Here is the report on the latest outreach to the tribes of the South Omo. The outreach was led by Mr. Bark Fahnestock, our replacement while on furlough. Thank you all so much for praying for this work. God Bless you all and May you enjoyed a God-saturated New Year. Trent
On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, Marcus Lehmann and Helimission flew Markos, Maala, Daniel, the 11th grade Nyangatom lad in Jinka (he and Maala had come to Alduba the previous evening), and Bark to western Ethiopia. The purpose of the trip was to locate Taposa and, using Ben Skaggs’ CPG material, share the gospel with them. Trent and Marcus had suggested the focus be where they had previously done outreach—a place called Lobatulia (or Lorumor). To our surprise, we discovered the people in this area are all Nyangatom, that the Taposa are evidently not in Ethiopia at this time of year (at least not in this area), having taken their cattle further west into the Sudan. The initial landing was to the south end of a series of villages, separated from one another by a kilometer or two. Some 25 adults, mostly women, came out of this southern-most village to greet us. The older men among them recommended we camp a short distance further north. We moved the helicopter and set up camp under a pair of trees. A group of older men with an assortment of automatic weapons sat in the shade with us for several hours. We used the opportunity to explain why we had come—to tell them about God and the salvation He offered. Markos spoke to them about that. The men responded with evident appreciation and explained that we were very welcome, that there were three things they hoped we would bring to them. First, was truth about God. Second, they needed medicine for their cattle, and thirdly, they wanted school for their children. They spoke about the treatment that had been provided earlier for their cattle and hoped the doctor would come again. We assured them that he would. We encouraged them to pray about these needs and offered to pray right then with them about these matters. They thought that was good. They then gave us their blessings, asking God to bless our trip, our teaching, our health, the helicopter, and a half dozen other things. The leader would pronounce the blessing on each of these, at which all the rest would repeat it. That evening we trekked back to original village where Daniel, Markos and Maala spoke to a small gathering, again mostly women. We stumbled back to the campsite in the dark without getting lost or breaking a leg, and ended our day.
The next morning we visited another small village to the east. The three or four people there suggested we go on further to a larger village. There, a number of men (some were among the men who had come to our campsite yesterday) and women gathered under a tree to listen to us. Markos, Maala and I spoke with Daniel interpreting our Amharic. When we finished they all applauded! Two women stood up and told us that this is what they needed to know and wanted us to come back, spend time with them, and tell them more because, as they said, “We may know how God created Adam and then woman from his rib and how they sinned and all of us are sinners; but we don’t know anything else about what God does, but we do trust Him. We need to know what He says.” They also mentioned medicine and teaching for their children. On the way out of that village we stopped and prayed for a young mother and her sick infant.
Needless to say, I seized the opportunity and quickly launched into a lesson on the properties of water.
