Bringing The Secret Talk

Made it!

2010-04-09T17:35:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well this is a nice short one to let you all know that we made it. Not only that our bags never got opened the entire trip so all our croc heads, masks, paddles, etc… made it in so that is really nice. We are settling in well here in San Diego, having to work through getting a license (mine expired over the last 3.5 years), registration, and insurance so that is a fun experience, but all in all very well.

Thanks for your prayers and we look forward to seeing you all over the next 9 months.

Your friends,

Brooks Nina and Beau

Time to come home

2010-03-26T09:44:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well it has been a very long and full three years that we have spent in Yembiyembi, but INCREDIBLE to watch what has happened over that period of time. Last week with many tears we said goodbye to our tribal fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters in Yembiyembi (remember we were adopted into clans). This time however, many of them are believers and that backdrop changes everyone's out look.

The night before we jumped in the canoe (our airstrip was underwater from flooding so we had to motor canoe to an airstrip 4 hours away) my clan father and mother Lucas and Prisca sat down with me. Lucas and Prisca are probably in their early 60's (there are no birth certificates in the jungle) and know that their time for this earth may not be long. Lucas especially is fading physically and talks often about when he will see the face of "Great One" (the Lord). Mama Prisca spoke for him and said this, "Eldest son, tomorrow we set you in the canoe and you leave us behind for 9 months. We don't know if God has marked this time to close his fingers on your father and I, but we know this, if he does we have no fear, we are his children, we have crossed to his side, we will sit/be with him if it is our time. If you come back and you only see the ground lump (the burial location) and not our bodies your eye water can come, but remember to not let it come like a non-crosser (unbeliever). We will see you again, and we will see your face and you will see ours, we put you in the canoe with that thinking in our heads".

As I mentioned, our journey started with a canoe ride and a small Cessna 206 out of the jungle. In 48 hours we fly to the PNG capital, then on to Hong Kong, then to San Francisco and on to San Diego. Pray we can get some sleep, stay healthy, enjoy the trip, and don't loose any bags or items to an over zealous customs agents (sometimes a croc head, bone dagger, or snake skin get them excited).

Can't wait to see you all, and enjoy home with you (March Madness, In-N-Out burger, Starbucks, and some NBA playoffs come to mind).

Your friends, Brooks Nina and Beau

P.S. the picture is Nina and our co-workers in the canoe coming out of the tribe (Nina's brother and father are in the back to see her off at the airstrip).

17 foot Boa constrictor and 2 months till Starbucks

2010-03-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well it is January and we are plugging away into the new year. It is great to have the full team back together (the Shontere and Sutton families) and 3 of our stronger believers that usually are in other villages are here right now as well. We continue to work our way through the book of Ephesians and are seeing some great things coming out of it for the Yembi's. In 2 weeks we will have our first teaching on marriage, and a couple weeks later on parenting, it will be VERY interesting to see how they react. We have a lot of skits (Nina and I portraying a typical Yembiyembi married couple…hope I don't get hurt to bad) and illustrations to try and hammer it home as much as possible. Pray for these teaching days, they are loaded with practical things (forgiveness, true Biblical love, anger, honesty, living the same way as we teach/believe/act on Sunday) that are coming in heavy conflict with decades of traditional thinking. We have seen incredible change in some of the big areas but these day to day issues are more of the stubborn ones that take time, keep praying that the Yembi's (especially the leaders) will grow in these.

On Monday (18^th) myself and a group of 10-15 guys will be setting out on a 3 day hike/canoe trip to visit 2 of our sister villages (Paliagwi and Komombuyo) and another village (Somblinge) that one of the stronger believers (his father is from this language group, his mother a Yembiyembi lady) is originally from. One of the villages has been openly hostile to the gospel and the believers as they travel to and from it, the other village has been neutral and the last one very open to it. The guys with me will be taking the lead on this trip and have a very good plan for fielding questions, responding to opposition, and figuring out where the thinking of the village leaders is at. This is a big trip and we are all very excited to meet up with these sister villages and talk about the big things that have happening in Yembiyembi the past 9 months. Pray for us as we have a 4-6 hour hike through deep swamps (one way) and a lot of canoe travel to get to and from these villages. Pray as well for the Yembiyembi leaders on this trip (Edward, Job, Roger, Robert, Jerome) and how they conduct themselves in some tough situations, pray that we would pave the way for the gospel in these places through our testimony

On different note we are now less than 2 months from coming home in late March, and getting very excited about it too. In another few weeks Nina and I are starting Beau on a crash course of American culture and things he can expect that he doesn't see out here that much (carpet, escalators, mandatory shoes, temperatures that don't come close to the 100's, food that is not wiggling as you eat it, and people you call Grandpa/Grandma that are of the same skin color). Yesterday one of Nina's brothers killed a 17 foot boa constrictor (had to rescue the hunting dog from it's mouth) and it took 4 guys to drag it into the village. Beau was pulling it around with 10 other kids asking "do they do this in San Diego dad, cause it's fun".

Not much else, thanks for your continued prayers for the believers/unbelievers pictures that you have, we continue to see the crosser group (that is what the believers call themselves) grow with a really neat addition 3 weeks ago. John-Fisher was there for the last 5 weeks of my village father Lawrence's (the first Yembiyembi believer to die) life and got to see the testimony he was as he left this world. He got back into Yembiyembi 3 weeks ago and despite being groomed to take over the leadership of the opposition turned his back on it and started coming to the teaching. Later our co-worker Tim Shontere was talking with him as they were working on the book of Revelation together and he said this "Brother I have watched many people die but never anyone like Lawrence. People scream out curses and yell for their family to back (retribution) the pain they are getting, but Lawrence….no. He knew where he was going, he had no fear, he was ready….that is what I want. So I am here to hear the true talk now, I want what Lawrence had"

As always a huge THANK YOU to you ones who stand behind us out here. We would not make it if it wasn't for your support, encouragement and prayers. We are privileged to be part of this awesome team.

Your friends,

Brooks Nina and Beau

P.S. the picture is Beau, his buddies, and the snake.

P.S.S. San Diego Chargers….oh my goodness. Any copied articles (no pictures just text) from the internet or wherever would be greatly appreciated....unless they lose, then no e-mails whatsoever please J. But if they win against the Jets, then the Ravens/Colts…send like there is not tomorrow. And know that we will mangle whoever comes out of the NFC, but send articles anyways.

Fwd: 17 foot Boa, and 2 months till Starbucks

2010-01-24T11:25:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

As always a huge THANK YOU to you ones who stand behind us out here. We would not make it if it wasn't for your support, encouragement and prayers. We are privileged to be part of this awesome team.

Your friends,

Brooks Nina and Beau

P.S. the picture is Beau, his buddies, and the snake.

P.S.S. San Diego Chargers….oh my goodness. Any copied articles (no pictures just text) from the internet or wherever would be greatly appreciated....unless they loose, then no e-mails whatsoever please J. But if they win against the Jets, then the Ravens/Colts…send like there is not tomorrow. And know that we will mangle whoever comes out of the NFC, but send articles anyways.

First YY to be with God

2009-11-06T16:26:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

This is just a quick note to let you know that one of my fathers, Lawrence Yangisi went to be with the Lord yesterday. Lawrence was the first man in the entire tribe to be baptized (he nearly got speared to death for it) and was a very outspoken witness for the gospel. A few months back he contracted TB and managed to make his way out to the aid station in the town of Wewak for medical treatment. His wife (Gloria) was there with him as he grew thinner and weaker and he could see the end in sight.

The most amazing thing through all of it was that Lawrence's testimony never faltered. He repeatedly sent back messages to the tribe and his children (5) that he was not afraid to die, and they were not to accuse anyone (the typical Yembi way) of working magic or anything.

The last time we heard from Lawrence he sent a messenger to the radio out in Wewak and passed on this message "If Got closes his hands on me then that is how it is, it is His will alone. You will see this dirty (my body) of mine when it comes in there to be put in the ground, but don't be sad, you will see me again in heaven. I am ready and have no fear, I really have no fear". Lawrence is the first Yembi that the entire tribe has heard of that was not afraid to die, he was ready to meet his maker.

As the news raced around the village yesterday that Lawrence had died the usual chorus of voices from the opposition in here started up and the accusations and threats started to fly. But some of the believers sat down together and went around the group asking each other what they thought Lawrence was doing. Some said he was talking with Adam, some said he was probably talking to Noah, others said he was probably talking to the apostle Paul and telling him how he had just finished studying his letter to the Romans, it was awesome to hear.

Please pray for Gloria and her kids, the pressure on them will be heavy these next few weeks. And pray for the believers as they prepare to bury Lawrence. This is the first believer to die in Yembiyembi (the first person from this language group to be with God) and they intend on conducting an entirely new type of "service", pray that they would have wisdom and be a great testimony in the process.

Thanks guys,

Brooks

Titus, trip to Iteri, and co-workers back

2009-10-11T19:12:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

I blinked and all the sudden we are a week and half into October. Things have been non-stop here (probably where you are at as well) but we have continued to see the church grow, the crossers (believers) mature, the translation move ahead, so we are encouraged.

Three weeks ago our co-workers (the Sutton family) made it back into Yembiyembi and it has been great to have them. The Yembiyembi's welcomed them with the usual volley of mud, coconut milk, flowers and running the gauntlet of sweaty smiling faces wanting to get a piece of you, even our pilot did not escape, it was fabulous. They have settled back into the rhythm of life here and their 2 clans (we were all divided up at the beginning into clans) are especially glad to have them back.

Nina and Beau are doing well, working like crazy on 3^rd grade, but doing well. Beau is elated to have his best friend Logan (Sutton's boy) back and catching him up on all the delicacies (various YY foods) he has been missing. Nina is plugging along at content checking 1&2 Timothy and Titus, keeping ahead of Beau in school and keeping us alive (malaria meds, parasite meds, tropical ulcer meds, etc…), without her we would be hurting.

Last week myself and my father (Robert and uncle (Zaccheus) were able to fly to the village that I grew up in (Iteri) and encourage the church there for 3 days. The Iteri's are economically much worse off than the Yembi's but spiritually much further along, so it was a neat exchange. We were able to be there for the Sunday gathering and 3 late night meetings with all the believers. Our guys (my father and uncle) were struck with how bad things are for the Iteri's here on this earth, but how good they will be for them in eternity, it was a great lesson for them to see "the least of these" in person.

Robert said this as we were boarding the plane to leave Iteri: "I don't know if I will see any of your faces on this ground, but I call out to you (refer to you) as brothers now because of the talk of Jesus, so I know that I will see your faces when we meet at His ground (heaven) someday. We won't worry about shorts (clothes), food, we won't worry for anything, we always be full".

