Brian and Susan Shortmeier Just another weblog Dear Family & Friends,
Most of you in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying spring – shedding heavier clothing, experiencing warmer weather & spring breezes and seeing new growth all around. While plant life and temperatures here in Papua New Guinea are fairly constant throughout the year, we too are experiencing new things.
April was very full with administration and leadership meetings. Lots of visiting, meals, gatherings and the PNG NTM Headquarters team moving into our newly renovated offices. (please pray as some electrical issues are worked through and that we would be up and running soon – presently a few offices are still without power) We thank the Lord for the unity and direction God has given the men during the last set of meetings. We have the best co-workers and even in challenging moments enjoy working together.
Tomorrow we begin filling in as Government Reps for a couple weeks in Port Moresby. We sure appreciate your prayers as we learn some new tasks. Jared arrives in the country in mid-May; together the three of us fly up to Goroka. This will be the first time Jared has been back since 2005. He is also looking forward to spending some time at the school helping in the music department.
We sure appreciate your faithful gifts and encouraging emails. Below are some updates from the three tribal groups that have been teaching through Phase 1 of the Chronological Bible Lessons.
With Love,
Brian & Susan Shortmeier
New Tribes Mission
Box 1079, Goroka, EHP, 441
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Brian-susan_shortmeier@ntm.org
Inanbimali (Brooks & Nina Buser, Tony & Tara Sutton, Tim & Courtney Shontere)
THIS IS VERY EXCITING AS WE NOW HAVE BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE LORD. We started teaching Saturday evening at about 5:00 pm and the lesson and questions went until about 7pm. We had over 95% of the village population there and by the grace of God it was incredibly quiet, which is absolutely amazing. Imagine about 300 people gathered with small kids, fighting dogs, chickens and many other distractions I will leave to your imagination. It was the quietest teaching session that we have ever had!! Each of us six adults have gotten to spend individual time with a few folks and we have had some very clear testimonies of faith. Pray for the team as they spend time individually talking to the Inanbimalis.
Anastasia told Nina right after the meeting, “ I have wasted my life. I have been believing lies. I can do nothing on my own to get to God’s side. Jesus did that for me.” She kept having to walk out of the teaching house because she was crying so much. We am looking forward to getting with her soon and hearing more of what she believes now.
Kelley said that when he heard the lesson on the Pharisees that it “courted him”, which means it convicted his heart. He said a lot of us here are Pharisees.. We didn’t think that anything was wrong with us. But now I see very clearly that we are dirty(sinful) on the inside. Jesus was the last offering that ever needs to be made. And I believe that he was the sheep that took my place.
Dinangat (Gary & Esther Smith, Jeremiah & April Markley, Ralf & Elisabeth Schlegel)
This week was ground breaking in a lot of ways. After weeks of teaching on man’s sin problem, that no matter how hard we try, we cannot clean ourselves up good enough to be worthy of God and that only by Jesus can we come to Him, it looks like many are really starting to understand what that means on a personal level. Last Tuesday one of the head religious men from the region came and held a 4 hour service after we had finished teaching that morning. He taught about what it takes to be a Christian, and for that many hours, this very nice and well meaning man fed our village a main course of do’s and don’ts that will make you acceptable to God. We wondered how they would respond.
We didn’t have to wonder very long. After a powerful message on Wednesday teaching that Jesus is the ONLY way, my language helper turned to me and said, “So many people have been teaching us what is not true. Now we have seen what the Bible says. We know that we are sinners, and nothing we can do can save us. We’ve been taught that if we go to church, give offerings, give to the poor, pray and read the Bible, then one day we will go and be with God. But this is not true. It is good to do those things, but they cannot save us. Only the Kidaak Amna can save us!” Then Basa got up and spoke, so beautifully encouraging the people in their own language in a way that we as foreigners cannot do. But he basically exhorted them all that they need to stop believing in themselves and praising themselves for what they do, but to believe only in Jesus!
We are just around the corner from telling them the answer to the question we’ve been hearing so much these last couple of weeks; “What will the Kidaak Amna do to save us from our sin?” We have just 5 more lessons until we begin the Gospel presentation of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Please continue to stand with us! God is faithful, He is doing as He said He would, and we are at the edge of our seats to see what He will do in these next 2 weeks!
Bagwido (Brian & Andrea Holmquist, Mark & Holly Woodard)
We trust you are enjoying the goodness of our LORD this day and this week! We are enjoying the ‘fellowship of believers’ that exists here amongst our Bagwido friends. This week our coworkers, the Holmquists, left the tribe for a medical furlough and it was certainly hard to see them go. We are all in the re-adjustment phase of being the only white family here in the village; you can especially be praying for our kids as they re-adjust to this new season of life. Also, would you pray with us as Mark will be meeting with a core of the leaders of the village, who are now solid children of God, to discuss how and when they would like to meet, as a ‘group of God’s kids’. As you may know, we have had religious groups in this village for many, many years. Because of this, worshipping God for who He really is and apart from just being a ritual is going to take some time and teaching. But we are excited as we embark on this new phase here! Pray for wisdom for Mark as he goes into this meeting Sunday evening (early Sun AM for you there in the USA). He will also be meeting with the men of the village every Wednesday night. Please also be in prayer for Holly as she will begin meeting with the ladies on Monday nights for a Q/Answer time and some reading of Scripture. We are feeling our inadequacies bigtime, as well as feeling like there are never enough hours in a day! So we continue to trust you for your prayers, and the Holy Spirit for His daily wisdom as we interact with our tribal friends here.
