Hey everyone,

We want to thank everyone for their prayers. So many of you have been praying for the Dem guy who received the news of late stage liver cancer just over a week ago and we want to give a quick update.

The hospital in town couldn’t offer anymore help and advised Petut to come back to Dem and spend his remaining time with family. Before leaving the hospital they were able to extract almost 20 liters of fluid from his abdomen which was a praise and definitely helped alleviate some discomfort he was having.

Petut flew back into Dem land on Friday and the Dem church has been amazing with trying to encourage and pray for Petut. This past Sunday after church one of the other men who have gone through the training alongside with Petut stood up and encouraged the church by wanting to have a tribal wide prayer gathering for Petut at his hut on sunday afternoon. He stood up and said, “Those of us who are Gods children need to gather and go to his house together, and pray for a miracle. The creator is good and knows if our brother Petut is going to live or die but we need to trust the Creator and prayer is so important and lets all go and pray for him together.”

Since Petut has been back, almost everyday countless Dem believers go and visit and pray for him and that he would be comforted by the Holy Spirit and if it is God’s will for Petut to be healed then He can easily do that, but if not, God is still good and His character is good.

It has been so encouraging to see the Dem church be so faithful in praying. On Sunday while Bri and I were sitting with Petut I asked how he has been sleeping and he said, “My pain isn’t bad. It hurts a little so I have to move around but I can’t sleep well because there is so many people in the hut throughout the night talking and praying that I cant fall in a deep sleep.”

The Dem are keeping him up cause they are praying too much!! lol

We praise the Lord that Petut pain isn’t too bad right now. Please continue to pray for his pain and strength through this process. We don’t know how much longer he has but the Lord does and we are trusting in Him.

Hello friends,

In the last update we mentioned how we started training 5 men and 2 ladies to be the first trained Dem Bible teachers/evangelists. One of the men’s name is Petut. We are asking for you to pray for a miracle for Petut. I will give you a lil background first…

Petut and his wife Tenonggolina have been faithful followers of Yagwe since they heard the gospel in their langauge for the first time back in 2021. In 2021 when we started the chronological Bible lessons they had a healthy young son around 11/12 years old who became sick and with what we believe was either Meningitis or Tb that went to his brain and resulted in their son ending up in a vegetative state. They were in town at the hospital for about a month and then returned to tribe for a time. Their son required around the clock care and so after a month or so in Dem-land they decided he needed to go back out to town to try and get help. While in town their son passed away.

When they returned to the tribe their very new faith was unwavering. They would say “The Creator is good always. Even though our son has died, the Creator is in control and is still good.” This was so incredible to witness first hand their faith in the Lord and it never stopped.

That was in 2021 and since then they have been so hungry for God’s word. They never miss an opportunity to hear God’s word and Petut leads a study/prayer meeting in his area every week. Petut has a hunger to tell his family and others the truth and share the goodness of the Lord. Hence why he was one we felt would be great for the first Bible teacher/evangelism class.

We finished the training a few weeks ago and Petut was excited to keep learning and get an opportunity to teach in larger gatherings. The last week we met (about a month ago) he mentioned he was having stomach pains, and was uncomfortable with some other symptoms. This is very normal as so many of the Dem people have bad worm issues but we had our Dem medical workers give him medicine we thought might help. Fast forward to last week it was obvious something else was going on, he was in a lot of pain and stopped eating and Bri and I felt like he needed to get medical help in town.

Petut flew out to town last friday and was rushed to hospital to get USG and other tests as there were some concerning symptoms. After tests and scans they discovered that Petut has late stage liver cancer and doesn’t have much time left. The Doctors here have said there is nothing they can do as his condition is just too bad and he needs to go back to his home and spend his remaining time with his family. This was so hard to hear and also to make sure he understood what the doctors were telling him as his first language is not Indonesian.

Ive been able to communicate to him through another Dem guy who lives in the town who has been going to hospital everyday, along with the Teall’s (our co-workers who used to live in Dem-land) and also another Dr friend who has been going and making sure he agrees with the local doctor’s assessment.

When I asked Petut what he wants me to tell his sisters and his mother who are here in Dem-land worried about him he said, “Tell them I’m very sick and there isn’t any medicine for my sickness and Im coming home. (which culturally means he is going to die) Tell them to not be sad because the Creator has planned this with my life, and my life is in His hands.”

We are trying to get him back into Dem-land ASAP, hopefully this Friday. Please pray for his family and for Petut. Bringing him back in here to spend his last days/weeks/months are not going to be easy. Please pray his pain would be minimum, please pray for the Lord to do a miracle as we know He can. But if He chooses to not save Petut’s life, that he would go quickly and as painless as possible.

We are heartbroken by this but so encouraged by his faith and we know that when he gets in here, he will continue to praise Gods name and trust His plan. We appreciate your prayers for Petut and his family. We don’t know if he has days or months left so please pray! Thank You!