Twice Egged

JD

Surgery, Departures and Many Strangers

By Leave a Comment

So much to pray about! Lots to intervene over as we enter the Throne Room of the Most High One. Thanks so much for going to bat for the Lord’s glory!!

Greetings Dear Friends

Thanks so much for partnering with us and tracking the work. We praise God that He continues to work among the P. people and build His glorious church, in spite of many challenges. Thanks so much for sticking with us and intervening for us and the beloved P. Nation before the Throne of God. How we thank God for you all!!.

A Great Need to Intercede!!

—please pray for our dear and loved Host Country as things continue to spiral out of control. How we need God’s solution to be brought to bear as evil and corruption continue to abound
—pray for the P. believers, that they will continue to grow in spite of many difficult challenges. Yes, they are facing many health issues without the needed help, food shortages, and different forms of abuse and persecution
—pray for the new believers in Pretty Water as violent and evil men continue to abound in the region and seek to take control of their lives in different areas, especially regarding what they believe
—pray for the leaders and pastors that they will faithfully teach the Word in spite of hardships and challenges
—pray for our son Josh and his wife Josie, and their family in the Asian-Pacific region as they press forward with many different challenges. They have been plagued with many strange and random infirmities and your prayers would be much appreciated.
—pray for me (Merrill) as I go in for DSAEK eye surgery tomorrow for Fuchs Corneal Dystrophy, and for our Lord’s healing touch. Here is a link to an article that describes my condition: http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/fuchs-corneal-dystrophy.htm

Yes, I will be entering the Hospital at noon tomorrow (PST) for surgery on my left eye. This disease started showing up about 6 years ago and has been steadily growing worse. In practical terms, the windshield wipers (the endothelium) of my windshield (the cornea) have ceased to function properly and so I’m always looking out thru a windshield that is increasingly fogged up. So yes, your prayers are very much appreciated!!

—pray for our daughter Jodi and her husband Brent, along with their new little son Hudson, as they head back to their host country on Monday night. Their picture is just below.

Thanks again so very much for your partnering with us. We are indeed thankful for the on going opportunities to serve the P. believers by preparing additional resource material for them. Thanks again for all you do to keep us going!!

Hudson, Guerrillas, Pretty Water

By Leave a Comment

A New Body of Believers!!

A new church of living stones has been born in Pretty Water!!

Many of you have been praying for the people in Pretty Water. Well we praise God that there are about 20 new believers there who have joyfully trusted in what the Payer Jesus did for them on the cross when he paid in full with His blood and death for their sin. They have been thrilled to hear the Bible teaching in their own language and are very excited about having the translated Scriptures in their hands! Yes, they have come to faith in Christ, believing that He paid the sin debt to the One who was demanding blood and death, and so now their tracks of sin have all been erased!! They are rejoicing and partying, and we can party with them!! Yes, praise be to God Almighty as He continues to build His church in all kinds of different contexts. How good it is to know that the very powers of hell will NOT prevail against Him, but rather that He will be the GLORIOUS WINNER!!

But as God works, the enemy is always at work as well to hinder and thwart, and so it is not surprising to see opposition rising up quickly against this new little flock. Just recently a group of violent men moved into the area saying that they would now be the ones in control of their village, and that this also meant deciding what was taught in the schools. They met with the village leaders and pastors to tell them that the people weren’t to embrace foreign ideas but rather stick with the teachings of their ancestors. So who knows where this will all go but yes, the battle rages on ….and yet we praise God that He will indeed build His church among this special people group!! Thanks so much for praying for these dear new brothers and sisters in Christ!

A Report on the P. Work

So many of you have been tracking this work for many years and we thank you for your participation in so many different ways. So we want to give you an opportunity to hear a bit of God’s story as He has worked among this dear People Group. Recently we were able to share a mini-history of what God has done among the P. and specifically regarding the translated Scriptures, and how they have powerfully impacted them.

