VERSE FOR THE WEEK:
Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:35 & 37 NIV
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE WEEK:
God’s simple requests of us are oftentimes
stepping-stones to His greatest blessings. God wants us to place everything in
his hands, not because he wants us to be empty, but because he wants to fill us
to overflowing. Of all the things we look to for stability and permanence, HE
is the only true Rock who will never fall or fade away.
FAITH PROMISE FOCUS: Gary
& Esther Smith, Ethnos360, Papua New Guinea
2020 is
Hindsight! Wait, did I
get that right? Yes, I did! They say hindsight is 2020, but now we can say 2020
is hindsight - behind us, and many of us breathe a sigh of relief. Although,
really, there are so many things to be thankful for and praise our God for, who
is in control! To quote our son C, “I don’t know why everyone says 2020 was
a terrible year? I thought it was fantastic and saw God work in so many ways!
And besides, I got married!” (Or something like that he said to us recently.)
Trip into
Dinangat - I’m sure
each one of us could list out the miracles we’ve seen God perform throughout
the year amid the world gone mad. You’ve seen our updates throughout the year
stating some of those. We were able to go into Dinangat and see
that the church is doing well--not perfect and needs to continue growing--but
overall good. The bonus for this trip was that we got to go in with Esther’s
brother and family – the A-team! Then, J, N, and Z hiked with two
Bible teachers from the village all the way to the town. J said it was
the hardest hike he’s ever been on. It takes even the Dinangat two solid days.
(Beginning
of journey pictured below)
The main purpose of the
trip was to do a bit of survey work. There is a language group between Dinangat
and town that has expressed interest in missionaries after seeing and hearing
the change that has gone on in Dinangat. This would be a wonderfully strategic
area to put missionaries, as the Dinangat often hike through this area on their
way hiking to town. They also have some intermarriage going on there. The trip
was very successful, and we are waiting on the leadership of the language group
to send us an official invite. Please pray for this! "F" (one of the teachers
who went with them and offered his advice) said that this place is exactly like
Dinangat was before God transformed them. Please pray that we can get
missionaries in there.
Exciting
News from Dinangat! F gave
me an update on how things are going. One of the churches
was doing an outreach to the youth and for any adults who wanted to hear the
evangelistic teaching from Creation to Christ. Well, they finished the teaching
and 19 people said they want to follow Christ and get baptized! One of the
young ladies is from the main village for which we have been praying for years! F said, “Maybe God is going to use her to open the door to village M!” They
conducted baptisms on January 1 to ring in the new year!
Then he told
me that one of the other villages in the Dinangat language group has come and
asked for the teaching to finally come to them! The leaders need to strategize
as to the timing and how best to meet the needs there, so I’ll let you know
about that. But believe me when I tell you this is HUGE news! This place has
been a bit like village M and not been open. So, for them now to ask for God’s Word to come to them is a miracle! So please pray for this effort and
for S village, as I’m sure there will be some resistance from others.
2020 was a wild ride, and we praise God that He is keeping us on the tracks!
Looking back, we see His loving, gentle hand guiding us all the way as we
continue through 2021. - Gary Smith
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