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John 14:1-4

 Jesus said: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.  And you know the way to where I am going.”

Going High Tech! 

It was just a couple of weeks ago when I suddenly got a message from one of my national coworkers that several of the P pastors and some of their sons had hiked the 60-plus miles from their river to the bilingual community of Pretty Water on the next river to the north where he was living.  He said, “I have Hernan here and he wants to talk to you”   Well, I right away called my coworker and in no time I had a perfect connection via Satellite with my dear P brother.  The communication was clear and crisp, and it was just such a joy to visit with this dear brother in Christ, who was really like a son to us.

So what did we talk about?  Well, the conversation went all over the place for a good 2.5 hours.  He right away shared how he and his family, along with the others in the village were doing.  Then he went on to share about how they as a team of pastors were teaching through the books of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John and that it was going well.  He talked about the joy of teaching the Scriptures, and looking after Jesus’s sheep.  He mentioned too that he and the other pastors would often go visit different believers who needed encouragement.  Some were off the trail of truth and needed to confess their sin and make things right with God and others.  Others were sick and needed a prayer for healing.  Still others needed encouragement to get back to using “the machete” that God had given them.  Yes, God had given one or more tools to each believer and it wasn’t right that Doidamo, for example, wasn’t using his gift of teaching.  “I needed to encourage him to grab up his machete again and get to work, and not leave it just lying there on the ground”.

He talked about several of the believers too with sadness.  No, they hadn’t made things right with God and others.  They refused to “brotherize” with those they had sinned against.  They, like Cain, refused to do what was right.  Yes, there was the brother way up river who had left the area because he didn’t want to do what His Lord Owner Boss Jesus’s word said.  And then there was the chief from the other village down river that also moved far away, because of his unwillingness to confess his sin and walk in the bright light of Jesus.  “But you know, I just keep on seeing them with compassion when I encounter them” he said.  “Certainly they are living with very untasty hearts as they live disobeying the One who bought them with his blood.  Yes, I’ll keep on working to help them.”

He reminded me again how they as pastors gather together each Friday to talk about what to teach, to pray, and to encourage one another.  “It is so good to work together as a team ” he said.  “We are like five men working together to carry a heavy pole.  Yes, it is good to be working together for our Lord Owner Boss Jesus”.

As the conversation continued, he strongly reminded me once again that they were wanting to receive the rest of the Bible Overview from Genesis to Revelation as quickly as possible.  They were all caught up through book seven and were ready for the remaining books.  I let him know they would receive the last three books this Dry Season.  He was very glad to hear that.

During our conversation, he spoke a lot about getting the good words about Jesus to other villages.  He mentioned how sad it was to see people dying around them who did not believe the message.  “We have to go.  We have to go and tell others who don’t know” he kept saying.  Some of us will have to stay and teach the called out gathering of Jesus (the church) but some will have to go.  We have to do what Jesus strongly told us to do”. (It was just a few days later that three of the pastors and their wives took a long two-day hike to this same village to begin teaching)

During our conversation, he spoke a lot about his hope of Heaven.  “It won’t be long now and we’ll be hearing the blower (the trumpet).  It won’t be long now and we’ll be seeing our Deliverer, Jesus.  And how nice it will be to arrive there in Heaven, for I know our dwellings are already made.  Jesus said long ago that he was going to prepare them.  And yes, by now our future living places will be all done.  And when we get there, there will be no going out into the jungle to haul out poles on our shoulders to begin the structure.  And there will be no going out to the palm groves to cut down the palm fronds that we will need for making a roof.  No, it will all be done.  Jesus will have it all ready.  We just arrive and walk into our future dwelling place.  This will be good, very good”.

As we got to the close of the visit, the pastor reminded us of our love and care for him since his earliest memory.  “You were always up there on the sand dune visiting with my dad.  You came often to teach everyone who would listen to God’s true words.  And you didn’t ignore us young ones but spoke to us and asked us questions.  I remember that you wanted us to learn too.  And when I went to play with Josue, your son, you treated me like one of your sons too.  I was in your house many times eating your food and playing with your son.  And then when I understood the message of the Payer, the message about him paying with his perfect blood and death to the one who was demanding blood and death for our sins, well I believed.  He became my Payer.  And then it was like you and Teresa became my spiritual parents.  Yes, it was through you that I heard about being “egged again” supernaturally by the true Spirit.  Yes, I will always remember you both, holding you precious in my mind”.

