Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, With God’s help we are well. During my stay on the island of Nias at the end of May, I invited Father Chariton to join me and we discussed how the works of our Orthodox Church can go forward on this island, where we have 3 communities and an Orthodox school. In charge of all 3 communities is Fr. Chariton who, in order to operate in all 3 communities, uses a used motorcycle as a means of transportation. During the weekdays Father Chariton is a teacher at the High School of Agios Nikolaos. With the school’s income, he can barely pay the teachers and employees and very little is left over for gasoline. Be aware that on the island of Nias there are bananas and coconuts everywhere, sold in the villages at exorbitant prices. Father Chariton intends to buy them from the villages and take them to the centre of the town, to sell them there, where they fetch good prices, so that with the income generated he can carry out his ministry. For this purpose, he needs a used car for transportation and money to buy the fruit. So, I take the liberty of informing you about this project, in case some donors are able to support him, because as we know our priests here in Indonesia work without a salary.
From 20 to 25 June we held our clergy assembly in Sumatra, Indonesia. Representatives from all our communities came to the city of Medan. We were very happy because we had the opportunity to get together again. Among them were our priests, Fr. Theodosius, Fr. Luke, Fr. Chariton. On Sunday, at the closing of the Assembly, we all the priests celebrated Mass in the Church of St. Demetrios Medan. Thank you very much for the 4,000 euros you sent us for the realization of this Assembly. Our faithful received much strength and direction for the continuation of the mission in this region. As you know, our mission operates a few schools: Agia Sophia, Agios Nikitas, Agios Nikolaos, Apostolos Pavlos… The poorest is our school “St. John the Baptist” in Subul, which is not financially self-sufficient because it is new and has only been operating for 4 years. In the 3 classes of the high school we have only 45 students. Because it is a village and the people are very poor, we have set the school fees at just 2.50 euros. But 110 euros cannot cover the salaries of ten teachers, a guard and a cleaner. The new year started in July. Please, if you are able, help us in this matter. Many greetings to all of you from my colleagues here in Indonesia. With many best wishes,
π. Chrysostomos Manalu
