Thank you

I wanted to stop and thank all of you for praying for me. I was overwhelmed as there were people whom I had never even met praying for me and then calling to ask if everything was alright. Thank you.

The procedure went very well. I went to Waukesha Memorial Hospital early in the morning, got prepped and then was wheeled into the surgical room. That was a little intimidating with all the monitors and all the “stickers” they put on me. I think that my back and front were completely covered in stickers, but with these they were able to see a three dimensional view of my heart on the monitors.

Anyway, after they put me under, they stimulated my heart and were immediately able to find the problem (praise the Lord because sometimes things like this just don’t show up when you want them to). So they cauterized the electrodes that were causing a problem in my heart and then they stimulated it again to see if the problem would re-occur. It did not. So everything was a success. Again, thanks for your prayers on my behalf.

I have been a little groggy due to the anesthesia, and a little sore in places; but I really feel pretty good and just waiting for the entrance points to heal. I will not really be able to see the effects of the procedure until I am able to exert myself and get my heart going faster. Before the surgery, that is when I would have the problem of a racing heart; but that should no longer be the case. Which will be a nice peace of mind on those long hikes in the mountains of New Guinea.

Thanks again for your prayers,
In Christ,
Jason

We send and receive our e-mails through a very slow remote radio link which isn't always reliable. At this moment we have a loaner radio modem while ours is in Australia to be diagnosed and fixed. Would you be willing to sign up for our updates on our web page? Each new post will be automatically delivered to your e-mail. We will go ahead and keep sending you our update via our e-mail address but if something were to happen it would be really helpful only having to send out 1 update to our web page and that way no one's e-mail would get lost while we deal with technical problems:-)

For those of you who know of people who don't have e-mail or internet access, we do send out a snail mail newsletter twice a year. Just let us know and we can add them to the list.

Thanks so much!
Knapp's

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just an update for you

Hey, you can look on the websight to see these guys if you want to remember who they are.

[Note: if you click on the names you will be taken to a page with every post that mentions that name.]

Alis, the crazy landowner who is always giving us trouble... he of all people, I originally thought would never come to the teaching. But he is not only coming, but he is understanding it, and he is getting it, and he is close to salvation (from what I can see). He will definitely be a Peter... with his "angry" style of talking, and his "don't think before you speak" attitude... wow, some of the things he says are really wacked, but he means well. (Just like Peter, "lord, lets build three tabernacles here...")

Also, his brother Morisin is really getting it (probably more so than Alis even). He is faithfully coming, genuinely concerned about his sin, and he is seeing the lack of truth in the established church (and Alis... we did a little blurb on infant baptism, and those two were actually second guessing their traditions... wow, what a break through!) They are seeing that there is nothing they can do to merit God's salvation, and they are waiting for the time... one question the other day after we taught on John 3 was, "if we are born again, can we sin and be an old man again, and then be reborn again?" I love it... eternal security will be preached right along with the gospel in a few weeks... and that is going to be the clincher. Knowing that they do not have to "perform" in order to maintain their salvation... all is on the shoulders of the Savior. How freeing that is going to be for them...

just like Tingon, who is still on a high. He left for 3 weeks to go around with the doctor and another couple guys for a "government fund raising time". He got them all together and was telling his testimony to them in one of the houses... he told me how it went, and he said, "the doctor and some of these other guys are super close to believing!" So, he is a tremendous testimony.

Our ol buddy Kliford, though, has all but disowned us. He has totally left us and we never see him anymore. He has not come to a teaching morning for 3 weeks now, has totally missed everything about the deliverer, and is off running his fool head off to all the other villages chasing after the dream of cargo. They are opening up these cargo houses all across this peninsula from the coast up to here. Every village is doing it, and so all the "head men" from all the other ones run off to "help' with the opening of them. The big "profet" guy that came to Yapang and prophesied that there would be 3 days of darkness, large earthquakes, tons of food, etc. (and said if it happened they would do the human sacrifice stuff) is still there. And it still isn't dark, and it still hasn't been earthquaky, and they are actually running out of food, so they sent a letter up here the other day asking Lengbati to carry down food because the "big man" is getting hungry. What a sham! What total blindness on the part of Kliford! BUT, we are not giving up on him... his time is coming. I believe God is going to bring him to a complete end of himself, and then he will come back with his tail between his legs (or as they say here, "after skinning my teeth") and he will be wanting the eternal life. We will see.

