The missionaries at Lapilo held home fellowship again this month. I initially thought home groups were held once a year, then I thought they were twice a year, and now after two years I finally realize they are four times a year! My group met at the Friesen’s home where we watched one of the Louie Giglio videos that I saw while in Lae. It still amazes me just how tiny our planet is in the big picture.
I had a wonderful time last month with all the activities celebrating with friends because of the birth of Jesus Christ, but the celebration did not end in December. The Friesen’s were in Lae during Christmas so Stephanie, Gail, and I got together with them this month. We had a great Mexican dinner, played games, and put together a puzzle. (The puzzle was not actually finished when they left but, in my obsessive nature, I stayed up to 4:00 AM one morning to finish it!)
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| "Farmland Visitors" |
I had a wonderful time last month with all the activities celebrating with friends because of the birth of Jesus Christ, but the celebration did not end in December. The Friesen’s were in Lae during Christmas so Stephanie, Gail, and I got together with them this month. We had a great Mexican dinner, played games, and put together a puzzle. (The puzzle was not actually finished when they left but, in my obsessive nature, I stayed up to 4:00 AM one morning to finish it!)The clinic staff continued to serve the missionaries and PNG citizens this month and we had an unexpected guest. The doctor and nurse were preparing to see a patient when a rat ran across the floor. A second nurse promptly took her position standing on a chair as the doctor stomped on the rat. It was the patient who picked up the rat and put it in a container so we could dispose of it! (The patient was a PNG lady.) Rats are common here and it is not the first I have seen,
but it is still so disgusting! You might have noticed that I was nowhere in the scene. I conveniently stayed in the reception area. :) (I am still questioning the significance of rats in this world!)
[My first experience with a rat was really quite comical. I was visiting in a friend’s home and washing the dishes after dinner when their dog detected a rat. The rat ran into the kitchen and jumped when it saw me, which made me jump and then it jumped and then I jumped and then it jumped… Everyone else was in stitches laughing their heads off. :( ]
We have had much rain this month – a total of 16 1/8” inches. With the rain, comes the mud. I came home from the vegetable market one day covered in mud from my waist to my feet!
I wrote last month about the PNG government being declared illegal and the Parliament re-instating the previous Prime Minister. This month a group of rebel soldiers took captive the commander of the country’s defense forces. The situation did not last long, but there is still tension and unrest in the air. Additionally, there have been pleas for the peace to be maintained and for no one to offer or accept bribes during the upcoming elections. Please pray for the nation of PNG.
Despite the rats, the rain, and the national unrest; it is absolutely beautiful here. I love looking at the mountains and it is wonderful hearing what the Lord is doing in the tribes! I have been so encouraged by what is happening in North Waghi. Below is their story.
I have gotten to know these families in a small way as they come through the clinic and I shared in their desires as more than 150 North Wahgi people gathered to listen to the first of the foundational lessons delivered in their own language.
think that God will accept them into heaven by doing good things. This powerful truth that we will always fall short of God’s standard and cannot do anything by ourselves to become righteous in the sight of God was difficult for many to hear and accept. But, it was obvious that some of the people were intently listening and absorbing God’s Word as they began to question their belief that good works is what wins favor with God.
People lingered after each daily lesson to ask questions and the missionaries were thrilled to see how many people were interested to hear the truth from the Bible and to hear comments such as these:
- "We have so many churches but they don't teach us this."
- "We go to church and then we go home and live our own way. But this talk makes us think..."
- "I always went to church and tried to do the right thing but now I see that God is not happy with me. I am still filled with wrong [sin]. I am afraid. This talk makes my insides hurt very much. How can I get right?"
- “This message shoots right into my insides.” (He was amazed at the power of this message and the missionaries confirmed that God’s Word is sharper than a two-edged sword and that it “shoots his insides” because it is alive and can bring life for him.)
- “You can’t stop. You have to continue telling us more.”
- One village man was literally trembling when he got up saying “we have been going to church and following the laws of the church but this message we heard today is different.”
- An elderly woman said “my son died in a car accident and we paid a lot of money to get him out of the fire. But now you’re telling us death is final and we can’t buy him out of the fire.”
- One lady commented that “some [religions] say you need to confess [sins] then you will get to heaven, others say that you need to be baptized, others say you need to pay and give an offering, and yet others say you need to follow the Ten Commandments. These are all God’s men that told us what we have to do.” A missionary responded by asking “But why did Jesus have to die such a cruel death if just getting baptized for example would have been enough? If there would be another way, do you really think that God would send his Son to die? If there is another way possible then his death is worth nothing.”
The missionaries illustrated that just as newborn babies cannot get themselves from one baby carrier into another, no one can go from Satan’s family into God’s family in their own strength or by good works. Only when we believe that Jesus took our place on the cross and paid the price for our sin will God take us out of Satan’s family and put us into His family. An elderly man then said that “what we used to do does not get us into heaven. Jesus is the only way. He died for all the sins in the past, for the sins now, and for all the future sins.”
There have been several people who have made clear testimonies of their faith in Jesus to remove their death punishment from sin and have exclaimed:
- “Jesus died for my sin. He did no wrong but he took my place.”
- “Jesus paid the price. It’s finished. I don’t have to do anything. I only have to believe.”
- “Now I understand. I’m born in sin and God sent his Son to die to take away sin. All the good things I have tried to do...I did thinking that I could make God happy and go to heaven. Now I know this is wrong thinking. I can only go to heaven by believing that Jesus died and took my place and took away my sin.”
- In trying to explain the new unexplainable joy felt inside: “I cannot cut myself open to show you how happy I am.”
These testimonies remind me so much of my own conversion experience. I tried for years to figure out what “I needed to do” to be saved. The only things I discovered were misery and anguish. When I stop trying to be acceptable to God and simply trusted in the gospel of Jesus, then I too knew the unexplainable joy! May I daily remind myself of this incredible gift and the joy that only Jesus can bring.
Please pray that God will continue to stir in the hearts of the North Waghi people who still do not know this joy. May He bring them the same uneasiness I had until they come to understand clearly His truth and receive His peace everlasting! Praise God that He is building His church, one soul at a time.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6
