NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

As the afternoon shadows began to lengthen, the Siawi people gathered for the I Timothy teaching. Jason and I taught for 12 of the 14 days that I was in the village. Some days we taught twice. I have been to conferences and seminars and revival meetings, but seldom if ever have I seen this kind of hunger for God’s Word. As we taught through the qualifications of elders, the thing that stood out most to the believers was the high standard that God’s Word sets for leaders. Many people asked the same questions. Who among us can meet this standard? Is this talk only for elders or all believers? As they began to realize this is the way all believers should live we really began to get questions. How can we be good fathers? How can we live in peace with our wives? How can we raise our children to obey? We spent several days as a group discussing these issues and took an afternoon time with just the men teaching from Gods word about becoming better husbands and fathers. Many of the men who started off overwhelmed were reminded that they have new life in Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in them they can become men who lead their families and even the church. Pray for faithful men who will be able to lead the Siawi church.

When the nurse, who oversees the Village Health Volunteers, recently visited the Siawi people she was pleased with the work that the VHV’s were doing. She was happy with the health aid post that they had built, but she would have liked to have seen running water in the building. Keeping the facilities clean is very important when so many sick people come to receive treatment there. The first of my community projects was to install running water in the aid post. In order to accomplish this we set up a small gravity fed water system that will use rain water collected from the roof of the building. Yes, they will have enough water as it rains several days each week. Inside we set up a simple sink including all of the plumbing. Without a local hardware store to buy the fittings we needed, we had a wonderful time heating PVC drainpipe over a fire to bend and shape it. The VHV’s are happy to now have running water that will make cleaning up spills and messes easier. The people will be able to take their first dose of medicine right there under the watchful eye of the VHV’s.

Many of you may be wondering when is Tom returning. Wait no longer, I have arrived. Actually I arrived last week but then “jet lag” set in like never before and I remember very little about Wednesday or Thursday for that matter. On top of that I was re-adjusting to life in the USA. I find it difficult to reconcile in my mind how such vastly different worlds can exist on the same planet. Thanks for Praying! There are 140 or so pictures uploaded on the photos page for you to enjoy. I will post some stories as I am able. -Tom

Beyeme stood up in church to share about what the Lord is teaching him through Mesonowae’s death.  “My grief for her was like something strong pulling me to go back to the old ways of belief.  That grief was telling me to leave my work (of helping with translation) and just go off into the bush, turning my back on everything. It was pulling me, but God’s Spirit was in my heart, and he was strengthening me and helping me, so that I wouldn’t do that.  And I know that Mesonowae is in a wonderful place now.”

Linda writes that another joy was seeing Kwaelom also stand up to share.  “It was the first time in months that He had said anything at all in church.   Today, he shared from Romans 8:9-11, speaking about how, if we have God’s Spirit, we can know that we are his and that we will go to be with him when we die.  If we don’t have God’s Spirit, we are not his.  He went on to say, “Just coming to church isn’t going to help you.  It would be awful if, when you die, we all say, ‘He came to church every Sunday, but he never truly believed and so now he is in hell.’ We know that our sister, Mesonowae, truly believed and now she is in heaven.  Don’t you be one who dies without having the Holy Spirit. It would be awful, if you died like that and went to hell.”

Thank you for continuing to stand with the believers in Siawi.  As you can see they continue to grow and learn.  Lord willing I will have the opportunity this fall to go and teach 1 timothy with Jason to the church as we see them continuing to make steps to function on their own.    If you would like more information on this trip please use the contact page to ask us any questions.  If you would like to give toward this trip please make your donations using our give page and designate your gift for the Siawi trip.

Thanks for praying for the Siawi people.  Kofele was recently taken out to the hospital for a c-section.  When the Swansons visited yesterday 5/17/2010 Kofele had the baby in her arms.  When they send us a picture we will post if for you all .   They wrote, “Kofele remains in the bed that probably has the most attention right now.  The baby is so adorable.  The nurse was commenting on how big Kofele’s baby was and Kofele said that she eats all the time.  Kofele just got the baby from the nursery on Monday, so just a day now, but they seem to be bonding well.”   Please be in prayer for Kofele.  The doctors are concerned that she may have TB.     Kofele has been having fevers for 3-5 days straight now so they are keeping an eye on her.     They will be testing her for TB please be in prayer for Kofele.    The doctor thinks that if all continues to go well (her incision is healing well) then Kofele will probably be able to go back to the bush with in a week or so.

Siawi Bible teachers are continuing to sharing God’s Word with another people group, and are being pressured to wrap up the lessons quickly. Pray for them as they resist in order to teach properly and effectively. Find out more — read the full story online >>