Back Into Fellowship

This last Sunday was a real treat to witness! You may remember about a year ago we told you about how the church here in Mibu was being obedient to the mandate to distance themselves from a man and a woman who were continually involved in an adulterous relationship and showing no signs of repentance.

We're praising God that recently the woman has been expressing how painfully aware she has become of how wrong and hurtful her relationship with this other man has been. This last week she was graciously brought back into fellowship! We're praying that the excitement and joy of the church to have her among us once again is more than evident and that encouraging, godly relationships are rekindled quickly.

You can also pray for the man too. Though it begs another issue that needs attention, social norms here made it much easier for folks to avoid the woman than the man. Putting the wrongness of this aside as a separate issue, the result still was that the woman was in a place to truly feel the effect of being an outsider. This had it's effect over time, bringing about serious reflection and remorse. Not so with the man, toward whom only a handful have acted on the need to keep the dangers of unchecked sin out of the church. While he doesn't participate in any regular church meetings, many believers still 'fellowship' with him on a regular day to day basis. He continues in his sinful behavior and we're praying that folks would be able to see the need to not associate with him in hopes of seeing him turn around.

But for now, we are so grateful for God's grace to bring this dear woman back to himself. The church leaders chose to read the parable of the lost sheep after they officially welcomed her back in. Perfect choice!

What an encouragement it is to us to see the church maturing as they go through these interesting challenges. Thank you to each of you for your continued prayers for these dear brothers and sisters.

General Update

We continue to press on here with the ministry God has given us here in Mibu. Heavy on our minds (heavier than usual, at least) is the need for the development of leaders in the church to elder readiness. Right now the Mibu church does not have elders. There are potentials for sure, but just not quite ready to take on the full responsibility of the care of God's people. No, we're not discouraged that they're not there yet. We see God working amazing growth as they sense this need and learn to depend on God for the grace to invest themselves further and further into the task. We're hoping soon after the new year that we can begin a study with the leaders here to process and apply what God's word says about shepherding his people.

As always, the need for translation continues. Having recently finished Ephesians and completely readied it for the final check with a translation consultant, I've moved on into 1 Corinthians. I'll be rounding the corner into chapter 4 here soon, hopefully. While the need for translation is great enough to warrant all our effort, there are so many other needs remaining for the overarching task of church development that translation still doesn't get all the time I'd like to be able to put into it. However, I think I'm starting to see that God knows what he's doing here with me (duh!), and continues to use our efforts to accomplish his purposes here.

Shannon continues to spend time with the ladies here as she finds the time, in between keeping the home, homeschooling and managing 4 young kids. Recently (thanksgiving day actually) some women came from all around, from the various areas where the Mibu church has done outreaches. They wanted to spend the day being encouraged in areas such as family life, purpose in the church, and organizing prayer and study meetings among themselves as part of their desire to know God better. Shannon and her good friend Wunjo took the meeting under our house (my workshop) because of the weather. Shannon was really impressed as Wunjo led the meeting with such humble confidence. She's clearly grown in her leadership abilities and love for God. How awesome is that!

We also recently had a visit by one of our church development consultants. Gary Smith lives and works in Dinangat, just over the other side of the mountain range from us. He was able to bring in a couple guys, Felix and Lucas from the church there. Felix and Lucas were a real blessing to the church here as they connected with the Mibu church. It was a big encouragement to them... and to us. And to top it off, the logistics worked out just right that Sesi and Tima, two leaders here in Mibu, were able to accompany them back to the other side of the mountain for the night. This firmed up the connection and gave Sesi and Tima some ideas to bring back here. The Dinangat church even blessed the socks off the church here by putting together some money to send back with them to help the Mibus with the need to buy printed literacy materials. Wow! It's so great to see the sense of being one body together result in two totally different groups of people with different languages and cultures, but who share the same Spirit, connect and serve in this way!

You may remember a while ago we asked for prayer for the evangelism lessons (teaching from creation through the death and resurrection of Christ)that the church was to start up again. That teaching continues to go well. The teachers seem to be sustained in their strength and desire for the Lord to be glorified through this, and so they press on. I'd like to devote more to this in another update sometime soon, after I get some more recent information and stories about what has been going on at the lessons. Maybe some pictures too!

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support that helps us to be able to serve here in this off-the-beaten-path place. We carry on encouraged and joyful to see God's Spirit at work in the lives and community of the Mibu people. I know it may be hard to feel it sometimes, but even from over there on the other side of the world, your partnership makes a huge difference. God's call for us to serve here is so strongly affirmed for us through your support!

Blessings from the Husas in Mibu

Pray... for Email

The last couple weeks, we've wanted to ask you to pray for the situation with our only way to communicate with the outside world - email. Our email system fouled up field wide and we were unable to send emails (though we were able to receive them) since Nov 2nd. So while we needed prayer for this, we were unable to ask until now.

You might not think email is such a big deal, but when you live in the middle of the jungle with no phones, no internet, and no cell phone service, email becomes essential for day to day ministry and meting out of logistics. Supplies, flights, and other communication related to church development and translation, as well as keeping in touch with our friends, family and supporters back home... we do it all on email. We're thanking God that even though our IT guys were unable to fix the problem (though they were indeed putting double time hours into fixing it) the problem finally went away on it's own. Nobody knows what happened or if it could happen again. We regularly have problems like this, though on a much smaller scale.

