Word Basics book distribution project in Indonesia

Carl M. Arnold

We wanted to extend a special thank you to Activated Ministries for donating the cost of 1,000 “Word Basics” Books to be distributed free of cost in Indonesia. The Indonesian version of these books is translated “Dasar Firman”. This is a topical reference book to the Bible. This has been an ongoing project for over a year now since first receiving the funding for these books. Although most of the sponsored books have been given away we still have a small amount left to distribute.

50 books to Flores
Our first team designated for the distribution of these books went to the island of Flores, a beautiful and remote island in the eastern part of Indonesia which is predominately Catholic. While in Flores with the book project we also distributed a large amount of donated school supplies to schools and orphanages there, as well as 50 copies of the “Dasar Firman” books. This was a wonderful answer to prayer to not only provide a physical need but to help strengthen their faith and be an encouragement to them.

Our trip took us to Ruteng, the regional capital located in a picturesque mountain town where we stayed at the invitation of a friend. Most of the books were given to Pastor Alfons, the region’s main church overseer and supervisor of the junior pastors. He received the books enthusiastically, commenting that it was just what they needed and would be a big help as a study aid to the Bible college students and junior pastors.

Some of the books were given to the Mother Superior from a local Catholic school for underprivileged children who will be using them for the benefit of the students and teachers. Apart from the 50 books we distributed over 1,200 posters and prayed with over 350 individuals to receive Jesus in their hearts! We also gave sponsored educational VCD sets to two schools and an orphanage.

80 books to Ambon
A good friend of ours in Jakarta who had been visiting one of our centers regularly had just started working in Ambon. He asked us if he could have some of the books to distribute to students in Ambon. He distributed 80 books on two separate trips.

41 books to Manado
During the month of December we had a team go to Manado, a city at the far northern end of the island of Sulawesi, where we stayed with friends who helped us distribute 41 books. Manado is another of the predominately Christian areas in Indonesia.

100 books to Jakarta
100 books were distributed to a Christian Orphanage in Jakarta. Most of the orphans are from the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. These children lost their parents during the recent unrest there in Maluku and were sent to this Christian Orphanage in Jakarta.

500 books to Ambon and Seram
At the end of January a two man team traveled to the Maluku islands for a two-fold mission. Our main focus was to distribute the “Dasar Firman” book, and to take medical supplies to a clinic on the island of Seram. We also used this as an opportunity to survey the situation for the prospect of becoming a Family Care Indonesia project.

We flew from Jakarta to the city of Ambon where we were met by a close friend. We were unable to ship the books ahead of time so the 11 boxes of 500 books and medical supplies were sent as personal baggage. Needless to say we were well over our weight allowance of 181 Kg. By a miracle, the airlines gave us a 50% discount on all our overweight which made it possible to take all the boxes with us. This being a Christian based book we decided to distribute them in Ambon. Our friends in Ambon had arranged for the distribution of some of the books to various churches who were more than happy to receive the books free of charge.

After a few days in Ambon, Dr. Yan, who we had known from Bandung, came to take us to visit the clinic where he is practicing in Taniwel, Seram, the largest of the Maluku islands. Dr. Yan has assisted on projects in the past before moving to Seram as a medical doctor. We have been trying for some time to re-establish contact with Dr. Yan. Upon learning of his work in this very remote area of Indonesia we felt that his efforts would make a worthwhile project to support. Once our journey to Taniwel began it took us about 12 hours to travel from Ambon to Seram Island which included a 1 ½ hour ferry ride from one island to the other. Our team was amazed by the natural beauty of the area, the crystal clear ocean waters and lush jungle vegetation as they traveled the rough roads in an ambulance provided by the clinic. They took the donated medical supplies consisting of midwife kits and 150 of the sponsored “Dasar Firman” books.

A few of the midwife kits and some of the books were given to the main clinic and then we were off to the villages of Buria and Riring-Rumah Soal. Buria is about an hour drive down a small pot-holed road, and then it is another two hour hike up the mountains to Riring-Rumah Soal where there was only a walking path. We distributed the remaining books in these two villages and the rest of the midwife kits to the sub-clinic in Riring-Rumah Soal. We were so thankful for this opportunity to reach out to the people in this remote area and experience a small taste of what their lives are like.

One of our friends in Jakarta was so moved when hearing about this trip and the conditions in the area that he pledged to help with a donation to purchase a small generator for the clinic in Taniwel. Before leaving Ambon we were able to purchase the generator so that Dr. Yan could take it back with him to the main clinic. With a generator the clinic will have electricity in the day time and be able to run other equipment that is needed, and the cooling unit for the special medical supplies that need refrigeration.

In Conclusion
This makes a total of 771 books distributed thus far with a remainder of 229 books. The remaining books will be distributed by future road teams to these and other remote areas of Indonesia.