We had been working with a local partner for about 5 years.  She was a single lady who gave up a lot in order to stay committed to her vision for sharing the good news with unreached Hindus.  She had several groups of new believers that she was discipling and reaching out to here in our city.  But last year, she received an offer of marriage, and she accepted.  The culture on her home island is still very strong, especially in the rural areas.  The process for her wedding date and dowry being settled took about 6 months.  It was one of those things where cows were involved…

Sadly, our local team said goodbye to Yati, and she went to prepare for her wedding. I went with Made, another one of our local partners about a month later to attend the wedding event.  Made and I represented our team at Yati’s wedding…giving our blessing. It’s a 3 day event with ceremonies at a church, in the groom’s village, and then the bride’s village.  I stayed in Yati’s home village, which is very ‘rustic’…no electricity and no immediate access to water.  Apparently, there was a river in the area, but it was far away and nearly dried up (we were there at the peak of dry season).  We didn’t shower or wash our hands the whole time we were there.

Yati is doing well in her new role as a wife and is expecting a baby in June!  She will also start a discipleship/Bible school in the city she lives in, training local young people to go out and do ministry to unreached places in SE Asia.  We still have many people groups here in SE Asia that are classified as UUPG (unengaged, unreached people groups)… meaning no current team or person among the group with a goal of reaching out and sharing truth.

 

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