I know what you’re thinking. How can this be a picture of your brother? He doesn’t look a bit like you or Melissa… and he looks old. Well, he along with many others in three different tribal groups in Papua New Guinea were just adopted into the same family as us. Just recently the gospel message was presented among the Bises, Bagwido and Dinangat people where there are now brand new churches. Missionaries in these tribes have spent many years in training, learning language and culture, building relationships with these people, translating the Bible, and preparing Bible lessons. Now they are seeing real fruit of their labor.
Here are some quotes from newsletters sent by some of these missionaries:
The Bagwido Tribe: Alexia is a widow woman, mid 30’s perhaps, who is very quiet and kind of keeps to herself. She now walks around with a beaming smile on her face all day long. She said, “Jesus’ blood bought my sin. He bought all of it. We have heard the first part of the teaching, but I know that there is more of this sweet talk in the Bible. I want to hear more.”
From the Dinangat Tribe: After Totne saw the missionaries portraying the death of Jesus he said, “All my life I’ve turned my back on God. I’ve never come to any of the religious meetings that the people have. But as I watched those men beating Jesus I realized that I was one of those men. What Jesus did for me I can’t even put into words and I don’t want to turn my back on him anymore.”
This isn’t the end of the work for these missionaries, they will continue to teach and disciple these new believers until the churches in these tribes are fully mature. You can read more about these new believers and others here. You can see why we’re excited about the ministry ahead of us!