Dear brothers,
Rejoice in the Lord. We are well thanks to God, and we hope that you are all well and live blissfully. I would like to mention some things about our dministry, here in Indonesia.
1. We are grateful to God for having 8 brothers from the Orthodox Christian Union of Sydney, Australia, present here. Their help is a great blessing for the Orthodox Mission of Indonesia. The fact that we have devout and educated brothers abroad projects our communities positively.
2. Last Christmas we were in our two communities in Sumbul, Sidikalang. The flock welcomed us joyfully. We actually performed the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation for 66 catechumens and 26 weddings.
There, I was approached by some widows who asked me to read them benedictions. However, since there is no specific benediction that caters for their case, I asked from God to give them health, joy and longevity. Those ladies were very happy because our Church prays for the widows as well. Therefore, my brothers, many times throughout this diaconia, we have to improvise in order to deal with some incidents.
At the Christmas celebration, presbytera Elizabeth and some gentlemen from the parish of Saint Demetrios at Medan brought presents for all the faithful of our two communities, which made everyone rejoice.
3. I stayed at Sumbul for a couple of days and I walked around all the surrounding villages. There I found a High School about 2 km away from our community of Saint Ephraim at Sumbul. This school operates with three big buildings and is going to be sold soon. It hasn’t got many students, because from what I was informed, the owner has financial problems, therefore, he does not take good care of the school. That is why he intends to sell it at 45,000 €. Well, my brothers, if possible, please pray for this matter. It will be a great blessing for us if we manage to have an Orthodox School here, so that it can convey faster the message of Orthodoxy in this region.
My brothers, we express our gratitude for your great help and sacrifice, especially for the third installment given for the completion of the construction of our “Theotokos” Hospital at Medan. I believe that 2013 will bring good news for our hospital, because it will be operating properly.
That was all our news for the time being, my brothers. You know we always ask for your prayers. From the Orthodox Mission of Indonesia we send you our warmest regards.
Fr. Chrysostomos Manalu
