NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Summer Happenings – We praise the Lord for providing for us to be able to spend six weeks in the U.S. this summer and have some quality time with family and friends. We were also able to get some medical work done, help Simon with some of his adjustments to life back in California, and share with individuals and groups about the great things God is doing in the lives of the Simbari believers. We do regret that our time was so short and we weren’t able to see more of you this time.

Ogg Kids – Simon has recently started classes at a small Christian College in our hometown and seems to be doing well. He is living on campus this first year, but is only about ten minutes away from David’s family and Esther, so is able to get together with them fairly often. We’d appreciate your prayers for him as he continues to adjust to all the recent changes in his life Esther also returned to classes at a community college not too far from Simon and is doing well. Rachel is in tenth grade now and is living with the same wonderful family she was with at the mission school last year. She has been very active with softball, choir, orchestra, as well as her classes and seems very happy. We are so happy to have her home for her two-week Fall break and were able to celebrate her 16th birthday with her when she got home. Jason is doing well with his home school in fourth grade and is really enjoying life here at our village. After school most days he plays for several hours with his Simbari friends and they never seem to run out of ideas of what to play. He and his buddies have a special call they use when trying to assemble each other for play, and sometimes we have to go outside and tell them that he is still doing school and can’t play yet.

Refined By Fire – A few weeks ago Clayborn’s house which he had recently finished constructing burned to the ground along with three other relatives’ houses nearby. (The cooking fire in a nearby house ignited the house and spread to the other houses) Clayborn and his wife were so distraught and discouraged that they started talking about running off to town to stay until their sorrow diminished That is the cultural way to deal with trials, but the other believers reached out to his family, trying to encourage them to keep their eyes on the Lord and not run from their problems. Clayborn has been helping to teach the Bible lessons and literacy classes at the new church in his village, so it would not have been a good example for him to just quit and leave his responsibilities. When David met with the teachers (including Clayborn) for his weekly discipleship time with them, he went over the Roman’s lesson with them to get them ready for teaching it the following Sunday at the two village churches. The lesson was taken from chapter eight and talks about how our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. It also talks about how God’s Spirit who lives in us prays to the Father for us when we don’t even know what to say. David used Clayborn’s recent trial as an example and talked about how when that happened to him, he no doubt was so distraught he hardly knew what to pray about, but God’s Spirit, who knows his heart, prayed for him. By the end of the meeting, Clayborn and the other teachers were so pumped up and encouraged by the truths they had heard that they left with big, ear-to-ear smiles on their faces. Clayborn said he was going to choose to not dwell on his loss but on God’s promises. God’s Word is so faithful to encourage and offer us the comfort we need and it is so thrilling to see the believers claiming the truths as their own and applying them to their own lives.

Translation Progress – We are very encouraged with the progress being made in Bible translation and just this week David finished the first draft of 1 Corinthians and began work on 1 Timothy. Ephesians Bible lessons are in progress as well. On Sundays the believers have continued going through the book of Romans and learning many great foundational truths that are found in that book. Next Sunday they will be hearing the lesson from chapter 12 about offering our bodies as living sacrifices. They also continue to meet for Wednesday evening fellowship and for daily literacy classes.

