International Mission Partnership

Some of the words in this blog post have intentionally been altered due to the sensitivity of the situation in the country.

Swaying palm trees, colorful sunsets, lush tropical greenery, ancient ruins, and cascading waterfalls - a Southeast Asian adventure. Jill and I were starring in a tourism promotion video for a province of Central Sum@ter@. The setting was exotic. The schedule was packed. We were living the life. After a full day snapping pictures of the beautiful scenery, sampling local delicacies, and touring a centuries-old Buddhist temple, we were exhausted. Our whirlwind trip had nearly come to an end. Now for the long ride back to the airport.

As the world outside sped past the window of our little Toyota van, I began to reflect on exactly what I was seeing. Numerous small houses, soccer fields, and minimarkets – people bustling here and there – life following the status quo. I began to come to grips with the fact that there are very few, if any, Christians in this vast area. I was struck with the hopelessness of what I saw. I was heartbroken by the immensity of the task Jesus put before us in the Great Commission. Tears came to my eyes and I embraced an important perspective shift, catching a glimpse of God’s heart for the nations. 
  

In John 4:35, Jesus tells His disciples, Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest?’ Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for the harvest.

Our family are M-workers with an organization called Beth@ny G@teways. We have lived and served in Ind0nesi@ for the past 11-years, which have flown by! Jill and I lead a team that is focused on making discs and planting house chchs among the unreached. We use business and informal neighborhood English programs to build relationships, seek out persons of peace, and start exploratory Bble studies in the communities where we live, work and play. 
 
We are very excited to begin this M partnership with Faith! It was a blessing to be able to share a little about our work with you in worship a few weeks ago. May God bless our partnership in bringing the good news to those who have not yet had the chance to hear in Ind0nesi@! May we, together, see Him made famous in the islands!

Blessed to be on the M journey with you, and talk to you soon,

Corey, Jill, and Family

Pine Ridge Day 3

Well, we are on the road heading back. Looking forward to being home but going to miss the relationships.
Even with the cold weather we still completed all the projects. More projects completed include:
Candy Red Cloud – bathroom – completed
Warrior Center Ceiling – completed

Verdel Home – new project – several repairs to make it livable – completed – Verdel is in the rehabilitation program but his girlfriend and daughter were being persecuted by her family and she was being kicked out of her grandmother’s home. Verdel was looking at leaving the program so we helped him get his girlfriend into his tribal home.

Warrior Center Electrical – Completed – Here the team is supervising Bob putting in a generator bypass circuit. Bob had to spend a lot of time in the cold weather.

Welding Garage – new door – completed
Travis made us prison tacos for lunch yesterday. Travis said that they would make this in prison as the cafeteria food was so bad. Basically, it is made from chips(mix of different kinds that are available), roman noodles, cheese, and meat. We had ground beef but in prison, they use summer sausage. The mixture is put into the chip bags, crunched up, and then you add hot water. This is then put on a burrito. They can’t cook in prison.

Travis is in some videos that are very good to see. They tell his testimony and give you a very good look at what life on the reservation is really like. HIGHLY recommend seeing these videos:
Dakota: The Story of the Lakota
Broken Hearts Healed by Travis Lone Hill
There is another video on Amazon Prime that provides a very good history of the Pine Ridge Reservation called the 7th Generation

On the last day we have awards:
o Clyde – Tortoise – he was a steady worker and completed his projects with detailed perfection
o Erich – Boot – he jumped in where needed and found solutions
o Bob – Buffalo – many times he was working by himself and attacked problems that were difficult to solve.
o Scott – Butterfly – he was always fluttering around giving advice to everyone, but we don’t have any pictures of him doing actual work.

We are bringing back a bunch of wood crosses that the Lakota men made in the workshop. We will have them on display at the October 27 services.
It was a great trip. We engaged with many Lakota men and families and we are praying we left them with the love of Jesus and a new hope to be a light in their community.