Pume Update: If any man, woman, boy, or girl…

“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!