Clay Pots ~ Family Picture

Clay Pots ~ Merry Christmas!

“Yesu Winneyep Muat Nalia”

“The Time Of Jesus Birth”

His Clay Pots, Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, Malachi
& The Tobo Church
(Some believers not pictured due to the fact that some were scared of the camera, and some men not pictured because their pigs got out of their pens, and they had to go round them up.)

On January 3rd we are very excited to have a representative, from one of our home churches (Walnut Hill Bible Church in Baraboo, WI) come to Lengbati. Brain Hawkins and his daughter Sarah will be staying with us for 10 days in order to meet their new sister church here in Tobo land. We and the church are really looking forward to them coming so that we may all fellowship together as a church body. We are very encouraged by our church families back home who have been rallying together to send representatives here to show God’s love to these young believers! It reminds us of how in Acts the church in Jerusalem sent representatives to Antioch in order to encourage and exhort the believers there. Thank you for being used of God!

Clay Pots ~ Truth and Forgiveness

“…laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another…

… and do not give the devil an opportunity…

…let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:25, 27, 31-32)

Kips is known as a fighter with a hot temper. In the past, if anyone crossed him, he would not think twice… he would just nail the guy. Kips is now a strong believer and admitted to me in his testimony that he finally realized that he could not fight with God and win. Well, the man with whom Kips has had a gripe with, and with whom there is still bad blood, is coming from town to our village for Christmas. Welsen, another believer, was concerned that Kips would fight this guy if the opportunity arose, or if this guy came and threatened him. And Welsen knew that if Kips fought with him, that he would ruin not only his name(reputation), but also the name(reputation) of the believers. Welsen said to me, “I am praying that Kips would forgive the guy’s sin, not fight, and show his new life in Christ.” So I asked if we could bring this up to him before the other believing men, and he said yes, we could, and we should.

So when we were all together last night, Welsen, in a very culturally appropriate, yet graceful way, told Kips his concern, and exhorted his brother to forgive his enemy and to show the community how Jesus has changed his insides. He told him that Satan would desire that he fight so that his reputation would be marred. It encouraged me to see Welsen truthfully share his heart and what he thought could happen and the repercussions of it all (it is not traditional Tobo culture to care that someone else does the right thing).

After he was done sharing with him, Kips said, “My big brother. You are right. I was sitting in my house the other day just thinking about this. I was heavy of heart and Satan was putting many bad thoughts in my mind like, ‘What if he comes and starts hitting my house and calling me out?’ What should I do? Should I grab my bush knife or my axe? Should I come down quickly and hit him and then go and hide? Or Satan said, ‘What if he doesn’t come to my house, should I go to him first and hit him?’ And again I thought of how I could do that. I was sitting there planning all of this in my mind, but I knew it was Satan’s thoughts in my head. I don’t know what I will do, and I cannot say that I will do what is right because I know that Satan will try to fill my head with bad thoughts when this man comes.”

After he confessed that to us, all the guys pitched in and offered encouragement to him, telling him how important it was that he peacefully settle this thing, and how he needed to be a good example. They said that culturally, if this guy comes to hit him and comes to his house, if Kips comes down and is peaceful and does not retaliate, then the other party will be forced to not do anything, and their “strength will fall down” and the fight will be over with. So after they encouraged him in this, and after I told him a little bit more of how the Spirit will guide us and what kind of thoughts He will put in our heads, we had a time of prayer. Kips prayed. Welsen prayed for Kips and totally lifted up his brother before the Lord. And then Nikos prayed as well.

Afterwards, we picked up our guitars and Nikos lead us in a song, and then he abruptly stopped when it was done and said, “Guys, I love coming to sing, pray, talk, encourage and share from God’s Word with you guys. I look forward to it every week. When people come to my house and want to talk about things of the ground, I am repulsed and tired of it. But the time when we are together makes me happy and you guys are my true brothers.” To which Alex with tears in his eyes, gave a hearty, “I agree and you have just shot my liver. This is what Jesus has done for us.” Then we all sang another song or two and then went to our homes.

Please pray for Kips and the other believers, that they will not only be learning the word of God, but applying it in their every day lives.

Clay Pots ~ Church Buildings

The believer’s New Meeting Place
Budget: $0.00
Materials: $0.00
Labor: $0.00
Amount of time to build: 3 hours

For the past 11 months, the believers have met outside in the rain, and sun. Before you assume that it was a poor lack of planning, I will assure you that we did this with intention. With so much emphasis put on church buildings in this country (if you show up to the church building on Sundays, then God will be appeased or satisfied and allow you into heaven) it was important to us that the believers learn that God is only satisfied with us on the basis of our belief in his Son. And we wanted them to realize that they are not a “church organization” but an organism… a body of people who trusted in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Their belief in Christ is what binds them together in unity, not a building. It has been an incredible testimony to each other and to the community around them that they didn’t need a building in order to hear God’s word and worship Him.

