RA

“I have seen your salvation which you have prepared for all people.”

Bare Bones!!

There are no pretty Christmas lights or tinsel, nor are there Christmas cards or Christmas trees nor Christmas decorations. There are no Christmas programs, Christmas carols or special events. There are no traditional Christmas meals or parties, nor Christmas baking. There are no Christmas recitations or manger scenes. No, there aren’t any stockings hung by the fireplace nor are there special bags of treats to hand out to the kids. It is just pretty much bare bones! The P believers simply meet on the dirt and under the trees, or in someone’s house or in the school. That’s right, they don’t have all the trappings of Christmas …BUT they’ve got the real deal. They’ve got the real stuff that counts. They’ve got the eternal truths that they’ve learned from the Holy Scriptures in their own language. So what do they have?

Check this out!

• They know that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit
• They know that the eternal Son of God was born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem as the prophet foretold
• They know that the news of Jesus’ birth was announced to shepherds who went to see the new-born babe
• They know that wise men came and offered Him gifts
• They know that the Son of God, who was named Jesus, lived a perfect life during his 33 years on earth.
• They know that He fully obeyed the law and pleased His Father in every way
• They know that He became the perfect sacrifice for the sin, that is the Lamb of God who adequately deals with sin
• They know that Jesus’ blood-death payment on the cross on Head-Bone Hill was totally sufficient to satisfy the justice of a holy God
• They know that He paid for all the sin of the world, leaving no debt left unpaid
• They know that when he said, “It is finished” (which in the Greek means, “Paid for in full”), that he totally finished paying the full sin debt
• They know that He was buried for three days in a tomb
• They know that after three days He rose again and interacted with many people
• They know that He returned to His glorious position in Heaven after completing His divine assignment
• They know He is coming again to take believers up to live forever in Heaven
• They know He will totally defeat Satan and his host

We praise the Lord for the nine village churches among this special nation and what our Lord has done in their lives.

Teresa and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas as you celebrate with the real stuff in mind. How blessed we are to know the eternal truths of this special time of year. May the fluff and tinsel of the season not overshadow the real deal!

Enjoy some of our family pix!

Rejoicing in Babe in the manger who is now seated at the right hand of the Father in Glory,
Merrill and Teresa

Colossians 1:13-14   For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

As we read the news, it isn’t hard to see the chaos and craziness in our culture.  What in the world is going on??!!  There are powerful forces at work, pushing us away from the common sense and traditional values of the past and pressuring us to embrace new and wild ideas that are absurd.  It reminds us of the Fairy Tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” where a foolish king was conned into believing a lie, and his subjects were afraid to speak out the obvious truth.  Yes, it seems clear to us where we are abandoning what is true, good, and right….but many have seemed to embrace insanity.  Truly we are in the middle of the culture wars as people’s worldviews change and shift about with every new idea that arises, no matter how weird or unthinkable.

The culture wars in P-land started up as soon as the teaching of God’s Word began.  Suddenly there was a new and different perspective.  All at once there was teaching that didn’t support all that they had leaned from their ancestors.  As many P people turned to Christ and embraced a Biblical worldview, the conflict began to ramp up between these two opposing viewpoints.

The War Over the Earth 

The unbelievers were very upset with the believers because the earth was getting sad, making it more dangerous and less productive.  Why?  Because they weren’t singing the magic songs to their goddess, thus making the earth sad.  Yes, the earth was sad because of all the menstrual blood that had dripped down into it, but the singing made the earth happy once again, causing wild animals to be less precarious, and making things in their gardens grow so much better.  But now since the believing villages had stopped singing the old songs, the unbelievers were furious and demanded that they sing again.  The believers however now had adopted a new worldview.  They had abandoned much of the old culture and had embraced God’s culture.  They knew that the Lord Owner Boss was the one in charge of the earth that He had created, and that He would take care of things.  They refused to go back to the old songs.

The War Over Healing

Another area where the culture wars raged had to do with dealing with sickness.  When an individual got certain infections, it was due to a couple unknowingly dreaming about that person after having a baby.  And the required remedy was that they come by the house of the infirmed one, shove a stingray through their tongues several times, and blow the resulting blood on the person.  However, the believers now had a Biblical view of sickness and healing.  They stopped blowing blood on others, much to the dismay and anger of the unbelievers.

