Chad and Janeene Mankins Serving among the Tobo of Papua New Guinea Sooner than we had imagined..and that’s more than OK!
We are pleased to tell you that we made it home safely to the US (and no, we did not disappear into the international date line on our way over). After the joy of reuniting with most of our family members, we hit the ground running. First, we celebrated Chad’s grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. Then, after finishing some last-minute paperwork, we had our first home study and were approved within two weeks of our arrival in Florida. Then, this last weekend, we were off to a 4-day missions conference in Tulsa, OK (thank you for a wonderful time, MBC friends!!) which was very encouraging.
While we were still in Oklahoma, Bethany (the adoption agency) called us to say that a young lady was due on November 2nd in Orlando, and could they show our profile along with that of 3 others to her to choose from? Of course, we excitedly said, “Yes- please do!”.
And then, before we even left the Sooner state, we learned that this soon-to-be-due mother had chosen US to adopt her child!! We had a nice meeting with her yesterday, and now we will be waiting for a phone call to head for the hospital and await the birth! We knew that Oklahoma was known as the Sooner state, but we had no idea that this adoption might happen even SOONER than Elijah’s miraculously fast adoption back in 2004-2005!!
That’s what we get for all those prayers! How like God that is to surprise us by moving even faster than we had dreamed he would!! Rejoice with us, and we’d appreciate your prayers for a safe and healthy delivery, as well as for the period of waiting which by law can last up to 48 hours, where the birth mother will make her final decision to terminate her parental rights and then we will be the proud parents of……………..… (to be continued)
(Hey, if the TV series like 24 can work that way with the cliffhangers, so can we…)
Eagerly waiting and looking forward to continuing this email,
Chad, Janeene, and Elijah (who is already talking about being a big brother and is sharing in the excitement of anticipation)
SOONER than we had imagined–and that’s more than OK
Precious Cargo
In a few short weeks, even as we will be traveling enroute to the US, our partners the Knapps and Williamsons will be returning to Toboland bringing with them cargo–more precious than the cargo cult can imagine. That is portions of God’s Word to them in their own language!! God has so much more to offer in His Word than all the physical cargo on this earth put together many times over.
From the first stages of studying and rough drafting these portions all the way to proofing and printing them, many long hours of work and lots of prayer have gone into these precious booklets, which contain consultant-checked portions of Genesis, Exodus, Acts, and the book of Mark. How awesome is it that the God of the universe loves us so much and desires to communicate his special Word to us on this planet, even in remote corners like where we serve. God has given us the incredible privilege of being part of the team who are working together to share that message with the Tobo people and also to be part of the team—including some of our Tobo friends– that has worked to get these scriptures into their hands.
Don’t forget that you too have played your part in seeing this happen—be encouraged and let’s all praise our Lord for this. Let’s also pray that the Tobo believers will take the contents of this precious cargo from God and use it for His glory as it grows them up in the faith and is used by them to share that faith with their friends and family.
Pray also for the future months and years as much work remains to be done to see more of the life-giving message of the Bible translated into this language.
Thanking God for His Word, which WILL NOT return to Him void (Isaiah 55:11),
Chad, Janeene & Elijah
PS The coke boxes in the picture contain 50 copies of God’s Word in a semi-permanent form until the entire NT will be published. It has comb binding so that we can continue to add on translated portions of scriptures into one book, making it easier for the Tobo to handle and read.
A Time to Remember
Our last believers’ meeting before leaving the village this last week was truly one to remember. Not just for us to remember the time together, but also to remember the Lord Jesus Christ and his life-giving death for us. No Western formalities here–we cooked a few sweet potatoes over the fire, Tobo-style, and passed around that and some water as the ladies beat their wooden drums and we sang praises to God in Tobo. We partook of the sweet potato and water and thanked Yesu for taking our place and dying for our sins. It was a precious time with our brothers and sisters as we partook of the Lord’s Supper not as a ritual to please God or get into heaven, but as a way to remember what Yesu has done for us.
Tears were shed as we left the next day on our mission’s small plane to head for town and then in a few short weeks, our second furlough. One of our friends while weeping, said “God’s Word has broken my heart” repeating it over and over. She was so thankful that God’s Word had come to Tobo and she now has life. So this time leaving was different than last time, as we both shared and said that we could pray for each other to the same God and he will take care of us while we are apart.
We have been busy out here in town printing and binding the Bible portions that Chad has translated, so that the fledgling Tobo church will soon have more of the Word of God into one book to read and study. This is exciting! More on that soon!
