Rejected to Restored
Mono and Naz
With hope of restoration, yet fully unsure of the outcome, I head in Mono’s direction the day after we arrived in Uruwa. Seeking to show him that his previous relational neglect is forgiven, I reach in my bag and grab a huge, meaty betel nut that is sure to make his mouth water. He takes it and expresses much gratitude, but also seems interested in the community talk that is going on nearby. However, rather than making an excuse to get up and go somewhere else, he continues to sit down with me for a long time. By this already I can tell a change has occurred, but it is truly solidified the next day.
Typically I would leave my house and go find people to hang out with; people rarely came to me. Lo and behold, Mono comes by wanting to hang out! He is showing clear signs of intentionality in our obviously restored relationship!
It gets even better.
In truly uncharacteristic fashion, Mono shows his great desire for deep relationship as he shares that he would like to meet regularly multiple times a week to teach me language starting tomorrow! I make sure I heard him correctly and my smile grows wider than I knew it could. This is above and beyond even what he ever desired before our relationship had been damaged!
In Uruwa talk is not only cheap, it is practically worthless. Though I was so happy about what he said, it would really show the next day if he came when he said he would. The Uruwa people are early risers and as the sun gets higher in the sky, my doubts grow. My friend Vinom comes along and we begin having a great and informative time together. Vinom shares that him and Mono were up all night at a funeral the night before, so Mono is probably still sleeping. As it gets close to noon I have already concluded that Mono will not be coming and probably just tend to his own work after waking up. He wouldn’t even be at fault for this in the Uruwa culture, but to my surprise and delight, Mono is true (enough) to his word and comes!
I can’t tell you what has caused Mono’s incredible motivation and whether it is of self interest or otherwise, but I can tell you that the Lord has responded powerfully to the prayers of many.
We are so glad to be back in Uruwa and eager as we jump back in to learning language and culture.
Prayer and Praise
Praise the Lord we made it all the way to Uruwa! Naz did well all along the way and didn’t even have too bad of a time switching to the right time zone either.
Praise the Lord for some sweet time with our Upegu friends in town before we came to Uruwa. They loved meeting Naz!
Thank you for praying for us in adjusting to parenthood! Naz is a lot to care for but he also exceeds our expectations often and we have already been able to learn language well with Naz in tow.
There is a pretty gnarly pneumonia-like sickness going around in the village. Pray for the healing and life for our friends and that we would remain healthy as the Lord wills for his purpose.
Please pray for our village’s aid post to get up and running soon. They built a building for it and are waiting for the government to send them a doctor and supplies. Currently, the nearest place for medical care from our village is a 6 hour hike away.
We have asked many of you to pray for our relationships in Uruwa and the Lord has responded already in powerful ways. Many of you were praying for Mono and Guong especially and Luke has already seen incredible restoration between himself and Mono. Things with guong seem to be going positively as well. No doubt this is due to many prayers. We have only been here a few days so we will see how our other relationships will do and let you know! Thank you for helping to bring restoration and good relationships for us in Uruwa!
Please continue praying for language and culture learning for us, and our co-workers, the Weavers and the Brendles. We need the Lords help to decipher this language.
Please pray for Jess and the ladies she is going to ask to start meeting regularly with her for language sessions. Pray she would get an honest answer from them, not just a yes that is really a no which is a common occurrence.
Pray for God to be preparing the Uruwa people’s hearts to hear and receive the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ one day. Pray that He would be using our lives to be ambassadors for Him as we seek to display His love and that He would give us insight into how to do that in this culture.
Please pray for continued team unity.
Pray for the continued strengthening of our walks with the Lord as well as our marriage.
Want to receive more frequent updates and prayer requests? Join our prayer group via Facebook or e-mail using the buttons below. And as always, please let us know how we can be praying for you as well!
Luke & Jessica Thek
Luke:
US phone: 8054236830
whatsapp: +18054236830
email: luke_thek@ntm.org
Jess:
US phone: 8165207474
whatsapp: +18165207474
email: jessica_thek@ntm.org
