Global Ministries

“…I am a worm and not human; scorned by others and despised by the people.”

Psalm 22:6

Lectionary Selection:  John 10:22-30

Prayers for East Timor:  

Good and gracious Shepherd, we have heard your voice and your invitation to follow. From day to day, in many and diverse ways, you walk alongside us. You are at work in the rising of the sun and its setting. The intricacies of creation and human relationships show forth your presence with us. And for that, we give you thanks. On this day, we lift up to you the people of Timor-Leste. We pray for the Protestant Church of Timor Leste and especially it’s vital ministry Clinic Immanuel Lospalos. Bless us with your wisdom, patience, and compassion. Guide us that with each person we consult we would see your own face. Amen.

Reflection for Advent IV: December 23, 2018

Luke 1:39-55

Reflection for Advent III, Sunday December 16, 2018

Isaiah 12:1-6; Luke 3:7-18

On Thursday of this week we’ll have 40 – 60 youth arriving at Immanuel Church Lospalos for a Christmas youth event. They’ll be coming from the eastern part of Timor-Leste for three days of fellowship, faith development and fun! This generation of Timorese youth is particularly vulnerable. They are, mostly, born after the independence struggle and are therefore somewhat estranged from the identity-shaping power of that time. They are pulled in two directions: traditional culture with its tight social fabric, and the modern world with its insistence on the autonomy of the individual. They have mediocre opportunities for secondary education and an economy with little in the way of employment possibilities.

Reflection for Advent 2, December 9, 2018

Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6

Walking into the Lospalos hospital, we followed a trail of dried blood drops up the stairs, through a hall and across a dirty tile floor to the emergency room. We don’t do x-rays or casts at Clinic Immanuel so a few of us were taking a kid with a broken arm to the government hospital. My colleague put the child on a dingy examination bed. I stepped over some used gauze lying on the floor to hold him while the nurses put on a temporary splint. He had just fallen while playing on the church compound.

Reflection for Advent 1, December 2, 2018

Psalm 25:1-10; Luke 21:25-36

It’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m walking up a rocky trail to the house of a family of Immanuel Church. As I get closer, I see a huge blackened pot sitting atop a cooking fire. Smoke from the fire wafts in the breeze and drifts off over the top of a barren hill. The mom comes out to tend the fire. She is likely boiling cassava or taro, both staple foods of Timorese. Meanwhile, about a half dozen scantily clad kids run around playing. Dad is down the hill digging up rocks. The soil here is full of them and before you can plant anything you have to extract them. And that only happens one way: with a crowbar and bare hands.

Lospalos, Timor-Leste

The end of the dry season in Timor-Leste feels a little bit like being in a pressure cooker. From about September through November it gets hotter and more humid until usually sometime in mid-November the clouds finally burst, the rainy season starts, and people get busy planting corn.

We had a great morning in the village of Sorolua, a small village about 45 minutes from Lospalos. Two years ago Clinic Immanuel started a partnership with this village to do health education and some consultation visiting the village monthly for a year and then decreasing frequency. Part of the program included a “healthy home” project and building some toilets. Clinic staff worked with the village chief to figure out how to make the village “open defecation free.” Families that were committed to doing the work (which was all of them!) were provided basic materials: sand, cement, rebar, pipe, toilet seat. The families were responsible to do the work and come up with their own walls and roof. Uniting World of Australia provided the funding and Clinic Immanuel worked with the community and facilitated getting the materials there — not always easy during the rainy season!

Lospalos, Timor-Leste

We returned to Lospalos in late September after a good vacation and a month speaking in churches in the U.S. It was refreshing and encouraging for us to connect with so many people interested to learn about what we’re doing in Timor-Leste.

Timor-Leste is facing what seem like insurmountable challenges these days.  I’ll mention three things that touch the daily lives of people here and ask for your prayers.