CMO X – House of Love & Grace

5-8th of AUGUST 2012

It was trully an amazing trip. I would not even realize the impact of CHURCH MAKEOVER X if I didn’t see it first hand. Having made over some number of Churches, I always believe we are bringing in or being messanger of somone’s miracle. I knew about it, but this one is very special indeed.. Let me tell you a story..

Uetuwu is not even yet a village. From what I know, a village would be the smallest form of a community that consist of some group of people that is smaller than a town. But what is smaller than a village? In Indonesian it is called ‘dusun’ or subvillage. Therefore we can call it dusun Uetuwu. It is located within Salubiro Village in Morowali regency, Central Sulawesi. If we fly with a helicopter from Palu, it takes about 1.5hrs. With an average speed of 120km/hour than it would be around 240 km from Palu or if we drive it will be around 3,000km from Jakarta!!

5th of August. Leaving Jakarta to Palu, in our team we have Ps. Daniel Hendrata, Brian Hendrata and Samuel Katiandagho. We were bringing in together with us 5pieces of bags and another 4 boxes of goodie bags and some supplies that we wil need during our stay in Uetuwu.

The total journey was about 4.5 hours including 45. Minutes transit in Ujung Pandang.  Upon our arrival in Palu, we stayed for a night before embarking to Uetuwu by air in the early morning.

6th of August 2012. By 6:45am we were ready at the helicopter hangar. We saw how Justin, our helicopter pilot was still going through his final requirement checklist before flying. After one by one being weigh, we found out that we exceeded 38 kgs out of 350kgs total weight capacity for both passengers and cargo. After quite a long discussion, finally Justin decided to put less fuel in the helicopter so we could bring in all that we brought, but we will need to stop for fueling along the way. I thought it was just a brilliant call!!

Flying by helicopter always bring its own excitement! PK-HCO was the call sign of our helicopter; it only has a very small fuselage and even more compact than a compact car. During our flight, I found out that it was produced in 1973. Wow, it’s even older than me, I exclaimed! It was a pleasant ride with a clear sky. I could see the trees below are just like broccolis. We stop by in a village about 12 minutes from Uetuwu for refueling. This is amazing, because later on I found out that if we want to walk to the refueling location, it will take about 7 to 10 hours. That’s the beauty of having this air transportation.  Another reason to praise the Lord for technology!!

Upon arrival, the students greeted us by singing some songs. This was amazing because the already have a theme song mentioning Pondok Kasih Anugrah! Then we inspected the Pondok Kasih Anugrah (House of Love and Grace). Basically we need to remember that Uetuwu is located in the middle of nowhere. The closest “civilization” where people would shop for groceries is at Lemowalia. Thats about 8 to 12 hours walking. Why 8 and why 12. For the local people who are well trained to walk though the “unmarked” road of forest, going ups and downs the hill that would take about 8 hours. But for the urban people who used to walk in the malls and treadmills would take about 12 hours.

So, looking at the situation, whereby there is a 15×12 meter 2 stories cottage with a concrete foundation and white ceramic tiles on the first floor would be very awesome!

3 rooms, 2 bathrooms and a multifunction room on the first floor. 7 rooms and a big voyeur where the children will be able to play, study and read bible together. The walls are made of the woods that was chop down from the local forest, rocks and sands that were queried from the nearby rivers by all of the 6 teachers, students and parents. Where as the cements, zinc roofs and other materials that were flown in by helicopters and built by much faith, hope and love of God and the donators. Imagine that!! I felt warmly welcome in the house who soon to be the homes of almost 40 children. This is the most beautiful and biggest building yet in the radius of 10 hours walking!

Another interesting thing was during the inauguration. The mayor of the regency and the head of the local people’s representative decided to come. If it were not because of the favor of the Lord, then it would never happen. Basically the government recognizes the existence of this home and they also believe that this house will be able to change the future of the local people. The mayor also stressed out that because of the singing talents, he also wants to believe that some of these children may win some singing contest. What an encouragement!

In the evening we had a crusade and about 400 people came to attend the meeting. The multi function room can only hold about 120 people, then many of were seated outside of the house. In the sermon, Ps. Daniel preached from John 1:1-5 about the existence of God is from the beginning. He made everything and darkness shall not be able to hold the light of God. Now God has come and offer salvation through Jesus Christ; therefore if we received Him then we will obtain salvation and eternal life and hell shall not be able to hold us back.  Praise the Lord, out of 400 who came to attend the meeting, about 80 people gave their life to Jesus! Hallelujah.

Truly this is a different project than what Anugrah usually handles. This is a long term project that will require great vision, endurance and strong motivated team who will not give up in the middle of the way. Therefore if you are called to be blessing to this kind of unreached group of people, then this is the right place for you. The harvest is already white, but there is not enough people to ripe it. Will you say like Isaiah say…, “Here I am Lord, send me…”

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This post is also available in: Indonesian