GIFTS RECEIVED FOR MISSIONS IN AUGUST 1976

CLASSIS EAST SOURCE AMOUNT

Friend in Paterson Gift $ 10.00

CLASSIS MIDWEST

In G.R. Ch. Col. Gift 120.00

Friend in Jenison Gift 30.00

Friend in Hudsonville Gift 10.00

Friend in Chicago Hts. Gift 100.00

Friend in Michigan Gift 125.00

St. Catharines Ch. Col. Collection 486.00

CLASSIS WEST

Friends in Australia Gift 86.71

Friend in Sheboygan Gift 50.00

CLASSIS FARWEST

Linden Pentecost Col. Collection 400.00

TOTAL: $1417.71

Dear Friends,

You are all heartily acknowledged for the gifts we may receive. May the Lord bless you and your gifts. Tom and Meta Moerdyk have left for Nigeria. We received two long letters from Irian Jaya about the earthquake. So we will leave it at this for this time.

American General Mission Fund

Netherland Reformed Churches of

United States and Canada

John Spaans, Treasurer

Plankinton Box 106 RR1

South Dakota 57368

A LETTER FROM REV. G. KUIJT

Abenaho, July 28, 1976

Dear Mission Friends,

This morning we received a letter from the treasurer of the American General Mission Fund, Mr. J. Spaans. Included was a check of US $8,000.00 for our mission work here in Irian Jaya. We want to thank all of you who made it possible for our mission here to receive these eight thousand dollars. Large amounts of money will be spent, first of all, in the opening of our new station Bemela, which is situated west of Langda. Rev. C.G. Vreugdenhil and Mr. H. Looijen walked to the place from Langda and arrived safely the next day. They are working there on a new house which my family is going to occupy in the next few weeks. The helicopter will be used to fly in all necessities that cannot be dropped by a fixed wing airplane. Also an airstrip must be built and you can imagine that this will cost a lot of money. Then secondly we have not forgotten (and I do hope you have not either) Nipsan. We just heard that the people over there have shown some change of attitude. And of course if this turns out to be true, we’ll have another obligation viz. to reopen that area. And again, for all this work, much money is needed. Therefore once more we thank you heartily for this generous gift of $8,000.00.

While we were in New Zealand, to institute a new congregation of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of New Zealand, we read in the newspaper that a severe earthquake hit the eastern highlands of Irian, north of the central range. I am enclosing a UFM report which may be of interest and which gives you a clear picture of the situation like it is. I indeed agree with Rev. D. Scovill, our friend, that the Lord is wonderful in His providence. He just in time sent the helicopter so that it could be used for the help of the afflicted. It is our prayer that the Lord may use all these circumstances so that the Gospel might be brought faster to those who have never heard. Earthquakes remind us of the coming of the Lord’s Kingdom. And the Lord’s Kingdom is connected with the promise that the Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached in the whole world as a witness to all the peoples. Remember those who lost everything and that the mission, working there, may find an open door for the Gospel.

The work on our three occupied stations is progressing. The Word is preached and it bears fruits. Like it was promised, His Word will never return void unto the Lord but it will accomplish all that He desires. While Rev. P. Blok was here he visited all the N.R.C. stations. We also paid a visit to Nipsan. We dropped bush knives from the helicopter. We saw all the villages from a short distance and some people fled away. On one occasion the Nipsan people shot at us. We saw the strip and landed on it. Some repair has to be done, but with an attitude change this is not much of a problem. We are looking forward, if it might please the Lord, to give these people another opportunity to hear the Word of God. If Nipsan would open up again, we feel, we should return there.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Banner of Truth Committee hereby gratefully acknowledges the receipt of contributions for “The Banner of Truth” publication from several congregations and a number of friends during the months of October 1975 thru September 1976.

