Clay Pots ~ Review

Discussing the Word of God

“I do not have a lot of knowledge. I only made it to grade 2 in school. I don’t see books (know how to read). But since I believed in Jesus’ death and resurrection for me, I have seen him bless me. I went through the literacy school you taught and learned to read my own language, and now I am able to read God’s Word every day! I know that it is God’s work in my life because these words are very big and difficult to understand, but I pray every time before I read the Bible or prepare to teach a lesson, and God opens my eyes so that I can see the words and understand them. It is not my strength, but his, and I am so thankful that he has given me this work to do.” – Welsen

“We desire to continue to grow and learn more about God’s Word. We are hungry for it. We learned a lot of new and good talk from the book of Acts and we desire to review it again so that we will not forget all that God has taught us.” – The believing women to the men asking them to review Acts.

As we said a few days ago, the believers are doing an outreach to the village of Dengenu. They are going to be doing that every Saturday morning for the next year while we are gone… please be praying for them. Also, the believers are going to meet every Sunday afternoon as well, and they are going to review the book of Acts together so that they will not forget what they have learned. They are excited to do this, and it thrills our hearts to see them desire and hunger for the word of God. As they have been studying through the Old Testament again, in order to teach on Saturdays, they have realized how much they had forgotten; but also, they are thrilled with the things that they are learning which is strengthening their faith. Please be praying for your brothers and sisters in Christ, that they indeed would grow in their faith and retain all that God is teaching them.

May God give you a hunger and desire for his word.
His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Clay Pots ~ Handing Over

Handing out and splitting up the lessons

“I sat there and my intestines were shaking.. As Tingon started teaching, I just sat there waiting for my time wondering how I was going to be able to do this. Then it was my time to teach. My intestines were still shaking, but I started teaching my point of the lesson. And this is huge! As I started talking, God just gave me thoughts and reminded me of what I had learned before, and the words just came out. I know that God exists (I could feel his presence) because I could not have taught that lesson on my own strength, but God gave me strength and I was able to do it. So now I am giving big praise to him.” – Kips (after teaching for the first time)

“Now that we are meeting in the village again, you all can see that we are not just another “religion”. We have just learned the true meaning of God’s Word, which was hidden to us for so long, and now we want to share it with you. Look, these men who are teaching you are not important men; but they want to tell you what they have learned and show you the way to get eternal life.” – Yaka Siwia (Kips’s father, talking to the unsaved who came to the outreach)

The believers decided a few weeks ago that we would go back up to the village of Dengenu and meet in the village square and teach again from creation to the resurrection of Christ. This is where we first taught back in 2006. There are unbelieving people who desire to hear this story again because it has made such an impact in their friend’s lives. Others still choose to reject and ridicule the believers, but to the believers, it is ok because they know that persecution is a sign that they are believing what is right, and it has strengthened their faith.

As my family prepares to leave, we are handing over the responsibility of the church and outreach to the believers. It was a joy to hand out copies of the lessons from Genesis and watch as Tingon, Welsen, Kips, the Doctor, and Alex all split up the lesson so each of them could help each other and support each other as they taught. And it was exciting to watch them teach God’s Word clearly, even though I knew that they were afraid and they knew that other people were going to ridicule them for it. At the outreach, all the believers and about 10 unbelievers came to hear God’s Word. I did see some unbelieving people out on the fringe coming and going, but not wanting to be a part yet. Pray that these people and others will swallow their pride and arrogance and come to hear the message of life. Pray for the 5 teachers as they faithfully expound God’s Word for the year that we are gone, and that they would have insight and wisdom and be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading.

Thank you for being a part of what God is doing here in Lengbati.

Your Co-workers,
His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Clay Pots ~ Visitors and Baptism

Dr. Zango

Kips

Nanci Zango

Last Sunday, the rain stopped just long enough for Dr. Zango, his wife, and Kips to be baptized in front of the community. One by one they slowly stepped into the freezing water and gave a public testimony of their faith in Christ before being baptized by Jason and Welsen. They were physically shaking… mostly because of the freezing cold water but partly due to their nervousness. They were ready, but apprehensive to take this step of faith in front of everyone since there has been opposition to the gospel recently. And yet as they came out of the water, every one of them had a smile. After it was all done and we were sitting around the fire trying to warm up, Kips and the doctor were encouraging each other with the fact that this was the same thing the early believers in the book of Acts faced as they believed in Jesus Christ. “Praise God that we finally know the truth,” they said.

The Smith family

We were also blessed to have some dear friends of ours bring their entire family to come visit us in the tribe this past week! We were in awe that the Smiths were willing to make this tremendous sacrifice to not only come over and encourage us, but to meet their brothers and sisters in Christ. They and their three children brought lots of laughter and fun to our home as they interacted and played games with our three kids and the tribal children, and helped us with some projects around the house. They were also our personal CNN correspondents as we asked question after question about what was happening back home. From elections to economy we feel like we can now enter back into “society” without feeling so lost and clueless. And they sat down with us and explained all the new technology out there as well. I know this sounds silly to you, but after living in the tribe for 4 years it was a blessing to have some of the changes explained before we hit home soil again.

They were in tears as some of the believers said goodbye to them here on earth, but reassured them that they will be in heaven with them some day soon! The Smiths commented that it was a huge encouragement for them to see simple faith in action.

We only have a few weeks before we will be leaving the tribe for our year long home assignment! We would appreciate your prayers as Jason is in the process of handing over the teaching responsibilities to a few of the Tobo men. Also be praying for our co-workers, the Williamsons, as they continue to learn language and culture. It is hard to think about leaving them and the church but we know this time apart is a needed time of growth for all of us.

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