Beautiful Fearful Feet
“How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can onyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
Romans 10: 14-15
Last week Elizabeth sat on the smooth clay of the village common ground, surrounded by ladies at the weekly Bible lesson review. She read a few verses from Romans 10, asked questions, listened and encouraged, read and asked questions again. Many ladies followed along with the Scripture, their eyes on the lesson & Scripture pages that are handed out weekly. Romans 10 was only recently translated and these ladies were hearing the verses for the second time in their entire lives.
When she reached verse 14, Elizabeth stopped. “A long time ago, when I was first married to Nate and we were getting ready to come to Papua New Guinea, I was very afraid. I was afraid to leave my family. I was afraid to bring my tiny children to a country that has malaria. I was afraid that we wouldn’t always have enough to eat. I didn’t know how God would care for us. But I read these verses and I thought about ladies like you, who didn’t have God’s talk in your language. And I held tight to God’s strength. I held tight to God’s love. And now you are hearing this true talk that I heard, and some of you are thinking about other people who have never heard God’s talk!”
Nangal’s eyes were riveted on Elizabeth as she spoke. Later, when the group broke up for the long hike back to homes in different hamlets, Nangal sought her out. “That talk that you said today, that is just like me. My husband wants to go to take God’s talk to other places, and I have been so afraid! For my children, and about whether we’ll be able to eat. But God is strong! And He is able to protect us.” The next day, meeting together for a review lesson, we sang, “God, I want to be where You are, to stay in Your shadow.” Again, in a quiet moment, Nangal turned to Elizabeth and said, “That song – it says just what I am thinking.” “I know, I thought about how my fears become small when I am in His shadow, too,” Elizabeth responded. Praise God with us for Nangal and her husband’s faithful, fervent love for Jesus. And pray that they will be made strong to take His Word to the next villages and the next generation.
And also, this week:
-Praise God with us for rain, lots of rain, after 4 months of very dry weather.
-Praise God with us for 50 women attending a ladies’ reading practice time, early on Sunday mornings. About half are starting a very basic Bible study, a few verses at a time, on the book of Mark, the other half are working on learning the syllables that make up the Pal language. Many are moms who want to go to our regular literacy school but need to wait a year or two until their babies have grown up a bit.
Pray also:
-Nate will make a long hike to the road to pick up a visitor from the U.S., a current missionary student who is excited about church planting. Pray for safety on the trail (perhaps 40 miles round trip for Nate, depending on how far the car can come up the road to meet him) and for our visitor to catch a vision for the peoples of these remote mountains. He will leave on Wednesday and return with our visitor on Friday.
-Our co-workers, Chris and Maggie Hostetter, will fly in via helicopter on Monday the 7th. We are excited to see them again! They still do not have answers for Maggie’s fatigue and weakness, and will be returning to the U.S. in October to pursue more avenues for treatment. Please pray with us that they will be able to return to Mesi-land!
-Pray for medical help for the Mesi community, and PNG as a whole. Medical workers and medications are at an all-time low since we first came to the country ten years ago.
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