RA

“When we work, WE work, but when we pray, GOD WORKS!” Andrew Murray

Bible Seminar # 2 via Star Link

It is quite the thing to be sitting up here in western Canada in my office and be teaching a chapel full of P believers!! Who would have thought?! Communist insurgents forced us to flee our home where we had lived among the people for 25 years back in April of 2002. At that time our onsite ministry came to an abrupt end, and we wondered how we would continue the work. And yet God opened up the way for us to meet clandestinely with key P believers for on-going discipleship and Bible translation checking in a safe site well outside of indigenous territory. However, as communism took hold of the country, things began to deteriorate very quickly, and by 2015 we had to leave our beloved Host Country. That was a sad day! We were however able to make a few more trips into the country to continue to meet clandestinely with them. Our last visit with them was in April of 2018, because when we tried to return yet again, our flights were canceled due to Covid, which caused us to lose our resident visas. But we continued working on developing written Bible curriculum to send to the believers through our national coworkers. And then suddenly in 2022 to our great surprise, God marvelously opened up new doors, making it possible for us to begin a daily radio ministry with the people. So, during these past four years, we have been busy producing radio podcasts which has now blossomed into quite the ministry. And now most recently, here we are just finishing another on-line, interactive Bible Seminar with one of the three churches in P-land via Star Link, which was all facilitated by the believers from another ethnic group called the Pia people. How encouraged we are when we remind ourselves of Christ’s promise that He will build His church and the powers of hell will not prevail. He certainly is continuing to do that not only among the P people but among many other indigenous groups all over South America, as well as the whole world.

Here below are some recent pictures from the last Bible Seminar, as well as a video to watch:
Click Here to View Video

“You missionaries just continue to help us in so many ways. You are continually showing the beauty of Jesus to us”!

Well, that was a very moving statement to say the least. However, as we believers in Christ allow his life to be lived in and through us, we do indeed show the beauty of Christ to those around us. So yeah, truly the Christian life lived in the Spirit is always a miracle, because it is the indwelling Christ living His life in and through us!!

So yes, all the praise goes to our Lord Jesus!!

(Here he is at the camera below)

• Please continue to pray for this relationship between the Pia churches and the P churches will continue to grow, and that our Lord will be wonderfully praised through it all
• Pray for our next scheduled Bible Seminar via Star Link in the month of October.
• Thanks so much for praying for Mateo, who has tuberculosis, and for his two companions, who have never been away from P-land before. Pray for a quick and successful treatment for him.
• Please pray for the radio station. It was damaged by a very powerful windstorm along with lightning and is now disabled. Let’s pray together trusting God to get it back up and running as soon as possible
• Keep praying for the radio ministry, that the people will catch the daily broadcast once they return, and that they’ll take good care of their radios.
• Pray for God’s protection over the 1000 radios that are presently being put together for the P nation, and that they will arrive safely to the recipients
• Thanks for your prayers for us as we continue to edit the radio programs and as I prep for the next 12 hours of teaching coming up in October.
• Pray for us as we head to Santa Barbara, California in a few days. One of my new corneas has been acting up and I need to see my specialist again, as well as get a hernia taken care of.
• Pray for God’s will to be done in the beautiful country where we lived for so long. So much of the country is broken and hurting, and not much being done to make things better. Pray for a mighty working of Almighty God there.
• Pray for our Latin coworkers the Porrellos and the Diamonts as well as they continue to work to see things advance in the work with the P. And pray for Ruby Porrello’s family too as her dad is dying with melanoma.

Continuing to Gather as the Called-Out Ones

Above you see our P brothers and sisters gathered together worshiping God. Singing will happen as well as prayer and teaching. Pray for these beloved brethren as they journey forward, looking for a city, whose Builder and Maker is God. Pray for these special saints of the Most-High God as they seek to be light and salt in their world until Jesus comes to get them.

Thanks Again…..

….for your being part of the team as we push forward to cross the finish line in the P work for the brilliant glory of our Lord. We count it a huge privilege to invest our lives to see His church established among this beloved nation. So yes, thanks so much for praying and giving and encouraging and hanging with us down through the many years. We truly appreciate you all and thank God for you.

Continuing to count on the bigness of God,
Merrill and Teresa

Psalms 67:2-5

May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere. May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. Let the whole world sing for joy, because you govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world. May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you.

Earthquakes!

