Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000123S
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00:00 (dramatic music)
00:21 - Hello and welcome to "Jesus for Asia Now." 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and my husband, John, 00:25 is joining me today 00:26 as we talk about the country of Timor-Leste. 00:30 We have a special guest with us, 00:31 our pastor, Pastor Chris Anderson. 00:34 Hello Pastor Chris, welcome to the show. 00:36 - Hey, good afternoon. 00:37 (chuckles) 00:38 - It's good to have you here. 00:39 - Thanks, it's great to be here. 00:41 - And we've got some exciting things to talk about today, 00:43 and so it's gonna be good. 00:45 - Yeah, God's really moved in your life 00:47 and it's amazing what we see happening there. 00:50 - Yeah. 00:51 Well first of all, I know the two of you 00:53 went to Timor-Leste, 00:55 and how did we end up with something 00:57 going on in Timor-Leste? 00:59 - So in January of 2019, the Southern Asia Pacific Division, 01:03 was having a missions conference in Bali. 01:07 And they were inviting all the supporting ministries, 01:09 so that the church and the supporting ministries 01:11 could work together more efficiently, 01:13 and get to know each other better. 01:15 And I was invited to go, I didn't really wanna go. 01:18 I didn't really wanna go to Bali, 01:20 I heard it was just a vacation spot. 01:22 I'm not really interested in vacation spots 01:24 but I felt that I should to learn, 01:26 make connections and meet people. 01:29 So I flew down there, 01:30 it was supposed to be a four day conference. 01:31 And while I was there, 01:32 I met the president of the Timor-Leste mission. 01:36 Now I had known about Timor-Leste from before, 01:39 because my good friend, Pastor Douglas Venn, 01:41 who we shot, "I Want the City" with, 01:43 had gone there after I had left Bangkok 01:46 and told me about it. 01:48 And so when I met Pastor House there, 01:50 we started talking, and Tim Maddocks was there, 01:53 he was the one that kind of initiated the conversation. 01:55 And we learned more about Timor-Leste, 01:57 how the church was just starting out, 01:59 just, you know, recently starting to grow, 02:02 and how they had never had a camp meeting 02:05 in the entire country, in its entire history. 02:07 And we're like, we could do a Faith Camp. 02:10 And Tim Maddocks is like, yeah, you could do a Faith Camp. 02:13 And so we're like, okay, let's organize it. 02:16 And thankfully, over the course of the last few years 02:20 in Faith Camp, the Lord has blessed, 02:22 and we had a little extra funds 02:24 that we could reach out to do a Faith Camp 02:27 in an area that obviously wasn't gonna do a return, 02:31 a financial return on the Faith Camp, 02:33 but, and it was very expensive, 02:35 but we were like, you know what, 02:37 how often do you get a chance to plant seeds? 02:40 How often do you get a chance to enter 02:42 into the growth of an entire country's church? 02:46 - Right, encourage a newer church. 02:49 - Yeah and so we planned it for September, 02:51 we had Tim Maddocks come down, 02:53 Daniel and Laura Drea, came down and joined us. 02:56 And then I was looking at the lineup and I'm like, 02:59 you know what, I really need somebody that's gonna have 03:01 some solid Bible truth. 03:03 Mostly Faith Camp is about outreach and missions. 03:07 Whereas with some of these countries, 03:10 you also need to teach in the Bible truth. 03:12 - They need church growth and revival or encouragement. 03:17 - Exactly and we he had joined recently a new church plant 03:21 here in the Chattanooga area called South Bay. 03:25 - Right. 03:26 - I was praying about who should go with us, 03:27 who we should bring with us, 03:28 to kind of round out the whole presenters 03:31 and I thought about the pastor and our new church plant, 03:34 in South Bay, Pastor Chris. 03:37 He's got a unique story, 03:38 he worked in construction for many years, 03:41 and then went back to get a theology degree, 03:45 because God was calling him into the ministry. 03:48 And they had, as a family had been to Africa in the past. 03:52 And I don't know if you like me telling your story. 03:55 (laughter) 03:56 So I called you and says, 03:58 would you be interested and going to Timor-Leste? 04:01 Do you remember that conversation. 