Ian and Julie Fallis Your connection with tribal missions More to the point
One of the elders teaches
Last week, the Manjui church recognized five elders.
“The Manjui people live in the Chaco part of Paraguay, an area that is covered with thorny trees and vegetation and receives very little rain every year,” Wayne Goddard wrote. “NTM missionaries began working with them. Now after many years there are a number of believers and a church well on its way to maturity.”
Among those believers are several men and their wives who have and use their spiritual gifts to lead the Manjui believers by example and teaching.
“With that in mind
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Tags: Manjui
Missionaries aren’t forever
Kali, left, and Labo help check the translation of God's Word in Budik.
God is encouraging the Budik believers as they take the reins of ministry to their own people.
Ken Satorius recently made a trip to Senegal to check Bible portions and lessons he had revised or translated. “Since our coworkers retired in January, there is no longer a missionary living among them,” Ken wrote. “Although the believers were a little afraid of how it was going to go … it is a good growing experience for them as they need to rely more completely on the Lord and not man.”
Kali is teaching the believers in two villages once a week. But in one of those villages, the believers wanted a second lesson each week, so Labo, Kanar and Bigir are teaching the second time.
Kanar and Bigir are also looking into teaching the children separately from the adults. Pray for wisdom as they make arrangements for that, and adapt lessons for the younger group.
Labo is also providing medical care for the Budiks.
Tags: God's Word
Piapocos teach, translate
A Piapoco couple
Piapoco teachers are giving more Piapocos an opportunity to hear evangelistic Bible lessons.
“In the jungle town … a group of Piapocos are hearing God’s Word taught in their own language,” wrote Patsy Gibson. “Reinaldo, Silvio and Walter are giving them the Biblical foundation they need to place their faith in the true God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The children are hearing Bible lessons tailored for them.
“While the men teach the adults and teens, Susana takes the children aside and
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The cure for rain
A Brooke's Point Palawano family.
Are you getting too much rain? That’s easy to fix.
Find the couple that’s committing incest, kill them, cut their bodies in half and leave them to dry in the sun to appease the spirits.
What, you didn’t know that?
Well, I don’t blame you. It’s been years, the Brooke’s Point Palawanos say, since they’ve needed to do that. Usually they just tell the couple to stop, and they do, and the rain stops.
“We live in an area where time might seem like it stands still,” George and Ginny Olson wrote.
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Tags: Palawano
‘A man of fear’
Chris and Siar co-workers translate.
You and I have fears. Everyone does. The trick is to not let them control us.
But that’s exactly what life has been like for Toiya, a Siar man who lives in Papua New Guinea. Toiya told missionary Chris Lujan that he fears everything.
But last week he heard something that changed his view of life.
Missionaries are preparing to teach evangelistic Bible lessons to the Siar people this summer, so experienced NTM missionaries came into the village where they are working in order to check the first four lessons. Sali and Toiya agreed to listen to the lessons and help the missionaries make certain they were clear.
Chris wrote that Toiya’s fiery personality
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More Akolets believe
After the final evangelistic Bible lesson Tuesday night on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, several Akolet people gave clear testimony that they were trusting Christ for salvation.
“Malaka and Oltupme … each gave clear testimonies of faith in Christ alone, and the tears in their eyes and the joy on their faces were priceless,” wrote Adam and Julie Martin.
A few appear confused or unclear, and missionaries plan to talk with them and with the rest of the people who attended in the coming days and weeks. Please keep praying!
Tonight: Pray for the Akolets
This evening in the USA, the Akolet people of Papua New Guinea will hear the climactic lesson of the evangelistic Bible teaching: the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.
Pray that nothing disrupts the teaching or keeps anyone from attending.
Pray that the lessons are clear and that God’s Word speaks to the hearts of those listening, leading many to salvation.
Tags: pray
Some prayer requests for our family
Julie flies back from Chicago to Florida on Thursday. She’s been helping her mom recover from knee surgery. She’s flying Southwest, which had to cancel 100 flights Monday in order to inspect planes similar to the one that ripped open in flight over the weekend. Pray that the flight schedule is back to normal Thursday, and for a safe, uneventful flight.
Our youngest daughter, Brynna, has asthma. It had been under control, but more recently she’s had several scary episodes that have, in some cases, required her to go to the emergency room. Pray that we can get this back under control.
Julie and I should be making plans for trip to Missouri and Colorado this summer, and a trip overseas this fall, but concerns about our finances make it difficult to plan to spend anything on our ministry. Pray that we can see some light at the end of a tunnel and feel more confident that God desires for us to move forward with arrangements – if that is His will.
Tags: pray
Losing your shirt
In an African tribal village
Why would anyone steal your dirty clothes?
And if they did, would you consider it a matter of life and death?
Fatu did.
The Nalu woman and some other women were going fishing, but an expanse of mud was between them and their fishing spot.
“They all stripped down a short distance away from their destination, leaving their wrap-around skirts, shirts and shoes in a pile together,” missionary Marion Jensen wrote.
When they returned, Fatu’s shirt and wrap were missing.
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Tags: fear
‘This is going to take explaining’
Gordie Hunt with a translation co-worker
How would you translate “letter of recommendation” in 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 for a people group who never knew writing before?
That’s the question Gordie and Nancy Hunt face as they put God’s Word into the language of the Manjui people of Paraguay.
“But what about a people who recently come out from living in the jungle and still hunt for deer and pig, and had never even seen paper until we came along?” wrote Gordie and Nancy. “This one is going to take a bit of explaining.”
And it gets harder. Paul also says in verse 3 that this letter was written in their hearts.
“Again, we have a difficulty here because the Manjuis only see their heart as a blood pump,” the Hunts wrote. To the Manjuis, emotions reside in their “insides,” so that may work for the translation.
Still, saying a letter was written on their insides is potentially very confusing for the Manjui readers, who are used to concrete expressions, not figurative ones. However it is translated, Gordie wrote, the expression “is going to take quite a bit of explanation. I can’t wait to sit down with my translation helper on this one.”
Tags: Bible
