NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Hi! We just wanted to take a moment and express our deep gratitude for all your prayers and support through this medical situation with Simon. We have been overwhelmed by the financial gifts that have been sent to help out with the extra medical and travel expenses incurred this past month. David was just working on the post-consultant check revisions on Acts and the generous hearts of the early church really stood out right now because we have just seen this exemplified in your sharing of this burden with us. Simon has been doing well since the surgery but is having to work extra hard now to get caught up on his school work.

Thanks too for praying for the Simbari woman and her baby who fell down the cliff. We are very happy to say that they are both still living and it seems they are getting better every day. The baby did indeed have a cracked skull, but regained consciousness and is eating and drinking. The mother’s head wound got infected so the doctors are waiting for the infection to go away before they stitch it up. But it sounds like both of them are doing well considering their close brush with death. The woman’s husband hiked out to town and is now with his family so that is good. There has been a lot of "trail talk" (rumors) going on about them, and some have even been told that the baby died, so it has been good to have one of our missionaries at our regional center near town calling the hospital every other day or so to get reports and then pass them on to us. The grandmother of the baby hiked over to our village yesterday and was quite distraught thinking her grandbaby had died, but was very relieved to hear that it was just a false rumor.

Today is our co-worker, Lori’s birthday so I am busy getting a special dinner and dessert put together for her. Lori’s cat, Daisy has been expecting kittens and we thought it would be so neat if they arrived on her birthday. Well, guess what! Daisy had three kittens this morning and they are cute tabby cats like their mother. It just amazes me that the Lord cares so much about every detail in our lives and delights in showing His love to us in the small things too. It is especially meaningful for Lori because this past year when we were all in the U.S. on home assignment, Lori’s beloved cat, "Computer," was killed by some village dogs and it really devastated her.

Jason was really happy when I let him spend the morning at Lori’s house observing for the first time the birth of kittens. Talk about a wonderful science lesson!

Well, that’s all for now. Just wanted to thank you for your continued prayers for our family and the Simbari people.

With love in Him,

Shari for the family

Hi! We just wanted to say thank you so much for your prayers and concern for Simon and our family during this tough time. We praise the Lord for His tender care over Simon and for giving the surgeons in Australia wisdom during his surgery.

Simon had a metal plate and twelve screws put in his smaller leg bone right above the ankle and will have those for a year unless there is a problem with infection. The doctor told him he would need to have the cast on for six weeks and then physical therapy begins. So, it will not be an easy time for him having to lay off the physical activities, but we are praying that the Lord would use this time to draw Simon closer to Himself. Thanks for your continued prayers for his healing. David and Simon flew back up to PNG on Sunday and Simon was able to be back in school on Monday. David flew home to the bush today so we’re all happy to be together again. We have been apart a lot this past month, but the Lord has sustained us and comforted us and we praise Him for that.

Sunday morning, church was packed and Raymond taught the lesson in Acts 6,7 about Steven’s message right before he was martyred. There were some neat comments afterwards and I also shared briefly how my heart was very encouraged when I read ch. 7 verse 56 about how Steven saw Jesus “standing” at the right hand of God, and how when His people suffer, Jesus isn’t just sitting down relaxing, He stands up and takes notice of our pain. Please pray for the believers as they go around visiting different homes in the villages around us this week. They really have a burden for those who don’t have a personal relationship with Christ and are without the hope of eternal life.

On Sunday afternoon we had some unwanted excitement just as Lori and I were sitting down to relax and do some card stamping at my house. A large crowd showed up with a toddler who had fallen down a cliff while the mother was working in her garden. The toddler was unconscious, his head was swollen, and his pupils were not dilating. Then the mother walked up and she had a huge gaping head wound with the skull exposed, and two other deep wounds, one on her hand and one on her leg. They said when the toddler fell down the cliff (about 30 metres), the mother went scrambling after him and fell down the cliff as well, getting severe wounds on the way down from the sharp branches sticking out of the ground. I had never worked on such a terrible head wound before, and it was pretty scary. But I worked on cleaning and bandaging her head while Lori worked on her leg and hand. I then talked to our doctor on the radio to find out what we should do about the mother and her unconscious baby. He said there is not much we could do other than to get the baby and the mother out to the Goroka hospital. The woman, her baby, and her husband, stayed at Raymond’s house on Sunday night and the believers all gathered together there to pray for and share the gospel with them. The next morning our mission plane came in and took them out to Goroka, but it didn’t look like the baby was going to make it. Please pray that the doctors in town would not give up on him but try to save his life, and that the parents would come to know Christ through this deep trial. This is their only child.

