Let there be ground!

Team,

We were in the Kabaman village for only about 48 hours and God answered all of our prayers. Right before I left I sent you all a list of prayer requests and in our short time in Kabaman God saw fit to answer them in His own way. Yeah, the answer was different than what we expected however…HE ANSWERED. It reminded me of when Abraham went up on the mountain to offer his son Isaac to the Lord and he knew God would be faithful to His Word in that he mentioned that both he and his son would come down off the mountain even though he thought God would raise Isaac from the grave God answered Abraham in a different way than He expected. In no way am I comparing myself with Abraham but simply noticing that God is faithful to His Word. He wants the Siar people to hear His message of Christ and He opened the door for us to live with them. Here is a brief description of how it happened. Thanks for praying!

On Monday we traveled from Kokopo to Kabaman and had wonderful seas, in fact we got there in an hour and a half which last time took us 3 hours. When we first got there many of the people were either in the jungle working their gardens or went to the village to the south to help work on the elementary school. Therefore, the first day was one of sitting and talking to the people who were present. The Kabaman people are a fairly reserved people so we weren’t totatlly sure what they were thinking when we first got there. Were they happy to see us? Did they truly want us to be there? Have the changed their minds and no longer want to hear God’s talk in their language? After about an hour, Simon, a guy that I got to spend some time with on the previous trip saw the axes, machetes, shovels, and files we brought for them to clear land for us, sheepishly asked. “Chris, have you brought these tools to start building your house?” I then knew that he wanted us to be there and work with them and as I continued to ask questions he said that everyone thinks and feels the same. Praise the Lord!

By Tuesday morning everybody was back from their previous obligations and us 4 guys (New Tribes missionaries) met with about 50 of the people in the village. We first reminded them of what our work was about and expressed our gratitude for them to meet with us and thanked them for writing the letter of invitation that we received on the previous trip. Then about 6 or 7 people (men and women, young and old) once again expressed their desire for us to start our work with them. It was a clear confirmation of the Lord’s leading. Finally the last guy, Ogen, stood up and said, “we have ground for you now.” Even though it was not the land we originally desired to have we eventually excepted it and now looking back on it I believe it was of the Lord. I learned a lot about how they think, compromise, and make decisions and we all came to a conclusion that met the needs of both sides and that was the most important thing. They felt respected and heard and we got land that will meet the needs of the three families and ministry. I truly think we were sensitive to the Lord in that process and hopefully we have formed a solid foundation to build relationships on.

This is just he beginning of many years of ministering with the Siar people and living our lives before them with God’s strength, direction, and wisdom. I know there will be many frustrating days ahead but I hope I never forget what God did on that day – February 26, 2007. God opened the door for His Gospel of grace, freedom, love, justification, redemption…of Jesus Christ to come the Kabaman people. WOW, and we can be apart of that! What is more important? Remember, life is short but eternity isn’t.

Note: I have posted pictures from the trip on our Siar blogsite. Check them out. http://www.siartribe.blogspot.com/

Thanks for involving yourself in eternity and praying for the Siar people.

Chris