Elijah is slowly adjusting to life out here. Some of his favorite things include: cars, ice cream, and the ocean. Things he’s not too crazy about so far are: the heat, the ceiling fans (not too sure why?), and all the strange new white people out here. While in town, he was greeting every national person he could see, but once out at the mission’s property, he became very shy and unsure of the new white faces. He should adjust in the next few days, though. Ah, the joys of the ever-changing life of a missionary kid…
So next time you partake of the Lord’s Supper in your church, remember that you have fellow brothers and sisters in a very different setting who are remembering our Lord right along with you!!
Thanks again for all your prayers for us and for the Tobo people! We appreciate you!
Chad, Janeene & Elijah
…voting, growing, and “cell-phoning”
The 2007 national elections for Papua New Guinea are upon us. Whereas millions and millions of Americans can vote all across that huge country in just one day, here in PNG it is a much different story! Because of the lack of roads to connect the country (and because we operate on South Pacific time here), the dates July 1st through the 10th had been given to allow for this island nation’s residents to all have the opportunity to cast their ballots. Even so, our rainy season here in Toboland meant that no airplanes or choppers could bring in the ballot boxes for our area, and finally, today on July 10th, the ballot boxes have been carried in here via treacherous mountain trails! We’ve got to be one of the last areas in our part of the country that has yet to vote (and thankfully the word on the street—err, trail, that is—is that the deadline will be extended). During the week, the boxes will be carried daily from village to village, and hopefully the votes can make it to the coast again by the end of this week! Truth be told, regardless of who the wins, it will just be nice to let the dust (err—mud?) settle again after the votes are counted (and that will take more than a week in itself!).
Even during these busy days of comings and goings and chasing after candidates and their elusive dreams of prosperity (both future and “immediate”), we are encouraged by the steady growth of the believers here who have stayed around. Last week, during Janeene’s weekly meeting with some of the ladies to go over the previous lesson, some new ladies showed up. Janeene was excited to see our neighbor Lanisa begin to go over the gospel message from the beginning with these ladies. One older lady in particular kept asking Lanisa questions, and she continued to answer them and clear up her confusion on some points. “We CAN know if we are going to heaven, it is in God’s Word.” Janeene only had to jump in once or twice to offer her support!
Another neat thing that happened was on Thursday morning just prior to our believers’ meeting. Nikos sat down next to me and whipped open his booklet of Bible portions and proceeded to read a passage in Luke to me that we had covered a few weeks ago. He went on to share that from the story of the rich man who built new barns and then died that night, that not just other people in our area, but he too realized that he needed to be treasuring God’s Word and spending more time reading and thinking about it than just thinking about his gardens and getting more money and new clothes and other things. He then during our meeting exhorted the other believers that we all need to be making God’s Word big in our thinking on a regular basis.
Then afterward, I was privileged to stand there with him and our first believer Tingon and just listen to them going back and forth talking about the Lord and his grace. Tingon went through several OT stories and their application to God’s saving grace through Christ, such as God’s provision of the ram as a substitute for Isaac.
Tingon- “Just as Isaac had no strength to save himself, all tied up on top of the firewood and the altar, we too had no strength to save ourselves.”
Nikos- “True, and so many people around here, our friends, our family, they are not believing that. Now Abraham, he believed God’s talk to him and was going to kill him as God commanded him to do. He just believed God, and God took care of him and Isaac.”
Tingon- “Right! God gave the sheep to die in Isaac’s place. Abraham did not do any work for that. Neither did Isaac. God did it all! We need to keep telling others that we cannot stand on our own strength to save ourselves. God gave us our sheep, Yesu!”
Wow, is it ever cool to be a part of these conversations as a supportive listener rather than a major contributor! We realize that there is still much teaching and grounding in God’s Word needed for these our Tobo brothers and sisters, and to that end we are really looking forward to our main teacher Jason and his family’s return this week! The Knapps have taken an earlier-than-scheduled break in Australia as Jason has recovered from the severe infection stemming from a malaria attack, and they had to wait on paperwork anyway before returning. So we are praising the Lord here for Jason’s recovery as we eagerly await their return.
Finally, we wanted you to hear from Elijah’s corner! Our little dynamo continues to amuse us and keep us from getting over-rested (hardly a problem these days anyway). He comes up with such gems as “Uh-oh…the clouds are coming in!” and after a minor earthquake struck, he said “What’s that feeling?” and proceeded to wiggle around some more well after the tremor had subsided. He also for some odd reason the other night decided to call up Grandma on his “cell phone” which was actually a spoon from the kitchen! Don’t ask us—we don’t have any coverage out here whatsoever!!
Speaking of coverage—we really appreciate your coverage of us through your support and prayers. And we don’t even need cell towers! Thanks so much for being “in our circle.
