Our fi
rst night started with only a few people on the field. There was a lot of tension because of the threats coming our way. The police were there to keep the peace. I decided to go ahead and preach even though I had no permit to speak. Then I prayed for the sick and called all who were healed to the stage. We interviews four healed people from the stage before Daniel ran up on stage and told me that the police want me to stop. Later they apologized for stopping me. They were concerned that the Muslims will get more agitated. They also asked Daniel if I have the permit from the capital yet. We still did not have it. The chief of police then told Daniel that even though we don’t have the permit I can still preach but no one can know we have his permission. Yet another miracle that saved this festival from being shut down. And he did not stop there, he said baring no major reaction from Muslims (remember he himself is Muslim) we can do it again the next night but no more testimonies on stage.
When we came to the field the second night, I was called over by the chief of police again. He seamed a little different than the day before. I started to pray again. He said the intelligence office is a bit concerned about what I am doing but since there has been no reaction from Muslims, he has decided to give me 1 hour to preach and pray for people. We had another night of miracles. But instead of having people come up on stage, I asked all the healed people to stand up and wave their hands as everyone else sat down.
After our second night, the soundman called Daniel over and said if we don’t pay for sound in full by noon the next day, he will tare up the sound and leave and report us to the police. By this time Daniel and I have both emptied our bank accounts and had no money. We had to produce $4,167CAN in 12 hours. We sent out a quick letter to sponsors asking for help. Most of you probably got that letter.
The next day we went to check our bank accounts and it still showed zero. It was only 15mins before the dead line, when we got someone to lend us $1,000US. We quickly called sound, and they decided to leave everything on the field. We promised that we will have all the money in before we leave town. Daniel handed in his national ID card as a guarantee. We are still in the city waiting for money to come in so we can pay all our bills. We trust God will provide for us. He never leaves us or forsakes us.
Our last night was by far the best night. The field was almost all covered by people. I preached the Gospel story starting with creation, the fall, Jesus’ redemption and building a relationship with God. I asked everyone on the field to stand up, raise their hands and gave them 1 minute of silence so they can pray to start building a relationship with God. That was wisdom from God.
We had many more healing in the last night. Many blind eyes were opened. I really desired to share the testimonies with the crowd. So instead of calling the healed people on stage, I went off the stage into the crowd and had a camera follow me. Everyone saw on the big screen and heard the testimonies. Praise Jesus! Afterwards, I even got to lay my hands and pray for the chief of intelligence and another police officer so that they can receive healings. They asked for it. They were the only 2 people I laid my hands on in prayer during the festival. I was told not to lay my hands on anyone by the same intelligence chief! We also handed thousands of salvation books the last night of the festival.
Here is another interesting thing that happened and people are talking about after the festival. We had great weather the first 2 nights. The last night, it started to rain just before I got into the car to go to the field. But there was no rain on the field. In fact we were told, it was raining everywhere except inside a 100 meter radius around the soccer field! Then all rain stopped before we started. The first day after the festival, and we just got heavy rains. So much so water was starting to come into the house. I believe this is a sign and wonder God is granting to the people. All glory to Jesus and none for us!
We want to say a special thank you to...
Irwan Alexander, Fandy from Indonesia Idol and Lembah Pujian band for coming and ministering in this event.
Also a huge thank you and God bless you to our youth committee and our 25 year old chairman brother Anis Rudy in Pati.
We are planning our next Gospel festival in Indonesia on the 1st week of March, 2010. Please keep us in your prayers.
Your co-workers in the great harvest,
Gola Tiruneh, Daniel Sugiarto and Olivia Nidya
