Repay Evil With Blessing

1 Peter 3:9 teaches us that we should not repay evil with evil, but rather we should repay evil with blessing. Recently, God gave us a chance to do just that with our neighbors in Ku’ina.

In September we shared a story about shaking hands with a man who we knew had robbed our house. We had encountered this man in Ku’ina village, which is adjacent to our backyard but separated by a fence. Although in our hearts we had forgiven this young man for his crime against us, we still had difficulties forming relationships in Ku’ina. Over the past few months, some tensions in the local villages made it difficult for us to visit Ku’ina. But they were resolved in early January and we were able to visit again. A couple of weeks ago Martha and I brought the kids along with some other missionaries to Ku’ina to attend their church service. The people were interested to see us but not overly welcoming. At the end of the service the pastor invited me to pray. At the conclusion of my prayer, I shared about the translation work that we do and also invited the local community to come to an area near the fence to receive some gifts.

We had recently cleaned out our house and had a lot of garage sale items. But instead of selling them for just a small amount of money, we decided to give them to the people in Ku’ina village. I prefaced the event by telling the people that some among their community had stolen from us and that if I followed traditional Papua New Guinea customs I should pay them back for what they had done. I went on to explain that God’s way is not to repay evil with evil but to repay evil with blessing. I also told them that I had forgiven the wrongs that had been done to us. Although a bit taken aback by my speech, the people received the gifts gladly and we received a much warmer welcome in Ku’ina than we ever had before.

Bella sitting with an elderly woman in Ku'ina who gave her a bilum (net bag) to show appreciation for our efforts to reach out to her village.

Teach in PNG
The Ukarumpa International School that Jacob, Bella, and Asher attend is currently experiencing a teacher shortage. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Jacob’s teacher had to leave over the recent school break, and so Jacob’s fourth grade class is being taught by committee since there is no full-time teacher available. If you would like to serve as a teacher in Papua New Guinea, please let us know, and we can connect you with the right people. We can’t do our work of translating the Bible without others serving alongside of us in important roles such as teaching. The need is greatest for grades 3–6, but teachers and administrators for positions at all levels are welcome.

 

Come to PNG and teach missionary kids like these!

Enga Imperatives
I (Adam) recently had a paper entitled ‘Enga Imperatives’ published through an online journal called Language & Linguistics in Melanesia. Enga’s use of imperative (i.e. command) forms is quite rich. In fact, imperative forms are such an integral part of the Enga language that it is hard to make sense of even basic Enga without an understanding of how they work. While my primary focus is on translation work, I was amazed to discover just how much the process of writing a paper helped me to understand how the Enga language works. Of course, this deeper understanding of the language helps me to do a better job as a translator, and so it is well worth the effort. If you would like to look at the article, you can access it online at tinyurl.com/luvvfbr. (Although I do not recommend doing so unless you really like linguistics!)

Translation Progress
This month Adam finished back-translating the book of Matthew from Enga into English so that it can be checked by a consultant and approved for publication. In the meantime the Enga translation team continues their work on drafting the book of Luke. They are now more than halfway done. We hope to record the book of Matthew before our furlough begins in July.

Furlough Plans
We will fly back to America on July 7 and stay until June 2016. If you would like us to come to your church or home to share about our ministry, please let us know so that we can be sure to schedule a visit. We look forward to seeing you all again in a few months!

Holding On Loosely

Recently an experienced translator told us that you have to hold on to things loosely in Papua New Guinea. Life here is very unpredictable, and things can change dramatically almost overnight. These sudden changes can cause unforeseen challenges that require major planning adjustments, so you can't cling too tightly to any plans that you have.

When we learned of the orders to deport our missionary friends in Enga, it became clear that it would not be wise to cling too tightly to our plans to build a house in January in Birip. One of the missionary families who received deportation orders was living in Birip, and their residence there was cited as one of the reasons for their deportation. Although I (Adam) had accepted that we could not build our house in Birip, I was still clinging tightly to the idea of building our house in January, so I took a short trip up to Enga in December to try to identify another location to build. An opportunity presented itself to build in the village of Rakamanda, and I quickly jumped at the opportunity because the area would provide us with a wide open piece of land for our family, which is what we wanted. Martha did not have a chance to see the land, but I assured her that it would be a great place for us.

A political cartoon that was published in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier depicting Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato trying to deport the Lutheran missionaries (who serve in Enga) and Prime Minister Peter O'Neill blocking the deportation.