04:02 - Yeah, so I got a call from you about this, 04:04 Chris would you be open to it? 04:05 And I love overseas, I love missions, 04:08 my family and I, we served in Africa 04:09 for a little while in Zambia, 04:11 traveled extensively over Africa. 04:13 The challenge was, I just had a lot on my plate, 04:15 I was very busy, 04:16 and I took some time to just think about it. 04:17 But as I'm open to exploring the idea, 04:19 so we pursued it further 04:20 and I pursued it with my conference, 04:22 they gave me permission to go. 04:24 And so all the pieces came together. 04:26 It was just exciting, the opportunity to share 04:30 at the very first Faith Camp meeting in Timor-Leste, 04:33 I mean, it's just what a need opportunity. 04:35 - Right. 04:36 So where is Timor-Leste? 04:38 - So Timor-Leste is over in the Pacific. 04:40 It's right above Australia, kinda center straight above, 04:42 and you've got this chain of islands of Indonesia, 04:45 comes down at the very last island is split in half, 04:48 and the Eastern side is Timor-Leste. 04:50 So it's just right over there, 04:51 as far in the world, as you can go, 04:54 it's like one of the most remote places 04:56 on the planet, you know. 04:57 (laughter) 04:58 It's tough to get there. 04:59 - Yeah. 05:00 What did it take to get there? 05:01 I mean, what was. 05:02 - Yeah, so like, days and days of flying. 05:03 I mean, I was exhausted, you know. 05:04 So I flew over to the middle east, 05:05 and then I flew over to Indonesia, 05:06 and then I flew this little tiny plane over into Dili. 05:11 And when we were landing, 05:12 I was wondering about the pilot 05:14 because he circled around the airport there in Dili, 05:18 and then he came down and all I could see was water, 05:21 because the runway is kind of crooked 05:22 and it's right beside the ocean. 05:24 And we just kept getting lower and lower 05:25 and lower to the water, 05:26 and I thought men this is a suicide pilot. 05:27 You know, I had no idea, 05:28 we just kept getting lower and lower and lower. 05:30 And I was just, Lord, my life is in your hands you know? 05:34 And we hit the runway, as soon as he hit the runway, 05:36 then I saw the land, I'm like, okay we're okay. 05:39 It was just an interesting experience landing there. 05:41 - Trying to remember if there were floats on plane 05:42 got it in. 05:43 - But it's beautiful island, 05:45 I mean it's just really mountainous, 05:46 these jugged mountains just jutting up out of the ocean 05:48 and goes right down into the ocean. 05:50 - Yeah, so this picture is of Dili. 05:53 This is where we landed, 05:55 and you can see that the mountains are very dry actually. 05:58 - So it's pretty dry, yeah, for sure, 06:00 and particularly on this side, 06:01 and Dili's just this large flat space 06:03 with kind of a dry river bed that comes out through it 06:06 until they get rain, 06:07 and then it really floods the whole area. 06:09 - Yeah, I bet. 06:10 So what's the history of Timor-Leste? 06:12 - So Timor-Leste has an interesting history, 06:13 they were a Portuguese colony for like 400 years. 06:17 And sandalwood and some other spices 06:19 and things I guess, is from what I understand 06:20 was some of their main exports. 06:22 And then in 1975, they gained their independence 06:26 and that was short-lived. 06:28 Nine days later, Indonesia came in, 06:31 with their military and the war ships, 06:32 and took over the island. 06:33 About a quarter of the population was killed, 06:35 brutally killed and held under the Indonesian regime 06:39 for well over 25 years or so. 06:43 And then in 2002, the United Nations 06:47 brokered some sort of a deal with Indonesia 06:49 and they were able to gain their independence. 06:51 So in 2002, they were the very first new country 06:54 in the 21st century. 06:56 And so they were pretty excited about that obviously, 06:59 but they're a new country, they're only about 19 years old. 07:02 The Adventist church kind of began then 07:04 and so the Adventist church is still brand new there. 07:06 It's still a small, small church presence. 07:08 - Okay, what's the major religion 07:10 that's there in that island? 07:11 - So being a Portuguese colony it's 98, 99% Catholic. 07:15 - Okay, so how's the church growing? 07:17 How it it doing? 07:18 What's the main challenge that it has? 07:20 - So the church has grown dramatically. 07:22 I mean there's been a lot of evangelism 07:24 that's happened throughout the island 07:25 and people are just excited about the Adventist message. 