The War Over Demon Children

Yet another area where the culture wars took place had to do with maintaining the purity of the P race.  Evil spirits, desiring to procreate their own kind, would rape women without them knowing they were violated. The tell-tale sign that things had run amuck was that when a woman gave birth to a demon child, there would be some type of defect on the body of the newborn.  It could be a bent ear, a twisted foot, or even something as small as a mole or birthmark on their skin.  This then called for immediate action.  The older brother of the child’s mother was called.  He would shove sand down the throat of the child and then bury it where it lay, with the umbilical cord still attached to both the child and the placenta.  This child would never, ever be picked up.  However, with their new Biblical worldview, the believers rebelled against this practice, insisting that a defect on a newborn was not a result of a rape by a demon, and they could be picked up and kept.  This certainly raised an outcry among the unbelievers.

Two Kingdoms, Two Worldviews

There are two different kingdoms in P-land with two very distinct worldviews, following two dissimilar paths.  Some are following the way of Cain and some are following the way of Abel.  Some are in the light, and some are in the darkness.  Some are guided by Satan and some by God.  Some live according to a lie and some live according to the truth.  Some are in bondage and some have been untied and set free.  Some do not have their sins forgiven while some do.  It is just like the Scriptures read in Colossians 1:13-14.  Here is an approximation of the P translation:

For when we used to exist in what was like the sphere of darkness, when we used to live under the rule of the evil spirit’s boss, the true God delivered us and exchangingly put us into another sphere.  It’s true!  He exchangingly separated us off to live in the sphere of his Son, in the sphere of the one that he truly loves.  For by means of his Son paying, the true God untied and set us free, in such a way that all the bad that we have done has been totally erased, all of it!

Rejoice with us over these saints below who have entered heaven’s gates, and who were delivered from the kingdom of darkness.  They chose long ago to embrace the truth and walk away from the lies.  And now they are partying!!  We will soon be joining them!!  

Praise and Prayer

• According to the last census done in 2001, there were 11,000 people in this particular ethnic group. As far as we can tell, there are about 500 believers right now. Pray that many more would be transferred from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light
• There has been just resistance to the Bible message by the villages where the believers have sought to evangelize. Pray for softened barriers to fall down and for the truth to prevail.
• Pray for continued growth among the 9 village churches
• Pray for the continued maturing of the P pastors and for their teaching abilities to increase
• Pray for literacy to continue to grow and really become popular in the community
• Praise God for the efficacy of Christ’s blood and death to redeem people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation
• Praise God for the many trophies of His glorious grace that have arrived in Heaven from P-land!
• Praise God for His continued work among the P believers to grow them and conform them more and more to be like their Older Brother Jesus.
• Pray for continued progress with the Bible curriculum for the P believers. We have another 25 more lessons going to print, PTL!
• Pray for us as we continue to learn how to properly edit the radio broadcasts that Lord willing will hit the airwaves toward the end of January 2024
• Pray for our national coworkers, that they will be encouraged, that their financial needs be met, and that they will continue to move forward in their language study and in ministry
• Pray for super profitable times for them with the with the P people

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!

Waiting for the Lord’s Return,
Merrill and Teresa

Romans 15:13 in the P vernacular
Look, hope truly comes from the true God. And because of this we ask God on your behalf that as you live believing, your hearts will be as if full with joy (thinking with no liver) and peace (thinking with a refreshed liver).  And then by the power of the true Spirit, you will live with truly much hope in a surpassing sort of way.

So Where’s The Hope? 

Looking at the news we see suicides are way up across the board, especially among female adolescents.  Drug use is also abounding with more overdoses than ever.  Lawlessness is on the rise and law enforcement seems unable to control the chaos and violence.  Markets are volatile and our dollar is getting weaker and weaker.  And we hear about wars and rumors of wars.  Honesty and integrity used to be the common virtues of  one’s character but that has been tossed out the window long ago, especially by many of our political leaders.  And people today aren’t content anymore with who they are and so go to wild and drastic measures to change how God has created them.  As one peruses different news sites, it isn’t hard to sense the hopelessness and despair that seem to be raging everywhere.

