Last month I debuted a new line of stamps called dkdesigns that were designed by Dina Kowal, a member of the Our Daily Bread designs Design Team.(wow, was there enough of the word "designs" in that sentence? lol). The stamp set that Dina created is called Cross of Christ. Dina had created the watermarks for my Design Team and many customers had emailed me with requests to make this cross into a stamp so I asked Dina and she created this beautiful stamp set!
Dina has a very interesting life so I thought you may be enjoy learning about it. She has been living in Indonesia with her husband, Russ and their 4 children. Dina provide me with much information that I am posting here in her words:
We are missionaries with New Tribes Mission (www.ntm.org). NTM is non-denominational, not affiliated with any one church – people are 
usually curious about that. The goal of the mission and all those involved is to plant indigenous churches among people who have never heard the Gospel, predominantly tribal people. That is our ultimate goal too, but our goal within the mission so far (we have been members for 7+ years) has been to train up our co-workers. We served in the States in NTM’s training program for 4 years, and now we are in Indonesia.
Our house is on a campus which is not in a tribal location, and not in a 
city, but sort of in a village-y suburb I guess…that’s what they’d call it anyway. It’s near the regional airport, but between the airport and us is mostly just some houses and rice fields. We have a regular house, and by that I mean plastered walls and a tin roof, running water, electricity, internet, washing machine, refrigerator, furniture, TV, sit-down toilet. No mud floor or mat walls or anything like that! I don’t have a microwave or a dryer…they are available, but expensive. We do also have a “squatty potty” for our house helper and other guests who are more comfortable with that. The layout of our house is very open, and we often have people over just to sit and visit. Our house is considered a “safe” place by the students, and we love that. I have a girl that lives with us that helps with cleaning and laundry, and having her at the house frees me up to be able to get out and have a ministry and build relationships here on campus.
The campus here is called PPMMP, which stands for the Indonesian equivalent of Missions Training Center for Interior People Groups. Our students are all Indonesians, and all classes and activities are done in Indonesian. Our students are from all areas of Indonesia, and all walks of life – from college graduates to tribal believers. One area of Indonesia is as different from another as if they were different countries, since there are so many islands, and all separated by miles of![IMG_3017[1]](http://kellrick.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54fbbf067883400e5540a74f68834-320wi)
ocean (Indonesia is as wide across as the U.S.) It makes for an interesting mix…actually this coming semester we have some tribal believers, students from a variety of denominational backgrounds, a former gang member who became a Christian about a year ago, and even one student who has lived in the States for the last 13 years and worked in the restaurant industry. Should be an interesting mix!
The students come for a 4 year training program – 1-1/2 years of Bible, which includes what we call the “Chronological Approach” to presenting the Gospel, beginning ‘in the beginning’ and highlighting pictures of Christ, redemption, substitution, etc. through the Old Testament leading up to the life/death/burial resurrection of Christ to tie the whole Bible together as one continuous story, and then an overview of the New Testament and how to study the Bible, 6 months practicum in their home church, then 2 years of Missions training (doctrine, church planting, linguistics), and another language/culture practicum in a tribal location.
Our staff consists of 3 American families, an Australian family, 5 Indonesian families, and 3 single Indonesian ladies. Our role here is mainly discipleship and relationship building. My husband is also on the teaching team and will be helping lead the students in their campus work detail. We have people in our home a lot, and enjoy that aspect of hospitality. I love to cook, and we’re also known for Saturday pizza nights (Mama Dini’s!). I’m also usually called on when there’s a need for someone to help with music, proofreading or translation. I also have 
a ministry of encouragement to our American and national co-workers across the country…we rarely get mail from the States so I know how precious it is to get a birthday or thinking-of-you card. Outside the campus, we are involved in a small Indonesian Baptist church. Our school also is involved in informing the local churches about the need for people to go to the tribal areas of their country – Indonesia has over 750 language groups, many of which have never heard the Gospel. The area we are living in now is predominantly Christian due to European (Dutch) influence in the past. It’s a unique area, 80% Christian in a country that is about 95% Muslim. Indonesia is also the most populous Muslim country in the world.
I homeschool our kids….we are hoping that someday we will have a 
teacher here that can run a one-room school house. Between our Western families now, including a family off-campus that are itinerant in another location, there are 14 kids age 1-12. Our kids interact well with the Indonesian kids too, which is really encouraging.
Be sure to stop by Dina's blog, Mama Dini, and her SCS gallery, Dini. She also has a watermark and blog banner designing business called Mama Dini's Digi-Sig Diner. Check it out!!
Thanks for visting today!
Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.....Mother Theresa