 Praise and Prayer

—praise be to God Most High for raising up a new infant church there in Pretty Water!! Thanks for your prayers for the teaching of the Word there, and for the growth of the believers. Pray too regarding those violent men who are wanting to take control of their village, that God will use this too for His Glory!!
—pray for our beloved host country, that God would wonderfully intervene down there and bring His solution to the many huge problems
—praise for continued opportunities for ministry, but please continue to pray for our many dear coworkers there who continue to labor under extremely trying circumstances
—pray for God to meet the physical, medical, and spiritual needs of the believers. August is always the toughest month for these semi-nomads to find food. And we just heard recently that 10 women and children have already died.
—praise for God’s Word being in their language and in their hands!! Please pray for this liberating Word to make it into new villages, and that many more will have a desire to learn to read this Book in their own language
—pray for us as we continue to focus more and more on developing additional tools for the growth of the 10 different village churches
—pray for our daughter Jodi, and her husband Brent as they adjust to raising their beloved son, and that God would give them much wisdom in raising him for His glory. Especially pray for Brent as he soon begins a very intense 3 week aviation course, and for grace and strength for Jodi in adjusting to all that comes with being a first-time mom. Pray for all 3 of them as they head back to their host country in a few weeks.

Thanks again so very much for your partnering with us. We thank God for all of you!

Montollita And Marcos

By Leave a Comment

Montollita….and what he said to me!!

Montollita and Marcos are two guys who both unknowingly helped me come up with the needed cultural mechanism to clearly communicate the Gospel.

I was out with our truck helping the P people haul palm for their houses. It was one of the things we did for them to make life a little easier. Well on one particular occasion, a dog suddenly ran out in front of the truck and before I knew it, I had run the poor fellow over. Well, that certainly was not a good thing. I stopped the truck and before long the owner of the dog confronted me.

“You ran over my dog” Montollita said. “You killed my dog. You have done bad to me. And for the worth of that bad, I demand a payment. I want a machete.”

So after a couple of hours or so, I showed up with a machete. He took it and said, “Jabechjî chjadëde yabâ” meaning, okay, it’s all right now, it’s all fixed up.

 Marcos …..and what he said to Minitiva:

It happened right in front of my eyes. Suddenly Marcos began to speak to Minitiva:

“You have done bad to me” he told him. “You stole some of my tobacco….and I’m wanting a payment for that. I demand three arrows and a hammock for the bad you have done to me” he said tohim.

Well at first Minitiva denied it and strongly objected but after a bit, he began to look guilty and his eyes turned downward…..and then he walked away.

A few days later, Minitiva arrived and presented the hammock and the three arrows to Marcos, saying:

“Here is the payment.”

Then Marcos responded:

“Jabechjî chjadëde yabâ. Okay, it’s all right now, it’s all fixed up“….and that resolved the whole matter. Payment was given for the wrong done and all was made right.

 So then, with those two cultural examples behind our belt and more studying……

…..here is how we went on to give the Good News of the Gospel to the P. Nation after laying solid foundations for them first from the OT and the Gospels. In a nutshell, it went something like this:

We have done bad against the true God. We have sinned against the One who is surpassingly bright, against the One who does not mix with evil (he is holy). And therefore He is demanding a payment. What is He demanding? Well, He is wanting blood and death, blood and death that are perfect and without bad. Yes, he requires a payment of blood and death for the bad we have done against Him. For the Words of the true God say: “The payment for sin is death”. So how will we make things right with the true God? With what will we pay? Arrows won’t work. Hammocks won’t work. There has to be blood, there has to be death. So what will we give as a payment to make things right with the true God, with the One who is demanding blood and death from us? We have nothing to pay with. Our own blood and death won’t work.

But hey, what did the true God do for us? Well He sent His Son, the “Payer”. And after living a perfect life without doing bad to his Heavenly Father even one time, he was killed on a pole. He died having been nailed to that pole. And his blood ran out. And right before he died, he yelled out, PAID FOR IN FULL (It is Finished)!! And when God the Father saw the payment of the Payer, He thought: Jabechjî chjadëde yabâ. Okay, it’s all right now, it is all fixed up.

And so whoever accepts and believes for themselves what the substitute Payer Jesus did for them on the pole, well they will have their payment and receive living-forever life.