Thanks again for your prayers for us and our ministry. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love in Christ,

Shari for the family

Simon made it out of surgery late today. We went in at 11am to prepare for a 1pm surgery but the surgery didn’t start until around 4pm. So after waiting for 5 hours Simon put on a nice lavender hospital gown and went into the operation theater. I’m not sure exactly how long the surgery took yet because he went to another recovery room before he came to the room where I was waiting. He got there about 6:30 pm. And was a little groggy at first but starting clearing up quickly. I don’t have a report from the doctor because it was late and didn’t get a chance to talk to him after the surgery. But Simon looks good we want to thank you for praying. We’ll update you you when we know more ourselves.

Just thought we’d update you about Simon and David.

Their medical visas were obtained in a very short time, PTL. They made it to Cairns, Australia Thursday night and saw the doctor Friday. (On Fridays the doctor is in his office for consultations and so they made it in time to see him at his office before the weekend and in time for the earliest possible surgery) After more x-rays the orthopedist recommended that Simon’s fractures be treated with internal fixation. (a plate) If treated only with an external cast then the potentially unstable fractures could still move and would need constant monitoring over the next 4-6 weeks. So the doctor felt the better option would be to insert a plate to secure the bones in place to guarantee they won’t move during the healing process. So he is scheduled for surgery at 1pm on Monday morning. He’ll be in the hospital overnight.

We would really appreciate your continued prayers for Simon and that there would be no complications with the surgery. The risks being the general anesthetic and infection. Please pray also for Jason and I as we return to the tribe on Monday and for Rachel as she stays here at the mission school till Christmas break. She is doing fine about me going back now, and is enjoying some fun activities with her friends and classmates.

Thanks again for you love and prayers!

Shari for the family

We woke up to a drizzly Saturday morning and after enjoying some biscuits and gravy for breakfast we checked email about 10am on the HF radio. As we were reading e-mails the house started shaking from an earthquake somewhere else in PNG. Little did we know our lives were about to get shaken up as well.

One of the e-mails we got was from Simon’s dorm dad informing us of the following: Simon had broken his leg last night when he and some of his friends were "mud surfing" in the rain on a very muddy soccer field. He was running and getting ready to slide when his left foot snagged causing it to bend under and he and a couple other kids around him heard it snap like a branch. His dorm dad came and got him with a four-wheel ATV and took him over to the clinic to see our mission doctor. He was not in a lot of pain until the doctor started moving it around and checking it over and finally put a temporary cast on. Then it really started hurting and he was given an injection for the pain. Back at his dorm he slept in a recliner all night with his foot propped up, and had to take some more strong pain medicine during the night. This morning his dorm dad drove him into town to the hospital to have X-rays taken.

Meanwhile out in the tribe we were just reading the e-mail about all that was happening and found out they had been trying to find a way to contact us to let us know a plane was on the way to get us. So we dropped everything and packed our bags in a hurry and finished just before the plane arrived to bring us to town. The weather was pretty bad but opened up just enough for the plane to make it out to our tribe. We needed to be out here just in case Simon needed to go to Australia. (Bad breaks usually need referred to Australia.)

But after we arrived we heard that the doctor had been able to examine the X-rays and said it was not as bad as he had originally thought. There are two breaks, one on each bone, about 10 cm above the ankle but the alignment is good. The doctor doesn’t think a trip to Australia will be necessary. So we will be staying here at the mission school with Simon and Rachel for at least a few days until Simon gets his leg bones set and a new cast put on. Since we don’t have a car we really thought we should stay right at the mission school and they had a bit of a time trying to find us somewhere to stay here because it’s a busy time here and the guest house was full. But, thankfully, they were able to work it out so we could be near the kid’s dorm, the doctor and the school.

We would really appreciate your prayers for Simon that his leg would heal quickly without any complications and that the Lord would be using this in his life to draw him closer to Himself. It’s not going to be easy for him to get around and he is really going to miss his active life for awhile. Thankfully his dorm is right by the school though, so he won’t have to walk far.

Thanks so much for praying! We really appreciate it.

Love in Him,

David and Shari

Consultants have been working with David and 3 Simbari helpers to carry out the final check of the book of Acts that has been translated into the Simbari language.
It took about a week of checking to go through all 1007 verses. The church back in the tribe was praying while we were out having the check done. The check went well and an unbelieving Simbari helper involved in the check said this, “Oh David, I don’t understand the Bible very well in the Pidgin language but the Bible in our (Simbari) language is hitting me right in the heart. I can’t wait to learn to read so I can read it on my own.” He heard the Gospel repeatedly and the other helpers were constantly witnessing to him. His name is Remi, please pray for him to place his trust in Christ. After some minor adjustments to the translation it will be ready for publication so it can be put in the hands of the believers. Thanks for praying.

