Week 2 of teaching is finished, and it was another very encouraging week. Last week we wrapped up creation with Adam and then Eve and the fall of Satan. We taught on some things that were a direct contrast to their culture and beliefs. 1 being the value of women, and how they were created by God with a spirit like just like men. (Meaning- they have the same value as men, and God values women the same as men.) The Dem look at women as a possession just like their pigs. They constantly say women do not have brains and were created to serve the men and have zero value, besides raising children and working in the gardens.

They also learned how if they were to eat from the one tree God said not to, they would die. Not immediately, and not just physically, but like a branch Dylan cut down in front of everyone. When it is cut off from it’s life source, it will begin to die. When He cut the branch it still looked alive, the leaves were green, the branch is strong, but over time it will slowly dry up and die. Adam and Eve were like that once they disobeyed God and ate the fruit.

Another big thing was how all spirits that here on earth, were originally angels who decided to follow satan. That, spirits here on earth are not from past people who have died hanging around and, in the beginning, all of Gods talk was “straight” but over time humans have made Gods talk “crooked”. Because of that, they need to throw away the things that they believe that are not in the Bible, and to take hold of these new things we are teaching from Gods word.

The response and conversations that have been going on have been very encouraging. We have heard men talking amongst themselves saying, “We have been lied to and now we are hearing the truth.”

Other things that have been encouraging, is the Dem on their own are realizing how important this talk is. Last week there was 3 different big issues that normally based on their culture would prevent them from either leaving their homes, or even doing other things until the issues were resolved. But they on their own have changed their norms in order to hear Gods talk. 1 was a death where normally they would mourn for 1-2 weeks and not leave their yards, but they decided to come to the teaching in the mornings, and then return to their homes to mourn. This has never been done here before.

Another is an adulterous situation, where normally there would be talks of war and anger. My language helper is family of the woman who had an affair and he said to me the other night, “The enemy that we have is strong, and he doesn’t want us to hear the Creators talk. He is going to cause us lots of problems now so we won’t go listen to the talk.”

As he told me this, he was on his way to make a tribal peace talk. His family is going to request a payment (pigs) for the wrong doing, and tell the guilty party (Family of the man who had the affair with the woman from his family) that they do not want to fight and war. They want peace so that they can hear the Creators talk.  This is so awesome.

Another guy came up to me the other day and said the same thing. He said, “The enemy is strong and he doesn’t want the Dem to hear the true talk.” He said, “From the beginning until now, our eyes have been in the dark, and we didn’t know what was true. But now, the talk that you guys are telling us is true, and the enemy does not want us to hear it, so he is going to cause many more problems now, tomorrow, and next month.”

These are things we as believers know, but the Dem on their own are understanding this already, and are trying to change their cultural norms in order to come faithfully and hear the truth. Little things like this…

… the Dem think a certain frog is a “spirit” and they are afraid of it and won’t touch it. Well after the teaching yesterday one of these frogs jumped out next to me and they started calling it a spirit again until one tribal guy came up and said, “No, It’s not a spirit. Remember what we have been learning? All these things were created by the Creator, and when he created them, He did not create them with a soul or spirit. They are just animals. We do not need to be afraid of them.” Of course, I was thrilled to hear this, and the man was still afraid to touch it, but baby steps here are very encouraging. Little nuggets of truth planted in their minds, causing them to question what they’ve believed their whole lives is all we are doing, and letting the Holy Spirit do what He does. So cool!

We are now into week 3 where we are going to introduce a redeemer who will come and crush the head of the serpent. We talked today about how Satan is a liar and deceiver and will not be an obvious enemy, but rather a deceptive, adversary who hates all things God loves and is always trying to deceive us humans and destroy us.

Please continue to pray for the teaching. As I mentioned… this is marathon, not a sprint. The first 3 weeks have been mind blowing for us to see the response and desire to hear these truths, but we know our enemy is not going to give up easily. Enjoy some pictures and thank you again for your faithful support. Those of you, who have been praying and supporting us have invested in this process as well and we do not take it for granted what so ever. Thank you!

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