23 | February | 2016 | Stoking The Fires

This week had some amazing highlights! We know many people are dealing with the snow and cold weather back in the U.S., however, it continues to get hotter and hotter here, and it feels like we never get dry; maybe that’s why they call it “wet season”? This past week Seth and his teammate he goes to jail with did a review session with the guys they have been teaching. They asked many questions trying to gauge where the men are at after receiving 68 lessons from creation to Christ. Here is a list of some of the questions asked:

How does man approach God?
How much belief is needed to be saved?
What sins can be forgiven?
How do you know you are saved?
Can you lose your salvation?
Why will you go to heaven?
Why do we (Christians, we didn’t tell them “who” as to see how they answered) do good works?
Judgments for reward vs. judgment of salvation… is there a difference?

All the questions except the last one we asked to several people; asking each person to expound more on their answer than the last person, we asked them to use Old Testament references-the Gospels (the 68 lessons were from Genesis-John) to illustrate their point. So many men gave CLEAR professions of faith; but the one who probably clearly answered most consistently was a young 18-year old young man. There were a few men who probably weren’t too clear on some points, but we were able as a group to direct them to the Truth. We gave out Bibles, we even asked permission to take a picture, they said yes! This had never been done before 🙂 . It was an awesome experience and now we are directing these new young baby believers to the book of Acts, they need to see how the early church started and functioned. Having a clear teaching of Acts here in PNG helps in so many areas, especially protecting them from the Enemy and false teachers. As you look at those questions, imagine doing that when the words “salvation, approach…” do not exist in their language, it was a fun challenge and we always feel like we are learning here in PNG.

Can you find Seth?

Nicole has been busy in the store getting ready for our annual regional conference (expecting 130 people) and also connecting with national ladies. This past week Seth had to load…unload…load… unload (you get the picture) almost 2.5 tons worth of supplies in less than 6 hours! Nicole had to do all the paperwork and organising of the big supply load. Seth had to load and unload the new Kodiak plane with supplies for the store, for our conference in 3 weeks, supplies for bush missionaries, drums (400lbs) of gas going to different locations, even a 250lb motor. He got a workout in the sun of PNG, which means he got to sweat a good bit. Things are shaping up here at our base for our annual conference; it’s a time of refreshment for all bush missionaries. Preaching, fellowship, and food, what more is there?!

Loading and Unloading

We will be going next week to our main base in the mountains to get some supplies for our store, and to catch up with some friends; we will share about that more in depth later. We also are having fun connecting with other missions, fellowshipping and encouraging one another, as well as growing in our connections here in Wewak. Seth has made 2 new friends; one is an ironman athlete from PNG, and another is in the military. Pray Seth gets opportunities to witness to these guys and for Nicole to also have opportunities to witness to the national ladies she has been spending time with. It is awesome to see God answer YOUR prayers in growing our relationships.