NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Hi prayer team,

Thanks for keeping us before the throne. We are having really rainy weather, it’s is black skies, rain and even fog in the house! We are walking through swamp now for the most part and it is hard to get cloths dry just now! Things are ticking on as far as teaching goes, I am now teaching the fulfillment of Gods promise of the world flood and then next week we will be teaching on the tower of Babel. Please pray that people will see clearly again that we are all sinners, because of the sin in Adam and that we are in need of a redeemer. Pray that teaching through the story of Noah will show that we are just like those people who died outside of the boat. Pray that they will see that God keeps his promises and that there is only one door and one way to eternal life and peace with God. Some general prayer point: -

1) Pray for me as I would like to start and teach two new lessons per week in a while and that I and the hearers would be ready for the increase in information. Pray for the trainee teachers as this will increase their workload. (more…)

Hi Friends,

It has been a big week or two here in our village. I have been able to finish up language and culture study which is a huge weight off my shoulders. The test lasted for three days and covered many subjects; I had to explain how paper is made, how the rain works, from evaporation onwards. So I got a thorough going over in my evaluation which I am happy for. I had my speech recorded and then played back to Mengen speaker checking each section for mistakes etc. Needless to say I am very happy to be done but now a different type of work awaits me. Please continue to pray for Annika as she learns language and culture. She is doing wonderfully well but needs your prayers also. Get you knee pads out as we need your prayers. I will be starting to teach the phase one gospel lessons from tomorrow morning. I am also working on writing 6 course two lessons which I will translate back to English. (Course 2 lessons are used to teach the believers that we are now to meet as Gods family to be taught from his word and praise God) – These lessons will then be used by consultants to check that my lessons are communicating well and that the content is all there; they will check them in the back to English translation but then also come in and check them with native Mengen speakers in person. I am also going to be working on translating the book of Ruth, the first chapter is done, but there is much work to be done. This week’s gospel lesson: The story of Cain killing Abel. The main points we are teaching are below.

1) God is gracious and gives Cain and us opportunities to humble ourselves and trust in the Redeemer.

2) If we do not humble ourselves before God sin will destroy us.

3) God has the right to judge Cain and us all.

4) If we do not humble ourselves and trust in Gods strength alone we are enemies of God now and will spend eternity separated from Him in the place of fire.

Please pray for:

· Mande, the wife of one of our teachers Alex. I will be teaching them a lesson on their own at night because Mande is part of the Kevung cult and gets much pressure from her family to not listen to the gospel teaching.

· Wante, has made a profession of faith, pray we can discern her understanding as we teach and do discipleship with her.

· Lule, that she would grow to understand the main truths of the gospel.

· Trinde and Alphonsia – pray they would continue come to the teaching with their family in the midst of adversity and would trust in the redeemer.

· ME – Simon, that God would help me to be clear as I teach the gospel lessons and that I would have freedom in the Mengen language.

· Pray for our trainee teachers as they take on more responsibility in the Friday lessons.

· Pray for Annika and myself as we do discipleship in the village, that God would water the seed planted.

We need your prayers! Thanks for joining us in the work of the gospel, Much love in Christ,

Simon, Annika, Nya and Noah

Hi Friends,

Here’s wishing you a Merry
Christmas and greetings for the New Year. It’s New Years Eve for us here today
as we are a day ahead of you! Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes at
Christmas, we appreciate them very much. We thank the Lord he opened the road
and provided for us to be able to come out to our translation workshop; we look
forward to being involved in translation in the days ahead.

As we are at our support centre,
we have access to internet, skype and more consistent email. So we would love
to get in touch with anyone who wants to chat. We hope to be uploading post to
our blog and updating you on the work. We are hoping to get some video and
pictures posted also so you can see how things are developing and connect
better with those you are praying for. So if you would like to chat please get
in touch with us and we will get you set up on our skype. Much love in Christ,

Simon, Annika, Nya and Noah

Hi Friends,

Appreciate your prayers for our power situation. Our team generator has died a week ago and as we are having lots of rain and cloudy days we are short on solar power to run the basics. We can have a rainy season that lasts up to 3-4 months, during these times we need a generator to charge our batteries. Our small team back-up generator is also giving us trouble and uses too much fuel. Please pray for wisdom as we decide what we should do. Pray also for some sunny days in the coming week! Thanks for praying with us.

