What's been happening lately with missionary work and studies? Family picture, along with evangelism photos!We have had a full month! I’m so excited to share with you some of the things we have had going on! Below our family picture is a few evangelism pictures of a St. Patrick's Day parade we went to so we could share the Gospel there! Also, it’s been so fun to watch Taliah grow! But before I explain more about that, let me share a little bit more about us, in case this is the first blog you’ve read. Missionaries to Papua New Guinea!We are missionaries in training to Papua New Guinea! My husband, Daniel, was born and raised in Australia until 2020, when he moved to America to pursue missionary training not far where he was born. If you look at this map of the world, and look to the bottom right, you’ll see Australia. The pointy tip to the right is where Daniel was born. It’s kind of funny…because it looks like it’s pointing to Papua New Guinea (which is the country right above it). Why Papua New Guinea? Papua New Guinea is the only country we know of where unreached, remote tribes are asking for missionaries, yet they have no access to the Bible in their language, or to any solid teaching/teachers within the church, because they have no true understanding of the Gospel. Most other countries that you could consider “unreached” have the Bible in their language, or they have access to churches, and if they don’t, they are in extremely persecuted areas (which greatly hinders progress in evangelism). Because of the massive need and lack of laborers–that’s why we want to go to Papua New Guinea! But how are we training to get there? A flashback to Daniel’s first seminary whiteboard!Daniel is doing seminary! After we completed a missionary training program (I finished my degree at Ethnos360, which is a missionary Bible institute), Daniel enrolled in Expositors’ Seminary, so he can prepare for the field! We have done a first- and second-year Greek program together, and now Daniel is taking Hebrew (I’m doing the class too, along with another Greek class). On top of Hebrew, Daniel has five other classes (more on each class later). But, besides studying, what else are we passionate about? Park evangelism!While Daniel is busy studying, Taliah and I usually have a great time at the park! Parks have been the most fruitful place we have found in Phoenix to share the Gospel–so we love going to them! No, we don’t believe we have the “gift of evangelism”, as many have told us, we just know that our time is short here on earth (we aren’t promised tomorrow), so we want to try to use our time wisely while we still have it (though we fail often). Because we want to train Taliah in the ways of the Lord, we have a “system” when we go to the park, so she takes to it well. When we first get there, we pray, and then she knows it’s time to stay in the stroller while I go look for people to share the Gospel with or give tracts to if people don’t want to talk. After that (once I’ve tried to connect with every female I can see), it’s time to play! Playtime is really fun too, because sometimes I can have Taliah give tracts to people or strike up conversations with other moms with young children while she’s playing! Highlight of a park conversation: please pray for Jaclynn! She was open to hearing about the sinfulness of man (our lying, stealing, etc.), and our need of the Gospel, because we could never make it to Heaven through good works. Her demeanor and response to the Gospel (the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who is God in the flesh) was encouraging! Keep tribes in your prayers too!So, what exactly should you pray for in Papua New Guinea? The current “Do Tribe”, who received the Gospel a little over a year ago. Pray for the believers to be strengthened in the Lord, and for more converts as time goes on. One family is there right now, the Mitchell’s, and they are continuing to teach the tribe post-literacy, so prayers for that would be great! Pray for other tribes (including Do) who have been harmed by dangerous gangs in the jungle. Pray for a team who wants to be established in Papua New Guinea within a year or so, that they would be able to go forward with that (if the Lord wills). Pray for the unreached, who still have no Bible in their language, and no missionaries to preach the Gospel to them. That’s why I love this Gospel tract!It’s such a great picture of how transient life is. And…it’s helpful to remember that, though this shows six stages of life…thousands of people never make it into even the second stage of life…per day. Here are some quick statistics just to show you how urgent the Gospel message is to proclaim to a lost and dying world:
How many are unreached, helpless from murder, and going to Hell? Only God could know.
(See Wycliffe’s website for more information.)