Because of the radical difference in culture and language between Iteri and Yembiyembi (remember that Papua New Guinea has the highest number of distinct language and culture groups of any country in the world) there were 100's of questions each day from eating styles, dress, language, understanding of the Bible, exposure to the outside world, etc… They Yembiyembi's were blown away by the clear memories some of the Iteri's have of cannibalism and pre-European days. The Yembis too were able to catch the Iteris up on national politics, errant doctrines that were making their way through the town, and the best kind of newspaper to smoke these days. Funny stuff to watch and be a part of.

Guys, I usually have waaaay too much to say but I will cut this one off and save a few recent highlights for November. However I can never say enough how thankful we are for the part each one of plays in keeping us out here, keeping us encouraged, and praying this work through the ups and downs that it has faced. We are grateful for you.

Thanks so much,

Brooks for Nina and Beau Buser

P.S. Charger nation, looks like it is going to be a typical year. If they happen to start looking like the Chargers of 06-07 then somebody tape the games if they can, if they lose, save your postage.

Fwd: Nina's Grandmother's death

2009-09-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well it has been a rough week. Early on Sunday morning when we were gearing up for teaching the weeks lesson we received and e-mail letting us know that Nina's grandmother (who Nina spent a lot of time with growing up with and is named after ) had died.

We got on the radio with our base and our pilot/support team did a great job of getting us out of the bush the next day. We debated sending Nina and Beau back but being at least 19 hours of flying away and with a long list of issues that pop up with moving across so many countries so fast it didn't seem to be the right choice.

We have been out at our base for 4 days now and have caught up on all the details and issues with the funeral and memorial and have been able to talk with family through this tough one. Pray for Nina as we get ready to head back in the bush and not being able to be home for this.

Thanks for your prayers,

Brooks

No more rats, grub worms for breakfast, and the end of Ephesians

2009-09-04T16:43:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well another month has gone by in Yembiyembi and things are going well. There have been all sorts of things happening around here and we have seen some incredible growth in the believers so it has felt like a very productive month overall.

Last Friday myself and two brother-in-laws (Job and Pita) and my father-in-law (Edward) returned from having the books of Romans and Ephesians checked by a translation consultant (another missionary who is trained to check the accuracy and clarity of our translations). We were given the green light to print the books so that is a huge hurdle out of the way. Galatians is just about there and we are pressing hard into 1&2 Timothy now. The neat part about having these books done is the volume of information that it opens up to the Yembi's. We recently started a Bible memorization program with them and it has caught on strong. As you walk along at night you will hear house to house the weeks verse being gone over and over. Remember that most of the believers have only learned to read and write (in Bises) within the last year and a half, and dealing with the written word is a real treat for them. My father Robert was talking about this 2 Sunday's ago and he said "Now that this talk (the Bible) is starting to be turned (translated) into our language it is like drinking clean water instead of dirty, I can taste the sweet in it because it is my language, I can see the root of it so clear (the true meaning)".

Ladies and Men's meetings continue to go well, along with the believers teaching a new class on Adam to Christ, and along with the Literacy class and now a new children's Sunday School program. It is too much work for one couple, but Nina and I are not doing most of the work, it is in the believers hands now and they are leading and teaching nearly every aspect of all these programs.

Nina's favorite time of the week continues to be the ladies meeting that happens each Friday afternoon watching them grow and apply the lessons they are learning so well. Parenting, Husband/wife relationships, End times, how to deal with people that are angry, all these topics are being touched on in these ladies meetings and most are doing their best to implement what they learn.

One of the combined meetings (on Saturday nights occasionally the women will be invited to join the men at their meeting) the group was talking about the impact the teaching was having on their family lives and the stories that their children were growing up with now as opposed to before. Nina's father Edward stood up and said this "My children are growing up in this talk so well, but I have a worry. If I die how will I know that my children will continue to get this talk fed to them, who will do it? Tonight I want some to stand up and talk promise that they will teach my kids if Got decides to close his fingers on my time (call him home)". So the rest of the night the believers went around making agreements to each other on who would teach who's kids if their lives were suddenly ended.

Unfortunately we have had a spat of deaths in the village lately and there are others who are very sick and nearing the end of their days. While I was out for the translation check one of my sets of parents (Lawrence and Gloria (both believers) lost their 4 day old baby boy. This was a big blow to them and very hard for Nina as her and Gloria are very close. But the reaction to the death of this child was unlike any that we have ever seen in the village. As they buried the boy Lawrence got up and said this "God Papa you hold all of us in your fingers, and you decided that the time of this boy of mine was only 4 days. Death will take us all someday Papa, it is the promise all the way back to the time of Adam, that is just the way it sits (is). But Papa you know me, you call me child, so I will not let the liver of my stomach turn black (be bitter) over this. You marked my boys days and you have marked mine, but you have put me in the heart of your stomach (love me) and I know there is thinking on this (a reason), you always have thinking for your children (a reason why things happen to believers)". The incredible thing was that a father never speaks at a child's funeral and if he does it is with rage and suspicion over who or what caused the death, so it was shocking to all there to hear what he said. Keep praying for Lawrence and Gloria though, these are tough days for them.

Nina and Beau are into 3^rd grade so that has them both stretching more and more. Recently we were able to fly in 2 more big cats and two kittens so to Nina's relief we have been rat free ever since. It is less fun for Beau (not being able to check the glue traps for "catches" every morning) but having Mama happy is far more beneficial for the family entire family. Beau has developed a taste for uwokak (a pod with red and yellow seeds that is made into soup) mixed with grub worms. About every other morning before school he goes over to his Papa (my brother who lives 50 feet away from us) Roger's house and is treated to the lovely breakfast. Nina about vomited when she found out what was going on, but it cut down on our cereal and milk bill so there was an upside.

Unlike most letters there is a hoard of other stuff going on (the believers taking active steps to look after each other in very new ways, teaching being asked for in 3 villages (1 within our language, 2 outside) because the believers are teaching while they are there, Sunday School Bible quizzes put on by the believers with over 80 kids showing up, etc…) but I run the risk of getting long winded so we will wrap this one up. Next letter.

Thanks guys for standing with us and for all you do on our behalf, I know I have said it before but please do know that we could not be out here without everyone of you. Thanks for your support of us and all that is happening in Yembiyembi.

Your friends,

Brooks Nina and Beau

P.S. Chargers anyone for the Superbowl this year??? Sounds like it's the year…..

Baptisms and growing tension

2009-06-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

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 2^nd 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"

Baptism, Rats, and Garamambu

2009-05-08T18:47:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well It is May and that means that we are starting to dip into a bit of a dry season out here in Yembiyembi. That means that we have to conserve a bit more water (Beau and I washing at the river, laundry not as often, etc..) but our airstrip will be out of the water for any unexpected flights so that is nice. It also means that we will have a great sand bar down at the river for our 2^nd set of baptisms coming up on the 24^th.

The believers are very excited and it looks like anywhere from 15-30 people might get baptized. About 20 have given their testimonies and have been "approved" by the believers for baptism, and there are quite a few more that are debating it. Remember that the first group we baptized almost resulted in myself and one of our believers getting speared in the water, so the tension is thick when these things happen. Baptism here is not simply a confession of faith and following through on that. Anyone involved is making a very public break from their old way of life and committing themselves to stand on this new talk ALONE, it's almost Biblical J.

Last week our co-worker Tim came back to the village to help out for 5 weeks, (which is a huge blessing) so that caused a lot of excitement among the Yembi's and brought out the mud, flowers, face paint etc… to "welcome" him back. He is going to be teaching next week as we push into Romans 7 and 8. The believers continue to grow and mature and we seem to be getting new faces every Sunday. As we have been going through Romans being "saved by works" or by "following the 10 commandments" has taken a pounding and that is reverberating around the village. Last week as I was walking home one night I stopped and stood by my brother's (Roger) house listening as he read to his wife and 2 boys and explaining our "Adam part" (old nature), "and "if the law could save us why did Jesus come?" Then further on one of my in-laws (Stanley) was explaining to his mother that "Abraham crossed to God's side (was saved) by belief, and not by cutting skin or by the Law of Moses, they came later, so how could they help him cross, and how can they help us cross now?"

Nina and Beau are doing well. Beau continues to do battle with his mother through 2^nd grade but his chickens (an egg a day now), his dog, his kitten, and rubberband wars with his Yembi buddies are seeing him through. Two weeks ago he flew on his own to the Mariama tribe to see his friends (8 other missionary kids) and get a break from Mom and Dad, so that was a huge hit.

Nina is carrying a heavy load as usual and has been doing great on the content checking (making sure the meaning of what Paul was saying comes through in the translation) of the book of Romans. We are hoping to wrap Romans up in the next couple of weeks and start the checking on the book of Ephesians, so pray we can keep our energy level up for all of that. God has smiled on Nina and our cat (Snow) has started to catch rats resulting in 3 rat-free weeks now….it has dropped all our blood pressure quite a bit (Nina because of the rats, Beau and I because of Nina).

Guys that should do it. In 2 weeks I head out on a survey of a new tribe (the Garamambu language group) that has been asking for missionaries for 5 years now, so pray for that. These things have a way of breaking your heart as you see people ready, waiting, and wanting missionaries so bad, but having no families to go in there. Pray that the Lord would send us a few new families to put in there, so that the Garamambu people could "cross over" someday.

Once again I tip my hat to all of you and say a big "Thank You" for the prayers, packages, encouragement and support you are to us over here, the Yembi's would not have the gospel, would not be growing if it wasn't for you. Someday you will get to see the result of all the efforts, but till then you will have to suffice with just these bad e-mails.

Appreciate you all,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

P.S.

This is from my uncle Zaccheus a very down to earth, humble man that has just learned how to read well and loves talking about the "Bridge-man". Our Council (the government representative for the village) was trying to intimidate him to stop coming to the teaching and he responded to him like this, "Brother-in-law, you are a big head (knowledgeable) man, I am not. You know more about government, money, town living, you win/pass me in knowledge on these things. But I know this book (the Bible), and I know that I have the found true talk in it, and I win/pass you in knowledge of this book. I am one of little knowledge, but I do know what is true, and you will not loosen my fingers from it."

P.S.S. the pictures of the Yembiyembi's continue to be at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/ and the blog of all our communications from out here is at http://bringingthesecrettalk.blogspot.com/

(((Pictures next time, our radio connection has been poor)))

Sunday meetings and Witchdoctors

2009-04-08T08:27:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well we are back in Yembiyembi and settling back into our translation and teaching routine. The time out of the tribe proved to be a great time for the believers as they taught themselves for 3 weeks and did a great job at it as well.