07:28 And so there's two official churches there. 07:31 They had the second official church 07:33 that was just inaugurated this last December. 07:35 So, and then there's five or six companies 07:38 scattered throughout the island. 07:40 There's about 600 church members that are there, 07:43 and pastor House, the previous president there 07:46 has just done an amazing job 07:47 helping to strengthen the church. 07:48 And there's been a school that's been established there, 07:51 it's called TAIS, Timor Adventist International School. 07:55 And while the official language 07:57 of the country is not English, 07:58 the school is taught English 07:59 because many people would like to have their kids 08:01 learn the English language. 08:03 And so the school is highly sought after, 08:05 many, many people from the community 08:07 are sending the kids there. 08:08 It had explosion of growth. 08:10 And this has been a primary entering wedge 08:12 really into the country, having this school that's there. 08:17 - So that school when we were there, 08:18 we've got some pictures of the school, 08:20 it looks like they were meeting out on the porches. 08:22 - So they have an interesting school location. 08:25 They search for six or seven years 08:26 to find a piece of property. 08:28 It's very difficult because all the titles 08:30 are in either Portuguese or they're Indonesian 08:32 or somewhere in between. 08:34 - In titles to land. 08:35 - Titles to the land. 08:36 So it's hard to find a piece of land that has clear deed. 08:39 And so they worked for a long of time 08:40 and finally God led them to this piece. 08:41 It's just a beautiful piece 08:43 and kind of in the middle of the town there. 08:45 And so when we were there, 08:46 they had the schools kind of in the verandas 08:48 of the large house that was on this property. 08:51 And so interestingly enough, 08:52 the 13th sabbath offering of this quarter, 08:54 the first quarter of 2022 is going to help 08:57 build a permanent school there at that location. 08:59 - Oh nice. 09:00 - Very nice. 09:01 - So we were staying in some permanent structures 09:02 and that's where our camp meeting was, 09:04 is in one of the temporary structures of the school. 09:05 - Excellent. 09:07 - So this is one of the structures, 09:07 this is actually the structure 09:08 that we had the Faith Camp in. 09:10 We had the roof on, 09:11 I think they worked really hard 09:13 to get the the cement pod and the roof put on. 09:16 So they were just starting to build 09:18 this structure at the time. 09:19 And this is where we had the whole weekend, 09:21 we started Wednesday evening at seven 09:23 and finished Sunday morning around noon 09:25 and did the whole thing here, 09:27 and I had a lot of people joining us. 09:29 This was the front of the church, 09:31 this was pastor Ray House on the left 09:34 and he was the one that invited us here 09:36 and kind of officiated throughout the whole meetings. 09:38 - So pastor House had done a lot of work, 09:40 getting things ready, 09:41 and he's well loved by the people. 09:43 I mean, he's spent a lot of time with him 09:44 and really has put his heart energy into this work. 09:46 - That's awesome. 09:47 So this is kind of the group 09:49 with the speakers, the presenters, 09:51 as well as some of the local teachers for that school. 09:55 And then this is how the people lived there. 09:58 - Camp meeting. 09:59 (chuckles) 10:00 - People had come from all over the island, didn't they? 10:02 - They had, they had come from the far reaches 10:04 of the island to camp meeting. 10:05 They were really excited. 10:06 And they had come in trucks 10:08 and in the back beds of large trucks and everything, 10:10 they come many different ways to come to this. 10:12 - That's awesome. 10:13 - So the man in this picture here 10:14 is a one of the global mission pioneers 10:17 that's working on an island off of Timor-Leste. 10:20 So they have a large island called Arturo, 10:22 and he is one of the workers over there planting, 10:25 doing church planting over in that island. 10:27 - Wow, awesome. 10:28 - All right, so we started, 10:30 it was a Wednesday night, 7:00 p.m. 10:32 - That evening, it was just so nice. 10:34 I mean everyone was excited 10:35 and the singing it was beautiful. 10:36 - It was awesome. 