Lets see... Oh, there are a bunch of young guys from one line here that have been coming... they don't talk much, but they are faithful... answering the question correctly. They sit off to the corner, but they are interested. Pray that they will believe and that we can get to know them... they are tough because they are so "shy"... but we are finding an in with them now.

Lets see, oh, and Pot is still coming every day. He is very close as well to understanding. After the fight on New Years, some people didn't want us to shake their hands because they were "sinners"... but we did the message on why Jesus came... to call sinners, not those who are righteous. So we said, man, we are here for you guys... we are all sinners, in the same boat, if it were not for Jesus. We love you guys. Boy, that kind of interest just blows these people away... everything to them is performance based, not just unconditional love.

Another guy named Oki has been coming... another very quiet guy, but he is totally on board; totally getting it, and I am excited for him... pray that he will get saved as well. Some of the older guys who in the beginning were fighting about words and different phrases and such are actually coming around... they never mention words anymore... they are interested in the meaning of the Bible instead of how it is said. That is a huge step for some of these guys, and it is awesome to see the change.

So, there have been some bad things, but in the midst of the "glaring" difficulties and the "setbacks" (which are not setbacks, but in reality are used by our Father to draw all to himself), there are some glimpses of hope. Thanks for praying.

Your brother in Christ,
Jason

First Day of Teaching

6:00am the rain stopped
7:00am we got up to the village and were told "we have a problem, many people have showed up for the teaching from far away villages and we don't have enough food or firewood for them and barely enough for ourselves. The rain is rotting everything."
8:00am the teaching started....a quick look over the crowd...300? All of their feet covered in mud.
11:00am the teaching stopped and the people asked us to keep on teaching through the night and through the next day until it was done. They begged and said "we are starving for spiritual truth, please don't stop."
12:00pm It started to rain again and we headed home.
4:00pm 6 different people stopped by in the pouring rain to say how happy their hearts were to hear the teaching and learn about God's Word. They can't wait for tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I felt completely overwhelmed, at the start, my tongue was so heavy I felt like sitting down and quitting. But I threw up a prayer and asked the Lord to grab my tongue and to cause me to say what he wanted me to. From that point on, I was no longer TRYING to speak, it just came from the God of all languages. Praise Him.
Our hearts are heavy with another issue: the rain just keeps on coming, and the mud just keeps on rising. This is supposed to be dry season, and it is worse than most rainy seasons. Pray that in spite of the weather, people will continue to come through the mud to hear the word of God. Thank you for your prayers, keep it up.

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Speak Boldly

"By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas..."

May this be the song of the Tobo people after they hear the great news of what Christ has done for them. He indeed is the HOPE of all the ends of the earth, and we ARE at the ends of the earth as the meaning of the name of our mountain range (the Finisterre Range) is "The Ends of the Earth".
The Bible teaching will start on October 16th, 2006. For those of you who have been praying and fasting with us for the salvation of the Tobo people... thank you! Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. Please continue to PRAY WITH US, "keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for the saints":
1.) That words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel... that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. (Eph.6:19-20)
2.) That the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and BE GLORIFIED, just as it did also with you. (2 Thess. 3:1) (Pray that the word of God will be magnified in the eyes of the Tobo people as they hear it for the first time in the heart language.)
Thank you for your prayers, for as we know, the battle is not ours, but the Lord's! And He IS the victor!

For His glory,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

The true mark of a good Tobo friend

What is the true mark of a good friend here in Tobo?

Someone who will pick out the lice for you.

Thank you for your support and prayers. We can feel you "picking our lice out" over the miles:-).