the

Indonesian
VISItOR
APIIL 1974

News from Ron and Ellen Ritchey, Missionaries to Indonesia

ALL THESE

BLESSINGS

Thank the Lord and thank, you all!

Jesus promised that if we seek first the Kingdom of God, then our daily needs will be provided, God has proved His promises to us. God, through the stewardship of you whoare supporting us. Showered His financial blessings on us during 1973. Here is a record of last year's (1973) givers and the total given. If you would like an itemized listing of gifts, givers, and disbursements; please write and ask for it from our forwarding agents; Mr. and
THE RON RITCHEY FAMILY

Mrs. Ritchey, who will happily send it.

GIVERS
CHURCHES AND GROUPS

19 7 3

First Christian Church, Joliet, Illinois Church at Bryant, Scottsbluff, Nebraska Daytona Christian Church, Daytona Beach, Florida Christian Church, Norton, Kansas First Christian Church, Glen Ellyn, Illinois Versailes Christian Church, Versailes, Illinois Capitol City Christian Church, Lincoln, Nebraska Calvary Church of Christ, Swartz Creek, Michigan Christian Church, Sublette, Kansas Ladies tfi-ssion Group, Sublette, Kansas Christian Church, Hoffman Estates, Illinois First Christian Church, Jacksonville, Illinois New Testament Christian, Sheridan, Wyoming Deep River Church of Christ, Hobart, Indiana

Broadway Christian Church, Bellingham, Washington Christian Women's Fellowship, Blufton, Ohio Church of Christ, Huron, South Dakota Women's Fellowship, Joliet, Illinois
INDIVIDUALS

M/M James Grammar, Red Bud, Illinois M/M Gerald Ritchey, Bartonville, Illinois M/M Tom Seggelke, Lincoln, Illinois
Mrs. Elizabeth Zirges, Worden, Illinois

M/M Jack Voorhees, Bellingham, Washington

Six Families, Wildwood, Illinois

M/M Ron Davis, Cincinnati, Ohio M/M Vem Johnston, Diagonal, Iowa M/M Tom Bennett, Minerva, Ohio Dr./M Paul Q. Baker, Scottsbluff, Nebraska M/M John Bums, Aurvasse, Missouri
Miss Bessie Johnson, Orleans, Nebraska Mrs. Art Detlefsen, Mitchell, Nebraska Mrs. Virginia Small, Brookfield, Illinois

INDIVIDUALS (cont.)

M/M Lyle Pauley, Hoffman Estates, Illinois Dr./M Vinton Wright, Fullerton, California M/M Bill Dickie, Scottsbluff, Nebraska Mrs. Veneta Escott, Sturgis, South Dakota M/M Ervin Petegrine, Sturgis, South Dakota Dr./MH. C. Zahradnicek, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Mrs. R. Underwood, Gillette, Wyoming

M/M George Epple, Bloomington, Illinois

Mrs, G. M. Peterson, Alliance, Nebraska Mrs. Frank Reed, Iowa

M/M V. S. Wright, St. Petersburg, Florida

TOTAL GIFTS RECEIVED
TOTAL DISBURSEtlENTS

1973
1973

$9,438.10
6,838.50

Balance

1973 1973 $786.51

$2,599.60

Average monthly receipts

PLEASE

NOTE

In the final analysis, almost all gifts received ^re from individuals who give

through their local church. Hence some dear friends and givers are not specifically listed. For those of you who are writing checks directly to us, thank you. Ellen
and I are a non-profit corpation, and consider ourselves representatives of and responsible to the local churches that support us. If you do not have a local congregation through which you want to give, you may make checks payable to First Christian Church, Joliet, Illinois and designate your check to Mr. and Mrs. Ron Ritchey, Missions.

We have a balance because Ellen and I are not drawing and spending the full

(average) $786.51 we receive monthly.

The balance is placed in a savings account.

A minimum balance of $2,500.00 is kept on hand for an emergency travel fmd.

RECENT

MINISTRIES

February 3-9J LEADERSHIP TRAINING SEMINAR. Ron helped co-ordinate this seminar, inviting all churches from Central Java. Eighty people registered and attended. February 20-24: CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND HOME WEEK. All churches

from Salatiga were invited and about twenty attended nightly. Ron goes to Pendigan weekly and leads a small worship service. Major changes are occuring in the village work. Briefly, the Sumogawa and Patemon congregations chose to join the local church where Ron formerly preached monthly. The pastor-founder of this congregation suddenly passed away at the age of thirty-three years. The village situation is in a hiatus. Please pray that we'll patiently and joyously see and accept God's leading in this matter.

