Clay Pots

We were pleasantly surprised when we looked out our kitchen window and saw Alis sitting on the ground in the open reading the Scriptures. This man has caused more frustration in our lives than we care to admit, but now because of God's saving grace he is our brother in Christ. It was Sunday, and he wasn't going to the village "church" which he has faithfully done for years. He was openly reading the Scriptures for all to see! Praise the Lord for this man and his family. We often wonder what Christians felt when they met their persecutor, Saul, now Paul, now changed and one of them. We were a little skeptical of Alis at first. But we have seen him growing in the Lord over the past month and all we can do is glorify God every time we look at him.

Many of you have asked about the cult happenings lately. The atmosphere around here isn't exactly normal. There are rumors of police who are planning on coming to each village and making havoc on those involved in it. The villages were also told to go to the nearest police station and report what their family and friends are doing, which is basically turning them in. But that hasn't happened because the people who were going down to the station were forcefully stopped and sent back. In addition the cargo cult's money, which was locked in their secret house in the village was stolen this week. Probably by one of their own, but they were talking about that all day yesterday. They are calling it all the "big heavy". Our sphere of influence has certainly been diminished. Please be in prayer for your fellow baby brothers and sisters as they rely on God for strength and wisdom during this time.

On Tuesday Jason met with 4 men, Alis, Tingon, Paulas, and the Doctor for an discussion time on what they have been learning from the Bible. They spent a couple of hours encouraging each other, telling each other their testimonies, and looking at scriptures. Paulas was talking about how he saw that Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan in the form of a snake, but when the Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan, the Bible doesn't say what form he came in. He was saying that we need to be on guard for Satan's temptations as they will probably come in our minds; and not always from what we can see. It was exciting to hear him apply God's Word to his life. He had preached awhile back at a village Lutheran church on some of the things he was learning from the Bible. When he had finished they told him, "Where did you get this talk? Who told it to you? Your talk is something different from what we have heard, we don't like it." But Paulas said that he had just been studying God's Word and that is what he learned. They wouldn't listen to him. But that gave Jason an opportunity to talk about persecution and that it was to be expected. Jason asked the men sitting there, "what can man do to you?" And Tingon got all excited and shouted, "NOTHING! They can kill us, but we are going to heaven, they can hurt this body but they can't hurt our spirit!!" Alis started clapping, but then got embarrassed. Jason told him not to stop, God gets praise from our excitement!:-)

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