A couple weekends ago, my heart was especially longing for an opportunity to serve in a foreign country. The following Monday I received an e-mail from John Dallmann, who I visited in Cameroon and who is now heading the Baptist General Conference’s Compassion Ministries. John told me about World Relief’s urgent need in Indonesia
for a water engineer or someone with water/sanitary construction experience to help with design and education for 350 proposed pour-flush latrines in the Jogjakarta region.
The more I learned about and prayed about this opportunity, the more God compelled me to go. I feel that I have little to contribute in many ways, but I trust that Christ will shine through my weakness. Another comforting aspect is that Norm Lewis, who has significant survey/construction experience and is from the Evergreen, CO area, will be accompanying me on this trip. I got to meet Norm in Baltimore when a group of us from BGC churches met with World Relief to discuss the potential partnering together in worldwide relief/missions work. It will be great to get to know him better and minister with him during this trip.
By God’s grace, my boss approved my unpaid leave at very short notice. I leave for Indonesia in two weeks, on Friday, April 27th, and I will be in-country for 15 days. I still have quite a bit of preparation for the trip, but I’m excited to see God’s faithful provision over the next couple of weeks.
I would appreciate your prayers as I research technical specs, prepare to travel, fly over the Pacific Ocean (21+ flight hours each way), examine construction, provide technical training for local World Relief staff, and share the love of Jesus with those I come in contact with. Please join me in praying that lives would be changed and that the Lord would draw hearts closer to Himself as a result of this trip. May He alone receive the glory!
I’ll continue to keep you updated on this surprise, last-minute trip, and I look forward to sharing pictures upon my return to the U.S.
Praise God for impressing upon my heart a desire to share His hope across oceans and cultures! I hope you can join me in proclaiming what Isaiah wrote:
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will
say in that day:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.”
(Isaiah 12:2-5)
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