Sometimes God does things that we just don’t expect. Sometimes He passes over the people that we would have placed our bets on and uses someone that we may have thought was not “qualified” or “wise” enough to make a difference. Sometimes He just seems to take joy in “using the weak things of the world to shame the things that are mighty...so that no one is able to boast in His presence”. It’s times like these that we often find ourselves scratching our heads and not knowing what else to say except for just “Praise God!”
This is exactly what we and some of the key Dao teachers and translation helpers have been studying through in 1 Corinthian chapter one as we have been preparing to teach it to the rest of the tribe. And this is exactly what we found ourselves saying this last week as we sat around together and listened to stories about a young girl named Wepem (Girl on the left in the top center photo). Some of you may remember reading in a past prayer update this last August about her wedding day and the charges that were given to her and her new husband Pisangkaba by some of the believing men in our village. The believing men had stood one at a time and given charges to Pisangkaba such as the following words from her father Apiyaawoogi - “Wepem is no ordinary girl! She has become a child of the great Creator. She is His belonging and is merely entrusted to you and us by the Creator! And so Pisangkaba, we are telling you go ahead and take Wepem as your wife, take her to your village and live happily, but when she reads the words of the Creator’s leaf book sit down and listen to her read and learn about the Creator.”
Well this last week was the first time Wepem’s young husband Pisangkaba has returned to our village since he took Wepem to be his wife and took her the long hike back to his village a few months ago. Pisangkaba took some time this one afternoon this last week to share with us how things have changed in their village since he took Wepem to be his wife. “Every week we stop to praise and thank the Creator together and pray to Him. Not only Wepem and I, but our entire village stops to listen to Wepem as she reads for us the words of the Creator’s book and the stories of the life of the Creator’s son Yesusi. Even my mom, dad and sisters are hearing for the first time about this man Yesusi and the things He has done” he shared with us.
Wepem is the only single literate person in that specific village of the Dao tribe right now and she isn’t but a young teenage girl. But she is making a difference in that place. She has been reading to the people in that village from the book of Mark and she is sharing what she knows about Jesus in a village where there was previously no source of spiritual light whatsoever. Now because of her influence there- and God working through her for His own glory- there is another small group of unreached people beginning to hear about the Son of God and weekly sing praises to their Creator for the things He has done. She has become an example to the young believers of our whole area of the difference that one young teenage girl can make when she is willing to open her mouth and read about her Creator to those that may not have heard about Him otherwise. According to Pisangkaba, he and Wepem and much of his family also are going to join us for the Christmas celebration that will take place in our village next weekend to celebrate “The day that Jesus’ cord was cut”. He asked us if at that time we could give Wepem more scripture books so that she could continue reading new things to their village about the Creator and His Son Jesus every week. And God continues to “Use the ‘weak’ things of the world to put to shame the ‘mighty’ and the ‘foolish’ things of the world to confound the ‘wise’.” We are just standing in awe, watching God do His thing here and praising Him for it and for giving us even a small part in it J.
Also, there are quite a few people that have begun coming down to our village in the past couple weeks from some of the different outreach areas a few days hike away so that they can help prepare for the Christmas feast next week and celebrate together with us. Some of them have brought groups of people looking to escape the tribal warfare that has been going on up valley. In that way we are even beginning to see “What Satan meant for evil” used for good as some of these people are getting interaction with Dao believers and hearing a little bit of the Creator’s book for the very first time. There also have been some sick children brought to our village for treatment with these groups. One specific little girl named Uupiyaauwo is in a very bad state and seems to be in the final stages of malnutrition. (Top right picture the wife of one of our evangelists holding Uupiyaauwo as Jennie tries to treat her). Her body is wasting away and her head is swollen from what is thought to be a side affect of her kidneys shutting down before she passes away. Her mom died from sickness about a year ago while she was only four months old and only breastfeeding. She has had trouble eating ever since. We don’t know if little Uupiyaauwo is going to make it unless a change begins very, very soon. She desperately needs your prayers and we need them as well as we try to medically treat her the best that we know how.
Also, thank you so much for your prayers concerning the tribal warring that has been going on. No one else has been killed or even attacked in the past two weeks since we sent out that last prayer update and you all began praying! They haven’t sighted any more enemy tracks in our area either for nearly a week now. Even the local Dao people are completely surprised at this as they have all been bracing themselves for the worst. Also, the young teenage boy named Mokotaa- that was shot and then stabbed with arrows 6 times and then sliced another 25 times with bamboo knives- miraculously is said to still be alive. Please continue to pray for his recovery. Finally, pray for the great “Day that Jesus’ cord was cut” feast that will take place here this next weekend. Pray that it will be a tremendous time of testimony and spiritual encouragement to both the believers and unbelievers alike that attend the feast. The Sunday after the feast we are also holding a baptism gathering for the new believers that have become part of God’s family through some of the various new outreaches that have taken place in the past year. Pray that this time also will be an incredible time of testimony to all those present. Thanks for your prayers for our family and also for the Dao believers as we have worked together to wrap up translating and teaching through Romans for the second time through and are now moving into 1 Corinthians. It is so cool to know that there is a group of people like you standing behind us and the Dao people, sharing in our burdens and also rejoicing in the victories! We thank God for every one of you.