I was struck as I listened to a recent audio message that was sent out by Pablo, one of the P believers, via our national coworkers.  We were living among the P people when Pablo was born, one of 10 children whose father had three wives.  As a young boy, he was quiet and more in the background, seeming to live more in a dream world.  When he got a little older he wanted to learn to read and write but struggled a lot with it.  At one point he was bitten by a snake and so we treated him and brought him back to health.  Anyway, this young man came to Christ.  He clearly understood the Gospel message and put his faith in the completed blood-death payment of Jesus, the Son of God.   How encouraging to hear from him 20 +years later as he shared regarding life.

Here below is a picture of Pablo and further below is an approximation of some of his message to me:

“Brother, are you still there.  Are you still living.  I’m your younger brother, Pablo.  I think you are probably still living.  I think you are probably still carrying on.  You are still probably there even though I don’t see you.  In that land so far away that I don’t know, you are still probably there living.  So I’m sending you you a few words.

Look my brother, you are living in the continual gaze of the true God, for He is over there with you, just as he is here with us.  Yes, we have come to believe his word, the true words.  We all continue to live here believing his message.  Not having known anything about God previously, we now know him.  I myself truly know him.  And because of that I live with great joy, and having joy I send you this message.  Yes, Jesus is coming soon, and I have salvation.  I have a destination to go to, and my arrival there is certain.  I’ll soon be in Heaven!  Yes, I’ll be going.  I know about our going to heaven because I’ve learned a bit of God’s message and live believing it.  And should I die, well, my spirit will ascend.  This body from Adam, well, it will go into the ground.  It has death in it.  But my spirit will go to the place where God is.  And that is why I’m sending you this message with joy.  I’m just sending you a few words here and not a lot.  Yes, we are still living.  And right now we are living well with no sickness.  We carry on, even without medicine, without any medicine men, we live in the sphere of God’s care. 

I have my daughter now, Zonia is her name.  I have a child, not having had one previously.  Our Father in heaven has allowed me to have a child.  I want her to grow up.

We want to see you.  We remember you.  We miss you. We remember you and Teresa, and your two children too.  You are like our father.  You taught us and now we are knowers of the true and straight words.

Keep on living there.  God sees you.  He’s watching over you.  Keep on living.  Yes, God watches over you as you write, as you work with God’s word.  And he watches over us here too living in this dangerous place. 

You being as my father, being as one who conceived me through teaching us the truth, I send you words, always remembering you, and wanting to see you.  Now on this ground where we all live, there is no seeing one another face to face, but on the day when Jesus comes, we will again see one another.  There in heaven we will encounter one another.  Yes, there in that most beautiful place we will again meet and see each other close up.  Truly filled with joy we will meet again.  Others will be left behind but we will go there to the place of no death, no sickness, and no dangerous biting things.  And therefore, living with much joy I send you these few words.  So carry on living brother. 

That is all.  I’m your younger brother Pablo, the one who is talking to you.”

Pablo lives in a palm hut on the dirt.  He is semi-nomadic and hunts with a bow and arrows.  He works his garden too, weeding it with his machete.  His wife had her child on the dirt.  They cook over a fire.  They live very simply in a world without electricity, running water, internet, electronic gadgets, vehicles, stores, medical help, and so forth.  And yet how sweet to hear his audio message as he shares about his huge hope in Christ, and the resulting joy.  The theme of his whole message was salvation, hope, and joy.  How wonderful it has been to see the hopelessness and despair dissipate as we have continued to present truth to them, giving them the very worldview of God Himself.  It truly has given them a totally different perspective with HOPE being huge in their lives!

Here below is Pablo and his wife before they had Zonia, their daughter.

My dear brother Howard (pictured below) died on July 14th, just a few days ago, at 63 years of age.  Our hearts ache with grief as we remember him but rejoice with great joy as we picture him there in Glory with our beloved Savior, and with many P believers, whom he came to know and love during his many visits to our place in South America.  Yes, we’re hurting and grieving, but not as those who have no hope, because we have loads of hope in the wonderful truths of Scripture.  Praise God for the huge hope He has given us as believers.  Howard knew this hope, his wife and daughters know this hope, and the P believers know this hope too.  It wonderfully dispels the despair and hopelessness.

