Death in Yembiyembi

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

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

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

 

Pictures

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

Weathering a storm

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