20/20 vision
"Aren't you supposed to be leaving in a few weeks....?"
An unexplained eye problem has had me tearing and bleary in my "good" eye (the one with 20/40 vision, rather than my 20/100 eye!) and I can tell I'm just a little "off" as I move about the house. No, I haven't actually run into anything yet, but I can tell that my vision is, shall we say, less than ideal.
In the same way, we are recognizing limited vision as we eagerly await our departure. We are learning a great deal about patience these days! We have expected our work permits any day for three weeks now - and just received word from our Government Representative that we can expect to wait up to three more weeks. So...we will be using the time to serve our senders and our families however we can, as we keep our focus on the God who has all under His sovereign and loving control. Thank you for praying for us.
If you have time, our dear praying friends, take a few minutes to read the text I included below from a co-worker in our area of PNG who has just seen the birth of a new church. It gave me (Elizabeth) a renewed VISION for the work we seek to do and the amazing God we long to glorify.
"I still remember the first day I came to Itutang. Ampiankon, now my dear friend and translation helper, was sitting there under his house, just looking at us three white guys that had just walked into their lives. I still remember the look on his face. Puzzlement. I could tell that he had no idea why we had come. Ampiankon became my language helper almost right away (another answered prayer request from long ago). He was SO patient and was always willing to help me. Also, he had been out to the plantations to work, so he knew the trade language very well and was able to use it to help teach me his language.
Our team spent three years learning language, developing an alphabet, starting a literacy school, working on Bible translation. When everything was ready, we began to teach God’s Word. In translation, I had finished up getting the last of the OT passages we needed for teaching and had gone on to the NT passages. In the teaching, we were preparing a lesson about Abraham. At that point, Ampiankon’s awareness of personal sin and his need for a savior was very evident. Day after day, I kept pressing on him the truth of God’s holy nature and the sinfulness of his. It became evident that the Holy Spirit was working in his life. So, as we starting translating the NT passages, I began to share the truths of Christ with him.
Ampiankon knew about Jesus…he had heard some while he was out at the plantations and had seen the Jesus film. He knew that he been killed. What he did not realize was that Jesus was God. Mary being a virgin had nothing to do with her being so great. It was for the purpose of God being Jesus’ father, thereby giving flesh to the Son of God. Therefore, Jesus was God. He was not a descendant of Adam. Jesus was not just a good man. He was God. That blew him away. But there was still a problem. Jesus was killed. In Ampiankon’s mind, Jesus was great, but in the end he lost too. Death got him. Death, the thing Ampiankon dreaded and feared. Jesus had lost. How could he help Ampiankon now?
Seeing God in all his Glory came to Ampiankon when we began talking about the sacrifices of the OT. I asked him, “Who killed Jesus?” To which he answered, “The Roman soldiers.” I then told him, “Ampiankon, they did not kill Jesus, Jesus gave himself willing as a sacrifice for sin. God, his father killed him for a sacrifice for sins!” I will never forget that day. It was the day the Holy Spirit birthed Ampiankon in to his kingdom.
Several weeks have gone by now, and Ampiankon is a new man. I am amazed at how the Lord has changed him. He is growing in his Love for God in every story he hears. Yesterday, in the office, we finished up working and were sitting talking. I asked Ampiankon, “Ampiankon, when we first came in here what did you think about us?” He replied, “ Bill, when you first came in here, we thought you were all spirits of dead men.” To which we both began to laugh. So I asked him again, “When did you realize we were just people.” Now remember, I have worked with Ampionkon for three years as a personal friend. I thought that some time in language study he must have come to the conclusion that we were just people. But, Ampiankon looked at me and said, “Bill, when I heard the Story of Adam taught (a month and a half ago) I realized that we had all come from one man. Then a week later, when we talked about the tower of Babel, I realized why all our languages of different. It was at that time I realized that you too were people, just like you were saying.”
I hope as you read this you realize this: I had a relationship with Ampiankon for three years. A good relationship. But I was never able to get to the bottom of his thinking and change it. I was never able to reach into the heart, where his true thinking is. But, God’s Word DID. It went down into the heart and was able to root out the lies that had been there for years. If God’s Word does not open the mind to see truth, that person will never become a believer. We are so dependant upon the Word and the Holy Spirit. Please continue to pray for the people here in Itutang. And pray for us that we will continue to spend time soaking in this life-breathing Word of God every day so that we can spill out into other and glorify our God as we interact with each other and with our team and our Itutang friends." ~ Bill Housley, Itutang tribe, PNG
An unexplained eye problem has had me tearing and bleary in my "good" eye (the one with 20/40 vision, rather than my 20/100 eye!) and I can tell I'm just a little "off" as I move about the house. No, I haven't actually run into anything yet, but I can tell that my vision is, shall we say, less than ideal.
