hatred of the Lun Bawangs, refused to extend the territory assigned to the BEM. For four years the BEM could do nothing except pray for that people group. During those years, local missionaries from across the border reached out to the Lun Bawang in Sarawak. In 1940 Brooke changed his mind and a team of BEM missionaries began working among this people group. By 1941 the Lun Bawang were completely evangelized.
Japan invaded Borneo in December of 1941, disrupting that work. Japan coveted the newly discovered oil fields in Dutch-controlled Kalimantan. All Christian missionaries were herded into prison camps. Between 1941-45 Dayak guerillas tied down thousands of Japanese troops with guerilla attacks. British agents encouraged the Dayaks to eat the Japanese soldiers they killed. The imprisoned missionaries could do nothing to stop this. By 1900 an earlier generation of missionaries had almost ended cannibalism on Borneo. In four years British spies undid that work. After the war missionaries began the process of ending cannibalism once again.
Aft1er Japan surrendered in 1945, missionaries continued their work in British controlled North Borneo and in Kalimantan, which became part of the new country of Indonesia. In the north, the Chinese and Dayak churches merged to form the Evangelical Church of Borneo (SIB) in 1959. More and more the SIB has taken over the job of taking the gospel to unreached people groups, but missionaries still serve among them, mainly in leadership development roles.
Progress has been slower in Kalimantan. Nominalism has almost undone the work of various mission agencies such as the CMA. Indonesia requires all citizens to join one of its five authorized religions. Protestant and Catholic Christianity are two of the choices. That law wasn't enforced until after the abortive communist revolution of 1964. After that the army executed people who refused to register with a religion, fearing they were communists. Many from the Dayak tribes registered as either Protestants or Catholics, flooding churches with nominal believers. They chose Christianity because they hated the coastal Muslim peoples who'd oppressed them for centuries. When Indonesia settled coastal peoples in the interior, many Dayak tribesmen went on a head-hunting rampage in 2001. People claiming to be Christians committed some of the atrocities.

Plans for Asia

As the year ends and another begins, we look to our plans.
I am planning to go to Malaysia and to Indonesia in January.
Last night I had a planning meeting.
I will be teaching at two schools do some pastors' meetings and minister in some of the villages in the jungle.
There is a great openness to spiritual things and the people are very hungry to know God better. It really is a joy to speak to those people. I have been given a keyboard to take with me.

We will also be looking into trying to start some micro businesses to help aleviate the poverty a little bit.

The Latest

So what's been happening?
I just about got over the seminar "Mission among the poor" and flew to Cyprus. I flew together with a friend, John Jupe, who lives in Brussels.
We flew with Lufthansa. I was quite surprised that the service was much better than I remember it being.
John got into a conversation with the person sitting next to him. He was a young officer in the Swedish army. At one point in the conversation after John had asked him, if he was a Christian and had he read the bible and did he know that he was going to hell etc (actually he didn't do it like that, he was very skillful!). Anyway at one point in the conversation, he asked him, if he could guess what he did for a living. He then said, I do the same thing as Bob and pointed to me.
The young officer ran a trained eye over my athletic body and made a guess, "He probably has a sitting down job." he said. Nevermind.
I tried to practice my skill as an aeroplane evangelist, but my neighbour just shrugged his shoulders saying that he didn't understand me as he was Russian. So, I nodded off.

We had a good time in Cyprus and have organised a school of leadership in Limossol and possibly in Nicosia for next year.
I let John preach in the Sri Lankan church. Actually, they said I could go somewhere else as they had already heard me before.
So I went off to the Philippino church, was was excellent.

The journey back home was quite tiring as we journeyed through the night.
Back in Germany, I had a meeting with some people on Monday afternoon to talk about a street children ministry in Uganda.

WE FEED THE WORLD

ESSEN GLOBAL

The most successful Austrian documentary!

We watched it last week. It was quite sickening to see how greed for profits and a sick EU structure helps to kill starving people in the third world. Because we want to feed our cows soya, the Brasilian forest is destroyed and many Brasilians go hungry.

Erwin Wagenhofer seems to have made this film almost single handed.

