My God shall supply all your need...

Our 'bebe bibi' with Vasco

If you squint enough you'll spot the big croc with his mouth open wide! Yep, this is for real!

So, we’ve been off ‘the grid’ for just over 3 weeks, here in Weberek, as there’s no electricity (except that from a few small solar panels and the generator) nor internet. We can get some mobile connection, although intermittently, if we stand still in a certain part of the village (on our heads! hehe...just kidding;)...

Now Lucinda and I are back in Dili for a couple of days to stock up on supplies and so I thought it high-time to get in touch with the outside world again!

Writing this blog is always a great way to reflect on the many ways in which God has continually provided for all our needs, so that we can focus on the work He has called us to in Weberek. He is so good!

Was an amazing trip up here (or down?!), which was just another confirmation from Father God that we are indeed meant to be here. When we left Dili, we declared, “Thank you, Lord - You are the one making our paths straight!” and “Your yolk is easy...”. The weather was absolutely perfect - warm and sunny - great for drying up the roads after some torrential rains! Very few waterways that we had to pass through and they were not too ‘hairy’, given it’s still the wet season! In contrast, last year was supposedly the ‘dry’ season, but we had the most treacherous, long journey! And, the last time we were here, the sky was heavily overcast, so that the solar-power never worked. This time, it’s beautiful and sunny, although the mornings be unseasonably on the cool side (which is actually very nice!).

As for the roads, or our ‘path’ being made ‘straight’....Well, it’s a bit hard making straight with all those mountains! However, for much of the roads (which are beginning to resemble actual roads!), there was newly laid gravel and even some bitumen on a few short stretches! Was amazing! So, maybe not ‘straight’ in the way we first imagine, but more like ‘smooth-ish’!;)

Also, being Palm Sunday, when we travelled down the main road into Weberek, we were greeted by decorative palms on either side of the road (leading all the way to the Catholic church). Not glorifying ourselves, but as we thought about our Lord entering Jerusalem, we felt like our entrance was symbolising Jesus coming to Weberek! We are, after all, sons of God, born again, of God and into Christ - we are one spirit with Jesus!

Our smooth journey was also relatively short...I think we left around 8am and arrived around 4:30pm...MUCH better than last year, when we left much earlier and arrived after midnight!

All this, we felt, just confirmed to us that the Lord was the One who was directing us all to Weberek. Not only does He make our paths straight, but His yoke is easy! We haven’t had to force anything to happen, even leading up to coming over to Timor. God has been orchestrating it all for us so that all we have to do is just keep walking the ‘way’ with Him!

There’s been provision and God’s favour being poured upon us in other ways too...One was my wedding gown selling! This happened very quickly....Much quicker than I had imagined! Praise God! We had basically drained all our savings and had just shrapnel of cash left in our wallets, so God’s timing for this money has been perfect, as always!

The other provision the Lord made was for our visa extension from 30 days to 90 days. We had heard all sorts of stories about how hard it was to get this extension and how they began the extra 60 days from the time of application. This would have caused us issues, as our return tickets were booked exactly 90 days after our arrival! However, God made the process easy and we had enough funds to pay the visas too! Hallelujah!

We connected with a number of the believers in Weberek quite quickly... Their numbers had dwindled a little since we were here last year, after some threats and persecution stirred up by a particular Catholic priest towards the end of last year. This priest basically banned the house-church from meeting to study the bible together and even banned folk reading their Catholic Tetun bibles, which are fully endorsed by the Catholic Bishop of Timor-Leste! More than this, we also found out from a government official that people cannot register births and baby names until they have ‘baptised’ them in the Catholic church. The only reason they do this is because there’s been cases where the Priest didn’t like the name that the parent’s chose for their baby and so he would change the baby’s name! This level of control sounds like something from the dark ages  and is completely contrary to the official constitution of Timor-Leste! But it still continues! From what we can determine from our experiences in Weberek, most of the power and influence of the Catholic church, seems to stem from a pervasive undercurrent of the fear of ‘rocking the boat’ of entrenched authority structures and community traditions. The Catholic church has a lot of sway in the community, it oversees the education of the children of Weberek and nationally they have a lot of political influence, even also over the local police forces. Nevertheless, God calls all believers to stand for justice and for the truth; for the oppressed and for the weak. And this we will do with His help. We’ve been encouraged by those few believers who have decided to stand for Christ no matter what, even though some have dropped away. God wants us to help strengthen the believers here, so that they might move from fearing man to fearing God alone.