After making the decision to build in Rakamanda, I received warnings not to build there because the tribal fighting in that area had not yet been resolved. Years ago the whole area had been burnt to the ground in tribal fighting, including church and school buildings. Although the fighting has now subsided, the underlying problems and tensions have not yet been resolved. This means that the fighting could flare up again at any time and that our home (and potentially our family) could be at serious risk. Although it initially appeared to me that God had provided this piece of land for us at the last minute, I realized that, by clinging too tightly to my own plans, I had not done my due diligence in investigating the area nor had I spent enough time seeking wisdom from the Lord and others about the decision. Thankfully, God did not give me peace about the decision to build in Rakamanda, and others spoke up warning us about the potential dangers of the area.

After spending time with the Lord in prayer and seeking counsel from others, we have decided to wait until after our upcoming furlough to build our house. Our prayer is that the deportation orders for the missionaries will be reversed by that time (and it is looking like they will be) and that the underlying leadership problems in the Lutheran Church will also be resolved. That would enable us to build our house at the original location we had chosen in Birip, which would be a wonderful place for us. Please pray that God would again open the door for us to build in Birip after our furlough. Please also pray that the construction department will find a good place to store the parts of our house that have already been assembled in Ukarumpa. Pray as well that the corrupt church and government officials who actively oppose God's work in Enga will be removed from power. Finally, please pray that God would give us the grace to hold things loosely in our hands, listening closely to His still small voice as we navigate the ever-changing and unpredictable world that is Papua New Guinea.

Some of the walls of our house that have already been constructed in Ukarumpa and now must be kept in storage until we return from furlough.

Basic Skills

During our very first village stay while we were completing our training in Madang, it very quickly became clear that I (Adam) was very ignorant about basic village living skills that even young Papua New Guinean children had mastered. For example, on our first walk down to the river, I was carrying Asher in my arms. As soon as we started walking down the slippery downhill path, however, I slipped and fell on my back and dropped Asher. (Fortunately, wet ground is also soft ground.) So we decided it was best to have a young boy carry Asher instead because we knew he wouldn't fall. Similarly, when people watched me try to chop firewood, they would feel sorry for me and volunteer to chop the wood for me. They would very quickly have the large log chopped up into perfect pieces of firewood, while it probably would have taken me all day to have various and oddly shaped pieces of firewood. The people in Papua New Guinea grow up with these skills, and so they are second nature to them.

But when it comes to computers and technology, many Papua New Guineans handle computers the same way that I handle an ax. They have never before touched a computer, and they have no idea how to make it work. And just like I needed very basic training regarding chopping firewood and walking down slippery paths, so they need very basic training regarding how to operate a computer and basic software programs. For the first couple of years of translation work, I have always been present with the translation team, and they have always asked me to sit down at the computer because they know how quickly and effectively I use the computer. But now with our furlough coming up next July, it is important for the Enga translation team to develop skills in using the computer themselves. So three of the Enga translators are currently in the midst of a two-week training session on Paratext, the software that we use to enter, edit, and check the Enga Bible translation.

Frank Paiyak, William Walewale, and Nete Talian at the Paratext workshop.

After two years of working together, the Enga translation team now has a very good understanding of the translation process, including common errors to avoid and strategies for creating a translation that is accurate, clear, and natural. As they develop their skills in Paratext, they will have all that they need to continue working on the translation even when we are on furlough. What's more is that they also have the ability to send their work to me via the internet using their cell phones, which means that I can continue checking and back-translating from America during our one-year furlough. It is an exciting world that we live in where even the most remote parts of the globe can communicate and send files instantly at the push of a button.

Please pray for Frank Paiyak, William Walewale, and Nete Talian as they continue learning Paratext. Pray that they will gain the basic skills and competencies necessary to effectively use the program to translate the Bible into Enga. And pray for all of us as we continue learning how to walk on slippery paths in Papua New Guinea without falling down!

Enga Missionaries Deported
Two weeks ago some of our fellow missionaries in Enga received notices that they were being deported. These missionaries are our good friends and have committed no wrong. Their deportation is the result of persecution against them and it is not the first time that this has happened. The missionaries are fighting this decision and not leaving the country, so please pray that this decision will be reversed and that the missionaries will be allowed to stay in the country and continue their work. You can read more about their situation in a recent article published in The National newspaper. This situation indirectly affects us as well. We were planning on building our house on the grounds of a seminary campus, where one of the families currently resides. Their residence at the seminary is one of the reasons cited for their deportation. It is a very complex situation, but the key point is that we do not want to find ourselves in a similar situation in the future where we are facing similar persecution and deportation. As a result, we are now seeking other options for where to build our house. Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom and provide a good place for us to build our home in January.

