Mibu Church Evaluation

As you may remember we asked you to pray for an upcoming church planting evaluation. The evaluation is done, and we want to share with you some of the excitement we're feeling as a result of that recent evaluation.

Three of the more mature believers from the Itutang tribe came to help with the evaluation as part of their training (red shirts in picture). This is different than how things have typically been done in the past as usually it's just expats doing the evaluation. The Mibu people connect on a whole different level with others of the same nationality. The Mibu people had all their time planned out; time to show them around, times and topics for discussion, who would host them each night, etc. The Itutang men had specific areas they wanted to talk about as well during their visit with their Mibu brothers. Their time together went wonderfully and we look forward to how this new connection with another body of believers will work itself out over the years. We're already imagining visits back and forth and leadership meetings.

Overall the evaluation was very positive. It was really great to get an outsider's perspective (yet, one based on experience in similar situations) on where things are at with the Mibu church. There are so many good things going on in the Mibu church right now. The little bit of teaching that the consultants witnessed was done very well. Translation (though slow) seems to be communicating clearly. The church is encouraged to keep pressing on for the most part. Lots of good stuff.

Yet as is to be expected at this stage in things, there are still a lot of areas of need. For example, while the church has been taught and discipled well up to this point (and they're really getting it!), there is still a big need to continue that process and develop leaders and certain skills that will allow them to stand on their own without so much external input. And while the church has quite a healthy view of who they are as God's people and their purpose, there are a few things that might need to be touched on again to help them see how what they believe definitely doesn't mix with some of the other prevalent beliefs that still float around out there.

We were able to talk about some different ideas for keeping things going in a healthy direction. It was also pretty clear that there is still a big need for another full time couple or family to help out with the Mibu Ministry, mainly with the tasks of continuing lesson development and discipleship/training. The Mibu Ministry will now 'officially' be listed as having this need. We're praying and hoping for God to direct the right people to us here.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Geoff and Shannon

Meetings in Mibu

Mid Saturday morning. I was working on a project under our house when I noticed Sesi coming up the trail to our house. I could tell just by the way he was walking that he had a purpose... and that he was pleased about something.

I stopped what I was doing and walked out to greet him. Then it clicked. Ah yes, this morning they had had a meeting for the men of the church; one of the first ones they'd been able to get together for quite some time now. Sesi and Keteng had been trying to get regular meetings like this going on and off for about a year now, but just couldn't get anyone to show any interest. The purpose of the meetings is to pray and discuss church matters (planning, issues, etc). The two of them wanted to try one more time here to get a meeting together. I remembered the recent worry that nobody would show up again and that maybe people are just upset for some reason. All this came back to me as I pondered the reason for his happy demeanor. I realized that the meeting had happened and had probably gone well, so after some small talk I asked him if they had met.

Sesi's face lit up as he prepared to tell exactly why he'd come up. Before he started though, we agreed that it would be good to talk over some coffee in my house. Once inside, what he proceeded to tell me had both of us smiling big and praising God. Quite a few people had shown up and were eager to be involved. They met and discussed topics of concern. Then they prayed together. Out of concern for the growth and well being of the christian community here in Mibu they focused primarily on these points in their prayer and discussion; 1) That God would help us, here in Mibu but also the church as a whole, to hear and follow his word and to be a good witness to those who have not yet heard. 2) After Sesi and Lookas have worked with me translating into chapter 3 of First Timothy, they've felt rather burdened about the need for overseers and other servants of the church to emerge over time. They acknowledged that nothing we men can do will make the right leaders. It's all God. So they asked God to begin to prepare these folks and help us discern who among them is qualified. They also discussed some other church issues like meeting times, and other smaller topics.

Knowing that a small contingent of national believers from the Itutang people is scheduled to visit this week. A good part of their discussion revolved around what they hoped to get out of their visit. The visit is part of an effort to provide mutual encouragement between churches. We hope that the visit of these Itutang men will be a huge blessing to the Mibu folks, maybe giving them some insight into their own church maturity and direction. The Mibus are extremely excited about it and as such, developed a game plan; a schedule and a list of topics they want to discuss with their Itutang brothers. A couple of the bigger topics they're hoping to talk about are persecution in the church and also to share about struggles that each church encounters.

Then finally, in their meeting, they decided to plan ahead of time a few of the topics they want to discuss and pray about next Saturday when they meet again.

Hearing about these men coming together for the sake of community dependance on God's direction and in the heart of keeping things moving forward was a huge encouragement to our hearts. Please join us in a prayer of thanks to God and also that this kind of involvement could be maintained over the long term.

