Back in the tribe...

Every time I come home to Wisconsin people tell me that they are waiting for a new installment on my blog. The truth is that my life is, understandably, a bit less exciting than when I was in PNG, so I feel like I have less to write about. I have decided to try something new... I'm just going to start writing about what I'm learning, my thoughts, and what God's doing at my home on the other side of the world. Here is the latest... Months ago, when I was just getting ready to leave PNG, I told you all that Missionaries living in the village near us, along with some National guys from that village, were going to be starting an outreach to another Bena village. They began the chronological teaching in September, and this last week just preached the death, burial & resurrection of Christ. It was a very long, difficult few months for my friends over there. They felt weak, tired, completely overwhelmed, and more than once were discouraged to the point of wanting to give up altogether and just switch ministries. But God was faithful, and today we are all rejoicing that we have 7 new family members in Christ among the Bena! Nearest to my heart is my tribal susa (sister) - Joyce - who has made a clear profession of Faith. MAN! You may remember that last year, her sister Tumun passed away from cancer and what a huge testimony she was not only to her family and village, but to all of us at Interface. Joyce had gone to some of the teaching in the past, but rejected it. This time around she faithfully attended the teaching and now is really my sister in Christ! I can hardly believe it, even after praying for her for almost 2 years, I'm just in AWE of the fact that I got to see God in action - Working all things together (even the death of her sister) for the good!! That's my God! Here is a picture of me with Joyce & her son the day before I left PNG. She stopped by to bring me a special gift and say goodbye. It's really exciting that we have a team of students over there right now, who have been able to witness the end result of literally years of hard work. What better way to challenge them about missions!?! Please be praying for the team, for the missionaries as they take a little break and get strengthened & encouraged, and for these young believers as they grow in their knowledge and walk with Jesus. "What exactly has Christ done for you? What is there in your life that needs Christ to explain it, and that, apart from Him, simply could not have been there at all? If there is nothing, then your religion is a sheer futility. But then that is your fault, not Jesus Christ's. For, when we open the New Testament, it is to come upon whole companies of excited people, their faces all aglow, their hearts dazed and bewildered by the immensity of their own good fortune. Apparently they find it difficult to think of anything but this amazing happening that has befallen them; quite certainly they cannot keep from laying almost violent hands on every chance passer-by, and pouring out yet once again the whole astounding story. And always, as we listen, they keep throwing up their hands as if in sheer despair, telling us it is hopeless, that it breaks through language, that it won't describe, that until a man has known Christ for himself he can have no idea of the enormous difference He makes. It is as when a woman gives a man her heart; or when a little one is born to very you; or when, after long lean years of pain and greyness, health comes back. You cannot really describe that; you cannot put it into words, not adequately. Only, the whole world is different, and life gloriously new." ~ AJ Gossip