Where to now...?Evangelism!First of all, happy late 4th of July! It was weird to have the 4th on a Sunday this year, but we were still able to share the Gospel!! We have had Trump trillions for over a year now, so it was really nice to get rid of them, and to plan for new tracts!! Our prayer is that souls are convicted of sin through them! Now, before I get to the move, let me explain more about ministry! A video of a man speaking in Tok Pisin!How are things going in terms of going to Papua New Guinea? Everything is on track right now! I plan to start studying a little Tok Pisin soon! This video is of a guy who is speaking the trade language of Papua New Guinea. The plan is to learn that that trade language, Tok Pisin, and then to learn the tribal language of specific tribal people. Tok Pisin is fairly easy to learn. This video is really engaging if you are interested: Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhGohMxJ9WM&t=21s We have been able to connect more with the Canns, too!! One really helpful, notable conversation we had with Zach Cann was regarding Bible translation. He helped us understand the translation process, as well as update us on how the Do tribe translation is doing! Zach has been translating using an AWESOME translation software that he showed us! Right now, Ephesians is the focus. The Do have around 2,000 verses translated in their language! Pray for their hearts to understand the Gospel, and that one family from the Do team, the Mitchell’s, would be able to get back into the village safety from South Africa! And pray for us to be faithful to help the mission as much as we can while we’re still here! So...how is Taliah? She's cute!!Taliah has been growing well! She's getting bigger every day! It's so fun to see her making more noises and learning how to grab things. We are so thankful for her! In other news... Not thankful for this...Isn't this ridiculous? Ironically, there's no scientific evidence for these made up evolutionary pictures (minus the last one) - they are just drawings. Don't believe me, or have questions on that? Comment below! The last one, however, is more correct than any of the rest. Laziness and apathy are strongly against the will and the character of God. We want to be diligent in the faith and not make this picture...at least the last image...true of us. Guess who sure isn't lazy...? Taliah!She is so active! Her expressions are so funny sometimes! Most of the people I talk with say she looks like Daniel, and I LOVE that! She's so smart already for her age! She's such a mature person already, just like her father! Daniel, my love!!This picture was taken at a local park where we do some evangelism. I just love the way he looks off into the distance! To the right of Daniel you can see the outside of an art museum. It's closed down, permanently, I think. It reminds us of the temporary nature of life. So cheerful!Despite the vanities of the world, we are thankful most of all for the cross. Daniel reminds me frequently about how we need to put our focus on Christ alone. It's so easy to get bogged down by the things of the world, but remembering the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ should be enough to get your face as smiley as this little one. So...more about evangelism... A human right...?This is a store we visited in a mall to put tracts in. It was absolutely awful. The place was so explicit, we had to get out of there almost right away, leaving only a few tracts behind. I didn't notice the REALLY SMALL sign on the left corner of the picture to the left. The things in this store didn't actually have anything to do with homosexuality, but I think they were just waving the popular banner to try to "be cool". "Love is a human right" Our problem starts when we have an entitlement mentality. All that we deserve is Hell. Please consider meditating on these verses: Ephesians 5:1-13, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness or foolish talk, or vulgar joking, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), as you try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. " So thankful for Daniel and Taliah!Look at how cute they are together!! I'm so blessed to have a godly husband who takes spiritual maturity and parenting seriously, and for a daughter that we can train in the ways of the Lord. These pictures show Daniel trying out a baby carrier we got. Usually I enjoy carrying Taliah, but it was fun to see Daniel with her! Because after that we did some evangelism! Golden Rule Tattoo??I could say so much about this picture. This was taken at an evangelism event called "First Friday's". It's held the first Friday of every month. This month, there have been more people attending than we can remember since we've moved to Phoenix! I thought this store really stood out, because, it amazes me what the world does to the things of God. They take stuff in the Bible and they try to make it their own. It never works out well... First Friday's!!What are some conversation highlights? Pray for Ashley! She was pretty open to the Gospel, but was insisting that she was a Christian pretty firmly. She didn’t have any assurance of her salvation, though, and she didn’t seem to be living a lifestyle consistent with Christianity. The mindset she had was one of the things of God being nice, and that going to church was good, but it didn’t seem like she understood the seriousness of the Christian faith. I went through the Law and the Gospel with her, and she seemed like she might look into things. I was trying to not be distracted by her eyes, because she had contacts in that were bright red. Pray for Katie! Pretty sure she was high, but I can’t be sure. She said she liked reading “those pamphlet things” (Gospel tracts) because reading things about God “make her happy”. I thought that was an odd response...so I asked her why and explained the seriousness of her sin through the Law, and the Gospel. I don’t know if I got past her lax attitude, but she seemed to be genuine about how she felt and she looked like she was listening. I explained that God was the standard, and that the Ten Commandments show us His holy, righteous Law. She tried to argue that some things could be good for some communities, and not for others, but I explained to her the objective standard of God’s Law. Pray she takes things seriously!! But wait? What was that first picture? Hebrew Israelites... We run into these guys all the time. This pamphlet was from a group of mostly black men who think that they're Jewish, and some of them believe they're the only ones who can be saved...because no one who's white can be saved... They are very interesting to talk to (see previous blog posts). Guess where else we went to evangelize?IKEA! I thought this sign was ironic. Who gives power to nature? Why is it not