American General Mission Fund $ 100.00

Gift in Kalamazoo Collection 100.00

Hamilton Congregation 50.00

Franklin Lakes Sunday School 200.00

Artesia Congregation 71.40

Kalamazoo Dorcas Society 25.00

Various Friends and Individuals 1232.50

Total $1778.90

The Banner of Truth publishing committee

Next week our children are going to school again. The hepatitis has disappeared and they are healthy again. After their departure we are hoping to go to Bomela. The two little ones go with us. Not many unreached areas are left, at least, for N.R.C. missionaries. The land is well occupied with missions, although in the areas of the different missions much can be done yet.

From this faraway place we send you our sincere regards. Friends, we thank you for all your letters that we have received in the past months and which we did not answer yet. Also, we thank you for the parcels we received before Miss Marry van Moolenbroek took over. May God in Christ remember you all to be witnesses in the places it pleased Him to make you dwell. Hard times and circumstances may create a deeper longing for His coming, the hope of the Church. On our journey home from New Zealand, we happened to sit down beside a natural son of Abraham. I have never met a Jew in Irian. This was the first one. At first I did not realize it, but when he said he was a Jew, I almost cried. It pleased the Lord that I should meet this man, and I could not help but to testify to him concerning Abraham’s greatest Son, the Lord Jesus. I also felt that the vail of unbelief was on him, but was reminded that the Lord will take away the vail from the Jews, so that by grace, they may believe on Him, Whom they crucified. 2 Cor. 3:16. I told this man that I had a lovely little booklet, translated by Rev. J. vanZweden, about a Jew, named Isaac Levinsohn, who by the grace of God was found by Him Who loves sinners. “Ill send you that little booklet, if you promise to read it”, I said. “I promise, I’ll read it”, he answered. I do hope to hear from him. Yours sincerely in Christ,

Rev. G. Kuijt

EARTHQUAKE IRIAN JAYA UFM report

D. Scovill, Mulia

July 14, 1976

The next day World News quite dispassionately announced that an earthquake of 7.8 strength had occurred on an obscure island 200 miles north of Australia.

The sharp violent jerks awakened me out of my sleep. I knew immediately this was an earthquake and I groped for my flashlight. Where had I left it? Where was the door? Let me out before the house caved in! Then it happened—a most terrifying sound of falling rocks. I knew that the mountain above was falling on the house. I hit the floor expecting any moment the wood around me to collapse, to feel pain, to sink into that blissful unconsciousness that would end in death.

Then it subsided and my mind was clear. I was at Okbap, UFM station in the eastern highlands of Irian Jaya, sleeping in the Stanszus home. My flashlight was on a box at the head of the bed; the door was on the left, not the right, and I was out staggering against the still heaving earth beneath my feet.

My colleagues were already standing outside. We tried to pray but our voices were lost in the din of underground explosions and landslides all around us. The time was 4.20 a.m. June 26; mercifully, dawn would soon bring light and comfort.

We lit a lantern; all buildings were still standing. Inside, the houses were shambles: books strewn across the floor, dressers toppled over with clothes dumped out, radios and recorders in pieces, and the kitchen? Wow! Glasses, milk, jello, ice cream mix and iced tea drenching the lot!

We thought of our other stations in the area: KIWI perched on the very edge of a 200 foot precipice. We were relieved several hours later to hear the voices of our staff on the radio saying all was safe. Bime with Dina Cole alone, and Dave at another airstrip, building accomodations for a new missionary couple. Struggling to control her voice, Dina transmitted that she was safe, but was sitting outside in her pajamas picking glass out of her feet. All buidings at Bime were down. The house had been dumped off its 5 foot high ground poles and was sitting askew threatening collapse. The airstrip was unuseable with deep fissures throughout its length. Moments later Dave Cole and Dave Brumagin at Epomek came on the air with news they too were safe, but a landslide had covered the bottom end of the airstrip and slides had literally wiped out several villages.

In the perfect timing that belongs only to an omniscient God, MAF’s helicopter and pilot had just arrived. Several days later I flew over the area. Never have I witnessed such destruction. An area approximately 100 miles long and 20 miles wide with center at Bime is 80 percent stripped of all vegetation. Mountains have collapsed, valleys were filled in, rivers are forcing new paths through the debris, lakes are forming, landslides and tremors continue two weeks later.