Last week David met with the church leaders to discuss some persecution that the church has been experiencing.

They told about how they were threatened during an evangelistic outreach and their teaching tent was vandalized by members of another religious group. There have been several other occasions also where the believers have been accused of attending a false, prostitute church. One even claimed that in the last days believers in Jesus would be beheading the people from their group. Culturally they are obligated to confront such accusations so the leaders were asking for wisdom in how to handle the situation. The church leaders met with David after spending some time in independent Bible study on the subject. They met together and after a time of prayer, each shared verses from the Bible that they thought applied to their situation. The result was that they were strengthened and encouraged that the persecution is a good thing. They also decided to not confront the accusations but to just return good to the accusers. They also set out to write some topical Bible lessons to share with the rest of the church the scriptures that had encouraged and guided them during the meeting. Pray for the strength of the believers in the face of the persecution. They face a lot of pressure from family members and the community alike that is hard on them. In the midst of this some are new believers just beginning to walk in their faith who fall down sometimes. Like one couple who just had a bad fight. (There is not much privacy in a village situation so everybody knows when a husband and wife have a fight) Immediately the church came together to pray for the couple. So even when mistakes are made it’s encouraging to see them functioning as a body.

One of the Bible teachers was just asked to be the local representative in a big political gathering and he declined because he felt conviction from the Holy Spirit that it would be wrong to be part of trying to get things from the politicians through false claims. Actually many of the believers don’t even feel comfortable going to the big political gatherings anymore because now that they have their hope in Christ they don’t want people to think that their hope is in things of the earth like the government. For many who don’t know Christ their only hope is in the promises of the politicians. It’s so sad. But the believers have learned that their hope in the promises of God are much more reliable.

The Lord has been doing some exciting things here and we are in awe of His faithfulness.

Yesterday we had the blessing of sharing the Lord’s supper with the believers for the very first time and it was such a special time together. It took them awhile to get organized, as some people forgot to bring their cups from home so we were scrambling to come up with a few more. One lady left the building to go cut down some bamboo pieces to use as cups and it was a bit comical when she walked back into the church with skinny bamboo "cups" about one foot long. Sweet potato and water, the Simbaris’ staple foods, stood in for bread and wine for remembering what the Lord has done. As we bowed our heads to thank the Lord for His sacrifice on the cross we were overwhelmed with joy and gratitude to Him for the miracle He has done in the hearts of these dear people who have been blinded by Satan’s lies for thousands of years, and for making it possible for us all to be one in Christ.

After the service we played volleyball with them for a couple of hours and Shari took her guitar outside and sat round with the women and kids playing songs. We all enjoy this time of fellowship every Sunday after the service.

We are back in the tribe now

After being away for a year on home assignment. We had a wonderful year spending time with family and friends and sharing about our ministry. It has been a blessing being around other like-minded people who want their lives to bear fruit for eternity. We are also grateful that the Lord has added to our partnership team during the last year. The sacrificial gifts of our ministry partners make it possible for us to be here. "Here" is our home village in the Simbari tribe. After arriving in Papua New Guinea (PNG) we spent a week getting Simon and Rachel settled in the dorm and taking care of business in town. Then we attempted to fly in to the tribe but we got stuck in another tribe nearby due to bad weather. After 2 nights in the other tribe the clouds opened up just enough for the plane to make two trips into our tribe with us and our cargo. It’s great to finally be back in our PNG home.

Status of the tribal church

The church has been functioning well in our absence and we enjoyed worship with them this last Sunday. Even though it was raining there was a good turnout with about 40 adults and 20 kids. (and the Simbaris said the numbers were down a little!) They just recently started going through the Acts Bible lessons again since there are so many new people coming that didn’t hear it the first time through. Many shared testimonies during the service and they sang new songs and it was so encouraging to see them doing even better than when we left. It proves to us that God is building this church and that His Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of the Simbari believers. Please pray for Raymond who is one of our Bible teachers. It was his turn to teach this last Sunday and he had been in another village with his mother who seemed close to death. But because she seemed to be doing ok he opted to not pass off his teaching responsibility to one of the other teachers. During the testimony time he shared about this and also shared about how he had been able to lead his mother to Christ after the outreach in her village last year. But during the service his mom passed away back in her village. (He had only been away a few hours and she seemed fine when he had left) So he rushed down to her village and asked the other believers to come down and be with his family for encouragement through this time. Please pray for them.