When we got back we heard that they met together on the first Saturday night but for the second and third teaching times they decided to move the teaching time to Sunday morning. This is a big step for these guys as it shows they have no fear of the backlash from the "other side" and what they could have done to them. Thankfully nothing came of it, and now 3 lessons into Romans the Sunday morning time has proven to be a huge blessing.

Nina is doing well and is continuing to pound 2^nd grade into Beau's head, keeping us all fed, medicated, and clothed, leading the womens group (that has doubled in the last month), and discipling 6 ladies. Lately she has been doing battle with a couple rats in the house that chewed up 3 of her Tupperware which brought the wrath of God (through Nina) down on our house.

Beau is working his way through school, mud ball fights, shooting birds with slingshots, teaching his dog how to roll over, catching little bats, and how to trap fish in the river. He does well in here when there are activities and kids to keep him occupied, but is very excited for the day when Scarlett and Logan (our co-workers kids) get back.

I am in the middle of translating and teaching the book of Romans. We are presently 6 chapters ahead in the translation (teaching off of translated material) and hoping to get the book done in the next month and a half. There are always a ton of things going on in Yembiyembi, airstrip work, house maintenance, lesson writing, translation, but the biggest by far is the interaction with the dozens of people we see every day. As the believers are growing the discipleship that is taking place is far and away the most important job we have. As they grow and stretch they are applying more and more of what they learn to every aspect of their lives.

While we were gone a witchdoctor from another village came to Yembiyembi and offered to cleanse the house of anyone in the tribe for a small fee. With this house cleansing no one who lives in that house will get sick or die, but he threatened that anyone who doesn't ask for his "help" will be sick and die soon. My uncle Zaccheus stood up in the believers meeting while we were out and said this, "Everyone is free to follow their own thinking, but the footprints of this liar will not be around my house. Only God controls sickness and death. How can a man nothing (mere man) tell me he controls these things? This is a clear lie, we are not going down that path".

One of my best friends, my brother-in-law Job, was a little more…pointed when he stood up in the men's house (the meeting house of all YY men) and said this, "This is the fat layer (biggest) of all trick plans (cons). This man says he can keep us from sickness and death, do it and see if it works, but my hands will be clean from this liar. Before I would have doubted and been thrown around like dry grass (easily persuaded), but my thinking is clear now, God alone holds us in his hands. But those of you who don't have clear thinking, who don't know the root of our talk, feel the fear in your bones and do it, but I have no fear of this man's words".

Guys that is about it for now. We are still going through ups and downs, challenges and trials of living in Yembiyembi. God is doing a great thing in this village and the enemy is not going to just give up and go home, so please keep praying. Last Sunday we had 10 new faces in the group and there were 3 from sister villages that are here "tasting" what this talk is about. The believers are teaching in their houses every night and there is talk of the older believers teaching a new class from Adam to Christ that will be for the children and new believers who want the review.

But at the same time there is talk of the two unbelieving village chiefs (there are 5 of them) going out to town and taking myself and the other 3 believing chiefs to court just to get us to stop the teaching. There continues to be the antagonism and out right threats made against some of the believers, but they are not intimidated. Keep praying.

Thanks for your gifts, your letters, your prayers and your support, we wouldn't be here without you behind us.

Brooks for Nina and Beau

Death in Yembiyembi

2009-03-04T07:03:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

This will be a quick note to catch you up on two events that have happened in Yembiyembi that were very big. Unfortunately both of them were deaths in the tribe.

On Tuesday one of my translation helpers came for a final brush up on Romans chapter 7 and some hard talks. Kevin (Gamul) has been a great help to me in the past 2 years with translation but at the time of the teaching he understood but did not agree that he was a sinner and God would judge him someday. Every other week Kevin and I have met and gone over some parts of the Bible translation and then we would have a "strong" talk on where we disagree. The next day (Wednesday) Kevin caught a strong strain of Malaria and by Thursday he was fading fast. On Friday morning he was unconscious and we medivaced him (flew him out on the plane to the town hospital) but only lasted an hour in the hospital and he was gone. Kevin had taken a strong stand against the believers and told many of the first ones that were baptized that God would kill them within a couple months so the turn of events is BIG in the tribe and for the believers and unbelievers.

The second death came on Saturday. Osia was a sickly guy in the tribe and had been battling a combination of Asthma and a heart condition since the time we arrived in Yembiyembi. He had not been coming to the teaching but mostly because his father had threatened to stop feeding him if he did. A week earlier when Osia was fading one of Nina's fathers (Edward) had gone up to the house where he was at and requested permission to give Osia the "talk of life", but the unbelievers in the house would not allow him to come in so he turned back. Then on Saturday as Osia was slipping in and out of consciousness he said these last words "Papa where am I going, where am I going. I think you have fed me bad sago (you have taught me lies), where am I going, where am I going!!!!". 2 minutes later Osia was dead.

Donald (Osia's father) has been strongly against the teaching, but these last words rocked him and he asked for some of the believers to come to his house and talk with him 2 days later.

A final note is that Kevin was a strong leader of the opposition and his death has churned up a lot of outsiders (from 5 other villages) to come "investigate" what killed him. This meant that the changes that have been happening in Yembiyembi are going to come under the judgment of some of these outside leaders and there will be lots of blame handed out for his death. As Nina and I were boarding the plane to come out of Yembiyembi (for our annual regional conference) one of my fathers Robert came up and said he had just had a discussion with the other believing leaders and said this "White son, this is not a bad thing (outside leaders coming to our village). This will give us an even bigger chance to give them this talk. They will want to know what has happened in our village and why we have changed and this will be a great opening for us. Leave this in our hands, we are ready, we have our spears ready (the bible verses they want to share) this is a chance and we will not miss".

Nina and I are out at our headquarters now and we are encouraged. These are the ups and downs, the opportunities and heart breaks of tribal church planting, but through it all we have to make the most of these chances. Thanks for praying for the Yembiyembi believers, this could be a huge moment for the tribe, people group and the entire area.

Appreciate you all,

Brooks

P.S. the pictures are of Kevin and Osia. Kevin is on the left in his picture and Osia is also on the left.

New teaching house and the start of Romans

2009-02-16T19:56:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

It is Sunday today and apart from a surprise flight in from our pilot (the tribe upriver from us had a medivac and we were in the flight path so we got some supplies) things are pretty quite around Yembiyembi. Beau is going through a bout of Malaria with a fever of 103 right now, so be praying for him, and Nina and I are both spent from a long week of work, but overall we are all doing well.

The big news is the completion of the teaching house and starting into the book of Romans. We had communion last night in the teaching house (always a drama with the strong opposition we have) and taught on the first 7 verses of the book of Romans and introduced some of the bigger issues we will be talking about in the upcoming weeks. The believers are especially fired up to learn about topics like, Paul showing clearly that the Law doesn't take us to God's side, belief in the bridge-man and how He alone can save, what a believer has to look forward to on this ground and the ground (heaven) to come.

Last night at the men's meeting I walked in from gathering firewood with one of my brothers and heard "when we skin change like the snake it will be so nice". I was curious as to what they were talking about when one of my brother-in-laws (Bakago, or Brian) told me they were talking about receiving new bodies when they get to heaven some day. He said "Brother-in-law, we are talking about how it will be at Jesus's ground, when we die our meat/bones (body) from this ground we will shed like a snake, and we will get new ones, ones that don't feel burn, don't feel stings, don't split when knives are put to them, we will be new, we will be joined back to God like that branch brought back in, just like we were supposed to be".

Some of them started getting excited and one of the young boys said, "When I get to heaven I will eat the best food there is, rice, tinned fish and cow fat pieces, and….I will have the cold water chunks (ice) all day long, but only if I have good teeth then." Most of the guys nearly fell off the benches laughing.

Things are going well as far as the teaching goes, we still have the constant tension with the people who never crossed to God's side (or unbelievers) and it makes for some interesting village dynamics these days. Most of the believers were solid going into the book of Acts, but after watching the Apostle Paul and what he put up with and was willing to sacrifice for the gospel they are doubly so now.

The unbelievers made another push about 2 weeks ago to stop the teaching, baptisms, and any new people from joining and demanded that myself and the leaders of the "crossers" come down and answer some questions. We went through the usual gamut of threats and what not, and at the end my father Lucas stood up and said this, "We all know that we are two villages now, some of us have heard, understood, and believed to be true the talk of the bridge-man and some of us haven't. Some of you think that when my white son leaves we will not be able to follow the trail and will fall back to the old ways. But I tell you with my own mouth right now, I will never go back, none from my family will ever go back. Why? Because we have tasted the sweet of true talk, and our eyes are opened to the difference between mans talk and God's. I will follow the path of Paul and no matter what happens to me on this ground, I will never go back. No spear, no stone (verbal insult), no talk from the head of man will change me, that is how I stand!"

If I could impress on you one thing from this e-mail it is this, keep praying for your people. We are still in a war out here and your prayers really are the difference maker in the outcome.

Thanks guys for your letters, e-mails, packages and support of us over here, we are ever grateful for the team we have behind us.

Thanks so much,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

P.S. the pictures of the Yembiyembi's continue to be at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/ and there is a blog of all our update e-mails, a recent video of the teaching at http://bringingthesecrettalk.blogspot.com/

P.S.S. when we get to our base we will try and send some recent pictures of the new teaching house.

Christmas, outreaches, and a new building

2009-01-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well it is a Monday here and we are doing the usual routine. Nina is in the middle of educating Beau (2^nd Grade is testing both of their character), doing the laundry from our time at the river yesterday and getting ready for her ladies meeting on Wed. I am in the office with Romans translation work, lesson writing and going over a new teaching schedule with some of the "crossers".

Things have settled down really nicely in the village and there are some neat breakthroughs with some of unbelievers in the village. The believers have done a good job showing kindness (a very un-Yembiyembi quality) and a little grace when dealing with some of these guys. Right now our believers are living and breathing in the book of Acts and watching Paul in action is infectious. How Paul was willing to sacrifice body, ego (a huge one in our tribe) and the comforts of this ground (another big one) to get the message to those who had never heard is a message that is resonating among them.