By now most of you will have heard about the two major earthquakes that occurred in our host country, followed by a strong aftershock. So far there are confirmed reports of around 3500 dead but there are still many missing and some reports put the possible death toll at between 50,000 and 100,000. Truly great devastation has taken place as many of the buildings were not built to withstand earthquakes have been “pancaked”. I just read this morning that 60,000 buildings were either totally destroyed or damaged. Please pray for this country and the many beautiful people there that have been affected. Pray that God will somehow use this to grow His church and bring many from that beloved country to Himself.

Praise be to God that all our coworkers throughout the country survived nicely, and that most of them were well outside the danger zone. However, the mission’s Guest House close to the International Airport was damaged.

Online Bible Seminar!

Praise the Lord for His marvelous provision in working things out for me to have two days of live, interactive teaching with one of the three local bodies of Christ down in P-land. Wow, I hadn’t seen many of those people since April of 2002 when we were suddenly forced to flee the village due to security reasons. Yes, I had the huge, emotional privilege of teaching for around 11 hours! What a joy and honor it was to teach those dear and precious saints! Teresa and our daughter Jodi from up in the Yukon, along with my brother Vern in Virginia, who was in the work with his family for around 12 years, also showed up online to greet the brothers and sisters from their respective places, and how delighted the people were to see them too!!

Here is a short video that one of the Pia believers put together that gives you a quick glimpse of what happened: Click Here to View Video

All Provided For!

Praise be to the God of Heaven for His wonderful provision for all that was needed to purchase 1000 more solar powered shortwave, pre-tuned radio / players!! There were also enough funds to purchase large solar panels to set up charging stations for the people to receive some additional charging help during the Rainy Season when charging with those small radio panels becomes more difficult. So yes, God truly continues to guide and provide for this work among the P nation. We shout out a very BIG THANK YOU to the many of you who were led by the Lord to help supply this need.

Praise and Prayer:

• Praise God for the 120 new radio programs that were sent to the radio station. The new series from Genesis to the Ascension of Christ will hit the air waves any day now!! Thx much for praying for this ministry as many unreached people in many new villages will be hearing the Word of God for the very first time.
• Pray that the people listening for the first time will have their appetites whetted, and that they might have a huge hunger to know the truth…and be saved. Pray too that they will take good care of their radios (they have no experience in caring for electronic equipment).
• Pray for strong backs and clear minds as we continue to edit the remaining 140 radio programs which will conclude this new evangelistic radio series.
• Pray for GalCom International as they assemble and prepare the 1000 radios and then ship them down to the P people.
• Pray for our next live Bible Seminar coming up within the next six weeks. Pray for wisdom as I prepare to teach during these two days, that God will lead me in what to share.

THANKS AGAIN SO VERY MUCH…
…for your on going partnership with us in the work. We are weak, BUT HE IS STRONG…and we go forward in His strength!

Insufficient in ourselves but sufficient in Christ,
Merrill y Teresa

Psalms 100:1-5

Worship the LORD with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the LORD is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Yes, “Back Closet Ministries” has now recorded 260 radio programs for teaching from Genesis till the Ascension of Christ, and we also now have 107 programs edited and ready to send to our radio guy, PTL!!!

All together our team has distributed around 750 radios to different family heads in many different villages. (See photos below) The earlier version was the red radio and then GalCom International came up with a superior model that is blue. We also purchased little solar panels so they have some help getting the radios charged during times when there isn’t much sun during the Rainy Season. They charge much faster this way than with just the little solar panel on the unit. There are still many villages that didn’t receive radios this year, so we are trusting the Lord to provide for the additional purchase of 1000 units to pass out so more of the P nation can hear the “Good News” of the Word of God.

Two New Families!!

So, who are these two couples? Well let me introduce them to you. The first photo is of Humberto and Maria. They have no children yet. And the second photo is of Genaro and Maria (with their pastor in the background). The second couple have three kids and he was one of the pastors in one of the Pia churches. And so yeah, these are the families that our great Missionary God has challenged to step forward to give their lives to see the P churches brought to greater maturity and to be more established economically. These two precious couples will also be backed by 214 different Pia churches who will also be sending gardening teams, building teams, and whatever the work will be needing. How we PRAISE GOD for this marvelous new phase of the P work!! Let’s be PRAYING for these families as they are visiting many different churches right now, and then as they begin their formal Missionary Training at a Training Center that the Pia people have just opened. Yes, glory to God for His mighty workings, and for the many surprises He has for His people!

Rejoicing in the huge privilege of partnering with the Most High,
Merrill and Teresa

Isaiah 43:18,19
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

So Who Are These People in the Above Photo??

