Last week the men's meeting in the Inanbimali tribe of Papua New Guinea had an unexpected visitor.
The believers sat talking together about a man who had recently been bitten and killed by a poisonous snake. As if on cue, a four-and-a-half foot death adder slithered right between the legs of one of the men and swung back around to where missionary Brooks Buser and his tribal "fathers" were sitting.
The group scattered, yelling and climbing the building poles to get away from the deadly snake. Finally they pinned the snake down with a shovel and had a good laugh.
In between teaching the believers and dodging death adders, the Inanbimali team has been preparing lessons and translating portions of the book of Acts.
And death adders aren't the only source of excitement in the meetings. For the first time Inanbimali believers are singing together and new believers are giving testimonies. Men and women are praying publicly and there is a wholesale change by some of the believers to drop old customs and beliefs.
Two of the believers, Job and Peter, recently chose to travel far beyond their comfort zone and accompany the missionaries on a survey trip.
The missionaries wanted to evaluate if a new work could be started among the Biem people.
To get there the men would have to fly in an airplane and take a five-hour boat trip across open ocean. Upon hearing this, some of the Inanbimali women started to wail for Job and Peter, thinking they might die.
Job had never been in a plane or on the open ocean but he stood up in his house that night and said, "Don't cry for me. I don't feel any fear in my bones about this trip. I sit in one Man's hand and if He closes His fingers then I know it is my time, but He holds the waves of the sea and of the air so I don't feel any fear."
When they got to the island village, Peter and Job spoke to the Biems in the trade language, explaining what it would mean to have missionaries come and live with them.
One of the Biems asked Peter if he had left his beliefs that he was brought up with.
Peter said, "I have. I realized that I had been eating talk that was mixed with maggots. Some of it was good, but some of it was making me very sick. I was not ready for the time of death. I was on a path that men had created that was full of lies. Now I don't swallow (believe quickly) talk from anyone. Black man, white man, priest, village elder, none of them. I hear their talk, I scale it (evaluate it) and if it is true talk I down it (believe it). If not I throw it away. I only believe what is true."
Pray for the missionaries as they continue to prepare Bible lessons. Pray for the Inanbimalis as many of them have unbelieving family members who are putting great pressure on them to return to their old ways.
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