We’ve been involved in teaching through the weekly house-church, which has kept going despite all the opposition and persecution. We’ve also begun two discipleship nights for those who are hungry to learn more of God’s Word and grow deeper in their relationship with God. We all would love it to get to a point where we meet with all the believers everyday, just like they did in the book of Acts.

I’ve really enjoyed seeing my husband teach and preach, as I do believe this is what God has called Him to do. Although he is picking up Tetun, the main language of Timor-Leste supernaturally quick, he still preaches in English at this point (although it won’t be long!). I also enjoy watching the believers in the group who are so hungry to learn, as they hang onto every word, taking down notes (those who are able to write). These people are the main reason God brought us to Weberek - not because we’re anything special - but because He loves them so much that He wants them to grow deeper in their relationship with Him and to grow up into His dear Son, Jesus. The Lord has a mighty plan for these precious people to impact their nation and beyond and we’re so privileged to be a part of His work here in Weberek, Timor-Leste.

We’ve all come here with the intention to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in power and God has not let us down in this way. We’ve seen a number of miracles, through God’s healing touch in a number of lives here. Everything from toothaches, headaches, to God giving a blood transfusion! There was a mother who gave birth to a beautiful little boy (her fifth child),  but she lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure was down to 70 on 40. Through prayer, she recovered overnight and was sitting up and happily chatting away the very next morning! Praise God!

There was also a little toddler, Milton, who we were called to pray for. This precious little boy has a severe cleft palate (which causes him to be vulnerable to respiratory infections) and we discovered that he had been ill for two weeks. His breathing was so laboured with the infection so widespread that we felt he was close to death. We lay hands on this little one to impart the life of Christ into his little body. I noticed a black string tied around his left wrist and asked why that was there. We received some vague explanation as to how it was meant to stop the little ones from shuddering or jolting in their sleep - really, it was because of superstitious beliefs and they felt as though it protected him from certain spirits. We saw it as a bond to certain spirits and so explained to them that there was no other name by which we are saved other than Jesus Christ - that He was baby Milton’s protecter and healer.

Although having prayed, we decided to try to get him to a clinic about 40 minutes drive from here to get the necessary medical help and antibiotics. However, by the time we got to the clinic, baby Milton had improved so much that the doctor felt that he required no further treatment or medication! From the time we prayed, God had brought healing to that little boy! Hallelujah!

Through our regular visits to this little boy, we’re beginning to build relationships with his family too in order to share the love of Christ in a real way. God has really put it on our hearts that our main focus is ‘relationship’ - with Him, one another, the believers and the people in the community. We see just how easily God is opening the way for this to happen, without us forcing anything, such as being involved in the births. We’ve found people coming to us for help or prayer - we haven’t really needed to seek out opportunities. 

God’s also been opening opportunities to minister to the children of Weberek on a regular basis. At the last meeting we were greeted with such enthusiasm as the children worshipped the Lord with all the hearts! Was such a joy! God really does have a special place in His heart for the children and has wonderful plans for their lives!

As for our day-to-day lives here, we’ve had all kinds of challenges: from electrical power issues, water issues and some sickness. After having a severe bout of some tropical flu in Dili, I’ve been suffering something that seems like giardia, but could be one of the many strange viruses going around. However, God is my strength and has been helping get done all I need to do, as I slowly recover. He also answered some of our prayers about the  electrical and water issues in a cool way. One day we were having a particularly hard time trying to keep the power going for our fridge. That night, our Aussie friend Samuel from Dili turned up unexpectedly and was able to give us excellent help and advice on the matter. He also blessed us with a multi-meter so we could continue to monitor the situation. We really felt his visit was such an answer to prayer.