Well, God is doing something new, really new! It is the kind of news that makes your ears tingle! It is just like Isaiah the prophet wrote so long ago in 43:18 and 19 when he said:

But forget about all that for it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

Yes, God is doing something new and wild!!…and we are beginning to see it! So what is He doing? Well, He is bringing in some very special reinforcements to minister to the P church. After hearing of the great need among the P people, some very gifted and unique believers are being led of the Lord to join us in this work to help bring the P churches to greater maturity and independence economically.

So let me introduce you to the Pia people (not their real name). They are another people group in our host country that has been reached with the Gospel. They have some of the OT and all of the New Testament in their language…and they have grown by leaps and bounds in the Lord. And now this particular group is also sending out missionaries to serve in other people groups. Imagine that!! And after hearing all about the P work in a recent presentation that I was able to present to them on-line at one of their conferences, and the needs that we still have there, they responded quickly to the “Macedonian Call” that was given to them.

And so shortly thereafter, a team of 12 Pia (those in the photo above) took off on their motorcycles and entered P-land. They met with our national coworkers and with the P believers as well. They then took back a report to their churches and are excited about getting involved where they can to see the P churches firmly established in the Lord. So far two different families from their churches have come forth to dedicate their lives to work among the P people and are trusting the Lord for one more family to join them. And very soon, many church leaders will be gathering together to talk about how they are going to support these missionaries that are heading out to help us!! Yes, awesome indeed! We continue to marvel at God’s many surprises for us as we continue forward trusting Him in this church planting work!

So why would we need these reinforcements in the P work? Let me reiterate what I wrote in our last update:

1. There is a lot of work yet to be done to help the P churches grow and be firmly established in the Lord. Our national coworkers are getting older and feel overwhelmed with all that is on their plates. They are very excited about the possibility of having some help from the Pia believers.
2. With the on going presence of dangerous players in the area who could threaten the security of our national missionaries, the indigenous missionaries would have a much lower profile and draw less attention.
3. The Pia believers could be a huge help in teaching the people better gardening skills. As you know, the P people are seminomadic and aren’t the best gardeners. Their diet is still often poor, hurting their health. Discipleship in the area of gardening would be a great boost to their quality of life. (We have worked on this for years with temporary success but eventually it fails)
4. The Pia believers have technological knowhow. This particular people group is very skilled when it comes to on-line stuff, including connecting to Star Link and other things. This could foreseeably lead to us having regular conversations with the P pastors and others, as well as teaching the church there via online streaming. Yes, there is lots of potential in this area. They would also be a huge help in guiding the people to better maintain their solar-powered radios.
5. They would be a tremendous encouragement and help in literacy and discipleship.
6. They are perfectly bilingual, speaking both Spanish and their tribal language, and so could help the P people learn to speak Spanish. This would be advantageous for them and would better prepare them for life in a Spanish-speaking country.
7. Many of the Pia believers are trained medics and so could be a more consistent help in meeting the medical needs of the people.
8. They are also quite entrepreneurial and could help the P people in developing marketable products that will help them be more economically established so they can meet their own needs, and also bless others.

The truth is that there is still much to do and these reinforcements will be a huge blessing. Truly this is an amazing thing that God is doing and we are thrilled!!

The boxed new Bibles were shipped by truck over the long route of dusty paths into P-land by some of God’s great servants. They have been handed over and the precious P believers are happy to receive them. The Bibles that were printed back in 2016 have worn out and so this is the second printing. May it last a long time!

Above to the far left is Jacinto, one of our national coworkers, with Hernán, one of the pastors in the middle, and a Pia believer who was present to help distribute the newly printed Bibles.

Newly Printed Bibles

The newly printed Bibles that sat in storage through the Rainy Season on the border of another country have now been shipped and delivered into the hands of most of the believers. This is a huge praise item!! Thanks so much for praying about this. And yes, the believers are very pleased with this new Bible with clearer fonts, tougher binding and a more durable cover. Yes, praise the Lord!!

