Dec. 2023 Prayer Needs Luke and Jessica Thek
The colossal waterfall just across the valley feeds into the violent waters below, and their combined roar is a constant resounding reminder of the place the Uruwa people call home. The people, with a palpable sense of their lack of understanding, are begging to know God’s word in their own language.
In October Luke, our co-worker Nathan, and several church leaders from a neighboring people group called Dinangat went on a survey and spent a week walking around multiple villages of the Uruwa people to gauge their desire for God’s word. While hiking to a distant village we paused to rest by a river. Nathan asked an Uruwa man with us what he thought about all this, about us coming and bringing God’s word. He said, “This is our chief concern. We don’t know God’s word or understand it. We need to know it in our language” Another man said, while sitting by his fire in the morning, “None of us know where we will go when we die.”
We heard this sentiment over and over. People confused and wanting the truth.
The harvest truly is plentiful. Deep within this remote valley in Papua New Guinea God has prepared the hearts of the Uruwa people to desire truth. They are ready and open.
So last week we went back again as families. We told the Uruwa people we are coming to be their missionaries. Some of the women and children on our team got to meet the community and see where we will soon call home ourselves. The other family on our team, the Weavers, are in the states and have their plane tickets purchased to come back to PNG the beginning of February.
In unity with the entire community, one clan has offered us ground that is perfect for our team. There is plenty of space to build our three homes and a team office. This team office will support our team through every phase of our ministry from house building, to culture and language study, to translation of scripture, as well as use for the future Uruwa church leaders. If you’d like to be part of supporting this building project, you can donate here:
We will be returning to Uruwa December 4-11. We will sign official land agreements, conduct a water source investigation, and begin setting posts for the team office. In January, we are hoping to shuttle all the building materials for our 3 houses and the office into the tribe, and we hope to begin house building mid February.