Dedua SALT Course Reports

Dzudzumau SALT Course

1/10/2016 - 16/10/2016

There were 280 graduates from the Dzudzumau course. These were the attendees who met the 8 day attendance requirement. Each day many more people were in attendance.  Some days during the course the total number of attendees for the Bible lessons was closer to 400.

Roughly 300 people were ministered to during the course outreaches.  There were 4 outreaches run during this course. These were to villages a 2 to 3 hour hike away. Most of the population from the closer villages were already attending the course in Dzudzumau and so they chose to focus the outreaches on farther away villages.

A few Course Testimonies:

Elderly Man: 

      "I am so thankful to God for this Bible study. The study book is in my own language and shoots straight to the point. I have never had a Bible study workbook like this in my own language before. I grieve for my Fathers who went to their graves without a Bible study workbook like this one to help them in studying the Bible in their own language."

Lutheran Church Leader and School Headmaster:

       "I have been challenged by this entire study. But the main theme that has challenged me has been the teaching on love. Do I show love to others? I know here during the course it is easy... but when I go back to my home... will I show love to others? Especially those of other churches? I have been challenged by the unity of the SALT team. They are from different churches and yet work together in love. I need to show this same kind of love to others, especially my brothers and sisters from other churches."

Lutheran Evangelist:

      "I am a leader in the church... Yes... but in my own home, with my family, love is absent.  I have been greatly challenged by the love of God and realize I must show His love to others in everything I do."

Young Man:

      "I thank God for sending His servants here to preach the Word. I was running around like a fool. But God has be teaching me many things during this course. He is showing me the road I must take." (With this he asked forgiveness of the audience for the way that he had been acting/treating everyone in the community.)

Elderly Man:

      "I now realize that I have not been living in love as God has called me to be doing. Lesson 4 challenged me in how I have been living. I now pray that God will help me to show His love to others."

Young Man:

      "Normally when a Bible program has been run in this village, I am standing on the fringes of the crowd looking in.  I haven't been too interested before as to what was being said from the Word.  Praise God that this course has been different.  Some how God brought me inside the tarp structure on day one and I received a SALT workbook.  Since then I have been sitting inside listening to every word being shared from the Word.  The Word has been gripping me and now I have given my life to Christ!" (With this the young man broke into tears.)

Additional Highlights:

The Village of Dzudzumau was very organized.  They had gathered garden produce and firewood for all in attendance.  At the end of each day's lessons... the attendees would line up to receive firewood and food.  Thus nobody had to rush out of class to go find food for their family.  Because of this, everyone was able to focus on the Bible teaching for the whole two weeks.

There was quite a hunger for vernacular Bibles during the course.  Because Dedua is quite mountainous, many at the Dzudzumau course had not yet made it to Hoboc where the newly printed Bibles were stored for sale.  During the course many wanted to get a Bible, but didn't want to leave the teaching to go to Hoboc to purchase one.  By God's grace several woman from Hoboc carried 70 Bibles over the mountains to Dzudzumau.  When the Bibles arrived there was a stampede to purchase them.  The supply ran out within minutes... at the end the local police officers were trying to budge in line to get the remaining few copies.

The village had built a massive tarp and bamboo structure for the course to be held in.

Hoboc SALT Course

17/10/16 - 31/10/16

There were 288 graduates from the Hoboc course. These were the attendees who met the 8 day attendance requirement. Each day many more people were in attendance.  Some days during the course the total number of attendees for the Bible lessons was closer to 350.

Roughly 1014 people were ministered to during the 8 outreaches run in the surrounding villages. These villages were a 2 to 3 hour hike away.

A few Course Testimonies:

A middle aged woman:

            "I am a sinner. I praise God for the teaching from His word. I have been convicted about worshipping stones and leaves along with my family. We are on the border of this language group and so we have not received teaching from God's Word like this before. I thank God that I have come and He has been teaching me His truth."

A retired church leader:

            "I have been deeply convicted by God. Through the lessons He has shown me that I have been living like a Pharisee. I am always judging others. And the words I use are designed to cut others down. I pray I can start living out of love."

Two Men:

            During the first week of the course, a man was cut up by several boys on drugs. However over the weekend they reconciled and started attending the course. During lesson eleven, the two parties stood up to testify about God's grace in their lives in brining them to the point of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Additional Highlights:

There were people who walked from two to three hours one way every day to come to the SALT lessons. 

Over 50 vernacular Bibles were bought during the course.  Almost everyone else had one already.

The outreach was a big hit.  The church leaders were excited about the possibility of going on more outreaches. Pray that God would guide the leaders as they seek to take the teaching from the Word to the surrounding villages.