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JKDOMESIAM CHURCK Of CHRIST MISSIONfiox 3 Jl Merbabu 78Vermilion, Illinois 61955 Boyolali, Jateng, mxmsik

Dear Brothers and S i s t e r s i n Chris t ,It*s Thanksgiving Day and there's no turkey Vie a ll got together two daysago tv celebrate because so many church aetivitie were in progress for todayS t i l l 1 find iryself thinking and thanking, VIe re so thankful for a l l of you whosti].l support us with your prayers and giving even though you very seldom hear

from us. Even though we are almost constantly on the go, there i s nQ excuse forfailing to t e l l you what's happening.The best nev;s of a l l i s that our original group of 13 Christians now exceeds

175 and it continues to grow almost every week. We and the llacLean family arenow holding regular services in 6 locations plus many weekly Bible studies. Threeether areas wil l soc. n be opened so the growth vdl l continue. Our t o t a l missionteam nuw 7 families and 2 single women here in Central Java) has a goal of 1500baprbised believers by r.iid 1980, Already over SCO have been baptised and i f therapid grovrfch continues, the goal will be met possibly as much as a year ahead oft i m e l I l i k e t h e Lord*s t i m e t a b l e much b e t t e r I

With such rapid grov.-th and r::;w areas being opened, one p r i o r i t y has beenleadership train'jig. Every Monday we have a formal session with about 10 men. Theystudy th e lessen for the week, discuss any problems from the previous week andwork out any necesi^ary lon^ range plans. Each week a different raan present s thelessons in the villages so that they gain experience as viell as head knowledge.The nice part about it being t h i s v/ay i s that our part in th e s erv ic e i s onlyincidental , liost of the time, I can jus t s i t and l i s t e n .

As the village leaders continue to grow spirit i ially, and the responsibili t iesget bigger, they become ever more aware of t h e i r l imitations. To help them growfaster than those they lead, we will be starting S, (Theological ExtensionEducation) in January, This program of intensive study will be a joint project ofa ll the missionaries and will last for at least 2 years, hopefully longer, depending on the government,RECENT RTOLINGS

Jus t r ecen tly there have been several announcements from the government thatdon't soxmd good for the future of the work here. One such ruling forbids theevangel isa tion of any person already holding a rel igion, A person can on his owns t i l l change his religion but we may not force him to do so. o problem? we neverhave t r ied for force a person to become a Christ ian, We are s t i l l free to talk topeople about Christ, to explain the Bible and Christian fai th to them and toencourage them t o believe but we c a n t c al l t h at evangelism anymore,

A few days a f t e r THE above announcement, the government gave notice thatmissionary activity would be gradually phased out and that the phase out would becompleted by Feb, 1981 a t which time programs to t rain national leadership was tobe completed (hence our 2 year program). Some say i t s just so much ho t air .Others think i t means just what i t says. Frankly, we don't know what t o beli eve.Such things have been said before and have faded into oblivion, V e are workingand planning on the assumption tha t it i s t rue . When the time comes, the churches-will be able to stand completely on their own and i f wo don't have to leave, we'llo p e n n e w re s

WOI^iENS WORKLou ise and Jan MacLean have been teaching the vi l lage women for jus t over ayear now. Theirs i s the hardest job because most of th e women are i l l i t e r a t e .They use a f l ip chart that surveys the redemptive plan of the Bible and Christianliving. I t i s designed for use with i l l i t e r a t e s so that part isn*t too bad. Therough part i s convincing the women tha t they an leam and even more, that theyteach others, A few have caught on though and the groups are growing as a resultsBoth Louise and Jan need your prayers. They operate under a handicap that Bob a; lI don ' t have - they have no nationals t o share i n the teaching load. Theydespera te ly need some women t o do the teaching f o r them. The lessons can neverbe t o t a l l y clear u n t i l they are taught by nationals to nationals. The language

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. ' V ' i.and cultural differences arc just too great. 5, ;*ON THE FAMILY SIDE OF THUJGS

hs a family, we arc all doing almost too v;eU. Christmas began for us allabout one month ago when Grandma and Grandpa Fumas and niece Debbie arrived- Wehad a reaUy wonderful 3 week visit with them and as usual it was really hard tosee them go. They had us wondering if there was no end to the amount of thingsuiiey had stuffed in their suitcases Toys, clothes, and probably 3 months worth ofcancfy somehow had been fit in. Then, this v/eek we received 3 big boxes of giftsfrom tho folks at the Marion Church of Christ, Louise and the kids are on cloudnine. I enjoy all the presents and candy too.We ve managed to stay in good health for most of this year, A wonder \n.th

l i t t l e ones especially here. There is so much sickness and disease all around ijswe just thank tho Lord for His protection. We are constantly giving cut pills forflu and infections. Fink eye, trachoma and other eye infections arc rampant.Frequently the nonChristians seek the witchdoctor's help before they do anyoneelse. The end result is that we have scon several people who have been blindedfor life. These fake healers have no desire to sec a person got healthy. theystay sick then they keep paying. One man lost everything he-owned and was s t i l lon tho edge of death from malnutrition. He i s bet ter nov? having been hoop3.ta3J -but he will never recover financially. About 10 days ago v/e wore taken to a homewhere a 6^year old boy had been in a semi coma for nearly 7 months under a witch-*doctors care . Now having spent 10 days in the hospital he i s almost completelyrecovered. The problem i s rooted in sin and ignorance and fear . The answer l i e sin the perfect love that casts out a l l fear, I John l+tlC) Does that sound toosimple? too pat an an swer? I might have f e l t t h a t way before but no longer .Having seen the change Christ has made in so many of those people we know that theanswer i s ju s t t h at simple, even f o r u s .

The exci toment and rush o f th e Chri stma s s ea son i s binTdirig f o r us and youtoo, but don t forget to put us on your g i f t l i s t s , Louise and I both want thosame t h i n g - your p r a y e r s .

Merry Christmas,

J

Ed, Louise, ICaron, Joannea n d I l i c h e l l o

t j k . r n c v S

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I n d o n e s i a Church o f C h r i s t Miss ionMr. and Mrs. Harold Eastham, F.A,Box 3 \ 97aVermilion, Illinois 61955 xE/yt?/-' PMi o DEC17

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