It appeals to the consumer - its critical about the food industry - but it's the consumer who is challenged to do something. But what?

We talked about the film and had to admit that although we see the dangers and the brutality behind the system, we aren't really prepared to spend more money than necessary for our food.

Hope for Africa

... and what the Christian can do
A book by George Kinoti

Last week I attended a course, "Mission to the poor" at the Akademie für Weltmission in Korntall in Germany. We were given George Kinoti's book to read.
George Kinoti is an African, he is a professor for zooology at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. This little booklet has a sharp cutting edge.
He doesn't seem to have an axe to grind, but does put the blame for much of Africa's misery in the lap of the colonial powers. However he goes on to claim that the problems have been perpetuated by the African mindset. "Independance" wasn't really what it seemed. African countries were just given a longer leash. They are still very much dependant upon the the West.
This is a call for African Christian to stand up and be African but also be all that God wants them to be.

He calls Africans to :

1. GET A VISION OF A PEACEFULA DN PROSPEROUS AFRICA
"The most important first step ist to get a vision of a better Africa... where all the people enjos human dignity, spiritual and moral wllbeing, peache, freedom, justice and material prosperity."

2. TAKE CHARGE OF AFRICA
"We live in a whiteman's world ... this domination enriches the West and impoverishes Africa and other poor nations. African mismanagement of the encomy has played right into the hands of the West who now dictare economic policies and supervise their implementation. ... We (the Afircan peoples) must continually remind ourselves that God has given us the same measure of intellectual, spiritual, moral and physical abilities as He has given other peoples."

3. GET ORGANIZED
"Afircan governments must become competent, efficient, just and free from coruption. And they, and the people as a whole, must become disciplined, making rules and ensuring that tey are kept strictly; saetting goals and making sure they are acieved. Christian have a crucial role to play in bringing about good governance in Africa."

4. FOLLOW THE WHOLE WILL OF GOD
"The greatest challenge facing the church in Africa today, I believe, is how to teach and live by the whole Word of God. What we need is a holistic theology that is God-centred and that treats man and the creation in the integrative manner that Scripture does."

5. MAKE THE CHURCH THE CHRUCH OF JESUS CHRIST IN AFRICA
"The African people everywhere urgently need to know that the Christian God is a God of justice, righteousness and kindness. African Christian need to make this God known through proclamation, by their own lives, and by active participation in the political, social and economic live of their nations. White Christians, too, need to know the God of justice, righteousness and kindness."

A very challenging book, published in Nairobi by the International Bible Society
ISBN 9966-837-61-2

Trip to Africa

i haven't written anything for the last few weeks.

I arrived home form Nepal at the beginning of October and was only home for a week when Elisabeth and I left for Africa. We went to Kenya and then on to Uganda.

We had lots of impression that I am still carrying around with me. Perhaps the greatest of these impressions was of the famine with the Samburu.

We spent a day with them watching food being distributed. What a good job Edward and Fridah Buria are doing.

While we were there, it stated to rain. We just hope the rain has been enough - but not too much - for the fields to yield a good crop and for the animals to find food.

The article below was about our visit with the Samburu, it was published in the local newspaper here.

Hungersnot bei den Samburu

(This was a newspaper article - I only realised it was in German after I posted it!)

