Indonesia Week Four –
Sentani and the Journey Home
Sunday, April 25, dawned as another beautiful day and with it came a reminder that my time in
Indonesia was quickly coming to a close.
I had several choices of where to join in worship that morning and decided to join the group at Newman Chapel. Alice provided transportation and we picked up Liz on our way as well. There were about 200 Indonesians and expatriates attending the service. I was especially touched by the testimonies and worship: stories of communities changed by the translated Word of God, and Scripture translations that are soon to
be completed and in the hands and hearts of those eagerly waiting. There were also requests for us to pray:
For the people and situation surrounding an Indonesian Christian aid worker who was brutally
killed as he and his team were seeking to respond to a medical epidemic.
For Chris, a young missionary who is struggling with malaria and dengue fever.
For civil unrest that is growing in some areas and affecting the spread of the Gospel.
I was reminded that there are many here who are living and working in challenging, even threatening,
conditions to serve the Lord and bring His life-changing word to people waiting to hear.
Sunday lunch was a great opportunity to fellowship with some families I have gotten to know over the
years I have visited Sentani. It was an afternoon out at Papa Ron’s Pizza place. Lots of good pizza and
stories of their lives and work across this region.
Soon after our pizza outing, it was time to go to the Hillcrest International School campus for the Sunday
evening Wycliffe gathering. That was a special time of fellowship with friends I have known for years and
an opportunity to meet more of those working in this area.
Bright and early Monday, I was back at the YAJASI hangar for the second day of the Field Security Committee training. As this was our last day together for this trip, we had a lot to work through
in the hours we had. One of the highlights of the day was the opportunity to visit a bit with Jefron and Rio. I had heard of these men for several years as they worked their way through flight training. They are now fully qualified as pilots with the YAJASI team
serving the work across Papua, Indonesia.
The Field Security Committee and I continued to work through the 71 risk items we identified on Friday
and then launched into the development of a sample-but-real contingency plan for one of those threats.
Civil unrest is an ongoing threat in this region of the country and has, in the past, been a very serious
problem. We talked through the issues and challenges, what can be done to protect and care for staff
members in the Sentani area and other locations around Papua, and looked intently toward developing
a plan of action, should civil unrest become a significant threat again. 5:00 PM came around amazingly
soon and we closed our time together so I could get back to the guest house and get my bags packed for
my flight leaving in the morning.
Tuesday morning, before I left for the airport, one of the leaders from a local organization sponsoring
some of our Wycliffe staff asked to have some time with me to discuss security issues for his group. I
had met Raemon some years ago and it was good to have some time with him again. I shared with him
some of what I had presented in the sessions for the Crisis Management Team and Field Security
Committee members. He also offered to give me a ride to the airport and I gladly accepted.
I had a lot of time to think through the past three and a half weeks as I waited at the airports in Sentani,
Jakarta, Seoul, and Detroit, and during the many hours on airplanes between those airports.
For those of you who enjoy numbers, my travels covered about 26,000 miles in 11 flights and altogether
added up to 100 hours of travel by roads, at airports and on airplanes. Yes, it was a long journey.
I was thankful to arrive at the Harrisburg airport on time Wednesday afternoon and have Mickey waiting
for me. It is good to be “home” again.
This “journey” may be over, but there is much to follow up on now that I’m back in my office at home. A lot of the training and consulting that I’m doing these days is via the internet. This enables me to reach out to and help many more people than I would be able to if I could only do this in person.
I am very thankful for each of you who have prayed for and encouraged me as you joined me in this
journey. You are each a great blessing to me. I’m looking forward to taking you along on my travels in
the future. I hope you are looking forward to that, too.
Blessings,
Al
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