Leise Life

Yesterday, Josh preached/taught on salvation at a seminar. He preached for an hour and a half and then he answered questions for just under an hour! Later that day he taught at the Bible study in Abepura. He came home exhausted.

About 50 young adults attended the seminar. When Josh approached the pulpit he said, “Out of everything we are learning at this seminar, salvation is the most important,” and everyone clapped. Josh was able to record himself preaching so he can use it on mp3 players to give to those he is discipling. (I uploaded one photo of the seminar here.)

Thank you for praying!

Check out the photos from the children’s picnic !

Please note the change in date of when Josh will be preaching at the seminar: July 22, 2008 .

This morning I was awakened by the death wail. After I figured out that it wasn’t some drunken man, I realized that one of our neighbors must have passed away. I wondered who it was.

Josh and I made the customary visit to our neighbor’s house. The body (a lady) was laid on a small wooden bed in the front room of the little green house. Her body was wrapped in various patterns of material and her hair was covered with a white lacey cloth. Her face looked young, smooth, and pretty.

Josh remembered visiting her while she was in the hospital but he said she looked older then. He had prayed with the family at that time and probably presented the gospel. She has been sick for a long time. Her children come to our house to get water a few times a week. Hopefully, this tragedy will soften the family members’ hearts to talk about God.

July 8th we had a picnic planned for children from several different places. However, the children, who came up with the idea, decided at the last minute that they didn’t have the transportation money to go. There were some other obstacles, also, so we thought we would cancel it, especially if no one showed up.

Josh, Saut, Olesa, and I were waiting at the church when the little group from around the corner came walking up! Nine little children came, so we took them, two or three at a time, on the motorcycle up to a beautiful mountain. It is a historical site where Douglas MacArthur made his base in World War II.

The children had a delightful time. The view was gorgeous and the weather was perfect, too. I taught a Bible lesson, we sang songs, ate the food that we each brought, and hiked for a while. The children found some berries that they called the "ink fruit". Their mouths were black and they spit the remains on the ground. I asked if they knew what it was and if it was poisonous. Olesa said, "Oh, they’ll know if it’s poisonous if they get a stomachache…"

Since I hadn’t had the opportunity to speak to Kori privately about her soul at church I decided to go to her house. Yesterday at 5:00pm, when I knew she should be home from work I walked down the road to her little home. People usually have sisters, grandmothers, aunts, and uncles living with them, so I knew the possibility of having a lot of people around. I hoped, though, that I could talk to her alone so she wouldn’t be influenced by the others or too embarrassed to ask questions.

The timing was perfect. I didn’t see any other adults around. There were several children at the house (she has four of her own) and they were delighted to see their Sunday School teacher. I shook all of their hands and sat down to wait for Kori to change her clothes. She came out and invited me in to sit down.

I told her that I hadn’t heard her testimony yet and asked if she had ever been saved. She didn’t know what I meant, so I explained. She said that she has been worried lately that she would go to hell! People keep telling her she needs to get baptized to take care of that.

I then shared the gospel, complete with pictures of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, and the children of Israel putting blood on the doorposts. I focused on the fact that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (see Hebrews 9:22).

She again asked about baptism so I explained that baptism is just a sign of what has already happened inside your heart. Water or the act of baptism has no power in itself. Only the blood of Jesus can wash away our sin.

I asked if she had ever put her trust in Christ before and she gave me a little background information (interrupted by her crying baby wanting to nurse). Then, she said her husband was always mad at her because she hadn’t had a boy yet so she told God if He gave her a little boy she would go to church and get baptized. Her little boy was born in April!

She seemed to understand the gospel and Lord willing she will choose to agree with God that she is a sinner and trust completely in Jesus. I asked her to tell me when she makes that decision. A lady (her step-mother, I think) walked in as I finished telling Kori the gospel.

While I was talking with Kori Josh had a great talk with Amos at a Bible study in Abepura.

Since we have moved to a house with a nice yard I have had many more opportunities to meet people. To be culturally acceptable, the leaves in our yard need to be raked twice a day, so I chose to do that chore. I was looking for an excuse to get some more Vitamin D (sunshine), also.
Since most foreigners (Americans, Australians, etc.) hire someone to do their yard work I get lots of stares and comments. I was trimming the bushes yesterday and people kept stopping and talking to me. A teen-aged girl said, "Would you be my friend?" I told her I would, of course.
Another lady asked me if I would teach her English. We get many requests for teaching English but we usually tell people our main focus is teaching the Bible. This lady was quite adamant and said, "I love to learn the Bible, too. I can learn it in English!" I might take the time to teach her from Creation to Christ in English.
Several neighborhood children come and play on our front porch and in the yard with some toys we have. It gets a little loud sometimes but it seems to be a blessing to them. Several of the children attend our Sunday School.
Josh often talks to the men who ride by on bicycles or motorcycles selling things. Moving to this neighborhood has certainly had its benefits.

Does the task of praying for an entire country seem

daunting to you?

Perhaps you’d like to pray more personally?

Now you can choose a specific Papuan to pray for. Receive a photo, personal information and updates about them.

Download a Papuan profile today!

Meet the people from the prayer letter.

They can become more than just a name to you.

Individuals, couples, families, and Sunday School classes can download a profile and begin praying for a Papuan today. The Papuan Prayer Pact is also a great way to get children involved in missions.

Visit our web site to get started today!

This is the new project I’ve been working on for some time now. With the exception of eating quick meals I have literally worked on finishing this all day today. It’s 9:25pm. Please let me know if you find any problems or broken links.

I don’t think I need to convince you that the people here need your prayers. I just hope that you take the time to simply download a profile, put it somewhere in your house where you’ll see it often, and pray for that person. You never know how God might chose to change a person’s life through your prayers.

Download a flyer to tell others about the Papuan Prayer Pact.

Recently, some of Josh’s former students from the Bible college asked him to speak at a seminar they are hosting. Josh will be teaching on the subject salvation as part of this seminar. He will have two hours to teach/preach to about 150 people from 16 different churches, many of which don’t understand salvation. This should take place on July 22, 2008. Please be in prayer for this.

After battling dial-up, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, and must be paid by the minute, we decided to try internet by cell phone. A friend of ours said it was pretty stable though it’s not exactly broadband. He’s been using it for several months. Signing up and working out bugs took several trips to Jayapura (an hour away) and several hours on the phone with support. We now have internet…kind of. It is unlimited and for $15 a month we have internet that works about a quarter of the time. We hope it’s a temporary server problem. We are eager to get this new project up and going but it requires a good internet connection.

We just now celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary, which was actually on June 16^th. We are still amazed at the wonderful marriage God has given us. We had a great time the last two days with each other. Relaxing in the fairly new hotel in Jayapura was such a refreshment, especially in the midst of busyness lately. I think we’ve eaten enough chocolate to last us the rest of the year…or at least until tomorrow.

Thank you for the special cards many of you sent! (I don’t want to leave anyone out by naming names.) Thank you for thinking of us and praying.

*Please pray for some special projects that we are working on right now. I hope to have one up soon that you won’t want to miss!