Hi friends, let me introduce you to David.
Five years ago this young boy nearly died of Meningitis (possibly Malaria also); David was brought to us when he was very low, the illness had progressed and he was at risk of dying. We consulted with our NTM doctor; David’s blood pressure was low, he was delirious, had a very high constant temperature, shallow breathing and was severely dehydrated.
We were told David might not make it through the night. Through God’s grace we and our coworkers had medicine available; we prayed and gave him injections through the night (even though we had never done these things before). Thank God David pulled through. Later David brought us a stalk of Bananas to say thank-you for helping him. Even though David was thankful he never came to any of the outreaches as his family trusted in other things.
I have thought of David from time to time as we have looked through old photos and prayed for our co-workers and friends, the Mengen people. Our partners recently told us that there is now a new outreach going on in the first village we planted a church (the one we lived in and will go back to). In this village the younger generation are hungry for the gospel and are asking the Mengen church to teach them. They are doing a lot of things right!! So there is a new outreach to pray for and we are praising God that David now five years later is going to hear the gospel for the first time!
There are also around 120 people from the village coming to church and being taught through Romans by our Mengen bible teachers!
You know when we had to leave PNG because of Karis’s heart problems and found out we may not be able to return, I had many concerns for the young church fragile as she was. But as we were working through these things, shortly after Karis’s birth I read Acts ch20:32 and here in this section of scripture Paul had to leave this young church knowing they would come under attack. This verse has humbled me and become precious, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified”. I thank God that He and the word of his grace are enough for the Mengen people. I thank God he has worked through our partners and the body to build up the Mengen church. So we are excited and thanking God that even though we are not particularly special, we get to go back and work with our partners, the Mengen church and Mengen bible teachers. We get to learn from them and join with them in seeing the church grow, mature and reach out to new areas. And if you are praying and giving to the Mengen work then you are right there with us, part of the work.
Please do praise God:
- That the most of are village have a new hunger for Gods word.
- David and many other young people are hearing the gospel for the first time.
- Praise God that the village above ours that has always seemed close are asking Mengen bible teachers to do an outreach.
- Praise God that even though God doesn’t need us; we get to go back and work with the church next year.
Please do pray:
- For our Many to be saved, for David to be saved in this new round of gospel teaching.
- Please do pray for, the new outreach in the village above ours. There is opposition but pray they will see and hear of the beauty of the gospel.
- Please do pray for us as we prepare to return to PNG in summer 2018. We plan to work with the Mengen church and assist them anyway we can. There is much to prepare. We will update you with some practical prayer points later.
Grace to run well, The Flanagan family (Simon, Annika, Nya, Noah, Karis, Judah and Ethan)