Baptism, Rats, and Garamambu

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

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

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.