What is your family growth plan?

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