After supper we played Killer Bunnies with Delena (she mostly watched).  Then we played until 9 when Jason went to bed.  After that Annette and I pulled out the Christmas decorations.  We managed to get lights and garland on the banister and the tree up before going to bed.

After a pancake breakfast, Annette and I went shopping for more Christmas lights, and of course got additional goodies.

Jason has been working diligently on the crawlspace and was able to finish it Saturday night. YEAH!!!   He has pretty sore knees though!

Dennis and Valerie are coming overnight on Tuesday night YEAH!

Yesterday I was supposed to have another friend and her daughter for lunch, but thankfully they were sick and didn’t come. I still had Delena and Zach Masse, so while Lorelei slept, I let them help me make cookies–which makes it take a LOT longer!

Jason had the men’s Bible Study here last night.  I went to the library really quick before it started, so Lorelei was left for a few minutes with all the guys.  I don’t think she likes crowds or maybe just all the men scared her.  Jason said she freaked right out, but she also had a bit of gas.  BUT, she was totally fine the rest of the evening in the bedroom with me.  It’s kind of weird being in your own house, but confined to one room!  Oh yes, the other reason I don’t think she likes crowds is because she was perfectly happy in the corner of the living room ALONE when all the kids were here.  I also stuck her in her crib for a bit and she stared at her star for probably 15 min.  I checked to see if she was sleeping and she wasn’t!

Today I had Zach again, so we carved a pumpkin.  It was my first time as an adult…it’s harder than it looks!
That’s our week,
Angie

“No man knows the day that I will die, but the Creator knows. Will I die while I am young? Will I die while my wife and I have only cut the cords of two children? Will I die when I am old and have lived a long life? No man can know such things, but the Creator knows. And if I die while I am still young, then the Creator has chosen that for me. I am ready to go up to that good place above the sky and live with Jesus.” – Wikipai

Most people get all the nice things said about them after they have already passed away. This last week however the exact opposite took place in the Dao Valley.

We were recently told that we needed to plan on coming out to town for a couple weeks so that we could sign our yearly visa renewal papers. We also around the same time heard from some dear friends of ours, Simon Tanner and his family, who head up the organization called Helimission, that they would soon be coming from Switzerland to Indonesia for a conference. The Tanner’s said they would love to come and visit Dao while they were in Indonesia so that their family could see first hand the people that their organization serves. We told them “Come on in! We would love to have you!” and we made a plan to go out to town via helicopter to do our visa paperwork after their visit. The Dao believers were likewise very excited to have an opportunity to thank Helimission for providing these interesting dragon-fly-looking contraptions called “heli’s” that have played such a huge part in bringing them the message of Jesus.

The Sunday before the Tanner’s arrival the Dao believers discussed with us a plan to have a feast in honor of Helimission in order to show their appreciation. After the Sunday service that all left for their various gardens and then showed up a few days later with lots of different garden foods along with some very expensive pig meat to celebrate the occasion! The next day, after the Heli arrived … we all gathered together and the Dao believers had a few of the more prominent men stand up and share. We translated from the Dao language to English for them.“…If it wasn’t for you people that carry the heli around, we would still this day be living in darkness with no knowledge of what Jesus has done for us. We thank you for carrying the message bearers here so that we could hear of Jesus!” spoke out Kopeedi in the midst of everyone gathered.

Then it was Simon’s turn. He stood up and pulled two small shiny packages from his pocket. After sharing for a little while about how it was Helimissions privilege to be a tool which God uses to carry the gospel message to those who have never heard, he said that he had something to say specifically about Wikipai and Daapoi. “There are two men here that I have heard many things about. I have heard of how they have been faithfully teaching God’s Word here…I have heard about how they have encountered many challenges and sicknesses in they’re trying to carry the Message of Jesus to the Taomi people…I have heard about how the enemy has been working against them…and I have great respect for these two men who have been faithful despite these sicknesses, challenges, and attacks from the enemy. We have come here also to show our appreciation to them….And that is why I want to present these two, small, special gifts to Wikipai and Daapoi to show our admiration for them this evening and encourage them to not give up in well-doing!”

You should have seen the smiles on their faces when Simon reached out his hand with those little shiny packages in them and presented to Wikipai and Daapoi two brand new, bright red, Swiss-made knives, hand carried-from Switzerland especially for them. The Dao people thought that they had gathered for a special feast just to honor Helimission but it had been turned around on them and ended up being a feast that the visitors had used to honor the first two Dao Bible teachers and evangelists, Wikipai and Daapoi. They were lifted up in front of their own people and all those gathered for their faithfulness despite all of the hardships and sickness that they have recently encountered in their endeavor to spread the gospel. Four days later we received Word that at approximately 5:00 a.m. on this last Wednesday morning, God took Wikipai home.

