The Weapon in My Hand

Sometimes people ask me about our time in Indonesia, what kind of people did Ted serve as a missionary pilot?  Well, today I am so happy--overjoyed, really--to share with you a 10 minute video about the Kimyal people of West Papua, Indonesia, as they receive the New Testament translated into their own language.

The Kimyal were first reached by Christians in 1963, when Phil & Phyllis Masters began to work among them.  In 1968, Phil Masters and fellow missionary Stan Dale were killed and cannibalized by the neighboring Yali people.  The work with the Kimyal continued, and the World Team missionaries who worked with them (the team leader, Rosa Kidd, is in the video) testify that they Kimyal were excited about the Good News from the beginning.  It is an amazing story of transformation from a war-driven, stone-age people, to a people of joy.  If you have never read Don Richardson’s Lords of the Earth, which tells the story of Masters & Dale, I highly recommend it.

The video picks up with the delivery of the Kimyal translation, and in ten minutes of watching I found myself very convicted.  The Kimyal’s God is God.   In the midst of Scott’s powerful “What If” sermon series, I am challenged by the faith of the Kimyal believers. I hope you take the time to see the power of the Word in action here, I really do. 

Also, the pilot at the beginning, the guy who hands over the first ceremonial bundle of Bibles, is our friend Brent Palmer, and MAF missionary and friend of ours.  I am so grateful that we had the chance to serve the amazing people of West Papua!

Hope this blessed and challenged you,
Nan

Following God's Lead

i am going to be brief today, as i am sporting a brace which is intended to help calm a pinched ulnar nerve, but right now mostly seems intended to annoy.  Yes, I am complaining, but the pain has lessened a lot just in the 24 hours I've been wearing the thing, so I guess I should shut up about it now.  :-)

I hope that some of you were able to join the crowd for lunch with Mike and Brigit Adams.  Mike and Brigit have been serving with Far East Broadcasting Company for more than 20 years, and Mike grew up at First Presbyterian Bellevue!  It was really amazing to hear the path God has had them on for the last 5 years, especially.

Following the Aceh Tsunami in 2005, Mike and some of the other FEBC folk saw the need for a First Response radio group within the FEBC organization.  This is a group that provides radio training and radio stations--built into two small suitcases and a manageably sized box, no less--to areas that have been hit by natural disasters.  The stories were wonderful.  God is using them mightily to get word out about safety, fresh water, and other important information so important to the victims of natural disasters.  They are bringing comfort and real help to people who are in dire need.  How cool that after fifteen years of serving in one situation God showed them a new need and they went for it.

Mike and Brigit will be with us at FPCB for a couple of months, and their daughter Colleen will be with us through the spring.  If you have the chance to chat with any of this God-fueled family, take it!  It is so good to see what God is doing through their lives, and fun to think that FPCB has been a supporter throughout their careers with FEBC.  

Pray for Sudan. Now, Please.

In between recovering from Christmas, and now, praying for a dear friend who slipped and broke her arm on the ice, I am thinking a lot about Sudan these days.

Last Saturday I heard a long story on NPR about the upcoming election in that long war-torn country.  I'm sure you know some of the history, but, quickly, after almost five decades of violent fighting, a tentative peace has been in place since 2005.  Now the nation is preparing to vote on a referendum that could separate the land into two nations. 

I followed up by reading about Sudan on Wikipedia.  So much turmoil, religious persecution and ethnic cleansing!  I don't know when I have understood a vote to be so portentous for an entire region.  This is a situation that needs prayer, and needs it now.

Missionaries Howard and Joann Brant have been active in Sudan for several years, and they recently shared the following requests for prayer.  Please take a few minutes to read, pray, and pass along these requests, especially in light of the upcoming (Jan 9-15) referendum vote and the many days of anxious waiting after the vote is closed while the people wait to hear the outcome.  It is a very, very tense time in this land where more than 2 million people have died violently in the last 20 years.  Can you imagine? 

Listen to the Sudanese requests:

·         Pray for peace---we don’t want to fight

·         Pray against anger, retaliation, animosity, fraction and division.

·         Pray against distorted messages at this time when Sudanese are given a chance to vote.

·         Pray for a free, fair and safe referendum.

·         Pray that the decision from this vote will be respected.

·         Pray against hopelessness especially those drowning their sorrows with alcohol. We need clear heads and hearts!

Pray for calm hearts for Sudanese as they prepare for the Jan 9 referendum.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement mandates a referendum vote by the people of Southern Sudan regarding the future of their national identity.  Southerners will then vote to stay within Sudan or break away and become their own country.  If they stay, they fear continued marginalization and renewed Sharia law persecution.  If they break away, creating their own land-locked nation will be enormous work.

Pray for Christian Leaders

Pray that Christian leaders will be filled with the love and power of God, that they will value and appreciate one another and that the different Christian groups operating in Southern Sudan will bless one another. Pray that they will have the vision and faith. Pray that these leaders will be faithful shepherds of the Lord’s people.