Simbari Update - December, 2006
The Simbaris met together with fellow believers from the Aziana tribe again recently. They spent several days worshipping and studying God's Word together. The music was wonderful and everyone was encouraged and strengthened in the Lord. During one of the meetings a young Simbari man named Pita stood up and gave a simple testimony. Pita put his faith in Christ for the first time just a few months ago and he's been listening regularly but hadn't said much up to this point in time. He was shaking and his voice was trembling as he stood up but he confidently proclaimed that before he had thought he could please God by going to church and doing good works but now he is putting his trust in Christ alone. Then he shared a verse from the Bible, Gal. 2:16 "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified."
Pita isn't the only one responding to the message of Grace. There seems to be a lot of new interest in the teaching lately and our Sunday meetings have about doubled in size. In our outreach to a nearby village we just finished teaching the Last Supper and we will soon be presenting the Gospel there.
Thanks for praying, we'll keep you posted.
Dave just got back from a 2-week translation workshop on the book of Romans.
Translators from all over PNG came together to delve into the first 6 chapters of Romans. As beginning translators we focus mostly on translating books of the Bible from the narrative genre. After gaining experience with narratives we move on into other genres that are more difficult. This workshop was to better equip us as we translate other non-narrative books of the New Testament. We spent each morning doing in-depth exegesis of Romans
1-6 then in the afternoons we worked on the Romans draft with our translation helpers. It was a good time and we're very thankful for every opportunity to improve our translation skills. Before returning home Dave got to visit Esther and see her perform in the choir at the annual Numonohi Christian Academy(NCA) Christmas concert. Shari stayed in the tribe and kept up the homeschooling and teaching the Simbari literacy class.
Kids are doing fine. Jason has been enjoying the new tree house that David and Simon built for him. Also some of Esther and Simon's friends were able to come out and visit here in the tribe for a few days. They made Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses. And of course they went on several hikes to their favorite swimming holes. It was a lot of fun having them all here and it was like an early Christmas present for the kids. :) Right now the kids are all busy preparing something special for our 19th anniversary tomorrow.
Esther has submitted college applications and we still have more forms to fill out. Pray for us as this is all new to us, and it's a little hard to do it from the jungle. Dave is planning to go out for a few days early in the new year to fill out some more forms. We're also still looking at different flight possibilities for returning home next June. We have just about enough saved now to buy one-way tickets. But we usually try to buy round-trip if we can. Thanks for praying and also thanks to those of you who sent cards or gifts this year. We appreciate you and hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
Warm greetings to you all from the Oggs!
http://www.ntm.org/david_ogg
A Quick Christmas Note:
Warm Christmas greetings from the Oggs in Papua New Guinea!
God is at work building His Church among the Simbari. many new folks have started attending recently including some new believers. A couple weeksago one of them named Pita stood up and gave tesimony that he was now trusting in Christ instead of his own good work and read Galatians 2:16.
Thank you for being a part of the team.
Pray for translation, finishing Acts, starting Romans.
Pray for continued gowth and strength of church
Pray for funds for purchasing tickets for home assignment coming after Esther's graduation in May 2007.