But with Kellie and the ladies meeting every Tuesday and with their numbers continuing to grow, they needed a place to keep all the kids out of the sun or rain as they met. Also, God has been overwhelmingly faithful to us as we have met outside every Thursday since January and have only had two rain days, but the people felt a need to at least get out of the sun which is fairly intense. So this past Thursday all the believers rallied together to throw together a ‘make shift’ building. It is not permanent by any stretch of the imagination, but it will serve it’s purpose. It has no walls and is open so that everyone can see what we are doing and yet keeps the sun and rain off. The Grandpas and Grandmas watched all the kids while the woman went to cut long pitpit grass for the roof. The men built the structure and put the grass on. It is always so incredible to see the body of Christ at work and the intimate fellowship among fellow brothers and sisters, not to mention the laughter and singing that took place as well!

On Sunday the men met for our weekly Bible study. One thing that was mentioned was that God’s Word is not bound to any one place or building; but that it is a powerful word that should and does infect our every area of life (going to the garden, walking on the trails, sitting in our houses). WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT ANYWHERE, because it is LIFE! So I asked them, “What did Jesus say to do with this message of life? Did he tell the disciples that they were supposed to sit in Jerusalem and call people to come and hear it?” They said, “No, he told them not to stay in Jerusalem, but to go out to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” So I asked, “What does that mean to us? Should we sit down here in our house and tell everyone to ‘come’, or what?” They said, “No, we are to go out with this message, just like the apostles and Paul did. In fact, Jesus even said of Himself that He did not have a house to sleep in, and he kept telling others of God’s way of life. We need to be like that.” So I said, “Yes, and this little make-shift building which we just built will rot and fall down and we will probably not meet here in a few years, because we will be going out and telling others of the road to eternal life, Jesus.”

Please continue to pray for the believers. They are beginning to sense an urgency to tell their families and clans this gospel of life. We want you to pray that they will not just feel the urgency, but do something about it.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement, we appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

Malachi said the mud found HIM

The 3 Kiddos




Malachi said the mud found HIM

Clay Pots ~ Dancing, Paychecks, and Earthquakes

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ala with her scriptures, drum and smile!

Ala used to be able to walk with the help of 2 sticks but now the disease has completely taken over in the past couple weeks and she can no longer walk at all. Her only desire is that she would never miss a believer’s meeting on Thursdays. So 2 ladies carried her all the way down from the village to our place for the believer’s meeting this past week. Her smile never faded from the moment they put her down to the moment they carried her back up to the village. She led the singing with her homemade drum and listened intently to every word Jason said. One man went to tell her what a tremendous testimony she is to everyone by her contagious joy despite her circumstances. She just smiled and said , “I am ready to go to heaven and see my Jesus”. I don’t think it will be very long until Ala will be dancing in heaven with her Savior, on an eternal Thanksgiving Day!

We celebrated an awesomely relaxing Thanksgiving day last Friday with our partners. It included Jason and Jason playing football with the kids (speaking of football is there any one out there who has taped any of the Packer games? We are “dying” out here without our green and gold fix!) , lots of food, a nap, Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving movie, and lots of laughter! So what were we thankful for?!! YOU !! (After my cute husband of course). We are very privileged to have a “job” where our paycheck comes from people who care for us. Thank you for being sensitive to His leading and willing to make that sacrifice for us and the Tobo church. We celebrated you on Thanksgiving!

Last week we experienced a HUGE earthquake. From what we have been told it registered a 6.7 on the scale. We were scared and, excuse the pun, very shook up! We raced outside with the kids as things started to fall around us inside the house. Thankfully no one was hurt, though our house needs some extra TLC after it. As Malachi said during it, “God is SO big!” Sometimes we need those little reminders of our God’s incredible power.

We hope you find lots of things to be thankful for in the days following Thanksgiving, a reason to say your God is SO big, and a DVD recorder to send us Packer games!

Clay Pots ~ Their Mouths Were Stopped!

Welsen

We all know the story of Stephen, the first martyr for Christ. His defense speech before his accusers is a masterpiece. He articulated the whole word of God in a 15 minute speech. And in the face of those who were pointing their fingers at him and saying that he was blaspheming God and the law of Moses by preaching Christ, he turned and pointed his finger back at his accusers, and said to them, “No, I am not blaspheming God, but proclaiming to you the very word which He spoke for thousands of years. Only you did not listen, just as your fathers did not listen. And just as they killed the prophets who proclaimed to them the way of forgiveness and life; in the same way, you killed Jesus, the only one who could give you forgiveness and give you life.” What a fantastic story! What an encouragement to us to stand in the face of our accusers and proclaim the way of life.

I wondered why Welsen did not come to our Sunday afternoon men’s bible study. The next day he was quick to come and tell me why. He said that he put his string bag over his shoulder and came down out of his house to come to the meeting, but some guys stopped him on the way. There were six guys, all leaders of the Cargo Cult, and all wanted to ask him questions about what he did every Sunday. So they took him into a house and grilled him with questions. They asked why he left their cult, if he was a part of a new “church”, if he was going to get baptized, and why he was turning his back on and rejecting his former beliefs. Sound familiar? So he boldly told them that their cult was a lie of Satan. That Jesus did not come to give us paradise or a comfy life on earth, but that Jesus died to save us from our sins and give us life in heaven. He told them that, “No, I am not part of a new church, but I am simply a believer in Jesus, which makes me a true child of God and part of Jesus’ clan.” He also told them that he was going to get baptized because it was just a sign to them of what Jesus did to him when he believed. He also told them that they were on their way to hell if they didn’t believe in Jesus’ death and that hell was eternal even though they did not believe that either. He told me that he talked for 3 hours to these guys, and their mouths were stopped. When faced with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they had no answer and their mouths were stopped. It is the same thing that happened in Acts 6:10 where it says, “But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”

Welsen claims that two of those men believed that day! Two men who are leaders in the Cargo Cult and who, during our teaching last year, sat in their houses waiting for cargo to miraculously appear from the ground. What a testimony of the power of God’s Word. I know it was not easy for him to stand up against 6 guys like that. In Tobo culture you just don’t do that sort of thing. But Welsen did, and he witnessed to them, and their mouths were stopped. Praise God!

