He saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29
Ankereriges (the kukuarai) daughter holding Nianamems son
In response to a request, we will put the peoples names here so you can see the people that you are praying for specifically.
Thanks to Michael Carter for the suggestion! ☺
Just a little history to start this update. 40 years ago, a church group came through ITUTANG and set up a church here and trained a few guys on how to do it and left them to do church. They get bi-yearly visits and they have heard bits and pieces of the Bible, but never in their own language. Mostly in the Tok Pisin which is very general in its terms anyway making Bible passages difficult to understand. The people have taken this church regime and added it to all the ancestral practices and have been living in a very confused worldview. We told you last week that some of the men said
We have been doing church for nothing for 40 years. We dont even know what we are doing or saying when we do it. Now we are hearing this story in our language and it makes sense. Now we know who God is and what He is like and we are done with doing church like this with no meaning. Nobodys going to do it anymore. They are questioning
what is true?
So
what happened. Did they really just drop it cold turkey after 40 years? Yep! They did. So what do they do on Sunday morning now? I guess they should go to the only thing that they are sure is true. But, what would that look like at this point in the teaching?
Well, these past two weeks, unknown to us, the people have been meeting down at the meeting place and reviewing the daily lesson questions. They divided into teams according to hamlets and started back at lesson 1. They said last Sunday morning they did Lessons 1-5 and today they did Lessons 6-10. Each week they are marking different facilitators
men who have been through the literacy program.
In one way, we dont want them to just start doing this because they see the faults in the other and are using this as a find and replace, but on the other hand
Gods Truth has knocked out everything from underneath them
the false church doctrines, the ancestral views, the cargo cult, and now their own personal sin has come into center focus
what is left?
THIS IS WHATS LEFT
..CHRIST. And it is his story that we have begun this week. We purposefully had several more conversations this week about cargo cult
reminding them that that is not what this story is about. One man told Bill, Bill, we know. Im not worried about all the things anymore. I have a lot of sin and am going to the place of fire and money cant help me or take my sins away. We are always thinking
How are we able to go back to God now? We dont have a way.
We were so glad to be able to tell them that the Deliverer and His story are coming this week. AFTER YEARS OF DARKNESS AND LIES
.they are about to meet Christ. He will be born into Itutang tomorrow as we tell of His amazing birth
Immanuel
God with us. Hallelujah!
PRAY PRAY PRAY these next 5 weeks that God would save these precious souls in ITUTANG! Your prayers have been so faithful so far and the Lord has heard. We look forward with anticipation to what He will accomplish through them this next month!!!
This week we present the birth of John the Baptist up through Christs Temptation. Pray that as they are introduced to Christ, they will believe what John said, Behold, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
Because He is Alive,
The Housleys
By God's Grace and For His Glory,
_________________ charlene
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