5 nights ago I was about to go to bed when I heard some guys sitting around talking outside and went out to investigate. 5 of our believers were outside making a fire and were all excited about something. My brother-in-law Job invited me over and explained that 2 of the believers had been to our sister village (Changriman) to buy Kerosene for their lamps and had been asked by the village chief about the "God talk". The 2 believers went to the Chiefs house that night and the whole village sat inside or outside on the ground and listened till 3:00 in the morning as they started in Genesis 1:1 and talked through till the fall of Man. One of 2 believers said this later, "They were like baby birds just eating everything we were giving them, it was amazing to watch God squeeze their livers like that (desire something greatly)". The two believers had to leave early in the next morning (a 6 hour hike) but promised that next time they came they would bring their notes (the lessons they have gone through) and "fill up everyone's thinking good".

These next few weeks are going to be busy for us as we hang out with some visitors (Thanks so much Rob and Becky for coming, we can't wait to see you), tear down our old meeting house and re-locate it to a new site, have a translation check for the first few chapters of Romans, and finish teaching the last few lessons of the book of Acts. We are really excited about finishing teaching in Acts and starting into Romans. So many of the Yembis are asking questions about the "Christian life" and are wanting/asking us to start teaching them about faithfulness, living with the Holy Spirit and what to do with that law (10 commandments) now that they know they don't help them get to God. We are also starting to gear up for an outreach to one of our sister villages and in the next month or so will be doing another baptism. Like we said, we will be busy, but it is so encouraging to be seeing first hand how the believers are growing daily by their time in the Word and from the persecution they are facing. Keep praying for them, especially for Jenny (Paul's wife), Helen, Ipona, Kerobim and Otto. These are the one's who have been causing the most friction in the village lately. We know though that God answers prayers, and we are hopeful that their hearts will be softened and their eyes opened to the truth of God's Word.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Nina and I have been so encouraged these last few weeks by all of the e-mails and notes we have received from you.

Appreciate you all,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

P.S. the pictures are of the baptism, clearing the site for the new teaching house, one of my fathers reading the Christmas story on Christmas night, and Beau with his friends.

More pics

2008-12-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

Pictures

2008-12-14T14:14:00.001-08:00

These are some of the pictures from the party that night after the baptism.

Weathering a storm

2008-12-12T07:59:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well Nina and I are currently out at our regional base and recouping from a wild last couple weeks. Following the baptisms in the village we had an incident that required us to get Nina and Beau out of Yembiyembi and call in the police.

I won't go into too many details but the crux of it came down to the teaching and some of the changes (in the believers and their families) that are taking place in Yembiyembi. The leaders of the other side are starting to see where the teaching is leading and what the eventual outcome is probably going to be (as evidenced by the baptisms and some of the testimonies during it) and they are starting to get desperate. Because of that there were some plans formed by a small group of men to try and provoke the believers into an all out fight and then go after us (Nina, Beau and myself) with the goal of getting us out of Yembiyembi.

In the end the police did a good job (it helped that some of them spoke our tribal language) and the men who put the plan into action were charged, forced to pay a massive fine and threatened within an inch of their lives. Keep in mind that the bulk of the village is standing with us and many would do anything to keep us from leaving. Also keep in mind that these guys are baby baby believers and their knee jerk reaction in the past to these type of situations is to fight back with everything in them and some of them slipped back into that and the violence that erupted from that was too much to keep Nina and Beau in the bush.

But the most encouraging part of this whole incident was how the believers stood up and defended the gospel, the teaching, the baptisms and reminded the unbelievers in the tribe that with or without us there they would never leave what they have come to believe in. Pita, Lawrence and Michael in particular stood up and together gave the gospel to the village and reminded them of how they used to live and how they could not imagine living in the "dark" again, not knowing what this life, and the life beyond was about.

This e-mail is purposely vague because we don't want to go into too many details yet, just know that we are doing well and things are cooling down in Yembiyembi. But please keep praying for the Yembiyembi believers and the unbelievers that are still in darkness, we are in truly in a war for the future of that tribe. We have had some good meetings with our regional leadership and have a good plan in place, but do be praying for us as a family. In 7 days we will be heading back in and the "war" within the village, we are also prepping for the teaching of the book of Romans, moving the teaching building, the believers doing a re-teaching from Adam to Christ for new believers and ones that didn't get it the first time, and our second baptism.

Again I leave you with 2 quotes.

My oldest father Lucas said this after the 2 men leading the other side had demanded that the teaching, baptisms, and catching new crossers (what our tribe says when some teaches someone else the gospel and they understand).

"How can we stop any of those…those are the posts (the main points) of Jesus talk, those are the posts that He taught. If we take those posts out of the house the house will fall. NO, we will not, we have to listen to God, not to men, just like the first crosser/followers Peter and Jon did."

Micheal, said this when the police questioned him about why he left the other "church" (Micheal was the #2 man there before he was saved).

"The eyes of my thinking were opened, just like the fish scales dropped from Paul's eyes (when Paul received back his sight after the Damascus road, a lesson we taught 3 weeks ago) the fish scales dropped off the eyes of my mind. I saw my massive book (sin debt) and realized that I could not remove it, only one man could, only Jesus. How could I give my back to that, it is the true true talk of God, it is the only way to go to his side. So I give my backside to any other talk, it is only lies, I will only stand on God's talk, I will not go back to lies, my eyes are open now. "

Guys my uncle Zaccheus took me aside after the police had left and the village was in turmoil and reminded me that the strongest weapon of this fight is going "talking to our papa" (prayer).

So please don't let up in your prayers for the village of Yembiyembi, the entire Bises language group (the believers are beginning to talk about when this talk is heading to our first sister village Paliagwi/Mensuat in 2009), and the safety of our family in the middle of this all. God is building his kingdom in Yembiyembi in an incredible way, and these trials and challenges are the fuel that are producing incredible men and women of God.

Love you all,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

The Literacy Project: Video Update

2008-08-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

Death Adders and the book of Acts

2008-07-27T18:50:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Hope this e-mail finds you well wherever you are at. Life in
Yembiyembi continues to roll along, but with significant changes
happening in the villages. The teaching program has continued on with
a "crossers meeting" (the believers call themselves "the crossers"
because they have crossed from Satan's side to God's) every week as
well as a Sat night men's meeting, and Wed afternoon woman's meeting.

Some things that have been happening recently that have never happened
before are: singing in the believers meeting, testimonies by new
believers, public prayer by men and women, and a wholesale changes by
some of the believers to drop old customs and beliefs.

One of the neatest things though was the opportunity to take two of
our new believers on a survey trip to a different tribe that is being
looked at for allocation of new missionaries. The new tribe called
"Biem" has a similar background to Yembiyembi (Animistic/Catholic
Syncretism) and the opportunity for our 2 guys (Peter and Job) to
share (in the trade language) what they had come out of and in a
limited way share that there was is much more these guys needed to
hear, was awesome. Most nights they were up past 2 in the morning (a
everyday occurrence here, but still very painful for me) talking and
explaining to the Biem people what would happen if the missionaries
were to come, and asking questions about their belief system. It was a
really neat opportunity and a great growing time for Job and Peter as
they were able to think back on the massive changes that have come
into their lives over the last 4 years and more specifically the last
7 months.

Sometimes I am leery of writing out these quotes only because the
back-story on the individual that gave it is not able to be given. The
people that said these things are growing and changing right in front
of us in ways that we could not have imagined last year, but this
growth comes with sacrifices. Remember that roughly 50% of the
Yembiyembi village is still not saved, and around 10% of it is
adamantly opposed to what is happening in the tribe

The first night when Peter and Job arrived back from their trip to
Biem their canoe strings were cut sending their canoes way down river,
many of the believers have unbelieving spouses or a parent that are
putting massive pressure on them to stop coming to the meetings and
return to "normal" Yembi life. In the last 6 months some of the new
believers have had babies and the pressure to perform customs or
rituals on these newborn children has been….immense. Pray for guys
like Silas, Roger, Paul, Dennis, Andrew, Job, Gloria, Prisca and
Regina, that in the face of these challenges they would stay strong.
Trials challenges and opposition are not a bad thing, they actually
have an incredibly purifying effect on the body of believers
(half-hearted people usually jump ship fast), but we need to continue
to hold them up in prayer through these so they would come out
stronger on the other side.

After hearing that we will have to fly in a plane and boat across 5
hours of open ocean to get to Biem island for the survey some of the
women in the tribe started to wail for Job and Peter thinking they
might die. Job had never been in a plane or on the open ocean but
stood up in his house that night and said this: "Don't cry for me, I
don't feel any fear in my bones about this trip. I sit in one man's
hand and if He closes His fingers then I know it is my time, but He
holds/controls the waves of the sea and of the air (wind) so I don't
feel any fear".

One of the Biem Islanders asked Peter in a meeting if he had left his
beliefs that he was brought up with. Peter said this "I have. I
realized that I had been eating talk that was mixed with maggots, some
of it was good, but some of it was making me very sick. I was not
ready for the time of death, I was on a path that men had created that
was full of lies. Now I don't swallow (believe quickly) talk from
anyone, black man, white man, priest, village elder, none of them. I
hear their talk, I scale it (evaluate it) and if it is true talk I
down it (believe it), if not I throw it away, I only believe what is
true".

In the ladies meeting last week my mother Gloria stood up to talk to
God (pray) in public: "God break our heads in this meeting (open our
minds to understand) so that we see with clear eyes your talk, we
don't want our thinking to be cloudy. Keep your eyes on our 3 who are
on the big salt-water lake (the island survey to Biem), bring them
back here to us, that is the end of my talk".

My brother in-law Dennis whose wife (Vila) was sick said this: "Many
are asking me to make the offering of the spirits (killing then
burning a chicken in the house to satisfy whatever spirit is causing
the sickness), but I will not go down the path of man's talk
(untruth). I know who can make her better and I will only ask Him".
Then he asked if Tony would pray with him right there for Vila. She
has slowly been coming back to health this last week.

Next week we cross into another first for the believers here as we
step into the book of Acts. We are still working like crazy to finish
the necessary scriptures portions of Acts, and laying the foundations
for Romans (to be taught soon after Acts), so pray that the Lord gives
us good health and allows us to stay ahead of the teaching with
translated materials. Already in the translation of Acts we have seen
the believers that are working with us really respond to that book, we
are hoping the same holds true for the rest of the believers.

Last night in our men's meeting we were talking about a man from a
neighboring village who had been bitten and killed by a poisonous
snake when a 4 and half foot Death Adder came slithering right between
the legs of my brother-in law into the middle of our meeting and swung
around back to where me and my fathers were sitting. Nina and Beau
were asleep but heard the yelling and hooting as the men scattered and
climbed up poles to get away. We finally pinned it down with a shovel
as it went in and out of the stools and leaves that everyone was
sitting on. No amount of coffee can wake you up like having a
poisonous snake slither right under your chair. We had a good laugh
after it was over, though I was checking my boxers to make sure I
could continue.

