Dear Family and Friends,

This past Easter, Jim was honored to accompany the Reverend Dr. Stephen Tong  (the “ Billy Graham of the East”) on an evangelistic crusade across Borneo.  Five Gospel rallies were held and over 10,000 Indonesians came forward to surrender their lives to Christ!  Needless to say, Jim was overwhelmed and humbled by this experience.

God placed it on Dr. Tong’s heart to invite our family to join his ministry in Jakarta, Indonesia.  After much prayer, Jim has accepted the call to become the seminary chaplain and English pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Jakarta.  We are grateful that God is allowing us to be a part of this revival in a country with the largest Muslim population in the world! 

With the blessing of our current church in Millbrook, NY, we leave for Jakarta on August 16^th.  We are in the process of selling/giving away our belongings and trying to get all the paperwork and vaccinations taken care of.  This is all happening so quickly, that we will not be able to see all of our family and friends before we depart.  This saddens us, but we are thankful for technology that will enable us to stay in touch, perhaps more than we do currently! J    If you ever had the desire to travel to Southeast Asia, here is your chance!  We offer free room and board and lots of hugs from the kids!  We hope many of you will visit.

To stay connected, I will be blogging at  www.Long4Him.blogspot.com  and posting on facebook as well as sending out emails.  Please email me at nancireneelong@gmail.com if you would like to be on our list.  If you have a Smartphone and download the  Viber  app (as I have), all calls and texts are free.   I will do my best to keep you updated on our family and our ministry in Jakarta.  Send us your updates and prayer requests, too!

Please pray now for the following:

·         Packing and preparing for departure (so much to do – so little time)

·          Smooth transition for Anna, George, Mary and Della (saying goodbye to possessions, people and pets)

·         Safe and stress- free flight (I can’t imagine a 25hr. flight with four little ones being stress-free, but I’m going to ask anyway J)

·         Trusting God’s provision (we do not have a western-style contract, which on a positive note, ensures our security is found only in the Lord)

·         Transitioning of ministry in our current church in Millbrook (difficult for Jim to leave his post)

·          Dr. Tong’s ministry as the summer revival just saw 60,000 put their faith in Christ. (They have never seen such a tremendous harvest!)

We are incredibly blessed to have wonderful family and friends!  We look forward to continuing our relationships, even from such a long distance.  “"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Eph. 3:20-21).

Love,

 The Long Family

                Jim, Nanci, Anna, George, Mary and Della