Dear friends and family,

Last Wednesday night we had a small group as usual but Thursday night they were all there. I taught the story of Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica and Beria. We looked at the contrast between the attitudes of Thessalonica and Beria. In Thessalonica most of the Jews rejected Paul’s teaching but in Beria they were open minded and studied the scriptures to see if what Paul was teaching was true. I said that there are many kinds of ideas and teaching in the village and asked them, “How can we know which is true and which is false?” The only way we can know is by reading God’s word and comparing it with what is being taught. I realized that only one of them could read and that made it difficult for them. This sparked of a lot of animated conversation among themselves. They were saying, “There are so many different kinds of religious teaching here. How can we know what is true and what is false? We have to learn to read.” They asked me if there was anyone coming to help them, to teach them to read and carry on our work when we leave. I said that we were praying for people to come and help them and we got the word out but so far we don’t know of anyone. They are afraid that when we leave there will be no one to help them.

This week there was going to be a wedding next day. They sing all night the night before a wedding so there was only Sevis there. The next afternoon I walked with them about an hour’s walk (plus a river crossing) to the village where the wedding was to be. It wasn’t really a wedding in the sense of what we would view as a weddings but a ceremony where the bride becomes a member of the bridegroom’s clan. The bridegroom was not even allowed to be there. The bride will then live with his clan and work with them to get her garden going and producing, only then will they live together. She is the breadwinner (or should I say, “the sweet potato winner”). I didn’t think that there would be a lesson that night but, surprise! They all turned up plus some who hadn’t been through the lessons. I had a house full! We went through Paul’s third missionary journey. What struck them was that Paul was a ‘man belong raun’. He continued to go around teaching the gospel.

With love from

David and Wendy