10:38 And then during the daytime, 10:39 people would just hang out between meetings 10:42 and get in family groups and play and seeing, 10:44 and you went around and visited with some of them, 10:46 and I think you made a lot of good connections 10:48 and friendships there. 10:48 - Made some great friends, yeah. 10:50 The camp meeting was more than just meetings, 10:52 there was times that we just spent together 10:53 and we just got to know them 10:55 and there's such a people, they're really hospitable 10:59 and there's some language barriers 11:01 because they don't speak English well, 11:03 and I don't speak Tetum or Portuguese. 11:07 But we worked our way through that, 11:09 when you have a love of God in your heart, 11:11 and they have a love of God in their heart, 11:12 I mean there's just a bond and a connection that's there. 11:14 So yeah made really good friends, 11:16 they are still are friends on Facebook, we stay in touch. 11:19 - That's awesome. 11:20 - That's good. 11:21 - So Faith Camp always starts Wednesday evening 11:22 with a keynote speech. 11:23 And then we start the next morning, 11:26 we have six meetings normally during the day. 11:28 But then before that we have a United prayer, 11:30 people come together and we pray together. 11:32 With this situation, 11:34 that meant we met very early in the morning, 11:37 before the sun came up 11:38 and I wasn't sure how they would receive this. 11:42 And I don't normally do the prayer leading, 11:44 but we all gathered together and we started praying. 11:48 And at first it was kind of stilted 11:50 because they weren't sure how this was gonna work. 11:52 But as we progressed, 11:53 as we did this morning after morning, 11:55 it's like they started to really connect in. 11:57 - They did, they opened up to the time of prayer 12:00 and it was just beautiful. 12:01 I mean they were just pouring out their hearts. 12:02 I couldn't always understand what they were praying 12:05 but I could sense their heart's desire for more of God 12:08 and the burdens that were on the heart 12:10 they were just sharing, it was a beautiful. 12:11 - At first, it was like we had to really stretch 12:13 to make the 45 minutes and the last day I just let them go 12:17 'cause I felt the holy spirit moving, 12:19 and we went an hour and a half without stopping. 12:22 And you can see they're just really into it. 12:24 They're tired, but just loving it. 12:27 And you put this picture in, 12:29 I remember that little girl. 12:30 - Yeah. 12:31 Lots of children there just happy, 12:34 and of course a lot of them are in the school, 12:35 the ones that are living near Dili there. 12:38 But so many happy children, 12:40 just happy to be a part of this program. 12:41 - Awesome. 12:42 - Now there was this young girl 12:43 that their parents brought her in 12:46 to have special prayer for her. 12:47 They wanted healing for her. 12:49 And so of course we believe that God 12:51 has the same power to heal 12:52 as when Jesus was on this earth. 12:54 And so we had prayer for her asking God's will 12:56 to be done in her life, 12:57 and we certainly wanted to ask that if it was his will 13:00 that he would heal her, 13:01 and so we had this special prayer for her. 13:03 So the men decided to cook one day, 13:04 and so here here's the men giving their wives a break 13:08 and they were having a good time cooking in the kitchen. 13:10 - Nice. 13:12 - It's good food too. 13:12 - It was good. 13:13 (laughter) 13:14 - So tell me about this man in the wheelchair? 13:16 - So this man was at every single meeting. 13:19 And he was kind of somber at first, 13:23 but I always made an effort to go sit by him 13:25 and talk with him and try to communicate with him. 13:27 And he just warmed up 13:29 and became so much more friendly. 13:32 He and his wife were there every day 13:34 they just really enjoyed the camp meeting 13:36 and they were just so blessed by being around. 13:37 - Is there anything special about this? 13:39 - So this is one of the local houses 13:40 that's near the near the school 13:42 and they're fairly simple as you can see, 13:44 just a block structure with a metal roof, 13:46 rusting metal roof. 13:47 - Beautiful decorations. 13:48 - Yeah, nice plants. 13:49 - Yeah, that's the nice thing about being over 13:51 in that part of the country, plants grow. 13:54 - Yeah 13:55 - And I think during the week, 13:56 you took a hike up beside Dili 13:59 and got to see over the top of Dili. 14:02 - So this is pastor Bossty that I was with, 14:04 he's the pastor of the church in Dili. 14:07 - So while you were on this walk, 14:08 you recorded his telling you about his hearts burden. 