okay to say His Name? We can talk about climate change and say that nature gives itself power, or that we give nature power, but that makes no sense. Nothing makes any sense without a Creator. And I'm so glad God gave us Taliah!This happy face did a lot of exploring at IKEA! I think she likes seeing all the bright colors. Also, a number of moms go to IKEA frequently with their little kids. In Phoenix, IKEA is a great place to take little ones who want to get out of the house, but it's too hot outside to do much of anything else! So...what did we explore? Find the tract!See if you can spot the tract in each of these ten pictures. Here's a hint: Eight of them are Reagan tracts, and two of them are I.Q. Tests. IKEA is a really fun place to put tracts, because everything is so creative! It's a pretty causal place, one I never thought of before to hang out at. So...what did Taliah do...? She played in so many different places!!I wanted to see if she could hold a Gospel tract (with supervision) - and she did it! The FIRST object she transferred from one hand to the other was a Gospel tract! YAY! I'm so excited that she's developing her motor skills well, and that she's getting started on things that really matter! So...what's the news with Daniel...? LOI's!HUGE NEWS... DANIEL IS OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED INTO EXPOSITORS!! YAY!!!! I'm so proud of him and SO excited for him to start! But what are LOI's, and what do they have to do with seminary?? These are foundation grants. Daniel and I have been blessed a fun (I love it, I'm not being sarcastic) task of sending requests called LOI's for our mission! The connection with the seminary? The great thing about Finisterre Vision is that everything is connected with our church, Grace Bible. So, I'm primarily doing the LOI's, and Daniel will primarily be doing seminary, all through our church!! NOW...for our apartment!!Here's Taliah's excited face as we moved in! These pictures show a display that Daniel and I are really excited about. It's SO fun to be able to have books and tracts from the ministry that led us both to Christ (Living Waters) out in the open for everyone to see! The first (little picture to the left) shows a Four Gospel booklet, one that Ray gave us personally for free! Under it is an audio format of "How to Bring Your Children to Christ, and Keep Them There", which we highly recommend (written by Ray Comfort). And on the bottom of the first picture is Hell's Best Kept Secret (a must listen-to), a TON of Trump trillions, and an Amazing Grace Flash Mob Gospel tract!! The second picture shows Taliah's shelf! She has an Answers in Genesis book there, a comic Gospel tract, a chessboard, some sweet pictures of Taliah before she was born, two Living Waters books, and a little Baby Animals book! I mentioned most of these things before, if you want to look back at a previous blog. In case you don't want to, I will mention here that the Baby Animals book is especially exciting because it could be used in the tribe! It's perfect for explaining biblical concepts that become SUPER important (terms like lamb...) The third pic is of a Living Waters board game, a chessboard from Israel, emergency tracts, (in the thing that looks like a book...don't tell anyone...) and some RARE and unusual (some out of print) tracts. The fourth pic shows the entire case, and the last picture shows one of Daniel and I's favorite movies, Audacity (fullyfreefilms.com), a money holder tract, a book by Ray on the Holocaust, and some of our What Time is Purple booklets!! More pictures with lots of stories behind them!Starting at the top left corner, we have some tribal pictures with a bilum! A bulim is a bag that women use to carry their babies in (or other goods) in Papua New Guinea! The design is the Papua New Guinea flag! That top row also shows some Israeli oil lamps with two Ray books, one an older version of Hell's Best Kept Secret, another one of Daniel and I's favorites, called "Hollywood Be Thy Name". It's about how Christian's shouldn't be supporting Hollywood. The last picture on the top row includes my special Bible, American Gospel, The Gospel Primer, a mini Australian flag (see the blog on ANZAC Day), a devotional by Ray, and a REALLY good book on Bible translation. The second row includes a book on sermons by Spurgeon, Edwards, and Moody, a SPECIAL edition of Pilgrim's Progress (Daniel proposed with it <3), some Greek books, a booklet by Todd Friel on an extremely important topic, and I have a mini replica of the Dead Sea Scrolls that's opening a Greek New Testament to Romans 15:20-21, "And in this way I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already known by name, so that I would not build on another person’s foundation; but just as it is written:“They who have not been told about Him will see, And they who have not heard will understand.”" The other pics show more of the living room, complete with Taliah, and our Israeli flag! On the third row you can see a world map, with the Golden Rule on top of it. You can also see a missionary calendar we got from Grace Community Church in California. Finally, you can see a map with two of my favorite verses on it (squint for the smaller verse). The places I have marked (if you can't read them) are the Finisterre Mountains, and Daniel's place of birth. I also have Australian flags on the fridge, a Spurgeon million dollar Gospel tract, a Papua New Guinea apron, and a closer picture of one of those pictures I have up with the bilum. Comment below if you have questions about any of these things!! A couple more things...This is on the wall when you first walk in. Most people seem to ask about this one more than all the other things I have around. Someone said...the rest of this makes sense (all the purposeful decor), but why the money? And I said... ...so people will ask, and I can show them that it's really a Gospel tract on the back!! ISN'T THAT COOL? I'm sure you're fully convinced that we have a serious obsessive compulsive disorder now... ...but that's okay!! One more thing!Even though she's not exactly smiling, this is one of my favorite pictures of Taliah. :) But what is this in the window? It's the 10-40 window! Get it?? It was Daniel's super creative idea. :D The 10-40 window refers to the coordinates in the world that don't have the Gospel. Look it up! So...in other words, people groups that still don't have the Gospel - the unreached. Will you help us reach them?
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AuthorsDaniel and Sarah Bruce are missionaries in training to Papua New Guinea. Daniel is from Australia and Sarah is from Detroit, MI. They reside in Phoenix, AZ, where they are members at Grace Bible Church in Tempe, AZ. Archives
February 2024
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