Article and video submitted by Yaya Bone, Field Coordinator in SE Asia
Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. Psalm 66:5
I have written this as my testimony from the trip to Kalimantan and to proclaim the great and faithful God we have, that He was with us, guiding our every step we took. Who are without Him? It is Him who sent us, working through us to do His will. It is His love that we will boast upon for the accomplishment of our mission. We thank you for all the prayers that had been lifted up for us during the trip.
Four of us were in the Kalimantan Touring Ministry trip. We left Semarang on the night of October 28th, riding 4 motorcycles to the Semarang harbor and took a ferry to Pontianak. We took 54 hours to cross the sea. It was rather a very long and boring time. Wherever we could rest our bodies, there were bed bugs and some other insects we couldn’t even identify. Though in the midst of all that, our hearts were rejoicing that God was with us. There were some thirsty souls on board and we trust that God had brought us. Ignoring the bed bugs that kept feasting on us, we shared some of the wonderful news to those who were very enthusiastic about having conversation with us.
At last we arrived in Pontianak and we purchased 2 new motorcycles from the dealer in Ngabang for two missionaries. Two of these locations are far from Ngabang. It takes 4 hours by motorcycle and it will take one full day by foot. Many missionaries were discouraged to live in such remote areas, far from everything as the facilities of road is very minimum. It’s a rough area with only small road and difficult terrains.
Our trip was delayed due to the rain. We stopped for a little to wait for the rain to stop but the rain continued pouring down so we decided to go on our trip in the rain. We arrived in Meliau at the end of the day safely. Still it wasn’t time for us to rest yet because immediately we were invited to a night fellowship over at the small island in the middle of the river of Kapuas.The road condition to reach the village of Keramas was quite difficult. Other than the unpaved road, this road is very slippery, wet and muddy. But God’s grace is always sufficient for us as we made it safe to the village after 15 minutes crossing the river with a small boat. The people were full of joy welcoming us because we came from far away to have fellowship with them. They asked me to lead the fellowship and the message that night was taken from Romans 1:16 about the Gospel is the power of God.
After the word of God was shared, we prayed for those who are sick and struggling with different issues in life. There was this young man who has been under a demon possessed spirit. The mother had told us that he was struggling over this for almost a year. They had sent this young man to different people to pray for him, they had taken him even to the witch doctor which is very contradiction with what we believe. The fact is many of these people still believe in the power of witch doctor instead of the medical doctor. This is very wrong according to the word of God because this type of disturbed soul is often because of demonic spirit and only can be healed with the power of Jesus’s blood that He had shed for us at the cross. I led this young man with the word of God and prayed with him to drive the spirit out of him. I led him to invite Jesus to come to his heart and I believe in my heart that his spirit is now free from the demonic spirit and replaced by the Holy Spirit. To God is the glory.
The next one was a middle aged man who had been intimidated by the adversary through dreams where he could see many horrific things that are very unreal and scary and it has been going on for quite a while. I believe this is the way of the adversary to get control over us by planting some things in our mind through anything that will rob our joy and peace in our lives even though we are the child of God. After a session of reading the Word of God and prayed, I explained to him that it is not enough for us to just believe in God but we have to accept Jesus, and invite Him to live in our hearts (Rev 3:20) God also requires our submission to Him in all things, our obedience to do His will.
The trip to Suakmansi and Tanjung Iman was quite difficult and very challenging. The road was slippery and very steep and there was a river to cross. It took a lot of courage to cross the river of Kapuas. A huge river in Kalimantan about 600 meters wide and 80 meters deep and the only choice we had to cross the river is one small boat with a 2PK engine. On top of that, I had to sit on the motorcycle while we crossed the river. It was rather eerie, thinking about how deep the water was and it concerned me a little, for I have learned that there were accidents where people lost their motorcycle while crossing though I can’t be sure about the casualties. Then I remembered that I wasn’t there for leisure but to bring the good news of the Lord to people and I was confident that I was safe in the arms of Jesus. He will deliver us across the river.
On the way out to Sampit, the rain was coming down pretty hard and it was late in the day so we decided to spend the night in the small town of Sandae in West Kalimantan. The next day we continued our road trip to Sampit. Thank the Lord for guiding us throughout the long and difficult trip to Sampit. Turned out it was a blessing that the rain had us stop to spend the night. If we would have forced ourselves to continue our trip the night before, there was no way we could have made it and find a place to stay for the night. We might had to put up our tent in the middle of nowhere at night in a place we didn’t even know. We discovered that the road to Sampit is mostly unpaved, ups and downs with very steep hills. We could even say it as riding on the dry river bed full of rocks and fits real good for an off road motor trails. Tens and tens of kilometers riding, there were no house or people around, imagine if we would have traveled at night time. We can never be thankful enough for God is good; He was with us all the time. If it was not because of Him, we wouldn’t have made it. The journey was tough, rough and very intimidating compared with other trips. I couldn’t even find an exact word for. But the tremendous amount of peace and joy in our hearts not to mention the stamina we had to do the trip, we deeply believe and trust it was all because God’s will is with us. It wasn’t just the distance that concerns most travelers but the terrain is a great challenge. It took us 12 hours to reach Sampit from Sandae. We made it safe at 8 pm local time. And I remember I lifted up a prayer after finding out the information about how far we were, I said “God please be with us for this trip isn’t getting easier”. And He was there with us, all the way, all the time. Neither I nor my son Darma was familiar with the town of Sampit but we trusted the Lord will provide us with whatever we needed. As soon as we arrived in Sampit, upon seeing us riding our ‘big’ motorcycle in, there was a man who came to meet us and invited us to the house of his friend who is a big fan of ‘big bike’. We got to rest a little and had a hot drink and some snacks. He also took time to show us one of the hotels.
We stayed at the village of Mintin one day and two nights. While we were there, there was another family who was the Durian orchard keeper not far from PPMT. We had a great fellowship with the family and they shared with us their burden. That morning we prayed over the family from that little hut in the middle of the durian orchard and asked the Lord to bless the family.
Again and again the Lord shows us His mercy and his love, as it is never ends. As the Isaiah 26:12 says LORD, You will establish peace for us, since You have also performed for us all our works. Glory to God in the most high, our Savior, the Alpha and Omega.