First things first

What’s first thing you’d do if your child or another loved one fell ill? Most folks would – depending on the severity – rummage around the medicine cabinet, call the doctor or head for the emergency room.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that when whooping cough started moving through the Siawi people of Papua New Guinea, their first thoughts were to turn to the fetishes and sorcery that they’ve always relied on to combat illness.

However, what some of them actually decided to do is surprising.

They had recently placed their faith in Christ, and decided that also meant trusting Him through the illness. They certainly sought medical help from missionaries Tom and Danielle Brendle and Jason and Shannon Swanson. But they were not trusting in missionaries or medicine. They were trusting God.

As good as that is, caring for those needs and reinforcing their faith are more pressures on the missionary team.

"At times it can be overwhelming if we look at the job in our own strength,” Tom wrote. “I need four ‘Tom clones’: one to write lessons, one to teach, one to disciple and one to attend the translation workshop, oh and one to do all the maintenance work that comes up."

This is a crucial time in the lessons, as the believers are almost done reviewing all the Bible stories they heard the first time but from the perspective of believers, seeing God’s provision and faithfulness each step of the way.

It’s also a crucial time for Bible translation. Tom and his Siawi co-workers plan to travel to a team translation workshop, where they will not only learn Bible translation principles but also learn to work together as a team.

"Pray for us as we try to balance the work that needs to be done," Tom wrote.

Thank you for praying for Tom and his co-workers, and for us as we help them and others plant churches among the world’s unreached tribal people.