Papua New Guinea (MNN) — For a month and a half, a rural Yembiyembi village in east central Papua New Guinea has been under water. The flood waters in some spots are up to 10 feet deeper than the riverbank.
The high waters were over the airstrip which prevented supply planes from landing. New Tribes Mission sent pilots who dropped them supplies. Missionary Brooks Buser said that daily life during the flooding included a lot of ramen noodles and cereal.
Brooks noticed God's hand working in the people's lives. 31 people were baptized; translation work is consistently being accomplished on 2 Corinthians and on the Gospel of Matthew. Also 14 Yembiyembi men who are leaders in the church have been selected for formal leadership positions, such as deacons and elders, in the Yembiyembi church.
"It has been a wild month." Brooks noted. The season of ministry was sometimes gratifying and sometimes terrifying, "but never boring."
During the month, a man, Bill, who has "never set foot in the teaching house and has been openly antagonistic to the Gospel for all the years since it was first presented" came to church. After Bill's wife came in and publically shamed him, believers gathered around to encourage him. He responded by saying, "She has chosen her path, and I have chosen mine. I will not be fenced off from this talk. I will follow this path and see where it takes me."
Pray that Bill will continue to have the courage to come to church. "It's unbelievable," Brooks writes, "to witness what God has done." Pray that God's Word will continue to impact the lives of the Yembiyembi people.
