New Believers

We just received this news from our missionaries working with the Dao people in Indonesia. It's exciting news!

"The first two Dao people have heard the Gospel for the first time this week!" wrote missionaries Derek and Sarah Grant. "And they believed! Praise the Lord!"

"As our two translation helpers Daapoi and Wikipai were hearing about the torture and death of Jesus Christ," wrote Scott Phillips, "they were astounded at what Christ went through."

"The words that you are telling me make my heart hurt. This is a talk that would make us cry," said Daapoi. "Jesus could have easily fled from those men or killed them all by merely speaking, but he did not."

Scott explained why Jesus had refused to fight back but instead die a willing death on the cross for our wrongdoings. Daapoi and Wikipai were very quiet.

"I could tell that they were thinking hard over what they were hearing," Scott wrote. "They were realizing that Jesus had died on our behalf just as the lambs had been sacrificed over and over again throughout all the stories they had heard from the Old Testament."

Scott then explained that after three days the tomb was found empty and the angel announced that just as Jesus promised, He had risen.

Wikipai laughed with joy at what he was hearing. "Only the Son of God could do something like that! Only Jesus could come back from death! Is there anything at all that He is unable to do? I don't think so!"

We continued on hearing through how Jesus appeared again to his disciples and walked the earth another 40 days to prove he had conquered sin and death itself. "These two Dao men were soaking it all in with smiles on their faces as they were hearing that Jesus had come out victorious!" wrote Scott. "I began to question them to make sure that they understood what they were hearing." Daapoi was the first to respond.

"If it were not for Jesus, our sins would have never been cleared away," said Daapoi, joy written on his face. "If Jesus had not become the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us, we would have faced eternal punishment! I believe that this message is true. I believe that He died for me!"

Then Wikipai chimed in. "If His sacrifice would not have been enough, God would have never raised him from the dead, if Jesus sacrifice had not been enough then the curtain in God's temple would have never been ripped in half to show us that we could now come into God's presence. I also believe that Jesus death on the cross was for my sins and that His sacrifice was sufficient!"

Scott closed the teaching with Jesus' final command, His ascension into heaven and the angel's words to the disciples. "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking into the sky? Jesus, whom you saw taken up into heaven will come back in the same way you saw Him go!"

When they heard these verses they immediately began asking Scott, "When will he come back? Will he come back today? Tomorrow? Will he come back quickly?"

Scott told them He would come back when someone from every tribe has heard and believed the "Creator Talk" about Jesus Christ.

"Well then we have to tell the others!" they said. "We have to tell our families! We have to tell the Kupekuye clans and the Mokotaka clans! We have to tell the Taomi clans too so that Christ will come back! We have to tell them His message!"

Since the Bible lessons and scriptures needed to teach have all been completed, the missionaries hope to begin teaching on June 11th, with the help of Daapoi and Wikipai. Pray that the Dao people will be as receptive to God's Word as these two first believers.

"God has been faithfully carrying us through and been daily giving us the strength to see His Word brought to the Dao people," wrote Scott. "We are excited to see the awesome things that He will continue to do in the Dao peoples hearts in the future."