Questions

Noah and Tim came with me to spend time with some of our believers. Here we are coming home past one of the gardens nearest to our village.

 

 

*We meant to send a physical paper update out to you all when we were out on break in February, but we did not complete it in time. This is a short article that Elizabeth wrote for that newsletter.

Questions

What are the best questions you have ever been asked?  When we started teaching through God’s Word last August, we knew that questions from Pal men and women would become more common, but we didn’t realize that our days would be filled with questions.

Our first week of teaching we talked about the Creation, and how God’s awesome power was revealed through dry ground and gathered waters, light and dark, vegetation and creatures.  One Sunday afternoon my friend Umalagam came to see me.  “I have some talk for you.”  This very bright widow with 5 grown children and several grandkids whispered to me, “I want to know what God’s Word has to say about WOMEN!” 

Since that day, Umalagam has learned that God has a LOT to say about women, His love and grace for them, and their need for a Redeemer!  Her face lit up as she listened daily and learned about God’s long-made-known plan to send One who would rescue – not just men, but women too – from their sins.   

Others were asking questions like, “Is there something that I can do to have God help me with hunting or to make my garden grow better?” and “Is there some secret way to get in good with God so that we can get more stuff?”  As the weeks of teaching went on and we taught carefully through our separation from God and eternal death, we saw a metamorphosis.  The questions we began to hear sounded more like, “What am I going to do about my sin?” and “How do I actually put my trust in the One who redeemed us?” 

Every day after ‘formal’ teaching time was complete, we spent an average of 45 minutes listening to and answering questions from men and women as their worldview was being shaken and re-established on TRUTH.  What an awesome privilege to not only teach through God’s Word, but to hear the hearts of men and women as they questioned us daily over the 4 months that we met each week-day morning.  Thank God with us for the hearts of men and women who asked great questions…and found even greater answers. 

 

This is Lukam, one of the 5 children of one of our literacy school teachers. He was having fun looking at his face in the camera’s LCD.

 

Pray:

·         For us to be wise in what we teach. We have seen the need to go back and reinforce some basic ideas about what God offers us in Christ.

·         For time management. We are happy that there are so many folks coming with questions in their excitement about God’s Word, but we are seeing the need to organize those times a bit more so that many people with the same questions can hear the answers and the discussion at the same time.

·         For transition. We are working to communicate with our partners about the responsibilities that we have  held so that they can take over shortly.

·         For rest. We are making a big push in these last weeks to finish things up so our margins are pretty thin.

 

Thanks so much for your faithful partnership!

Nate and Elizabeth and family.

 

 

O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you? You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations. Psalm 77:13-14