You Haven't Eaten...

In English we call it by one word – rice. In Indonesian there are many specific words about this important staple of their diet. In the field it is called sawah. At harvest time you potong padi. Uncooked rice is called beras. Cooked rice - nasi. Indonesian’s say, “You haven’t eaten until you’ve eaten rice.” Because rice is a staple to every meal it’s not uncommon for individual families to purchase large bags of rice as pictured here.

Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life (John 6:35). Perhaps the contextual expression of this verse would be that He is the Rice of Life. When Sumatrans eat rice they will always become hungry again, but the food that Jesus offers satisfies for eternity. The problem with many Sumatrans is they are often satisfied with physical food, and do not feel their need for spiritual nourishment.

Pray for workers to have creativity to communicate the Gospel in culturally relevant ways.

Pray for Sumatrans to hunger and thirst for true righteousness that comes from God.

Pray that Sumatrans will deeply feel their need for spiritual nourishment that exceeds even their need for daily food. (Pray this prayer especially for the Riau area.)

Pray for many Sumatrans to find the Rice of Life so that their deep spiritual needs will be eternally satisfied.

Single Line Fishing

This Aneuk Jamee youth is fishing off a cliff. He had not caught anything, but was hopeful that the fish would start biting soon. Many Sumatrans fish for their livelihood, but even those who don’t often enjoy dropping a line in the water.

Many of the first followers of Jesus were fishermen, and Jesus promised them they would be made to be fishers of men. While fishers of fish often employ nets to catch many fish at once, the fishers of men on Sumatra are finding that mouth to ear sharing of the Good News is more effective than sharing to masses of people.

The problem with mouth to ear sharing is only a few people hear at a time. This is problematic if only a few people are out fishing for souls. If Sumatra is going to be reached with the Gospel, all of the believers need to be trained and encourage to go fishing. With a million lines in the water the chances of reaching the lost becomes much better. When the church works together the body always increases. God has made it a sure principle.

Pray for believers who are fearful to share.

Pray for workers to be faithful to train other believers.

Pray for new believers to be trained and to start sharing the Gospel immediately with their friends and family.

Pray for the Aneuk Jamee to have the opportunity to hear the Good News.

 

Price of Convenience

The main gas outlet in Indonesia is Pertamina. It is a government owned business that subsidizes the cost of gasoline. Just recently they increased the cost of gas per liter by 2,000 Rupiah or about 20 cents. This is a big deal to most Sumatran families. The populace of Indonesia has staged demonstrations every time the government has tried to reduce the subsidy amount for gasoline.

However, people who live in small villages far from big cities often pay extra for gasoline because small stands like this hauls the gas in so that people don’t have to travel to the city to get it. Usually this is done by individual entrepreneurs, but recently the government has opened up mini-gas stations called Pertamini. They did this to reduce problems with the local business people mixing water and palm oil into the gasoline to get more money for the gas they sell.

Rural areas are often cut off from infrastructure and subsidies that are readily available in the urban centers. Getting resources to these isolated areas is a real challenge for Sumatra’s government.

Pray for creativity for government agencies so that more resources can get to remote, rural areas of Sumatra.

Pray for local business people to be honest in dealing with the farmers that they service in remote rural areas.

Pray for economically disadvantaged families on Sumatra to experience better opportunities to better their circumstances.

Pray for the Gospel to be shared in the remote corners of Sumatra.