Beau continues to grow like crazy, he is starting 2nd grade in 2 weeks
and is preparing himself mentally for the coming battles with his
mother. She in turn is listing her bribes, methods of inflicting pain
and other "motivators" to get him through.

Thanks guys, we love and appreciate you all, thanks for your continued
encouragement support and steadfastness in keeping us out here. We are
members of a greater team and we are thankful that you are part of
that team.

Your friends,

Brooks, Nina and Beau

P.S. The immensely spiritual job of taping any college or pro football
games (USC, Michigan, or the Chargers makes you extra spiritual) and
sending them to this address is there for the taking J.

Brooks Buser

P.O. Box 625

Wewak E.S.P.

Papua New Guinea

Beau improving and Yembiyembi update

2008-06-28T21:27:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well 4 days ago Beau's low grade fevers were still lingering around so we caught a flight up to Goroka, our mission headquarters in Papua New Guinea, to get some blood tests done and to see the Dr. Beau has been improving on a daily basis but still had the occasional flare up with slight fevers so we thought it would be best while we are out of the tribe to try and get as many answers as possible before we head back in. The doctor said it could be a virus of some sort, Dengue Fever or a couple things complicated with Malaria. Either way he is on the mend and we are really grateful for it. Most of the blood work is being sent to Australia and we won't get the results for another week or so, but we are feeling much better as he continues improving. Thanks so much for praying for and for your encouraging e-mails.

Nina and I are enjoying our time out at our mission bases and relaxing a bit now that things have turned with Beau. The last 9 months in Yembiyembi have been incredible and it has been our privilege to be a part of the things that the Lord has done there. The new believers and their growth has been one of the neatest things to see. Many are coming to grips with what it means to be a child of God and are now re-evaluating everything that they believed to see if it is true or "mans talk". Our first Yembiyembi public testimony from one of the big men in the Toucan Clan (Andrew) was incredible to hear and take in, this is a small piece from the middle of it: "For years I did not understand clearly God and the debt that I carried with him. I have been eating sago with rot in it (believing something that had an element of truth but was overall wrong), I was one who talked well but was carrying sick around. Well now I know, and no one can take push me back to ignorance again, NO, I am done with mans talk, on God's talk alone will I stand."

Another neat thing to watch has been the way God has sent the message from Yembiyembi out to other villages in the area. My lesson helper and brother-in-law, Job, took all his lesson summaries (for every day of teaching there was a one page summary for anyone who attended) and brought them over to his dad and brothers in anther village, a day and half hike away, called Chambri. His brother has been reading them to the rest of the family at night and working their way through them, storing up questions for Job when he came. The week before we came out here to Wewak Job went to Chambri to check on his dad (he is the publically acknowledged witch doctor for that area) . His dad was standing on the banks of the lake yelling "Youngest son, youngest son, I am waiting for you to come explain this talk to me, don't waste time I am not long for this ground, come explain what all this means". So Job sat through the night and taught the entire house from Adam through the fall of mankind. Job had to get back to Yembiyembi the next day but he will continue to go back and forth to review the lessons with his family. Remember that Job is barely a 2 month old believer himself, but when he got back he told me; "If God has spoke/chosen for my family not to be ignorant of this talk, then the only way they will hear is from my mouth, in my hands they sit (he is responsible for giving them the message of life)". It was awesome to hear the Chambri's starting to hear the Word, but even more exciting to see Job realizing that God was wanting to use him.

These past months there have also been some big time challenges that have come forward from ones in the tribe that do not agree with what is happening, and have been very harsh on the new believers. Continue to pray for these five especially: Donald, Kerobim Manu, Sophia, Otto, and Jeffery. All five of them have family members that are now saved (Sophia's husband is Andrew , the one who gave the first testimony), but their "eyes" are still very much blind, don't let up on them, keep praying.

We sure appreciate all of you guys and the encouraging e-mails we have gotten from everyone as we went through this thing with Beau, you guys are great.

Guys that should do it. I feel like a broken record asking and thanking you for prayers on our behalf, but if we didn't believe that it made a massive difference we wouldn't' be out here. So thanks for praying for us, and continuing to up hold the Yembis and this entire ministry in prayer.

Thanks so much,

Brooks Nina and Beau

P.S. Anyone who mourned/is in mourning for the Lakers meltdown at the finals I feel your pain. Next year…..next year.

Beau being sick

2008-06-28T21:25:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well the last few weeks have been challenging in ways we did not expect. About a month ago Beau started coming down with these around the clock fevers that would spike and drop all day. 4 different medications and 4 weeks later we still are not sure what it is or how to bring it under control. So 4 days ago Nina and Beau flew out of the tribe and yesterday I made it out to join them here at our regional mission base on the coast.

The first indicators pointed to Chloroquine resistant malaria, then to Dengue Fever, and now there are more things pointing to something called Scrub Typhus. If in 72 hours he does not shake the fevers on his current medicine we will be flying to our national base in Goroka to see a doctor, get some blood tests done and hopefully find some answers. Appreciate very much your prayers for Beau during this time.

In another week or so we will write about the progress in Yembiyembi and the growth of the new church and the believers. Some very neat things going on not only in Yembiyembi but in surrounding villages that are starting to hear from the "Crossers" (this is what the believers call themselves "The bridge crossers").

Thanks so much guys,

Brooks

P.S. Because we are out at our base (Internet and fast e-mail connections) I will try and attach a couple pictures to these updates. Nina went on a trip to a waterfall with her mother, and Beau with a tree kangaroo.

P.S.S. This is what Acts 1:7-8 sounds like in Bises: Then Jisas he told them like this "Nope, you ones don't know the period of time when those things will happen, only God Father does, so don't give thoughts to that. But I tell you in a small chunk of time God Spirit will be coming, then He will be living in you, then with strength you will be my mouths to spread my talk to the village of Jerusalem, to the ground of Judia, to the ground of Samaria and to all of the ground, to the edges, to all those places will you spread my talk".

Last 2 days of teaching

2008-04-25T13:58:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Last night we taught the lesson of Jesus celebrating the Passover with his disciples, tonight is Jesus arrest, and tomorrow is His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. The teaching is drawing nearly the entire village at this point, some for just the excitement that is there, and some to see what this is all about, but most to understand how the bridge-man (Jesus) was able to make a way back to God's side from Satan's.

Last night after we taught the lesson I sat with a group of men as they talked and discussed what has come, and what is coming in these last couple days:

My father Lawrence said this: "This is the first time we have heard the meaning of this talk, our thinking is coming clear on why Jesus came, and how he was the bridge-man (bridge between Satan's side and God's)."

Peter, my brother-in law, had this: "At night my wife (Merryrose) and sons sit and read this talk over and over. This is not a now talk, this promise talk started with Adam and it is coming true, God did not forget his promise, he followed it (fulfilled it) with the bridge-man, he would not leave us with our steal-father (Satan), our true father didn't forget us".

Rodney, my cassowary clan brother, who helped me with the last lesson 3 days ago and we believe is now saved said this: "This talk is very sweet, I tell you the truth, the last day of this talk is so sweet it will make your teeth tickle (it is really sweet)".

And my in-law Job, who also helped with that lesson and knows he is saved said this "The God of this river (pointing to the river by the teaching house), of these stars, he knows me, he did not forget me. He is my only real father, and when my person (body) goes back to the dirt, I will not be pushed far from him (separated from God) to the lake of fire, no! I know the road to the other side now, and I know who bought by book (his record of sins), and for that reason I will go with Him.

I am cutting this note a little shorter today because of the tasks still to do these last 48 hours. As I type Tony is firing up the chainsaw and we are cutting up a couple boards to make the cross for tomorrows lesson, Nina is meeting with a group of ladies to re-explain why Judas betrayed Jesus, Tara is down in the village meeting her mother and sisters, Tim is working on the translating a portion of Luke we will need, and Courtney is reviewing lessons with her family members (tribal family).

Some prayer requests for the last 2 days are these:

Our health, (my voice) would hold up for tomorrows 2 hour and the day afters 3 hour lesson. Then as we stay up all night (last Sat night we had questions from about 40 guys till 4:30 in the morning) and talk through all the lessons that we would stay strong and keep our energy level high.
That the people on the fence would understand very clearly the gospel message, and why for ones who are searching, this IS sweet talk.
That God would do an incredible work in Yembiyembi over these next days, and see many come from Satan's side to God's.

Not much else guys, the specific times for teaching today will be 5:30 till 7:30 at night, and tomorrow 4:00 till 7:00.

Appreciate you all so much, and the way you have stood with us through all of this,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

Week #9

2008-04-17T19:09:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well we completed our second to last week of teaching and are into our last 48 hour break before going for 8 straight days of teaching, culminating in the death burial and resurrection. This last week was….very exciting. One of the lessons this last week was on Jesus healing the paralytic, and when it was explained to them what was meant by taking his sins away, heads started to nod and smiles were popping up all over the teaching house. Some people didn't stop smiling that whole night (which is very un-Yembiyembi), it was an amazing thing to be a part of, just to watch them react to the "bridge-man" the Savior and how Jesus did have the power to bring them to God's side.

Comments from that night:

Paul - "This talk is really getting sweet, this was sweet, very sweet".

Robert - "This makes me very excited to see him (the paralytic) go across, Jesus just….took him across!"

Andrew - (he was yelling this to everyone in the teaching house)- "Get your sago ready, this talk is getting hot (good), we don't want any words to drop to the ground, make sure your food is ready for next week"

Regina- "Only the ones who saw their sick, only those went across, chest-strikers (the proud) don't get across, I must be clear on my sick (sin), I must not trick myself on the sick I have."

Keep praying for some of the older folks, but know that you are making a difference. Last week we asked you to pray for Helen, Sita, Ilen, Regina and Clara. Regina (Nina's mother) has made a complete about face to her previous belief system. Many of us were shocked last week (not just the white-skins, but the Yembi's as well) when she came out and said she was "done with the old ways of thinking", she knew what was "true and only on His talk was she going to stand (believe in)". Clara, Ilen and Helen have been faithfully coming and listening and should be here tomorrow morning for the Thursday ladies get together (the three ladies on the team meet with any women who want to come up and go over questions from the teaching, last week we had over 50 ladies talking about God's Word). Continue to pray for Sita though, and add a lady named Sophia to your list. Both are still coming but seem to be getting harder in their thinking and more contentious as we explain what a Pharisee looks like, and what true repentance is.

As we see others fading, we are watching others come on strong. Salvius a guy who has been a fairly constant pain in our neck since we got here has stepped up recently and been very faithful to attend, and is not shy about telling others that he is following the talk, and he will be one of the first to cross over to God's side when he understands. After last Saturday night's meeting he went down after the meeting and woke up his mother and wife (Sita and Edita) and had a strong talk about repentance and the bridge-man finally being there.