AGAIN !
Ellen is with childl We expect the Lord to bless us with a family addition sometime in mid-May, hopefully to be delivered at a Baptist Hospital in East Java
staffed by American doctors. More news later.
Yours in His service.

The Ritcheys, Ron, Ellen and Deric

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MR, AND MRS. WILLIAM RITCHEY 18 Kenmore Court

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the

in6onesiAn
m t JULY 1974

News from Ron and Ellen Ritchey, Missionaries fo Indonesia

A BOY

ARRIVES

At 2:56 P.M. Thursday, May 30, Dasen Ronald RItchey was born. He weighted 7 lb. oz., has blue eyes and came equipped with reddish-blond hair. Ron, Ellen, and Deric waited in Kediri from May 13
until Dasen*s arrival. Ron then returned home with

Deric to Saiatlga. We returned and picked up Ellen and Dasen on Thursday, June 6.

FURLOUGH
Ellen and I have

PLANNED
Indonesia for two

lived in

years and eight months. We plan our furlough a year from now. We wi I 1 be in the States from June 1975 unti I the first part of May 1976. We are

scheduling speaking dates first with our supporting

churches.

Ellens Dericy and Dasen

WORK

PLANS

In the next few weeks Ron plans to start a series of lessons from the Book of Acts

dealing with how every Christian can help plant new churches. Ron still goes to Pendingan weekly. The work there has backslidden. However, two families remain faithful Both the men who are faithful are carpenters and also own small fields where they grow
corn and vegetables.

MISSION ARIES

COME

AND

GO
Right

these people some in getting settled and re-oriented

to life here in Indonesia. We are expecting a new missionary family, the Robert MacLeans, to arrive on July 5 and they too hope to live in the Salatiga
area.

On April 19 the Robert Sigafoose Family left Indonesia for a year's furlough. after the Sigafooses left Salatiga, Misses Jean Comer and Linda Joyner arrived. They hope to work with women and children in the Salatiga area, Jean Comer is returning for her second term in Indonesia. Linda Joyner is seeking a semi-permanent visa and hopes she can stay and wok In this country. The Lew Cass Fami ly arrived back from furlough the second week in May and are now settled here in Salatiga. Ron helped

jJSBjffj

FACTORS OF WORK

IN INDONESIA i f
. '

in the United States, but how, in what way? In order for you to understand our situation in
work here.

Working in Indonesia is different than working

\ \
\

Indonesia, let us share a few factors affecting our

Daddy with his new son

The dominant factor Is that we are foreigners, hence we do not have the full rights and freedoms of an Indonesian cftTzen. We can not directly own property. Our permission to work In Indonesia comes due to an invitation by an Indonesian association called Lay
directors and we are ultimately responsible to these men for everything we do.
Institute for Evangelism of Indonesia. This Institute has three Indonesian men as its

Once a

year we have to renew our visa and each time this Institute must write a letter re

questing the government to extend our visa because our help Is needed In this Institute.
We are not permitted to directly open churches, that is; Indonesians must be the

trustees and/or official leaders of churches, and we must work under them.

Whenever we

start work in a new area we must be invited by a local Indonesian who In turn asks

permission to hold Christian meetings. The next step is training such msn until they are willing to take the initiative in witnessing and establishing a local congregation with
official government recognition.

permission from government offices. After the Indonesian receives permlssTon, he then can have regular meetings for prayer and teaching using our help In these meetings. Hence our greatest hurdle in new church planting and evangelism is finding those men who are willing to open their homes to us and take responsibility in gaining government

faithful in attendance but not the active, witnessing leader that a new congregation needs. Please pray for these needs: 1) that we will find village leaders willing to open their homes for teaching, 2) for our brother in Pendingan that he will grow in
Christ and become a fruitful witness.

weekly. Yet he Is not yet the strong witnessing Christian we pray he will become. We believe that before the work will really grow In Pendingan this man will have to be strong enough to be an active witness and desire to become a church leader. Now he Is

For example, a man in the village Pendingan has opened his house to us and we meet

Yours in His service.

