“Who caused this to happen?
Who has controlled history since the beginning?
I, the Lord, am the one. I was here at the beginning,
and I will be here when all things are finished.” Is 41:4 (NCV)
So many times in all our settling back here in the States for our year long home assignment we’ve been tempted to worry or not rest in the sovereignty of our Lord. It’s ironic isn’t it? We can travel across the globe, live in a remote setting, and bring the gospel to a people group all in the strength of the Lord. But we get back here to the land of plenty and it’s so easy to forget the Lord. Is our natural environment, or the lack of nothing, that promotes this lack of faith? I’m not exactly sure and it really doesn’t matter. The bottom line is do I believe God is in control of my life and the history of the world or don’t I? And whether I’m struggling through life in the tribe trying to squeeze out language that doesn’t come natural or concerned about the economy the issue is the same. Will I walk by faith in the knowledge that God is in control and allow His peace to reign in my heart or not?
We have seen God do amazing things since we’ve been back. Our kids are all finally settled in the routine of school. For the most part they love it and are enjoying western style church. Their biggest disappointment is that we can’t go to Wal-Mart everyday! J We’ve been busy with meetings and speaking engagements. As much fun and encouragement we have been receiving from being back “home.” Our thought continually dwell on the Dinangat. So when I got an update from the Schlegel’s who just returned to Dinangat I just had to share it with you all…
After we had written in our last update about the opposition the church here in Dinangat had from a different religious group, probably many of you are wondering how the church is doing now. Did we just say that God is faithful? Oh yes, he truly is! He continues building his church here in Dinangat. This Sunday almost all the adults and many children were there for the Sunday worship and teaching time. The lesson Jeremiah happened to teach this Sunday was on Romans 3,21-24, where it says in vs. 24, “Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.” That was God’s perfect plan that those verses happened to be the lesson for this Sunday, because this is the very thing that other group tries to convince our friends about, that we can be righteous before God through our good deeds, and if we fail that we would go to hell.
There is so much more we could tell you about. We know that this is not over yet. The challenges and oppositions will keep coming. And in that, the believers still have a lot to learn, especially in the area of standing strong on the truth during those trying times. But it is very, very encouraging to see in many of the believers the desire to grow in that area. So we’re praising God for that.
At the end of the meeting on Sunday my translation helper Felix (pictured) got up and encouraged the others, saying “We need to keep reading and learning God’s Word. Because otherwise when the challenges come as just recently happened we’ll just be sitting there nodding our heads to things that are not true.” After he was done saying that Esingke, who is THE respected leader in the village got up and very emphatically said, “We are just like grass which the wind can blow in any direction he pleases. We have to become firm in the truth so that when the storm comes we can stand firm on the truth!”
God is at work! Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer. Please continue to be with us before the throne of God for the growth of His church here in Dinangat. Please also be praying for us as a team, for wisdom for all our decisions as we teach and disciple His church, that God may give us clear direction.
Serving him with you,
Ralf, Elli with Naomi, Rebekka & Mirjam
Isn’t that great news? It is so encouraging seeing these new believers getting more and more convinced that they need to stay in God’s word, believe it and act on it. Funny, I just realized, are we any different than they? We too must stay saturated in the word of God.
Thank you so very much for your faithful prayers for these believers. Pray that the outreach will happen in January 2010 to the neighboring village of the same language group.
We appreciate you all!
Gary and Esther Smith