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