Stories from the Last few Weeks
Trip Start
Jun 02, 2005
1
8
12
Trip End
Aug 12, 2005
Madang Ukarumpa and Itokama,
Papua New Guinea
Monday, July 18, 2005
Living for Glory
Erastus Series
28-6-05
Romans 8:18 I consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 2:7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
01 Breakfast in Balina
"How many languages do you speak?" Hannah asked Delwin, Erastus's nineteen-year-old daughter.
"English, PNG Tok Pisin, Solomon's Pidgin, and a little of Mom's language and a little of Dad's..."
As she spoke it suddenly struck me - the Otairobos have given up tok ples (literally 'the talk of their place,' or the local language of their people) so that others could be strengthened in development of their local languages.
Tok Pisin is the language the Otairobos now use to talk to each other. But it is a trade language, a language developed for engaging in business. It is not deep. It is not full of meaning. You have to go roundabout and use many words to get at heart issues. It is a surface-level language. Yet that is the language they know.
Erastus is from the Solomon Islands, and Lois is from the Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea
02 lunch to share
. When they entered the work of Bible translation in 1981, they embarked onto a life-long journey that would lead them far from both of their homes. Because they saw how important tok ples is for personal identity and for understanding the Good News of Jesus, they have dedicated their lives to empowering others with the Word of God in their local languages. It cost them their own languages. "Was it hard?" I asked, "losing tok ples for yourselves?"
"It is hard," Erastus agreed. "But this is one of the things in life that you have to suffer for others and for your own good. God knows what is best for my children. He has plans for them. They're not lost. They're in God's hands."
The Otairobo family has also sacrificed intimacy with their family back home for the sake of the gospel. For Melanesians, this is particularly challenging.
"Because we are a part of a community all of the time," Erastus explained, referring to the situation at home in their villages, "we find it very difficult to be away. We can try to develop our own lives as individual families, like what I am doing now, just me and my wife and our children
03 Good bye Iha
. But we feel something is missing, the links between us and our families back home. We need to have constant communication somehow to help us feel like we are still a part of our family. Otherwise, it can be really difficult. It can have really negative effects on us. We can go crazy and do funny things just because we are feeling we are missing something. We experience lonliness. We develop unnecessary stress because of the absence of feeling of belonging to each other... when we go as missionaries, if we go for long periods like this, that's a big sacrifice."The Otairobos have given upthis and so much more, but they have done so willingly. They know that this world is not their home. The promise Erastus claimed for his children, the promise that God knows what is best for them and has good plans for them, stands true for his whole family. Considering intimacy with Christ and the communion of the saints of more value than personal gain, the Otairobos are looking ahead towards the glory of God and eternity with him.
Here is a brief account of the Namiai New Testament dedication:
Out from the Womb
Namiai Dedication
7 July 2005
1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again ,not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God
04 Pig for dinner
. "Dum - dum! Dum - dum!" The kundu drums beat out the celebration-news to the stamp of hundreds of brown feet. The words of God have come to the Namiai people! His Word has come! Dum - dum! Dum - dum! Dum - dum!
"Welcome, welcome!" the people sang. Dum - dum, Dum - dum, Dum - dum!
"Welcome!"
Amid the excited song and dance a voice rose up, stumbling in painful joy over the voices of the people. What work, what love, what life had been poured into bringing God's Word to these people! What work, what love, what life God had poured in sending his son Jesus to die for the Namiai people! "Yesu!!!" - Jesus! he cried.
A green cave of woven bush material crouched, a womb, waiting behind the ecstatic throng. Inside stood one of the key proponents of the work of the Namiai dedication, waiting. Feathers waved from his hair, red and black, yellow and white. Bands of leaves encircled his upper arms. Cloth of painted bark wrapped his waist. Shells and beads encircled his neck and chest. And a New Testament, is own Namiai New Testament, lay cradled in his waiting hands.
It was time.
Clement came forth from the green womb
05 Our Discovery Group
. The New Testament was birthed into the hands of his people. This was July 7, 2005 - a day that marked a historic change for the Namiai people of Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. For two years the experience, skill and knowledge of Australian translator Bev Evans and Namiai translators Rosemary, Clement and Krispin, combined with faith and prayer to produce the New Testament. The process was enabled by a recently created program called Adapt-It. Adapt-It allowed the team to work from the completed New Testament in the Barai language, which Peter and Bev Evans had completed ten years earlier with the assistance of Barai co-translators.
The day was one that will be remembered for decades to come. The Namiai were not some little people, insignificant to God and man. They were important. They had God's Word in their own language. And now the whole world would know that. Singing and dance transitioned to a formal unveiling of the New Testament, followed by speeches of gratitude, thanksgiving, and admonition to the people to use the Word of God.
Simon Savaiko, co- translator of the Barai New Testament who now works in Port Moresby for the Bible Translation Association of PNG, excited the Namiai with his words
06 My team
. "You have had the English Bible!" he sang out, holding one up before them. "You have had the Tok Pisin Bible!" He held it up. "And you have had the Barai Bible!" This he held up, too. "As 1st Cor 14:10 says, "'undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.' But now, now you have the Bible in your own language! Now you have it in Namiai!" He held out the beautiful new book before them with pride, and the people cheered. "The word of God is made available and very simple in the language you speak! Use it!"What's Next?
A Bible dedication may seem like the end of years of hard work - but it is really only the beginning. People must come to know the Word. "Plant it in your heart!" Namiai translator Krispin challenged them. Mark Evans added to what Krispin said, warning the people. "Do not be like a stagnant lake. Let the Word and teaching of God come in, and let it go out from you, so that you may be fresh, alive, and full of good fish. Use the Word of God, and share it with others." Please pray with us that the Namiai will come to know Jesus as their personal redeemer and friend, and that they will share Jesus with others.