That’s why it’s so crucial to get the Gospel out there, and to do all we can to help a lost and dying world see the One they are rebelling against. So that’s why we use tracts!We love Gospel tracts, because they can get into those “hard to reach places”, like the Phoenix Children’s Museum! Though there weren’t many people to talk to when we went to the museum with a friend from church, we had a great time placing tracts in fun places, and Taliah had a blast! Can you find some comic tracts in two of these pictures? Also, if you need some “tract” encouragement, please listen to this podcast: Living Waters Podcast link: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-living-waters-podcast/id1587017158?i=1000552113352 We had great fellowship there, and we look forward to going back (we found out they allow you to go for free on Fridays, so we plan to go back and try to talk to people there before evangelism at First Friday’s (an art festival in Phoenix). Because time is of the essence… What time is it in PNG?Where we hope to go in Papua New Guinea is 17+ hours ahead of us currently (that changes because Arizona doesn’t do daylight savings. It can be confusing, but I doubt we’ll be thinking about that much when we’re there. So, what is the plan on the field? We want to teach the tribal people how to read and write in their own language (literacy), after we learn the trade language (which is called Tok Pisin; I plan to start Taliah off with it early). Then, after we’ve learned enough of their language and culture to talk with them efficiently about the things of God, we want to go through the Bible chronologically with them, explaining the Gospel clearly so that they can truly understand the things of God. Finally, we want to establish church elders so they can be self-sustaining, and then translate the Bible into their language. So that’s why he’s studying!What are Daniel’s classes? New Testament Intro and Survey Exposition and Homiletics Hebrew I Theology Missions Pastoral Leadership Out of those, his favorite is probably Theology, though he really enjoys reading through the New Testament for his New Testament Intro and Survey class, and he loved the book he just finished for his Missions class. Yes…he had a tiny bit of a “study break” because of spring break this month, but that break was the last one he gets for the rest of the school year, so it was spent catching up on homework. But Taliah doesn’t have homework yet… More museum pics!The Children’s Museum was very educational, and hands-on, which made it a fun environment, though it was quite liberal. :/ Since we want to homeschool Taliah, I want to encourage her to get into creativity, and to use her creativity for the sake of the Gospel. It’s so exciting to think about! Right now, I’m working on a document for Taliah (and anyone else who could benefit from it) that gives 50 Gospel-centered activities for children, including crafts, drawing, acting, and other fun resources… …if we aren’t in the tribe before she can do them… Papua New Guinea!Just kidding...this isn't Papua New Guinea...it's actually a random picture above a bathtub in a "showcase room" at IKEA...haha... However...Papua New Guinea kind of looks like this! It's very mountainous, and remote. :) That's why it's so important to go there, because these isolated people groups have not heard the true Gospel. Need more encouragement regarding the urgency of the mission...? This is reality.I know I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. If you saw a bunch of people running towards a cliff to their utter destruction, would you merely sit back and go to the theater? No! You would try to stop them, because human life has value. People are running towards Hell, by the thousands, all around the world. If you go to a hospital or watch the news for even a few minutes, you'll probably see death take it's toll on humanity in one way or another. Are you a Christian? If you are, consider boycotting the passive act of going to the movies, forgo TV and other mindless entertainment. Don't entertain yourself with blasphemy of God's holy Name, perversions of God's design for marriage, and glorification of worldly themes, but instead reach out to those who are dying...before it's too late! Consider reading books!Here are some pics of our Expositors' Seminary church library! If you notice the Bibles in the middle picture, you'll see the Evidence Bible. This little Bible is the most valuable resource I can think of. On top of having the living Word of God contained inside of it (which is more valuable than the finest gem in the world), it is also packed with hundreds of valuable resources for evangelism and Christian growth. You can find all the information that's in it FOR FREE here: Living Waters Evidence Bible Online link: www.evidencebible.com/ And, if you're too tired to read a physical book or to read online (like Taliah was in the picture to the far right), consider audio books! Audio/online books are key in the tropics... What's the climate like in PNG?Papua New Guinea is known as a country that "destroys books", because of the climate. It is very hot and humid! I'm so thankful that Daniel has plenty of experience with that climate! Audio recordings can be extremely helpful for the people, because they tend to last longer in the climate. Prayers for audio resources for those remote mountains would be great! Along with prayers for seminary!As Daniel catches up on his classes for spring break, here are some quick, specific highlights of some of his classes. Hebrew: This class is almost double-spaced this semester, but it has been going really well! Daniel's teacher is absolutely phenomenal; we are so blessed by his willingness to teach with joy! This class is getting into paradigm (memorization) work, but after that, it should be more focused on translation, so we're excited for that! Missions: This class featured Finisterre Vision, the mission organization we're working with, so we were very excited about that! Exposition and Homiletics: This class has been really helpful because it requires making a "quotation catalog" of preaching books Daniel has been reading, which serves for a helpful resource for later reference! And while Daniel has been reading, Taliah has been exploring! Outdoor mall fun!The pictures above show Taliah and I at Tempe Marketplace, which is a fun, outdoor mall! Though we have to be a little covert about sharing the Gospel, we have had good conversations there, along with lots of watery adventures! The first row of pictures shows Taliah writing on a chalkboard (we tell people about the free movies at LivingWaters.com on there). Fully Free Films link: www.livingwaters.com/movies/ Then you can see Taliah getting wet in the remaining photos! And, while Taliah is playing, guess what I've been working on? A novel!I've been working on a novel! Why? In order to try to share the Gospel through whatever means possible, and because I've always wanted to do this! What is it about? Of course, the setting is a tribe in Papua New Guinea. The purpose of it is to explain what life would be like in a remote tribe without solid missionaries. It's a historical, fictional account about what could happen if missionaries came to a tribe, but they left the people to themselves without clearly explaining the truths of Scripture. Some aspects of the prosperity movement are addressed too. More on those topics in a later blog! For now, please read this amazing blog!This is the amazing blog of my close friend Emily and her sisters! Emily gave me the great privilege of writing an article for it, so here it is! Let Me Be a Woman Blog article: letmebeawoman.org/2022/03/03/how-to-evangelize-with-little-ones/ Please don’t just read mine though, look through some of the other articles! They can be super helpful for growth in godliness as a woman! Some are on singleness, some on marriage and motherhood, etc. Take your pick and be blessed by it! Here’s someone who’s greatly blessed… Exciting times at the mall!This specific mall is the only one we know of that has a playground that's open, and it's kind of far, so we don't go often, but we were in the area, so we were excited to visit! It can be fun and encouraging to try to connect with other moms (and give them the Gospel) in such a nicely contained area. And, as you can see, Taliah loves it! We are so thankful for her, and even more thankful for the God who gave us her precious life, and we pray that He will save her one day, too! Interested in partnering with us...or doing something yourself...? Contact us at [email protected] or give at:
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AuthorsDaniel and Sarah Bruce desire to be missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world. Daniel is from Australia and Sarah is from Detroit, MI. They reside in Phoenix, AZ, where they are members at Shepherd's House Bible Church in Chandler, AZ. Archives
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