There are still some friends who ask with half disbelief, is it true that Mr. Jokowi - President of the Republic of Indonesia will be present at the evening of thanksgiving and appreciation of the 65th Anniversary of the Indonesian Bible Institute on Saturday, February 9, 2019.

They tried to find a good reason for the President of Indonesia to attend an official LAI event. How dare an organization that translates, publishes and distributes the Bible invite the President of the Republic of Indonesia to attend? That was the question in the minds of some of the friends.

The above phenomenon is understandable. The reason is, since LAI was established on February 9, 1954, there has never been a President of the Republic of Indonesia who attended the anniversary or other official events organized by LAI. If the audience of the LAI Management to the office of the President of the Republic of Indonesia and received by the President of the Republic of Indonesia at that time (Mr. Harto) has already happened.

The Indonesian Bible Institute has been working in Indonesia for 65 years and carrying out two mandates of the Indonesian state, namely: (1) To build the spiritual mentality of Indonesian citizens who are Christians by providing the Bible and its parts, (2) To preserve regional languages by translating the Bible into various regional languages in Indonesia.

The Indonesian Bible Institute has been working in Indonesia for 65 years and carrying out two mandates of the Republic of Indonesia, namely.

No less than 30,300,780 Bibles have been printed and distributed throughout Indonesia in 33 local languages and 2 Indonesian languages over the past 65 years. Although this number exceeds the number of Christians in Indonesia, which according to official government statistics is 26.3 million people (10% of 263 million), the need for Bibles continues as there are still many Christians in remote areas of the country who do not have a Bible. Also to replace old, lost, or disaster-damaged Bibles.

In terms of translation into local languages in Indonesia, with a total of 741 local languages, if all of them need Bible translations, then there is still a lot of homework. With one Bible translation from the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) taking 20 years at the earliest, it would still take 706 languages x 20 years = 1,412 years!!! One thousand four hundred and twelve years!!! A very, very long job.

Preserving so many languages, one of the most effective ways is by providing valuable documents in those languages. The Indonesian Bible Society has done this consistently and persistently for the past 65 years.

Preserving so many languages is one of the most effective ways to preserve them.

The proof of this consistent, persistent, unyielding hard work and devotion to the nation is the legality of LAI to ask the President of the Republic of Indonesia to be present at an official LAI event. LAI requests that the President of the Republic of Indonesia be pleased to provide direction and officially open a series of LAI's 65th anniversary events throughout 2019, as an encouragement to continue the work of LAI's services for our beloved Indonesian nation.

Please support the prayers and efforts of all friends so that the schedule of Pak Jokowi - the beloved President of the Republic of Indonesia is suitable on February 9, 2019, so that he can attend with 5000 invitations at the Grand Mahaka Britama Kelapa Gading North Jakarta.

Bible Greetings To All