Esther’s visit

What an encouraging summer it has been here in PNG! It started when Esther arrived from California in June and we were able to go with a group of missionary friends (18 of us all together) to climb Mt. Wilhelm, the tallest mountain in PNG. Everyone in our family except Jason and Shari made it to the summit and back to base camp in about 13 hours. (Shari and Jason stayed at base camp where there is a beautiful lake).

After a fun but rainy, cold few days, we flew to thecoast and spent a week at the ocean where it was a lot warmer. Esther enjoyed being able to snorkel and dive with us again after being gone a couple of years.

Church Team

Later in July a team of nine from GBC in California came and spent a week with us in the tribe. They were a real blessing and were able to help us with a lot of necessary projects on our airstrip and homes. They really connected with their Simbari brothers and sisters in Christ and were a real encouragement to us all. We all had some very special times visiting and sitting around the fire pit with the Simbari believers for hours singing songs of worship to the Lord. On Sunday some of the Simbari believers put on a special service for us by acting out two dramas. In the first one they acted out key stories from the Bible starting with Adam and Eve and working their way through the Bible, ending with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Then they did a second drama where men women and children came in carrying heavy bags on their backs representing the burden of sin every human being carries before they come to know Christ. Even Jason got to be a part of the drama as they wanted to illustrate how white men as well as dark-skinned people are sinners, in need of a Savior. Everyone carried their burdens to a man who was playing the part of Christ and he placed on each one of them a white shirt representing the righteousness of Christ which He freely gives to those who trust in Him. Then the group of white-clad people went up to the front and joined another group who had been humming in three or four-part harmony. It was a very touching drama and a reminder of the amazing things that God is doing in the hearts of the Simbari people. After the team spent a week in the tribe with us we all came out to the school center where they helped with a building project for a few days. We praise the Lord for this team and the wonderful time we had together!

Start of school and new dorm
This week school started for Simon and Rachel and we can hardly believe we have a 9th grader and a senior this year! Please be praying for them both as they get settled into their new dorm family and a busy year of school. Pray for Jason as well, since it will be hard for him to go back to the tribe and be the only kid at home. We know that God will encourage his heart as He always does, and continue to use him to be a light for Jesus with his Simbari friends.

Simbari progress
Please pray for David, Lori, and Shari as well as our Simbari translation helpers that we would continue to make good progress in finishing up the book of Romans as well as all the Bible lessons that go with it. We are excited as we anticipate being able to teach it to the rest of the Simbari believers soon. Please pray for continued growth in their lives and that they would be shining lights to those around them.

We deeply appreciate your friendship and prayers!

Love in Christ,

David, Shari, and family

We have been so thrilled with the open doors the Lord is giving the Simbari believers to share the good news of Christ\’s love not only in our village but in the surrounding villages as well.

Recently two of the Bible teachers were invited to the largest Simbari village about a four-hour rigorous hike from here to meet with the headmaster of the community school there. For quite awhile now he has been expressing his desire to have God\’s talk brought to his village. The people have been exposed to some religion and in fact there is a big “church” building but he says it leaves them feeling cold.

Another religious group came wanting to teach in the national language of Pidgin but they said that would not help them understand the truth. He wants his village to hear it in their own language. The delay in going there so far is because we have been short-handed and are already teaching in two villages. Now the headmaster would like a couple of our Bible
teachers to come to his school on a regular basis (possibly starting in August) and teach the Creation-to-Christ evangelism lessons each morning before school followed by vernacular literacy classes right in the school so that the students will be able to read and write in their own language. (the community schools teach in English and Pidgin) There will be other adult teachers sitting in on the classes and learning as well so that they can teach it in their own village schools. We are praising the Lord with the Simbari believers for this wonderful opportunity to spread God\’s Word to other villages. Since David\’s translation helper is also one of the main Bible teachers David will need to hike down with the Bible teachers and stay there for blocks of time to be able to continue making progress on the Bible translation.

David\’s translation helper told us a story about something really neat that happened recently at the other village where the believers were meeting together for a time of fellowship.

He said there was a lady whose baby had been sick and was having a hard time breathing. All of a sudden the baby became lifeless and started foaming at the mouth and the mother believed her to be dead. So she quickly took her baby to some men who are with another religious group in the area and asked them to pray for her. Surprisingly they told her to take her baby over to the house where the believers in Jesus were meeting and ask them to pray for her. This village has seen God do some amazing things when the believers pray,    so they must have thought the baby would have a better chance if the mother took her to them. When the mother brought her baby to the house where the believers were meeting, she told them what had happened and asked them to pray for her baby. They quickly explained to her that they were just normal people, but God alone was the one with the power to heal her if it was His will and that life and death are in God\’s hands. So they prayed for the baby right then, and to everyone\’s amazement, the baby regained consciousness and started nursing. Everyone there was awed at the way God answered their prayers immediately and showed His love and power. There is still a lot of opposition to the Gospel so we are all praying that God would use this obvious answer to prayer and many others like it to draw people to Himself and show them that in Christ alone is the way the truth and the life.