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18 Kenmore Court

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the mC>onesiAn
VISItOR
SEPTEMBER 1974

News from Ron and Ellen Ritchey, Missionaries to Indonesia

WITNESSING
Jesus said, "but you will be filled with power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,
and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of

the earth." Acts 1:8 T.E.V. We praise God for the opportunities to witness here in Indonesia. On an airplane ride God gave me an hour to share truths from God's Word with
a Philippine man working here in Indonesia. This man speaks five languages and is a cival engineer. He asked for a Bible and I gave him mine. We pray he will read the

Word which is in the Indonesian language and accept Christ. Yesterday, a son of a village Christian remained to listen to our evening worship. He usually goes to the back of the house. One of his friends also listened as we read

Christ's statement, "You say that I am a King, I was bom and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me." This time we were using the Javanese language. Imagine, friends, the challenge Jesus gives to this young man who is not listening to Jesus. He confesses only one truth, that

of Islam, but Jesus confronts him as King.

Savior and Lord.

Please pray for this young man.

These and

others experiences cause us to praise God for the priviledge to present Jesus, the

MISSIONARIES

MEET

On July 16 and 17, church of Christ and Christian church missionaries met for our

first annual All Indonesia Fellowship.

Five families convened at Pelabuan Ratu on Java's

southwest coast. We shared concerning each family's ministry, common goals, and obstacles. We shared strategy on how to plant growing New Testament churches in Indonesia. The Ed Fumas family reported on a two-week preaching and teaching trip to
Central Sumatra. Many indicators pointed to new opportunities in this area, A call for

Christian teachers for an unevangelized tribe was heard.

All missionaries agreed we

should investigate more specifically the opportunity to preach Christ in Central Sumatra.

SUMATRA

FOLLOW-UP

Bob Maclean and I flew to Jakarta July 31 on our way to Pekanbaru, the capitol of Riau Province, Central

Sumatra. teaching.
August 3.

Our goal was to confirm church planting We tried to book the next flight to
Upon arrival in Pekanbaru we conferred with

opportunities among an unevangelized tribe of about six-thousand. We were told this tribe wanted Christian

Pekanbaru, but none were available until Saturday,

the Protestant Division head of the Department of Religion. From this point on, the trip became one
postponement after another. Our main contact man had

serious complications with his en5)loyer forcing him to wait in Pekanbaru. The trip into the tribe would take

three days.
tribe.

After six days of conferences and waiting

we postponed our original plan unitl later this fall

after confirmation that we will be received by the

Ron and Bob MacLean

Off to Sumatra

I counted the trip a success because we

answered our main question:

teaching?

can a missionary

move immediately into the tribe and start

Initial indicators pointed to a

"green light".

The attempt to immediately

sieze the opportunity showed us the "light was yellow", i.e. proceed slowly with caution. There still is an opportunity in this area and
one missionary or more should locate in this

area and explore church planting opportunities

among people needing to hear about Christ.

Jan Ninkeula Family, Our Host

in Pekanbaru

CONTRACT

EXPIRES

Our landlady does not want to extend our contract. She is having family problems and is now staying with a friend, hoping to move back into her home as soon as possible. We

have until November 6th and are now looking for a new house to rent. Our landlady has asked us to teach her about Christ and in this we rejoice. Please pray for God*s
continuing work in her life.

FURLOUGH

PLANS

DEVELOP

We have confirmed some dates for speaking during our May 1975 to May 1967 furlough. We are writing to confirm as many dates as possible first with supporting churches. If possible, Ron hopes to do some graduate study while home. We are looking for information
concerning housing costs and car costs during our furlough.

FAMILY

AFFAIRS

We are so thankful Deric is home with us again after a hospital stay in Semarang, He pulled a bucket of hot water over on his arms and legs suffering second degree bums. The hospital care in Semarang is adquate; in Salatiga it is inferior. Hence, we took Deric the hour drive to Semarang, He was there nine days coming home August 22. A hard time
is over and Deric is healed beautifully.

ATMOSPHERE

TENSE The World

In the past few months the government has warned Christians to be discreet in methods

of evangelism due to threats and plots from non-Christian religous groups.

Council of Churches cancelled its world conference to be held in Jakarta after advice from

Indonesian government and Christian leaders.

An air of uncertainty concerning aggressive

evangelism hangs over the thinking of some church leaders. The challenges to Christian faith are very real in Southeast Asia. Jesus said, "whoever loses his life for Me shall

will be expressed in action.

find it." Let us pray that in the growing world challenge, our faith in Christ^s promise
Let us build His church until He comes again.
Yours in His service,

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