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Lengbati. They face opposition, but they have already won! They are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.

Fwd: Stairs to the new loft

Fwd: The new ceiling in the living room/bookshelf

Fwd: The new Ceiling in the living room

Fwd: Decorating for Christmas

Clay Pots ~ Family, Partners, & The Tobo Church

(Kellie, Nisae, and the Tobo ladies meet every Tuesday to pray, this Grandma is praying for the men to come.)

Our Family: 

On Wednesday, Kellie flew out of the tribe with Malachi. After a week of Malachi having a high fever due to what we think might have been cerebral malaria we just couldn’t handle it anymore on our own. Our mission Dr. was able to do some blood work and found a bacterial infection on top of the malaria and so started him on antibiotics. Kellie was also able to get a couple of painful, infected teeth taken care of. While they were gone the other 2 kiddos and I surprised Kellie with a ceiling/loft above our living room. It helps keep out the noise of rain on a tin roof and gives her some extra storage space. Kellie and Malachi flew back in on Friday and they are both back to normal… oh and she loved the loft. We also found out that, due to a building project needed elsewhere in PNG, my sister and brother-in-law won’t be able to make it in here for Christmas as they were all originally planning to do. We were looking forward to spending our nephew’s first Christmas together but we know that God has better ideas.

Our Partners:
You all know our partners, Chad and Janeene Mankins, well, they are on furlough, enjoying cheese burgers and good church fellowship (not in that orderJ) They are in the process of adopting their 2nd child. Please be praying for them, and that God would be gracious to give them another baby!

And our other partners, Jason and Nisae Williamson, have just moved into their house this week and we officially have neighbors! The walls are up, roof is on, electrical and plumbing in, and floors are polyed. We are so thankful that they have their own home now and will be able to settle in before they start learning the language and culture here in Tobo.

The Church:
As with all newborn babies, they are a joy and a privilege to have and to hold, but they are a lot of work too. Well it is the same with new believers. We have had an interesting few weeks, as many of the men were too distracted with planting gardens, building houses, and going to town ( a 3 days hike) to show up for our regular meetings. Mix that with the fact that I too have been distracted with helping Williamsons build their home, and it seems that things begin to slide.

BUT GOD! The women of the church were seeing that the men were not coming, and were not leading them as they should; so they took it upon themselves to pray for the men. They prayed that God would send the men, so they could learn and grow and be the leaders that they need to be. (Praise God for sensitive women). Well, God answered their prayer, and they have been coming back again on Thursdays, and also they have been coming on Sundays as well for our “men’s meeting”. During that time on Sundays we are going over the Evangelistic lessons which we taught last year, and correcting them and making them even more user friendly for them to use. We are praying that they can do an outreach to another village sometime next year.

We also just taught on Stephen being tried and killed for his faith. It encouraged the believers to hear the message that Stephen proclaimed to his accusers: the message that the very person whom they rejected, tortured and crucified, was the only person that could save them. Just like Stephen’s accusers, we have people here in Lengbati who believe that acknowledgment that God exists and careful obedience to his ten commandments will make you acceptable to God. So anyone who proclaims another message (i.e. belief in Jesus is the only way to receive forgiveness of sins and make us acceptable to God), is looked at as a threat to the established religion. And they receive the very same accusations which Stephen received. No one has been persecuted like Stephen yet; but they have been accused of believing a false gospel and “badmouthing” God and the ten commandments. So this story really encouraged their hearts to know that they are not the only ones who went through this type of thing. Pray for our believers as they stand in the minority here. Pray that they will constantly look to their Savior and trust only in him, and not in their own strength!

Thank you for standing with us and sending us to the Tobo people.

Catnap

Our New Neighbors!

Sophia and Malachi

Carpenter Boys: Jason, Kyle Pederson, Jason Williamson

3 kiddos

Luke Skywalker and Yoda

Princess Sophia

Our Partner's New House

Clay Pots ~ The Choice

Muyumba (she has 3 boys and a girl)

Raina (she has 2 little girls)

2 of the women whose husbands have not believed, Muyumba’s husband is the leader of the cargo cult in our area.

For the past 5 weeks we have taught the Tobo church what the Word of God says about Baptism. We spent much time in this topic because during the course of teaching about it, we learned that being baptized will be a huge deal in the lives of our believers. Since they will be professing to all those around them that they are believers in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, they most likely will receive some form of persecution and rejection from the community and their families. Some of them are afraid that they will lose their positions in the community. Some will be formerly kicked out of their old religions, and some of the women whose husbands have not believed could be beaten. Is it worth it? According to the Word of God and to many in the Tobo church, the answer is “yes”! There are a few people in town right now, when they return, the baptismal service will be scheduled for sometime in November. We will stop up a river near our house, so that we can have a place to do it.