Grace to you all,

Simon, Annika, Nya and Noah

Hi friends,

Could you please help us out? We are wanting to improve our pre-evangelism program. This is the time before the start of the gospel presentation when we try to get people thinking. We show the Mengen people pictures and video clips of other religions in order to show them that other groups believe in other things. This does two things; it increases their worldview as they are very insular, and it also allows us to ask questions that challenge their beliefs. By doing this we plow the ground before we sow the seed of the good news. We believe it would be good to develop our pre-evangelism program, so what are we asking you to do? We are needing some people perhaps 10 to volunteer to record some documentaries or the like from normal TV. It would be good if these documentaries showed other religions, their rituals and beliefs. We also like some documentaries on church history – one that covers the Jewish faith, one that covers the reformation (and the persecution that went on their) and one on the History of the Roman Catholic church. If you have anything already that could help us or would be willing to record or find something to send us, we would be very grateful. Email us back if you would like to help and tell us what you could help with; we will then send you our mailing address by email.

Much love in Christ,

Simon, Annika, Nya and Noah

Hi friends,

Just a quick note and some prayer points. Sorry that there are no more posts coming up on the blog. We had created posts to go on and scheduled them to be published over the next 7 weeks. We have since found out that this particular function on the website has problems and is being addressed. That being said we have asked some folks to go ahead and publish those posts manually for us. That may mean the all come at once instead of weekly, so sorry about that, but at least you may still have the info to pray for the lost amongst the Mengen.

Please pray

1) It’s rainy monsoon season, and we are finding it very hard to get clothes dried and with the humidity the mould is starting to grow. Please pray for some sun for us and less rain. To add injury to insult a friendly rat made a nest in a clothes dryer that some friends gave to us and fried the thing, so we really need the sun.

2) There is lots of growth in the church, but persecution seems to come in waves so please pray for us right now. There are customs in the village and believers are getting a hard time because of this. They are young in their faith and a few are being pulled into sin. Pray for Merenge who we have mentioned before that he will be restored and come back into fellowship; he is ashamed because of his sin and this is making him stay away from us and the church. Pray we can reconcile this all today and remind him of the unending grace of the Lord.

3) Pray that Annika and I will progress well in language. That we will be motivated and make good plans that help us to advance quickly. Pray for language helpers to be faithful in coming.

4) We praise the Lord we have settled well into life here again and that bar a few sniffles we are all healthy and doing well.

5) Some of our believers – Edward, Brus and Topa have gone on a little tour of some villages. They have gone with the thought of doing a little survey to see how receptive some villages (where they grew up) may be to future evangelism. They will be gone for a week so please pray for safety for them and for wisdom to not get into any heavy debates etc. Pray God may give them opportunity to share their faith and will encourage their hearts.

6) Thanks for what you are all doing for us; people in the Mengen church decided to freely give some money to support Edward, Brus and Topa on their trip. They did this because we have told them of our supporters and how they pray for us and give money to enable us to be here amongst them. They have taken your example and are starting to follow it without any prompting from us. Thanks for being a part of the work!

Love in our Saviors name,

Simon, Annika, Nya and Noah

This post starts a weekly post to enable you to pray for the lost in Mengen land before our new gospel presentation starts in August. We will continue to post pictures of unsaved families here weekly to help you pray effectively. They need your prayers!

Meet Silaso, he is one of the oldest men in the village. Normally he wears a laplap (skirt like thing) only, but as he was flying out to town for the first time he got someone to buy him some clothes from a market, which is a days hike away from our village. Turns out they have some fake football kits there; at least he looked smart for coming out to town. (more…)