Dear Friends of Mission,
With God’s help and your prayers, we are well and we hope you are all well, too. I would like to inform you of the progress of our Mission.
It was with a lot of effort, hopes and dreams that we founded the School of St. Paul the Apostle in Medan in 2005. Our goal was to raise the name of the Orthodox Church in faraway Indonesia, which we have achieved. It is a government-recognized higher education institute, which is a great achievement for a Muslim country like Indonesia. We have about 250 students and 21 teachers and staff. From these students we received low tuition fees so that we could pay our staff. However, things have changed dramatically due to Covid-19.
To be honest, the situation we are confronted with is a very difficult one. I have mentioned this problem to our good Shepherd, His Eminence Metropolitan Constantine of Singapore, but we have not been able to find a solution yet. Our parish is still small, as are the other missions. We do not have the ability to carry out the other projects of the Mission. It is a pity to leave our Mission in Indonesia aside in this difficult situation. With your recent help, I was able to alleviate the burden of the expenses of the other priests, who thank you wholeheartedly for that.
Recently, 38 students graduated from our Theological Seminary in Medan. For me personally it was a great joy, because it is like an advertisement to the world that here in Indonesia there is the Orthodox Church and the Theological School. That is, the Orthodox Church participates in improving the people’s behaviour. Thanks be to God! But now I’m tired of fighting/struggling alone because our finances are not good at all. Dear brethren, remember me in your prayers so that God will help me endure and face this bad situation.
I predict that by February 2022 the situation here in our country will not be good at all. Neither churches nor schools are operating now. Please, remember us in your prayers so that we can get through this bad situation.
It is absolutely essential that we can cover our daily expenses; we must definitely do something about it. We are already raising chickens and piglets, as we told you, and God permitting, in January we will make the first sales. We try our best to work in order to secure the future of our Mission in Indonesia, for which we owe so much to you and your Fraternity.
With respect and love of Christ,
Fr. Chrysostomos Manalu