The First Fruits of Translation

The first fruits of the Enga Bible translation project are now in the hands of the Enga people. Until last month, the vast majority of Engans had very little access to the Word of God. What access they did have was most often in the form of short Scripture quotations in English or Tok Pisin heard during church services. I (Adam) am a fluent Tok Pisin speaker, but I can tell you that when I hear the Bible in Tok Pisin it goes in one ear and out the other. I understand the words, but they have no impact on my life. It is the same for the people of Enga. While many can understand Tok Pisin, it doesn’t touch them at the core of who they are. But after listening to the new Enga translation, people were saying, “When we read the Bible in Tok Pisin, we never read a whole chapter at a time. But we can listen to an entire book of the Enga Bible in one sitting without getting tired!”

Over the course of six days, we had nine events to promote and distribute the Gospel of Mark and the Abraham Story in Enga. In that time, people purchased approximately 220 Audibibles (solar-powered audio players) and 110 memory cards. We also installed the Enga Bible app and Enga Jesus Film for free on about 60 phones.

It was just as exciting to see all of the church denominations come together to celebrate the Bible in Enga, take ownership of the project, and commit to seeing the translation through to completion. At one event, church leaders stood up one-by-one and pledged to support the project financially. At the end of the night, their pledges totalled nearly K25,000 ($10,000). The Bible in Enga is taking hold of the Enga people.

To see a video of the distribution produced by Newbreak Church, please go to https://vimeo.com/110512024.

Adam explains the Enga Audibible while Asher looks at the crowds who have gathered to receive God's Word in Enga

Thank You Newbreak Church
We would like to thank Newbreak Church for your continued support of the Enga Bible translation project. Because of your help, we were able to sell the Enga Audibibles at a discounted price that people could afford. Thank you as well for your pledge to see the Enga Bible translation project through to completion. Your support blesses and encourages not only us but the people of Enga. You are truly planet shakers! We would also like to thank Pastor Darrel Larson, Matthew Nelson, and Eric Edmonds for coming all the way to Enga Province from Newbreak Church to participate in the dedication and distribution of the Gospel of Mark and the Abraham Story in Enga. You guys were an incredible blessing to the people of Enga and a wonderful encouragement to us as a family.

Pastor Darrel Larson with two Assemblies of God pastors.

Translation Progress
In addition to dedicating and distributing the Gospel of Mark and the Abraham Story, we also completed the naturalness check of the Gospel of Matthew and began drafting the Gospel of Luke. As you read this, the Enga translation team is continuing drafting of the Gospel of Luke. This is the first time that they have attempted drafting without me (Adam) present, so please pray for wisdom. This is a good step as the goal is to empower the Enga translators to take on more and more of the responsibilities of the translation work upon themselves. I will still be checking their work daily as they upload it to the internet from Wabag using their smart phones for internet access. Isn’t technology amazing!

What’s Next
In November, William Walewale and Frank Paiyak, two of the Enga translators, will be attending the Paratext training workshop. Paratext is the computer program that we use to enter, edit, and save the Enga Bible translation. This will be an additional step toward helping the translators work more and more independently. This will ultimately speed up the translation process and free me (Adam) up to spend more time on other parts of the process such as back translation into English, checking, recording, and production.

Thank you for all of your prayers, encouragement, and support. We hope that you share in the joy of seeing the first fruits of the Enga Bible translation project. Please know that you are making a difference among the people of Enga!

Enga Bible App

When we launch the book of Mark and Abraham Story in Enga the week of October 12, our primary focus will be distribution through solar-powered audio players called Audibibles. Most Engans (and Papua New Guineans for that matter) have never learned how to read in their own language, and often they are not interested in learning because reading is not a strong part of the culture. So if you hand an Engan a printed Bible in their own language, they will likely never read it. If you hand them an Audibible, however, they will listen to it over and over, as will most everybody else who lives in their village. In the oral cultures of Papua New Guinea, audio recordings are the best way to share God's Word. And when the battery runs out, they can just put the Audibible out in the sunlight to charge!

In addition to the Audibible, Enga will also be one of the first languages in Papua New Guinea and the world to have a smart phone app. The smart phone app highlights the text of the Scripture sentence-by-sentence as the audio recording plays. We have found that the same people who would never read a printed Bible will immediatley engage with the Enga Bible App and try to read along with the recording. (Engans love technology!) And those who have learned to read in English or Tok Pisin can fairly easily transfer those skills over to Enga with a little practice. So the Enga Bible app not only gives people the Word of God in their own language, but it also teaches them how to read.