Can you be praying for the Tobo believers? There are some who feel that this is what they need to do in order to show the community that they now believe in Jesus’ finished work. But there are others who are scared to do it. The Church will be inviting all the surrounding villages to come and see those who are desiring to do this. We do not know what will happen to the believers after the ceremony, but we can trust God to protect them and to use this to strengthen His church here in Tobo.

Clay Pots ~ Changes

(Jason and Chad talking to the men of the Tobo church the day before Mankins left)

CHANGE: This month has a lot of change for us and for our team:

Mankins leaving ~ Our partners Chad, Janeene, and Elijah Mankins just left to go on furlough. It sure was hard to see them go, but we are anxious to see God answer prayer and bring them back here sometime next year with a new little member of their family!

Cousins ~ This past week we flew out of the tribe for our annual field conference . Jason’s sister, Kyle andJen Pederson, live here at the center in Madang town. They have been gone for the past year and added a new member to their family. So this was the fist time we got to meet our little nephew, Noah. It was a joy to see him, and to get the first picture of the “cousins” to send home for the grandparents!

(Williamsons far left of pic., Kyle n Jen on the left side of us and Mankins on the right side of us)

Conference ~ Once a year all the missionaries in our region get together for 4 days of fellowship, fun, and food! This is the only time during the year that we get to see our fellow tribal co-workers. Since we all live in isolated areas, we really enjoy getting together, in the context of our own language and culture, to worship as a body of believers. It brings tears to our eyes every time. We miss corporate worship with our home churches and this time together helps ease that yearning. We had a great time of fellowship and encouragement. We really respect and admire all of our friends who stick it out in the tribe, in order for others to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

(Clearing Williamson’s ground last week before we flew out. The little house is the literacy supply house and our house is the one behind it.)

New Partners ~ We will be flying back into the tribe with Kyle and Jen and our new partners, Jason and Nisae Williamson, in order to begin building them a home. The population of 8 white people, in Tobo land, will now be 13! We sure are looking forward to having another family join our team, so that none of us will be alone in there while the other is on furlough. We will start house building, this week, and we should have a roof up in about 3 weeks. We are praying that they will be settled in by December. Pray for them and their family during this time of adjustment. There are many changes ahead for a family with young kids.

More Pictures:

Worship at conference

Slip n slide!

Singing and Friends!!

Craft Time!

Side trip to see a WW2 crashed plane

Clay Pots ~ Sweet Potatoes

I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I watched the Tobo people prepare the Lord’s supper yesterday. My memory kept playing back to how we Americans prepare communion. Our church elders stand in the church’s kitchen wearing their nice pressed suit and ties, pouring grape juice into little plastic communion cups. Then they quietly passing it out with the little crackers while everyone sits their silently. The formality of it always scared me a little as a kid (“What if I dropped the juice on my new dress?” “What if I sneezed?” “And why do saltine crackers always taste so much better at church?”).

There was no grape juice or crackers, and definitely no suit and ties being worn yesterday. The babies continued to cry, the little kids played soccer on the grass, and the dogs kept on barking. There was a small fire in the middle of the adults and one lady slowly turned the sweet potatoes over the open fire during the sermon on baptism. When the sweet potatoes were done, Jason and Alex took their knives and peeled them. Then Jason led us in prayer, and the sweet potatoes and water were passed around for everyone to share. And that is how we remembered our Lord’s sacrifice and death for us.

This was the first time we have done the Lord’s supper as a complete group with the believers. But there was that one time on the trail that Chad ate beef crackers with one of the guys, and a couple other times when the ladies were together drinking tea and eating sweet potatoes. We have been teaching them that we can eat and remember what Jesus did for us on the cross at any time. I love the simplicity of scripture and how Jesus took the staple of the Jews and used an everyday occurrence (eating and drinking) as a way of reminding us of what he did for us. The Tobo people have no way of getting wine or bread. But God provided them with their staple: sweet potatoes and water, for them to be able to break and eat and remember His son Jesus, and the sacrifice he made of himself for them.

Keep looking forward to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, when we will no longer have to “remember”, for we will be with Him in person!

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, Malachi Knapp & The Tobo Church

Clay Pots ~ Baptism & Answered Prayer

During this week’s Believer’s meeting, the Tobo church will be learning about baptism! Some other religious groups in our area baptize as infants or get “baptized” into their church, so that their sins can be forgiven. Many of the believers have stopped by this past week to ask Jason what God’s Word teaches on baptism. “I thought our sins were forgiven because Jesus blood washed them away.” “Should we be baptized? And if so, why?” We love God’s timing in all of this, because Jason already had a baptism “sermon” all ready to teach, but was waiting for God’s direction on the timing of it. Now, while the church is asking about it, we can teach the truth from God’s Word. That baptism is a picture of how we died with Christ, were buried and raised again with him through belief. And that it simply identifies us with Christ before the eyes of others; but in no way washes away our sins.

