Literacy Class Approved

Earlier this year Rev. Frank Paiyak, one of the Enga translators, received permission from the Gutnius [Good News] Lutheran Church to add Enga literacy to the curriculum at Timothy Lutheran Seminary in Enga Province. Most Enga speakers are never taught how to read their own language. If they go to school, they are usually taught how to read in English. But English is the third language for most Enga speakers, and the spelling rules for English are incredibly difficult, even for native English speakers. Consequently, Enga students have difficulties learning how to read or write well in the English language.

Unlike English, the Enga alphabet has a consistent one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds, making it much easier to learn how to read. And, of course, it is generally much easier to learn how to read your own language than it is to learn how to read a foreign language. Consequently, with just a little instruction and practice, Enga speakers can quickly learn how to read the the Enga New Testament.

Enga literacy class at Timothy Lutheran Seminary

In America we say that nothing is certain except death and taxes. In Enga, we have unfortunately come to realize that nothing is certain except spiritual oppression when good things start happening. Soon after starting the Enga literacy courses at Timothy Lutheran Seminary, fighting erupted in the areas around Frank’s village. His family had to flee, and he was prevented for a time from to going to the seminary to teach. Thankfully, through God’s faithfulness and provision, Frank was able to temporarily relocate his family to the seminary grounds. They are now safe from the fighting, and Frank is again teaching the Enga literacy courses. Recently Frank made a video of the deputy principal of the seminary talking about how much the students and seminary teachers appreciate the Enga New Testament and the opportunity to learn how to read in Enga. You can watch the short two-minute video below.

Translation Work
Over the past couple of months, I have made good progress in checking the Old Testament. I finished checking the book of Genesis in February, and it is now ready to be recorded. After finishing Genesis, I began working my way through Exodus. The first part of Exodus went very well, but I am now checking the chapters that describe everything related to the tabernacle. Most English speakers have difficulty reading these texts in English, and it is quite challenging to translate them into Enga. The translation team has done a wonderful job drafting these texts, but it is some of the most difficult translation work we have encountered. Thankfully, I am making progress, slowly but surely, and I hope to finish up Exodus some time this month.

Graduation Bibles
My friend and coworker Stanley Piokol was recently able to distribute Enga New Testaments to the graduates of the Foursquare Church’s Disciple Leadership Training School in Yaramanda, Enga Province. In the picture below you can see Stanley standing with the graduates, who are wearing the four colors of the Foursquare Church. It is wonderful to see the Enga New Testament being distributed far and wide in ways that Martha and I are not directing.

Distributing Enga New Testaments to graduates

Family Update
My mother Heather has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma (a form of blood cancer). Thankfully, her doctor anticipates being able to treat the disease and keep it under control for a number of years. While we are saddened to receive this news, we are so thankful that it happened while we are here to help her. The initial treatments are the most taxing, and so we are blessed that we can walk with her through the most challenging portions of her treatment plan before returning to Papua New Guinea. Please pray for my mother in the coming weeks.

In other news, Jacob has been accepted at the University of Pittsburgh and has also received very good scholarships to Slippery Rock University and Messiah University. His plan is to pursue an accelerated Master of Science in Athletic Training. Please pray for him as he weighs a variety of factors to make a decision about which school to attend. Please also continue praying for Martha’s work permit and visa applications to be approved. We hope to hear back some time in April. Thank you for your prayers!

How Did the Author of Genesis Know?

Nowhere does the book of Genesis state who the author is. Both Jewish and Christian tradition hold that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Numbers 33:2 supports this idea, stating, “At the Lord’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey.” Of course, Moses couldn’t have written Deuteronomy 34:5-12, which describes his death, burial, and the period of mourning that followed. Scholars later proposed that the Pentateuch was written by various authors over a long period of time. But ultimately we don’t know who wrote the book of Genesis, and identifying the author of Genesis is not an integral part of receiving the book as inspired Scripture.

What is important for Enga translation is deciding whether or not the author of Genesis was an eyewitness to the events described in the book. The Enga language has suffixes that linguists call evidentials. These evidentials are tacked on to the end of a statement so that the hearer knows the source of the speaker’s information. The default is that the speaker is an eyewitness to the information he is sharing. For example, if the speaker says, “Aiyuu epelyamo” (it is raining), the verb “epelyamo” makes it clear that the speaker is seeing the rain come down and basing his statement on that visual evidence. However, if the speaker says “Aiyuu ipumu” (it is raining), the verb “ipumu” makes it clear that the speaker does NOT see the rain but only hears the rain hitting the roof.

There is another evidential that communicates to the listener that an event happened some time in the past and that the speaker did not directly witness it but only heard about it from others. For example, the speaker could say “Gii mendepa aiyuu andake mende epea-pyaa.” (One time a very large rain reportedly came). In this case the word “epea” means “came” and the suffix “-pyaa” means “reportedly” and indicates that the speaker did not directly witness the event but only heard about it from others. Perhaps the big rain happened before the speaker was born, and the speaker only heard about it from his parents.

A rendition of Moses writing the Pentateuch

This has direct implications for the translation of Genesis. Even if we assume that Moses was the author, the events described in the book of Genesis take place long before Moses was born. Furthermore, it is impossible that any human could have witnessed the events described in Genesis 1. Consequently, we know that whoever wrote the book of Genesis, whether it was Moses or later scribes, we know that the author(s) could not have been direct witnesses of the events described in the book. Rather, the author(s) must have received the information either through stories passed down for generations or by direct revelation from God. In either case, the information is secondhand to the author(s), and so the Enga translation must attach the “-pyaa” suffix throughout, indicating that the events were not directly witnessed by the author(s).

