Week #7

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:

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

 

Week #6

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

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

Week #5

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.

 

1. 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.

 

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

 

3. 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

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

Dear Friends and Family:

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Prayer requests for the next few days:

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

 

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

 

Your friends,

Brooks, Nina and Beau

 

 

Week #3

Dear Friends and Family:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Next week we step into these lessons:

Sat- Cain and Abel

Sun- Cain's offspring, Seth and the Enoch

Mon – The setting for the flood and Noah

Tues- The Flood

Wed- Tower of Babel

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

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

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

Thanks much,

Brooks, Nina and Beau Buser

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