It’s common at this time of year for Simbari people to get restless and travel out to the towns. The Simbari Bible teachers have such a burden for the those of the church who are scattered around in different locations, not able to hear these great truths in their own language. So recently after the lessons about the spiritual armor in Ephesians 6 David’s translation helper, Raymond, wanted to pass on the good teaching. So after work one day he hiked 3 hours up to the top of a mountain, which happens to be the nearest place to pick up a cell tower signal. He spent the night there getting rained on then the next morning called the capital city where some of the believers are right now . He then used his mobile phone to teach those Ephesians lessons as well as some from Romans to a group listening in the capital city. Pray for the Simbari believers who are out in the towns to continue walking with the Lord and be sharing the good news of Christ with others.

We are happy to have some neighbors for a few weeks living next door to us. Dave and Katie Walker who are friends from one of our supporting churches in California arrived in PNG last July and have been learning the trade language and culture at our regional center. As part of their orientation they are required to spend several weeks in a tribal location as they continue their national language study. It also gives them a good taste of what it will be like when the time comes for them to move into a tribal location to begin their own ministry. They’ve had some technical difficulties with the solar fridge and the water pump but they haven’t let those things discourage them. Rather they have kept themselves busy mingling with the Simbaris and practicing the language they have been learning. Pray for their family to stay healthy and encouraged during their time here.

Landslides!

This Sunday when we arrived at church we were astonished to see that the night before there had been two large landslides just behind the church building caused by the nightly deluges we have been getting. The Simbaris are thankful for the fact that the landslides were not too close to the new church building which was just finished earlier this year.

Love, David, Shari and Family

teaching about spiritual warfare

A video game called ‘Battlefield’ has recently captured headlines in many parts of the world, yet out in the jungles of Papua New Guinea the Simbari church is hearing about another battlefield described in Ephesians chapter 6 (mekamiyo is the word for battlefield in Simbari). On this battlefield a spiritual battle is in progress. Eph. 6:12 says that in this spiritual battle God’s people are at war with the spiritual forces of darkness. The Simbari are familiar with fighting so it’s not just an empty metaphor for them. Fighting to protect your land is a common practice in Papua New Guinea.

Domestic fighting is also a common practice in this country. Ephesians has teaching for the family that is shedding new light on what the home life of Christ-followers should look like. Wives submitting to husbands as they do to Christ. Husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it. Fathers training children to follow the Lord and children obeying their parents. And all of these under Christ as the head. These truths have been shedding new light into the family lives of the Simbari church. One couple just came wanting to confess how they had been away in the jungle doing garden work when they had a fight with each other. The man was in tears as he recalled how frightened his children had become. These two knew that they had sinned against God himself even though nobody else outside their family even knew what had happened. The Spirit quickly convicted them and they talked through the issue finally sitting the kids down on the floor of their hut and holding hands as they prayed together as a family. Asking forgiveness from each other and from God and later from the rest of the church for something done privately is evidence that God’s Spirit is really using these truths from Ephesians in their hearts.

The battle is already under way but God has given His people everything needed to be prepared for the fight. We need to put on His armor so we can stand up strong no matter what the enemy brings against us.  In the lesson we recalled the Israelites at the edge of the Red Sea having already been delivered from the king of Egypt who was then chasing them down because he wanted to put the Israelites back under his rule. That king of Egypt was symbolic of Satan who wants God’s people who have been delivered from his power to be back under his rule. And like Moses stood strong in faith we need to put on God’s armor and stand strong while on the battlefield.

One other man shared today how he and his wife have been wanting a pocket Tok Pisin Bible so they can study verses we haven’t yet translated for them. They have been praying and praying for a long time and saving as a couple and they finally were recently able to purchase one for each of them. It was humbling to consider that all this couple wished for was a little pocket Bible. Yet what about us, with all that we already have and even more under the Christmas tree, what are we wishing for? Today there is a tribe out there wishing for a missionary to come to them with the Good News of the Bible. Is there a better present that could be given? Thanks for praying for the Simbari but please remember to pray for the tribes who haven’t yet heard.

David & Shari Ogg

Simbari believers share what they are thankful to God for and what He is teaching them through the book of Ephesians.

