Carl and Cindy Reed * P.O. Box 3/YKAP * Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55282 * Tel 011-62-274-4987807 * pdtcreed@cs.com * May 2012
Much Needed FUN DAY for Immanuel Christian
University (UKRIM) Students and Faculty
Academic requirements in Indonesian led universities
are very challenging and stressful for students! To give
you an idea, American college students in the US
usually take 14-16 credit hours of study per semester
(4-5 courses). By contrast, Indonesian college students
often take 24 credit hours in a semester (that’s 11-12
different courses with lots of homework for each
course!). Talk about stress!
One big stress reliever for them is the occasional
university-sponsored FUN DAY at some scenic spot
out of town. Arriving in busses they begin with a
worship service, all enthusiastically singing together,
followed by a devotional message.
Later they all sit on the floor eating together before
running around playing lots of fun games. Amazingly
student themselves cook and bring all the food for the
120 students who attended. It’s served on the floor!
In Indonesian culture there’s no need to bring a
bunch of heavy plates, instead you just bring a stack
of special glazed paper sheets, cut in squares. People
then fold the paper into a cone shape and dish their
food into it then eat their food sitting on the floor!
Cindy at Fun Day with Counseling Students
Students eating using “Paper Plates”
Carl’s Seminary Students Fruitful Ministries
Carl’s seminary students continue to reach out with
the Good News bringing many new people into the
Kingdom in their weekend ministries all over Central
Java. Carl is also making some progress in writing
his own final Ph.D. dissertation paper, the last big
hurdle in finishing his doctoral degree, amid his busy
seminary teaching and preaching ministry, including
preaching in seminary and university chapel services!
Carl was just now again asked to teach another
intensive week-long beginning Hebrew course to
graduate students who had never studied Hebrew in
their bachelors programs! It’s humanly impossible to
effectively learn a semester of a foreign language like
Hebrew in a week of intensive study (4-5 hours
every afternoon for a week) but his students work
their heads off. Carl has to be very creative with a of
variety of activities to keep them focused: Hebrew
songs, videos, the works!
Cindy’s Big Upcoming Seminar Presentations
On June 25-28 hundreds of alumni from the
Evangelical Theological Seminary of Indonesia
(ETSI) now serving as pastors and Christian servants
all over Indonesia will be coming to Jogjakarta here
for an annual conference called PATI (Persekutuan
Abdi Tuhan Indonesia) or in English: Fellowship of
Christian Servants for the country of Indonesia. This
years’ theme is Pastoral Counseling (Burn Out? Or
On Fire!). Several well-known counselors in
Indonesia will be giving seminars on various
Christian counseling issues like Crisis and Trauma
Counseling, Counseling in Drug Addiction,
Counseling of Teens. Cindy feels a bit daunted to be
included in this elite group of speakers. Her topic will
be Family Counseling.
Cindy’s other seminar is on July 5-7 with pastors
wives and women from our 100 national churches
located on the Indonesian island of Borneo (West
Kalimantan). They’ve asked her to teach a seminar
about maintaining a healthy family relationships.
Having ministered on the island of Borneo for 2
decades when we first arrived in Indonesia, this will
be a joyful time of Cindy’s reuniting with lots of very
close sisters in Christ.
New Counseling Students Coming Fall Semester
Whoopee! God is answering your prayers to bring
in new students into the Christian Counseling major
for this next Fall semester at Immanuel Christian
University (UKRIM). Cindy is heading up this
bachelors level Christian Counseling major!
Just in the past few days 3-4 potential students have
contacted her from the island of North Sumatra and
Central Borneo. Others are already planning to come
from the island of Sumba where Cindy spent a week
promoting the program in January.
We’ve also sent out 500 counseling brochures
complete with scholarship information to lots of
contacts all over Indonesia! Many high school
students about to graduate, from Java here and
several other islands are considering applying to enter
the program. Our goal is to find at least 20 new
students! The problem is that counseling is still a
rather new and relatively unknown profession in
Indonesia. But God is already at work! Thanks for
praying!
Changes in our Neighborhood! We Can Now See
Mt. Merapi Volcano from Our House!
Just now land developers are starting to build
several new housing developments in our immediate
neighborhood, necessitating their cutting down the
big trees which formerly blocked our view of the
active volcano, Mt. Merapi, located 20 miles north of
us. Now it’s quite visible from our upstairs back
porch. Fun!
Reed Kids Coming to Phillippines and Indonesia
Our daughter, Christy (a Ph.D. student in Winnipeg,
Canada) will soon fly out to Phillippines to be a
translator for Indonesians attending an international
conference there, being presented in the English
language. Because Christy is bi-lingual, speaking
both Indonesian and English since childhood, her
former mission, MCC, has asked her to come as a
translator for Indonesians attending who aren’t fluent
in English. After that conference she will come to
Indonesia for several weeks to help some former
MCC co-workers. She’ll also be spending a few days
here and there with us here in Jogjakarta.
Our son, Colin, and his wife, Kelly (both engineers
in Iowa) are planning a mission trip to Indonesia in
early September. They’ll be spending a week on the
Indonesian island of Borneo where Colin grew up.
Colin will be fixing lots of hospital machines and
electrical equipment at Bethesda Mission Hospital
there where his parents met each other back in 1976!
Kelly will be helping with lots of other things
needing to be done at the hospital. The second week
of their trip here they’ll be visiting us here in
Jogjakarta. We’re delighted both sets of kids are
coming home to see us! Whoopee!
Topics for Praise and Prayer
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Praise God that Carl has time now to really focus on writing his Ph.D. final dissertation paper. Pray that he
can finally get this written!
Pray for Carl’s seminary students weekend ministries that God will mightily work through them!
Praise God for the New Counseling students already interested in coming to study at UKRIM University
this next Fall semester!
Pray that at least 20 new Christian Counseling students will come to begin study at UKRIM University this
Fall Semester
Pray the God would speak through Cindy as she presents on Family Counseling issues in 2 large seminars
attended by Indonesian Christian servants on June 25-28 and July 5-7.
Pray for our kids, Christy, Colin and his wife Kelly, as they travel all over the globe on mission trips,
including Philippines and Indonesia, this Summer and Fall
Thanks for partnering with us to reach Indonesian with the Good News.
His Blessings, Carl and Cindy Reed