REV. DR. PETRUS OCTAVIANUS
Petrus Octavianus (lovingly referred to as “Pak Octav” in Indonesian) had a humble beginning in life being the seventh child of Jeremias Octavianus and Paulina Pandie. He was born on December 29th 1928 in Laes, Rote Island, the most southern island of Indonesia.
His father a poor farmer passed away when he was only 13 months old. Since his family could not even afford a family portrait, his mother told him that he looks exactly like his father, so he often look at himself in the mirror and said hi to his Papa. He grew up tending sheep until he was 9 years old when he moved to live with his aunt and uncle, Joseph Mooy. The discipline and lifestyle of the Mooys motivated him to always do his best. He grew up to be an intelligent young man with such passion for education and the wellness of others. To support his education he would sell fire logs, water, deep fried banana and other traditional Indonesian cookies.
His love for education took him from Rote to Kupang, Ambon, Surabaya and Bandung. He started his career as the Director of the Christian High School and of the Teacher Training College in Malang, East Java at the age of 26. He received Doctor of Divinity from Biola University in Los Angeles in 1980 and Doctor of Philosophy, Kennedy Western University, Wyoming, in1999.
Pak Octav care for Indonesia was also shaped ever since he met Indonesia founding father, Soekarno on June 1, 1950 in Surabaya and in September 26, 1954 in Malang. Bung Karno was an inspiration on many of his books regarding Indonesia.
He married the love of his life, Henriene Mone on May 12, 1954 and together they have eight (8) children and ten (10) grandchildren.
In June 25, 1959 Pak Octav decided to leave his worldly career and chose to answer God’s divine calling as His servant to “LIVE FOR GOD AND OTHERS, TO SAVE GENERATIONS IN THE FUTURE.”
He founded Yayasan Pelayanan Pekabaran Injil Indonesia (now YPPII Batu) or Indonesia Missionary Foundation on March 3, 1961. God continued to lead Pak Octav to carry out ministries work in more than 80 countries in the world throughout his life. He carried with him the map, flag, and sarong of Indonesia in every ministry trip to introduce Indonesia to the world. Because of this dedication to country, he was chosen to be featured twice in the book “WHO AND WHAT THEY CONTRIBUTE FOR INDONESIA”.
By God’s grace, Pak Octav wrote 105 books (21 in English, 1 in German ) on theology, leadership and other subjects. He founded and led 19 nonprofit organizations, hospitals and orphanages with 37,000 foster kids. His life and dedication to GOD and nations was filmed by Billy Graham Association. This documentary was aired in Amsterdam in July 29, 2000 and viewed by 10,385 Christian leaders from all around the world.
Pak Octav went to be with the Lord peacefully on March 30th 2014 at 11:30PM West Indonesia time the same date as his father. In his last wish, he requested to be laid rest in his favorite suit when preaching and no shoes only covered with Ikat Rote as a reminder of his humble beginning and the circle of life.
Known as Father of Integration, he left a legacy of continuing to transform generations.