And then as we closed things off, his final words were that we keep producing Bible curriculum.  “Keep working on those Teaching Words.  Keep on doing the work for us that God wants you to do.”  And then with final parting words, I closed it off with tears.

It really is hard to describe how being involved with these dear people since the beginning of 1977 has shaped and molded us.  We have thanked God time and again for this huge privilege to be His ambassadors to this special nation.  Yes, we are here in the north but our hearts are so often in the deep south, there with the people that we have the joy of helping by God’s grace.  Yeah, quite the rush!  Quite the high, if I can put it that way.  We truly thank the Lord for the love He has given us for them, and them for us, and the bond that we have with those dear saints.  And like the pastor said, it won’t be long now and we’ll hear the trumpet blast, and meet our Lord in the air, and check out our new future dwelling places!  AMEN!!!

Thanks for praying…

• for the three pastors and their wives who hiked a good sixty miles to begin evangelizing in another village. Pray for wisdom, clarity in teaching, and guidance from the Holy Spirit.
• for the two remaining pastors, and the five pastors in training, as they continue to shepherd the flock
• for the continued development of Bible curriculum for the P believers. Book 8 on the life of Christ is in the printshop in our country of service to be printed and made into books. Teresa is formatting and adding graphics for book 9 with all the lessons on the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ, and I have begun work on the lessons that give an overview from Acts through the end of Revelation. Pray for strength, good backs, mental clarity, and wisdom.
• for the few deaths that have occurred during the difficult Rainy Season. Only one dear brother graduated to Glory. Yes, Federico now is with his Payer. PTL for the great HOPE that the believers have!
• for the reprinting of the P Bible. We have run out of the first books that were printed, and are now preparing for another printing, and this will include many small corrections that we have come across. Our goal is to get them printed and delivered by the month of April in 2025.
• for the on going radio broadcasts. We continue to on the air every single day! And the signal is very strong, even on distant rivers where the P people live. Right now they continue to listen to teaching on the book of Colossians, but soon we will be starting to give them teaching from Genesis through to the Ascension, which will be primarily directed at the P unbelievers out there. Your prayers are much needed here.
• for my eye health. The two cornea transplants that I received in 2017 and 2022 are both doing fine for the most part. Just recently however, I have had consistent sores develop on my eyes. I’m on some special lubrication drops and this is helping. I trust that the implants I have will continue to serve me well for many years. It is such a joy to have this good vision again.
• for our national coworkers. Pray for their encouragement, their health, their continued progress in the P language, and for courage as they continue to live and work where danger is often close by.
• for our three pastors who went out from their village to evangelize. We just heard that quite a number of insurgents arrived at the village where they are teaching and called everyone to a meeting. This has totally distracted people from the teaching and the pastors are wondering what their next step should be. Thanks for your prayers.

And Thanks Again…..

….for your partnership with us, for your prayers, for your encouragement, for your notes, and for your fellowship in the Gospel.  God is working and is building His church among the Unreached People Groups of the world.  Thanks so much for being a part of the team!

Weak, but strong in His strength,
Merrill and Teresa

“Matthew 19:14  …but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

The Kids

Through the years of our lives, too often we have looked passed the kids that God has brought us into contact with us.  However, we praise the Lord that during our time in P-land, God filled us with His interest for kids.  Right from the beginning we began to develop friendships with them.  We played with them.  We introduced them to playing tag in the water, calling it “Crocodile” in their language. They loved it.  And of course yours truly was usually the vicious crocodile. Almost every day just before lunch, we would go to the nearby lake with our kids for fun and exercise, and the indigenous boys would always join us.  (the young gals didn’t play in the water)  We had loads of fun as a family with these kids who were about the same age as our son Josh.  Not only would we play “crocodile” with them but we’d also swing them around through the air, give them motorcycle rides, and just visit with them.  We got a lot of good language material from them too!

If Any Man, Woman, Boy, or Girl…

Years ago when I was still a young believer, I was struck as different Bible teachers would always include kids in their statements.  For example, “If any man, woman, boy, or girl believe and accept for themselves what Christ has done on the cross for them, God Almighty will come to dwell within them.”  Yes, the children were often included in their teaching like this.  It stuck with me.  And so, when we began to teach the Scriptures beginning in Genesis 1, there were often young kids in the class.  We always would include them in the teaching and honor their presence, and would even ask them questions at times.  Through the years as we continued to sow the seed of God’s word, many of these young kids came to Christ. They had grasped the teaching very well and were super clear on the Gospel message.

