‘A man of fear’

You and I have fears. Everyone does. The trick is to not let them control us.

But that’s exactly what life has been like for Toiya, a Siar man who lives in Papua New Guinea. Toiya told missionary Chris Lujan that he fears everything.

But last week he heard something that changed his view of life.

Missionaries are preparing to teach evangelistic Bible lessons to the Siar people this summer, so experienced NTM missionaries came into the village where they are working in order to check the first four lessons. Sali and Toiya agreed to listen to the lessons and help the missionaries make certain they were clear.

Chris wrote that Toiya’s fiery personality has given him a heart to see the Siar man find new life in Christ, and that’s why he invited Toiya to help.

“Toiya is full of personality and has a quick temper,” Chris wrote. “If there is a fight in the village and Toiya is around, he is usually involved in some fashion. He comes from a family that is very involved and influenced by their ancestral beliefs (where black and white magic is used and the stories of their ancestors dictate their daily lives).

“He had very little concern for the things of God and in fact was fairly vocal about it. However … I asked if he would be willing to listen to the first four lessons when the consultant came in, and although he was nervous and didn’t know what to expect he agreed to help.”

Through the first lesson, Toiya said almost nothing.

“He was just sitting quietly, so I was not sure what he was thinking,” Chris wrote. During a break after the lesson, he told Chris that what he was hearing was all new to him so he didn’t know what to day.

“He then shared that the lesson was really clear and he has never heard anything about God that was clear. He ended by saying that he was happy to be doing this work, helping us with the lessons and hearing from God.”

As Chris’ teammate Lane Sanford taught lesson two, and Lane and Jonathan Jackson taught lesson three, Toiya became more talkative.

“He started to share what he was learning,” Chris wrote. “It didn’t end there; when Sali and Toiya were on their breaks they would continue to talk about what they were hearing, being surprised how clear it was to them.”

Then came lesson four, which Chris taught from beginning to end. As he stopped to ask questions, “Toiya would be trying to talk over Sali to share what he had been learning.”

Sali and Toiya were also asking a lot of questions of their own, and talking to each other about what they were learning. “They were starting to evaluate their own thinking and worldview by God’s Word,” Chris wrote. “Man, we were excited.”

And something more exciting was coming.

After the lesson review was complete, Toiya came to Chris with something to say: “I don’t want to be a man of fear.”

Toiya asked to hear more lessons, so Chris plans to run through them with Toiya each week before teaching them to the whole village.

“Please be praying for us as we translate God’s word, write Bible lessons, work with our helpers and spend time with our friends here in Siar,” Chris wrote. “Pray for Sali and Toiya, that they would one day clearly understand the Gospel of Christ and His free grace.”