Howard and Susan served with us in South America for 22 years and then moved to Mexico where they founded a Bible School.  Howard touched many lives in both countries and people fell in love with him as he lived his particular brand of Christianity peppered with humor, service, silliness, humility, and Christlikeness.  Yes, he fought the good fight, ran the race, kept the faith, and finished his course.  There is therefore laid up for him a crown of righteousness.  We look forward to seeing him again real soon!

Praise and Thanksgiving to God….

• for the great HOPE we have in Christ that takes away the hopelessness and despair
• for the many hope-filled believers who have arrived in Heaven from P-land!
• for His continued work among the P believers to grow them and conform them more and more to be like their Older Brother Jesus.
• for His passionate heart to reach the nations of the world through His body, the church
• for His grace and strength, and for healthy eyes and decent backs with no signs of cancer in our bodies
• for His direction on when we can get back to connect with the P pastors
• for continued progress with the Bible curriculum for the P believers
• for preparations and the needed guidance to begin broadcasting via the air waves in the P language this coming January of 2024
• for Howard’s arrival in Glory. Please pray for much grace, encouragement, and comfort for Howard’s wife Susan, as she journeys onward without her beloved man. Your prayers are also much appreciated for their two daughters, Katie and Hannah and their children, and our mom, Esther. She has lost two of her sons in the last 10 months.

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!

Living with great HOPE,
Merrill and Teresa

Mark 10:28-30 

Then Peter began to speak up.
“We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.  
“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News,  will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. ​

Family Planning

When Teresa and I first thought about a missionary career, we certainly didn’t know what we were all in for.  We had no idea of the many challenges, hurdles, and detours coming our way, nor of the numerous blessings and benefits and thrills we would receive. Sure, we received very good education as we prepared to reach an Unreached People Group, we still we were not aware of all that would be coming our way down this wild path of service.

After a good long stint of living among the P people during this past Dry Season, our national team had to exit due to the heavy rains starting up once again.  And what a joy it was for us as we were flooding with information from our coworkers.  Personal audio messages, audios of pastor’s sermons, pictures, videos, along with hand-written letters all began to pour in.  And yes, what a thrill to see so many of our friends and get messages from them.  And what amazed us yet again was that so many address us as their parents.  Here are some of their approximate words:

• It was only from you that we heard the straight words of the true God.  No one else ever told us.  Therefore I address you as father.
• Even as the sent one Paul was a father to Timothy and Titus, so also you are like our parents.  You brought us the true words.  You brought us the words that took us out of the sphere of darkness and into the sphere of light.
• As a young boy, I saw you living among us.  I was in your house a lot and played with your son Josh, who is like my brother.  And it was through you that I came to believe the straight words.  Therefore I call you my parents.  You are like my Father and Teresa is like my mother.
• I am waiting for the blower to sound.  I’m waiting to meet Jesus in the clouds.  There we will see one another again.  I don’t think I will see your face again on this earth but I will see you in Heaven.  Yes, we have received the non-deceptive words from you.  And therefore we live with hope.  We have hope of going, going to the place of our Father.  And it’s because you generously gave us the straight words without holding back.  Yes, you are like my parents.
• You weren’t stingy with us but gave us the words from above, the words that came from God. I have been egged again by these non-fake words.  You as our parents gave them to us.

We stand amazed as we hear the good reports from the people.  Yes, there are still challenging things in the work that can be disheartening but at the same time we rejoice to hear that the churches are going through the book of Ephesians together, and also through the OT lessons to lay solid foundations for their faith.  We are also in awe of new Bible teachers whom God is raising up, to take the baton, and run with it.  We are also excited to hear about those who are burdened to open new schools for teaching literacy in their communities.  And we are emotionally blessed as so many have addressed us as their parents.

As young missionaries heading to our field of service in 1976, we knew we wanted to have at least two children.  But now, what in the world, to see the tally come in at approximately 450, one could say that this is ridiculous!!  But no, this is the promise of God!! This is our great Missionary God at work honoring his Word, and bringing in a harvest.  Yes, among these dear people we have many mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and children as well…and let’s not forget the grandchildren!!  So yes, we give praise to Almighty God for His glorious grace as He allowed us the privilege to partner with Him in all this and grow our family!

And here below you can see some of our family!  These photos are some of what they just sent our way.  Most of these are your brothers and sisters in Christ! 