14:11 So we'll play that. 14:12 - Our plan is God bless. 14:16 We are happy to see a school in Dili, in the city, 14:20 but outside the city, we need a dormitory, 14:23 we also need clinic, 14:24 a place to have camp meeting. 14:26 We'll also be happy to see big agriculture, 14:31 because in Timor-Leste all our food comes 14:34 from outside my country. 14:37 But we like to grow our food within our country, 14:40 this is my plan and prayer, thank you. 14:43 - He was mentioning them getting food from outside 14:45 of the country, I imagine is super expensive. 14:48 So he's hoping to start farming 14:49 so that they can grow their own food. 14:51 So this is just a street in Dili. 14:53 - Yeah's just a street in Dili. 14:54 - Another. 14:55 - Pretty house with some stone work yeah. 14:57 - Okay so tell us about this family. 14:59 - So this is pastor Anesiho, 15:00 he is the executive secretary 15:02 and the current acting president in between presidents. 15:06 And he's an ordained pastor that is Timor-Leste 15:11 Timor-Moris that is Timor-Moris 15:13 And he's just a dedicated man. 15:15 He tells stories about how, when the work began, 15:17 they would just be out carrying on meetings in the bush 15:20 and just sleeping under the stars. 15:22 And he's just, he's served the church faithfully 15:24 for many, many years and just a godly man. 15:26 - Dedicated. 15:28 - So I think this is a good time to kind of fast forward 15:29 a year and a half from this Faith Camp. 15:33 I was in Thailand and I saw a very unique announcement 15:37 that you had accepted a position. 15:40 And the reason I bring that up now 15:41 is because you are looking forward to working with this man 15:44 in the future. 15:45 - Absolutely, yeah, yeah. 15:46 - So, after this camp meeting, 15:48 I stayed in touch with the workers over there. 15:51 I mean Pastor House is a friend of mine, 15:52 we stay in touch on Facebook and comment 15:54 on each other's pictures and pastor Ignasio as well. 15:58 And so I'm good friends with these folks on Facebook 16:00 and things and we just stayed in touch 16:02 and they just been a dear spot in my heart 16:04 for the work that's over there. 16:06 And where I'm at now, I love my church, 16:08 I love, absolutely love them to pieces 16:11 and would never consider going anywhere else. 16:13 But pastor House was needed to come back to the States 16:17 and they needed a replacement to take his place over there. 16:19 And so we received a call to come serve over there 16:22 in his place. 16:24 And boy it really was hard for us to consider this. 16:27 My wife and I honestly prayed, 16:29 and over a time of praying about it, 16:30 we really had a sense of peace and a sense of clarity 16:32 that this is where God is calling us and so. 16:35 Yeah so when you saw the announcement there, 16:36 we had received and accepted a call, 16:39 to come serve as the president of the Timor-Leste mission. 16:42 - Yeah, so yeah, we're gonna miss you a crazy amount. 16:45 I have no idea what pastor 16:46 they're gonna bring in your place, 16:47 we'll probably leave it. 16:48 - A better one question. 16:50 - Yeah that but yes. 16:52 - A lot a prayer guide can provide the right pastor 16:54 for South Bay too. 16:56 - That's right absolutely. 16:57 - Yeah. 16:58 But South Bay was your church before you became a pastor. 17:00 - Yeah that's right. 17:01 So as South Bay started, 17:02 I was just the missional leader of the church. 17:05 And then over a period of time, I went back to school, 17:08 got my theology degree and I was hired 17:10 to work there part-time while I was in school. 17:11 And then when I finished, 17:12 they ended up hiring me full time. 17:14 So I've been full time pastor there. 17:16 So I kind of grew up with South Bay, 17:18 as it grew, I grew, you know, anyway. 17:20 - Has your wife been to Timor-Leste yet? 17:22 - So my wife has not been there, 17:23 she's just seen pictures. 17:24 And when I was there, I would faceTime her, 17:26 and so she met a number of the people. 17:28 But she's had a sense of peace 17:29 that this is where God is leading. 17:31 - Wow, that's amazing. 17:32 So in your transit, it's like, 17:34 is this gonna be like a long transition? 17:37 You gonna ship a whole bunch of furniture 17:38 and stuff over there? 17:39 - So the transition is fairly short. 