Have you been surprised at all by how God had prepared you uniquely for the task He's given you? How has God cultivated you and those around you for the work you are doing now? What difference does it make?
It has been amazing how God prepared us for this very place before we knew we were being prepared. There have been times when we've both said, "If we hadn't been in Bena before this, it may have been more challenging."
There have been many ways God has prepared us in the past for what we've been doing here. Specifically, God has given me a desire to learn languages, and an ability to do it. In high school, I took Spanish and French, which I enjoyed. Now, Cheri and I are learning Kriol, some basic conversational Tagalog, English(Aussie-style), some Maiali(another indigenous language in our area) and we're enjoying it!
Barunga is not as "out bush" as other communities down the road from us, but we are about
80 km from Katherine. Katherine is the city where we do all of our shopping each week, or every other week. When we lived in Bena, we were about 40 miles from Bemidji, or Grand Rapids(two shopping towns). So, we were used to the distance, and it hasn't been hard to adjust to it.
Another thing God has given us both is a love for His Word, The Bible. God has used the Bible to speak to us in many different situations, before we reached "the field" and now that we're here. As an example, before we came over, we were a bit concerned about what we were going to do to survive. We were at about 30% of our monthly support raised, and we were entering into "real life" with a bunch of bills we hadn't had before. For example, we had a rent payment(before we lived in a parsonage--free), our health insurance went from $75/month up to $750/month. I was leaving a consistent, reliable pay check each week and fortnight, for a monthly "if people give" check. This was weighing on Cheri heavily as we prepared to leave, and then one morning as she was reading her Bible, she thought of a verse her grandmother had quoted from memory, but couldn't remember where exactly it was found... She thought, "Was it Hebrews 13?" (It wasn't what her grandma had quoted, but....) This was the verse that she read:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
So with confidence and a bit of nervousness, but a renewed sense of trust, we moved to Texas for language school, trusting God to provide.
Again, God has used His Word time and again to encourage our hearts and help us. We would not be here if it were not for our love for God's Word, and the message inside!
I was given an opportunity to have a friendship with a man here in Barunga, and he just recently died of cancer. During that time, God blessed me with the opportunity to sit with him and his family on several occasions, to pray with them, and to read the Kriol Baibul with them. In the middle of his sufferning and immediately following his passing, God used His Word to speak to them, and they were hungry to hear it. On the morning of his passing, I came and sat with the family, and we had a Bible study. We read through 1 Corinthians 15, about the resurrection of the dead. As we read through the Kriol Baibul, at each section, they asked, "Okay, would you explain it to us?" So we talked about it. This is the very thing I wanted to do!
Something else that has been a big blessing to us is Tuesday afternoons. Kriol Baibul(Bible) study day is an encouragement to me. It is refreshing to not only read God's Word with others, but to have them genuinely interested and thinking about how it applies to their lives.
When Cheri and I were going to Bible college, we were trained in how to study the Bible in context. I still remember one of our professors saying, "CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT!" That is something we have been able to apply in a huge way here. There has been a heresy that has been traveling through the churches here through "guest speakers": the health and wealth gospel. "If you're a Christian, you should NEVER BE SICK! Just have faith, and God must heal you!" Then they quote from Isaiah, "...By his wounds you have been healed..." They have failed in a big way to put it in context. Unfortunately, many people seem to be decieved by that teaching. That was the first thing to "hit us" upon moving to Barunga. THe church we are a part of here has had good Bible teaching from past missionaries, but there are other communities who have no pastor, and have not be taught how to correctly handle the Word.(2 Tim. 2:15.... actually, please read verse 14 to the end of the chapter... Actually, read the whole book! :) )
With each passing day, we continue to learn more Kriol, build relationships with the people here, both indigenous and non-indigenous, and God has been opening doors for our ministry. :) Any way we can help people to study God's Word and know Him better, we want to do it.
We have not been doing this alone. We've had many, many people join our team back home, who are praying for us and the indigenous folks, and supporting us regularly. We are truly blessed and humbled as we remember the sacrificial giving of each of you. Thank you so much for partnering with us in the gospel. God is answering our prayers, and He is drawing men and women to himself.
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