Sumatra, Indonesia

November, 2001

Lindy Bravo

…

Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia

An interesting thing happened on our first Sunday back in England.  Danny and I went to visit a small church where we met up with Helen who was born in Malaysia; she was carrying a book, Watch of the Lord by Mahesh Chavda.  She has a nephew who is a pastor and prophet in Malaysia who gave us some contact numbers for Sumatra.  Although by the time I was actually travelling to the city of Medan, which is the capital of the North Sumatra province in Indonesia, we had been unable to make connections with these contacts or get any response from the Foursquare missionaries in Indonesia.  It was understandable that they would be cautious to respond due to the persecution of Christians (so please bear with me, as I am not using the names of the Pastors in this letter).  After my visit to a nearby Asian country, I flew through Singapore to Medan, and Danny thought I’d better just have a rest before returning to England and moving into the new home.  But I still believed God had a plan – Boy, did He!!

Habakkuk 2:1-3.  The first day I stood at my hotel window looking out at many satellite dishes and a large radio antenna.  I tried to be quiet and ‘listen’ (hard after singing and praying nonstop for over two weeks!).  Danny rang at 2am with another phone number from Helen’s nephew.  On Tuesday morning as I worshiped and danced gently I found myself moving into a prophetic dance.  I knew it carried a message of pushing forwards in prayer and worshiping with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (in this case dance) because “a door is going to open, allowing for a great harvest of souls, and there will be a need to run fast and continuously, without flagging, to pull the people out of the fire before the door closes again.  And there is a need to be physically fit and prepared for this move of God.”  

I lay down exhausted.  Suddenly I knew I had to make the phone call. Within fifteen minutes, Pastor K came to the Hotel.  I went with him, first to a home to talk and pray, and then to his church with another man and three boys from his family; there I shared how the Lord had led me to Sumatra at this time and what had happened that morning.  The three of us had an extraordinary experience, filling the church with sounds of praise.

From this meeting, Pastor K took me under his wing.  Since the persecution started many of the pastors get together in small and large groups, so on Wednesday we attended a prayer meeting with seven Pastors at Pastor L’s house.  They encouraged me to talk about the use of dance in praise, prayer, worship and warfare.  And I told them about the prophetic dance that I had received that morning.  I discovered that what I was saying came as a confirmation of what they were expecting of God, and what had already started happening during worship times in their churches.  One pastor said his church had been praying and fasting for three days, seeking the Lord, who was telling them to worship.  And when they asked how, it seemed to be the dance.  And here was I, a Christian dancer, turning up – astonishing!  Or maybe not!  I asked about the persecution and they told me about the bombs and threats to their lives.  Although some people had left the churches, more had come in and there was increased unity among the Pastors.  We moved into a time of praise and worship before the prayer meeting.  The first song, they told me, had just been about dancing and jumping, sung whilst sitting in their chairs.  So, after a lot of laughter, they thought that they should arise and do it properly. They then sang and prayed powerfully for a breakthrough.  And after eating what I could only describe as a delicious bowl of sweet banana soup, they returned me to my hotel. 

That night I went to Pastor K’s church to speak at a meeting.  I made two flags from the silks I had bought in the nearby Asian country, with which I dance-worshipped.  I also had the opportunity to pray for each person, and the Pastor and his wife, who wanted to pass on the anointing for dance worship to their daughter who was studying in Jakarta.  The next evening, Thursday, through the monsoon rains and roads like rivers we traveled out to one of Pastor M’s three churches.  I was invited to speak and minister with the flags, when the lights failed beautiful shadows were cast by the matches the people lit.  I prayed with some of the people and the Pastor felt it was a very good ministry time, I felt the Lord’s presence to heal was there. 

During the afternoon I had set out for the market and I found a group of youths wandering around the hotel looking for me.  I had met their Pastor and he had sent them to find me.  They were a worship band and one dancer.  We had a wonderful time together, I answered their questions and we prayed through the one who could speak English, and they tried worshiping with a large flag in a small space, my hotel room.  After they left I just stood in amazement thanking God for the Joshua generation and all that they would do. 

All those extra little miracles, yes, they happened again, including the right clothes to wear.  I thought I didn’t have anything suitable as their style is for straight skirts.  I had packed a long straight skirt I couldn’t possibly dance in.  BUT, with a full skirt underneath and a long slit added I looked as if I blended in, but still had the ability to kneel and dance.  Thank the Lord.  The other odd thing was, I kept saying I was leaving on Saturday, but my flight was on Friday morning.  Danny had previously tried to extend my visit so I could meet up with the Christian Dance Fellowship in Singapore but there were absolutely no flights available.  I accepted the invitation to talk on Friday night before I had realised that I was to leave earlier that day.  This I explained to Pastor K, and he said, “there are a thousand people waiting to hear you.”     Whoops!  After a heart-to-heart with myself about how the Holy Spirit would actually be doing this and not me, I thought I had better be there.  I called Danny and said, “I believe I’m supposed to be here another night, please try re-booking the flights – with the three connections.  I’m sure it will be as smooth as silk.” – It was!  God’s provision is awesome.

Friday evening I addressed one thousand three hundred and eight cell group leaders and Pastors and a tambourine dance team at one of the largest churches in the city.  My translator was the Pastor’s son, also a Pastor, a worship and youth leader.  He was expressive and when I jumped around the platform to illustrate a point – the healed lame man leaping – the translator was also doing it.  Both our glasses fell off at the same time, which caused a lot of laughter all around.

 They were so ready to hear the message that I brought and the teaching of the Biblical basis for movement in worship.  I felt the Lord kept giving me more to press the point home.  Pastor L spoke further illustrations from the Bible, directing everyone to take it back to their cell groups all over the city.  Pastor L also took the blue flag up on the platform to praise with it, and I took the white one over the team of many tambourine dancers.  Saturday morning they took me to the airport and so kindly gave me some little gifts, as I never did get to the market for souvenirs.

We desire so much to have the path laid out clearly before us, but time and again He’s showing me to take the few steps and trust Him for the rest.  I would like to encourage you to do so too.  Step out in what you know, stop worrying, and start trusting God’s plan for your life.  Once again, on this trip I had an amazing sense of being safe and cared for, even though I know that I entered into a number of dangerous situations, from car rides, walking back streets, old airplanes, floods and suspect foods – let alone what I didn’t know!  I give grateful thanks to all of you who have held this mission trip up in prayer through these countries, and also during the period afterwards.  May you be blessed many times for your faithfulness.

Prayer request

Please pray for protection of the Christians, a minority in a very densely Muslim area.  Praise God that of the fourteen bombs thrown at them, eleven failed to go off.  In the north, things are so bad that they cannot even have a church service to bury their dead.  In a meeting, the Pastor only speaks a number and they sing inside their hearts.  One island is believed to be the next target to wipe out 50,000 Christians.  Pray for a cancellation of this plan, and a huge harvest of souls.

Medan is a large city and is also expecting to be targeted again soon.  The driver of one of the Pastors was killed and bombs thrown into his home.  A small one goes off to attract attention and then a larger one does the damage.  This Pastor also had a motorcycle drive up alongside his car as if flirting with his daughter in the back, but a bomb was magnetized to the roof.  They managed to take it off with great difficulty and throw it into the river, where it went off downstream.  This Pastor and his family have invited Danny and I to return and stay with them next time we go – makes you think, doesn’t it?

Thank you.  If the Lord lays it upon your hearts to pray for this country and people, I would encourage you to take the need seriously.

 All for Jesus,

                                    Lindy

 

“Wherever I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.” Exodus 20:…24