Amos and his wife, Etowa, were among the first to place their faith in Christ when Daapoi finished presenting the Gospel in a Dao village last week.

Daapoi was both rejoicing and grieving at the same time. The Dao Bible teacher and his wife, Otopina, just lost their young daughter, Ikimiya, to an illness. She became sick as the teaching was coming to an end.

The Dao couple carried their daughter the two days hike back to their village to get medical help but it was too late. The young girl, the couple’s only daughter, will be buried close to where their best friend and co-worker, Wikipai, was buried in October.

Amos and Etowa know the sorrow of burying a child. Six months ago they buried a daughter. At the time Etowa told missionaries Scott and Jennie Phillips, “My children keep dying and my heart is so sad that I feel like my spirit has left me altogether. I know, however, that you carry the message of how to go up to the good place above the sky. So when you come to teach us I will be there listening to the teaching every day. I am waiting for the day that you will bring us these words.”

On that occasion six months ago Amos said, “We are like people living in the dark and all we need is someone to bring us the source of light. We know even now that the words you bring are that source of light. Bring us these words. Teach us these words. My wife and I wait for the day that we can live in the light.”

Amos and Etowa and other of their Dao friends are now rejoicing in the light they have.

Please pray for them as they learn more about the life they have in Christ. And pray for Daapoi and Otopina as they deal with their emotions — mourning the loss of their daughter and yet rejoicing in the work God did through their faithful teaching.