With Thankful Hearts

From Sunday’s Lesson in the Mesi Church:

¹⁵ Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere, ¹⁶ I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called–his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Ephesians 1:15-18

A mesi believer works on the roof of the newly remodeled meeting house.

Harvest

The Thanksgiving season is a great time to reflect on some of the amazing things that God has been doing this year in Mesi-land. This year in the Mesi church, we have focused on knowing the truth and not readily listening to any wild rumor that comes along. As we have done that, we have come back over and over to the simple and yet confoundingly wonderful message that is God’s gospel of grace. We have watched men and women standing on the grace of God and beginning to live differently than their neighbors. We really wish that you, our praying and supporting co-laborers, could witness things like:

·       When one Mesi man was lazy and left his pig in an area where others had unfenced gardens (the pig had an early Thanksgiving feast if you catch our drift) we reminded him of what the gospel means regarding loving others and counting their needs important. He responded immediately by offering a sincere apology to those affected and giving them his pig.

·       When one husband and wife were confronted with some false teaching by many members of their extended family, they did not wait. They spoke to those affected by the false teaching and they began to pray for them every day.

·       When one literacy school teacher was overworked and needing to take some time off to help his family, our group of 5 overseers stepped up, made a plan, and substituted for him in the school.

·       When one Mesi man was thinking about all that God has done for them and the gospel, he came to Nate privately, expressed his thanks to God, and (unprompted) offered money to help support the work. We cannot tell you how huge this is in this culture.

There are so many more stories of things that God has done here in Mesi-land. I think it would take a book or two to do them all justice. As you think on these things, please take a minute to thank the Lord with us for His faithfulness. He builds His church and He does it well!

Along with our coworkers, we celebrated the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation. Any guess as to which one of us was trying to sell indulgences to the camera man?

Foundations

We are at a unique point the work here in Mesi-land – preparing for expansion. Just this week, (we’re in town for a teen gathering for our kids), I purchased supplies for the students who will be attending the new Mesi school in N village. That is stacks of assignment books, erasers, pencils, chalk, plywood for chalkboards, and many other things. As I was buying these supplies, I was thanking God for the open doors that we have in our own language group as well as all of those surrounding us. I was thinking about the ways that He has allowed us to build foundations for trust and relationship over the years with people who live hours away from our village. Thanks for your part in that.

There is so much left to do here, will you pray with us that God will provide people, infrastructure, and wisdom  to meet the current and future needs of the Mesi church, the future Kovol church, and the future Kuyu church.

A very blessed Thanksgiving to you all,

Nate for us.