WANTED: Pot

Name: Pot (pronounced Pote with a long 'o')
Village: Masanu
Family: He is a relation to Tingon.
Stats: Tingon met with Pot awhile ago and was talking to him about all the Christ has done for him. How, although he was one of the worst sinners in the village (in the eyes of others), his sins are completely washed away and he doesn't have to try to be a good person anymore because his sins being washed away has nothing to do with what he does, but with what Jesus did for him. Pot said that he has been searching for many years to hear a message like that, and he wants to know the whole story. He said he could tell that Tingon had changed and he too wanted to know why. So Tingon said he needed to come to the teaching to hear from the beginning, what God has done for him. So every day, Pot leaves his village of Masanu at 6:30 and arrives in Dengenu at 7:00 am, (an hour before teaching) and waits to hear this good news. He has faithfully been there every day.
Pray: That Pot would continue to come every day, and that he would see his sinfulness (which I think he is beginning to understand) and that he would trust in Jesus as his deliverer from sin, death, and Satan's grasp.

The Fall

The Tobo people were shocked this past week that the sin in the garden was not Adam and Eve sleeping together but that it was the eating of the fruit. They were also shocked to hear that Satan isn't omnipresent as God is.

The above picture is of our village Dr. at the teaching. He stood up and made this comment, "How amazing is it that God spoke and created thousands of angels and all the world that we see, and yet when he made us He used his hands. We are so special... he singled us out and made us out of ground!"

Because He loves the Tobo people,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi

PS How could I forget to tell you this? Every morning we continue to see our miraculous sunshine at the teaching! Such an incredible testimony to the people. As soon as the teaching is done we are engulfed in clouds and rain. Keep praying!

Next weeks Teaching will cover:
(Scripture Genesis 3:7-24 )
October 30: Sin separated Adam and Eve from God
October 31: God promised the Deliverer (Big Lesson be praying for this one!)
November 1: God made Adam and Eve's clothes and kicked them out of the garden.
~Thursday and Friday our people are going to a big cultural event in another village a long ways away and we will be taking off these 2 days from teaching.

Masa

This is Masa looking at one of the pictures we handed out of the animals God created. This is the first time the Tobo people have seen a picture of a tiger, elephant, lion,etc.

Masa was the man when we very first moved into the tribe said to us, "I want to hear God's talk before I die". So Masa has been in a sense our personal "time clock". The first 4 days of teaching he never came and we were heart broken and prayed he would start coming. We came to find out that his grandson was really ill and he was sitting with him every day so the rest of the family could go to the teaching. His grandson happens to be one of Micah's friend and when Micah found out that Masa was missing the teaching he went up to the clinic early Friday morning and told Masa that he would sit with his grandson and read him books and play with him so he could go to the teaching. So Masa came:-)

God answers prayers in awesome ways! Our hearts are overflowing with thankfulness that our children are as much a part of this as any of us.

This week of Teaching:
(Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 2:1-9, 2:16-25)
October 23: God created Adam and we ALL are descendants of Adam
October 24: God places Adam in Eden
October 25: God told Adam not to eat fruit form the tree of knowledge of good and evil
October 26: God created a wife for Adam
October 27: Lucifer rebelled against God.

His Clay Pots, Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, & Malachi

Earthquakes, Sunburns, Rainbows.......

What does an earthquake, sunburn, a rainbow, fear, and shouts of excitement have in common?
The first week of teaching!

Tuesday we felt an rather large earthquake during the teaching. It felt like a stampede of horses about to storm through. Just an awesome picture to the Tobo people that earthquakes are part of God's handiwork.

That's right I said sunburn! First of all, we have gotten literally hundreds of e-mails from all of you saying you are praying for the weather and for the teaching. We had tears running down our faces as we read e-mail after e-mail of encouragement and prayers. We SO wish you were here to watch the clouds move away as the teaching begins and to watch them come right back as soon as the teaching stops. One old lady who hasn't been coming to the teaching told Tingon this; "The sun was only out when they taught, what they have to say must be important and I am going to start going". Thursday before the teaching it started to rain and our hearts sank..that is until we looked up and saw the rainbow! Within minutes we were looking at blue sky! And then after the teaching, a half hour later, it was raining again. Your prayers are making the sun shine!

