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| Sonrei at Beto Tasi |
Hello dear family and friends! As we’ve been in Timor-Leste for nearly two months (this time, anyway!) and we’re just about to head back to Weberek again (third time this visa!), I thought it high-time to let you know what’s been going on!
Lots has happened in the last couple of months, so I really want to focus on the testimonies of God’s goodness! Although we only went back to Darwin for 2 weeks (due to our visa running out), we were away from Weberek for about a month or so. We were reluctant to leave as the situation in the village seemed to be heating up a little. In the past, when there’s been persecution, the believers have dropped away from fellowship with one another.
However, this time was very different! When we first returned to Weberek, we were greatly encouraged by how the believers ran the house church meeting. It was evident to us that when Marcus opened in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to run their meeting, that this prayer was indeed answered! Various people, one after another, shared testimonies or scripture that the Lord had placed on their hearts. When others brought their sick children, the believers gathered around them and laid hands (prayed) on each of them! It was beautiful! This scene resembling the early church of the New Testament in many ways!
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| Fellowship meal with the Believers of Weberek |
Normally, when us ‘malae’ (foreigners) come to the house church, there is an unspoken expectation for us to lead in everything, as the Timorese quietly wait. However, this time, we could see how much the Holy Spirit had been growing these believers in our short absence from Weberek. We were greatly humbled as the Lord reminded us that it was His ministry and that He never stopped working in their hearts. This also gave us a real assurance that when we return to Australia to have our baby, the work will go on without us!
We’re starting to see some of the Timorese believers of Weberek being filled with the boldness of the Holy Spirit under the persecution too. We heard the testimony of Josefina one night, as she stood up against the idolatry of the Catholic religion here in Weberek. In Timorese Catholicism, the months of May and October are dedicated wholly to worshipping ‘Mother Mary’ in the form of a large doll, which gets carried from household to household throughout the month. Josefina shared with us about how one Catholic leader in the village (we will keep him unnamed) told her that she must receive the doll in her house for her whole family to worship. Josefina bluntly refused, even showing scriptures in the Bible which showed clearly that this practice was idolatry and contrary to what God wanted. This refusal was met with some anger as this leader told Josefina that she was bringing shame to her family and the whole village. The threat of her being cut off from the Catholic church was also made...but this being somewhat milder than the threats of the past, where stones were thrown at houses and the threat to burn down houses was made!
At another home church 'service', Laurence felt compelled to give a gospel message, as we realised there were a few attending that were not yet the Lord's. Four girls, between the ages of 11 and 16 made a decision to receive Jesus in their hearts as their Saviour and to make Him Lord of their lives! Hallelujah! Lucinda and I hope to start a small girls-only discipleship group in which these young ladies may grow in their understanding as they are transformed by God to become more like Jesus on earth!
Also, soon after our return, we were asked by two of the believers to come pray for a little girl in a village about 30 minutes drive away. Here is the full testimony, mostly in the words of my dear hubby:
One morning Marcus and a believer we hadn’t seen for a while at our meetings, Antoni, came over. We were told we were needed to come pray for a family. They asked for Lucinda but she was out. Eventually it was arranged for us and a few of the Weberek believers to go in the afternoon. It was to a family that lived in Caicassa, a small village neighboring Weberek. Apparently they needed prayer and were interested in hearing about Jesus. Unfortunately Cher wasn’t able to come due to illness, but she gave me her blessing to jump in the ute with the others and said she would pray for us. I was excited to see most of the Weberek believers so ready and willing to go share the gospel and the love of God with their fellow Timorese brothers and sisters. We even picked up Lorentino in Weto along the way! He was keen as ever to join us! How quickly Jesus can turn a life around!