Because Our God is Faithful,
Chad, Janeene & Elijah
A New Kind of Easter!
How did you celebrate Easter this year?
We had a wonderful gathering as believers in the great outdoors. The worship was tremendous as we thanked Jesus for his sacrificial death for us, singing to the tune of guitars and the beat of wooden hand drums!
Several people expressed their praise to Kiwu (God) for what Yesu (Jesus) has done for them. We concluded our time by drinking tea and sitting around enjoying each other’s fellowship.
A special treat for us was the visit of some elders and their wives from one of the churches of our partners Jason & Kellie. These men and women were a big encouragement to the believers by sharing testimonies and letting them know how much people back in the US were praying for them!
Easter has been observed by many Tobo in the past (along with Christmas). But now for the first time, rather than being a solemn time of fear and restrictions and taboos (like staying around one’s village area during the several days of the holiday to keep out of trouble with the spirits), many are appreciating the wonderful meaning the resurrection of our Lord Jesus has for them personally as sinners saved by grace!
We were recently encouraged by some thoughts that one of our neighbors and Janeene’s good friend Lanisa expressed: “This has been a good time for us now to see what Christ has really done for us! He died and his blood spilled out for our sins and then he rose up from death and stomped on Satan’s head and crushed it. Now I am not afraid any more, and my insides are no longer heavy. I am so happy. Before I understood that Jesus died for me, my sin—it was like I was carrying a huge string bag not full of sweet potatoes, but full of stones. I was hunched over under all the weight, staggering around walking on all fours like a pig because of the heaviness I was carrying. But Jesus just took the bag off of my back side, and now I can stand up straight and walk with ease like a woman and not a pig.”
It has truly been a blessed Easter for us this year! We hope that you, too, were blessed this Easter!
He is Risen Indeed!!
Chad, Janeene & Elijah (and some very happy new brothers and sisters in Christ)
First Tobo Translation Workshop
(Back row standing- left to right): Rigo, Kips (Ankle), Joshua, Alis. (Middle, seated): Harmbocks.
(Front row, seated- left to right): Tingon, Jason, Welsen, Chad
(Not pictured): Polas (who helped with the check in my last update).
This past week (first week of April), I had the privilege of being part of the first-ever Tobo translation course. What was particularly exciting during the three days we met together was that I was there in a “support and advisory” role, and I did not need to actually teach this course. This is because our 2 capable translation helpers Tingon and Rigo did all the teaching, using the notes from the course they took during our translation workshop a year ago.
The course notes were in Pidgin, but they did a beautiful job using them to teach the 6 students in the Tobo language! These 6 men, who are all believers, took lots of notes, and now have an even better understanding of the importance of translating the meaning of God’s Word faithfully and accurately, yet in a clear and natural way which will communicate to their hearts as they read it.
These dear brothers have a real desire to see God’s Word in their language! Please pray for us as we will be transitioning into using these believers as new helpers to translate the Bible, especially for wisdom in training a new main helper from among their ranks who will help me with the first drafting of the Scriptures.
Please also remember to pray for Rigo, who alone of those involved in our course has sadly still opted to remain with his religious sect and their erroneous teachings rather than choose to trust Christ alone for his salvation. My heart aches for my good friend of almost 5 years now, and I am still hopeful that through our continued witness and the testimony of the believers in our area and the powerful truth of the Bible that has been translated, he will come to faith in Christ one day soon.
We are encouraged by the tremendous progress that is being made here as we continue to carry on the work of translation working hand-in-hand with our new brothers and sisters in the faith here!
Thanks also for working “hand-in-hand” with us, in spite of the long distance!
Chad, Janeene & Elijah
PS- We’ve included the names of those involved in the course for those of you who would like to pray for one, some, or all of these men.
Good news, new life, and a visitor!
Don’t you enjoy seeing new babies, like the girl Salisa all bundled up in this picture above? New life is a blessing to see and it is such a joy to be a part of it! Our new Tobo believers continue to enjoy their new life in Christ, meeting together each Thursday morning as Jason leads a study through key Old Testament passages, and some in the NT as well. They have been learning more about their newfound faith, including our dependence on God, and how we can talk to Him in prayer—thanking Him and telling Him about our problems and hardships and asking Him to help us. We are also encouraging each other to also be praying for those who still do not believe as well as telling them the Good News. Many of the believers are very shy about praying in public, as in the past only religious leaders would make public prayers on certain occasions. But we are praying and trusting that as time goes on, more of them will start to feel more comfortable in this area of prayer.