Daisa, Kellie's dear friend and language helper told her and Janeene yesterday that she didn't know that God was everywhere and could see everything, even when she goes to her garden. Now she said she is afraid that God can see all, hear all, and know all. She has great fear now because she knows that God sees all her bad stuff and she can't hide from Him. That is the beginning of understanding it all!

Now the best part....shouts and cries of excitement!! Thursday was the first time during the teaching that a portion of scripture was read: The days of creation in Genesis. After the reading there was shouts of excitement, clicking of tongues, and clapping. The teaching couldn't go on... they just had to hear it again! Men came up to Jason and Chad and told them they wanted to cry when they heard the Word of God in their very own language for the first time.

Thank you for being our co-workers in this awesome ministry,
His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

First Day of Teaching

6:00am the rain stopped
7:00am we got up to the village and were told "we have a problem, many people have showed up for the teaching from far away villages and we don't have enough food or firewood for them and barely enough for ourselves. The rain is rotting everything."
8:00am the teaching started....a quick look over the crowd...300? All of their feet covered in mud.
11:00am the teaching stopped and the people asked us to keep on teaching through the night and through the next day until it was done. They begged and said "we are starving for spiritual truth, please don't stop."
12:00pm It started to rain again and we headed home.
4:00pm 6 different people stopped by in the pouring rain to say how happy their hearts were to hear the teaching and learn about God's Word. They can't wait for tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I felt completely overwhelmed, at the start, my tongue was so heavy I felt like sitting down and quitting. But I threw up a prayer and asked the Lord to grab my tongue and to cause me to say what he wanted me to. From that point on, I was no longer TRYING to speak, it just came from the God of all languages. Praise Him.
Our hearts are heavy with another issue: the rain just keeps on coming, and the mud just keeps on rising. This is supposed to be dry season, and it is worse than most rainy seasons. Pray that in spite of the weather, people will continue to come through the mud to hear the word of God. Thank you for your prayers, keep it up.

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Graduation and Teaching Highlights

We just had the awesome privilege of attending the graduation of 6 students from the first Tobo run literacy class. What an awesome encouragement to us as we go into the first week of teaching.

Monday morning at 8am we will be going up to the village Dengenu to begin the teaching of the Word of God in their own language. Every Monday I will send out an e-mail of what Jason will be covering that week. Please be in prayer for the specific points that will be highlighted throughout the week.
(Genesis 1:1-25)
October 16th: The Bible is God's Message to all people.
October 17th: The Bible tells us what God is like and that He alone existed before everything and everyone else.
October 18th: God created spirits. God created the heavens and the earth
October 19th and 20th: God revealed His nature and attributes through His creative acts (Days of creation 1-6)

Because Prayer Makes a Difference,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi

Speak Boldly

"By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas..."

May this be the song of the Tobo people after they hear the great news of what Christ has done for them. He indeed is the HOPE of all the ends of the earth, and we ARE at the ends of the earth as the meaning of the name of our mountain range (the Finisterre Range) is "The Ends of the Earth".
The Bible teaching will start on October 16th, 2006. For those of you who have been praying and fasting with us for the salvation of the Tobo people... thank you! Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. Please continue to PRAY WITH US, "keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for the saints":
1.) That words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel... that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. (Eph.6:19-20)
2.) That the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and BE GLORIFIED, just as it did also with you. (2 Thess. 3:1) (Pray that the word of God will be magnified in the eyes of the Tobo people as they hear it for the first time in the heart language.)
Thank you for your prayers, for as we know, the battle is not ours, but the Lord's! And He IS the victor!

For His glory,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Micah's Baptism

"The reason I want to be baptized is because I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and He saved me from all of my sins and I will get to go to heaven some day. I want to show all of you that I love God and show God that I love him"

Said by, Micah Habakkuk Knapp On October 1st, 2006
He was baptized by Jason in the Pacific Ocean, Madang, PNG during our annual Madang regional conference.

Lord, help all of us parents to be faithful to our first and foremost missions field...our children.