Kids Becoming Disciples and Then Pastors

As we continued to teach the Scriptures, the believers continued to grow.  And when we started our special class for those who were interested in “helping the souls of others”, several of these boys, who were now in their late teens, decided to join the class.  Teresa and our coworker Karen also started teaching these boys to read and write. Well, fast forward to today and we see that the five pastors that were recently ordained in the one P church were all kids that we played with at one time,  And they are also some of the first literacy students who mastered reading in their own language.  Wow, how we PTL for His guidance in encouraging us to invest in these young lives as it proved to be a most worth investment that would bring dividends for all eternity!

Wow!  Two of Our Grandsons Got Married!!!

We had the huge privilege of attending the weddings of our two oldest grandsons.  Mitchell and Elizabeth were married first in Westcliffe, Colorado on August 10th, and Spencer and Rebekah were married later in Kansas City, Kansas on August 17th.  We praise the Lord that both of these young men married Christian gals who are also very interested in some aspect of missions.  Please join us in prayer for them as they seek God regarding their futures.

Summer weddings!!! Our eldest 2 grandsons got married!! Mitchell and Elizabeth in the photo above, and Spencer and Rebekah in the picture below.

A Cancelled Trip to Our Former Host Country

After the two weddings, the plan was to fly to a neighboring country of our former country of ministry, pick up a tourist visa from a certain consulate that was known to grant them quickly, and then attend our bi-annual field conference, participate in it, and also have meetings with our beloved national team. However those plans quickly unraveled as we saw what was transpiring in the country after the elections on the 28th of July. It became immediately obvious to all that the ruling communist party had badly lost. However, they refused to yield control to the party that won, which resulted in many marches of protest across the country. Well, things soon went from bad to worse with harassments, imprisonments, unjust accusations and indictments, and even a forced trip of exile to the leader of the winning party. So very sad! There is much depression and sadness in the country right now as victory was snatched right out of the hands of the people. However, we look to our Lord Owner Boss God who is in control of the nations and world missions, and thank Him that even in this bizarre context, He will continue to build His church and the powers of hell will truly not prevail against Him.

And the Good News is that the conference was still able to be held. Most of our “in-country” missionaries, along with various indigenous church leaders and national believers from churches that sponsor our indigenous works made it to the northern city where it was held and had a great time of encouragement. I was able to have a session with them on-line entitled, “The Value of Commitment and Sacrifice”. We were able to get airline credit from our cancelled tickets, and will trust the Lord to be able to go at a later date. PTL that He has a lot of good tricks up His sleeve and is well able to crack open doors and even windows for us to slip in!!

The photo above is of the attendees of the conference, and the one below is me giving my virtual session from up here in the northland.

Ongoing Privilege of Serving the P Brethren

We continue to have the huge privilege to develop Bible curriculum for the P believers.  In July we were thrilled to finish another volume of lessons for them and this week we are starting on yet another. The print shop in our host country will be working on getting them printed and shipped to our team-mates to be ready to transport to the villages in Dry Season  Only two more books and we’ll be done with the Overview from Genesis to Revelation!  Your continued prayers for us in this endeavor are much appreciated.

We’re also thankful that the radio programs continue to air each day.  We are asking the Lord to guide us which book he’d have us do next.  Yes, we rejoice in the exciting opportunities that God continues to give us to serve the beloved P saints!!

Prayer Requests

• Pray for God’s will to be done in the country, and that the doors of opportunity to see Christ’s church grow will remain wide open.
• Pray for the five newly ordained pastors as they continue to teach Ephesians, and through the Biblical Overview. Pray for wisdom and direction for them too as they minister to the needs of the saints.
• Pray for the five pastors in training that they will grow to be like Timothy, the apostle Paul’s disciple.
• Pray for the school teachers and students, that reading and writing will continue to advance in the different villages. There are still many who are illiterate.
• Pray for the ongoing radio ministry. Pray that the little solar-powered radios as well as the broadcast station will continue to function well, and that the Lord lead us regarding when and what Bible book to record next. In the meantime the believers will continue to chew on the meat they are getting from the radio teaching of Colossians.
• Pray for our national coworkers who have experienced quite a scare with all the post election fall out happening in their neck of the woods. Pray for their encouragement, protection, and how they are to proceed during this time of national protests, increased military checkpoints, increased surveillance and suspicion of the public, and so on.
• Pray for the P people who who are living in the hardest 2 months for finding food for their families. The rivers and creeks are flooded so it is difficult to find fish. Lots of their roots, fruits and seeds are not available during this time. So yes, thanks for bring this before our great Heavenly Provider.

