Funeral an open door
The village bell rang slowly three times.
“We call it the death bell,” wrote Melissa Jackson, who works among the Siar people with her husband, Jonathan. “There is a sinking feeling in my gut while we try to find out what's happened. This time it was a 4-month-old baby that died.”
The child had been ill for a week. Her parents took her to a doctor but she did not improve.
“Of course seeing the mother lay over the little coffin is heartbreaking,” Melissa wrote.
The good part was that the man who led the funeral is a believer.
“It was neat to hear him use this as an opportunity to share the Gospel message,” Melissa wrote. “There were many people at the funeral who did not attend teaching,” and had the opportunity to hear that afternoon.
Jonathan is preparing to translate more of God’s Word into the Siar language, and will take part with two Siar men in a translation workshop next month. Also next month, Jonathan’s co-worker, Chris Lujan, will begin teaching the Siar believers through the book of Acts, and Jonathan will oversee a new class to teach more Siars to read and write their own language.
Pray that God’s Word continues to make an impact on the Siar people.