Updates

When the apostle Paul was teaching the Athenians, he used an aspect of their culture as a door opener to present to them the living God.

In Acts 17:22-23 we read:
So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows:
“Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.”

Back in the early 70’s…

…after I was recently saved, and after I was challenged at a Mission’s Conference to give my life to reach one of the many Unreached People Groups of the world, I began to cut my missionary teeth by reading books by Don Richardson.  He and his family gave their lives to reach the unreached Sawi nation that lived in a remote jungle location in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, which today is known as West Papua.  They lived among this dangerous group of cannibals, learned their language and culture, built relationships with them, and began to teach and translate the Scriptures into their language.  God honored their efforts and in time, many came to Christ.  And the cool thing was that the Lord provided them with a wonderful redemptive analogy from the culture which greatly assisted them in giving a clear Gospel message that really hit the nail on the head in the hearts of the Sawi people.  (Read the exciting account of what happened!  PEACE CHILD by Don Richardson)

And in the same way, God has also wonderfully blessed us in providing a beautiful cultural analogy which brought great clarity to our presentation of the Gospel to the P people.  To hear all about it and see a corresponding PowerPoint, listen to this recent report given in one of our supporting churches at the following link.  Forward the video to around 32 minutes.
https://www.sbcommunity.org/sermons-archive/new-year-missions-report/

Suggested Additional Reading:
LORDS OF THE EARTH, by Don Richardson
ETERNITY IN THEIR HEARTS, also by Don Richardson

A Season of Trials and Testing

During the last year and half, our extended family (the Dyck Clan)  has been permitted by our Lord to go through quite a number of trials.  Our dear sister-in-law Brenda left us to be with Jesus, (victory for her!), our brother Vern had a stroke followed by heart surgery, our brother Murray died, our other brother Howard has suffered from encephalitis causing him to become an invalid for  4 months already, unable to do anything for himself, and in Nov our daughter Jodi suddenly had a small stroke in her left frontal lobe.  As we face these and other challenges, we continue to reflect on different verses, like these ones from James, which at times can strike us so strange  Rejoice!?  Really??!!

James 1:2-4  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  And let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

SOOO forward we go, choosing to rejoice and rest in God’s bigness, his faithfulness, his immeasurable love, and his sovereignty.  Truly we are in good hands!!

More Challenges

• Our daughter Jodi, pictured above, who works with her family up in the Yukon Territory to reach one of the 14 different ethnic groups up there, had a stroke back in Nov. The MRI she got on Jan 3rd clearly showed it! Thankfully it was a small one which occurred in her left frontal lobe. She has had multiple medical tests since the stroke, but nothing conclusive has been determined as to the cause of the stroke. She is on aspirin each day and is on the plant-based diet to lower her cholesterol. She has been having times of brain fog, periodic dizziness, along with occasions when she can’t fully process a thought or task. She has requested getting an echo-sonogram with a bubble test, so we’d appreciate your prayers that that can be scheduled. So yes, here we go running to God yet again and giving our daughter over to his love and care. Thanks so much for joining us in praying for her.
• On Thursday of this week, February 9th, I will be going in for surgery to have a RALP procedure done. Thanks so much for praying with us about this too. For about ten days after the surgery my plumbing might present some challenges. However, after that period of time I hope things will go better. It all DEPENDS!! 😉 Anyway, your prayers are much appreciated!
• Thankfully Teresa’s wrist continues to heal after a titanium plate and screws were inserted three weeks ago. We are so thankful for this. In the meantime, I’m her sous-chef.
• Please be praying for our national team as they will be heading out to P-land to hang with the believers out there once again. Pray for a real profitable time, for advances in the language, for ongoing growth among the believers, and for God’s name to be powerfully glorified among the P churches.
• Praise God that some of the radios we purchased to beam radio broadcasts into P-land should be arriving in the country around the end of February. Pray for their protection and for a safe arrival out to where the people are.
• Thanks for your continued prayers as we work on Bible curriculum for the P brethren. Our hope is to get out a couple of more books this Dry Season.

Resting in the One who is the Alpha and the Omega,
Merrill and Teresa

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace.
Isaiah 9:6

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21

What?  No Names??

When we first arrived in P-land back in the middle of the 70s, we soon discovered that most of the people had no names.  Only a few of the men who went out to work for the nationals had names…and they were quite hesitant to let us know what they were.

So how did they refer to one another?  By kinship terms.  Since everyone was related they would only refer to one another using these terms.  No names were ever mentioned.  And even when interacting with the few who had names they only used kinship terms.  In a conversation when people were talking about a third party, if just mentioning the kinship term wasn’t enough to give clarification they would give additional information saying something like this:  “our brother-in-law upriver who has the wife with the crooked foot” or “the uncle who is the brother of the chief downriver by the place called ‘Sucking Killing Woods'”.  So yes, there were always ways to make it clear who they were talking about.

