Our Good Shepherd & A Great Transition

(As promised, this month’s blog update includes brief highlights from two Bible Story Q&As with Lorot and Lopua. I hope you’ll jump down the page and check them out. They might just give you a fresh perspective on the Scriptures we grew up with!) 

Many of you have seen the updates concerning our arrival in the U.S. in late August. We are so overwhelmed at God’s grace in answering our prayers for more discipleship/training here and for a time of Stateside work and ministry as we seek His face over the future. Words could never express our deep gratitude to those of you who helped make this Great Transition possible! Your prayers and sacrificial giving were/are a blessing too great to tell. 

(Left) With our friends, the Marinos, and my younger brother, Jay;
(Right, top) With my father and stepmother/Mark's in-laws!; (Right, bottom) With a dear friend, Sonya

Mark started classes at Evangelical Institute today. We are both very excited about the emphasis on discipleship and practical theology here. The schedule is busy with both classwork and trade/skills training, but is structured around daily times of individual and corporate prayer and Scripture reading, making the atmosphere of the school very unique. Mark has been loving the hands-on jobs which he’s been given over the last couple weeks, and together we are relishing all the opportunities for relationship-building with classmates and staff. Looking forward to the days and opportunities ahead! Coveting your prayers – that these will be days of tremendous growth and learning, that our eyes would be opened to the ministry opportunities around us, and that God will continue guiding us through this adjustment stage and onward towards His next mission for our lives.

With love and thanks,

Darah (& Mark)

Promise – Isaiah’s Prophecies of a Savior

Q.  This story says Abraham’s descendants led their people to disrespect God. If you are disrespecting someone, what do you do?

A.   A student will disrespect his teacher by not listening to the teacher. And also when the teacher tells him something, he will start quarreling and saying, “Why do you tell me like that?!” (Lorot) 

    Q.  "The Savior would save men from their sins." If a villager asked you, “What is sin?", what would you tell him?

   A. The sin is the thing that you are doing. It’s the bad thing that is coming from your heart then to your mouth and then you are saying it. That is now sin. That is the thing I would tell him. (Lopua)

    A. I will tell him that sin is something that controls your life or makes you do bad things - telling people abusing things. It’s when you don’t follow the Word of God, but you follow the bad ways. (Lorot)   

Q. Isaiah said this Savior would be punished for our sins. Have you ever known someone who took the punishment of someone else? If so, what was their story and why did they do it?

A. No, I’ve never seen. …Maybe a rich person can pay (for someone), but he can’t give his life. Maybe if he wants to save a person, he can give money or one of his animals. But to die…ay! He cannot agree. “The cane remains for the thief.” (Lopua)

The Good Shepherd

   Q.   Have you ever heard of someone giving his life for his animals/being killed trying to protect them?

A. Yes, I know. There are some people who, when the enemy comes to the goats or cows, they just refuse to run. They wait on them (the enemies). Because they know if they run people will say, “Why did you run? Why did you leave your cows?!” So they think, “Ah, it is better for me to die.” (Lorot)

    A. Yes, in Toposaland there was a man who loved his cows so much and then one day he took them to the bush, to the grassland, and the Boyas (enemy tribe) came. When they came, this man did not run, until he died. Then the Boyas took his cow. (Lopua)    

    Q. What did the villagers think about that person? What did the person’s father think?

    A. They were saying that he was a great warrior. His father was still living; he was crying a long, long time. (Lopua)   

Q. Who or what do you think Jesus is talking about when he talks about sheep?

A. I think they are people, those who are following Him and those who may follow Him. (Lorot)

Q. If you know of someone who laid his life down for something, what is the difference between that person and Jesus?

A. Toposa are shepherd of animals, but Jesus is the shepherd of people. (Lorot)

A. Jesus defeated the death. But that man died just like that. It is different…completely. (Lopua)

Q. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” How do you see Jesus and the Father being “one”? What do you think this phrase means?

A. Jesus was sent by God and blessed. And God also said, “You are my beloved son and you will do what I want.” And Jesus said God sent him to come and do the things God wanted. Their desires are the same. (Lorot)

Q. The story says the people wanted to stone Jesus. What happens when someone is stoned?

A. The person is just hurt. He does not die. But if he is a drunkard, he will die. Even in 2013, last year, there was a drunkard there. Another man came and beat him with a small stick, and the man died. …I think for Jesus he would (have died) if people would beat him with a stone, because I think there were many people. (Lorot)

NOTE

Thanks for reading! Just want to make mention that the best part of testing Bible Stories with these boys was not the initial Q&A, though that part was often very insightful. Rather, the best part was the conversations which were stirred up by the Q&As. As you can see, asking key questions can open up a person's mind and show you not only how they interpret an individual story, but also what their theology is regarding the Big Story. With Lorot and Lopua, this gave us better direction in how to disciple them 

and what issues to address specifically in our short time. 

We praise God for the season He gave us to pour into these young men. 

Please call their names in prayer when the nations come to your mind. 

We believe God's hand is on their lives and are eager to see them 

"grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus." 

(2 Peter 3:18a)