Beads, Volcanos, and Airplanes

"We don't know the truth!" "We're waiting for you to tell us the truth." This is how the Pal people of Papua New Guinea responded to the questions of "Do you know how old the ground is? When the sun was born? How about the moon and the stars?" The missionaries to the Pal people use these questions to help show them that the Bible alone has the truth about the origins of the earth and the origins of them. One of the missionary writes, “We then pull out the 6,000-bead timeline and watch their eyes grow wide .... We say, ‘God has told us what happened at the beginning. God has told us about the middle. And God has told us about the future, all in His Word. And we’re going to share with you God’s Word so you can know it, too.’” By the end of the year, the missionary team, the Hostetters, Claasens and Fachners, intend to finish the lessons, which climax in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Please pray for the Pal people - that they would come to the lessons and understand the message. Pray too, for the missionary team - that they would have wisdom and strength to see this task through.

I will be in South Dakota soon to visit with churches and individuals!! Here is my schedule: - September 21 - Kadoka & Belvidere (morning services) and Community Bible Church, Murdo (evening service) - September 28 - Okaton (morning service) I will be around during the week for visits, meals, Bible studies, etc. If you want to get together and hang out, email (just hit reply), call (406-320-2968) or catch me at one of the services!  I recently heard PNG described as being "notoriously difficult to get around in" and with very few roads, air travel is a necessity if you want to get anywhere fast. After the loss of a plane in PNG last month, the need for new Kodiak planes is heightened. God has provided, through the gifts of His people, the finances for not one, but TWO Kodiak planes!! Praise the Lord! Click here to watch a video about the important role aviation plays in the tribal church planting effort! Mt. Tavurur, near the town of Rabaul in PNG, erupted on August 29th. New Tribes doesn't have any personnel who were in danger from this eruption, but as you can imagine, many local citizens were affected. Please keep the people of this region in your prayers!   Pre-field Progress: I have sent my Entry permit application and passport to the PNG embassy for approval. This is the last of my pre-field documents!! Please pray this this is processed quickly.