Other prayer requests:

1) We're planning on traveling quite a bit over the next month and a half (Aug22-Oct5). We'll be away from Mibu all that time, attending a full month's worth of language and translation workshops and then attending our annual regional conference. Pray for our family during our travels to the different locations. Pray too for the workshops to be a fruitful time of both learning and fellowship.

2) Also keep the Mibu church in your prayers during our time of absence; that they would continue in faithful dependance on God's direction, in whatever they face.

3) Continue to pray for the translation process here. It seems so slow sometimes. We need constant growth in our abilities to be able to get this job done.

4) Pray for the health, logistics, finances and other support that is needed throughout this entire translation process. God's economy doesn't suffer like ours does. We trust and rest in him for all our physical needs as well as spiritual.

CPG2YSFANYUW

Interfacing Again

We had to say goodbye this morning to some guests who have been here for the last week.

You may remember a couple months ago how Shannon and I had the opportunity to teach about bible translation and talk about life in the bush with some students in the 'Interface' program. We both really enjoyed the 'full circle' effect of having been through the Interface program ourselves more than 10 years ago and now being in a place to bless others who are similarly seeking God's will for their young lives, questioning whether God might be directing them to serve in an unreached tribal location on the other side of the world! We enjoyed being a part of that so much that we wanted more! So we invited a group of those students to make a side trip here into Mibu where they could experience tribal ministry happening.

These 3 young men and 4 young women (joined by the Devines, an NTM couple who came to provide food for everyone) were amazing! Watching them jump right in, unhesitatingly spending many long hours with the Mibu people, despite the HUGE cultural and linguistic gap, was such an encouragement to us! As they tried learning some little tidbits of the Mibu language and culture, and listened to different Mibu testimonials about God's work in their personal lives and the life of the community, and as they spent time visiting in their homes, gardens, village and surrounding areas, they formed relationships that served to encourage on all sides. For the Mibu people, they were more than a little excited to have the opportunity to encourage those to whom God may be directing toward serving in another tribal location who has yet to hear the gospel. For the students, seeing and hearing the Mibu believers spoke to the power of God's word in any culture or language. For us, seeing what may possibly be the next generation of young church planters excited and in awe of God's work here reminded us of ourselves just over 10 years ago when we were on an Interface side trip similar to this one.

We're so thankful to have had the honor of sharing this experience with these young folks this last week!

Good News in Mibu

Here's a noteworthy update from our co-workers, the Tartaglias!

Moofore's house and garden is one of my favorites in the whole area. His

steep yard drops away on three sides, showcasing a wild panorama of the

surrounding mountains and valley rivers. It is still the only place I've

been where both the village of Mibu and the village of Beng can be looked

down upon from one single spot. It makes me happy to think of Moofore here,

on top of his local world. Because of the severe deformity of both his feet,

he seldom leaves his own yard.

When the Gospel was first presented here 5 years ago, we stood by and

watched with amazement as God turned almost every adult to Himself. But

there were some who did not believe. Moofore was one of them. I've gone to

visit with him twice since coming here a few weeks ago, and today the

conversation touched on spiritual things. This was the first time I have

seen evidence of concern for his own sin and status with God. He asked about

overcoming the real problem of sin and its penalty. At that point, I asked

if we could pick up the conversation again in a few days, and asked him to

keep thinking about that very question, and to ask others what their

thoughts are. (After hundreds of conversations about this, I know there is a

lot of good understanding out there.) I told him I'd visit again in a few

days, and would like to ask you to pray with me for Moofore before we

continue. Might this be his time to understand and believe the Gospel?

---------- then a week later------------

I went to visit Moofore again at his hut. Walking up the path to his place,

I felt such a sense of the bigger purpose God has for us during our stay on

earth. Isn't it incredible that hundreds of people can be praying for the

salvation of one man on the other side of the earth? What a privilege it is

to be involved in what He is doing in the world. 

Moofore called me in, and we sat talked for a while on local matters before

the conversation moved to spiritual things. As we caught up, God brought to

mind the many people who wrote to say they were praying. Thank you, each and

every one of you who prayed! The only thing I felt lacking as we talked

together was the lack of other Mibu believers there with me. So many others

here have been involved in sharing God's Word with him over the years. No

sooner did I have that thought, than two Bible teachers from the Mina

churches (8 hours away) and one of the teachers of the Mibu church poked

their heads through the doorway!!! As they walked into the room my heart was

bursting at how God was answering our prayers. I looked at the men God had

sent at just the right moment (even the right day!). Each of these men has

sacrificed for the sake of the Gospel. And now all this coming together for

one crippled old man! God's patient love truly is great!

