In September, we were privileged to host a team of five from Newbreak Church. In November, we were privileged to host another team of five from the same church. It was a busy week of travel, open air preaching, and showing the Enga Jesus Film.
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| The Second Newbreak Missions Team |
After the team got settled in, we took a trip to what is called The Wild West, which is the western part of Enga Province. Upon our arrival in the village of Mulitaka, we discovered that the back, right tire of my truck had a puncture from a piece of metal and was slowly deflating. Fortunately, there was a tire service in the village, so Pastor Duane from Newbreak Church and I went to get the tire repaired. In the two hours while we waited for the repairs, a crowd of about two hundred people gathered around us in a perfect semi-circle to meet us and listen to "the white man speaking in Enga." We had good interactions with the crowd and invited them all to watch the Enga Jesus Film that night at the local high school, just a short walk from the tire service. About 6:45 PM I got the film started and then asked Van Hooper from Newbreak Church to look after the equipment while I went to eat dinner in the house where we all were staying. Some time afterward, Van came running up to the house a little out of sorts, saying that there were men with machetes who were causing a disturbance. I went down to see what the problem was, and it turns out that so many people showed up to see the film that there was no longer space for anybody else in the room where we were showing it. The men with bush knives were demanding that we move the projector and screen outside so that everyone could see the film. I told them that we would show the film a second time once the first showing ended, and everyone was happy with that. It is a good problem when people are demanding that space be made so that they too can see the Jesus Film in Enga!
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| The venue where we showed the Jesus Film in Mulitaka |
The next morning we traveled to the check point at a village called Maipya, which is the last village where the people speak Enga rather than Ipili (the next language bordering Enga). We set up a small speaker in the market area. As people gathered around, I introduced the team members from Newbreak Church who shared greetings and short testimonies. I then shared my own testimony and the gospel message in the Enga language and gave people an opportunity to repent from their sin and put their faith in Jesus. Afterwards people were invited to buy Audibibles and memory cards with the Enga recordings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the Abraham story from Genesis. We did the same in the villages of Tumandan and Mulitaka. By the end of the day we had preached the gospel to over 500 people and sold a handful of Audibibles and memory cards. It is difficult to gauge response to the gospel messages that were preached, but we trust that some seeds were planted in good soil and will bear fruit.
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| Preaching the gospel in the village of Maipya |
After returning from The Wild West, we spent a day at our home in Immi village, where the team helped us with many home improvement projects, which was a great blessing. The next morning we headed out to Kompiam, which is quite literally the end of the road in the northeastern part of Enga Province. A local pastor in Kompiam had set up a grand stand in the main field outside of the government station, and we shared greetings, testimonies, and the gospel message just as we had in The Wild West. The people in Kompiam were particularly receptive, and one older man shared in tears about how much it meant to him that I was speaking in Enga and translating God's Word so that they could understand it in their own language. Afterwards many people bought Audibibles and memory cards containing the Enga Bible recordings. At night we showed the Enga Jesus Film in a local church, and despite a torrential downpour, sixty people showed up to see the film.
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| People gathering to buy Enga Audibibles in Kompiam |
We wish to express our appreciation to Dan Lamborn, Duane Flewelling, Van Hooper, Mike Kuypers, and Susana Leung for taking time out of their busy schedules to minister to us and the people of Enga. Along with your help and the help of the first team from Newbreak Church, we preached the gospel to over one thousand people and showed the Enga Jesus film to about six hundred people. We may not know the fruit of our labors until we get to heaven, but let's pray that God will move in the lives of those who heard the good news and bring them to repentance and faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