To learn more about the Simbari people of Papua New Guinea see: http://usa.ntm.org/field-news/group/simbari

Click the photo for more Simbari pictures

The long awaited final check on Romans 9-16 and Ephesians is complete. We are pleased at how it went. The hearers were tracking pretty well even when hearing fairly large sections. There were a few spots they struggled more to understand. We have some ideas as to how we can improve those sections to better match the Biblical source language text. Some of these abstract concepts are difficult in any language. We noticed the first afternoon they were getting pretty tired and it was affecting their performance. But aside from that the check went as we hoped. What’s exciting is to hear these Simbari men grasping these deep truths from God’s Word communicated in their own language. Thanks to all you who prayed. We also are thankful to the translation consultant, Greg Melendes, who took time from his own translation project to help us with this check. After making a few adjustments to the text we’ll be able to print it for the Simbaris to use. We’ve got several other books in later stages of the translation process that we want to have ready for checking as soon as possible. After completing the translation check David began a course in discourse and translation.

Technology tidbit: While we were out in town one of the Simbari men was able to use a mobile phone to be an encouragement to a brother who lives in the capital city. He put the phone on speaker and shared a message from the Word of God over the phone in the Simbari language.  It’s nice to see the believers using whatever means available to use the Scriptures in their own language for equipping other members of the body of Christ.

Another drama followed the next Sunday to further illustrate how the Gentiles were far from God and not allowed inside the Temple of God. Now they themselves are temples of God as described in Ephesians 2:19-20. We looked back at how God used to dwell inside the Holy of Holies but when Christ died the veil was torn from top to bottom and His dwelling place is now in the hearts of His people. From a tabernacle model that a team from GBC had just brought over the teacher used the ark of the covenant with the mercy seat to show God’s way of dwelling among man before Christ. But now in Christ, “You are being built into a place where God lives through His Spirit” (Eph. 2:22)

A special thanks to the team from Grace Baptist Church who recently came to be an encouragement and help to the Simbari church (and to us). They faced difficult circumstances with their eyes fixed on Christ and were indeed a blessing. If you’d like to read more about their trip here is the link: http://www.gracebaptist.org/papuanewguinea2011

We just finished reading a book that we’d like to recommend: What’s Going On Downriver? by Rob Greenslade. It’s about the Gospel reaching the Bisorio tribe where David visited in 1986 when he was first challenged to become a missionary. Shari also became interested in Papua New Guinea when she heard the Bisorio story.

June was our 20th anniversary of coming to PNG. We have seen things change over the years and a recent change that we are enjoying is internet access out here in the bush. After being separated from family for so long and with such limited communication available it’s been a blessing to keep in better touch with our families and especially with Esther and Simon via Skype. While that is a welcome change what has really excited us as we look back over our years in PNG is the change that has taken place among the Simbari people. God is building His church (Eph. 2:20-21) and we’ve had the privilege of seeing lives changed as Simbari believers follow Christ and obey His Word. We thank God for graciously allowing us to serve Him here in PNG these last twenty years.

Simbari believers reviewing Romans Bible lesson

Many of you are aware and have prayed for the Simbari believers as they have received persecution over the years from another religious group that teaches salvation by works apart from Christ. Rather than engage in arguments about what they believe the Simbari believers wanted to show their faith by serving and loving their enemies. So during the last year or so they have marked work days to help unbelievers in the community with garden work and building houses. Recently this idea was reinforced while studying through the book of Romans with verses like Rom. 6:13 and Rom. 12:1. Up to this point they haven’t really seen much fruit from this loving service but in the last few weeks God has opened a door for ministry of the Word.

This unbelieving group was gearing up for a district conference and so the “men and women of Jesus” from Simbari were discussing how they could show Christ’s love in a tangible way to these people in spite of the fact that they had been persecuted by some of these same people. They decided to give a gift of food since that is always a need when there are a lot of mouths to feed. They collected 17 bags of food and went to give the food in the middle of the week. They wanted to give it quietly but some from the other group didn’t let them and wanted to hear what these “men and women of Jesus” had to say. So they went in and were immediately surrounded by hundreds of people, some who started to break down in tears when they saw the gift. One of our Bible teachers, Raymond, shared on behalf of the “men and women of Jesus” and used verses like John 14:6, among others, to point them to Christ as the only way of salvation. By the end, others from the group were also in tears including some that had been involved in the persecution. Some of the leaders from this other group said they had never seen this kind of behavior before and considered it history-making and intended to go back to town and tell their superiors about all that had happened. They wanted to lift up the believers but the praise was refused and the believers said that what they were seeing was not them but Christ in them. And such behavior is not unusual for people who follow Christ and have His Spirit living in them.

