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| Karla Deuel Teaching Stats and church record keeping to Pastors |
Rev. Jeff Myers’, Church Development Coordinator for the Melanesia and South Pacific Fields and Karla Deuel who works in the Field Office and works with our districts to train in all things statistical, focused on teaching pastors who had traveled to Bana from the two East Sepik circuits. Rev. Jeff brought teaching materials to leave with the pastors, since he was asking them to go and teach the Nazarene Articles of Faith to their congregations. “It is important that our congregations know what their church believes, that when asked or we hear things said, we know what we believe.” He also said, “I told them when we started that I would start them off with a test to see how many of our Articles of Faith they knew.” He went on, “But I told them not to worry because by the end of the day they would be able to pass the test when they took it a second time.” They did with flying colors! Many very good discussions came about because of many good questions and all of the preparations that had prayerfully been implemented for success. Rev. Jeff also had the opportunity to preach one night, preaching on the Nazarene Article of Faith, Atonement. He stated, “It was a great opportunity to show our pastors a practical way in which they could share the Articles of Faith with their congregations.”
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| Our students. |
Rev. Jeff stated, “It was great seeing our pastors engaged in the learning. They truly were eager to learn.” Some of the heavy topics included baptism and communion. Karla reflected, “All of this reminded me that crossing over into the Promised Land was still a place that the battles had to be fought, and each one was a battle by itself to continue to take what God has promised them.” Gabriel was encouraged and stated, “Reports from participants were really encouraging because most of the teachings are practical for the church to move forward.”
Each night we were in Bana there were special services with various speakers and video ministry. On Monday night following a time of praise and worship, for the first time ever in this area, the Jesus Film was shown! As the week progressed there seemed to be a softening of hearts as several came forward seeking relationship with God!
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| Jeff teaching the Nazarene Article of Faith. |
Our first day in Bana, we learned that East Sepik DS Yambe Sike was not well. We were being told that there were no doctors in Wewak, the main city in East Sepik, and that the hospital there was closed. He was seen by a nursing officer however and was diagnosed with pneumonia and an elevated blood pressure. Antibiotics were prescribed but not provided. We all proceeded to agree in prayer for DS Yambe’s healing. Bana Clinc was able to provide the necessary antibiotics which Matthew delivered. Joyfully, DS Yambe was able to make the 4 hour drive to Bana, two days later. Dr. Susan could find nothing wrong with him, and we knew the battle had been won!
We thank God for His hand upon this adventure! Much was accomplished and to God be the glory! Director of Rural Health Services, Gabriel Mahisu made the observation, “God is in control, we had sensed His love and compassion in this trip. For me as RHS director accompanying the team was very special, inspiring and seeing more challenges ahead of me. There are challenges of infrastructure developments, equipments, staffing, and through geographical constraints. There are people there, this trip was not a waste at all, it was a fruitful trip, God has opened doors for the lost to see and receive Christ and for bigger things that is going to come about.”
As the Bana Team was making ready for their departure that Friday morning the people of the Bana area wanted to show their appreciation for all that the team had done. Each member was given a special yam only used, we were told, for special occasions. We know we blessed their hearts and touched their lives because that is what these precious people did to each one of us!
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| Passing out tooth brushes and teaching the kids tooth hygiene. |
written by Karla Deuel, Jeff Myers photos by Jeff
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| Sharing Bible Stories with the Kids. |
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