We had a wonderful but quick time in the U.S. this summer and are thankful to the Lord for the special times we had with family and friends as well as taking care of some medical needs which we aren’t able to do over here in Papua New Guinea. Of course we wish we could have seen more of our friends and supporters but there just wasn’t enough time during this short visit. We’re thankful for the opportunities we did have to share with groups and individuals about the exciting things God has been doing in the lives of the Simbari believers here. One of the stories we shared was about a man by the name of Bo’wal who has been coming to church for many years but has not shown much fruit in his life until this past year. He is a very shy man and would not speak up very often in church during testimony time. Even though he has been hearing the teaching for years it’s only been in the last year that he has started to speak up about his faith. The week before we left to go to Simon’s graduation and then on to California, we heard this amazing account of the evidence of God working in and through Bo’wal’s life. One of the other believers shared with us that a thief from another tribe had stolen food from Bo’wal’s family garden and his wife was putting pressure on him to bring charges against the thief and try to get some compensation money from him. Bo’wal told her that he didn’t feel it would be pleasing to the Lord and refused to press charges. This caused her to lose her temper and hit her husband very hard across the arm with a big stick. Culturally, the husband would never let his wife get away with such insubordination and disrespect, but would need to hit her back to keep her in line. To the amazement of his family, Bo’wal did not do this, but instead just sat there quietly. He told us later that he was just thinking about how Christ took the beating for him when he died on the cross, and he knew it would be wrong to hit back at his wife. Well it wasn’t long and the whole village was buzzing with talk about Bo’wal not hitting back at his wife. God used this event in the life of his adult son and his son’s wife who put their trust in Christ as their Savior just a few days later! Bo’wal’s son was so overcome by what Christ had done for him that the villagers were talking about how he was going around weeping and confessing his sins to those he had wronged, and on Sunday during church he was not content to sit with the congregation and sing during worship time but went up to join those leading the worship and fervently sang his praise to the Lord with all his heart. What a joy it was to witness one of many evidences of God’s Spirit working in the lives of the Simbari believers and continuing to build His church! We feel so privileged to be His servants here, continuing to translate His Word and the wonderful truths that change lives. Now that we are back home in the tribe, David is finishing the preliminary translation draft of 1 Corinthians, Shari is teaching 4th grade to Jason, Rachel is in tenth grade at the mission school, Simon is just starting college and Esther will be getting back to college next month. Thanks so much for your continued prayers for our ministry. It is a real encouragement! In His love, David, Shari, and family

teaching at the community school

Outreach at Community School

Teaching from Creation to Christ in the Simbari language has been underway for months now at a community school where the students in the upper grades have heard key Old Testament stories as well as many of the Messianic prophesies that were all fulfilled by Christ. For these people who have been confused about the message of the Bible, even to the point of thinking that they themselves are Jews, this was a huge thing to see the Old Testament pointing to the coming Messiah over and over.  It was also sobering for them to hear that God’s Law did not just refer to outward actions but also the thoughts of the heart. This left them with no argument as they realized they fell short of God’s standard of holiness. The teaching then moved on to the New Testament and the perfect life of Christ, the spotless lamb of God.  This week they are hearing of the finished work of Jesus paying for the sins of mankind through His death followed by His burial and then His overcoming the power of death in His resurrection. The fact that God raised Him from the dead  was evidence that his sacrifice on our behalf was accepted and also that Jesus was indeed who He claimed to be.  In the days ahead these young people will be struggling with the decision of whether to receive this gift of God or reject it. Many of those who receive God’s gift of salvation in Jesus will be rejected by friends and relatives who are trusting in their own works and attempts to follow the Mosaic Law. It’s a hard thing to be faced with the choice of faith or family so please pray for them during this crucial time.

Bible Translation Progress

Chapters 9-16 of Romans are ready for the final translation check and we are working on the Bible lessons for teaching through that book. David is also working on the  preliminary draft of Ephesians and is currently in chapter 6. The next book will be 1^st Corinthians.   Recently David attended some consultant and leadership meetings and also went into another tribe to assess the culture and language learning progress of some newer missionaries who are now ready to begin preparations for teaching and translating.

Simon’s surgery postponed  and future plans

After Simon broke his leg and had surgery to put in a plate he has healed well but the plate that remains inside bothers him especially when he plays sports. We were looking into taking him to Australia for the plate removal surgery in December but as we started looking into it we realized that trying to get visas and medical work done so close to the holidays when many offices shut down looked like it could end up to be a problem so we decided to wait until summer. We are looking into tickets to return home as a family just for this coming summer right after Simon graduates.  Then after quickly helping Simon get settled in, visiting our friends and family, and getting medical work done we will leave Simon in the USA and return to PNG before the start of school for the kids.  Our next regular one-year home assignment is scheduled for three years later when we take Rachel home after she graduates in 2013.

plate in Simon's leg

Thanks for praying, David and Shari Ogg