One of the school’s in progress above.

The believers used to always meet in their homes or under the mango trees.  However in some of the villages, schools have been built.  And so now the tendency is to meet in these buildings, as you can see above.

One of the school teachers in action.

Dijirio above, one of the pastors, is teaching under the mango trees.

These people continue to hunt with bows and arrows that they make themselves.  Here you can see his bow and a couple of his big heavy arrows called yipjatë, which he uses for big game.

The people continue to live in their semi-nomadic life style, picking up suddenly and moving out to a lake or creek to live for 2-8 weeks, more or less, to take advantage of good fishing, hunting, and the gathering of roots, fruits and seeds.

Jacinto, one of our national coworkers gathering with the pastors for ongoing discipleship and planning.

Praise Items

• Praise God that 30 radio players have been distributed among the monolingual believers and that another batch will be going to those who are interested among the bilinguals. They each have 250 hours of teaching that we recorded live when we were still living among them.
• Praise God that all is on schedule to begin radio broadcasts for the P nation, commencing in January of 2024. All 400 radios have arrived at their destination!!
• Praise God for the four pastors in training who are regularly teaching the children.
• Praise God for the great time that our national coworkers had with the P believers, and that they saw progress in the church and also in their language ability
• Praise God that we were able to get out another book of OT lessons for the P believers
• Praise God for the maturity of the different believers who sent out audio messages to us. There was a new sense of maturity about them, a calmness and deep trust in God that we’ve never sensed before. PTL for the Spirit’s continued work in their lives
• Praise the Lord that Teresa’s wrist is healing well and that I continue to feel fine as well after my surgery. God is good and we continue to rest in Him.

Prayer Items

• Pray that the P people will have an ever-growing love for the Scriptures, and a burning desire to learn more and more, and to see the Word of God boldly proclaimed to the many who still haven’t heard.
• Thanks again for praying for the pastors and leaders, that they would be getting “fat” on the Word, and that they would continue to boldly proclaim the truths of God’s Word
• There are two more villages that want to start teaching literacy! So hey, your prayers are paying off!! Literacy is becoming more acceptable and actually a recognized “thing” now in the culture. So yes, thanks much for those prayers, especially for the ladies. We still have no ladies who are reading to others. Many have learned to read but they don’t read to others, like to their children. Thx for those prayers!
• Pray for real unity between the different villages. Satan loves to fracture the church. Pray too that people would be strongly convicted about how they use their tongue, as gossip and slander are real tools of the enemy to divide the saints
• Pray for the growth of the P believers, that they will live in the joy and strength of the true Vine, and that walking in the Spirit would evermore become a constant way of life for them
• Thanks for your ongoing prayers for me as I continue to revamp the Bible Lessons for the people, and as Teresa works on formatting and adding graphics to each lesson. This is a huge job but will be so worth it. The teachers again just sent word out how they are waiting for the next books. So thanks for your prayers for wisdom, clarity, and strength for the task.
• Thanks for your continued prayers for our daughter Jodi who continues to deal with some different symptoms after her stroke in November of last year. Pray that she’ll be able to get the needed tests there in the Yukon Territory way up north, as things move very slow there. They are working to reach the Tlingit people.
• Thanks for your continued prayers for my brother Howard, who is a missionary in Mexico with his wife Susan. He has been flat on his back from encephalitis since October of last year. He still isn’t speaking and is still being fed by a feeding tube. We continue to entrust him to the Lord, asking that He be hugely glorified in all this. What a hard journey though for family, and especially his dear wife Susan.

Thanks Again…..

….so very much for your being part of the team as we push forward to cross the finish line in the P work for God’s glory. We count it a huge privilege!

Thanking the God who grows our families,
Merrill and Teresa

The Gospel of Christ was a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles.  It offended them…BUT IT WAS STILL THE TRUTH!!

In 1 Cor. 1:22-24 we read:
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

I’m offended!

During our first six and a half years of  studying the Pume language, there were many times when we made cultural blunders.  We were totally ignorant of what approved behavior was and so sometimes crossed the line into forbidden territory.  And the people let us know quickly.  They would tell us right out, “You did us bad in doing that.”  Yes, we offended them.

