Thank you to all of you who are praying faithfully for us here in Amdu. You are playing an indispensable role in the disciple making that is happening. As you pray the Lord is guiding us in wisdom. On Sunday God guided Benjamin into a conversation about the Cain and Abel story we were planning to teach on Monday. The questions asked in that conversation helped Benjamin to add detail into the lesson that really clarified an important point for our Amdu audience. In the Amdu universe, death by sorcery accounts for nearly every fatality. Our friends wanted to know if the Cain and Abel story was the story about the beginning of this practice. “How did Cain kill Abel?” was the all-important question in their minds. Being specific about what didn’t happen was not something we had planned into the lesson but God was faithful to alert us to this need and we were able to add more clarity!
As you pray, the Lord is helping our friends to apply the truths they are learning to their own lives. In a conversation with a couple men before a lesson, Benjamin was talking to them about what pigs eat. One man recounted a traditional story about a pig who ate a man. Immediately the other man said, “No! That story isn’t one of the true stories that God has told us. That is from our ancestors and isn’t true.” What a great testimony! Another good testimony from our core group was the answer to the question, “How old were Cain and Abel and what was it that they did that God considered them to be like dead branches broken off from God?” After some discussion the group was confident that these boys were considered to be broken off branches from the time they were born. “They inherited their parent’s messed up hearts from birth,” the group said. This isn’t an easy question to answer and we’re very glad the majority has grasped this. As we got into the story of Noah and the thought of old people and children dying in the flood, our group was able to say, “No. God wasn’t doing something wicked when he punished humanity that way. They were all (like) broken off branches. And Noah made a huge ark they could have gotten into.” It is so good to see people working through hard questions, because they are confident in basic principles like, “God does not do evil, ever!” Thank you for praying.
As you go to God for the Amdu people, keep praying that they hear clearly and put all the pieces together. Benjamin sat with another man, one-on-one, where they were able speak frankly with each other. This man was very transparent. He is still really trying to work out how the stories he has heard from his ancestors fit with the stories from the Bible. Are they two completely different explanations? Are they stories that are somehow interrelated? Does the one explain the other? It is great to see him wrestling with this. Benjamin assured him that the lessons coming this week are going to help him with his questions. Upcoming is the story of Babel and the massive debacle there. How many groups hung around to follow after the Creator? Zero! All of them went out into darkness and from that darkness sprung every false story about origins that has ever been told. This is going to help our friend with his question! Keep praying!
Since you have been praying, our hearts have remained encouraged and we see the Lord continually lifting our eyes to Him. As we wrestle with questions like, “What can we do to draw more people into the teaching?” and, “How do we challenge people who are only coming part time?” we can find ourselves discouraged. But you’ve prayed for us and our team has continued to rally each week finding encouragement in the word, in each other, and in the evidence of God at work in hearts. So thank you for continuing in prayer with us.
This week we’ll be getting into the story of the Tower of Babel first, then we will be going through the story of Abram who became Abraham and was declared righteous by God because of his faith. We will also be telling the story of Lot and his poor investment. Pray that man’s corruption will continue to devastate all hopes of self-righteous claims in the minds of our Amdu friends. Pray that God’s single minded, relentless pursuit of the redemption of this corrupt family blazes blindingly above all other details. Pray that our friends will hunger more and more deeply for their road to be right with God.
Thank you,
Benjamin and Missy