The Jesus Film
As I sit down to write this, Dan and I have just returned from showing the Jesus film last night. While my movie night experiences are usually fairly restful, showing the Jesus film leaves me feeling more like I just got no sleep at a youth group lock-in. I'm glad for this cup of coffee. Anyway, the Jesus film; we had resolved that we would take the video to a compound about 45 minutes away, so when our escort (friend) did not show up, we were dependent on our couple month old memory to navigate the bush to his place. The sun was setting behind some clouds when we got in, so we immediately found a place to set up. We tried to delay the video in hopes that our friend would show, but as the crowd grew impatient and the stars filled the sky, we went for it. The opening creation scene is wonder-ous as the galaxies form below the star filled sky. It was a packed "house" and although the audio was a bit sub-par compared to the obnoxious bugs humming in the trees above, it was awesome to see people engaged with this two hour long film. After a rough night of sleep on a plastic mat with a visit from a couple goats in the early morning, I enjoyed the sunrise while the women milked the cows. We checked the hyena traps then sat around until "brunch" was served around 11am. At some point in talking with Simon Lokualong, the father of our friend, we started talking about God. He shared a bit about the challenges of life here (both past and present) before we got to talking about the new creation, a fully redeemed world. We talked about creation, Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel before skipping ahead to Jesus. He shared that "he had not heard God's word before but he was learning". It was a greatly encouraging conversation! Please pray for us as we use the Jesus film to share the Gospel among the Laarim. If you want to check out the film, click here. And, continue to pray for language learning as it is critical for ministry here. Additionally, as I shared in my previous prayer requests, we shared the Jesus film at Chief Angelo's compound about four weeks ago (read more here).
Discovery Bible Study (DBS)
Since showing the Jesus film at Chief Angelo's house, we began a DBS which uses 25 Bible stories from Genesis to Revelation to share the story of the scriptures. This past Tuesday, I shared the story of Cain and Abel, and I am grateful for the time we continue to share with Angelo and his family. I am constantly learning but find this to be one of the sweetest and most challenging parts of the week. This time usually includes some worship, prayer, and the story with some follow up "conversation", which is more like review. The group is fairly inconsistent, but there is one dude who seems to be engaging pretty well, Lokwanang Lokwar (a different Lokwanang than previously mentioned). Pray that he would be receptive to the word and want to follow Jesus. Additionally, this past week, a few guys stopped in for the DBS and while one seemed pretty apathetic, another asked, "where is Paradise?" and "where is God?" which led to some good conversation. God seemed to really press thoughts about eternity on me when I arrived out here, so I trust that he was preparing me for discussions like this. It was also during this DBS that I was reminded by the Holy Spirit of the mystery of salvation, namely the work of God to draw and the choice of man to come (see John 6:35, 44). We plan to begin a DBS at Chief Joseph's compound next week as well.
Please continue to pray for the work here, for myself and the team as well as the Laarim people. While these movie nights can leave me a bit wiped out and weeks here leave me grateful for Sabbath rest, I know the work here is worthy.
I'll leave you with the words of Paul to Timothy, words I sometimes read as if given to me by a mentor:
"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."
Other Prayer Requests:
- For 4 of our friends (David, Love, Melissa, and Tessa) from Torit who are here for this week to get a taste of ministry; pray that God would move their hearts for the Laarim as they will all move to a new ministry location next year
- For the people of Loricia, Bubite, Marco's compound, and others as the Jesus film is shared there
- My brother and sister in law just had a baby; pray for Katherine Rachael