How often we have heard the words, I’M OFFENDED, during the last two years as we have experienced massive seismic shifts across our cultural landscape.  Wow, many things have changed drastically and changed quickly.  And people have been offended because of these changes.  Yes, offended, upset, and angry over a whole host of things.  Teresa and I too have been shocked as we’ve watched the direction that our leaders are taking us in.  And this has effected the different local bodies of Christ as well.  People within the church have been offended due to the changes that have taken place, or haven’t taken place.  And as strange as it may seem, there appears to be more sanity among the P people right now than in our own so-called civilized country!!

When the P people talk about being offended, they express it in different ways but the most common way is “You made me think a big one”.  And as the Word of God was disseminated among this ethnic group, we heard that statement many times as the people listened to God’s message for the first time.  And then when they became believers, we heard it too, and so did the P pastors and teachers.  So why is this?

Why do people get offended at the teaching of God’s Word?  Well, it would seem that it is simply  because God’s Word is offensive in many ways.  Yes, it gives us so much Good News, but hey, the Bad News is in there as well.  And it cuts deeply right across the fleshy desires of our sinful hearts.  It points out the greed, selfishness and pride in our minds.  It wastes no time at all in slapping us a good one up side the head!  Yes, the Word of God attacks our worldview, going against the plans of Satan, and shaking up our cushy life styles.  It cares nothing about political correctness or measuring up the present cultural norms and standards.  This eternal Word of God that comes from the Most High Himself stands alone as the absolute truth, provoking and unsettling us, stirring the pot and even poking us in the eye.  It is our compass for life, our map that shows us which way to go, our GPS in the middle of the storm, and our lantern on the dark trail.  I’m reminded of what the Scriptures say about the Word of God.

Jeremiah 23:29 says:
Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?  ESV

It is like God’s truth goes out burning and smashing the lies in our lives and culture, destroying the bricks of  Satanic deception that make up the foundation of our thinking and worldview.  After all, the Word is a lamp for our feet, and a light for our path.  The darkness cannot withstand it.

Hebrews 4:12 says: 
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ESV

And here is an approximation of how Hebrews 4:12 is rendered in the P language:
For the words of the true God are powerful.  It’s like it has life.  It’s like it works hard.  And it is exceedingly sharp.  Yes, it is like sharper than a thin, double edged machete.  And it’s like it stabs us truly deeply, measuring our hearts and our spirit, and the hidden things that we think about.  Yeah, its like it’s really alert and aware, knowing what we are thinking, what we are longing for, and what we truly want to do.  It’s like the true God’s words measure us as if we are totally exposed in a wide open place, with no possibility of hiding anything.

So yeah, the Word of God meddles.  It disturbs us.  It messes with our minds.  It points out sin.  It shakes us up as it convicts and points us to the truth.  It shines a light on our dark paths and points us to the truth and to freedom.  And on our journey through these many years, Teresa and I have both been poked and stabbed and messed with by the Word of God time and again as the Spirit has used the Word to convict us and conform us more to be like Jesus, our older Brother.

So hey, when what the preacher says cuts us deeply, when we are powerfully convicted by the Holy Spirit, how do we respond?  When God’s holy Scriptures cut right across the craziness that our culture embraces, do we side with the truth or with the bizarre behavior around us?  Do we embrace the truth or are we offended by it?  And have we ever looked at it the other way around?  What about being careful not to offend God?  Our sin is a huge affront to the Most High.  We can easily make light of it but it is a huge offense to Him.  And isn’t it interesting how we can so easily be offended with His message to us but don’t give a second thought to something that He takes offense at.  The Psalmist wrote that God has exalted His word even above his Name!

Offend US!
As the P believers have grown in the Lord, they have at times exhorted and advised us.  And some of their advice goes like this:  “Teach us hard.  Hurl the straight words at us.  Make us think a big one.  We don’t want to be as if sleeping.  We don’t want to be as those who are without ear holes, so throw the words hard at us so we don’t get stuck.”  And they love calling the Scriptures:
—the flashlight words
—the living water words
—the words that don’t go off track
—the non-deceiving words

Here now are a few examples on how some of the believers have been offend by God’s message to them:

—Dario had fallen into sin.  Here he was a twice-egged child of God and yet he had yielded to this lady who wanted to have sexual relations with him.  So he requested that one of the pastors pay him a visit.  He wanted to talk about it and get his counsel to make things right.  Well, when the pastor arrived and began visiting with Dario, the village chief (pictured above), who was Dario’s father, became very angry.  What right did this pastor have to come to his village to talk with his son about a sin that he himself didn’t want to face up to?  When the chief heard about his son who was sleeping around, and what the pastor said from the words of the true God, he was exceedingly disgusted.  He balled out this brother who had come to help him, telling him to go away and not come back.  What the pastor had done really made him think a big one.

