NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

One man among the faithful attenders has been telling me for some time about the people around his home that he gathers together to listen to the lessons on media players. He happens to liver farther away than most of the others who attend the teaching.

The other day he showed up at my house with 6 or 7 people that were a part of the group that he has been facilitating. Each of them wanted a media player so they too could start to share with more people. As I listened to some of them give their testimonies it was clear that they were trusting in God’s provision of a Savior to pay for their sins.

It was very encouraging to me to see “second-generation” believers, people who were reached without coming to the teaching and hearing Francois and I share. We are hearing similar stories from other people. Around the whole area interest in the teaching is increasing.

On the practical side it has led to an noticeable increase in demand for media players. We just received a shipment of 40+ new players that someone graciously provided but already the demand is more than the supply. If you would like to contribute to this need please click on the “Give” link on this page and put “Mwinika Media Players” in the memo.

There is a lot of talk about “felt needs” in mission work. All people have needs but some needs are “felt” more than others. For instance, hearing about what the Savior did for us is our biggest need as humans, but not very many people “feel” that need. Most people don’t know they need a Savior. The needs they “feel” tend to be more immediate needs like food, shelter and employment. Here is an example of how our perception of needs sometimes come into conflict.

We just arrived back in the village yesterday afternoon and this morning I was scrambling to get my lesson ready to teach this afternoon. Someone showed up about 8am asking me to go pick up a family member that had died on a visit to the local town. I knew that would take several hours of my morning and I felt the pressure to prepare an important lesson to teach in the afternoon. My “felt need” was to prepare a lesson so I could share with them about their “real need” for a Savior. Of course, that meant very little to the family that came to ask for my help. Their “felt need” was for my help in transporting the body of their family member.

It is the frequent conflict in this area that prompted us to start a project to raise money to buy some Basic Utility Vehicles (BUVs). One of the biggest “felt needs” in the area is for affordable local transport. Our goal is to buy 2 of these BUVs that will help provide for the “felt need” of the community in the area of transport. This will help alleviate the need for us to provide for these needs and free us to concentrate on meeting the “real need” of the people

Anyone who would like to learn more about this project can click on the following link:

https://www.ntm.org/give/give_project_details.php?project_id=127

One of the biggest needs in our community is transport. What little the people do produce often cannot be sold because they lack means of transporting their produce to the markets. In addition there are many other transport needs in the community, like hospital runs. One solution is “Basic Utility Vehicles.” These simple rugged vehicles are known as BUVs and are made in South Africa. They use locally available parts and can be easily maintained. We are developing a project to purchase two for use here in our area. We hope to be able to train some local people to drive and maintain them and make them available to the community to help with transport needs. If you would like learn more about this project please visit the following site: https://www.ntm.org/give/give_project_details.php?project_id=127

Recently we were in South Africa and were able to visit the workshop where they are being made. Included is a photo of Elias sitting on one of the vehicles in the production phase.