While we're thankful for the fix, the problem has highlighted once again just how helpful it would be to somehow be able to have an internet connection out here in the bush. Satellite internet has been on our 'list' for some time, but remains prohibitively expensive at $5000 initial setup and $400 a month for service subscription. God knows our needs and what is best. Whether he intends for us to keep things the way they are, with a somewhat reliable email system, or to upgrade, we trust his perfect provision and plan. Would you join us in just lifting up this need (reliable communication) and let's just see how God answers.

Another note... One other thing that we were unable to report during our email outage was the result of the last fundraising garage sale. The garage sale managed to raise an astonishing $3400! No joke! Wow, God really pulled out all the stops on that one! What a huge blessing that is as it helps us take care of ministry expenses as we continue to serve here in Mibu. Thank you so much to everyone who donated items to be sold, helped transport items to the sale location, helped set up and price the items and then sell them over the weekend! Really, you're help made a difference! Late as it is now, we wanted to send a big huge thanks to all of you who helped make it happen.

A Fire and a Spark

Last Friday, Jems and his family finished eating and went to their garden like any other day. Only this time, when they returned all three of their houses in their little hamlet had been reduced to ash. Nothing was left except a few metallic remnants of what used to be useful tools. Even their cooking pot was molten. Clothes, money, hundreds of kilos of dried coffee they had planned to sell... everything except what they took to their garden was destroyed.

What would your expectations be in this situation? Jems' family's expectations were blown out of the water as the community around them, many of them believers, rallied together that very day and were able to put together some of the bare essentials for survival; blankets, clothes, dishes, pots, etc. and present it to them to help them get started out again.

Jems and his family are wildcards. Nobody has been really sure where they're at spiritually. It is guessed that, nice as they are, that they are not believers. But Jems, reduced to tears over the help that the community gave them, was heard saying that before God came to Mibu, this kind of gracious help would not have happened like this. God's grace, shown through his people here has brought honor to his name in Jems' eyes. Perhaps this could be the spark that flames up genuine seeking, and we know that God is faithful to show himself to those who seek him!

Evangelism in Mibu - Please Pray

In Saturday's team meeting the big topic of discussion was the start of a 4-5 month stretch of teaching which aims to make the message of the gospel clear to those here in Mibu who either haven't heard or haven't yet put their trust in Christ. There are a wide range of folks who we anticipate will come; some who have heard but have rejected in the past and who have actually participated in persecuting the church, then those who previously just kept their distance, and then even those who believe but just love any chance to hear about God. Along with the community wide evangelism lessons, which are scheduled for the weekday mornings every other week, there will also be lessons geared more for the youth after school. If you remember there are many children sent here to go to school. They're living here away from their families, and most have never really heard clearly the message of God's grace.

The lessons are scheduled to start TODAY! So please be in prayer for the teachers and the hearers. There are two teachers, Weng and Nooka, who are heading up the lessons. They will be working with a small group of teachers-in-training who will be teaching most of the lessons under their guidance and supervision. This is an intense time of teaching. It is hard, after not too long, to feel the pressure of the busy-ness of it all. It's easy for the teachers to feel burnt out. Would you keep them in your prayers please? Pray for a pure motivation for what they do to drive them forward so that they find joy in their service and not a burden. Also pray for those attending the lessons that they might hear God's message to them for the first time, and for those who believe already to be strengthened and encouraged as they hear the basics of the gospel laid out for them once again.

Something Good in Store

There is an effort here, failed in the past, which we're currently trying to resurrect. Along with their literacy skills, the Mibu people need a regular venue through which they can be supplied in all things reading and writing. There also needs to be a way to generate enough funds to help subsidize costs of printed literacy materials in the future. A simple store seems to be the best solution. It's something we've tried in the past, but it flopped and has lain there dead for several years now.

Keteng is being trained in bookkeeping and will be given charge of running this small literacy supply store. He struggles with certain of the concepts related to keeping track of stock and of finances, so it will take some time and personal investment to get things running smoothly with minimal mistakes. We just purchased a small supply of the needed materials and are looking forward to getting this going again. Someday here Keteng's efforts should be able to significantly reduce or even completely cover the costs of a long term literacy program that carries on from generation to generation.

Please pray for faithfulness borne out of an eagerness to see more people literate so they can better learn about God.

Mibu Ministry Garage Sale

It's that time of year again. There is a fund raising garage sale planned for Saturday, November 8th and 9th. Garage sales of the past have been a huge success, having raised significant finances to help us, the Husa family, as we continue to serve the young church in Mibu, Papua New Guinea.

Do you have things you've been looking to sell or get rid of? Or maybe you're feeling bogged down by the 'too much stuff' syndrome many of us constantly find ourselves in. This is a great chance to go through and make that stuff matter. You can donate it to the fundraising garage sale to benefit the Mibu Ministry. We live in a remote tribal location in a 3rd world country where there are many costs associated with living and doing Bible translation and training leaders. Your stuff can help! Please, no clothes though.

If you'd like to help, you can contact Gary Husa at (480)980-3854 to arrange a drop off at their address in Tempe. The garage sale will be held at 245 W. LaVieve Ln., Tempe, AZ 85284.