In addition, Sophia told us that she wanted to be baptized! We asked her why and she said she believed and she wants to obey what the Bible says about it. We are very proud of her. We are so thankful that God’s Word is simple enough that it can be understood and obeyed by a 6 year old and yet deep enough to convict a 60 year old!

Don’t forget to keep praying for the Tobo church on Wednesday nights (which is our Thursday mornings). Pray for wisdom as Jason leads and disciples this group. And pray for the believers, that they will continue to stand strong amidst rejection and to continue to grow and reach out to others.

Answered Prayer!!!:
1. Jason talked to the Doctor’s wife and her son (the school teacher) about their leaving. She informed Jason that they were no longer going to leave because she knew the people needed them (whether the people knew it or not)! She said that she did not ask the Doctor yet (he is in town), but since it is 2 to 1 (her and the teacher), he looses, and they stay! Since becoming believers we have noticed ever so slowly a softening of this ladies heart. Praise God for her sensitivity to His leading and Praise God for you, for praying for them!

2. The total of Jason’s medevac to Australia cost approx. $30,000.00. We are praising God that everything has been covered! Our emergency evacuation insurance covered the whole flight out of the tribe and down to Australia. And our health insurance will cover 80% of the ambulance and emergency room bills (minus the deductible). God also laid it upon some of your hearts to send us financial gifts. There are no words to express our thanks to you. You are a tremendous blessing and we thank God for you! Our God is SO big!

Clay Pots ~ Ukawong

Ukawong “Committee” with Malachi

We knew that it was coming, but that didn’t make it any easier. On Saturday morning August 18th, Ukawong passed away. His death hit closest to home for us for a couple of reasons. First, he was considered my father and the “grandpa” for my children. Malachi would run exclusively to him when we were in the village, and throw his arms around him and give him big hugs every time we saw him. He was the one there when we moved into the tribe in 2002, he went on almost every overnight hike with me, and we spent lots of hours together. But his death also hit too close to home because he was an unbeliever. He was there almost every day during the teaching last year. And although we taught the truth of life through belief in Jesus only, and he heard it clearly; he was deluded by the cargo cult and he rejected what he heard from the Bible and remained obstinate in his old beliefs. He has been sick for over a month now, and I have gone numerous times to see him and to tell him again of the one road to heaven, but he kept saying to me, “When I get better, then I will come to see you and we will talk of these things again.” His son, too, is a believer. His name is Welsen (Megelin Mama), and we wrote about him in some past updates. He was constantly witnessing to him as well, to no avail.

You see, about a week ago, Ukawong was actually getting better and up and around. But what was the first thing that he did after gaining his health? He went to a cargo cult meeting with some guys. But there was a believer there this time, his name is Kips. I found out from Kips that he had sat in the middle of that meeting and “hit them hard with talk about Jesus.” He told them about how Jesus was the only road to heaven, and that Jesus did not come to give us money and cargo. But they were undaunted and he said that Ukawong just sat there with his head down as he witnessed to them. That very night, Ukawong went to his house and at 11:00 pm had what we think was a stroke and has been paralyzed on half of his body until his death yesterday. He rejected Jesus, and my heart aches. But I know that we did what we could, and the decision was up to him.

Last week, the cargo leaders had a village meeting to determine why Ukawong was sick. What poison, sin, or evil spirit caused him to get sick? Obviously he had done something wrong in order to get this sick for seemingly “no reason.” They just yelled at me when I asked how we could possibly find the cause and cure for this sickness... I said, “You guys heard the story from the Bible. Who is the only one who knows all and can heal all? Why do we not fear him? Don’t you remember what we said about Jesus?” They said, “You don’t know anything. We have to follow our old ways. That is the only way.” So they went and killed a pig and did what was required; but it didn’t help.

We realize that we aren’t fighting flesh and blood but against spiritual powers and every belief that exalts itself against God. But, we are confident and rest in the fact that we know who the Victor is!

We ask that you continue to pray for the spiritual warfare going on here. And we will continue to pray for you and the war that you are fighting.

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

Clay Pots ~ Open Wide!

What happens when you get a toothache?

Do you call the Dentist, set up an appointment, drive there, and are home a few hours later?

Well in Tobo land it just isn’t that easy.

   

Join us on our latest journey of a toothache…

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday:
Micah: “Mom my tooth hurts”
Kellie: “How bad?”
Micah: “Not too bad, I just don’t chew on that side of my mouth anymore”

Friday morning:
Micah: “Mom I don’t feel so good”
Kellie takes his temperature. Micah has a 105 fever. Could this be from his tooth ache?
Kellie turns our 2-way radio on and calls out to town:
“Lengbati has traffic”
“Go ahead Lengbati”
“I was wondering if you could call the visiting dentist and ask him about Micah (Kellie gives all the information she can think of that might be helpful)
“Yes I will call the Dentist but just so you know he is only visiting for 2 days and then goes back to the States for good.”

Friday Afternoon (radio):
“Kellie I got a hold of the Dentist and he needs to see Micah immediately, can you fly out today?”
“We are totally socked in and raining, there is no way we can fly out today”
“Okay we will try tomorrow morning (Saturday) at dawn then”

Friday:
We got over 11inches of rain! It was one of the biggest storms we had seen and landslides all over our mountain top and valley

Saturday morning 7am:
Plane is overhead and lands on our grass airstrip. Kellie, Micah, and Sophia fly out to Goroka. Saturday night Micah’s tooth is pulled out, fever goes down, and all is well.

