Lorrie Farnsworth

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

Greetings again from your missionary in Nabire, Papua, Indonesia.

I am glad to be back here again in this small city of Nabire and in the school where God has allowed me to serve Him since 1987.

I want to thank all of you who were praying for me during the trip back to Indonesia. Even though the plane from Syracuse was a couple of hours late and it looked like I would not make my connection at JFK airport on the first leg of the trip, God sent an angel to help me and delayed the plane at JFK just long enough so that I could join the line of passengers as they were boarding the plane. My luggage did not arrive in Jakarta, Indonesia when I did. But it was delivered to me at the C&MA Guest House the next night just at the time the taxi arrived to take me back to the airport for my flight to Papua.

Paul and Jeannie Burkhart, C&MA missionaries in Jayapura, came with me to Nabire to help me get settled here. When we arrived we found out that the electricity in my house had not been working for months. Also there was a problem with the water system; there was no water going into the toilet tank and none going to the faucet outside where I connect my washing machine. Jeannie and Paul worked on getting those problems solved while I carried stuff into the house which had been stored in my drums in the shed. There was also a big hole in the roof and rain had ruined part of the ceiling in my office, so I found a repairman who was able to fix that.

When I came back to Papua, I was uncertain whether I would actually unpack and stay in Nabire or have to move to some other place because of the problems that have developed since many of the GKII (Indonesian C&MA) churches in Papua have broken away from the GKII and formed their own synode, the GKIP. In some areas of Papua there has been much intimidation, threats and even violence as the leaders of this new movement have tried to get the individual churches to go along with their agenda.

I had been in Nabire about a week, still trying to get settled again when Jerry Sumilat, the teacher who makes up the schedule for our school, came and told me that all the teachers wanted to know what I wanted to teach and what day I would be ready to start. I felt when I left to go on Home Assignment that I had a good relationship with the teachers and the students, too, so I was glad to hear that they were happy to have me back. The next day Mrs. Doo, the only other woman teacher and a good friend, came and enthusiastically welcomed me back.

In my interaction with my students and with other Papuans whom I have known as friends for years, I have not noticed any change in their attitudes toward me. In conversation with some of them I get the impression that, even though their churches now have the name GKIP, they are still worshipping the Lord in the same way in their services. The people in the pews (or on the log a few inches off the ground) in many cases, are not aware of any difference in what is being preached.

The Lord impressed on me something that, at every opportunity I need to tell my students and those who come to visit me for counseling or just for a social visit: they should “examine the Scriptures every day” to see whether what their teachers (including me) and preachers or anyone else tells them is true. (Acts 17:10,11 – the example of the Bereans). I have been doing that. Please pray that people will diligently “search the Scriptures.”

Thank you for your faithfulness in supporting me through the Great Commission Fund. And thank you for praying for me.

Thanking God in all things, Lorrie (Lorna to some of you)
September 2007

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

1. Pray that the Lord will protect me from sickness, keep me healthy.
2. Pray for safety for me as I drive the car and motorbike.
3. Pray that if some of the students are not believers, that God will work in their hearts and they will ask one of the teachers about how to know God personally. Pray especially for Apetus, Aten and Petrus.
4. Pray that as 2 MAF wives, Alyssa and Jodi, and I do a study of the book Captivating: the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul together that God will help each of us to know Him better and love Him more.
5. Pray that the Lord will keep my mechanical things (like the water pump) working.
6. Thank God for Pih, the man who took over Barnabas’ job. Pih has quickly learned how to do the jobs he needs to do here for me.
7. Pray that the students will have a great desire to read God’s Word and that the Holy Spirit will give them understanding as they read.
8. Pray for the students in my Hermeneutics class, that each one of them will understand the sections on grammar that we are studying. (example: that they will understand how to find out in the context of Scripture who is meant by “he” or “you” in Bible verses we’re studying.)
9. Pray that God will use the whole passages we study in Hermeneutics so the students will understand grammar, to help them walk with the Lord.
10. Pray for Mrs. Pius Tabuni, the wife of a student. She is very sick at home. They live quite far from Nabire and she has been unable to come and see me or go to a government clinic to be treated.
11. Mr. Sumilat, the Principal of our school, has given up his position because he and others realize that he is getting very forgetful now that he is old. Please pray that God will show who should be the new Principal.

Indonesia

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