Last week Salvius and I went pig hunting (we got no pigs, got rained on through the night, but had great talks) and said this "I feel like the clouds of my thinking are blowing away and I am understanding clearly for the first time how God sees me, how big of a book (record of sins) I have and big my debt with God is". Others that recently we have seen really coming, seeking, and understanding are Bernadette, Sabina, Prisca, Kevin, Leopa, Marianna, Eric, Julie, Godfried, Matthew, Herman and some others. If you want to put faces to names, their pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/. And if your new to the website, pick out some of those people and pray for them, this next week will be, for some, the biggest week of their lives.

As we head into the last week please continue to pray for your people, this is the last 100 meters of a long race that started in January. The week starts on Sat and goes till next Sat (19-26^th) and will probably not be without challenges. Please pray that things go well, that the kids are able to stay quiet, that the dogs and pigs stay away, that the people would be listening and tracking, that God would move in an incredible way and the beginning of the harvest in Yembiyembi would be great.

Especially pray for these 3 guys, Kerobim (Manu), Otto, and Jeffery. All three are older men raised in the worldview system of the tribe, and have not been able to shake it. Kerobim has missed only a couple lessons and is ready for next week, but remains quietly against the teaching. Pray that something gets through to these guys, that one of their kids, sisters, brothers, fathers is able to make an impact on them, and bring them around.

Not much else guys. When we started the teaching I felt like we were launched into space, and next week I feel like we are going to be landing on the moon. None of us are really sure what to expect, but we do know that God is going ahead of us, and that is on account of you and your prayers. Please continue to be faithful this week, it is a big one.

Thanks guys, appreciate you all very much,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

Week #7

2008-04-03T18:01:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well we finished the week of teaching with the final thought being "Next week we will start the talk of the bridge-man (the one who will be the bridge for the sons of Satan to come to God's side)" and people are getting excited. Many already know that this talk will culminate in this guy called Jesus, and that he did something big and our books (record of our sins) and our Adam part (Sin nature passed down to us from Adam) will get taken away allowing us to move to God's side. They are not sure how it all works though, and why this man is different, but they want to know and badly.

2 days ago my brother Roger said this "I know that my Adam part makes me dirty, because of that I am not sure there is anything my hands can work or my mind can think that can bring me to the other side. He (the bridge-man) must do something and that alone will carry me across".

Thank you for praying for the river and the flood situation that we were facing. Incredibly as we were getting 1", 2" and even one night 3.5" of rain we did not go under. The river is holding steady and we have been able to stay in the teaching house and continue in the momentum that we have there. Continue to pray for individual people and for the tribe as a whole. The talk of the village (especially from 6:00pm till 2:00 in the morning) is about the teaching and the new ideas brought by this teaching. Some are visibly excited as they hear these new things from God's book, and some are scared of the implications this will have on their life. One of my fathers, Lawrence, was talking last night and said "I know that a chicken and it's feathers cannot make my daughter better, I know that the smoke does not remove our dead ancestor spirits, they are all far far away probably in the fire lake. But these ideas came from our great-great grandfathers, and to give my backside to all of them is very hard to do." No doubt these things will take time for them to grow in, but praise God they are seeing a stark difference between what God says and what they have believed, and recognizing one as true others as false.

Last Saturday night's meeting was again a big highlight of my week (9:00pm till 3:00 in the morning). Many in that group are now understanding points of truth that are way passed where the rest of the tribe is at, and applying it to their lives. One of Nina's brothers, Silas, who is our right hand man that drives the boat and motor, cuts the grass on the airstrip with the tractor, and has been faithful with many other things. Silas (whose wife at the beginning was not attending the teaching very well, but recently has been coming faithfully) talked about this "We are in your hands (us 3 missionaries), but my children and wife are in my hands, if they die and go to the fire lake I will be the one who God will ask the hard question to, I must work hard so they too can be clear in the thinking on God".

The highlight by far though of this week was putting together the lesson of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus with my language helper Job. As we read John 1:29 where John says (Bises translation) "Look you ones, this One coming is the sheep sent by God, He will remove the sin debt of all the men and women living on this ground" and Job put it all together. He didn't start crying or jumping up and down he just said "I see it, I see it is just like that" (which means he understands). Then he took me back from the beginning with Adam and Eve and our sin in them, then he walked me through Abraham and Isaac and the sheep taking Isaac's place, then through the Passover and the sheep without blemish was the only thing that could take the place of the Israelite first born, and that if Jesus was the sheep for all mankind then he (Job) counted and He was his sheep, his substitute. It was a….once in a lifetime experience.

Guys there are a lot of men and women who are close or right where Job is now at, and in a little over 3 weeks they will be hearing the last lesson we have to teach. Keep praying, keep holding your people up in prayer, that they would be faithful in their attendance, that they would be tracking with the lesson, that they would recognize their immense need for a Savior, and when He comes on the scene they would fall in love with Him.

We are in good health just run down a bit. Pray that the next 48 hours we could get some much needed rest and gear up for the next week of teaching.

There are only 3 and half weeks to go till we teach the final lesson, if we stay on schedule (big if) the final lesson will fall on the 28^th of April (27^th in the U.S). Keep pressing on and petitioning God for His grace and mercy to these people, your prayers are really make a difference.

Thanks guys, appreciate you all so much,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

P.S.

The pictures of all the Yembi's are still at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/ and there is a blog of all these e-mail and other links at http://bringingthesecrettalk.blogspot.com/

And if somebody could send me an e-mail and tell me:

Who was in the final four,
Who won
Where the Padres are in the standings
Who is going to be the next President of the U.S. (in that order of priority)

Week #6

2008-03-27T18:08:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Week 6 for us in Yembi Yembi has been getting back into teaching and gearing up for the final month which will end with Jesus death, burial and resurrection.

Last night we taught on the first four laws that God gave to Moses and the Israelites. As normal we had 70-100 for the start, but about 10 minutes into the lesson the bulk (another half) of the village showed up. The neat part was that as we taught the number of people that came did not translate into a louder crowd (which is normally how it works).

As always there are ones that are tracking….incredibly well, and ones that are not.

Pray for Donald, Kerobim (Manu), Alan, Ana (Lulu), Apronia, Elmina, Gotfrit, Jackson and Janurarias (Sandemel). These ones are having a hard time tracking, not showing up, or out right opposed to what is happening.

Vila, Sylvia, Sita, Sophia, Scola, Roy, Nik, Mikelma, Max, Martin, Kevin, Joel and Iginais are there (most of the time) and are tracking, but we are not sure to what degree. These guys really need your prayers.

Then there is Roger, Edward, Anastasia, Job, Silas, Paul, Dennis, Lawrence, Kelly, Kerobim (Kafisa), Nikola, Alexia, Edita, Ilen, Stanley and Mariana, that are doing really well, tracking, understanding, and believing that this talk is true.

Last week one of my fathers (Robert) said to me " Oldest son, I was reading the story of Pharo and how he saw with his eyes the strong of Yawe but his heart was strong like Cains. I put my thoughts (thought to) to Yawe that my heart would not be strong like that, that I would be able to see, understand, and scale to be true (believe) his talk".

With the death of Leo and Tino still in their minds, Job my brother-in-law, said this to everyone in his house as they tried to persuade him to help them kill and burn the feathers of a chicken to ward off death from the black power men, "Death is with us all the time, but no man on this ground holds me in his hand, only God will say when my time is done, when his fingers close then I will go, but not before."

Last night after teaching the first 4 commandments and why the commandments were given, my brother Rodney said this, "Who is able, who that walks this ground is able to keep all of these (10 Commandments) all the time, not us ones of dark skin, not you light skin ones, this cannot be the way, there must be another way".

It was the highlight of my week to do the preparation for the lesson on Jesus birth and to look back on how faithful God has been to us these last 3 months, and trust in that faithfulness as we get to the most important part of the teaching. We have about a month to go, and as of now are slated to finish the teaching the last week of April. Please don't let up on the prayers and petitions for these people, they are getting it, the light is encroaching on all they believe and hold to, and it is making a difference.

Right now the river is high and we are looking at the village going under in the next few days or so, if the rains don't stop and the river keeps rising. If the river floods and the village goes under (the houses are on high poles, but the teaching house is a dirt floor with benches) then the teaching house will go under and we will have to move to higher ground. Pray that we could stay where we are, keep the routine, and keep the momentum going for the teaching.

Our team is in good health, (minus lingering effects of Malaria in a few of us) and good spirits for this final month, pray that we could keep up with the work load, with the 100's of people that could use some discipleship and catch-up time, and keep our eyes on God through this whole thing.

Thanks guys, keep it up we sure appreciate you all,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

The pictures of all the Yembi's are still at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/ and there is a blog of all these e-mail and other links at http://bringingthesecrettalk.blogspot.com/

Video Update

2008-03-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

A brief video of the first teaching of the Gospel to the Yembi Yembis.

Week #5

2008-03-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well, we finished week five plus one day of teaching and we are now looking at a 2 week break and then back to finish the teaching which will culminate with the death, burial, and resurrection. The last lesson we finished with was the lesson of how God saved the Israelites through crossing the Red Sea.

Because the anticipation of Leo coming (his body) there has been a lot of outsiders in the village and most of them come to the teaching. This has had upsides and downsides, with adding about 70 more people to the teaching, but ones that do not have the foundation of the earlier lessons, it has been a mixed bag. One neat upside is that the outsiders have been asking the regular Yembi's (ones who do have the foundation from Creation till now) about the teaching and it is not unusual to walk down to the teaching house and see a man walking a small group of kids or adults through the pictures (we have pictures for nearly every lesson to help jog their memory).

Thanks to all of you that were praying for the village, and especially the ones that are scared that it wouldn't effect their attendance (with the two deaths of big men many are trying to blame the new teaching). The first day back we were missing quite a few older ones, but steadily we have gotten nearly every one of them back. There are still ones that are very suspicious and the years of animistic influence are too much for them to overcome at this time. Especially continue to pray for Kerobim and Donald, they are at the very center of creating much of this fear, and are not happy with many of the younger guys that do not agree with them and are "breaking customs" by not believing in the dead spirits.