Wednesday Morning: Kellie and the kids are able to fly back into the tribe.

Plane ride to and from dentist: $500.00
Guesthouse stay and meals while out $100.00
Dental visit $60.00
Tooth Fairy Visit $2.00
All is well in the Knapp household again: $Priceless!!!
An American Dentist that just happens to be visiting PNG when we desperately needed him?: Miraculous!!!

His Clay Pots
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, Malachi Knapp
&
The Tobo Church

Photos (Malachi's birthday)

Malachi with Micah

Sophia and Malachi playing on the neighbor's swing

Malachi opening up a present

Malachi blowing out his candles, #3!

Clay Pots ~ Prayer Requests

Since coming back into the tribe, we have had some things that have been heavy on our hearts. We were wondering if we could share them with you so that you could join us in prayer?

1. It is not “official” yet, since nothing in PNG is official until it actually happens; but last week at the believer’s meeting the Dr’s wife announced that her husband told her that when he got back from town, they and their children, and the community school teachers would be sitting down to discuss leaving our village permanently. They moved into Lengbati around the same time we did (they are from another part of PNG) and have been a huge asset to this community. Unfortunately the community has taken them for granted (due to the communities cargo cult mentality), and do not appreciate the community services which they have brought here. We are thankful they are believers and we know they will be a light wherever they go. Pray that they will decide not to leave; but that if they do, that it will wake up the unsaved community to their need. Our prayer is that perhaps when the community sees that the cargo cult again did nothing for them, that they will see their need for a Savior.

2. When we needed to medevac Jason to Australia, the medevac flight and medical bills were/are being charged to our account which is putting us in debt. We are now in the process of trying to get our insurance to cover some of it, but that is going to take some time. Our prayer is that we will be out of debt before the new year so we will have the money to buy our tickets to come home next May for our scheduled furlough (just a “mere” $8,000 for a family of 5 to fly back to the States!). Pray that the insurance will come through quickly, and that we will be wise with our limited finances.

3. On the home front, one of our sending churches is going through a really rough time. Satan is trying to tear them apart. This news is discouraging and crushing to us. This is a spiritual warfare and as part of their body, we hurt when they hurt. Our prayer is that God will use all of this to strengthen and build up His church; to draw them into unity, prayer, and a deeper understanding of God’s love and forgiveness.

Thank you for being there to listen and to pray. We need and covet your prayers! We truly can feel when you are all praying for us.

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, Malachi & The Tobo Church

Clay Pots ~ Tremble at the Word

“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” - Isaiah 66:2b.

My days are usually filled with reading the Scriptures, trying to understand its meaning, translating lessons from it into the Tobo language, attempting to make it understandable to others and endeavoring to make it applicable to a culture which is foreign to me. I read it and appreciate its pointed truthfulness, its reliability, its infallibleness, and its history. But how often do I “tremble” at the Word? I love the Word for its encouragement and sustaining strength when I am discouraged or wondering what will happen. My thoughts can reflect for hours on verses like Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” During this medevac to Australia, I really appreciated verses like that… knowing that my heavenly Father has not only my good in mind as he orchestrates circumstances; but also the good of the Tobo church, my friends and family, my co-workers, and even our supporters at home. We will never know all that God accomplished through our time in Australia. So, I have been encouraged through the Word of God; but what does it mean to “tremble” at the Word?

I think that while I was still in the tribe, I began to try to “help” the Word of God along. I felt I needed to “convict” people, and I was minimizing the power of the Spirit working in the lives of believers through nothing but his written Word. But does the Word of God need my pathetic help? “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty; but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Is. 55:11. God’s Word can do it on its own. I think I was getting prideful and arrogant, thinking I knew so much of the Word that I could actually do this job, and make these people understand the meaning. To whom does the Lord look? To him who is humble in spirit and trembles at God’s Word. Paul said, “I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.” In my pride, I started using the “wisdom of man”.

I have learned on this trip, that God’s Word is not just something to be “loved” for it’s encouragement and sustenance; but it is also something to be “feared” (with a healthy fear) for it’s conviction. As I now sit and reflect upon God’s Word, I tremble (maybe not physically, but mentally) at its power and its sharpness and its conviction in my life. I believe that the more I understand this, the more the Tobo church too will understand and begin to tremble at the Word of God. But, for the Tobo church, I need to be the example of a man who is completely dependent upon the Word of God and not my own “wisdom”. Some in the Tobo church now love the Word; but I am praying that they will soon tremble at its convicting power.

By the time you receive this; we should already be back into the tribe. (If the weather is good). Please be in prayer that God’s Word will be loved and respected and trembled at in the Tobo church.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for me during this medical evacuation. Thank you to those of you who wrote and encouraged us. We did make the most of our time in Australia and had a wonderful break as a family, enjoying some much “needed” McDonald’s, ice cream, shopping, sun, and surf. I don’t think our stomachs can handle any more grease, and we have gotten all too accustomed to waking up late in the morning. We are heading back well rested and ready to continue on. We are excited to see what God’s Word will accomplish in the Tobo’s hearts and lives.

