Week 2

Dear Friends and Family:

Well the 2^nd week of teaching has come and gone and there is so much to talk about. First off our family.

Nina and Beau are doing well, hanging in there and great troopers about being in the village for night teaching sessions. Beau has a hard time sitting still, but loves the skits and playing marbles (with rubber nuts) chasing dogs and chickens with the Yembi kids. Nina has been having a great impact on her sisters and mothers in the tribe, all of which feel much more comfortable asking her questions than me.

The teaching has been rolling. We have continued with 80-90% of the village attending, with every night seeing an increase. A neat thing to watch has been the young men of the village. Nearly every one of the young guys from 17-30 is showing up and are the center of the excitement, interest, questions and understanding. This has not been lost on the women and older men of the tribe, and has prompted many who were on the fence to keep coming night after night.

The core of those guys right now are, Rueben, Job, Rodney, Joel, Roger, Stanley, Robert, Paul, Dennis, Fidalis, Kevin, Silas, Jerome, Lawrence, Roy, Desmond, and Siril (their pictures, and the rest of the tribe, are still on http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/). This is a big deal in our tribe because the leadership structure will always be the older men, and these guys are being groomed now, to step into the leadership that will hold this village for the next 20 years.

One of the inevitable side affects of having a village that has so many people coming and going (from other tribes as well as our own) has been losing people to travel. Micheal, Kelly, Lucas, Max, and Peter had to leave for different reasons like buying a bride for their family, selling some bark to a spice dealer, and attending a government course. We were all sad to see them go, but we are praying and hoping we get them back before Sat and the start of the 3^rd week of teaching, and if you have their picture (or even if you don't) be praying as well.

One of the upsides to the absences came last night as we were preparing to teach. Andrew (from the Toucan Clan) stood up before the teaching and told everyone "Some of our fathers, brothers and sons are not here tonight. So tonight we have to shut the children's mouths well, keep the noise out, and listen well. Who will tell this talk if it is not us." Last night we had great attendance and the people were locked on.

Some highlights to pass on.

On Monday night we taught on the creation of Man, and what God gave us that separates from all other creation, there was almost complete silence as we laid it out. Then as we taught on God knowing what Adam was going to be like, and desiring to be friends, good friends with Adam, Robert (my father in the Ostrich clan) asked if God knew them. As we explained that 6,000+ years ago He knew their names, knew they would be here now, and loves them like Adam, there were whistles (Yembi's way of saying OHHH man) and exclamations of surprise that the creator of the world knew/knows THEM.

Because we end the teaching at 7:30-8:00 at night we usually end up staying around for an hour or so answering questions and going over the main points to those that aren't getting it. After we leave my office helper Job told me on Tues morning "In-law (our reference for each other as he married my sister) don't think that when you white guys leave we stop talking. People are bribing me with cigarettes and food to come over and talk about what they heard, and to explain and give them clues to the next lesson, my jaws hurt with too much talk".

Finally again Kerobim.

He continues to be at every teaching session. His intentions are unknown, but as we taught through the sun moon and stars and the creation of Man he was listening intently and tracking well. He is fighting a loosing battle as his wife, 3 sons and nearly all his good friends are regulars (Roy his oldest son is usually 15 minutes early for every teaching session, unheard of in this culture). Keep praying for him, there is a battle going on in his head.

Next week is probably the biggest week of the teaching we will have.

Sat- Creation of Eve

Sun- Fall of Lucifer and the Angels

Sun- Start of the fall

Mon- Implications of the fall

Tues- Results of the fall and the promised Redeemer.

Wed- Adam and Eve removed from the garden

Many Yembi's are starting to see that this talk is not going where they thought it would go (ie. everyone to heaven, God is a distant grandfatherly figure, warm and fuzzy). The Fall of mankind through their ancestor Adam is going to be a jolt to their system, especially as they realize who's sons and daughters they actually are.

Thanks for your prayers, e-mails of encouragement, and support, we are kept afloat by all of it.

Thanks so much guys, we appreciate you all,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

P.S. all these e-mails and links to other stuff are on the blog http://bringingthesecrettalk.blogspot.com/