Dear Friends of the Mission,
We praise God for your continued support to us; you are always by our side helping us meet our needs, and we are deeply grateful for that. We warmly thank you for the 10,000 euro you sent us. This amount of money was used for buying Father Chariton Zega a truck which will help him and his family earn their living, since, as you know, our priests here in Indonesia do not get a salary. With this money we will also pay the teachers for our schools in Sumbul village.
We have been thinking of writing Orthodox books for years. These books are usually requested by people who want to learn more about Orthodoxy. Until now we have managed to get very few books printed in Indonesian. Now we have 8 books ready for printing, all written by Presbytera Elizabeth and Fr. Chrysostomos Manalu.
The books are:
- Prayer Book. It contains morning prayer, prayers for various needs, instructions on confession, supplications, some troparia and many more.
- Ancient Greek books for the Saint Paul Theological School here in Medan.
- Satan and Exorcisms. Asia, particularly Indonesia, is the land of evil spirits. Presbytera Elizabeth translated the exorcisms, which we read to some people, and by the grace of God they were cured.
- 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Commentary on the first epistles written by Saint Paul.
- Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the last 3 years the Jehovah Witnesses have made huge efforts for their Mission. It is our duty, the duty of the Orthodox Church, to testify that they are not Christians, so as to protect our flock from going the wrong way.
- Orthodox Spirituality.
- Synods and Heretics.
- Introduction to Orthodox Theology.
These are the 8 books that must be printed, so we make an earnest appeal to your kind heart for help. We need your assistance to carry out this great project.
As for our hospital here in Indonesia, things have been really difficult so far. I honestly do not know what to do anymore. I will leave it to the mercy of God, for I am just too tired.
Even though our Theological School is doing well, its graduates are being taken by the Protestants. Unfortunately we do not offer them jobs in our Church. Now we have 3 families whose men want to become priests. They were taught the ecclesiastical things and finished the St. Paul Theological School, but until now they have not yet been ordained as we have been waiting for the blessing of His Eminence to do that.
These are our problems, brothers. Pray that our good God will strengthen us and that Our Lady Theotokos will embrace us.
Wishing in the Lord,
Fr. Chrysostomos Manalu