The believers also opened their homes to many from the other group who needed lodging and used the occasion to give testimony about Christ as they sat around in the houses each morning and evening. Some from the other group were enjoying what the believers were sharing so much that they weren’t very eager to go to their groups meetings. The believers offered, “God’s Word is right here in our home and we can keep teaching you here if you like.”

By the end of the week the “men and women of Jesus” were rejoicing in all that God had done and are grateful that a door has been opened for ministry with the people from this other group.

“praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ” Col.4:3

Speaking of the Word, the expected final translation check this week on the last part of Romans and the book of Ephesians had to be postponed due to circumstances out of our control. We trust that God has a plan in allowing this and in His time we will be able to get these books checked. In the meantime we just keep moving ahead with Bible translation and teaching. This month in both of the Simbari churches we’ll begin studying the book of Ephesians. We continue to work on the books of 1 Corinthinans, 1 Timothy, Titus, 1 & 2 Thessalonians and Revelation.

These words are from a song translated into the Simbari language to the tune of “How Great Thou Art“ which the believers love to sing when they come together to worship the Lord. How we wish you could attend one of their worship times and hear the encouraging things they have been sharing about how God and His wonderful truths have been sustaining and guiding them. We wanted to give you a glimpse of how He is doing that by sharing some of the testimonies we heard just this past Sunday in church.

Jolambiya – An old, emaciated woman shared in a choked voice with tears streaming down her face how she had almost died this week from a serious illness but God had spared her life and she wanted to give Him the glory. By God’s grace she had managed to get herself out of bed and walk to church to meet with her brothers and sisters for a time of worship.

Rison – He thanked the Lord for healing him from a sickness he has had for a couple of weeks which has left him feeling very weak. As he was lying in his house during a thunderstorm listening to the continuous sound of thunder he thought about God revealing His presence and power to the Israelites through the lightning and thunder on Mount Sinai. He sensed God speaking to his heart and reassuring him of His presence and His power to heal him.

Barry – This teenage boy praised God for the opportunity He had given him this past week to share the gospel with a group of young men his age at another village. He told us that the young men were very eager to hear what he had to say and this week he will be hiking over there again to share some more with them.

Raymond and Ellen – This young couple and their family have been quite sick this past week and were still getting their strength back by the time Sunday rolled around. In spite of that the two of them made the difficult hike over to the sister church in another village about an hour away so that Raymond could teach the Bible lesson from Romans to the small group of believers there.

Translation Progress We praise the Lord that Ephesians is mostly finished and will be getting the final check done in March along with the last half of Romans so that we can print them for the believers. On Sundays they are going back over some of the key lessons in Romans before they begin to hear Ephesians for the first time. Please pray that we would continue to make good progress in the translation of the other epistles and New Testament books. As one of the believers stated recently, “God’s Word is our food” and it’s delicious “like the oil and salt we use to flavor our vegetables.”

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and the Simbari church. God is continuing to do great things in the lives of the people here.

In His love, David, Shari, Rachel, and Jason

http://www.ntm.org/david-ogg/

We praise the Lord for helping us continue to make good progress on Bible translation. To date, David has been able to finish the preliminary drafts for 1 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, Titus, and 1 Thessalonians. He is now ready to work on 2 Thessalonians and then Revelation. Of course this is only the first stage of the process but of the many stages it is the most time-consuming for David so it is a big step ahead to get these preliminary drafts completed. After the believers finish rebuilding the church he will resume working with his translation helper on the next stage of the translation process on those books that have already been drafted.

Please Pray:

1. For continued good progress in Bible translation.
2. Continued spiritual growth in the lives of the believers.
3. Wisdom for Shari as she has had an increase in medical work lately and it’s often been hard to diagnose and treat those who are sick.
4. For Esther and Simon in college, Rachel at the mission school here in PNG, Jason at home with us in the village. For God’s comfort as we are separated from each other.
5. For our power situation in the tribe because our solar battery bank is 7 years old now and is no longer holding a charge very well. The only way to replace these kind of batteries is to have new ones shipped over via container from the states.
6. For the upcoming staffing needs at Rachel’s school here in PNG. Currently, we have critical needs for teachers in high school math, science, and band, as well as two of our elementary grades. Our complete needs list is available on our website: http://www.mmol.org/NCA

We really appreciate your prayers for our family and our ministry.

David, Shari, and family

Ps. Don’t forget to take a look at our new posted photos by clicking on the “Photos” link on the menu above or by clicking on the following link:  http://blogs.ntm.org/david-ogg/photos/