A population of some 15,000 is suffering. Gardens have been wiped out. Several villages are completely obliterated with no known survivors. Thousands of homes are in ruins. To date 406 by name are reported dead; hundreds are unaccounted for. Injured are few; in the holocast, they either made it or missed it.

Let me give you a more detailed run-down of each station affected, with current progress.

Nalca: The airstrip was undamaged. There are 60 villages in the area. One large village was completely destroyed, 2 have been abandoned and over 50 garden houses destroyed. Approximately 80 percent garden loss is sustained in the area with 202 known dead and many unaccounted for. Some of our national missionaries tell of going into the devastated areas searching for injured to find bodies with arms or legs sticking out of the land slides or twisted up in the brush. Approximately 1200 are being assisted with food in the area, 450 at Nalca, and 750 to the north of Nalca. There is talk of evacuating the area, but nothing is confirmed at this point.

Okbap: The airstrip has been continuously useable but at the very top slides of mud, rocks and trees have partially covered the turn-around area. My last time in to Okbap there was a huge slide perched precariously in a small ravine above. When that comes loose there will be some clearing to do and many an old toko to pull out of the aftermath. Several villages have had to relocate due to slides at least partially wiping out the houses. In the trauma, 20 persons are reported killed. Garden damage is not as extensive as in the Bime area, but due to type of gardening practised, the landslides which did occur covered gardens beneath them. Approximately 800 are being partially fed while rebuilding of homes and gardens goes on. A flu epidemic has taken the lives of 12. Our two missionary homes are in danger due to threatening landslides immediately behind them with a possibility they will have to be moved before our staff can sleep in peace again.

Bime: The center of the quake seems to have been in the Bime-Epomek area. Incredible things have happened in the terrain of that area with 83 deaths reported. In the trauma, of 40 villages in the area 4 were liveable after the quake, 28 were destroyed, and 4 abandoned. 85 percent of the gardens sustained 90 percent loss and of the other 15 percent of garden area, 50% was lost. That doesn’t leave much left.

3,000 are being fed with 1,500 at Bime, 1,000 at Tanime between Epomek and Bime where a strip is under construction, and 500 in isolated pockets of population. As of yesterday, July 14, Coles house is back on its sticks and level. The airstrip temporarily closed, in now operational. People are relocating and beginning to garden again. Hopefully, six months down the road, the country will look greener.

Epomek: Airstrip is still unuseable but work of clearing the landslide which has covered the bottom 1/3 of the strip has begun. 101 persons reported dead with a total of 1765 needing food, 1265 at Epomek and West, and 500 in an area a bit north of Epomek. Brumagin’s gudang, under construction at time of earthquake, has long gone in a land slide. The German Research Team has been on the spot and on the job during these traumatic days and their service to the population under stress is deeply appreciated. Of 14 villages 3 had been wiped out, 9 were abandoned with 70% of gardens destroyed.

We have been blessed with a hosts of friends who have been moving with us through this experience. Your radio messages conveying your concern, the many stations who have been supplying potatoes with others offering to do the same, gifts of money, cash and by good old TMF T.V.’s for the relief in the area, has all been deeply appreciated. In times of such crisis, one becomes aware of how much the total mission body has in common here in Irian Jaya, and we thank you for your concern for us and the people affected by the quake.

Summing up: A population of some 15,000 is affected; total recorded dead to date is 406. Total food needs per week to supply with minimum food is roughly 10,000 lbs. of rice, and 8,000 lbs. of potatoes, this to feed 7,000 people currently being sustained in whole or part by MAF, and govern-ment/UFM. We are trying to get corn seed and potatoe shoots flown in for our building of new gardens. Financial needs are staggering. The big chopper that worked one week was chartered at 1750 U.S. $ per hour. One trip to Bime and return to Sentani cost 3500. How’s that for blowing your missionary stipend! Fortunately, this was government expense. Funds from various agencies are coming… GRT, World Relief, TEAR Fund in England, as well as other gifts from some here in Irian Jaya. We will continue to appreciate your concern and prayers for us as we look to the future for this area.

Dave Scovill (UFM IJ field chairman)

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