There is a sore in my belly and I need to tell it to you.

Admittedly these photos are not the most flattering, but these are some faces of Pal people who you will probably meet in heaven. (We know of many other believers, this is just a quick sample.)

 

⁵ Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O LORD.

⁷ How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.

⁸ You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights.

⁹ For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.

(Psalm 36:5-9 NLT)

Welling up from within.

On Wednesday, our last official evangelistic teaching day, we spent hours with our friends just talking through things and hearing from them about what they were thinking. Some of them got it right away. Others need a little time. The testimonies that we heard were fantastically encouraging.

·         “There is a sore in my belly. I need to tell you that it is all the way true. Jesus is my true getting back man, he finished my sin debt.” – this from a young man who hiked faithfully 1 hour each way for 3 months to hear the teaching.

·         “That is a bunch of lies! Jesus is the only one with strength. He did it all .” – Young woman to some guys who had asked about calling healers to make offerings for the sick.

·         “My wife and I both believe it is true. We are in God’s family. We are going to heaven!” – Old man who is a good friend.

·         “Jesus finished my sin debt.”  - Iles, a quiet older guy.

·         “This is really good talk! I want to hear it again. Thank you for telling us.” – Aso

·         “I want all of  you to know that there is nothing else that I’m hanging from (we use the rope illustration for trust). Jesus did it for me and I have nothing else.” – Amalilaw, woman who has been really paying attention.

·         “Everybody needs to hear this message.” –Taligam – one of the first believers.

 

I asked our son Noah the other day, “When did you become a believer?” His answer, “When we were staying in Yuba City in the Philipp’s house.” “But you were only four years old then,” I responded. “How could you trust in a savior? Did you know you needed one?” “Dad! Of course I knew it, you taught me and mom did too.” Turns out that Noah (amazingly) can remember details from the very day that he put himself in God’s hands. Pretty cool huh?

 

So why am I talking about Noah when this is a report about our Pal friends (now brothers and sisters)? It’s because we were walking home after spending a couple of hours confirming and re-teaching through some of the gospel for a small group of elderly friends. Noah had asked if they were “there” yet. I was reminding him about how long it took him to understand the truth for himself. The truth is that most of our friends want to understand what we are saying and apply it to themselves but it takes time to really comprehend the depth and awesomeness of God’s love for us.

 

So where does that leave us? Well, of the people that I have talked with personally. About 30% have understood completely and put their trust in the savior. Another 50% are saying “God’s Word is true” but are having a hard time putting the last piece of the puzzle in for themselves. (This is where our focused time in small groups is paying off.) We expect that many of these folks will understand and accept the good news over the next couple of months as we spend time with them reinforcing concepts and clearing up misunderstandings. And yes, there are those who really couldn’t care less. For those, we are sorry and we have not given up hope. Please pray with us that Pal believers will be able to reach out to their family members who are thinking about other things.

 

Here as Chris teaches through the meaning of the cross, our village headman (a believer) spends some time reflecting on his own sin and what was accomplished for him there.

 

Moving ahead.

Just when we thought things might be slowing down, they are only speeding up. Our friends are needing much attention, we have translation projects that need to be ready for consultant checking before Christmas, and we have a whole slew of things to get ready for the next literacy classes that are due to start in January. On top of those things, we will continue to meet with our friends at least once a week preparing new material to reinforce the truth that they have already accepted. Would you please pray for us for strength and wisdom in time and task management?

 

Furlough aka Home Assignment.

It almost doesn’t seem possible, but in 6 months we will be heading back to the USA for home assignment. We are already thinking about travel and our time there. We hope to see each of you who has prayed for us and supported the work here in Pal. It’s a bit awkward to have been away for almost four years… so do you have ideas about what you’d like to hear about or see from our time here? We have a bit of time to prep things like pictures and stories. Let us know what interests you about the work here and we’ll see if we can’t put things together to help it all come alive for you.

 

Grace,

Nate for us 5