About a year ago a plan for a Self sustained Boat ministry was launched. After a long time (1 1/2 years) of seeking God’s will about how to start a boat ministry and many brainstorming sessions with lots of people a plan was set into motion. Its not a fast impact ministry but rather a “build it brick by brick” ministry.
The idea is to send 1 or 2 young men to a Dutchman -Adventist friend of mine who operates a Dive resort and a boat building mini factory. We would let them work hands on for 6 months to 2 years until they mastered all the ends and outs of fiberglass boat building and then help set them up in a small business of their own. Then the idea would be that 1 out of 10 boats would be built and given free to the Adventist Church.
The brainstorming goes further. Those donated boats would then be placed in an area where we want to open work along rivers and ocean islands where boats are hired for local people to haul their things to and from market. The driver and operator of the boat will be trained in friendship and conversational evangelism. This driver evangelist would donate 1/10th of his services either in funds or free rides to our Global Pioneer workers along the routes that are within that boat drivers area.
Gerson standing with his first 2 fiberglass Kayaks built for the dive resort guests. Behind him is a large boat/ship that is being built for a client to haul things to and from the resorts.
At last in June of this year our first candidate, Gerson made the 4 day ship journey to the boat building factory to begin learning how to build everything from Kayaks to small ships. When we interviewed Gerson his wife was planning to go with him with their 3 year old son. But then they discovered they were expecting their second child. So as is the custom with many in Indonesia she went to live with her mother during the pregnancy and for the first year while he went to provide an income for his family. Grandma in this culture is expected to greatly assist in a new moms life from mid pregnancy until the end of the first year of the babies life.
A couple of weeks ago I received a message that I needed to pray for Gersons wife. . . she was in labor and things weren’t going well. By the time Gerson arrived the baby was still born. “No!” I shouted to God when I first heard this news. Graciously my Dutch friend who has been paying a salary for Gerson while he learns the business also paid for him to fly to see his wife in this time of grief. I picked Gerson from the airport near by and drove him to some family members home where he would catch the bus for 8 hours to his mother-in-laws village. Clearly Gerson was sad but at the same time was thrilled with the practical skill he is learning.
Our hope is to reunite he and his wife in the same area in the very near future so that the two can be united in Boat Building Ministry together.
Gerson is from a tribe along the Digul River which is the longest river able to be navigated by large ships in Papua. So his knowledge of boats is first hand. He is a hard worker and has served as a Global Pioneer who helped start the Tanah Merah Church. We appreciate Gersons faithfulness even in difficult times. Please, pray for Gerson and his dear wife as we seek to sprout a self sustaining boat ministry that will allow us to travel into some of the more difficult regions of Papua for the sake of the Gospel.