Seit nun mehr als einem Jahr herrscht - bedingt durch die Trockenheit - Hungersnot in dem Samburu-Gebiet in Kenia. Das Samburu-Volk, das bekannt geworden ist durch den Film, „Die weisse Massai“ ist ein Hirtenvolk, das im Norden Kenias wohnt. Die Anhänger dieses Volkes sind leicht zu erkennen an ihren farbenfrohen Kleidern.
Das letzte Jahr hat es kaum geregnet. Im Frühjahr wurden die Felder bestellt und der Regen kam. Er war kurz und kam mit solch einer Wucht, dass die Samen aus dem Boden weggeschwemmt wurden. Nun herrscht Hungersnot.
Pastor Robert Hatton war zusammen mit seiner Frau Elisabeth vor kurzem in dem Gebiet und haben mitgemacht bei einer Speisung. Pastor Hatton, vormals Leiter der Philadelphia-Gemeinde in Pfedelbach, hat einen Aufruf gemacht und durfte etwas Hilfe für die Hungenden mitbringen.
Pastor Hatton, der die Verantwortung für die Philadelphia-Gemeinde nach 24jähriger Tätigkeit im März dieses Jahres abgegeben hat, ist der Koordinator für internationale Dienste bei „Forum Leben“, einem überkonfessionellen Dienst, der Kirchengemeinden berät, begleitet und ausbildet. Hatton hält Kontakte zu verschiedenen Teilen der Welt, wo er versucht, neben spiritueller Hilfe auch praktische Hilfe zu leisten.
Er steht seit vielen Jahren in Kontakt zum Leiter von Edfri International, Edward Buria von Meru, Kenia seit vielen Jahren. Buria speist 13000 Menschen, die sonst verhungern würden. Staatliche Hilfe gab es zuletzt im April 2006.
An dem Tag, als das Ehepaar Hatton mit dabei sind, während die Lebensmittel verteilt werden, in dem Dorf Womba, kommen rund 1000 Menschen. Sie setzen sich hin auf den Boden und warten. Viele von ihnen haben einen Fußmarsch von 3 Stunden hinter sich und die meisten Frauen tragen Babys auf dem Rücken. Sie sind geduldig. Die Verteilung der Lebensmittel beginnt. Die Leute sind den Verteiler bekannt. Sie bekommen bestimmten Mengen gemaß ihrer Familiengröße. Es gibt Bohnen, Mais und ein Pulver, das man zu einem Brei kocht für die Kinder.
„Alle zwei Wochen kommen wir hierher und verteilten die Lebensmittel.“ erklärt Edward Buria. „Einmal im Monat gibt es auch Zucker und Kochfett. Hoffentlich regnet es bald.“
Tatächlich während die Hattons dort sind, beginnt es zu regnen. Zunächst nieselt es und dann begann es stärker zu regnen. Die Hattons wurden gelobt und die Samburu bedanken sich, weil sie denken sie haben den Regen mitgebracht.
Gleichzeitig kommt ein Artzt und hält Sprechstunde. An dem Tag hat er bloss 100 Patienten zu versorgen. Am Tag davor in einem anderen Dorf hat er 300 Menschen versorgt.
Edfri International unterhält sechs weitere solcher Ausgabestellen mit ambulatnter Krankenstation.
Der Regen ist gekommen und hoffentlich ist die Hungersnot bald vorbei. Doch bis die Felder reif zur Ernte sind, vergehen noch ein paar Monate und die Menschen werden noch ein paar Mal Hunger verspüren. Robert und Elisabeth Hatton möchten sich weiterhin für die Samburus verwenden und bitten die Bevölkerung, um Spenden für die Hungenden. Wenn die Hungersnot vorbei ist, möchte Edward Buria sich um Strom kümmern für die Artztpraxis und die Schule, die er in Womba errichtet hat. „Es gibt keinen Strom in dem ganzen Dorf! Wir können die Leute nicht richtig untersuchen lassen ohne Strom.“ Beteuert Buria. Das andere Problem ist Wasser. Edward Buria weißt auch, wie er das Problem lösen kann, aber ihm fehlen die Mittel.
Wer helfen möchte, darf Spenden, - sie sind steuerabzugsfähig – auf folgendes Konto bei der Sparkasse Hohenlohe (BLZ 622 515 50) überweisen: 138518 – Konto-Inhaber: Forum Leben. Es wird gebeten, dass die Spender ihre Name und Anschrift auf der Überweisung angeben.
Weiter Information kann erfragt werden unter Tel. Nr. 07942-941117.

And another one

Early Sunday morning , 26th November 2006, Kathy Hatton was born. She weighed 4400 grammes and was 54cm long - that's quite big. She was born at home. Everything went fine, but the midwife who was called, drove into Neuenstein and was met with a diversion. The diversion is so crazy that if you don't know Neuenstein, you will get lost.

The diversion signs take you way out of town and don't even show you the way back. Our daughter, Sarah, who is a nurse, went to John-Mark and Melanie's place as it seemed things were getting serious. She went out to go and find the midwife. During her absence, Katy decided to show up to give them company.