Put God's Words In Your Insides

We just received a very encouraging update from our co-workers Chad & Janeene Mankins who are in Tobo right now busy with teaching, discipleship and translation of the Tobo New Testament. We were encouraged by this little update and just wanted to pass it on to all of you who have been faithfully praying for the growth of the small church there in Tobo.

“The other day I was working on a Bible lesson in Romans and checking some scripture translation of Ephesians with my good friend Welsen. During that time, Welsen said, “I’ve got a new song that we can sing at the end of our meetings on Sunday that I’d like you to hear.” Intrigued, I said, “I want to hear it. Good,” and he proceeded to share the following with me (and this is what it comes out like in English):

God’s talk, God’s mouth-teeth (=words), it has come from his place.

God’s talk, God’s mouth-teeth, it has come from his place.

Let us not leave it to fall, leave it to fall on the ground.

Let us place it in our insides.

Let us not leave it to fall, leave it to fall on the ground.

Let us place it in our insides.

Let us hold it and go, go to our houses,

And we will take and share it and hear/know it.

Let us hold it and go, go to our houses,

And we will take and share it and hear/know it.

I am not usually at a loss for words, but I was overflowing with praise to God for giving my dear brother the gift of composing and expressing songs like this one. “This is great,” I told him. “I think it will be good to sing this and to see the fruit of it appear in our lives.”

And if you’ve enjoyed reading the words of this song, imagine how much sweeter it was for us to hear them sung on Sunday.

God is truly at work in lives here, even in the midst of what often seems like a long, slow process with its fair share of hiccups. God still delights at encouraging our hearts by giving us glimpses like these of the work he is continuing to do in the hearts of His children here in Toboland. And at the very same time, we discover that He is glad to use them to minister to and encourage our own hearts as we too are His children and His “works in progress”.

Please continue to pray with us and for us here. Pray that the words of this song will indeed become fruit in the lives of us all—that we will not leave God’s talk just fall to the ground, but place it in our insides and take it and share it with others and hear and know it.”

· Would you also pray for our co-workers, the Mankins, that God would supply them the strength and encouragement that they need day by day as they minister there in Tobo.

· Just Also wanted to thank you for all of you who were praying for Nisae and I as we ministered at the First Baptist Church in Stryker Ohio this past weekend. We are so thankful for the many opportunities that God gave us to share about what He is doing in Tobo. Friday night we shared with the youth group, then Saturday afternoon Nisae spent time with ladies at a luncheon and in the evening we met with the church for a panel discussion about life on the mission field. Sunday morning I had the privilege of sharing in the morning service and Sunday night we showed our ministry videos and shared about our roles in the Tobo work. Our hope and prayer is that God used this time to challenge many others of the urgency of this task and that many would respond to God’s leading in their lives.

Your hands & feet to Tobo,

Jason & Nisae Williamson

Kadynn, Judah & Eden

Happy Spring everyone!

We have been enjoying everything Spring has brought to Northern Ohio, from the robins, to the tulips, to wearing flip flops again! We are so blessed to be able to experience this time of year in the States, which only leaves us with one more season to experience before we head back to PNG in September.

As we think about returning to work again with the Tobo people one area that has been on our hearts has been the area of Nisae’s role with the Tobo women. One thing we have noticed in Tobo is that the men and women are not very close at all. In our meetings the men will sit on one side and the women will sit on the other side, totally separate (which is part of culture as well). So being a man and trying to build strong relationships and reach the women at the level on which they need to be taught certainly has its limitations.

Nisae has had a real heart for the women and so we've been praying about how God can overcome this barrier. We have recently begun to look for someone to come and help by homeschooling our 3 kids for a year so that Nisae can be freed up to spend the extra hours and finish her language study. This will allow her to begin building relationships with the Tobo women on a deeper level. God has already laid one option before us, we are in contact with one lady who may be able to come for 6 months. Please pray that we will either be able to find 2 people to come for 6 months each or 1 person who would be able to commit for a year. There are many details involved in making this happen but we believe that if this is the Lord's will that He will direct us in this. We really need guidance and wisdom from the Lord, so would you please begin to pray with us about this need?

On the road seeking partners!!

· We've been on the road quite a bit lately, having just returned from a trip to Florida & a retreat in Indiana. Please continue to pray for safe travel & open hearts as we speak. Next weekend we will be involved in a missions conference in Ohio, May 1st we'll be sharing at a church in Michigan, and the 8th-11th we'll be visiting friends in Canada. Before we return to PNG in September, we need to see our monthly financial support raised. Currently we are only at 60% of our recommended monthly support level. We'd like to get 50 people to commit to $50/ month, and we will have what we need to return to PNG! If the Lord is leading you to partner with us in this way, please contact us or send your support to 1000 E. First St Sanford, FL 32771 or go to www.ntm.org/give and type in Jason and Nisae Williamson. Thanks for praying!

What’s going on in Tobo?

We realize that it has been a while since we last sent out an update about what has been going on in Tobo and how you can be praying for this work. Well currently the Tobo believers are being taught (by our co-worker's in the tribe) through Romans and are in Chapter 12 about unity in the body of Christ and how are gifts work together. Also…

· Yeah!! Our co-workers just finished a rough draft of the book of Ephesians! This is great news, however there are many more steps until it's complete. Please pray for a smooth process until it's complete. We can't wait for the Tobo people to hear teaching in Ephesians in their own language for the FIRST time!

· There are many Tobo believers who are faithful & who are growing in the Lord & we praise the Lord for this! Still there are others who need to say no to the temptation offered by their culture and make a stand for Christ. We recently heard that one of the faithful men in our little group has fallen into some sin. This obviously has had a negative outlook within the community, but our prayer is for reconciliation and that God would use this for his glory and as a powerful testimony of forgiveness. Please pray for our co-workers and the church as they seek to be wise in this whole situation and also pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in all of their hearts to grow and mature them in their faith.

· One other thing that has been heavy on my heart while here on Home assignment is raising prayer warriors for the many other Tobo villages that still need to hear this awesome news. There are MANY Tobo people (over 8,000!) who still have not heard and we are praying that the Lord would work in the lives of the Tobo believers to show them the necessity and urgency to begin an outreach to these other Tobo villages. Please pray for this and for everything involved in taking the teaching to another village. We don’t have any timelines yet but are trusting the Lord for wisdom in this.

Thank you for taking the time to read up on our family & ministry and for praying. We continue to depend on the Lord to teach us, mold us and prepare us for what lies ahead!

Your hands & feet to Tobo,

Jason & Nisae Williamson