For all of you praying for us and the Amdu people we want to say thank you. We spent the early part of last week in the lesson about Moses and the burning bush. Reading the story from Exodus chapter three in the Amdu language was a treat for everyone. They enjoyed hearing the story and recalling the details as we reviewed it with them. We did a very simple drama to emphasize the exchange between God and Moses where God reveals his name to Moses and tells him that his name is for everyone to know and remember forever. Because the name “Yahweh” sounds very similar to the Amdu word for “Good,” we had to explain that while it is true that God is good, the meaning of his special name is that God is self-existing and eternal.
The last part of the week we taught on God’s first creative act; making angels. This lesson shows the truths about God that we taught last week in action. God did not create enumerable angels because he was lonely. He created out of happiness. He created the angels with his own strength and wisdom as the only resource. He made them strong and enumerable because his strength is vast and does not wear out. And God created spirit beings that were only good.
Some testimonies have been encouraging. One older man said, “I’ve been wondering for a long time about what to think about our traditional stories. Now you are telling us and I’m understanding.” Another younger man said, “When Bart and Benjamin teach they really explain things.” A couple ladies said, “You are explaining things to us and it’s really good.” In one of our sessions a man asked us if we could supply more written material because he was worried that they would just forget what they are hearing. He appreciates the audio recordings and the question sheets we have provided for review, but he was hoping for more. We assured him that we would be providing more material as time went by and that we would not let them forget the important things they are learning. These are all very encouraging things to be hearing and it shows us that God’s word is at work in their lives.
We’re preparing our minds for next week’s lessons. We’ll be teaching about the first four days of Creation. You can be praying that the Amdu people would clearly see that there is no one superior to God in strength and no one superior to God in intellect. Pray that they would begin to see creation as a display of God’s handiwork and to give Yahweh the credit and no one else. We also want it to be very clear that in all of God’s creation there was no mistakes made. Even though God had never made light before, it was perfect on his very first attempt. There is a great word in Amdu that describes first attempts. It is, “Niknok.” A young man’s first attempt at building a house or a young woman’s first attempt at weaving a string back are typically poor at best. Not so with God! Pray that this begins to practically take shape in our students minds. Also be praying that as God’s story challenges the Amdu story that our friends would be able to judge what is familiar to them and replace it with the truth from God’s word.
Thanks so much for all you are doing to keep us here. We deeply appreciate each one of you.