As regular readers of this blog and people following me on social media will know, I recently led a team of 12 on a mission trip to Kupang, West Timor. The team consisted of myself, my wife, our four children, and another six members from our local church community.

We had some great experiences in West Timor, and spent time at the New Hope Home, Elpida School, and travelled to a remote mission post to start building a school.

We are currently fund-raising for a roof over the concrete soccer pitch at Elpida School. The soccer pitch is used for a wide variety of community events, from weddings to soccer competitions, and a roof will keep the sun off, and allow for a wider use of the facility. (I also visited West Timor in 2014 as part of another Wings To Work trip, and was involved in pouring the concrete soccer pitch.)

If you are interested in donating some funds towards the New Hope Home or the roof for the Elpida soccer pitch, please contact me for more information.

I hope to post some more photos of our experiences in West Timor on my blog in the coming weeks. See below for a video of our trip, as well as an article about our trip that two team members, Dani and Trish, wrote for a local mission publication. As their article provides a great overview of our trip, I'm publishing it here too (with their permission).



Here is a short video of some of the highlights of our trip, put together by my oldest son:




Friday the 8th of April marked the beginning of our eight day adventure, we were leaving for Timor! A two hour flight delay failed to dampen the spirits of the twelve members of the 2016 Wings to Work team! Our purpose? To show Christian love and fellowship to our brothers and sisters in Christ living in Kupang, West Timor, Indonesia. Though each of us boarded the plane ready to make a difference in a country so different to our own, we found that we all walked away feeling more humbled, blessed and strengthened than we could have ever imagined. Every new day was filled with an incredible display of God's power, grace and love.

Possibly the most diverse to ever embark on this trip, the team consisted of Pak Martin Pot, along with Ma Ruth and their four children Ashley, Michelle, Nicholas and Samantha, Tenieka Bosveld, Aliesha Swarts, Fayliesha Spyker, Jack den Boer, Trisha Huizenga and Danielle Sibum. Though unsure of what new experiences the next week would bring, we were all eager and ready to tackle them head-on.

first trip in the truck

We were welcomed at the airport by Ed and Femmy Dethan and their four children, Moses, Grace, Micah and Sam. Initiation into Timor life involved intense heat, excessive luggage and a tiny pick-up truck that certainly raised a few eyebrows. Despite our initial hesitation, we soon found that with a bit of effort and real-life tetris, up to 24 large pieces of luggage and 12 people could fit inside! We felt like royalty as we made our way to the homestay with countless locals trying to capture glimpses, photos and videos of a truck full of white blonde-haired and blue-eyed travellers.

After settling into our home for the week, a wonderful afternoon was spent at the New Hope orphanage, enjoying activities and getting to know the children. It was somewhat overwhelming to be exposed to such a different way of living, and it really struck home how content and happy the children were with so little.

While the men played mechanics with Ed's car, the rest of the team's creativity was tested in organising a fun afternoon of activities with very little play equipment. Having only one battered soccer ball meant playing lots of soccer, singing, hopscotch drawn in the sand and using coconut husks to reinvent typical ball games. Most of us had never anticipated developing such strong relationships with the children so quickly and we left with high expectations for the week ahead. Grace told us that night that one of the children had asked her, "Why couldn't God make the days longer so they can stay and play with us?"

With the first church service starting at 7:30am, we awoke early with the help of several neighbouring roosters, barking dogs, church bells and screaming children. Not your usual alarm but effective none-the-less! The pick-up truck took a day's luggage and 16 people dressed in their Sunday best to the local church in Noelbaki. We arrived in typical Timor fashion (late!) to find that the service and a hard wooden bench were awaiting us. Despite the language barrier, it was an incredible experience to worship together with people of the same faith, so eager to hear the Word of God! The church services were both eye-opening and moving, especially singing well-known psalms and hymns together in a different language.

one of the New Hope children in church

The afternoon featured a spontaneous volleyball match against some locals on the dirt road over a string of knotted palm leaves, followed by a cool dip in the river. After a feast of rice, chicken, noodles and pumpkin leaves, we had a sing-a-long with a group from the church community and New Hope.

The next morning consisted of a quick breakfast and some lesson planning - we were heading off to teach at the Elpida school! Nothing could quite prepare us for what was in store! We spent the next two hours telling, acting, drawing and hand signalling Bible stories and English lessons to students of all ages. Though they knew very little English and we knew even less Indonesian, we managed to sing and laugh our way through the next two mornings.

Tenieka, Michelle and Ashley teaching the creation story at Elpida School

On Monday afternoon, Jack held a seminar for the teachers based on Reformed education, while the younger half of the team trekked through the rice fields with a group of the children to play water volleyball in the crocodile-infested waters of the beach. Tuesday afternoon was spent at a park with the teachers, swimming, playing soccer and learning traditional Timorese dances, with our lack of coordination providing much entertainment for the locals!

