“They are still in the water!” This is what Hoseph said to Steve, the missionary, one afternoon while discussing and preparing the Bible lessons to be taught later that week.
It all started several months ago. For the first time in history, a small tribe of fishermen began to hear the truth.
For several years before that time, the missionaries in that village had been preparing for this. Many hours, even years, were spent toiling away in the oppressive tropical humidity learning the Agutaynen dialect. Relationships and trust were built during this time as the missionaries demonstrated care for these villagers through medical help and community involvement.
On June 8th this year, about 200 Agutaynen villagers gathered under a simple pole structure with a thatched roof, sitting on bamboo slatted benches, to listen as the missionaries began to teach. They began way back in the beginning of history, establishing foundations and framework for things to come. Many concepts and principles that we take for granted had to be presented and understood in order to set up the context for the Bible lessons to begin. They began to teach through the Biblical account of creation and through the history of man that is recorded in the Old Testament. Always focusing on Mankind’s falling short and missing the mark of what God had intended for people. And again, always bringing to light the Lord’s gracious provision for mankind in making a way for God and man’s relationship to be restored. The missionaries’ desire is to see these Agutaynen people agreeing with God’s Word and identifying themselves as part of the fallen human race and in need of a Savior.
It was during this teaching when Hoseph said to Steve that the Agutaynen villagers are “still in the water.” Hoseph is one of the men that the missionaries have been using to help check and prepare the Bible lessons so that they are accurate and understandable to the villagers. In doing this, he has been clearly taught through the entire Gospel and has evidenced clear understanding of it. When Steve was asking him about the people’s understanding of what was being taught, Hoseph replied that it is like the Agutaynen people are out to sea and they have been guided all the way into shore through the teaching of the truth, but that they are still in the water. These lessons, he said, are clear. The people who listen to the lessons will need to make the choice to take the last remaining steps to the beach.
This past Monday, the missionaries in the village, Steve and Manfred, presented Jesus Christ as the Savior through His death and burial. And tonight, they will teach about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Several months before the teaching began, Tifi, an older lady in the village, told the missionaries how when she attended the local religious ceremonies, she always felt like she came back with “empty hands.” It’s hard to say if this village as a whole is prepared for something more than they have been getting, but is sure seems that there are individuals in the village whose hearts hunger for something more. Pray with us that the Agutaynens’ understanding would be opened to the truth and that they would take those “last remaining steps to the beach.”
-This update comes from the missionaries serving among the Agutaynen people.