Butler’s survey

Here is an update on the Butlers and their team!

 

 

This season of our lives is what I would title in a journal as, “The Time of the Survey”. The survey is an event that is massive enough in itself to deserve a title, but yet short enough that when viewed alongside the entirety of the work, would only seem to be a short vapor.

Just 1 week ago a team of 3 missionaries left for an expedition to the island of Bali. Their goal was to ascertain the reality of a possible church plant among the people group who populate the small island. In their time on the island, the missionaries visited two villages. For now, we will call them “beach” and “mountain”. Both villages seemed to ignite when the announcement of the presence of outsiders had come full circle.

On the beach, we were looking at a densely populated area which seemed it was already beyond its ability to hold houses. The team was shown the village and they spoke with the leaders. They were welcomed with open hands and hungry souls, and in the end were shown two places where we could possibly build.

From there, they made the 1,000 ft climb to the village in the mountain. The missionaries communicated the relief their bodies felt as they were welcomed with a breeze and a cooler climate. This relief, combined with a village that had half the population and had far more land than the previous, finally gave them a bit of comfort. This village gathered the community and the big man quickly translated the announcement into the local language. They had now heard for the first time the possibility of someone who wants to come and teach them about the glorious word of God.

In the end, the villages were told that we were ready to come back and that we would wait to hear their response.  By us giving them time to talk after we left, they would have a genuine chance to say no. For now we wait for a response from those among whom we wish to live.

We knew that this could take weeks, even months. However, while I was preparing to write this page of the newsletter, I was called away to journey to a nearby town where we would meet a man from the beach village. This is what he had to say:

“I was sent out to come get you people. Our village has met together and everyone has talked. They have decided that we want you to come and live with us. The leaders told me that I was to get you, and should you not come quickly that I would have to come again. I was told to keep coming until you came to us.”

The conversation went on for hours but in short this is what we were waiting to hear. So for now, we have received a solid confirmation from one of the villages. We still want to hear back from the other village, but for certain, we have a place that we can call home should we desire to.

For now, we will plan to make our first trip. This time the team itself will be landing on the island. We hope to be there this June and our desire is to revisit these two villages as well as visit a couple of other villages.

The exciting new is that both locations expressed a high desire to be taught God’s word and to be able to read it.