The timing was right, and we were eager to talk about Christ. Moofore soaked

it up, interspersing questions and thoughts of his own. We discussed Jesus

being born sin-free, His being God, and also Emmanuel - "God with us". We

talked about how he was called "The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of

the world." We talked about how Jesus miraculously fed thousands of people

and how so many of them sought Jesus not for a relationship with Him, but to

get more food out of Him. Finally we talked about how Jesus was punished not

for His own sins, but for ours. And how God's anger for sin was given

completely to the One who never sinned. In illustrating the wrath of God

being absorbed by Jesus, one of the men pointed to a sheet hanging in the

doorway that was casting a shadow into the house. He said that God's wrath

is like the sunrays, and that Jesus is like the sheet that absorbed the sun,

casting a shadow for us to rest safely in. 

Moofore spoke and answered with real understanding, so we asked him again

where he thought he would go if he died. He said confidently that he would

go to heaven. We asked him about his previous stumbling block - his own sin. His reply: "Because of my own sin I deserve hell. But our penalty, I mean,

MY penalty, has been paid by Jesus!"

Furthering discipleship

(This is the message that was supposed to be included with the random picture that just went out. Sorry. Our email system does that sometimes.)

Have we been back in Mibu a month already?! Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Speaking of fun, it's been great to have our co-workers, the Tartaglias back, if even just for a short time. We've had lots of time together to catch up on what God has been doing in our lives, and to talk strategy and the like.

More importantly though, they've been able to spend much needed time providing personal, one on one encouragement for the believers here in Mibu as well as continuing to teach through 1 Corinthians in the church meetings. With me focusing primarily on getting God's word translated into the Mibu language, this kind of ongoing discipleship has been minimal at best. Shannon has been able to spend some time with the ladies here in Mibu, but the attention for developing the men and leaders has been really lacking. Though we've yet to see what the results will be, we're really hoping and praying that Joey's time with the believers here will be a real lasting encouragement.

Meanwhile, we continue to make steps toward getting additional co-workers in here to help us finish the job here in Mibu. Part of that process, as far as New Tribes Mission is concerned, is having an assessment done on the church here. We're making plans for this to happen (hopefully sometime mid-August) where consultants would come and spend some time with the church to assess where they're at and what is still needed here as far as outside help. Once this evaluation is done, then Mibu can be officially placed on 'the list' as a ministry still needing additional help. From there, it'll just be a matter of waiting for God to provide the right family to meet the needs. Would you please be in prayer with us for this whole process of looking for additional co-workers?

Here are some additional areas for which we'd appreciate your prayers:
- For the church here in Mibu to remain encouraged in their relationship with Jesus. Right now there is very little right now in the way of bearing up these young believers. They still need lots of help before they can stand on their own.
- For the ongoing bible translation project. It's a BIG project that we estimate possibly another 9-10 years to complete. Pray for all the factors that have to be in place for this project to be completed successfully (ie. Faithful helpers, physical health, finances, translation consultants, etc.).
- For the remainder of the Tartaglia's visit here in Mibu. They're only here for 13 more days! We, as well as the church here, will miss them greatly!

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Full Circle

We just finished up our two weeks of down time in Madang. It was a great time as a family to rest and recharge for ministry in Mibu.

Our co-workers, the Tartaglias, returned for several weeks of service in Mibu too! It was great seeing them after many months. They've already returned to Mibu and we are now in Lapilo (Goroka) awaiting the next time our helicopter is available to take us in (which happens to be tomorrow, the 22nd).

We had a great semi-last minute opportunity arise giving Geoff the chance to teach about bible translation at the Interface program currently going on. Then both of us had some time to talk to the students about what life in the bush is like. What was so cool about this is that it's one of those full-circle kind of experiences. Many of you probably remember the very first time, back in 2000, that Shannon and I came to Papua New Guinea. It was for the Interface program. As a result of doing this six week program, where we lived in huts, spent time learning some of the trade language, attending many classes about tribal missionary service, and hanging out with the local folks, we realized that Papua New Guinea was definitely the place to come serve. Prior to the program, Geoff was gung-ho and ignorant. Shannon was not so sure. But through the interface program we were able to gain a realistic idea of what tribal ministry might look like. And more importantly we saw how God amazingly provided and sustained so many others who were trusting him in their service in so many remote places. After we did Interface, both of us were on the same page regarding where to step next. God really used Interface to give us strong direction in our desire to serve.

So it was really cool for us to be there 11 years later, helping to challenge and encourage a new group of students. Who knows, maybe some of them will become bible translators and church planters some day!