It is hard to explain with words how we feel right now. As I am sure it is hard for anyone to explain how they feel after they have lost a close friend. We don’t pretend to know why God chose this specific path for Wikipai. We don’t understand why God saw fit that Wikipai’s wife Moipi and their two kids Tawekabo and Damekauwo would be left without their father at such a young age. But one thing we do know and that we do not for a single second doubt is that for His own Glory and for the Dao people’s good, (Romans 8:28) God soveriegnly chose this for Wikipai. After all, If God for our good and His own glory, prophesied for hundreds of years beforehand about and then chose death for His only Son Jesus (Isaiah 53) – Why wouldn’t he choose the same for Wikipai?

Wikipai knew these things as well. As we slowly walked along the airstrip site together only about a week before he died, in his sickness he looked at me and said to me with a smile on his face “No man knows the day that I will die, but the Creator knows. Will I die while I am young? Will I die while my wife and I have only cut the cords of two children? Will I die when I am old and have lived a long life? No man can know such things, but the Creator knows. And if I die while I am still young, then the Creator has chosen that for me. I am ready to go up to that good place above the sky and live with Jesus.” …

If there is anything I have learned from watching Wikipai these past couple months as we have seen him spend his last days trying to carry God’s message to the people in Taomi that have not yet had a chance to hear. And then watched him slowly waste away in his sickness but never stop smiling and giving God glory despite his suffering, I feel like he has shown me how to Die well. Because when I die, I want my last weeks to have been spent on the front lines. I want my last days to have been spent commending Jesus to the unreached with a smile on my face no matter how much pain I may be in. And I want my last words to have been spent pointing my family, friends and all those around me towards the Creator so that He is the one people are left looking at – not me.

Please pray for the Dao people and specifically for Wikipai’s wife and children – Moipi, Tawekabo and Damekauwo. Pray that they will glorify God even in this great loss and that they as well as Jennie and I will depend on the strength God provides as we work our way through this sorrow and learn to live and function as a church without Wikipai.

(PS. I know we said in the last update that we would write about the house building project in this update. I found it very hard to write about such things when we have experienced such a great a loss. We are sorry for the miss-communication and will write about the building project soon.)

Because He said “GO!” – Scott and Jennie Phillips – Luke 9:60/17:10
Click here for more pictures and information on the Dao ministry: sjphillips.org

Thank you so much for your prayers for [the Lauje men] who arrived here yesterday afternoon after a 22 ½ hour bus ride. Because of very heavy rains, they were late in hiking down the mountain to the bus area and the bus had already left. God helped them find a small local “taxi” (for want of a better word!) to take them to a little town an hour away where the buses usually stop for gas and dinner.  They thanked God that they got there before the bus had left, so they were able to get on it, and had seats this time! That’s an answer to prayer! God also gave them a “good” trip – i.e. no landslides on the road, no motion sickness, no breaking down or accidents!

Last night during dinner, [the Lauje men] shared what God is doing in Lauje. Once again we were amazed as we listened to the story of the spread of the Good News. I listed all 37 of the places where they are teaching, all sixty Lauje Bible teachers (and those in training) at the different teaching points, and all the Scripture books that are being taught to the various groups (from Genesis, for new outreaches, all the way to Revelation for some of the older places!) This time [one of the men] shared a story about some people to the north who hiked from the other side of the island to a place where there are now two Lauje groups meeting. They came to beg us to tell them our message.  They said that in the past they had some people go who tried to teach them using the Indonesian language, but they could not understand very much. They heard that we had God’s message in their heart language so they came to see if it was true. A couple of guys hiked back with them. They criss-crossed one river over 100 times and spent the night in the jungle, where, as they ran out of food, God provided for them in a miraculous way. The Bible teacher will stay there for a short time beginning to lay a firm foundation for faith in the One God promised. What a joy to be part of this. One day we plan to visit there, thanks to our helicopter flight service.

Barrie [and the Lauje men] are hard at work now, reading through Matthew’s Gospel. Pray the Lord will show them any final areas that still need to be reworded for better clarity, as well as any typos or grammatical errors. This is GOD’S Holy Living Word and we want the Lauje translation to be as accurate and clear as possible so that His Spirit will use it in the hearts of thousands of Lauje people. Today, the first day, they completed the first twelve chapters of Matthew.

Continue to pray that God will guide us to a print shop where we will be able to do a good job of printing the Lauje New Testament at a reasonable cost.

Excited at what God is doing through your prayers and gifts,

Barrie and Cherri

It all started Friday when Angie and the girls drove to her parents for the night. While they went one way (south-west) I (jason) went the other way—to North Bay. My brother Sean picked me up Friday night and we drove the 4 hours to my Uncle Dave’s. We got in about midnight and went straight to bed. The next morning I found myself back on the road, this time bringing my grandparents SUV from North Bay to Clinton. This should have only been a 5 hour drive. Apparently I shouldn’t have ended up in Vaughan but that what happens when you don’t off the 400 till it ends. Opps.

I did manage to make it to Clinton for turkey before the 4 of us returned to Durham for quick sleep. Sunday morning I preached at Mulock Christian Fellowship and then we pounded the pavement again, this time headed for Port Colborne. We dropped in on some friends for supper before going to church at Portal Village Bible Chapel. After church we had a good friend, Rachel Brooks, and her now-fiance over for a visit.

