Well, the first week of classes is over, and the second week begins. This week has been filled with so much information, it would take many blog posts to cover it all. Some of it has been simply how things work here, what is expected, who you need to talk to, where you need to go, when it needs doing, and why we're doing it to begin with.
Over and over, we have seen people with astounding passion for God's word. Most of them served in a foreign missions field at one point or another. They have amazing stories. They have lived and breathed God's word. They have seen the darkness surrounding tribal cultures. They have seen the Word of God illuminate lives. They have seen extraordinary pain, and witnessed interminable joy.
One of the first speakers we had during orientation week worked with a remote tribe called the Joti (ho-tee). This is a group of totally isolated people, whom even the government didn't know existed; they were nomadic, and nobody knew anything about them - and nobody knew their language. He talked about first meeting some of them, and how there was a darkness you could see like a veil in their eyes -- and how the light of God's Word eventually broke through that and brought life. He spoke about their core beliefs before the missionaries came; and how targeted Satan's lies really are, playing off of the Joti's core beliefs in order to keep them from understanding the truth of God's word. He told us that they had a legend of a worldwide Flood; now in a culture who literally has no understanding of anything outside of their valley, tell me how "society" forced that "myth" on them? He showed us in Scripture how the Lord created those languages at the tower of Babel, and how he scattered or placed each and every ethnos (ethnic language group) around the world; they are just where God put them, in the borders which He placed for them, speaking the languages that He created for them. He told us what it was like to be in the midst of them as they heard and understood God's word for the first time, literally seeing the light turn on.
Maybe I'm just a big ol' softy, but that really speaks to my heart. And the Joti are only one of 2500 people groups that don't have even one word, not one verse of the Bible today. Compare that to the fact that we have something like three or four hundred different versions of the Bible available in English alone. It's not fair.
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Papua New Guinean child
via Pinterest |
I don't know about you, but that breaks my heart. Guys, that's why we're going to Papua New Guinea with NTMA. That's why we have a sense of urgency to be there as soon as possible.
{P.S. If you want to get involved with us, check out the page titled "Join Us!" at the top of this page!}
Hope you've had a Happy Monday, and have an even better week ahead! If you're just starting back to school - good luck!
Labels: faith, missionary life, thoughts
