Mission to Maluku

Torus Tammer

On Jan. 20, six people from the Fountain Valley-based Turning Point

Christian fellowship left the country en route to the Maluku Islands in

war-torn Indonesia. There they conducted a 19-day mission of mercy in an

effort to help some of the 200,000 refugees who are displaced and

homeless.

Pastor at Turning Point and mission leader, Chris Cole, said that

although there was some concern on the groups part about possible warfare

breaking out while they were there, it was of great importance to try and

achieve the overall goal.

“There have been over 5000 people killed and over 200,000 displaced

from their homes because of this religious conflict,” Cole said. “One of

the reasons we went is to try to provoke international attention. In

America especially, this was getting very little attention.”

Robert McEachern, the associate director of the volunteers in mission

department at the International Mission Board Southern Baptist

Convention, said that the mission to the Maluku Islands was part of the

3500 projects they oversee per year worldwide.

“These six people went to rebuild homes that were blown up and burned

down; homes for people who no longer had living quarters,” McEachern

said.According to Cole, the team of six needed at least two weeks of

building time to construct what they call quad-plexes for the refugee

families.

“If you can imagine a duplex back to back; that is what we built,”

Cole said. “To give an indication of their size, each quad-plex holds

four families.”

Cole added that they originally intended to build 12 of the structures

but did not have enough time. They were only able to fully complete one

quad-plex but started building the 11 others. When the time came for them

to leave Cole said, they had the other structures at various stages of

completion. In some cases, all that was left was floor or roofing

material.

“The work is being continued by local pastors and village leaders but

it is being funded by churches here of our denomination,” he said.

Huntington Beach resident Randy Stuart was part of the team that

traveled to Indonesia. He said that being part of the mission was largely

due to his pastor (Cole) who had grown up as a missionary kid and still

had his father in Indonesia.

Stuart, who had never gone on a mission trip before, decided to pray

about it before making the decision. With a wife and two children, Stuart

said that he had others to consider before making the commitment.

“Both me and my wife decided I should do this,” Stuart said. “I really

wasn’t worried about threats on my safety but in the same sense, I was

being practical by making last minute plans to make sure my family was

taken care of if anything would have happened.”

Not knowing what to expect, Stuart said that he was ready to be a

“total grunt” willing to work wherever possible.

“They taught us how to build a quad-plex even with the language

barriers,” Stuart said. “We built something else though that was just as

important. We built many more relationships then we did houses and we

even taught the villagers how to play American football. . .it was

great!”

On Feb. 8, Stuart and the five other team members returned to the

safety of the United States. Glad to be back with his family in

Huntington Beach, Stuart reflected on the overall experience and the

gratitude that it has brought to his life.

“All of the difficulties these villagers had in their lives [and] yet

they were able to be so wonderful and able to share things with us,”

Stuart said. “What I ask God is to keep the experience in the forefront

of my mind and be able to one day teach my kids what I learned.”