Leo's wife

Dear Friends and Family:

 

It doesn't seem possible that 2 weeks ago we wrote about Tino dying and yet today I am writing again to tell you about the death of another village "Chief".   Yesterday, Leo (Kemua) died when a car taking him to the costal town of Wewak, rolled over and crushed him. Leo had a lot of clout in Yembiyembi, and was a strong "Catholic" influence.   

 

Of all the teaching sessions he was probably only present for 2-3 and would not participate in any of the late night talks that were going on. Leo's wife and their son Dennis, (Dennis-Kolevi and Pauline) are a part of the core 40-50 guys and gals that are truly on fire for the hearing this talk. A few days before Leo left, Pauline told Nina "I need to hear this talk to the finish so I can go and teach it to Leo in Wewak."  3 nights ago Dennis, myself, and 3 other guys were talking over the lessons of Noah and the ark, and he asked me directly "In-law, will you talk to my father and try and get him to come to the teaching, I am worried the spirit of this ground (Satan) has his thinking and he is on the path to the fire". The next morning before I had a chance to talk with Leo he left for town, and the next day he was killed.  

 

Leo's death will definitely stir up the village and once again there are 2 possible outcomes to his death. The village could go into turmoil and fear over loosing another leader (we have been here 5 years and only 4 older men have died, but 2 of them have been in these last 2 weeks) and will try and tie his death to the spirits being aggravated over the teaching.  Or, they could see it for what it truly is, that all of us as sons of Adam will all die, it is only a matter of when.

 

Already many are wondering why Leo was not coming to the teaching. Some are openly wondering if God took him because his being/thinking (heart) was like Cain's, he heard God's talk but turned his back on it. 20 minutes ago as I walked up the hill another one of my brother-in-laws said  "This talk that is coming, it is for these times. Death she lies close to our skin all the time, we never know when God will say our days are enough, only He knows. This talk is not play talk, this talk is preparing us for that day".

 

With the background of Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, and last night the Tower of Babel, the Yembi's do have some understanding to lean on in these days, and it has been neat to watch different ones growing in their knowledge of God. The difference between the core group and the ones that are partially understanding (about 100 or so) is significant, but nearly everyone is being impacted in some way by the teaching.

 

Prayer requests for the next few days:

1. That we would be wise in knowing how to handle Leo's passing and when to start the teaching again.
2. That those who are holding to their former teachings as the ONLY way, will stick around to hear the truth from God's Word.
3. That they will understand that Salvation is something they cannot achieve in their own strength
4. As we press into the 5^th week of teaching that their energy, food level, concentration and attendance would not wane.
5. That our team would stay healthy and finish out the next two weeks (up to the teaching of the 10 commandments) strong.
6. That we would always be trusting God for what has/is/will happen here.

 

Thanks guys. Keep praying, keep holding up your individual members in prayer (we will try in the next 5 days to send out an e-mail with a report on different individuals in the tribe) and thanks for sticking with us.

 

Your friends,

Brooks, Nina and Beau

 

 

Week #3

Dear Friends and Family:

Last night we finished the teaching for this week with Adam and Eve being kicked out of the garden, God rejecting their clothing, and providing His way, it was heavy.

The Yembi's are animist's with 40 years of semi-Catholic teaching, and thus have mixed nearly everything and come up with a hybrid "religion" that can be bent to shape any belief.

As they watched God follow through on his promise to Adam and Eve and began to get a better picture of what God thinks of sin, his absolute standards, and that no man can hide anything from Him, the quieter and quieter the teaching sessions have become. We still have over 100 kids under the age of 10 that can really make some noise, and my foot gets a workout kicking all the dogs that wander in when we are teaching, but the adults are tracking well, and the young men are not missing a beat.

2 days ago we taught on the fall and the ramifications of Adams sin and how it applies to us today. As the Yembi's heard for the first time that men don't get bad knees from holding their grandchildren, people's backs don't hurt from sitting on a chair that a menstruating woman has sat on, women don't experience pain in child birth from their husbands planting posts in the ground, and many others, it looked like they had been punched in the gut. Many afterwards were saying something along the lines of "Our fathers and grandfathers were lied to", "How many did Satan trick before our time", "We have been eating and swallowing lies till now, enough!!".

The beauty of following God's story as God gave it (chronologically) is that for every punch in the gut man receives, there is always a promised escape from the pain that we brought on ourselves. The promised redeemer was also in that lesson, and everyone was ready for a little good news. Though many in our tribe know that this talk will end up with a guy named Jesus, none of them really know why, or how He is able to remove sins and take our dead "Adam-ness" and bring it life. One of my brother-in-laws said, " I heard that talk (the redeemer) and my liver (the seat of emotions) jumped. I will hear about this freeing bridge-man (the man that will be the bridge between the children of Satan to the children of God) and no one will keep me from crossing".

As many of you remember only 10 days ago Tino died, and the shock from that is just now settling down. Fortunately, Tino's death has not stopped people from coming to the teaching, but has had much the opposite effect. On the first day back teaching we held up a picture of Tino that had been taken during one of the lessons (Tim happened to have taken a shot of Tino 48 hours before he died, sitting at the teaching, reading the scripture), and everyone got the VERY clear reminder that we are short-term people on this ground, and it could be over for them or I at any moment. The fact that Tino was so faithful at coming to the teaching has been hard for many (us included), but it hasn't deterred them from the main point, that right now is their chance to hear about God and to understand what He requires of them before they go the way of Tino.