I found out that it was a sick child that we would be praying for. We arrived to a house painted with bright colours. I was greeted by Paulo out the front, who held his sick 2 year old daughter, Seza, in his arms. He was pleased to see us and invited all of us in. Lucinda spoke with Paulo about Seza’s symptoms. Lucinda later believed Seza had been suffering fits and seizures that resulted from brain damage from a previous bout of cerebral malaria. We noticed Seza had a black cord/band around one of her ankles and one of her wrists. These were from supposed ‘traditional medicine’. Shortly thereafter, one after another, the Weberek believers started sharing with Paulo. They opened their Bibles and shared various verses. Antoni shared his testimony with everyone of how God first led him to Paulo. Later Lucinda translated for myself and Jenny. Antoni had a dream where God made it known to him that he was to share the gospel with a particular person and that he would meet this person in the bush (or wooded areas) near his village. Antoni normally lives in Weberek, but for the purpose of his current carpentry work, now resides in Weto, near Lorentino. The next day he went to Lorentino’s house to share with him the dream God gave him ..
A couple days later Antoni and Lorentino were collecting wood in the bush. Unbeknownst to Antoni and Lorentino, Paulo was in nearby Caicassa. He had been trying to help his sick daughter who was feverish and suffering from periodic fits and seizures. Some members of his extended family had tied traditional ‘healing’ bands around Seza’s wrist and ankle. When that didn’t work they counseled him to go into the bush seeking a specific ‘medicinal’ plant. And that’s when Antoni and Lorentino bumped into Paulo! When they met, Paulo told them he was looking for a special plant and asked if they knew where it was, as he needed it for medicine for his sick daughter. Antoni said that he didn’t know where the plant was but that he did know someone that could help her - Jesus! Antoni shared briefly about Jesus Christ, His power to heal, along with a few real life testimonies. Paulo was immediately interested and forgot all about the traditional herb. They arranged to meet Paulo at his house later that evening to pray and talk some more. When Paulo returned to his family, they asked if he had found the medicine. Paulo replied, “No, but don’t worry, the medicine is coming to us at 6pm tonight!”. His family looked at him quizzically. Later that evening Antoni and Lorentino came around and were able to pray for Paulo’s daughter and to share more of the gospel of Jesus Christ with him and his family. Antoni also told Paulo about all the believers in nearby Weberek and of the things God had been doing there. And thus Antoni arranged for the trip with all of us, a couple days later to meet Paulo and his family.
While we were with Paulo and his family the believers shared verses from the Bible and testimonies of God’s saving and healing power. I shared on the two invisible kingdoms at war, which are completely opposite in nature to each other. That of God’s kingdom of Light and of Satan, the devil’s kingdom of darkness. One strives to bring truth, holiness, life and peace, the other, lies, sin, death and destruction. I relayed on how life is short and impermanent, where death comes knocking sooner or later, death being the ‘wages of sin’. (What is sin?? Simply, sin is a sickness that originates with the devil. It is all that is contrary to God’s will, God’s holy laws and His loving character. Sin has infected all of Mankind, body, soul and spirit.) But God in His great love, offers us everlasting life (life in abundance), through Jesus His Son, who as a sinless man willingly payed the penalty for all of Mankind’s sins by giving his life in exchange for our freedom. By the blood and the cross of Christ we are forgiven and our spirits are healed, by the stripes on Christ’s body our bodies are healed. (By His Word our souls and minds are eventually renewed and healed too.) Our souls are saved from eternal separation from God and our bodies are healed all by grace (a free gift!) through faith in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah to the Lord!!
We all prayed together as we laid hands on Paulo and his daughter in the name of Jesus. Antoni then cut the ‘traditional’ bands off of Paulo’s daughter’s ankle and wrist. We continued praying. The believers then started to softly and beautifully sing some worship songs in Tetum. I prayed and hummed along with my eyes closed .. It was a tender moment. Paulo was deeply affected, weeping openly, as a huge burden was being lifted from him. God was there in the midst of us, working with us, just as He promises to, when we obey Him and preach the Word of life - the Gospel (the good news) of Jesus Christ!
