Church cares for ill believer
For many Dinangat women in Papua New Guinea, the only item on their Christmas wish list is a bag of rice.
A group of men actually hiked for two days last week to go to a store and get some rice and canned fish for their families for Christmas.
Yukite, one of the Dinangat believers, is about eight months pregnant and has been quite ill. Her husband is away in the city, leaving her with three small children to care for. She can barely sleep at night because she is so short of breath and she doesn’t have food in her house since she can’t walk to her distant gardens.
"As I visited her this morning and brought her some rice I had to hold back my tears for I was shocked at how bad she looked," wrote missionary Elli Schlegel.
Elli went through the village telling everyone about Yukite’s plight. "During the day I kept seeing people stopping by her house to offer help." Elli wrote."It is such a wonderful thing when the church rises up to help and care for each other."
The believers were discussing what it means that Jesus came to die for our sins in their last teaching session. The example used was if a thief came to your house and stole all your money and was caught by the police, would you go to prison for him?
The Dinangats answered, "No way, we would never do that." Then it became quiet and suddenly the lights came on and some of them said, "But Jesus did exactly that for us. We deserved eternal punishment for our sins but God himself who is perfect and without sin did exactly that -- He took our punishment on himself -- for us."
Pray that the Dinangat believers will continue to grow in compassion and will clearly understand Jesus’ great sacrifice for them. Pray too for Yukite to get well.
A group of men actually hiked for two days last week to go to a store and get some rice and canned fish for their families for Christmas.
Yukite, one of the Dinangat believers, is about eight months pregnant and has been quite ill. Her husband is away in the city, leaving her with three small children to care for. She can barely sleep at night because she is so short of breath and she doesn’t have food in her house since she can’t walk to her distant gardens.
"As I visited her this morning and brought her some rice I had to hold back my tears for I was shocked at how bad she looked," wrote missionary Elli Schlegel.
Elli went through the village telling everyone about Yukite’s plight. "During the day I kept seeing people stopping by her house to offer help." Elli wrote."It is such a wonderful thing when the church rises up to help and care for each other."
The believers were discussing what it means that Jesus came to die for our sins in their last teaching session. The example used was if a thief came to your house and stole all your money and was caught by the police, would you go to prison for him?
The Dinangats answered, "No way, we would never do that." Then it became quiet and suddenly the lights came on and some of them said, "But Jesus did exactly that for us. We deserved eternal punishment for our sins but God himself who is perfect and without sin did exactly that -- He took our punishment on himself -- for us."
Pray that the Dinangat believers will continue to grow in compassion and will clearly understand Jesus’ great sacrifice for them. Pray too for Yukite to get well.