17:41 I mean, we're headed over there this summer in may. 17:44 And now we're just gonna pack what's in our bags, 17:46 we're not shipping a container. 17:48 What we can put on our bags 17:49 is what we're gonna take over there, you know? 17:51 - So when you get there you're gonna hit the ground running, 17:54 you know a little bit about what the needs are 17:55 'cause you were there at Faith Camp. 17:58 What is gonna be your first priority? 18:01 - I'm still learning what some of the needs are, 18:03 and pastor House has done a tremendous job 18:04 leading the church there. 18:05 And so I'm trying to understand what he has been doing 18:08 so I can strengthen what has happened. 18:10 And so they are in the process of building a school 18:13 over on a far part of the island in Los pollos. 18:16 And so I'm headed over there in February 18:18 for a couple of weeks, 18:19 to find out what's going on with that school, 18:21 as well as the 13th seventh offering this quarter. 18:24 Now the first quarter of 2022 is going to help 18:26 build the school in Dili. 18:28 They had temporary structures 18:30 but they'll be building some permanent ones. 18:31 So I'll be meeting the division officers over there 18:33 and Peter Coolick, 18:34 who is the gentleman that works for a general conference 18:36 in charge of their building programs, 18:38 be meeting them there. 18:40 We're praying that we can get this building project started, 18:42 so they can hopefully be open this fall 18:44 for our school system. 18:46 - So you're praying for a really strong 13 Sabbath offer. 18:48 - Yes, we're praying a strong 13 Sabbath offering. 18:50 - You know, it's interesting 'cause I think a lot of times 18:52 we look at the 13 Sabbath offering 18:54 and it's so disconnected, you know. 18:56 So we give by faith, 18:57 but we have no idea where it goes, 19:00 and it's kind of like putting into a black hole. 19:02 But now we can see you are gonna be directly affected 19:05 by our 13 Sabbath offering. 19:07 - Well the 13 Sabbath offering is, 19:08 it makes such a difference in the lives of the people 19:10 around the world. 19:11 And so yeah, just flip your quarterly over on the back 19:12 and you can see where it's going. 19:13 You can pray about those locations 19:15 and then when your funds go, 19:16 it really makes a huge difference 19:18 in ways that they couldn't raise enough money to do, 19:21 and so they're able to do larger projects 19:23 through the world church giving to make this happen. 19:25 That's awesome. 19:26 And so we can, in addition to that school, that project, 19:29 we can start praying that you'd be able to build 19:31 a network of schools throughout the island. 19:33 - Yeah we'd love to see a network of schools 19:35 throughout the island that we can provide. 19:36 - Maybe some smaller lower costs like elementary schools. 19:39 Do you need to like train the teachers, 19:41 because I know in Cambodia we had to train our teachers? 19:44 - I mean that's the desire is that there is local teachers 19:47 that are raised up. 19:48 lot of the teachers that are teaching now 19:49 or from other locations coming in. 19:51 So the teachers need raised up and trained 19:53 to carry on the work. 19:54 - Okay, do you see opportunities 19:56 for people coming in and doing a short term mission 19:59 type of work? 20:00 - Oh yes we definitely have lots of opportunities 20:01 for evangelism, for health work, for building projects. 20:04 Yeah we definitely could use some help there. 20:06 - Awesome. 20:07 Okay, well, I'd like to go back to the Faith Camp, 20:08 how did you enjoy the music while we were there? 20:11 - Oh, the music was wonderful, 20:12 and the people loved to sing and I look at this little one. 20:16 (laughter) 20:17 - The babies are so cute. 20:19 - Yeah precious. 20:20 - Wonderful families, there they are smiling, 20:22 right there that's the picture I was talking about. 20:23 - Oh, that's the man with the wheelchair. 20:25 - Yes, the man with a wheelchair that was smiling. 20:27 - That's awesome and his wife. 20:28 They've had a really hard life. 20:31 I mean is only in the seventies 20:33 where they had that genocide. 