Probably the most exciting time of my week is on Saturday night from 9:00 till 4:00 in the morning. Since the teaching started we have been meeting on Saturday nights with any men who want to come and "talk to understand" the teaching. This time has been great to clearly gauge where some of the stronger ones are at in the teaching, and to understand where we need to make adjustments, re-teach, and clarify. Like I said it starts at 9:00pm but usually does not end till 2 or 4am and each week has been steadily growing in attendance. The neatest thing is that the format is purely Q&A, so all night long they sit and ask any and every question they can think of about the lessons but most especially about the "bridge man". Because we have not taught on Jesus yet there are many times we have to say "Guys that talk is coming, I promise it is coming", but there are many questions we can answer and strengthen their growing knowledge in the process.

Here are some clips from last nights meeting…

Freddy (He married one of my tribal sisters, but is from another language group, he has been coming to the teaching since the beginning) said: "In-law, I watch this God and how he kills the ones of Egypt who do not listen to his talk, but he saves all the ones of Israel who listen to His talk and action it with sheep blood on the sides and top of the door. Like that it must be with me, I must hear this talk, and I must know what to do with it, just hearing will not help me"

Roger my brother said this: "I too see this God and how he deals with men who hear and throw away (sin) his talk, like Cain, and Lot's wife, and the ones of Egypt. And I remember that this is the one who sees me work in the garden, this is the one who sees my thinking in the clear all day long, this is a very scary thought to me"

Peter, another one of my brother-in-laws said this: " I lay in bed at night and think of my book (the record of sins that God keeps for each man), how big it must be that I could probably not carry it. If that book is talking against me when I die then there is no hope for me, it is too big to hide or talk trick (deceive) about".

I answered Peter and he came back with this: "For this bridge-man talk my ears will be sharp (listen well), He will give me the road to come back to God's side and to take that massive book away"

Guys these 4 comments don't do justice to hours and hours of talking about things like, when life begins, where skin colors come from, how does God talk to us today, what happens at death, and most especially what happens after death. All of these get discussed, but all are answered from God's word.

One other note is that we (Nina, Tara, and Courtney) started something similar with the ladies last Thursday morning and the turnout was…..incredible. Be praying for this meeting, it has the chance to impact the Yembiyembi ladies like few other things can.

As we go into the break let me give you three things to pray for in addition to your individual people that you already have.

Pray that the stories that have been taught would continue to be talked about through this break. Repetition is key for these guys, many do not get the meaning of the stories till it is told to them 2 or 3 times, and some have to hear 5-10 times, critical thinking has to be pounded into them. Be praying that they continue to talk and repeat the stories so they can work there way home to ones who have not fully understood them yet.

As they bury Leo in the next few days, that the outcome from that bolster the teaching, not scare people away from it.

That we would not lose any more people to death during the teaching. Few things can scare people like death, but to the animist it is the ultimate reality and there is no way (unlike in the West) to dress it up, hide it, or talk around it, it is simply too brutal and too real. Please pray that God would hold back the death for some of these older ones that are on the edge of understanding, and for the sakes of many in the village that would be terrified if another man was to die.

Guys that should do it. Keep up the good work, it is no accident that the Yembiyembi's, some of the strongest toughest people on God's earth, are hearing and responding to His word, keep praying, keep asking Him to be working in the heart of the person or persons you are praying for.

Thanks guys,

Brooks Nina and Beau

P.S. we will try and send pictures over the 2 week break, so sorry we have been unable to this point. All our e-mails go out via radio (meaning they have to be very very small).

Resuming the teaching

2008-03-06T19:04:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well much has happened since we last wrote and we wanted to catch you up.

Leo's (Kemua's) death has been a huge blow to the Yembiyembi's and their confidence in this life. Consequently, many are very scared and very worried at this time. Some have openly stated that the teaching has "made clear (explained) the paths of death", and that is why so many are dying now. Some are reverting back to what they grew up with (that Leo's spirit is stalking the village looking to hurt people), and the fear that goes with that, which is not completely unexpected. If you or I were raised to believe something about the afterlife, something that our forefathers for many many generations had believed and passed down, it would not be wiped away in one clean sweep, it would take time, and bravery to stand up and believe in something that goes against years of their ingrained culture.

The neatest thing is watching these brave ones, these 40-50 who have heard, understood, and believe that this is the truth. And if it is the truth then EVERTHING else is a lie, and therefore nothing to fear. It has been amazing to hear stories (from other Yembi's) and watch in the back of rooms as these men and women (remember these guys are not yet saved, they simply have taken what they know, compared it to God's word and believe that the Word is true) stand up for what they have heard in the teaching. It is having an incredible impact on the people around them.

Part of that group, and ones that Nina and I have been able to spend some time with are Robert, Joel, Roger, Job, Silas, Kelly, Stanley, Joanna, Rodney, Paul, Lucas, Prisca, Edward, Peter, Dennis, Vila, Zaccheus, Micheal and Ilen.

Continue to pray for these guys and girls, they are out in front leading the change that is starting to grip Yembiyembi. Many are not sure where this talk will end up, what will be required of them by God, what it will take to understand the bridge-crossing man (the man that will be the one to make a way for the children of Satan to walk across to the other side and become children of God), but they want to know badly.

Some ones to pray for that are really worried, are scared of the teaching and are not doing too well: Donald, Kerobim, Otto, Sevi, Maria (Kalanges), Januarius (Bonambil), and John-Florian. All of their pictures are at this website. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/

This week we will be teaching some very very important lessons, so be in prayer about these and that we would get as many Yembi's as possible out to the teaching. Because of the fear in the tribe, it has scared some (especially the older ones) about coming back, pray that we could get them there, and get them listening well. The 3 key lessons for this week will be: Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac, The Passover, and the Red Sea crossing. These 3 lessons have some huge implications for the Yembi's, and if they grasp the meaning of them they will be so much closer to understanding Christ when he comes on the picture, so be praying for your people.

Leo's body has still not been buried (it is in the morgue at town) and will be coming in any day. We are hoping to get a solid week and a half of teaching in before that happens and the whole village shuts down again. There are 5 other people in the village that the Yembis are calling "one leg in" (meaning one leg is already in the grave, they are very close to dying), and a couple that have gotten much worse recently and could go any day. Be praying for these ones, some have been coming to the teaching, others are physically not able to come, or mentally not able to comprehend what is going on, but loosing any of them would be very tough at this time.

Not much else guys. Remember this is not a battle, it is a drawn out war with victories and losses, the one constant is God, and our prayers and petitions for His strength and power to move in these situations. Keep up the good work we are so very happy to have you standing with us in all of this.

Your friends,

Brooks, Nina and Beau

Leo's wife

2008-02-22T09:08:00.001-08:00

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:

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

2008-02-13T22:02:00.001-08:00

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…

That their lost-ness, and their in "Adam-ness" would be pounded home with each lesson.
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).
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

2008-02-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

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.

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.
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

Week 2

2008-01-31T09:00:00.001-08:00

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/

MNN Article

2008-01-29T20:23:00.000-08:00

Mission Network News wrote an excellent article on the Yembi Yembi mission. You can read about it HERE.

The First Three Days

2008-01-24T17:40:00.000-08:00

Well the first three days of teaching have come and gone and it has been a whirlwind of excitement, hard work, and a testament to God’s moving.

The first day of teaching we had roughly 80% of the village there by mid-point through the lesson. About 40-50 stayed just outside the teaching house watching to see if the spirits were going to start materializing and killing people, or if anything unusual was going to happen. By the end of the first day, when no one had died and no spirits had been seen, most settled in to see what exactly this “talk” was.

On the second day we taught on God’s attributes of eternality, omnipotence, and omnipresence. To close the lesson we ended with our first skit (God always present with a Yembiyembi man as he went about his daily routine) and the teaching house (which has a dirt floor no walls and the YY’s sit on every side) turned nearly dark because of the crush of people pushing to see. It was an eye opening event and showed us what a powerful tool skits can be in the coming days.

Last night we taught on the Trinity, creation of Angels and Lucifer, and God’s creative power and contrasted it with the sorcery/black power/magic that they know of. We had probably 90% of the village there, but even more exciting has been the faithful attendance of 4 out of 5 of the existing “church” leaders, two of which are very keen about the “talk”.

Next week the schedule will be as follows:

Saturday-Days1-3 of Creation

Sunday –Day 4 of Creation

Monday-Day 5 of Creation

Tuesday-Day 6 of Creation, Man and Woman, and what it means to be made in the image of God

Wednesday-Adam being placed in the garden

Of all the days Tuesday is going to be the most ground shaking for the Yembi’s. Most believe that at death their “being” splits into 2 or 3 parts (depending on the person you talk to), part goes to the land of the dead (the spirit world), part goes to heaven with God, part to Rome (Catholic influence) to become a “white skin” or evaporates into thin air. I don’t need to explain the hurdles we will have to cross and how the meeting of the two worldviews is going to be explosive. Pray that God would give us wisdom as to how to teach and gently raise the light level.

After each day’s lesson we hand out written copies of the lessons so that they can review them on their own (our literacy class graduates eat these up), and on Tuesday we handed out the first translated verses of Genesis 1:1-25. There are lots of stories of how God’s Word is impacting, it would take too much time to tell them all, here are a couple.

We have representatives of 6 other language groups (people that don’t speak Bises but other tribal languages) in the teaching as well (Yembiyembi is very tied into the surrounding area through marriage and trade) and one of them is a 20 year old girl named Kordia. She has been attending the teaching but can’t understand large portions of it because she doesn’t speak Bises. So at night she sits by the fire with her uncle, who graduated from the literacy class 2 weeks ago, and he reads the lesson to her and catches her up on all the questions that she couldn’t understand. Kordia was supposed to go back to her village today, but has told her uncle “this talk is sitting well with my bel (mind) I’m not leaving until I have heard all of it.”

One of Tony’s brothers (Dennis from the Toucan Clan) stood up on the first day of teaching and said; “This talk is going to come, I am not going to miss a lesson, and anyone that downs this talk (talks badly of it) or tries to stop others from hearing, will get spun (beat up) by me.”

And finally Kerobim…

The first day of the teaching Kerobim said that “anyone who goes to the teaching would die.” My language helper Job (He and I put together the lessons in Bises) was walking by Kerobim’s house when he heard what Kerobim was saying. Job went into Kerobim’s house and sat down beside him and said, “Father, (Job is his clan son) the talk you are against-ing (fighting) is coming from God. I now know (Job is clear on the fall and what being born “In Adam” means) that your mouth is being used by the great evil spirit, and the path you are on is not fighting New Tribes Mission, or the white man, but you are fighting God. Be careful because the path you are on is one of deception and great pain, don’t be fooled, open your ears”.

Kerobim has been coming to every meeting, he has been quiet and he has been listening. Don’t get me wrong he doesn’t promote what we are doing, but he has not been an antagonist to us thus far. KEEP

PRAYING!!!