We are still amazed and heartened by the change evident in the life of our neighbor and landowner, Alis. This man was heavily into the cargo cult and has always been known as a hothead and given to fits of anger and threats in village meetings or other gatherings. Since Alis has become a believer in Jesus, he is so peaceful and has a calm, gracious demeanor. He is a real joy to speak with, and desires to learn as much as he can these days from the Word. Jason has even begun using his help in translating Bible lessons for the new believers’ meetings. Thank the Lord with us for our new brother in Christ Alis! His wife Lanisa is a good friend of Janeene’s, and has also been learning and growing as a new Christian. Lanisa is one of our better Bible readers, and was actually the first brave Tobo person to pray publicly in the believers’ meeting a few weeks ago!
Also, tomorrow morning, we are getting a visitor in here! Translation consultant Linda Krieg will be flying into our village to check the Tobo translation of the book of Mark, as well as some key portions of Genesis and Exodus. Our friend and another new brother in Christ Polas will be joining Chad and Linda for the next week and a half of work, which will involve Chad reading the scriptures to Polas in Tobo, Polas telling Linda what was communicated by using Melanesian Pidgin (trade language of PNG), and Linda will be consulting the back-translation that Jason had done from Tobo back into English for her benefit in helping us make sure that the meaning of the scriptures is as close to the original as possible.
Would you understand this sign 
if you were at an airport, like the one we saw at a layover in Taiwan once?
This would come across much better to most of us if the translator had said something like this: “You are welcome to use the following coupons here. Enjoy!” The language is ours, but something didn’t quite get through in the best way, did it?
This example is for coupons to be used at airport dining facilities. How much more, as we are dealing with the powerful and life-changing Word of God, do we desire that it communicate in a clear, understandable and natural way to our Tobo friends, just as we would read and understand the Bible in our heart language of English? This is where Polas’ role as a native speaker of the Tobo language is so vital in helping us during this check. Would you please pray for us as we put in these long hours of sitting, reading, and discussion to make sure that God’s Word for the Tobo people will be as clear and accurate as possible? We are so thankful for this opportunity, which will bring us that much closer to getting the Word of God in its final form into the hands of the Tobo people!
Thanks so much for your prayers, support, and encouragement! We look forward to letting you know how things go with the check!
Chad, Janeene & Elijah
New Believers In the Tobo Tribe!
Have you ever been around a group of new believers??
The excitement is contagious.
People are talking a mile a minute about how happy they are now because of Jesus dying on the cross for them.
“I can be God’s friend now.”
“My sins are forgiven.”
“I don’t have to keep doing good works hoping that I might go to heaven, Jesus is holding me.”
“Jesus took my place so I don’t have to die. I’m free now.”
How incredible is God’s salvation?!!
Thank you so much for all your prayers!
And please keep praying for these new believers, for their growth as we begin to teach them more about the incredible life they now enjoy in Christ, and for their zeal to continue and reach those who have not believed yet.
Your partners in the gospel,
Chad and Janeene & Elijah
“Thank you, Yesu!!!!”
“Thank you, Yesu!!!!”
Yesterday the 16th of January, 2007 was a historic day for the Tobo people! For the first time, people heard the Gospel message of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus in their language! After the lesson, we were each surrounded by a cluster of excited people and the questions were really coming at us. We were able to confirm that several had indeed understood and believed that Jesus had paid for their sins through His shed blood. Praise God! One of these men, Welsen, told me this morning, “I am so happy! Yesu spilled His blood for me, I believe, and now I am going to heaven. I have eternal life!”
There were 2 other men who said the quote at the top of this email- one to Jason and the other to Chad. After today’s teaching on the resurrection appearances and ascension of Christ, as well as a recap of the Gospel from the yesterday, people just sat there, many with bowed heads, some with tears.
Jason went over to our neighbor and landowner, Alis, who was sitting there crying. The first words out of his mouth as Jason approached were, “Thank you, Yesu!” When Jason asked him why he said this, Alis’ response was, “Because Yesu died for me, and I believe and now I’m not going to hell anymore!” Just to remind you, Alis has been a very loud, arrogant, outspoken, quick-tempered man who has given us more than our share of headaches since our arrival in Tobo-land in 2002. His change in demeanor the past few days has been nothing short of incredible! Would you pray for Alis and his family (wife Lanisa, 3 young daughters and a toddler son)? We believe that his brother Morozin (who is another one of our neighbors who in the past had been, let’s say, difficult..) has also chosen to place his faith in Christ. Another unlikely person to come to faith—but God is in the business of saving the most unlikely of people, isn’t He? Praise Him!