Kerobim is still attending and still listening from a distance (he likes to sit 10 or 12 feet outside the teaching house) and sometimes gets up, leaves and then comes back and stands in the back of the teaching house. The last 2 days we have seen a major break from the Animistic/Catholic worldview and it has been hard to swallow for some of the older people, so none of us are completely sure how Kerobim is handling it, but he continues to be there and has yet to stand against the teaching at all. Keep praying for him, he is still very influential and like I said in an earlier e-mail, he would be a major force for the gospel if he were to understand.

The teaching starts back on Saturday, but on Friday night we will be holding the graduation of our 3^rd literacy class. This class is…priceless. The class (22 students) has a handful of older men but is mostly made up of older women from the village. Everyone of them is either an aunt, mother or grandmother to everyone in the tribe, and they have been faithful in the longest running literacy class we have had so far. Because this class as taken longer, other people in the tribe have given them the nickname "stone head class" or something comparably flattering. But these ladies and men are AWESOME. Through floods, death of a relative, short food supply and a good deal of ridicule, they have persevered with many being able to read the scriptures well, and with a huge sense of pride. It is one of the few times in YY history that any group has committed to something for this length of time, without the lure of money or immediate social benefit, and have fulfilled their commitment, it really is a landmark.

Next week we step into these lessons:

Sat- Cain and Abel

Sun- Cain's offspring, Seth and the Enoch

Mon – The setting for the flood and Noah

Tues- The Flood

Wed- Tower of Babel

Cain and Abel and the Flood lessons are HUGE for these guys, and we need you praying for some specific things as we come into this phase of the teaching…

1. That their lost-ness, and their in "Adam-ness" would be pounded home with each lesson.
2. They would realize that in themselves, in their good intentions, there is nothing that can save them (very hard for anyone, let alone animist/catholics to get away from "doing" something).
3. That they would tie their only hopes of getting out from their "Adam-ness" to the coming Redeemer.

Guys I could write pages on the things we have seen and heard that are flat out AMAZING, but I have already written more then I previously said I would. Thanks for sticking with us, keep praying, keep holding up your individual people in prayer, and by faith we will see them respond to the Light.

Thanks much,

Brooks, Nina and Beau Buser

P.S. The pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/ and letters, links and other stuff is at http://bringingthesecrettalk.blogspot.com/

Heavy Hearts

Dear friends and family,

With heavy hearts we write this post, letting you know that one of our village chiefs (Tino or Wondoan) has died.

Tino is the recognized leader of the Black Cockatoo clan and has been an influential man in our favor. He has been faithfully coming to the teaching for the last 3 weeks, sitting in the front, answering questions and understanding very well.

On Sunday we did not see him at the teaching and his wife (Jacinta or Wembis) said he was not feeling well. On Monday she got an extra copy of the lesson and said he was feeling a bit better and was hoping to be back for tonight’s teaching session. Last night she was reading to him the lesson (she is 2 days from graduating from the literacy class) and he was catching all the information and seemed to be doing a little better. In the morning however he took a turn for the worse and word spread quickly that he was not doing well.

Tony and myself went down in the boat (the village and airstrip are about 4 feet underwater right now) and got our first look at him. Tino was tossing and turning, in a great deal of pain and having trouble breathing. We gave him a shot of Penicillin and came back up to our house to organize a boat trip and medivac flight to get him out. However as we got to the radio the drums announced the news that Tino had died.

As in all animistic cultures, a quick and untimely death is NEVER by accident. The Yembi’s are struggling right now with what has happened and how to weigh all of this in contrast to the lessons they have been hearing. 2 days ago we taught on Satan and Hell, yesterday was the beginning of the fall and we ended the teaching session with these words “No one knows how long God has given them on this ground, it could be my last day or yours today, we don’t know. Hear this talk well, you don’t know when your time will come”. Those words are all that is being talked about in the village right now.

Guys, this event has 2 possible outcomes.

1. The enemy is able to throw the village into a panic that the spirits of the dead have come to cause death and destruction, and the fear of this talk will force many to flee and not be a part of it.
2. The people recognize Tino’s death as a warning sign that their own lives are SOOOOOO short and their chance to understand how God will deal with them is happening right now, and they become more energized and motivated to hear it all.
   

Our team is pretty rocked right now, as I said he was a faithful man that was hearing the teaching well, and none of us can reason why God would take him at this time. But God is God….and his plans are not mine, it is to us to walk faithful when we don’t fully see the picture. Someday we will, but for now we know what He requires of us.

Obviously pray for the Yembi’s, pray that this will have an outcome that will get them to the teaching with open ears and open minds. In recent days some have been coming, but not listening well, pray that this would snap them out of their lethargy and into concentration. Pray for our team that we would see the Lord in this situation and be wise in how we communicate, console and encourage our Yembiyembi friends. We will probably be taking a 3-5 day break from the teaching and then gauging when the Yembi’s would like to get back into it.

Thanks guys, appreciate all your prayers,

Brooks for Nina and Beau