07 Dancers
The challenges facing the Namiai will begin with reading their New Testament. As Bev put it, "It is a very formidable thing to be given a New Testament and not know where anything is in it and have to find your way through it." For the Namiai, this is further complicated in that the people recently made a decision to change their alphabet to better fit their dialect. Yet this is a good thing, too. The Namiai Bible will standardize written Namiai. Please pray for a smooth transition to the new alphabet, and an ability to quickly understand how to effectively read and use the Word of God.
To help with Scripture use, a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) team of three has come to conduct a Bible Education and Leadership Training (BELT) course for the three weeks following the dedication, ending on July 29th. The course aims at immersing people in the Word of God for the transformation of the individual, families, churches, education, civil governemnt, and the economy. The course aims at discipling leaders of the community to go out and train others in the application of the Word of God to all facets of life. Local Christian leadership is also rising up to the challenge of reinforcing the importance of knowing God. Please join us in prayer for Kingdom transformation among the Namiai, and a lasting change in the hearts and lives of these people.
Here is a story about visiting a garden with one of our Barai hosts:
Garden Trek
Sarah Snyder
5-7-05
"I'll take you to the garden this morning," said Dunstan
08 the star
. And hi did - as soon as our breakfast of yams, choko, pumpkin, kumu, and green onion sprinkled papaya was over. The path leading out of the village started out wide, as usual, but soon tapered off to a narrow, brown strip with kunai grass spiking up on either side. The kunai gave way to leafy green plants, galip trees, towering breadfruit trees, and a great many large-leafed trees of which I am not familiar. One breadfruit tree was a good four feet in diameter.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt - slap! At least the mozzies weren't too thick.
The bush cleared a little to reveal a couple of little houses. "People spend a few days here while they work in their garden. Then they go back to the village," Dunstan explained.
Papua New Guinean gardens are beautiful - apparently haphazard scatterings of fruits and roots, they are, in reality, carefully planted and organized. From cutting and drying to burning and planting, skill and knowledge must be combined with strength and sweat to produce a harvest.
"That is sugar cane," Dunstan said, pointing to a tall, thick member of the grass family. "That's pineapple, taro, yams..." and of the bananas, or course, were obvious.
"And this," he said with quiet pride, "Is my yam house. Yams can be stored here for up to one year."
Besides being a leader, a pastor, a Bible translator, and a teacher, Dunstan proved to be a locksmith, too
09 Peeling yams
. He carefully unwound the twine that bound the sticks that barred the posts that guarded the door to his yam barn so that he could pull out a couple of the two-food long roots to take home for his wife to cook. The clouds were growing heavy, and rain was on the air. "Ooo-ohhh!" Dunstan called, trying to get the attention of two girls who had come, but had disappeared to work in the garden.
The way back came quickly, but not as quickly as the dusting of rain that soon turned to a steady shower. Big leaves, in particular banana leaves, make excellent umbrellas. They fail, however, to protect from the happy wet leaves that slap up against all who pass by.
The sight of our village haus win was a welcome one - although the trek had been very enjoyable. Everyone was in their gardens or hiding from the wet, so we settled contentedly down to listen to the patter of the rain on the grass roof.
And here is an exciting story:
An Evans Story
Sarah Snyder
12-7-05
(written from the perspective of Monday the 11th)
"Sarah!" Peter Evans called
10 laundry
. The man made me laugh - it was 6:10 in the morning, and I was still sitting in my bed, trying to wake up."Yes?"
"My ankle is better! I can walk on it almost like normal!"
Peter was so excited. Around the breakfast table he brought it up again.
"When I woke up this morning," he said, "My ankle wasn't hurting."
Miracle number one: he had slept.
"And when I got up, I could walk on it almost like normal!"
Miracle numbers two and three: the swelling had gone down, and he could walk.
"I can't believe it! Well, I guess I can believe it, because you prayed last night... but I just can't believe it!"
On the way back from going to church in Sarafuna to see the Namiai use their new New Testaments in church for the first time, Peter had taken a hard fall from his bike. He banged up both of his ankles. The pain increased during the day, and was not helped in the least by a trek to visit someone in the hospital that afternoon
11 Evans
."I told you that it was foolish to walk to the hospital," his wife, Bev, had chastised him with a shake of her grey head. "But you wouldn't listen to me... it's your own ankle! You can do with it what you want!"
Peter had hopped down the hallway, leaning on a post as a makeshift crutch, and moaning that the pain was so bad he was sure that he would get no sleep that night. That being the case, he was confident that he would have no trouble waking Bev at 6:00am to prepare breakfast for Steve, Hannah and I before we left their village. As he hopped along, there was a loud crash.
"What have you done now!?" Bev unsympathetically demanded. The three of us worked hard not to laugh.
But Peter's dark premonitions of pain and sleeplessness bore no fruit. Before he stumbled down the hall to bed I asked him if we could pray for him. I took his ankle in my hands, and Steve and Hannah stood in agreement behind me.
"Lord," I prayed, "I asked that you would heal Peter's ankle
12 Was Mama
. By morning, let the swelling have gone down, so that he can walk. And within a day, Lord, I ask for complete healing. Please give Peter sound sleep tonight, filled with good dreams. In your name I pray. Amen.""Sarah!" Peter Evans called. The man made me laugh. It was 6:10 in the morning, and I was still in bed trying to wake up.
Yes?"
"My ankle is better!"
Ok, all for now. I think you can email me at ruth.snyder@sil.org Try, anyway :o).
Love you all!
Sarah