Then and there I felt to ask if anyone present would like to receive and believe in Jesus. Not neglecting to explain that to believe in Jesus we first must understand what sin is, that we have sinned against God and are in fact in need of saving; then to believe what Jesus said about Himself, being the Son of God and the only way to the Father (God); to believe and to some degree understand what He did for us in dying on the cross for our sins and in being resurrected back to life; to obey all His written Word and to obey Jesus Himself as Lord of our lives. (Why do we need to make Jesus Lord of our lives?? Simply put, because Mankind, in the very beginning of creation when things were good, heeded to the voice and counsel of a stranger, the devil, and decided to take a course of action (going their own way), which God had spoken and warned against, which resulted in sin, suffering and misery for all of Mankind. All because they (the first humans) chose their own way (which happened to also be the total wrong way!). Now, we need to follow God’s way (which is the right way!), as revealed through Jesus Christ (‘I am the way ..’) and the holy Bible, if we want to get out of the mess we’re in (and get right again!). We do this by believing in Jesus, following His example and making Him our Lord. Alright?)
That day we ended up leading several individuals in prayer in receiving and believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We had some snacks and refreshments afterwards in joyful celebration. Paulo’s one request of us was that we would continue to pray for his daughter. We made a special trip the next day to pick up Paulo and his daughter and Lorentino and his kids to join us for church! It was an amazing meeting where the Weberek believers really stepped up and took charge. When we congratulated them later, they simply said it was the Holy Spirit that was leading the meeting!! Hallelujah! That’s what it’s all about! And when we asked Paulo how his daughter was, he said she had improved significantly!! All glory to God!
Now if that was all of it, I’d be happy to leave it there, but that’s not all folks! God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think! When Cher and I were back in Dili for Cher’s week 20 ultrasound, Lucinda told us she had found the surgeon she had been looking for, for baby Milton’s cleft palate. She drove all the way back to Weberek the next day to quickly bring Milton and his mum to Dili the following day, as the surgeon was not going to be in Dili for long. Anyway, while Lucinda was in Weberek, she heard that the word about Paulo’s daughter’s recovery had become very widespread in his village, so much so that the local Catholic priest invited Antoni to come testify at church one day all about what God had been up to, within their midst .. And apparently Seza continues to improve with each new day ..
It was funny how Antoni was brought back into our orbit again, it was good see him again and it’s good to hear he’s busy going about His Father’s business. I am so grateful that the same God that created the earth, the stars and all the galaxies can use us tiny little creatures to bring some light, life and peace into this troubled world. All glory to God!
Update:
Seems the news of this testimony has been travelling even further! Hallelujah! Paulo has been sharing what the Lord has done for his little daughter everywhere he goes - including in Dili!
Also, as a result, the believers in Weberek (including us!) were invited to share the gospel at a house in Weto - a village by the entrance of the road to Weberek. Quite a number of folk from the village came to hear the message and nearly everyone who came put their hands up to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour! Hallelujah! All glory to God!
We also heard a testimony about Paulo’s house in Caicassa which may challenge some people’s sense of ‘reason’... Antoni had a dream about Paulo’s house in Caicassa being surrounded by all these wild, evil monkeys and fox-like creatures. Then a great shaft of light came down upon the whole house and the wild animals fled. What’s more amazing is that apparently this really happened in real life! We were told that other villagers in Caicassa were eye-witnesses to this event! God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all! (1 John 1:5b) Hallelujah!
PART 2:
Our trip to Weberek in early July was only for a week and a half because Jenny, Lucinda’s friend, a school-teacher from Queensland, had only a short holiday from work in which to visit us and then needed to return to Oz to teach again! In this short time the Chief, Jose, still managed to put on two FRETILIN all-night parties in a row, complete with extremely loud and dreadful karaoke, just before the Prime-ministerial elections on July 7. These parties managed to keep most of the village awake, and so many sadly felt compelled to take the attitude, “If ya can’t beat ‘em, then join ‘em!” (But not us!)
