Dear Praying and Supporting Friends,

Hopefully you have had an enjoyably cool autumn week. Have, “signs of the season change” become more apparent lately? We’re imagining it in our minds and have been able to buy apples from our local motorcycle veggie sellers, so that has offered an opportunity for some fall desserts like apple pie, coffee cake, and cobbler. We’re so thankful for the Lord’s faithful provision of our daily needs, sometimes it can be slim pickins’ in the village but the Lord provides just what we need in the moment.

We have had several opportunities to join in on village activities. Planting the rice crop is in full swing and just yesterday we all went out to see the activity. Usually just Tim goes as it is lots of hard work and a day in the jungle. But Dina and I went along yesterday and enjoyed watching the ladies whip up a meal for 40 or so people with just bare minimum utensils and pots. All is cooked over a couple fires, they use large leaves for plates or bowls and can do amazingly well with roots and spices they dig up in the jungle. They had killed a pig the night before and used ALL the parts for meat, then added a large jungle cucumber and over rice it’s quite a tasty meal. Not many dishes to do as they use leaves for plates, your hand for a spoon, and all share a cup or 2 for drinking out of. So that’s the meal part, and of course the actual chopping down trees, burning the brush, clearing the land, making holes in the ground, and then dropping in a few grains of rice is most of the real work that happens. Quite a process, thus they all take turns working at each others’ fields so that everybody can get it done. Yep in the modern days of year 2007 there are still slash and burn rice growers doing their thing out in the jungles and we’ve had many opportunities to see them in action.

Another exciting incident for us to experience was being present as our next door neighbor gave birth to a healthy little girl. Around 11 am we heard that she was getting ready to deliver so we went over to their house. She was lying on a woven mat on the kitchen floor and in the midst of contractions. Nobody was prepared as she thought she was only 7 months along( major miscalculation I guess). Members of her family scurried around, Tim went on his motorcycle to get a local guy that helps with births and another person went to find the dad and mother-in-law. It was a busy day of planting their fields so a lot of people were gone. We watched and learned a lot about their culture and beliefs as they did numerous spirit mantras, rubbing certain leaves on her stomach, and chasing out any bad spirits in order for the delivery to go smooth. Their method here is to have a guy press/push down on the stomach/baby when the contractions get really heavy. There are ladies pushing on her sides and back along with 2 others massaging her legs. It was very busy and a bit chaotic for awhile, there were after all about 30 people all sitting around watching. Just to clarify there is nothing immodest about the whole thing. She is covered completely and just one experienced lady catches the baby when it’s time. The interesting thing for us to see was that once the baby was out they let her lie on the mat for about 5 minutes while they worked/pushed the afterbirth out, then it was time to take care of the baby. There are all kinds of spirit and animistic beliefs and practices about each part of pregnancy and delivery. It was quite an experience and we have learned a lot through studying things out further since the incident.

I write these 2 stories just to give a glimpse of what our days look like as we study language and culture and also what the people are like that we live among. We’re believing that God is doing the preparing of their hearts even now, so that they will one day hear the truth and respond in faith. Please continue to pray with us for these dear people whom God loves.

Our family is doing well. Dina is growing up and on the verge of walking. I (Andrea) am getting bigger as we anticipate my December delivery. Everyone in the village is trying to talk us into just having the baby interior, saying how easy and cheap it is here. Don’t worry, we’re still planning on being in town for the birth where there will not be any pushing on my stomach.

Ways you could pray for us:

October 12-17 we will have a team of consultants fly into our area to do language evaluations on us. They will evaluate and give direction on our language and culture progress thus far.
Pray for continued health and development for Andrea and the baby as we are interior.
Pray for our team as we work through different issues and challenges that arise.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support. We love to get email and look forward to hearing any of your recent experiences the Lord has had before you in these past months. Thanks for being on this team with us as we walk by faith and not by sight!

After His Glory,

Tim, Andrea, & Dina Ullum

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