The island of Nias is located to the west of Sumatra Indonesia. 10 years ago, a great tsunami passed through and swept all the coastline and its inhabitants. Over 350,000 died then and some were not even found. For years now, their family members have been searching everywhere and they can’t find them. In this situation, the steps of the Orthodox Mission led me there 10 years ago. A simple Orthodox priest from far away Australia, Fr. Nicholas Marketos, visited the island. I followed him. Once there, Fr. Nicholas saw the devastation, raised his hands to heaven and asked the Lord’s blessing to do something on the devastated island.
He finally took the decision and established a school and a clinic next door. Initially, there were 25 students, but over time they grew to 170. Then the St. Nicholas Church was built, followed by St. Catherine’s Church. Finally, in 2011, with a donation from an anonymous donor through the Orthodox Foreign Missionary Brotherhood, we were able to build the third Holy Church of Saints Paul and Martha to meet the needs of our faithful. We thank you wholeheartedly for this great help. A year ago, the Ven. A year ago, one year ago, the Bishop of Singapore, Constantine, ordained a deacon on the island. In addition to the three parishes where he serves, he is also the principal of our St. Nicholas School. This deacon is Fr. Chariton Zega, who is newly married and has a baby girl. I pray to Almighty God that he will also become a priest, so that he can serve there with all the necessary rites. With all this good news, we also have the anxiety of how to increase our missionary work. Fr. Chariton resides with his family in a room in the school. Of course, it is not a suitable place to stay, but what can we do? Everything here at our new mission is limited. Initially I thought of building a suitable house so that he can stay later when his family grows up. Therefore, I pray that God will send us a donor to give us 25,000 euros for this purpose.
Then, the numbers of students grow. This is good, but it also adds to our burden, because we have no space to accommodate these children. Therefore, we are planning to build at least two classrooms. If this happens, everyone on the island will be happy, because the children will be able to attend classes close to their home area. That, my dear brothers and sisters, is our news. I hope that the Almighty God will enrich you with His riches. With many blessings,
π. Chrysostomos Manalu