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| View from the Bacon's balcony! |
Back in Dili, we were blessed to have a whole house to ourselves to stay at, not too far from the Bacon family. When we arrived in Dili from Darwin in late June, we were privileged to stay with this beautiful, Godly family in their lovely place by the beach! (Check out the Bacon’s blog: http://baconsbatimor.blogspot.com/ )The missionary life certainly is tough!
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| The wonderful Bacon family! |
While in Dili I got quite ill, with another unknown tropical virus. Although this was a little set-back, I was thankful that I could recoup in a place Laurence and I had to ourselves. During this time, I had a check-up with a lovely Cuban doctor in Dili, then was referred to another Cuban Obstetrician at the National hospital for a routine ultrasound. Despite all my struggles with tropical illnesses, bub proved to be doing well! Praise God! The Doctor was pleased with his development and told us that we may even be further along in the pregnancy than the last specialist had determined! That means that bub really could come anytime in November! Not long now!
As illness forced me to lay low, Laurence enjoyed the opportunity to catch up on his numerous books on his kindle as I just rested. It was just as well, really, as we were warned through friends that there was trouble brewing amongst the FRETILIN party (political party!), not far from our doorstep. Later we found out that Xanana Gusmao’s newly elected government had decided to keep FRETILIN out of the new coalition, this caused some angry mobs to react nearby us, where the government had held their meeting. That night we heard all sorts of sirens and noises that sounded like loud gun-shots. Although it was a little unsettling, we prayed for the situation (and all involved) and felt a real peace, eventually sleeping quite soundly through it all! After the first evening of trouble we heard how many passing vehicles had been targeted the previous afternoon, with stones thrown at them and later some parked vehicles were burnt! We worked out that we had passed through that very area with a friend (in his vehicle) around the time it was supposed to have happened, but we didn’t notice anything nor did anything happen to us! God certainly had His hand upon us!
We mostly stayed in during the next few days, as small outbreaks of violence continued in some areas. We heard quite a few helicopters flying over us in the evenings! Apparently our area was the ‘hot-spot’, but we didn’t once feel unsafe. We heard that there was one death during this time, which happened outside of Dili, in Hera. However, we do not know the circumstances in which this death occurred.
Needless to say, we are safe and the trouble seems to have calmed down in this fragile little nation.
While in Dili, we also try to stay connected with like-minded believers by going to a house church (or two!). The lovely hosting family of this ‘church’ offered us several boxes of educational toys to take to the children of Weberek. These toys had been donated from Rotary in Australia - apparently they were sending a whole shipping container full! These toys (which we have already received the first lot) would be such a blessing to the children of Weberek. Most of the village is made up of young children (coming from large families) and we often see the little ones with makeshift toys, from old bike tires to ‘cars’ made from plastic water bottles and from other items we’d view as nothing but ‘rubbish’!
We also have another exciting development to share: While in Dili, Samuel and Cynthia Bacon told us about how they were needing help to continue the bible distribution throughout Timor-Leste. As they shared, our hearts leapt in unison! It soon became obvious to us both that we were to help in this ‘project’! We saw this as an opportunity to bring the gospel to villages surrounding Weberek, and also giving the believers of Weberek more experience in evangelism. God had placed this desire on our hearts for quite a while, so we jumped at the chance!
Our next stay in Weberek was quite an event, as we hurriedly prepared the house (and a room in the ‘meeting’ house) to receive up to 21 extra people. Due to illness, we did not return to Weberek as early as we’d have liked, so we certainly had our work cut out for us...especially after the rats had shredded about 6 pillows! Our Timorese friend, Raimundo, unsuspectedly came across one of the offenders, alive and nesting in a mattress as we cleaned out the house! Yucko!