Wednesday was a highlight of the trip as we were given the opportunity to visit a mission post in Barate, two hours drive from Kupang. After a treacherous and dusty journey stacked in the back of our beloved pick-up truck, we set up camp (literally) in the bush behind the local minister's house. A relaxed afternoon at the nearby beach involved lots of swimming and... you guessed it...soccer!

In the evening we were privileged to attend a prayer and singing service in the neighbouring church of Olisapi. We were once again astounded by their passion and zeal for the gospel as we sang and worshipped our God together. Ed preached a short sermon on Romans 8:28, reminding us that God works all things for the good of those who love Him. No matter where we live, whether in Timor, Australia or Canada, we will all have problems and suffer but can have peace knowing that our Father cares for us. God has blessed us all in different ways and we must be content, serving and praising Him in every area of our lives!

sitting around the bonfire at the beach

We travelled back to our campsite in the back of a dump truck and spent the night singing praises to our God under a sky full of stars. Words can't describe the awesome sense of wonder we all felt at God's nearness - what a beautiful display of His creation and power!

foundations for a new school

Now that the formalities had long passed, we were put to work! Armed with gloves, sunscreen and huge water bottles, we made our way to the church ground and began digging the foundation for the new primary school classroom. Completely accustomed to the Timor way of life, we were not at all surprised to find out that no one knew where the building was going to go. Never fear - it only took five minutes to mark it out and the building began!

mixing concrete

Now, building in Timor is quite different to Australia and were very confident until our driver backed onto the beach and gave us two shovels to fill up the dump truck with sand for concreting. Even though our muscles ached, it was extremely rewarding to leave behind physical evidence of our work in Timor. It was so great to see locals and foreigners working together on such an important project! As a show of thanks, we were treated to a locally-prepared meal. We later discovered the "pork" that we ate was actually dog meat! It was yet another experience to add to the list, but probably not our favourite.

The trusty dump truck transported us back to Kupang after dinner, and the boys brought their guitars again so we could sing to pass the time. We arrived back at the home stay to discover we had no power, so our bucket showers were postponed to the morning to allow for some much needed sleep!

Elpida School walkathon through the rice fields

On Friday morning we went on a walkathon with the students of Elpida school. The aim was to show the local community that we, as white people, were associated and could have fellowship with the school and New Hope orphanage. Our hour-long and sweltering walk through the beautiful rice fields ended at the beach, where we spent some time playing with the children and taking lots of photos!

Elpida School students, teachers and the Wings To Work team at the beach

In the afternoon, Jack continued with the second part of his seminar on Ed's front porch. The teachers were very eager to learn and extremely appreciative of the guidance and advice they were given through the presentation. Meanwhile, the remainder of the team enjoyed some fun with the children of New Hope. The activities we had taken from Australia included buckets of chalk, twister, beading, loom bands, face painting and glow sticks. We all had SO much fun and let's just say, New Hope has never looked so colourful! The children from the home joined us after dinner for a sing-a-long and some dancing - it was a fitting way to spend our last night in such a beautiful country, surrounded by people we had so quickly come to know and love.

Saturday morning was quiet, no one was willing to face the fact that it was our last day in Timor! After piling up the donations we had taken from Australia and packing our belongings, the team met up with Ed for a tour of STAKRI, the Reformed theological and teacher's college. We were all given our five minutes of fame when we took over the radio station and spoke live to the people of Kupang, giving greetings from Australians and thanking them for their hospitality.

The next stop was Elpida where the school talent show and our farewell party was being held! We sweated through many great displays of talent under a marquee on the soccer pitch before giving our own rowdy rendition of "home among the gum trees", complete with actions. Lots of the children came to shake our hands and give their farewells after the principal gave a lovely thank you speech saying how much they appreciated us being there and that they would miss us! We definitely didn't want to leave all these beautiful people who had let us into their lives and hearts.

Wings To Work team with Rev Ed & Femmy Dethan and children

Now our trip has ended, but none of us has been given a shortage of memories and experiences to reflect on and share. It was life-changing and invaluable to witness first-hand the awesome work of God in spreading His gospel in another corner of the world. The depth of faith we saw, especially in the children, never failed to amaze us and has challenged us to reflect on our personal relationships with God. It is our prayer that we will never forget the impact that these people have made on our lives and hearts, instead remaining constantly appreciative of everything God has blessed us with in Australia - all glory belongs to Him alone!

Please continue to remember Ed and Femmy and the work being done in West Timor in your prayers. Praise Him for all that been done already! May His gospel continue to be proclaimed faithfully and passionately by His servants all over the world.

In Him,
The Wings to Work Team 2016