Thank you for your prayers. Prayer is not the “only” thing you can do for us; it is the greatest thing you can do for us.

His Clay Pots,

Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Clay Pots ~ Getting Better

Daddy’s Feeling Better!

This has probably been one of the worst cases of malaria I have ever had. It, along with the infection, must have really worn down my system because at the 2 week mark, I finally now have enough energy to walk through town without being completely worn out. The chest pain was painful and scary, but thankfully, not heart related. The chest pain is not gone, but I am still on some medicine for the next few days in order to take care of whatever infections are still lingering. We will be in Australia for the next couple weeks just to make sure nothing comes back and so that we can just enjoy some time as a family away from the tribe. We had originally planned a break for next month, flying down with our mission plane, and my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, Noah, and my Mother were all going to meet up with us. We had to cancel all those plans and were pretty disappointed but we are here now, starting to enjoy some much needed R&R despite it being Australia’s winter time and a bit cool. We may never know why God chose to change those plans, but we are thankful that He knows best and we trust in His perfect timing.

We have been very encouraged with what we have heard about the Tobo church back home. They have really rallied together and prayed for me. How awesome is that? People who, a few short months ago were afraid of God, are now praying for me that my health be restored! Public prayer is a struggle for them but was something they felt comfortable praying out loud for. Mankins said it was a wonderful time with the believers on that day. And as a dear Tobo woman (Daisa) told the Janeene, “Jason still has a ton of work to do here, so I knew that it wasn’t time for him to go to heaven.”

Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement!

His Clay Pots,

Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi

Emergency UPDATE

Thank you so much for your e-mails and those much needed long distance hugs!

Today is Monday morning here in Aussie land. We were in total culture shock yesterday so I’m glad it’s a new day. The general population seem to wear less clothing and get louder every time we come outJ. Jason got pretty weak yesterday and is still in pain but every day he is getting a little better so that is a huge praise and we are in a place that he can rest.

We found a place yesterday for the next 3 weeks to stay. We will move there today. The guy was really nice, (although scary looking and our next door neighborJ) and he gave us a 1 bedroom apartment with a little kitchenette for the next 3 weeks. And it is about a 5 minute walk from grocery stores so we don’t have to rent a car. I still don’t like losing $3,000.00 to stay somewhere but I am SO thankful that we found a place and it is very nice and clean and the cheap in comparison to everything else. I went on the internet and it was the only place that had something available for 2-3 weeks straight without having to move to different places every couple days. So that was a total answer to prayer.

Thank you for your prayers, we can feel them.

Love,

Kellie for the family!

Emergency UPDATE

On our last update Jason had mentioned that he had malaria. Well his malaria got pretty bad (105 fever) and then we noticed he had infected boils on his feet causing other symptoms on his already worn out body. Then to top it off he got really bad chest pain Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, this wife couldn’t take it anymore and called our mission nurses on our 2-way radio. They were and are my heroes! They agreed that we needed to get Jason out of the tribe and at 12:15 there were 2 pilots (more heroes!) landing on our airstrip to take Jason, me, and the kids out to town to our mission’s base where the nurses could monitor Jason (Our mission Dr. was on his way out of the country when all this was happening). At 2 pm Jason was lying in the clinic in totally awesome and capable hands. I couldn’t stop smiling. Not because my husband was in pain and very sick but because I wasn’t the one trying to read all the medical manuals and “guess” what he had! It was no longer in my hands and I was no longer in an isolated mountain tribe with no help or no way out. I was surrounded by the body of Christ who were bending over backwards to do all that they could for us.

Thursday, Jason seemed to be doing better. His malaria was gone, and his infection was slowly starting to go away. But his chest pain was still hanging on. Then Yesterday morning at 2:30 a.m. his pain woke him up; he wasn’t out of breath or going numb, but the pain was intense in the center of his chest, and it was spreading from side to side with a heat type of pain, which scared him (and me) a bit. We were pretty sure it was not cardiac related, however, the EKG machine was not working very well, and we still did not have conclusive evidence to support this, so the nurses decided it was best to send him down to Australia to get the necessary checks done. So by 6:00 a.m. we were on our way to the airport for a medevac. We all got down to Cairns, Australia by 10:30 a.m. and they rushed Jason off in an ambulance while the kids and I went through customs and immigration and got a taxi and got our luggage and followed him there. When I got there, they had already taken an EKG of Jason’s heart rhythm, drawn blood for tests, and were on their way to sending him to the X-ray room.

To make a very long tiring story short, all of Jason’s blood tests came back fine, his chest X-rays were perfect, he went through a stress test and that also checked out great. He has a perfectly healthy heart! The EKG showed a couple blips (a birth defect) that we need to have a cardiologist look at when we get home to the states, but that was not the cause of the chest pain. So what was it that scared us so much and got us down here to Australia? They said that there was inflammation in the chest cavity due to the stress of the malaria and the infection which he had undergone. They put him on some medications/antibiotics told him to rest, recuperate and stay near a hospital for at least a couple more days. So, we are here in Australia right now and trying to put our minds in “break” mode since we have to stay here 3 weeks because we need our PNG visas to be renewed. Our passports are being DHL to us today and we will have to send those to Brisbane to get the necessary paperwork.

