Let me give you a little back story. Several months ago, a colleague within our organization emailed me and wanted to know more about our language school and learning center. J and his wife had already served one term on the island of S, learning language and beginning preparations to move into another region of S. They were going to be the first ones with our org in this town and didn't have a visa platform and were looking for options. After several back and forths between myself, Pak Harun (the representative from the foundation that sponsors our visas), and Joshua, we all began moving forward with opening another language school (they'll be teaching English and it may be something like the learning center we've started, or it could go off in a completely different direction. Whatever best suits their situation).
J and his family are now working through the process of moving to this town to work among the R people. They have a building rented for the school, a local rep who has been interviewed and hired by Pak Harun, and letters filed with the Department of Education requesting permission to open a new school. Both Pak Harun and I have been delighted that we are playing a small part in helping to reach another group of people with the gospel of JC.
So what does this have to do with Perth. Well, during the week leading up to our move to Perth, J contacted me and let me know that he had a contact in Perth who might be able to help us. Jill Birt and her church have been helping build a network of churches in Australia who are adopting and supporting the outreach to the R people.
Jill is the m director and children's program director at their church. What aYesterday, we were blessed to have Jill drop by our house for a cuppa and swap ministry stories. As it turns out, Jill, her husband Peter and two boys had been m's in Indonesia for ten years - back in the late 70s I think. (Actually, Jill gave birth to their second son 6 weeks early in the middle of a jungle village - now that's pioneer work! It was a hairy experience, she said, but God protected them . . . and their son will soon be 26). They were training Dayak Christians in East Kalimantan to be leaders in the growing local church. After their ministry in Indo, they spent some time in the Philippines and then have been pastoring in Perth since then.
great combination, eh? Bet there will be some m's among those kids!
Several years ago, Jill led an effort to adopt the R on the island of S. Now she's getting her masters in anthropology and journalism, so she can write about people groups in a way that ignites people to want to reach them with the gospel. She's been researching the R people, even living in an R village for extended periods of time, building relationships with them, showing the love of Jesus to them, and gaining valuable insight for the field workers on how to communicate with the R.
For our part, we had the opportunity to share about the learning center, the history behind our language school, and how we've been able to help J. Jill has invited us to share with her network about the learning center and even give it a go at mobilizing more to go. Who knows what may come of it, but a month ago, this meeting would have been unimagineable. God always has something "up his sleeve" for why we're doing what we're doing.