In the same way, we are recognizing limited vision as we eagerly await our departure. We are learning a great deal about patience these days! We have expected our work permits any day for three weeks now - and just received word from our Government Representative that we can expect to wait up to three more weeks. So...we will be using the time to serve our senders and our families however we can, as we keep our focus on the God who has all under His sovereign and loving control. Thank you for praying for us.
If you have time, our dear praying friends, take a few minutes to read the text I included below from a co-worker in our area of PNG who has just seen the birth of a new church. It gave me (Elizabeth) a renewed VISION for the work we seek to do and the amazing God we long to glorify.
"I still remember the first day I came to Itutang. Ampiankon, now my dear friend and translation helper, was sitting there under his house, just looking at us three white guys that had just walked into their lives. I still remember the look on his face. Puzzlement. I could tell that he had no idea why we had come. Ampiankon became my language helper almost right away (another answered prayer request from long ago). He was SO patient and was always willing to help me. Also, he had been out to the plantations to work, so he knew the trade language very well and was able to use it to help teach me his language.
Our team spent three years learning language, developing an alphabet, starting a literacy school, working on Bible translation. When everything was ready, we began to teach God’s Word. In translation, I had finished up getting the last of the OT passages we needed for teaching and had gone on to the NT passages. In the teaching, we were preparing a lesson about Abraham. At that point, Ampiankon’s awareness of personal sin and his need for a savior was very evident. Day after day, I kept pressing on him the truth of God’s holy nature and the sinfulness of his. It became evident that the Holy Spirit was working in his life. So, as we starting translating the NT passages, I began to share the truths of Christ with him.
Ampiankon knew about Jesus…he had heard some while he was out at the plantations and had seen the Jesus film. He knew that he been killed. What he did not realize was that Jesus was God. Mary being a virgin had nothing to do with her being so great. It was for the purpose of God being Jesus’ father, thereby giving flesh to the Son of God. Therefore, Jesus was God. He was not a descendant of Adam. Jesus was not just a good man. He was God. That blew him away. But there was still a problem. Jesus was killed. In Ampiankon’s mind, Jesus was great, but in the end he lost too. Death got him. Death, the thing Ampiankon dreaded and feared. Jesus had lost. How could he help Ampiankon now?
Seeing God in all his Glory came to Ampiankon when we began talking about the sacrifices of the OT. I asked him, “Who killed Jesus?” To which he answered, “The Roman soldiers.” I then told him, “Ampiankon, they did not kill Jesus, Jesus gave himself willing as a sacrifice for sin. God, his father killed him for a sacrifice for sins!” I will never forget that day. It was the day the Holy Spirit birthed Ampiankon in to his kingdom.
Several weeks have gone by now, and Ampiankon is a new man. I am amazed at how the Lord has changed him. He is growing in his Love for God in every story he hears. Yesterday, in the office, we finished up working and were sitting talking. I asked Ampiankon, “Ampiankon, when we first came in here what did you think about us?” He replied, “ Bill, when you first came in here, we thought you were all spirits of dead men.” To which we both began to laugh. So I asked him again, “When did you realize we were just people.” Now remember, I have worked with Ampionkon for three years as a personal friend. I thought that some time in language study he must have come to the conclusion that we were just people. But, Ampiankon looked at me and said, “Bill, when I heard the Story of Adam taught (a month and a half ago) I realized that we had all come from one man. Then a week later, when we talked about the tower of Babel, I realized why all our languages of different. It was at that time I realized that you too were people, just like you were saying.”
I hope as you read this you realize this: I had a relationship with Ampiankon for three years. A good relationship. But I was never able to get to the bottom of his thinking and change it. I was never able to reach into the heart, where his true thinking is. But, God’s Word DID. It went down into the heart and was able to root out the lies that had been there for years. If God’s Word does not open the mind to see truth, that person will never become a believer. We are so dependant upon the Word and the Holy Spirit. Please continue to pray for the people here in Itutang. And pray for us that we will continue to spend time soaking in this life-breathing Word of God every day so that we can spill out into other and glorify our God as we interact with each other and with our team and our Itutang friends." ~ Bill Housley, Itutang tribe, PNG
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