 Two Distinct Paths

Montollita came to trust in the this Good News and in the “Payer”. How great it was to see this dear friend understand what the Payer Jesus did for him on the pole, and that he became a paid-for-in-full one. We just heard the other day that this dear brother had died. He died ….and yet is very much alive as he is there with his Savior in Heaven. However Marcos continues to believe in the old way and does all he can to promote it. Both of these guys unknowingly helped us come up with the needed way to communicate the Gospel, but both have chosen different routes. How pleased we are to know that Montollita is now in Glory with the Payer.

Prayer Requests

—for our beloved Host Country, that God would wonderfully intervene down there and bring His solution to the many huge problems
—for our many dear coworkers there who continue to labor under extremely trying circumstances
—for God to meet the physical, medical, and spiritual needs of the believers. Last Rainy Season there were 22 who died due to complications from parasites, mostly children.
—for God’s translated Word to make it into new villages, and that many more will have a desire to learn to read this Book in their own language
—for us as we switch gears from Bible Translation to the continued development of Bible Curriculum. The P pastors have made it quite clear that they want more teaching helps, and that we shouldn’t be thinking about retirement!!!
—for our daughter Jodi, and her husband Brent. They will be returning to Canada the end of this month from their field of service of their host country for Jodi to have a baby and for Brent to get further flight training on the aircraft he will be flying. The baby is due the end of July. So we’ll have the joy of spending a bit of extra time with them. Please pray for a safe delivery, and for the health of both mother and child.
—for the community of SW as foundations continue to be laid from the OT. PTL that many are really interested and believing all they have heard thus far
—pray for the gals in the different villages to really stick with reading and get good at it. Many have taken the course and have learned to read but then quit. They also need to be reading the Scriptures for themselves and teaching others

Thanks again so very much for your partnering with us. We are indeed thankful for the on going opportunities to serve the P. believers by preparing additional resource material for them. Thanks again for all you do to keep us going!!

Back from Host Country April 2016

By Leave a Comment

The P People get their Bible!!

How thankful we are that the whole shipment of Bibles arrived nicely in our Host Country. Our great Lord-Owner-Boss did a lot of great miracles and it was such a blessing that he opened all the doors needed!! So yeah, what a thrill to receive the boxes, open them up, and see the Scriptures for the dear P people. They have received many different portions of the Scriptures down through the years but now they were receiving the finished product for the first time!! How we praise God that He so wonderfully went before us down through the years and opened one “Red Sea” after another for us in order to carry on and finish the project. All Praise and Glory be to our great God who commanded us to go!!

How Things Went

We were down there in our beloved Host Country for about 7 weeks. During this time we weren’t able to get out to the different villages but God made it possible for us to connect with several of the pastors and their wives out in town…..and it was to them that we handed over the Scriptures. We had many times of celebration, teaching and worship. And on top of this, we also got together with many of our believing friends at one of our main supporting churches. That was one long celebration as well, and included not only four different P pastors sharing from the Word, but also a grand fiesta with beef, a whole pig, and so much more!! Yes, it truly was a day of celebration for God’s bigness and greatness!!

We thank God for our Great Team!!

Since the beginning days of the work, there has always been a team working together to get the Gospel message to this People Group and to see New Testament churches established among them. Some of those beloved folks have left long ago but some of us continue to work together, all having different gifts that God beautifully blends together for His glory. We just want to thank the Lord for the great bunch of people that He has brought together to see so many different aspects of the work move forward.

And of course you all are a HUGE part of the team too as you pray and partner with us. Thanks so much for working with us to see God hugely praised and honored in and through this very special Ethnic Group!!

Some Sad News from across the Water

While we were still in SA, we suddenly got word that my dear dad had been promoted to Glory! Even on the morning of his passing, mom and he had had a special time of prayer and worship together…..but his body was worn out and at almost 95 years of age he entered Heaven’s gates! So we quickly changed our tickets and left early. How thankful we are for dad!! How we appreciate his love of the Scriptures, his sense of pilgrimage on this planet, his example of investing in eternity, and his continual encouragement to us to finish the task that God had given us to do. Yes, a dear soldier of the cross for sure! We will miss him….but praise the Lord for the huge HOPE that we have in Christ, of celebrating together in the New Heaven and Earth!! Would appreciate your prayers for my mom as she journeys on without her best friend..

