The rainbow never sets

Mes Beeh, who was still studying at Salatiga, Indonesia, during 1974, indicated that before he could finish his degree, he had to do some practical work in a church for at least six months. Remembering from my days in Indonesia that mission is always both ways and that we would benefit greatly from Mes' presence in our church, I suggested to our Session that he become my assistant with no extra cost to the church. They were quite happy about that. He was to come from Darwin just before Christmas 1974. Fortunately he was delayed, otherwise he might have flown into cyclone Tracy. Darwin was closed after Tracy, and he had to come via Bali, arriving on 8 February 1975.

It was a wonderful re-union, and he settled back into our family as if he had never been away. We put up his bed in the office, which was rather crammed, but there was no other space. He accompanied me on all church business, and gradually I was able to send him off visiting on his own. In his outgoing way he quickly won our people's hearts. They readily accepted and loved him. Don Erickson, the minister then in Griffith, invited him for a couple of weeks there, also John Cleghorn, who knew him from Kupang, asked him to come to his parish at Bairnsdale, Gippsland, Victoria.

Mes experienced first hand my troubles at Presbytery, and he was very supportive. I don't know what I would have done without him in those difficult days. We had long talks together, and he showed great maturity for his age. It was so wonderful to be able to reap some benefit from our contribution to his education. Mes left us again shortly before Christmas 1975.

Indonesia--Australia mission group

When Mes was still with us, John Brown, the General Secretary of BOEMAR, commented that his presence in the Australian church illustrated that mission was both ways, in our case not just from Australia to Indonesia, but also in reverse. He was the Timor church's missionary to our church. Following this both Mes and I were invited to a conference sponsored by the Australian Council of Churches (ACC) to build closer relations between Australian and Indonesian churches. From both sides there was a 'desire to share one another's burdens in a way that was different from the traditional one way mission movement'. At this conference, five persons came specifically for this meeting from Indonesia, while four participants were already working in Australia, like Mes. 12 participants came from various Australian churches.

A pre-conference visit to Wollongong for some Indonesian delegates was organised by me. They saw the work the Good Neighbour Council did with migrants, and our Session Clerk David Banks showed them his high

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