20:35 And most of these people their families 20:36 have a missing member because of that. 20:38 And so they have that recovering thing from PTSD 20:42 and stuff like that, that they're having to deal with. 20:45 This photo here is of the lunch line. 20:48 Now he is made really excellent food. 20:49 - Good food, it was simple, 20:51 but it was just really nice to, 20:52 you know, eat together and spend time with them 20:54 and share a meal. 20:55 - Loved it. 20:56 - This lady is weaving Tais cloth, 20:58 which is a special fabric that is distinct 21:02 and unique to this island. 21:03 - Okay, all right, you're gonna have to get one of those. 21:06 - I have a piece for faith, yeah. 21:08 - Okay. 21:08 Throughout the meetings, 21:10 again, six hours of meetings per day. 21:12 Sometimes it went a little bit longer 21:14 and people just drink it up. 21:16 - They really enjoyed the meetings, yeah. 21:18 I mean sometimes the kids got a little sleepy, 21:19 but the parents were so interested. 21:22 - So this is a hymnal from the church there. 21:25 The local language is Tetum which I'd never heard of before. 21:29 There's actually quite a number of languages 21:30 spoken on that island, 21:32 Tetum is the main language. 21:34 - Yeah so Tetum and Portuguese are the official languages. 21:37 Portuguese is more used in the legal element of the island 21:41 and Tetum is what's mostly spoken, 21:43 but you're right, there's a number of languages there. 21:45 - Are you gonna try to learn the language? 21:46 - Even now I'm trying to learn Tetum, 21:48 and I've got some stuff I learning online. 21:50 So Deak Lae is how are you? 21:53 and your response would be Deak. 21:55 - Deak. 21:56 That sounds simple. 21:56 - Deak Lae. 21:57 - Deak. 21:58 - Good. 21:59 - Perfect. 22:00 - All right. 22:01 - Congratulations. 22:02 (laughter) 22:03 - All right so towards the weekend though, 22:05 the numbers started really climbing. 22:06 I think day and Friday, 22:08 we had like a hundred, 150 people, 22:11 but Sabbath, I think pretty much a third 22:13 of the entire church membership 22:15 of the entire island showed up. 22:17 - Yeah, the church was full on Sabbath, 22:19 it was beautiful to see everyone there. 22:20 - Yeah. 22:21 It was so powerful and people just really drinking it in, 22:24 just loving it, every single presentation. 22:27 The music to me throughout the week, 22:29 got stronger and more spiritual 22:31 and more, you know, convicted 22:33 that you could just see people's hearts were being moved. 22:35 And I just love being in a place 22:37 where God's word is preached 22:39 by a number of different people. 22:41 And we don't plan ahead of time, 22:43 but it seems like all of our sermons, 22:44 all of our presentations, 22:45 just sink into place and they just fall, 22:48 you know, they just have this unity 22:50 that makes an overall strong direct impression. 22:53 - Yeah well the spirit definitely led. 22:54 - Yeah 22:56 - yeah. 22:57 - Yeah, God expands the expands the theme 22:59 throughout by, you know, 23:00 this sermon touches on this part of it 23:02 and this sermon touches on the next part of it, 23:04 and it just all meshes together nicely. 23:07 Yeah. 23:09 (congregation singing) 23:32 - And here's a shot of you actually preaching. 23:34 And do you remember what you were thinking, 23:36 while you were feeling while you were preaching there? 23:38 Well I just had a heart for the people. 23:39 I mean they're such special people 23:41 and I just wanted them to experience the power 23:44 and the love of Jesus in their life 23:45 and to just have a deeper walk with them. 23:48 - Yeah. 23:49 - They're such sweet people, fell in love with him. 23:50 - That's awesome. 23:51 And looks like you met a family there. 23:53 - This family here, we met together 23:56 and we had prayer for this couple. 23:59 They were, he was not an Adventist and I believe she was, 24:02 and he was struggling with some things in his life. 24:04 I think he had some addictions 24:06 and they asked that we pray with them, 24:08 and this man in the blue shirt, Ane, 24:10 was good friends and had been studying with these folks. 24:13 And so we went over there to have prayer with them. 24:15 So they'd come to the meetings, he not being an Adventist. 24:17 It was beautiful, so we had prayer 24:18 and ask God's power in their life. 24:19 - Nice. 24:20 - That's awesome. 24:21 Coming to the very last day, it's was a Sunday, 24:22 I dunno if you remember. 24:24 We all got that around in circle and people just shared. 24:28 - It was painful. 24:29 Actually I remember people weeping 24:30 in our time of prayer. 