Dear Friends and Family:
Just a quick note to let you know that we had 19 people baptized in the Gokfak river last Sunday. It was a strong group of people (3 future chiefs of the village and 1 present one and his wife, and our son Beau J) that are dedicated to showing the "colors" of Jesus' side. There were some incredible testimonies and some of the participants had prepared a series of questions that they asked and answered with people on the banks as a means of teaching the outsiders that were there. All in all it was an incredible day.
But as is typical in Yembiyembi "fire chases sweet" (bad follows good), and we came crashing back to earth yesterday. 1 of the village chiefs that is STRONGLY against all the changes that have been happening called us down for a "meeting" to discuss why so many were crossing over (becoming believers). It turned out that it was a pre-planned trap to try and get the believers and myself to react and start an all out fight….or worse. To their credit the believers held their cool and got out before any major fights erupted, but the tension in the village is high. Remember that the believers (like every good Yembiyembi) have been raised to fight at the drop of a hat, and to have 26 men hold their cool while some younger men were taunting them and begging them to fight is….very unnatural.
Pray for these next days as they will be loaded with tension and the possibility of a major village explosion is high.
Thanks for praying guys,
Brooks
P.S. If you have your pictures, or access to the website http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi you can see the people who got Baptized. (Clara, Sita, Grenis, Salvius, Paul, Peter, Jerome, Edward, Sabina, Kelly, Brian, Kris, Matthew, Zaccheus, Regina, Marianna, Fransisca, Beau Buser, and Kathy R.)
Quotes from the baptism:
Kelly Taman- "I wash now to mark before your eyes whose side I stand on, but God sees my deep inside, he knows I am His kid and no one can loosen his fingers from me".
Sita (My mother and Nina's good friend)- "I have had night dreams of this day coming to meet me, I am so happy, I am marking whose side I am on"
Zacchues- "I am standing on Acts 19 (the first part of the chapter where Paul baptizes some men a 2nd time). In mans eyes I have washed once before but I was a baby and I knew nothing of this talk. Now I wash for the first time in Gods eyes and he knows that my thinking on the bridge-man is clear"
Edward- "Keep your ears open good to what I am going to say. I am not joining New Tribes Mission, I am not going under some name. I am standing on the talk of Jesus alone and for that reason I wash to mark my outside because of my inside thinking"
Beau- "I am getting baptized because I understand that Jesus died on the cross for my sins"