Guys that should do it. I am sorry about not updating you sooner, our home computer took a dive the day of the teaching, and we have tried to get this older one up to speed to do e-mails. Thanks for your patience.

Remember if you want a picture of one of the Yembi’s to pray for they are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/ and all these update e-mails as well as other links are on our blog http://bringingthesecrettalk.blogspot.com/

These are the opening shots in a 2-3 month battle that is not going to be won without a fight, so keep praying for your people, and the particular material they are going to be hearing that day.

Thanks guys, we appreciate you all,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

P.S. I hope you mourned on my behalf as the Chargers went down to the Patriots…..those guys were lucky we were at less than 50% health.

P.S.S. Because we lost our laptop computer, if any of you sent me your e-mail address to be added in the last month, resend it so I can add you to the list.

48 Hours

2008-01-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well, we are 48 hours from starting the teaching and so much has happened
since I last wrote that it would take too long to write, and too much of
your energy to read it. Suffice it to say that God is doing some incredible
preparation on hearts here, and the biggest talk in the village is the
"secret talk" that is coming on Monday night (The Yembi's are calling it the
"secret talk" because it has taken so long to get to them).

Our teaching schedule for now is Mon,Tues,Wed,Sat,Sun evening starting at
5:00 and ending around 7:00. Things change very rapidly here, so that
schedule might not survive the first week, but that is the plan for now.

Monday at 2:00 in the afternoon our entire team (Suttons, Shonteres and us)
will be meeting together to pray, then we will be heading down to the
village and at around 4:00 we will hit the meeting drum (it is the culture
to give everyone an hour or so from the time of hitting the drum to the
start of any meeting).

Monday we will start with an introduction to what we are teaching, "Why
this talk is important?" "Where did God's talk originate?" "How did this
talk come to us?" and "Why it is so important to hear the whole talk?"

Tuesday is Genesis 1:1 and starting on God's attributes

Wednesday is the creation of Angels, Lucifer, the earth and the sky.

During the teaching there will be constant tension on their present
worldview, and the God of the Bible. Be praying that He would give us wisdom
as the two come into collision and the Yembis meet for the first time the
One who has no beginning, who can not be bought off, who sees all thoughts
and actions, and who loves them deeply, but cannot allow sinful people to be
with Him in heaven. It is going to be a rough ride for many.

Keep praying for Kerobim Manu. Last week he stood up in the Catholic
"church" and blasted the other "teacher" for NOT joining the literacy class,
and for putting it down. Kerobim graduated with no absences and near the top
of the class last Saturday and although he is not on our side by any
stretch, it was nice to have him backing the literacy program (which we will
have a graduation for the third class in a few more weeks).

Remember we have the website http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/ that
has all the pictures of the Yembi's on it.
Some of the people that we have talked to in recent days (I know some of you
have the pictures of them) that are very excited about the coming teaching
are; Sylvia, Micheal, Sabina, Job, Roger, Robert, Stanley, Sophia, Joanna,
Malkiol, Lukas, Prisca, Alex, Angela, Andrew, Donald, Bosco, Max, Hellen,
Herman, Bill, Nancy, Siril, Regina, Josie, Jacinda and many many others.

In the last few days the rumors have really started to fly about what is
coming in the teaching. Some Yembis believe we will be showing them the
road that the cargo comes from, some that we are going to bring dead loved
ones back to life during the teaching, some think we are dead loved ones
come to save them from whatever death has in store, and some believe we will
be calling the spirits of the jungle out to bring death and destruction to
the tribe.

In all this remember that we (yourself included) are in a spiritual battle.
Yembiyembi is a very strategic place in the Sepik (A province of Papua New
Guinea) and if this tribe understands clearly the gospel of grace it would
have a powerful ripple affect through the entire region. So neither you or I
should be surprised if we hit opposition early and often through the
teaching, the key will be to keep praying through all of the distractions.

Remember to pray for these key issues.

1. Attendance. Partial understanding is very dangerous, if they miss or step
out of the teaching it will keep them on their present path...which is
separation from God... and eternity in hell.

2. The lessons would resonate in them. Only God can bring about change, but
as we teach He can give us the wisdom to knock down, build up, and explain
all the areas that are not clear to them. We really need that wisdom.

3. Health for our entire team through the next 3 months. The list of things
that can go wrong health wise in the tropics is long, Malaria is the most
common, please be praying we would be healthy.

Guys that should do it, I am off to bed. Thanks for your patience, I don't
care for long e-mails, but this is a once in a lifetime event and I had to
let you know what was going on, our other e-mails will be much shorter than
this I promise.

We love you all, we are glad you are on this team, we would not be here
without you, thanks for standing with us.

Your friends,

Brooks, Nina, and Beau

NTM Article on the Yembi Yembi Mission

2008-01-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

NTM reporter David Bell wrote a piece on the progress of the mission to Yembi Yembi. You can read it HERE.

Message from January 6, 2008

2008-01-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Wanted to write you another quick one to let you know how things are shaping up as we close in on January 21st.

There are many encouraging talks, discussions, even teaching on various issues (maps, world history, military power of the modern world) that we have had with the Yembi's in the past 2 weeks. Much of this time is being committed to broaden their worldview, and to show them they are a very small part of a much bigger picture (more than they even can fathom right now).

Some updates on individuals (again all the pictures of the YY's are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/).

Those of you praying for Max, Michael, Sophia, Andrew, Sita, Gloria, Donald and Rueben, be encouraged. These ones in the past days have really stepped up and are excited about what is coming on the 21st (all of them are also outstanding Literacy students, not a coincidence).

Keep praying for Kerobim Manu, he is very scared, nervous and concerned about the coming weeks. Kerobim is the current leader of the “Catholic” church in Yembiyembi, but is an Animist at heart. He is not tremendously respected (because of what he lives vs. what he preaches on Sunday) but he is greatly feared. He is also one of the best speakers (American or Papua New Guinean) I have ever heard. If he were to understand the gospel of grace someday, it would have a profound affect on every speaker of this language. Please put him on your list of people to pray for.

One other issue that we see coming is the issue of getting people to the teaching every day. Nearly everyone (even many from our sister villages) are excited about the coming teaching, and are more curious than anything to hear about the origins of death, pain, the first man, etc… But after that initial hype wears off we are worried that many will end up being sporadic or even drop out all together. As you pray for your people, pray that they would come to the teaching, but also that they would STAY for the ENTIRE time it is going to be taught. It is very un-Yembiyembi like to stay for something past 3 days, and for the teaching they are looking at 5 days a week for 2-3 months (with breaks, but not long ones), it is daunting to them, so be praying.

Finally I want to leave you with 2 very encouraging things that are happening/have happened. One is that we are having our 2nd literacy class graduation in less than 1 week (12th), and these guys can read very well.

2nd is a recent trip I had with one of my tribal fathers (Lawrence) to go night pig hunting. The pig hunt never paid off, but the time talking with Lawrence did. We were talking about death, what happens when we die, and what makes us different from these pigs we were hunting, does any part of us live after death. Lawrence is a sharp guy and came up with this “if the life that comes after is without finish, then this one is very short, and if this one is very short, then money, pigs, bush knives and canoes are not very important, only what straightens my path for death is important”.

Thanks guys for praying, keep it up, it has/is/will be worth it,

Brooks for Nina and Beau

P.S. We finished the first chapter of Acts yesterday, this is what verse 8 sounds like “ Put your thoughts to this, very soon God Spirit will come to enter you. When he comes, then great strength also he will give you, then you will speak carry/spread my good talk to the ground of Jerusalem, the ground of Judea, the ground of Samaria, and to all the ground where people speak languages”.

True Talk

2007-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

Well Nina and I are back in Yembiyembi and getting caught up on all the things that happened when we were up in the highlands, amazing how 70-75 degree weather can feel like 30-40, and how welcome it was to warm up back to 90-105 with 100% humidity.

Since coming back it has been amazing to see the Lord working ahead of us and watching him prepare the Yembi's for His story, just a month away now.

Yesterday we held a village wide meeting and laid out the last literacy class, and re-iterated what was going to be happening in the coming teaching.

As we talked about death and where people go when they die, and laid out the 6 common (yes six, there is lots of confusion) ideas of what the village believes, and then walked them through the implications, there was silence and total concentration, it was a first for Yembiyembi.

Afterwards 2 of my brothers and one brother-in-law came to me and said that the talk coming must only be "true talk" they are tired of lies, and tired of being scared of dying, they only want to know what is true.

As we push into the Christmas season there is a lot we have to be thankful for, but one of the majors is seeing the Lord go ahead of us and working in ways that....no man....no mission board....no one but God can take credit for.

Some of you have cards of the Yembi's (the pictures were sent out to all our supporting churches, and many other places) and I want to update you on some of them.

Those of you praying for Lawrence, Roger, Otto, Dennis, Lucas, Brisca, Kevin, Rodney keep praying, but know that these guys are READY to hear what is coming down the line. No one sees the heart, but these ones are some of the keenest people at this time.

Those of you praying for Silas, Kerobim, Donald, Anna, Paul, Martin and Nick keep praying, pray that they would be grasping the gravity of what is going to be happening, and not be too scared or proud to listen.

Those of you that have, Stanley, Micheal, Sabina, Kletus, Miriam, Andrew, Peter, Jerome, Sophia, and many many others, these guys are on the fence, they want to hear this talk, they are scared of what they don’t know, but they are not……locked in like some of the others.

Be praying for all of the Yembi’s as we get closer and closer to the teaching, and if you don’t have a card you can go this website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yembiyembi/

All the pictures of nearly every member of our tribe (Yembiyembi) are there. We would LOVE for you to pick one or two, and daily be praying for them. This will be the first time in Yembiyembi history that they will be hearing who their creator is, how they are held accountable for their actions by Him, and what it means to made in His image.

Please be praying that God would be preparing, teaching and ultimately guiding them to Him.

Thanks guys, I know the e-mails are getting more frequent, longer, and maybe a little on the preachy side, but we only get the chance to present the gospel for the first time ONE time, and we need your prayers more than ever, you are our team, these are YOUR people, your life’s work has ties to Yembiyembi, we want you know what is happening.

So eat some turkey, watch USC pound whoever draws the short straw to play them, and enjoy the holidays (we will be there soon enough to enjoy it with you) but don’t forget what all of it is about, and how next Christmas you will have brothers and sisters that speak Bises not English, enjoy grubs more than turkey, paddle canoes rather than drive cars, and someday you will meet them when all of this has come and gone, and they will thank you for the time you put in on their behalf.

Love you all,

Brooks for Nina and Beau