—Maripera, pictured above, had been doing a lot of gossiping and causing grief.  She was tearing down believers and especially the Bible teachers.  When one of the pastors paid her a visit, she was angry.  “Who made you boss over me?  Did you raise me?  Did I call you father when I was young?  No, you have no authority to tell me anything.”   And she laughed at him and paid no attention to what God’s word said.  The pastor had caused her to think a big one.

—Pedro, pictured above, had only recently been married.  He and Omaira were very happy with their two little kids.  They were really a couple of love birds, still often painting themselves with the typical orange coloring from a certain tree that dating couples used.  But suddenly when the pressure was on from her parents for him to marry Omaira’s younger sister as well, Pedro yielded.  When one of the pastors encouraged him to stick only with one wife and not take the second, this young man became ticked.  His liver got very hot.  “I don’t live under the authority of your rule” he answered back.  “I will do what I myself think I should do” he continued.  The word of God had caused Pedro to think a big one.

—When some of the believers from Big Breeze village were confronted by another believer about their stealing pigs from a national rancher, they became angry.  “You don’t know what we do” Juanaca said.  “We don’t live under your eye.  We’re not living under your constant gaze.  You have no authority to tell us anything,  Are you our father?  Did you raise us?  No, you didn’t.  You can’t tell us anything” and he mocked the believer who was only sharing what the Word said about stealing something that belongs to another..  The words from this brother who sought to help them made Juanaca and many in the village think a big one.

—Oscar, pictured above on the left, has been a great teacher of the word.  He was an excellent reader but also a good teacher.  Suddenly a trap was laid.  A pretty young married gal began secretly tempting Oscar.  These temptations continued and finally Oscar yielded and took her as a second wife.  This really hurt the body of Christ.  Many went to Oscar and pleaded with him to fix things up, to come back to the trail of truth.  But no, he was living without ear holes.  Even when Uvencio went to see him and kindly requested that he get out of the tall grass and come back on the straight trail, he said “no!”, with disgust.  Uvencio had made him think a big one by giving him the truth.

Praise and Prayer

• PTL that my RALP surgery was successful and that all the cancer was removed. A recent blood test showed that I am completely CLEAR, so we rejoice in God’s goodness!
• PTL that our national team has been out in P-land since early February. Pray for great strides forward in language learning, for wisdom in encouraging the church, and for God’s protection from the evil doers who fill the land.
• PTL for the reconciliation that has taken place between several village chiefs and some of the pastors. They had been angry when their sin was confronted, and now they have “cool livers” once again after “brotherizing” with one another. A real big praise! Pray for continued harmony between the shepherds and the sheep, and between all the believers as well
• PTL that a children’s Bible class has started and that three of the pastors in training are doing the teaching. Pray for the next generation that they too will embrace the truths of the Scriptures
• PTL that some of the radios have arrived in the country
• Pray that the believers won’t be offended by the truth of Scripture but rather listen to the teaching having ear holes
• Pray for the six pastors in training, that they will continue to grow and be mightily used by God
• Pray for our daughter Jodi, who continues to deal with some different symptoms after her stroke in November. Pray that she’ll be able to get the needed tests there in the northland as things move very slow up there.
• Pray for my brother Howard as he on this long and difficult journey with encephalitis due to the West Nile Virus. He has been on his back now for pretty well five months, and continues to be fed with a feeding tube into his stomach. We PTL for the small signs of progress we are seeing but it looks like it will be a long and slow road to recovery. Your prayers for Howard and his wife Susan are much appreciated.

Thanks again for your love, encouragement, partnership and for your fellowship in the Gospel across the miles.

Confiding in the One who created the heavens and the earth,
Merrill and Teresa