Thanks again so very much for your partnering with us. You all are a huge blessing to us and we thank God for your lives!!

Strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
Merrill and Teresa

Above is a recent picture of Teresa, with our daughter Jodi and her husband Brent, along with five of our grands.  What a joy to be able to connect for a bit during this summer!

A quote from Jesus:  “I will build my church and the powers of hell with not prevail.” 

Well who would have thought?

When we entered the work to see churches planted among the P nation, we weren’t really sure what we were all up against.  As we studied their language and culture, we were truly astonished and appalled at the level of darkness and deceit in their hearts.  However, we kept claiming Jesus’ great promise for the work, that He would indeed build His church and that the powers of hell would not prevail.

So how did that promise play out?

Back in 2002, the church planting consultants strongly advised us to ordain elders, as there were different ones who qualified according to the Scriptures in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.  However, I wanted to wait for one of my coworkers so we could do it as a team.  Well, for security reasons, we had to quickly exit P-land in April of 2002.  Then, for one reason or another, it never worked out down through the years for an ordination to take place before the P church.  But on this visit by our national team, everything came together.  Our team presented the five pastors before the church body and there was unanimous agreement among them.  Yes, they were their pastors.  Yes, they were their shepherds.  And yes, they measured up to the words that the sent-one Paul wrote regarding pastors.  And so it happened!  These five fellows, some of whom had been functioning as pastors for many years, were officially ordained before the local body of Christ. And this news was way too good to not send off to you all right away, even though we had put out an update not so long ago.  Yes, this is reason to rejoice!!

Below:  The church praying about God’s will and the selection of the pastors.

Below:  Our team members ordaining the five shepherds who qualify for their God-given work

The Five Ordained Pastors Below

Here below you have a shot of the five newly ordained pastors with two of the members from our national team, Andres and Jacinto.

So what came next?

After the ordination, the five pastors were going over their responsibilities as shepherds.  And my goodness, it had been a while since there was a baptism and there were quite a few who were wanting to be baptized.  And so the following day, after teaching on baptism once again, many of the believers and those who wanted to be baptized hiked to a lake 35 minutes away.  And there they baptized 23 believers.

Below:  The five pastors with their wives

Let us all…

Shout with joy to the LORD. along with the whole earth!
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.
Psalms 100

Rejoicing in the greatness of the Builder of His world-wide church,
Merrill and Teresa

Colossians 2:6,7

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Time with the Saints 

We praise the Lord that our national team is with the P people right now.  In spite of the evildoers who are trafficking there in the plains, they are still out there ministering in various ways to those precious people.  Lots of time is spent in the Scriptures as they meet with the pastors and also with the different congregations.  Repairing water pumps and helping to build yet another school in a different village, explaining about radio care and fixing ones that aren’t functioning are all part of their labor of love to the saints.

(Here below you see Jacinto and Andrés meeting with some of the pastors under the mango trees, and some of their interaction with the brethren)

Colossians is Done!

We PTL that He enabled us to get the 40 radio podcasts for the book of Colossians all done, and that the P believers are now listening to these broadcasts.  One of the pastors sent word how thrilled they are to be receiving this teaching.  Yes, we are thrilled to and praising the Lord for His grace and strength to get them done.  Now we will transition into doing an overview from Genesis thru Revelation.  Thanks much for your prayers for that.  We are weak, BUT HE IS STRONG!!

Here below you can see some of the believers who are proudly displaying their new red radios hanging from their necks.  Further below you see other believers listening to the broadcasts, which air in the evening after it is dark.

A Difficult Season

When our national coworkers went in to spend time with the people this Dry Season, they were amazed how they were hurting nutritionally.  A  physician who accompanied them for the first part of the trip could see right away that they were too thin and sorely lacking in iron.  We are in the process right now of sending in lots of iron, as well as beans for both eating and planting.  Thanks much for praying for the physical health of the people, and that these seminomadic folks will grow in their gardening skills.