Housework

Our house needed some work and a good airing-out after sitting for a year. Most of the equipment seems to be working ok. Our water pump is the only thing that was acting up and finally quit. David was able to adapt another spare pump as a temporary fix until we get repair parts. Shari is busy cleaning the inside of the house from top to bottom one room at a time. David is working on the outside and equipment installation: radio, water filter, solar panels, etc and hacking down overgrown bushes with the machete.

Kids

Esther finished her 1st year at the Master’s College and also got her driver’s license right before we left California. Now she is living with her Aunt Ginger and is transferring to the local community college due to finances. She has been looking for a job all summer but nothing yet. Please pray. As we already mentioned, Simon and Rachel are in the dorm now. They were pretty happy about the arrangements. Their dorm parents are Herb and Jana Gass who are new to dorm parenting so I’m sure they’d appreciate your prayers. Simon made the high school volleyball team so he was excited about that. Rachel is roommates with one of her best friends so she’s really happy too. Jason is glad to be back in the tribe too. After rediscovering all the toys he had forgotten about, now he is spending as much time as he can outside with the Simbari kids. Playing ball, in the tree house, riding his bike, etc. We’re reading through the Narnia series with him since he was too young last time we read it to the rest of the kids. He’ll be starting 2nd grade homeschooling next week.

Thanks for praying,

David & Shari Ogg

The first Simbari baptism took place this last Sunday.

The morning started with a short service with some singing and a message that focused on what was accomplished for us through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Many visitors were present and they heard a very clear presentation of the Gospel. Then we broke up and hiked down to the nearest river and found a good spot. A crowd of 75-100 people gathered around and sat on rocks to witness the event. David gave a short talk about the significance of baptism. Then he gave his translation helper, Raymond, an opportunity to give public testimony. David then baptized Raymond. After that Jethro gave testimony and was baptized by David and Raymond. Then Rison gave testimony and Raymond baptized him and one by one they baptized the rest of the people. Here are the names of those who were baptized:
Raymond
Jethro
Rison
Porokwol
Helen
Mainowori
Amndalakwol
Arondonduveyokwiyov
Jolambiyov
Mbo’wol
Mepamol
Barry
Kilanduveyov
Mulanjunyov
Jerisov
Peter

Each person gave clear testimony that Jesus completely paid the penalty for their sin through the shedding of His blood. They acknowledged that baptism couldn’t wash away their sins but it showed outwardly that in their hearts they were trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for salvation. We were competing the whole time with the noise of the river and wondered how well the crowd was able to hear but later we heard a young man amazed at how even the "uneducated" older believers were speaking out clearly and confidently about their faith. Afterwards he asked to meet with one of our Bible teachers on Friday to hear the Gospel message again. So we know the testimonies were heard by at least part of the crowd. After the baptism David prayed for those who had just been baptized and then the group moved up the bank of the river a bit where the noise from the river wasn’t so loud and we sang some songs of worship. The river was freezing cold so some were shivering afterwards but they still sang with real enthusiam. Then we headed back up the trail so everyone could get out of their wet clothes. Since it was our last Sunday before leaving for our 1 year home assignment the believers didn’t want the gathering to end. So after changing clothes and getting a bite to eat we played volleyball together. It was a good way to get warmed up again. We had a great time together and didn’t want it to end. In fact it wasn’t until 6 pm that everybody finally went home. Even though the believers are sad to see us leave for a year they know that the Holy Spirit will never leave them and that God will continue His work in their lives.

Home Assignment
On Monday morning our family left our home in the tribe and there were a lot of tears as we said goodbye to our brothers and sisters in Christ whom we have come to love so much over the last few years. As Raymond hugged David goodbye with tears streaming down his face he said to him, "It’s just that if you guys hadn’t come we would all be going to hell. We’ll pray that you don’t have an auto accident so you can come back to us" We praise the Lord for using ordinary vessels like us to bring the light of His Word to these dear people who have been in darkness for so long.

We are now out in the town of Goroka to participate in Esther’s pre-graduation events at the mission school. We have only a couple weeks left before we are supposed to leave the country and our passports are still in PNG immigration as part of a field-wide mission work permit renewal process. Please pray that we will receive our work permits in time for them to be stamped in our passports before we leave. Also we have not received our tickets yet even though we booked them in Janurary. Please pray that they will make it here in time for our scheduled departure.