Prayer and Praise:

• pray for the five ordained pastors, for them to be strong in the Lord, and faithfully continue to teach the different local churches.
• pray for God’s timing on the distribution of all the solar-powered radios to the many unreached villages
• pray for hearts among the many unbelievers to be prepared to listen and accept the Gospel story that starts in Genesis 1:1 and ends with the Ascension
• pray for the safe arrival of additional radios that are presently being sent
• pray for continued open doors in our host country and in the area where the P people live. There has been a lot more suspicious activity recently in the area where our national missionaries are working and conditions seem to be deteriorating
• Pray for encouragement, protection, and wisdom for our national coworkers, and that they would live under a cloud of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.
• Pray for God’s direction as the Pia people come to set up their homes. Pray for God’s abundant provision for every need.
• Pray for continued health and strength for us as we continue to edit these many radio programs to prep them for going on the air.
• PTL that the P people are excited about the Pia people coming to live among them and help them
• PTL for all the prayers and love the P churches are receiving from the many Pia churches (over 200!)
• PTL for two Pia families that have already presented their lives for service among the P people
• PTL for the 260 radio programs that were successfully recorded for nation wide evangelism among the P people
• PTL that we have another 235 radios on a boat right now heading to P-land!
• PTL that the newly printed Bibles have been distributed among the saints!
• PTL that all this is God’s work, and that He will indeed build His glorious church, and the powers of hell will not be able to deter Him.

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

Excited to have a part in one small corner of the planet as we partner with our great Lord-Owner-Boss, Who is the Builder of His glorious church among the nations. Thx so much for being a part of all this!!!

Merrill and Teresa

Daniel 2:21
He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.

What in the world is going on??

Many of you have been writing me to ask what is going on in our former host country. Well I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Our illegitimate president is now in jail in New York and awaiting trial. And wow, we’ve been getting lots of mail from our friends down there who are truly thrilled with what has happened. They are rejoicing and very, very relieved and thankful. Why? Because they have lived a very difficult life for almost three decades now. We remember it well as we watched it all happen in real time.! We were still living among the P people at that time, but it was big news when Hugo Chavez was elected. (Four years later we fled P-land due to the Government’s open door policy to the communist insurgents from a neighboring country who began flooding the state where we lived. And now the drug cartels are there as well making ministry difficult for our national coworkers). Chavez promised to clean up all the corruption in the country. Well, he did something very different and took us on a wild and dangerous roller coaster ride into the abyss of communism. But hey, due to our continued work in that country in multiple people groups, I can’t give you all the details I would like to but know that the people are cautiously optimistic and hoping that this is the beginning of a new country where freedom reigns, where human rights are protected and respected, and where legitimate elections will take place with leaders chosen by the people.

Please be praying for our beloved host country, and for the wonderful people there. They have been languishing for many years and long for change, freedom, and the privilege of making a decent buck. And yes, even the indigenous populations have felt it as Government aid for them has ceased. So your prayers are much appreciated for continued freedom to preach the Gospel in the country, for freedom for our many missionaries there to be able to continue their work, and for God to be glorified in all this. Our confidence is not in any politician but rather in the Most High God! Truly He puts down one king and raises up another as the verse in Daniel 2:21 states above. So yes, thanks much for your prayers for all this.

And Check this out!!

Very soon now during this month, there will be a large conference held by another people group in another country. They are a very large group, numbering over ten times the population of the P people, with approximately 200 mature churches that are increasingly zealous to move into world missions. Some of them have already graduated from our National Missionary Center and are working in other language groups. Yes, God is working mightily in their midst. And now during this next conference, I will be presenting about a 3-hour presentation, telling them all about the P people, and challenging some of them to join us. So you may be asking: “Why would we ask some of them to join our team?” Well, there are several factors in play here.

1. There is a lot of work yet to be done to help our P churches grow and be firmly established in the Lord. Our national coworkers are getting older and feel overwhelmed with all that is on their plates. They are very excited about the possibility of having some help.
2. With the heavy presence of those who threaten our national missionaries, the indigenous missionaries would fit into the environment much more easily.
3. They could be a huge help in teaching the people better gardening skills. As you know, the P people are semi-nomadic and aren’t the best gardeners. They diet is still often poor, hurting their health. Discipleship in the area of gardening would be a great boost to their quality of life.
4. They have technological know-how. This particular people group is very skilled when it comes to on-line stuff, including connecting to Star Link and other things. This could foreseeably lead to us having regular conversations with the P pastors and others, as well as teaching the church there via online streaming. Yes, there is lots of potential in this area. They would also be a huge help in guiding the people to better maintain their solar-powered radios.
5. They would also be a tremendous help in literacy and discipleship.
6. They are perfectly bilingual, speaking both Spanish and their tribal language, and so could help the P people learn to speak Spanish. This would be a huge help for them and would better prepare them for life in a Spanish-speaking country.

Jesus, beginning with the beginning words, shared with them in a big way regarding the message that God caused to be written down, right from what Moses wrote straight on through to what the prophets wrote. And all that which was written regarding himself he taught in an opening up sort of way, so that they would really get the stuff about him.
Luke 24:27