This has been hard on Jason leaving the Tobo church and not being able to teach the Acts lessons he was SO looking forward to teaching. But we are grateful for this God given, much needed break from the tribe and a chance to let our heads stop spinning. We are confident that our God is good and He is in charge. That’s reassuring and what we can rest in!!! We are very thankful for God’s protection, and for giving Jason good health. 4 days ago we were in the tribe and now we are in the heart of a busy tourist city in Australia. Pray for us as we re-group as a family and internalize all that just happened.

Right now we are at a hotel near the hospital and hope to find something cheaper very soon and find a place to send this to all of you.

We will keep in touch and praising the Lord for the Body of Christ and for our support team there in PNG.

His Clay Pots, Kellie for the family

Emergency UPDATE

I received this update from Joy:

Here's something more recent on Jason and family:

Jason's mom called one of my friends this morning and said that the chest pains were not a heart attack but rather an inflamation of the chest caused by the malaria. He is being managed on pain meds and released from the hospital. The congenital heart condition that they found is not life threatening and can wait until they go home on furlough next year for treatment.

The whole family is in Cairns, Australia and will need to stay there until they get visa clearance. That is a problem, the most inexpensive hotel that they could find was $100 a night; that could really add up with that many weeks; any one know of anyone living in Australia that might give this family some housing?

Scott of Sqribbled Design

Emergency

I received the following email this morning from Williamsons [Jason & Kellies new partners]:

We’d like to ask you to pray for our partners Jason and Kellie Knapp who’ve just had to be flown to Australia for medical attention (for him)… here’s an excerpt from our other partners [Chad & Janeene] who were with him when it happened:

Here’s what we know to date: Jason returned from an overnight trip to the river with his son and some friends this past weekend, and spent the rest of the weekend and early part of this week with intermittent high fevers, shakes and chills, and symptoms of malaria (which he contracted back in Madang—malaria just stays in the system and pops up at various times). Jason thought that he was improving by Tuesday. Then, that night he awoke from a dead sleep at midnight with chest pain. The pain kept him awake the rest of the night. By morning, after consulting on the radio with nurses Jason and Kellie and the kids all flew out on our mission’s plane to our base in Lapilo, where he could get the proper meds that the nurses felt might help him. While there, Jason had an EKG, and a cardiologist in Australia was going to be looking at test results.

Early this morning, Jason (Knapp) began experiencing chest pains once again. With no doctor available at this time, the nurses felt like Jason needed to have a doctor in Cairns, Australia look at him. So at 7 this morning, Jason and his family were on a plane to Australia.

Thanks for praying and trusting the Lord with us, that this will be something minor and treatable. We’ll update you as soon as we hear something more.

Your hands & feet,
Jason & Nisae Williamson,
Kadynn, Judah & Eden

Scott of Sqribbled Design (I maintain this website)

Found ~ Sikol

Sikol

Getting an attack of malaria is a small price to pay for a fantastic weekend. Not only did I get to take my oldest son Micah down 3,000 feet to a beautiful flowing river closed in by pine trees and thick jungle; but God encouraged my heart greatly that He indeed is alive and working in the heart’s of people around the world.

After a full day of sunshine, spearing for fresh water shrimp, swimming in ice cold water, and just enjoying time with my boy, we went back to the thatched roof hut (with no door) and rested. As we sat around the fire with Tingon, his wife, 2 sons, and one of his relatives, Sikol with his wife and son, we enjoyed a good meal of shrimp, rice, sweet potatoes, and cabbage. After we finished eating we sat by the fire and Sikol asked me, “So what are these literacy classes about and when will one start?” I told him that the classes were designed so that people could read God’s word and understand for themselves God’s road to eternal life. To which he replied, “Tingon, awhile ago, came and told me what you had been teaching him from the Old Testament and the life of Jesus. I heard this and I went to the village church (the other religions that are here) and I heard them talk about how we need to clean up our lives, forsake our sins, follow the ten commandments, and hold on to God really strong and then we can go to heaven. If we do not do these things, we will go to hell, they said. So I thought about what they said and weighed it in my mind, and I knew that it wasn’t correct. There is no one who can follow God’s law and make his own way to heaven. We try, but always fail. So we will all go to hell. I also thought about your talk which Tingon had told me about what Jesus had done; how He washed our sins and took our place so we didn’t have to die and go to hell. He said all we need to do is believe it, and Jesus, through his blood, would save us and take us to heaven. And I knew that this was the truth. Jesus is the only road to heaven, we can’t do it on our own insignificant strength. So I weighed these two different talks and I believed in Jesus.”

This thrilled my heart because here was a second generation Christian led to the Lord by Tingon and I had nothing to do with it. From there we proceeded to talk through the Old Testament through the life of Christ, rehashing the stories of Abraham and Isaac, the brazen serpent, the Bread of Life, and many others for the next 3 hours into the night. In a lull in the conversation, Tingon in classic Tobo fashion said, “Brothers, this is very good talk, let’s go to sleep.” So we laid back and fell asleep to the roar of the river, the warmth of the fire, and the assurance that our God has saved us for all eternity. What a blessed time.

His Clay Pots, Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, Malachi & The Tobo Church

Some More Photos

Malachi and his tree swing


Sophia's Tree


Micah's hut that he built with his friends


Awhh mom everyone else has one