24:31 - Yeah, the ground was wet, 24:34 I remember you guys sharing that story 24:36 of how it was just, they were weeping 24:38 and the whole ground was wet under where they were praying. 24:41 - Yeah, yeah. 24:43 And they just shared their responses, 24:45 you know, responses to the weeks. 24:48 We've never done this before 24:49 where people just have a chance to share 24:52 what they have learned during the week. 24:53 And it was amazing, it was powerful. 24:56 I left on such a high, took me several days to calm down. 25:00 Actually it was just so spiritually intense and high 25:03 and such a wonderful experience. 25:06 And then at the very end of Faith Camp, 25:07 we all gathered in a big circle, 25:10 held hands and sang side by side, we stand. 25:13 And then we all of course got the obligatory final photo. 25:17 (chuckles) 25:19 - John that was a beautiful time 25:21 as we finished up together there. 25:23 And you were on a spiritual high 25:25 and my heart was just broken. 25:26 I mean I felt like I would never see these people again, 25:28 I wouldn't be until heaven, you know. 25:29 And you've been places, 25:31 you know, that you'll never see them again 25:33 and that's it. 25:34 And so that's the way it is on this earth, 25:38 but we have heaven to look forward to it 25:39 where we can be together and what a joyous day that will be. 25:42 - Yeah and now that you get a chance to go back. 25:44 - I can't wait to see them again. 25:46 - Yeah. 25:46 - Looking forward to that. 25:48 - What a privilege. 25:48 - Yeah. 25:49 - Yeah, and to take Faith with you. 25:51 - Oh yeah, Faith is going to love the people there. 25:54 - And they will love her too. 25:55 - Well "Jesus for Asia" and Timor-Leste 25:57 has had a good relationship ever since Faith Camp, 25:59 because pastor House has been working 26:02 on raising awareness and raising funds to do these projects, 26:05 to grow the school system throughout Timor-Leste 26:08 so that more people have a chance to learn about Christ 26:10 and keep the Sabbath. 26:12 And so we have been taking donations 26:15 through "Jesus for Asia", for Timor-Leste. 26:18 We don't take any money out of what comes in, 26:21 a hundred percent of it goes to Timor-Leste, 26:23 just because it's God's work. 26:26 - We all wanna see it go forward., yeah. 26:27 - Absolutely. 26:29 So I hope that we can continue the same thing 26:30 as you become the leader there of the church. 26:33 - Amen yeah. 26:34 (chuckles) 26:37 - Thank you for what you do here at "Jesus for Asia" 26:38 to make such a difference around the world 26:40 and Timor-Leste is a place that has a lot of need 26:44 and the work that is done there 26:46 is making such a huge difference. 26:48 - Amen. 26:49 - They're just drinking it in. 26:50 - So praise the lord. 26:51 - Big channels of light. 26:52 - Such a neat thing to be a part of. 26:54 - Definitely. 26:55 We're gonna continue to pray for you. 26:56 - Thank you. 26:58 - And keep in touch as you go over there, 26:59 and hopefully we can come and visit sometimes. 27:00 - Hopefully we'll have a Faith Camp soon. 27:02 - There we go, that'd be nice. 27:03 Yeah. 27:04 - I would like to go this time. 27:06 - Yeah I would like you to go this time, definitely. 27:09 - Well, pastor Chris, 27:11 I wanna thank you so much for coming and sharing the stories 27:13 from the trip there and what's going to happen, 27:16 and we're excited, 27:17 and we're gonna be praying for you and Faith as you go. 27:21 And we'll just, we'll just keep in touch, 27:23 we wanna hear the stories of what God is doing there. 27:26 - Amen, Well thanks for having me here today. 27:27 - Hopefully when you come back to visit, 27:28 cause I have a feeling, 27:30 some of your daughters don't get to go with you. 27:32 - That's right, yeah we'll be back to visit, yeah. 27:33 - Yeah. 27:35 So maybe we can grab a moment and sit down and catch up. 27:37 - For sure. 27:38 - And record for our viewers' sake 27:39 some of the things that God's doing there. 27:41 - Amen. 27:41 - All right that'd be great. 27:43 And I would like to invite you to be a part of praying 27:46 for the work in Timor-Leste, 27:47 and if you'd like to be a part of providing for it, 27:50 please contact us at "Jesus for Asia" 27:53 PO Box 1221, 27:54 Collegedale Tennessee, 37315. 27:58 Call us at 423 413-7321. 28:02 Or visit our website at jesusforasia.org. 28:05 May God richly bless you until we see you next time 28:08 on "Jesus for Asia now". 28:11 (dramatic music) |
Revised 2022-03-16