Praise and Prayer

—praise the Lord for a great time with the people, and for the safe arrival of the Books, and for their distribution
—praise the Lord for the completion of the Translation Project!!
—praise God for His great sufficiency in everything, and for Him going before us and being our Chief Strategist at every turn
—pray for the Word of God to go forward with power and might, and that it wouldn’t return void, but would rather accomplish the things that the Lord purposes
—pray that the bilingual community accept the Scriptures too, even though they have been done primarily with the lingo of the monolinguals
—pray for God to do the “above and beyond” stuff in the lives of the bilinguals. Right now another new class is starting up in the Tree of the Food Village
—pray for our Host Country, that God would intervene, and that His Name would be highly glorified in spite of all the chaos and turmoil
—pray for us as we catch up on small projects, and then move on to more Curriculum Development for the P pastors, as they are wanting more teaching helps
—Jodi, our daughter, and her husband Brent, are missionaries in another host country, and expecting their first baby. There is the Zika virus there. Thanks for praying for their safety.

In Host Country 2016 To Celebrate With Criollos, Etc.

By Leave a Comment

Enjoying the Visit!!

We had a great trip down and everything arrived nicely. And we have been using these first two and a half weeks for visiting with some of our coworkers, churches, pastors and friends, along with getting some very important paper work done for visiting here in the future. So praise the Lord for a great beginning! What a treat to be back in our beloved host country and be enjoying all the blessings it has to offer!! Yes, how good and gracious God is!!!

A Big Party!!

We had a great celebration with one of our churches down here. They were thrilled at the completion of the Book and so killed the fatted calf, so to speak, and celebrated with the best food in the land!! What a treat to party with these dear brethren and praise our great God together, the One who has been the great Mover and Shaker in this work right from the beginning. Yes, He for sure has been the Coordinator, Team Leader, Organizer, Guide, Encourager, and for sure the Motor who has empowered all those who have had a part in this work right from day one!! How we PTL for His enablement in getting to the finish line on the Translation. How good and gracious is our great GOD!!!

Praise and Prayer

When we think about finishing this project, we are reminded of Nehemiah and what God did through him and the others, in spite of enemy opposition.
Neh 6:15,16 “So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.“ And we realize too that this work has been done with the help of our God, and with you all being part of this great team to see this job accomplished, in spite of the many obstacles and enemies that have stood in our way through the years.

—praise God for the completion of the “Wall”!!
—praise God for a safe trip down here and for a great time with our churches, coworkers, and friends
—praise God for quick success in getting our paperwork done. It went more quickly than ever before!! (There must be an angel camped out in the visa department!!)
—praise God for the joy of celebration and fellowship with the saints about what GOD ALMIGHTY is doing!

—pray for a safe trip as we and our co-workers, Gary and Ann, head out on a seven-hour journey tomorrow to meet the saints that we have been working with for years. They have been a special blessing to our work as they have worked countless hours to free us up to get maximum time for the translation project and the discipleship of the P. brethren. Also by standing in long lines month after month to purchase hard-to-find supplies for our time together with them
—pray for the safe arrival of the special books ….and for easy entry into the country….and then safe transport to their destination
—pray for much wisdom and God’s leading for our team meetings regarding how the work is to proceed
—for God to be hugely glorified in the Presentation of the Book to the saints!
—for continued open doors here….and for God’s mercy and grace and guidance in this wonderful country as they face many huge challenges in almost every area of their lives
—for God’s direction as we travel, disciple, plan, and celebrate
—and please pray for my parents who are really struggling as mom continues to look after dad who truly is failing. They are with us in spirit here and have always been totally behind this ministry …but yes, they need our prayers for sure

We thank God for all of you. Thanks so much for being a part of the team!!