Here below you can see one of the pastors with his nine children and grandchildren.  He was our son Josh’s good buddy when we lived among the people.  They were often out fishing and catching turtles…and then would come to our place and make fish soup!

Praise and Prayer

• Pray for a successful robotic outpatient surgery for a double hernia for me (Merrill) tomorrow morning at 7 AM here in Santa Barbara, California.
• Pray for safety for our team as they continue to minister to the P believers where evil doers still lurk. There has been additional traffic lately which is concerning.
• Praise God that the Colossian Bible lesson series has been airing since March 2nd, except for a short period where there was a glitch. Pray for the radio ministry, that God would use this new tool of communication for His great and brilliant glory!
• Pray regarding the health of the people
• Pray for God to hold back the rains so our team can out there with the P saints for a few extra weeks
• Pray for us as we get back to producing more Bible curriculum for the people. They are asking for more!
• Encourage the pastors, establish the churches in truth, and may reconciliation take place where needed. Two guys to really pray for are Juan Mati and Justico

And Thanks Again…..

….for your partnership with us, for your prayers, for your encouragement, for your notes, and for your fellowship in the Gospel. God is working and is building His church among the Unreached People Groups of the world. Thanks so much for being a part of the team!

Weak, but strong in His strength,
Merrill and Teresa

“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.”   2 Thes. 1:11

God has a lot of tricks up His sleeve!

In Isaiah 43:19, the Lord has Isaiah write this:

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

It seems that God is always doing new things. He’s got a lot of tricks up His sleeve and He has a very long sleeve!! Ever since we entered the P work, God has guided us down this pathway of ministry and there have been many surprises. And yes, sometimes we have wondered, How in the world will things continue to move forward? However, God always has a new thing that He is doing. And He is great at opening new doors too. Its like He is always making a new way through the wilderness for us.

And one of the new pathways that He has opened up for us is the radio. We had never even considered this avenue of ministry before, but God opened this door wide before us. And as we prayed about it, our faith totally prompted us to move forward in this new adventure to broadcast God’s precious Word into P-land in their language!!. Yes, by faith we felt that our Lord Owner Boss wanted us to go ahead with it. And once we began to move in that direction, well, He suddenly dumped everything right into our laps! The radio station, the radios for the people, the podcasting equipment, the editing equipment, and everything else. Yes, HE DID IT ALL!

And since the radios that are already distributed this year are only in the hands of believers, we thought we would start with the book of Colossians to give the P believers some of what THEY call “chunks of pork for their souls” So yeah, I’m about to start Colossians 3 with 20 podcasts already done. I crank out the podcast and Teresa helps me with the editing….so things are moving right along. All Glory to God!! Next year we hope to have an overview done for them from Genesis to Revelation, and that will be more geared toward the unbelievers. May God grant us the power to accomplish all these things as we move by faith.

So, just to let you know…that the teaching will be hitting the air waves sometime in March. We are excited about getting the book of Colossians out there for the beloved P saints. Thanks so much for your prayers in all this. Truly God is the One who has to make it happen.

More Praise and Prayer Items

• Praise God for how He has led regarding the whole radio ministry. Pray for God’s huge blessing on this new outreach both to see the P nation evangelized, and established mature in the faith
• Pray for our national team as they travel to the P villages here shortly. They will be going in with lots of medical supplies and 18 boxes of books with new Bible curriculum, along with many others things for the people.. Pray that God will open the doors and that all goes well. Pray too for a great times with the P brethren, times of teaching and discipleship, times of encouragement and counsel, and times of continued growth in the language and culture.
• Thanks for your continued prayers as we continue to develop Bible curriculum for the saints. It is a real privilege to be able to carry on with this as well.
• Pray for the needed strength, health, and clarity as we find ourselves with lots of good things to do. As the P people would say, “we are working two big gardens!” May we do a good job on these two gardens. So yeah, thanks for praying.
• Thanks for your ongoing prayers for all those P who have the gift of teaching and shepherding. Pray that God will continue to show Himself strong on their behalf, and that they would be faithful in preparing and proclaiming the TRUTH!!

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!!

Looking to our Lord and His power to accomplish all the good things that our faith prompts us to do,
Merrill and Teresa