As myself and 2 other teachers reached our destination for the fourth week of creation to Christ Bible teaching, it felt good to take my backpack off and sit around the fire with the 6 other men who had come earlier. We talked about the hike and the previous week of teaching and the response from the people. One man said he was concerned for the ones who haven’t been coming to the teaching, and suggested that we get a bunch of tape recorders and take them to the houses of those who aren’t coming and “force” them to hear this important talk. As we talked it over though we all came to the same conclusion that only God could change their hearts and that we needed to really pray that God would impress on them the importance of this message and that they would come. Tuesday morning after praying for specific people individually we were all so encouraged to see Tuwe sitting right in the middle with a huge smile on his face waiting to hear God’s Word. It thrilled our hearts to see him again on Wednesday soaking up every word that was taught. Then after we were done he addressed the entire group and said, “We are all like Cain, we have turned our backs on God. But now we are hearing God’s Word in our own language and its good.” What an encouragement it was to each of us to see God’s hand at work, bringing these souls to Himself.
But please continue praying for David and his family. It sounds like they, especially, are really having a hard time believing that there is only one God. Their hearts have been deceived for so long, and there is a very real battle going on for those hearts right now!
As you are praying for the outreach, please don’t forget to pray for the literacy class that is going on at the same time. Three teachers from our home village are teaching 13 students how to read and write in their own language. One of the ladies in the class had a baby two weeks ago and obviously wasn’t able to make it to the classes that week. How encouraging it was for me to see one of the teachers, Jaspa, take a primer and go to her house to help her understand that day’s lesson and make sure she didn’t fall behind. This week she was back in class with her little one laying in a string bag next to her. Learning how to read and write in their own language is key to these men and women having a deep relationship with the Lord. How can they know what God wants to tell them if they can’t read his Word?
Thank you again for your continued prayers for us. We appreciate your partnership more than words can say! Serving the Lord in this way, and having the opportunity to go and teach a new village the Gospel is such a privilege. It is however taking its toll on me physically. Tuesday evening I started to develop a bad chest cold, then Wednesday, hiking back in the rain, didn’t help things! I’ve been on my back for a couple of days. Thankfully Ralf will be going this week so I’ll have a week to recover. Please remember him this week that God would give him strength and wisdom as he disciples the Bible teachers as well as teaches some of the lessons.
Because He alone is Worthy, Jeremiah, April, Jordan, Judah and Alayna