Now, if they met someone they didn’t know, the first thing they would do is chat and figure out who their common relatives were and how they could relate to one another.  And before long they would have their proper relationship established and begin referring to one another with the new kinship term.  Yes, before long they would speak ‘kinshipizingly” to one another  It all worked very nicely!

“But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus“.
Luke 1:30,31

Names, Names, and More Names!

When we started teaching the Bible story to the P people, they started hearing all kinds of names.  Names like Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Seth and Enoch, Lamech and Noah, and Abraham Isaac, and Jacob. They also saw we had names and that we named our children.  It wasn’t long before there were a lot of little Moses’s running around, and Abraham’s too!  Yes, people started naming their kids left and right.  But no one wanted to name their child Adam.  They weren’t happy with him nor with his wife. They had blown in it the garden and so their names wouldn’t be used.  They also didn’t like that Cain didn’t listen to God and that he killed his younger brother.  So nope, no little Cain’s running around.  So yes, in time names soon caught on and now everyone has a name.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna.  I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
Revelation 2:17

God Speaks ‘Kinshipizingly’  to the Believers

So once the P people heard God’s beautiful love story regarding His salvation for all people, they put their faith in the “Payer”, the one named Jesus, who paid interveningly to the Universal Judge with his own perfect blood and his own sinless death. And then what happened was amazing!!  The believers discovered that God now spoke ‘kingshipizingly’ to them!  Here the great Creator God was now addressing them as their Father, speaking to them as his sons and daughters, because of the sacrifice of the one named Jesus.  This was huge for the P people.  Here this beautiful one whose Name was Jesus had provided such an amazing gift for them.  They were thankful indeed!

Christmas in the Yukon!

On Dec 15th Teresa took off for the Yukon to celebrate her 70th birthday and to spend Christmas with Jodi and her family.  I, of course, was going to go too but suddenly had a vicious coughing spasm due to a respiratory virus I had that put my back way out so I couldn’t travel.  However, after recuperating and enduring 5 canceled flights with Air Canada and a night in Vancouver airport, I was finally able to arrive on the 22nd which meant I didn’t get there in time for Teresa’s birthday on Dec 17th.  However, it happened just fine without me.  And the big birthday surprise for Teresa was the arrival of Josh, our son, from Wisconsin. Teresa felt extra blessed!  What a joy it was for her to have both her kids with her for this special time. We can’t remember the last time both kids were with her on her birthday!  What a treat it was for her!

We were blessed to be with Jodi and Brent and their children during this special season.  How great it was to see them all!  The temperatures were low outside but the spirits were high inside. Brent kept the fires stoked in the log cabin and everyone stayed nice and toasty!  How fun it was to hang out with the three little grand kiddos.  They are full of life for sure and always ready for some more action!  Grandma and grandpa had to go for therapy after the visit.  Just kidding!!

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for our national coworkers as they make their way once again out to P-land. They have been prevented from going earlier due to heavy rains but now the roads are open again so its time to go
• Praise the Lord that 400 pre-tuned, solar powered, short wave radios have now been sent and are on their way to the P people. Lord willing we’ll soon be able to put out radio broadcasts for them. Thanks for your continued prayers about this
• My surgery was canceled on Jan 3 because of being sick with some nasty virus (not Covid). Thankfully I’m on the mend and waiting for it to be rescheduled. Thx for your prayers regarding a successful surgery and quick recuperation
• During our time in the Yukon, Teresa broke her wrist when she fell with her ice skates on. She presently is experiencing life with a cast for the first time ever.
• Please pray for Jodi and Brent as they continue to work to reach one of the ethnic groups in the Yukon Territory. It is a challenging work with many obstacles. PTL that Christ will build his church among this people group and include them in the completed body of Christ!!
• Pray for the P believer’s ever-growing love for the Scriptures, to learn more and to see the Word of God boldly proclaimed
• I ask you once again to pray diligently with us for many more good readers of the Scriptures and the Bible lessons. Please pray for God to do a mighty work in this area
•  Pray that the literacy teachers will continue to be motivated and encouraged to teach the next generation to read, so that the Word of God will continue to be passed on to their children and children’s children, etc.
• 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
• 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. When the Bible teachers have asked for more lessons that is like putting “gasoline in our tanks”!! But yeah, thanks for praying for wisdom, clarity, and diligence
• Please continue to pray that the Word of God in the P language would go far and wide. We have heard many reports of a few bilingual P who know how to read in Spanish who are desirous of also learning to read the Bible in their own mother tongue language. Pray that God would open the needed doors for His Word to go forth all through the P world which numbers about 11,000
• 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
• Please pray for my brother Howard who continues to suffer severely from encephalitis. He got the West Nile Virus many months ago and has been a vegetable pretty much since the middle of Oct last year. The doctors did all they could for him in Canada and now Susan, his wife, is taking him back home in Mexico where the doctors feel he will have a better chance of recuperation. Thanks much for your prayers for him so he can continue with his ministry of running the Bible School down there that he started back in 2009. How good that we can trust God through all of this
• Please pray

Thanks Again…..