Some of you may be thinking, "What good is a smart phone app for people who have no electricity?" Good question! The reality, however, is that even people who live in remote villages without electricity often have cell phones, and they find all sorts of creative ways to charge them. Smart phones are just now reaching the price range ($35) where the average Papua New Guinean can purchase them. We have gone to villages in Enga where there was no electricity only to be shocked to find the villagers taking video of us with their smart phones! While the Audibible is still going to be the most popular way of accessing Scriptures right now, the Enga Bible App is sure to take off in the near future, especially among Engans who live in town. The best part is that the app is free and can be transmitted for free from one person to another. It would not be at all surprising to share the Enga Bible App with one person and come back a week later and find that all of his friends and family now also had the app. Papua New Guineans are good at sharing media on their phones! Click here to see a video of how the Enga Bible App works.

We will also have printed versions of the book of Mark and the Abraham Story available in Enga printed side-by-side with the Contemporary English Version (by permission of course). So those Engans who do want to read the printed Word will also have access.

Please keep the upcoming launch of Mark and the Abraham Story in your prayers. We are hoping to distribute in four different locations from October 12 to October 16. Pray that many Engans will come and receive God's Word in their own language. Pray also for the team from Newbreak Church near San Diego that is coming to participate in the distribution. We look forward to sharing with you next month about how it all goes!

Shaking Hands with the Enemy

After the fifth robbery attempt on our Ukarumpa house in two years, Martha and I decided that it was finally time to start venturing into the village of Ku'ina and building relationships with the people there. The village literally adjoins our backyard, but visiting is not as easy as you might suspect. Due to various security incidences in the years prior to our arrival, a security fence encompasses Ukarumpa. While necessary for improved security, the fence also cuts us off from our local neighbors. So to actually walk to the village requires walking to the nearest gate in the fence, which is nowhere near our house.

When we first moved into our Ukarumpa house a couple of years ago, there were only a few houses in Ku'ina village, but now there are more than twenty, and new ones are being built everyday. As translators, we are often exhausted when we return from Enga Province, and, honestly, we just want to retreat for a while. However, we have realized that ignoring our neighbors whom we don't know, but can see through the fence, is not right.

So we decided to take the whole family out to Ku'ina and start introducing ourselves and building relationships. We realized that on Saturday mornings there is another gate much closer to our house that is open, and so we got together with some friends and went out to Ku'ina. We had a hunch that the people who have been robbing our house have been coming from Ku'ina, and so Martha and I decided ahead of time that if we saw any of our things, we wouldn't say anything. To be honest, there is very little that we could do about it anyway as prosecuting suspected thieves is not something that generally results in any serious consequences, but it would definitely sour our relationships with the people of Ku'ina.

As we walked through the gate and up the hill into Ku'ina we felt free. Why had it taken us so long to go out and greet our neighbors? What were we so afraid of all this time? We met a couple of ladies washing clothes by a small stream and said hello. They seemed a little bit uncomfortable to see us in their village, and we did not receive the warm welcome that we would have received in Enga. We walked on a little farther up to a basic church structure that is being built. There was an older lady ahead of us on the path who also seemed hesitant to meet us, but we caught up with her and began talking. We told her that we lived in the blue house on the opposing hill.

When we told the older lady where we lived, she seemed intent on leading us on the path in a certain direction. Soon we came to a house and the lady called out to a young man in their own language (Gadsup). The young man came forward to shake our hands, and I realized that he was wearing my watch. He was a very strong young man about the age of twenty…a person the locals would refer to as a 'boy'. As we shook hands he said his name was 'Yonki'. When we told him where we lived, he seemed to grow a bit nervous. I then noticed that he started hiding his wrist so that I couldn't see the watch. As we walked along the path together he took off the watch at his first opportunity. It seemed fairly clear that this was the young man who had smashed our bedroom window and rifled through our room just one month before.

I had been extremely angry after that incident. I had visions of the people coming back and me bashing their heads in with a baseball bat or spraying them with pepper spray. I almost wanted them to come back so I could get revenge. I knew that such intense anger and desire for revenge was not right, but it was honestly how I felt. When I saw this young man's face, however, I realized that he was no hardened criminal. He was just a young man getting into mischief like so many young men in America. I'm sure that he viewed Ukarumpa as a place where people seem to have a lot more than he does and thought that it wasn't fair that all those missionaries should have electricity, clean water, well-built houses, and computers and many other things that most Papua New Guineans don't have. In addition, I don't imagine he felt that much guilt about cutting through the fence at night, smashing our window, and taking whatever he wanted. You see, in Papua New Guinea, there is not a strong sense that stealing from people outside of your extended family is wrong, especially if you don't get caught. The shame is in getting caught because it brings shame upon your whole village.