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| The talented team from Peak Hill/Parkes (NSW) |
A few days later we joyfully received our dear brothers ‘n’ sisters (and co-workers) from Peak Hill/Parkes (NSW) and a team from YWAM Dili. The house certainly came alive with all these wonderful people! The team from Peak Hill/Parkes have been regularly visiting Weberek for about the last 11 years (with a few new folk coming this time), blessing the village in many practical ways, showing the love of Jesus through their humble service. They are mostly farmers who come with a variety of skills, yet adapt to using limited resources...we were quite impressed and truly blessed by their presence!
However, the main purpose of this visit was for YWAM to officially close their work in Weberek after nearly 11 years. In this time, YWAM has done an amazing job in bringing the gospel to Weberek and facilitating many of the wonderful projects in the village. They worked hard, ploughing the ground of people’s hearts and planting the viable seed of the Word of God. We have been given the privilege to come in now and disciple those believers as well as reap the harvest of YWAM’s labours. This is the body of Christ - His church - working together to bring His Kingdom (or ‘reign’) here on earth as it is in heaven! We are so thankful to YWAM Timor-Leste for their faithfulness and hard work, and we bless the further wonderful work that the Lord is calling them to in this precious nation!
Officially, YWAM handed the house (plus meeting house and ‘shed’) back to the village. However, at the same meeting the chief confirmed that our team, under the covering of the Peak Hill fellowship and Parkes Shire Friendship Agreement (with Weberek), were welcome to continue to live in the house while we were facilitating the roofing project and helping Weberek. We also have the new name of ‘Koinonia’ which is a Greek biblical term meaning ‘fellowship’ - both with God and believers. (In Tetun, this loosely translates to ‘Halibur’). This name, which shows the heart of this ministry, helps the people of Weberek to distinguish us from YWAM, but it also links us to the Peak Hill team who go by the same name of ‘Koinonia’.
YWAM extended their love and generosity to us by leaving all the furniture and household goods for our use, to continue the work that they begun. They also blessed us by bringing the wonderful Brazilian cook, Janer, to prepare all our meals in the two weeks the teams were there! Not only is she an amazing cook, but she loves to serve others in this way! What a blessing she is!
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| Posed and poised (just like our wedding!) to cut my scrumptious birthday cake! |
During our drive to Weberek, we heard Lucinda’s vehicle making all sorts of noises that concerned us. We did get to Weberek safely, but when one of the team, Alan, went to check over the vehicle, he discovered serious damage and deemed the vehicle undrivable! He made a number of calls to the mechanic in Dili, seeing if we could get the part needed to fix it. We were told at the time that they did not have the right part, but they were willing to try to fix the part we had (although it was badly damaged). We sent the offending part back to Dili with the YWAM team, who left early. The plan was to get the part ‘machined’, then our friend Vasco would try to catch a bus to Same with it and eventually get to Weberek, where Alan would then fix the vehicle with it.
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| Some of the northern coastline on the way to Weberek |
Through this, the Lord also addressed a little concern I had in my heart: the rough, bumpy, long drive back to Dili the following day! Jonathan also let Laurence and I travel back to Dill (from Same) on the MAF plane! Was a smooth 20 minute flight over the stunning mountain ranges just outside of Same! I was so thankful!
Now we (with Lucinda) are just about to head back to our beloved Weberek again...this time with Lauren, a midwife friend of Lucinda’s from Brisbane and Martha, a lovely young Timorese lady who has just completed her DTS (Discipleship Training School) with YWAM and has a real gifting for worship! We look forward to how the Lord is going to use us for His glory and for what He will teach us in this time. This will be our last stay in Weberek for our current visa before we head back to Australia to have our lil’ bub and to spend Christmas with our family. However, we do intend to try to return to Timor-Leste as soon as we can in the new year, as God wills!
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read our blog and for all your continued love and prayers! There have been a number of other testimonies to share...too many for this blog! God is so good! There is no greater privilege in this life than to live fully in His will and purposes! Stay blessed!
Love C & L xx
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| Lorenzo playing soccer with the boys in Weberek |
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| One of our resident 'toke' in the house (Weberek) |
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| Another glorious Dili sunset (Beto Tasi) |