….for your being part of the team as we push forward to cross the finish line for the glory of God. 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 tracking with us down through the many years. We truly appreciate you all and thank God for you.

Resting in that Beautiful One named Jesus,
Merrill and Teresa

Ephesians 1:23  
And the church is his body;
it is made full and complete by Christ,
who fills all things everywhere with himself.

Finishing Well

 

Proverbs 15:22 tells us this: Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.

The work among the beloved P people began in May of 1977. And shortly after we entered the work we as a team got together and wrote up our Strategy Statement which stated what our final objectives were in the church plant, and how we were going to get there. And ever since those early days the strategy statements have been hauled out, revised, revamped, and updated. Yes, planning has always been a crucial part of the work. Someone has once famously said, “To aim at nothing is to achieve nothing.” And so planning has always been a key part of the work.

And that is what the months of August and September were all about. First on the list was the team meetings when the team itself got together to evaluate what had been accomplished, and how they would proceed. Then the team met with our Leadership Team and our church planting consultant to set clearer goals on how to finish the church plant among the P people. A few days later our team traveled to attend the annual field conference where the missionaries were challenged to trust God for great things, and to finish well in all they did. On the heels of the conference, time was spent with our language and culture consultant. Since our team is still in the language learning phase, they continue to get guidance in these areas as well. And of course we had planned to be there for all these meetings but God, who is so full of surprises, suddenly changed our plans!

If you’ll bear with me with a little church planting jargon, let me show you how we evaluated the progress of the church in four different areas. Here they are with sub-points. And beside each heading, you can see what the team evaluated the church at on a scale of 1-10:

1. God’s Word for the church (6)
   • Access the church (and community) has to Scripture
   • How well God’s Word enters and engages with the lives of people
   • The level of authority the church ascribes to God’s Word
   • How the church goes about interpreting God’s Word
   • The church’s capacity to make use of God’s Word
2. The Identity of the Church (7)
   • The church’s understanding of who it is
   • The bonds which unite the church as a body under Christ the Head
   • The composition of the church membership
   • The origins and continuity of the church
   • The way the church relates to others
3. The Life of the Church (7)
   • The nature and quality of the church’s spiritual life
   • The church’s awareness of the overall purpose for its existence
   • The specific functions the church takes on
   • The way the church goes about establishing forms for itself
   • The fruit that results from the life of the church
4. Discipleship in the Church (4)
   • The church’s view of its relationship to Christ
   • The ability to help people make personal and practical applications of truth
   • The value given to purposeful, Christ-aimed relationships in the church
   • The encouragement of members to function in areas of engifting, including shepherds of the church
   • The existence of strategies for equipping those involved in the outreach of the church

If any of you would like a more complete look at this evaluating system, give us a shout.

Our Dear Coworkers

Thanks so very much for praying for our national coworkers pictured above.  They have been such a blessing to the work. They are also our bridge to the P brethren. Without them, we would have no contact with them. So thanks so much for keeping them in your prayers as we seek to work together to see Christ’s church strengthened and thriving in P-land.

Praise and Prayer Items

• Praise the Lord for great meetings that our team had with the consultants and leadership team.
• Praise the Lord for additional clarity in how to carry on and where the goal posts actually stand.
• Praise the Lord that one of the national churches wants to do all the purchasing and delivering of the needed groceries and supplies for the team. This means they’ll be able to log a lot more time out in the villages
• Praise the Lord that He continues to build His church among the P people!!
• Praise the Lord how God has restored my sight. Many have asked and I want to let you know that my sight is great!! Thanks so much for praying!!
• Thanks for your many notes of kindness and love expressing your concern for us with the death of my brother Murray
• Thanks for you continued prayers for my brother Howard and his wife Susan. He has encephalitis and is pretty much an invalid at this point, needing 24 hour care. Join us in prayer for a miracle from God Almighty on his behalf
• Thanks for your prayers for me as I suddenly have been diagnosed with a medical issue that will require surgery soon. (If you want more information, please write)
• Thanks for your ongoing prayers for the development of Bible lessons for the P believers.
• Thanks for your continued prayers for the maturing and multiplication of the P churches

Thanks again so very much for your partnering with us. You are so very much appreciated!!

Leaning hard on God Almighty,
Merrill and Teresa