Then the water stopped coming into the house and we discovered our tank to be empty. However, just when we were about to receive more people into the house (our team’s increasing from 4 to 7 people!), the water has again begun to flow! Praise God! We don’t understand how it happened, but we know it’s God!

We’ve also bought a couple of pet (kid) goats to try to help keep our long grass down (although admittedly, they haven’t been doing such a good job!). We still haven’t named them, but they are definitely very used to us now. We hope to get some chickens (for the eggs) and to begin a vege patch down the track too. It’s a bit of a challenge to get a good variety of foods here in Weberek and it makes the most sense to grow your own. We do already have a decent size lime tree (although struggling), a young papaya tree, a couple of young banana trees, possibly a custard apple tree and of course coconut palms! (Plus a few other unidentifiable fruit trees!) With a bit of work, who knows, it may soon resemble a mini garden of Eden!

Although we have some bananas growing, they are still green (seemingly ‘evergreen’!) and are of the variety that is better suited to frying as a savoury snack. The bananas in Timor are really something else and we were all craving them in the first week in Weberek.  I remember one morning I said to God that it would be nice to slice a little banana on our porridge. That day we were blessed with a couple of bunches of bananas from one of the Catholic nuns next door and from one of the believers! Talk about abundant provision! What’s more, this particular believer was apparently never one to give but was known to always ask the ‘foreigners’ for things, everything .. But that day, we could see how God was starting to show him how to give and bless others.

It’s not all such a ‘tropical paradise’ here (although we do feel blessed!), as there are giant rats, snakes and scorpions that can come into the house (we haven’t seen any snakes inside, but one was spotted climbing the roof of our patio!). For all those who were thinking of coming to visit one day, I don’t want to put you off! All it shows is just how much God really is protecting us here! Anyway, Jesus says in Luke 10:19 “Behold , I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Also, with the backdrop of the lush tropical landscape, there’s still much poverty and deep hurt from the not-so-distant past. It takes a mighty big God of love to really heal the people and to bring that complete salvation and transformation in their lives and community.

We also thought that coming to a remote rural village in Timor-Leste, with the only real vehicles being a few motorised scooters, would be quite idyllic. However, the peace is often interrupted by roosters crowing (anytime of the day), dogs barking and load music. The music often comes from the chief’s house as they seem to like to party and gamble quite a bit. We also had an all-nighter of really bad (and ridiculously loud) karaoke just before the elections when the FRETILIN party came to town with all their propaganda. Many people got caught up in the emotionalism of the whole event and it became quite evident where most people would put their vote. Strangely, the event somewhat resembled what I’d seen in some churches in Australia...hmmm...

There are definitely some things in the ‘culture’ here that are contrary to God and really need to change - especially those things that are harmful. We’re mindful that we are not trying to bring our western culture, unlike some well-meaning missionaries of the past, but we are bringing God’s Kingdom culture! All we want is for His will to be done in and through our lives for the people of Weberek and Timor-Leste! His ways and His plans for our lives and the people of Weberek are perfect! Hallelujah!

Thanks for tuning in once again to our blog! Please email us if you’d like a prayer newsletter...again, we won’t ask you for any money:) However, if you’d like to support the work we’re doing in Weberek, please donate through the Paypal button on this blog or contact us for alternative payment options. We will soon put up a list of specific needs for Weberek you may choose to support, such as Christian resources (especially bibles), vitamins for pregnant women and new mothers, educational resources etc.  Thank you for all your continued love and support!

Stay blessed!

Love C & L

Red banana muffins with coconut sugar and oil...YUM!

Mum, I AM looking after myself...