Greetings from Team East Timor!
By the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ, may His grace always abound towards you with all the riches of His blessings and glory! You and Ma’am Darlene are in our prayers for God’s protection, good health and good courage for the work.
We praise the Lord for the provisions for the humanitarian purposes. We’ve decided to give some goods and 5 kilos of rice to our volunteer teachers and members of our Learning Center this coming last week of June. We were not able to distribute last month because of the lockdown, and most of our members are in their districts.
Timor-Leste has been free from Covid-19 for the past three weeks. But the country is still under in the State of Emergency until June 27, 2020 to strictly supervise entries/exits of the west at the border. The government has exercised safety protocols in Dili City giving freer movement of the people. We praise the Lord that dengue infections have diminished spreading within the environment. We have been putting up wood fires and smoke driving mosquitoes away and doing cleaning routines. Windows and doors are always close to avoid mosquitoes going inside the house.
Our expired visas and the school permit maybe re-considered because of the state of emergency, but anytime that the lockdown will open, we can process the visas and the permit.
John and Jirah continued their studies at home doing on-line classes. They are gradually improving as they take hard time to study especially the Tetun and the Portuguese languages. Their History and Geography subjects use Portuguese language as medium for instruction as their resource books for these subjects are in Portuguese. Their school has four languages: English, Filipino, Tetun and Portuguese. Please be informed that in their day to day engagements, these Tetun and Portuguese languages are enter twined with Bahasa Indonesia. Filipino and English have been added in the curriculum as an international school being run by a Filipino.
Noemi is guiding the kids everyday as they study at home. She handles them as mentor everyday, in coordination with the on-line school teacher. Jack is learning some nursery rhymes. We praise the Lord that Jack also is growing in the basic pre-nursery skills and in good health.
Ciony started her language study at Dili Institute of Technology since June 8, 2020. She is doing good and start talking Tetun language to the locals while enjoying riding with “microlet”, a mini bus.
We are praying that by July, we will be prepared for the opening of the “new normal“ for the Learning Center. There are some protocols and safety precautions that we need to follow as mandated by the Ministry of Health in accordance to the laws as declared.
Henceforth, our learning Center needs the following items before the opening:
1. A lavatory or a zinc, that the students can use to wash their hands before they get inside the premises.
2. Thermometer gun to determine the body temperature of the students before entering. If they have a high temperature, we can send them home outright.
3. Disinfectant doormat, for the shoes and slippers before getting inside.
4. A quantity of reserved face masks.
5. Disinfectant materials, to disinfect the place before the class will start.
6. A good sanitation
The Department of Health and the Police Officers will do the inspection at any time. Hopefully, we can prepare the place before July. We can not start the different English classes unless everything will be ready.
Please help us pray for our needs:
1. Lavatory / zinc – $ 60
2. Pipes and faucets – $ 20
3. New toilet bowl and CR tiles repair – $ 130
4. Thermometer gun – $ 120
5. 3 cubits sand and 8 sacks of cement for wall furnish – $ 100
6. Labor cost – $ 200
7. Delivery charges / misc. and contingency – $ 60
TOTAL – $ 690
Failure to comply all the safety measures against Covid-19 here is already a crime.
We have more prayer requests for the month of July.
1. Pray for the three families to host bible study in their respective homes. This will be the first time that we will conduct bible studies in the houses of the Timorese.
2. Pray for our trained students that they can continue in their studies, not only in English but also in the basic bible doctrines.
3. Pray for our worship service and Sunday school to the students in English to continue next month.
4. Pray for Ciony’s language study for the 2nd month and her need for tuition fee of $ 480 per month.
Attached are some pictures for the said needs of the learning center.
We can not imagine how good our Lord God is. At times, we faced difficulties but, God’s Word remains in our hearts and that has kept us aiming forward to share the gospel of the grace of God.
Lastly may I share this words of inspiration that motivates us and to quote, “I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” (John Keith Falconer). Timorese are in deep darkness. Praying that by the grace of God, time will come that they will also shine as light in the world.
Truly in Christ,
Aaron / Team East Timor
East Timor