"Jennie, did you hear that?" I said as I sat up in bed. "Yeah, I think so. It sounds like someone is yelling to us from outside our house!" "Well who in the world would be coming up here in the middle of the night like this?" I said as I got up, grabbed my flashlight and headed towards the front door. When I opened the door I saw Paatoma standing there in the pouring rain  with a somewhat distraught look on his face. "My wife, I think she is going to die...she has been in pain for hours now and she still hasn't cut the chord. The unbelievers in the village want us to let them do the spirit chasing rituals and incantations of our ancestors but I have told them 'No! we need to call out to the Creator alone to help us! We shouldn't turn to the old ways' the chord still hasn't been cut though. I don't know what to do!"

"She must be having her baby right now!" Jennie said to me as she listened to Paatoma. "I will get my things together and go down to their house to try to see what is going on. Tell Paatoma I will be down in a few minutes" she said as she hurried off to gather her things. A few minutes later she had a few basic medical supplies in her bag and was on the trail with her flashlight. I stayed behind in the house to watch our own baby Moses and prayed that God would give wisdom and strength to both Jennie and Paada in this concerning situation. When Jennie got down to the hut she could hear all of the commotion from some of the unbelievers that were temporarily visiting in our village. "Demons, demons! There are demons all over this house and we have to chase them away or Paada will die!" they were yelling.
 
This would be Paatoma & Paada's first child so all this was a new experience for Paada. "I think I really am going to die" she said in a weak voice as Jennie walked into the smoke filled house and sat down next to her. "Will you die or not die, I do not know but one thing I can tell you is that you need to call out to the Creator one and no one else for help because only He can help you in this life and also give you true eternal life in the life to come." Then she reached out and placed her hand on Paada's back and prayed for her. Not but a little while later as Paada sat in a squatting position, still fully clothed with the traditional grass skirt of the Dao women, everybody in the hut both unbelievers and believers heard a "thud" and as Paada moved to the side Jennie could see a little baby girl there on the dirt floor of the house!
 
 As Jennie took a closer look her delight quickly turned into concern however because she saw that the umbilical chord was wrapped tightly around the baby's neck and it wasn't breathing. Traditionally most Dao women don't pick up or nurse the baby until the placenta has also been delivered but Jennie knew she had to move fast if the baby was going to live. None of the other women in the house would move to help the baby and Paada had nearly collapsed in exhaustion so after hesitating for just a few seconds and realizing that she was probably the little baby girls only hope she reached forward and took the little baby in her hands. She remembered that when our son Moses was first born about ten months ago now he also had difficulty breathing at first and so she repeated what she had seen the American nurses do with our baby. After she had carefully untangled the chord from the baby's neck she cleared its nose and moth of any mucus and then began to gently massage it's little chest until finally it started just barely breathing.
 
Jennie stayed there in the little smoke filled hut with Paada (Top right picture) into the early hours of the morning, trying to encourage her and help her look after her new little baby girl while giving testimony with the other believers that God had heard their prayers and acted on their behalf. Paatoma was filled with joy that he was a father and many of the believers present took turns talking out loud about how God had taken this seemingly hopeless situation and turned it around for the good.

This wasn't at all the greatest birth that took place in the Dao territory this past week however nor was it the only chord that was cut in order for a new birth to take place. Debatoma and his wife returned to our village this week with the news that they had completed teaching from Creation to Christ in a new language dialect and group of people of the village called Paimokau. They reported that almost the entire village along with many others visiting from other villages in that dialect have turned to Jesus Christ and placed their trust in His finished work on the cross as their only hope of salvation.
 
Within a couple days of Debatoma carrying this news down the new teacher trainees here in our village also completed the other additional outreach they have been teaching alongside of us and as a result there are seven other new believers in our village this week as well! (Top left and center picture - Obaimanikui & Deki - two of the new believers)One of those new believers is also Apegewa, the wife of Uwomuku, a girl many of you have been praying for since we mentioned her a few months ago. Also Oseya & Dabepiyaa, another two men you have been praying for for a couple months now have placed their trust in Christ during that outreach! And the words that Jesus said to Nicodemus ring true for another remnant of the Dao people - "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God because that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit....You must be born again." (John 3:5-7)

Praise God together with us for the many new births that have taken place in the Dao tribe over this past couple weeks both physical and spiritual! Pray for Paada as she continues to receive pressure from various unbelieving relatives to turn back to the old ways instead of to the Creator as her source of hope and healing. Pray for the Dao Bible teachers such as Debatoma and the others that now face the task of continued discipleship of these new believers and pray for us as we work along side them.. Pray also for these new believers, that they will grow in their faith and be truly sincerely changed as they study God's Word. Finally pray for Jennie as she works hard to finish the various scripture portions that need printing and for me as I work on the school and teachers books that need printing when we go out in late July to get the printing done. We appreciate every one of you and thank God that he has raised you up to stand behind us in this awesome work. It truly is a privilege to be a part of what He is doing in the Dao Valley!