We continued our tour of the village, shaking many hands. Most of the young men we met seemed very hesitant to talk with us, probably because they felt ashamed about what they had been doing to our house. (I suspect Yonki had help.) Not surprisingly, Yonki did not stick around long. We made our way back down the hillside and met Manisa, the chief of the village. We introduced ourselves to him and sat and talked for a while, telling him that we didn't feel right about living so close but not knowing each other. As we returned to Ukarumpa, we invited about 15 children from the village to come back with us to our house to play. They stayed for about two hours and had a wonderful time.

After I got home, I realized that I was no longer angry. After seeing Yonki's face, God laid it on my heart to pray for this young man. But not only that, God had prompted me to return to Ku'ina to share the gospel with Yonki and give him the Tok Pisin New Testament on a solar-powered audio player. Unfortunately, when I returned the next Saturday, Yonki (which I found out is probably not his real name) was not there. So please pray that God will provide an opportunity for me to see this young man again, share the gospel with him, pray with him, and give him the Tok Pisin New Testament. Please also pray that God will touch his heart, convict of his wrongdoing, and open the door for him to receive salvation. And continue to pray for us as we build relationships with the people of Ku'ina.

Corruption and Persecution

Two of the Enga translators along with 300 other pastors were recently barred from their denomination’s annual convention because of the actions of a corrupt bishop clinging to his power.

While we were translating the Gospel of Matthew in June, two of our translators, Maniosa Yakasa and Frank Paiyak, excused themselves for a few days to attend their denomination’s annual convention. The term of the corrupt bishop had come to an end, and it was time to elect a new bishop. In the past, when this corrupt bishop’s term had expired, he barred all of the pastors who didn’t support him from attending the convention and brought people in from the streets to vote for him. This time, however, the rest of the church was determined not to sit idly by while he yet again cheated the system.

So Maniosa and Frank joined together with more than 300 pastors from all over Enga Province to demand entrance into the convention so that they could vote for a new bishop. They arrived early in the morning only to find that the bishop had locked them out and hired police from another town who brought machine guns and machetes to keep the pastors from attending their own convention. When a couple of the pastors broke through the fence, they were severely beaten and had to be rescued by the others who were still outside the fence. In the process thirty-nine men were injured and some had to go to the hospital. Frank suffered a minor wound on his leg when he was hit with a stone. Nevertheless, Godly men like Frank and Maniosa do not allow corruption and persecution in the church to affect their faith in God. Their persistence in the face of trials is an encouragement to us as we face our own trials. Please continue to pray that God will remove the corrupt bishop and install a leader who is committed to serving the Lord.



Translation Progress
Earlier this month we completed our first draft of the book of Matthew. We never expected that our translation work would be progressing so quickly. Last fall I (Adam) remembered hoping that we would be able to finish our first draft of the book of Mark by this time. I never thought that we would complete both Mark and Matthew (not to mention the Abraham story)! In August and September we will record Mark and the Abraham story and prepare them for distribution in print and audio format. Then we will launch the books in October.

Pray for Safety
During our last stay in Wabag we had two separate break-in attempts at our house in Ukarumpa. During the first attempt, a man tore off the screen on our front window that faces the main road. Fortunately, one of our neighbors was walking his dog and saw the man, so he called security and the man ran off. We were not as fortunate with the second attempt. Our bedroom glass window was smashed and somebody came into our house and rifled through our room. Fortunately, we keep our valuables locked in a safe when we are in Wabag and so not much of value was taken. Nevertheless we will be upgrading our alarm system and purchasing laminates for the windows that prevent them from being smashed. Please pray for our safety and security. These incidents take their toll on us emotionally and are very discouraging. After the second incident, I told the Enga translators what happened and shared John 16:33, “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” I have a greater understanding now about the desire Engans have for revenge, but I am committed to releasing that desire into God’s hands and placing my trust in Him.

Pray for Transitions
Every June is a difficult time for missionaries in Papua New Guinea as many people leave on furlough. This year many of our close friends have left. It has been especially difficult for Jacob, as he has had to say goodbye to his best friend Nate. To make matters worse, when Nate’s family returns to Papua New Guinea, we ourselves will be going on furlough. Jacob has been bursting in tears at random times as he tries to deal with the pain of saying goodbye. Please pray for God to comfort and strengthen him.