I (Chad) went over to talk to Agabus, just a few years younger than me. I asked him what he was thinking, and he said “I believe Yesu died for me, spilled His blood and saved me from the penalty for my sin. Thank you, Yesu!” He also said, “I still have lots more questions, and I really want to talk more about these things!” I assured him that, yes, we will do much more talking about these things.
We look forward to sharing some more of these accounts in the following days, as we visit with different people and find out what they’re thinking and what they’ve understood. It is too early to give you a number of believers, but we are definitely encouraged by the response of several of those we’ve been able to talk with thus far. We’ve also spoken to several who still do not understand, and others who are choosing not to believe, which is sad. We invite you to continue to pray with us for the salvation of these dear people.
Please join with us in rejoicing for those who are now our brand-new brothers and sisters in Christ!! And pray for extra wisdom and energy as these look to be extremely busy days ahead. Many of you who are parents already know the huge responsibility and work involved in caring for the new baby after he/she is born. Imagine a multiple delivery! But along with the work ahead and overshadowing that, there is sheer joy! Yes, joy—at the birth of several baby believers—the body of Christ in Tobo-land!
Thank you, Yesu!!
Chad & Janeene Mankins
Chad_Mankins@ntm.org
www.ntm.org/chad_mankins
3 Days to Go!!!
We are down to 3 teaching days until the end of what is known as “Phase One”- that is, evangelism and presentation of the Gospel. On Tuesday, we will be going through the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ! Praise God, most of our core group of 75 have continued to come faithfully. Many of the cargo cult leaders have stayed away these past several weeks, and this morning (Sunday), we awoke to hear a number of them heading off to another village down the valley, which is the chief area of the cult around here. On Tuesday, the same day we will present the Gospel, people in our area who have stayed behind have been told to wear their traditional bark loincloths and grass skirts and wait for the cargo to come.
Thanks for praying for this last week! Monday’s lesson left people really quiet and thoughtful as we left each one to think about which soil their hearts represent as the Word of God is sown. Jason taught an especially thought-provoking lesson on Wednesday. Following that lesson on Jesus being the Bread of Life, we had some interesting conversations with people.
Anjere- “So you’re saying that to get eternal life, we are simply to believe in Jesus? What about following all of God’s other rules, doing good things, helping other people? What you’re telling us is too easy!”
Jason- “Let’s look at what Jesus said again in John 3:16, and again in John 6:29. What did Jesus say we needed to do to have eternal life? What are we to do to do God’s work? ”
“Only to believe in Jesus Himself! Jesus’ words are short here, and we men have added a lot more to what He said, haven’t we?”
“You’re right.”
“I’m going to come back tomorrow to hear more of this teaching!”
(note- this man brought his wife with him the next day, and he and another friend of ours were excitedly discussing these things throughout the teaching and afterward)
One woman, Nowina, had this to say to Janeene after Wednesday’s lesson-“God’s Word is really breaking my insides. I see that this is not just food to help my body, but to help my soul. Just like the people in Israel, we have been looking for Jesus to give us rice and tin meat to fill our bellies, but He came to give us eternal life. Now I don’t know what to do, I have 2 insides now. I don’t know whether to put on my grass skirt on Tuesday or not!”
(please pray for Nowina, as she is a part of a clan which is heavily involved in the cargo cult, and the pressure on her will be tremendous to follow along with everyone else)
Finally, our neighbor and landowner Alis has been openly struggling with what to do for Tuesday. We were very encouraged to see that he and his family, as well as most of his clan, chose not to follow the group down the valley. We are thrilled that the majority of our 75 who have faithfully attended the teaching have chosen to stay here and hear the teaching. Pray that they will come, and that many will have the courage to stand up in the face of opposition and social pressure to follow along with their traditional way of thinking.
We are hopeful and praying that very soon, we will have some new brothers and sisters in Christ in the next few days!!
Please join us in prayer!!
Chad, Janeene & Elijah
Please pray and have others you know join us in prayer for these next 48 hours! The last 3 lessons of our phase 1-evangelism- will be taught and we ask that you would specifically pray for us these days that these lessons will be communicated clearly and that many who are listening will trust in Jesus as their Savior:
January 15th : ( Mark 14) The last supper; Jesus is arrested-the Deliverer suffered for us- God fulfills His word exactly as He says He will
January 16th : ( Mark 15, 16) Jesus is crucified, buried, and rises again from the dead!-Jesus is our substitute and paid the penalty for our sin- do you believe that?
January 17th: ( Mark 16; Acts 1:9-11) Jesus ascends into Heaven-Jesus proved that He was alive-proving that He had conquered sin and death!
Chad & Janeene Mankins
Chad_Mankins@ntm.org
www.ntm.org/chad_mankins