Monday morning we packed up our things and headed to the United States of America, the Buffalo airport specifically. One of the missionaries-in-training had flown to Florida for the weekend and needed a ride back to Durham.

Crossing the border into the States was quick—only 3 cars in front of us. When we came back we also had a quick passage, but noticed that the traffic now entering into the US was backuped up over the Peace Bridge. Thank you Lord for allowing us to get through without that wait!

We had never been to the Buffalo airport before, and were picturing something like Toronto, or Frankfurt, or Munich, or Geneva. What we found was pleasently smaller. First of all we parked in the “Preferred Long Term Parking.” I thought I saw something about stays of 2-hours or less being free. But then got thinking how it was “Long Term.” Then as we were leaving I noticed a section called “Short Term” and how there was “No Free Parking Available.” With my Mastercard in hand, I was prepared to pay through the nose to get my car out, only to find out it was FREE!

My longweekend didn’t end at the end of the holiday-Monday. Tuesday morning before any of my girls were up I was headed off on a 2-hour drive to London with a friend for his doctor’s appointment. We waited for a couple of hours, and then headed the 2 hours home.

In the end it was an amazing weekend spent with family and friends. Maybe next year we will host the party instead!

Here is a bit more information to go with the film:

Awayo lives in the mountainous jungle regions of West Papua, Indonesia. His tribe is called “Moi”(’moy’); there are only 700-800 Moi in existence. The Moi have a language and culture completely their own. Their primitive lifestyle is one that you wouldn’t think still truly exists in the 21st Century. Awayo’s home is as “ends of the earth” as you can get.

This is Awayo’s story. Though he lives in an indigenous, remote tribe, Awayo’s life is anything but simple. Riddled with pain, murder & deception, life in the Moi tribe was spent in constant fear. There was no hope. Then something happened that shook the foundation of Awayo’s life.

AWAYO – Fear to Faith (English subtitles) from New Tribes Mission on Vimeo.

Enjoy. I did.

Wikipai before he became ill

Missionaries Scott and Jennie Phillips could hardly hold back the tears as they saw Wikipai’s emaciated condition.

The couple had heard that Wikipai was so sick that he might be battling for his life so they hiked two rigorous days to the village where Wikipai and his wife, Moipi, had moved to begin a new outreach in Indonesia. The Dao couple was one of two families the missionaries had trained to go and teach evangelistic Bible lessons.

Upon seeing the missionaries, Wikipai greeted them with a sweet smile and in a very frail voice said, “Friends, don’t be sad for me. I have wasted away and my body has become small and shriveled like a stream that has not been fed by the rain for many days, but though my body is weak, my spirit is strong. And if my body dies here in this place, I know that my spirit will continue to live and will go up to be with the Creator. I do not fear death.”

Scott and Jennie still had fresh memories of Wikipai’s father wasting away and dying one year ago. The couple immediately started administering the medicine and rehydration fluid they brought with them.

After a few days of treatment, prayer and Scott and Jennie’s cooking, Wikipai began to regain some strength. He told the missionaries if they “were willing to help him carry his belongings and help him along the trail, he thought that he might be able to begin hiking the two days home for a time of recovery.”

Scott and Jennie knew that it would be a hard hike — that included crossing a vine bridge and ascending two 4,500 foot mountains — but looking to God for strength they began the return hike the next morning. They took it much slower going home, stopping frequently to rest and to give Wikipai rehydration fluid and food.

After a month and a half away, Wikipai and Moipi returned home and Moipi spoke to the group that gathered to meet them. “Everybody look! I was already looking for places to bury my husband. I already had a place picked out! But it is as if he has been raised from the dead right in front of my eyes! Look at him now. The Creator has caused him to live!”

Daapoi and his pregnant wife, Otopina, the other couple who were trained for this outreach, are taking Wikipai and Moipi’s place so the outreach can continue. Please pray for them and their health as they leave their accustomed environment.

Pray too that Wikipai will have a complete recovery and for the Dao people who are seeing these teachers and their families take great risks to bring them the Creator’s message, that God will work in their hearts to receive His Word.

Can you imagine holding the very first copy of the Bible printed in your language? For many tribal people, this is just a dream. But for the Lauje people of Indonesia, this dream is becoming a reality.

Earlier this year I joined the team that is preparing the first ever printing of the Lauje New Testament. In the last two months I received translated copies of the book of Revelation and the Gospel According to John. When my primary ministry lets up each month, I get to take what the translation team has prepared and lay it out on what will be the pages of their New Testament Bible.

Barrie Williamson, the key translator, is planning on connecting with some Lauje men in the coming month. When together with them, he is going to finish reading through the last of the books which need to be proofed.

The goal is to print 1,500 copies of the Lauje New Testament by December 2009. Would you please pray with me that the remaining work that needs to be done goes smoothly and that the funds are there to print these Bibles? Thanks