Missionary Update: Mark & Holly Woodard
Post Date: 2012-02-10 09:29:51
February 1, 2012
Woodard Update from Mariama
``How are we going to mark and choose pastors? They are not bananas that we can peel and see their insides, but You, Great Creator Being, You see their insides. So, Great Creator Being, you pick our pastors for us. You will pick pastors that teach us well, walk well, and look after us well``
(Prayer from a believer near the end of teaching in I Timothy and Titus, about how elders and pastors are chosen)
Greetings Friends & Family Across the Globe!
We are SO GRATEFUL for each one of you that have stood the test of time, with us, in this church plant among the Bagwido people. Because of your prayers, your sacrifices financially, your support, and your encouragement, we are still here, 11 years in, working towards a common goal. You guys have been the backbone of our ministry as we could not be here without you. THANK YOU for continuing to stand us. We are seeing growth; we are seeing change; and we are seeing God work things out in His time and His ways here in the Mariama village and in our sister church of Angnamai.
Here are a few bullet points to keep you in the loop of what has been going on:
-Bible teaching in I Timothy and Titus are completed, we will move into I and II Thessalonians next.
-Our coworkers, HOLMQUISTS, are back on the mountain with us. It is great to have our translator back with us as he is the best! As Mark was doing some comprehension checking on Bible translation this morning, one of the believers commented, `` Lord thanks so much for Brian`s work in turning your Word into our own language. It sounds just like we talk & it shoots our inner beings. Thank you for giving Brian the head and the heart to do this, so that we can someday have the whole New Testament in our own language. Oh Great Creator God, this wasn`t Brian or Mark`s idea though; this was your idea, and we lift YOUR NAME up on high for it.``
-Discipleship is continuing, Teaching is continuing, and Training of Elders & Deacons is continuing.
-Please PRAY for a spark of desire again among the adults to join a Literacy Class here. We have a whole curriculum sitting here waiting, a teacher ready to teach, and are just waiting on the students. There are still quite a few women, and some men, in this village that cannot read. They have been feeling the pull of wanting to earn money as there is an Indonesian buyer that comes to the village every couple of months and buys a type of `cinnamon bark` that our people harvest from the jungle. This takes a lot of their time and takes them away from the village many week days. All that to say, it is competing with the need to be literate & we would covet your prayers! Thanks.
-Our families are all well. Allie is loving her new school and just recently made the Varsity Soccer Team, so she is loving that. The boys are busy doing K, 1st , and 6th grades here at home & running, playing, canoeing, and doing many `BOY`things in the late afternoons.
-We are seeing the body of believers here start to be ready for short absences & to stand on their own legs. With this in mind, and with the big picture of church-planting that is happening all over this country, we may have some changes on the horizon. Our first job still remains here in Mariama; but we are looking to fill in for a few months over the summer and help coordinate the Orientation program for new missionaries coming here to work. To do this, we would move out to the coastal city of Wewak for a few months and give the Bible teachers and church here a few months on their own. We will keep you posted on exact dates and times as the LORD makes it clear to us.
We pray for each of you as God brings you to mind, and we love hearing from you via. email! Please delete our portion of the letter when you hit reply J, as we are still in the land of no internet and the slow-mode of receiving email over a short-wave radio. We appreciate you tons! Thanks!
FOR HIS GLORY,
Mark, Holly, Allie, Brandt, Bryce, Brock Woodard
Mark_Woodard@ntm.org
www.ntm.org.give/markwoodard
MAIL: (Mark Woodard)PO BOX 625, Wewak, ESP, 531, Papua New Guinea
BUSINESS: (Mark Woodard) 1000 E. First St, Sanford, FL 32771
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