Of course we know that all Scripture is inspired by God. Actually what 2 Timothy 3:16 literally says is that all Scripture is “God-breathed.” Just as God breathed the breath of life into Adam, so God breathes life into the Scriptures and into us when we read them and enter into relationship with God. And this happens whether the authors directly witnessed the events or not.

On this topic of eyewitness testimony, our strategy for translating Genesis differs significantly from our strategy for translating the New Testament, which is full of direct eyewitness accounts. Click here to read about how we handled this topic in the New Testament.

Enga Audio Bibles Sold Out!

Last August Martha and I received an unexpected message from Barty Omae, the manager of our Port Moresby office in Papua New Guinea. Barty had just come from the Jubilee Reset Gospel Music Festival in Port Moresby, where he represented our organization at a booth. Barty wrote of the weekend, “It was deeply moving to see people in tears when they realized they could access the Bible in their own language through the Google Play Store, either to read or to listen to … audio.” There are many Enga speakers in the capital city of Port Moresby, and Barty reported that, “A man from Enga stood in tears of joy as he connected with every word of Scripture in his own language through audio.” Barty summarized his experience at the festival saying, “Moments like these gave us hope and reminded us that Bible Translation is indeed a powerful way to instill God’s Word in the lives of Papua New Guineans.”

We’re so thankful for men like Barty Omae, who help us distribute the Enga New Testament in places where we can’t always be. Another couple we are thankful for is Ron and Mary Anne Rall, retired Lutheran missionaries who visit Enga for a few months each year. Ron and Mary Anne have been amazing advocates for the Enga New Testament, traveling far and wide to distribute the Enga New Testament in print and audio formats. Thanks in part to Ron and Mary Anne, the initial batch of 2,000 Enga Audio New Testaments that we bought are now completely sold out! But we have already ordered an additional 500 units that will go into distribution in the coming months.

For people who live in the largely oral cultures of Papua New Guinea, hearing Scripture in their own language is a powerful experience, not only because the message comes through so clearly, but also because it shows them that they matter (even if the outside world takes no notice of them) and that the most powerful King in the universe speaks their language.

An elderly woman hearing the Enga New Testament for the first time

Translation Work
After taking some much needed time off during our furlough, I (Adam) am very much back at work. With the Enga New Testament now published and being distributed, I have turned the focus of my translation work to checking the Old Testament drafts. I’m very proud of the Enga translation team for completing the draft of Genesis on their own, preparing a back-translation in English, and interacting with the consultant. It shows just how much the team has grown and developed since we first started translation work together back in 2013. Nevertheless, an outside consultant who does not know the Enga language cannot catch every mistake. So I have been doing my own check of Genesis. While I am very pleased with the excellent progress the translation team has made in their abilities as translators, there are still a number of mistakes to clean up and improvements to make in the translation. I’m thankful that I can do this work remotely during our time in America. Praise God for the Internet, which allows me to stay engaged in my work from the other side of the world.

Finance Work
In addition to checking the book of Genesis, I have been hard at work helping our Global Finance department review year end financial reports from the Bible translation organizations we have all over the world. I recognize that we could never have completed our translation of the Enga New Testament without people filling the vital support roles that allow our global organization to run. So I am happy for the opportunity to give back and help in other ways to support the work of other Bible translators around the world.

Martin Harty, beloved friend and translator

Martin’s House
Please pray for Martin Harty and his family. Martin is a faithful member of the Enga Bible Translation team who has been serving with us from the very beginning. He is a wonderful man who exudes the joy of the Lord in his life at all times. The day after Christmas I received a message from Martin that his house had burned down due to a kerosene accident. (Enga homes have a fire inside the house that they use to cook meals and stay warm.) Martin suffers from severe vision impairment, and his granddaughter helps him with his translation work. But despite Martin’s visual impairment, he was able to escape the house along with his family. But he is asking for our prayers, so please remember him and his family.

Seeing God in the Darkness of Winter

This will be the first time that I (Martha) will experience a real winter all the way through. Every other time we’ve been in Pennsylvania at this time of year, we've had to leave right after Christmas. But during this current furlough we will be in Pennsylvania throughout the winter season.
I normally get all excited for fall and love seeing the leaves turn their beautiful, brilliant colors. But this year those leaves also brought more than a hint of apprehension, because I knew what was coming next. I knew those leaves were beautiful because they were dying. I knew those leaves would fall and leave the trees barren, empty, and dark. The days would soon be short, cold, and dark. And sure enough, that is exactly what has happened.

As I sit here and write, I can see the dead trees set against a backdrop of gray, dreary clouds. The days are short and dark. Lately, there has been a lot of talk in our house about how God reveals himself to us in nature. We find it hard to imagine that anyone could believe there is no God when there is evidence of God all around us. Last week, that was more apparent to me than ever before when I woke up to a world of white. It had snowed all night long, and every one of those bare and leafless branches was now draped in sparkling white.

    Tree branches draped in sparkling white

It stayed that way for three whole days. I couldn’t get used to it. Every time I stepped outside, I thought I was in Narnia. I decided that, even though it was freezing outside, I had to get out and photograph the trees. They were ornate works of art that resembled a labyrinth of fine lace. I walked around the neighborhood surprised and delighted by the intricate details of each tree’s design—details I never would have seen if the branches had not been stripped bare of their leaves. It was then that I realized they were beautiful because they had lost their leaves. With branches stripped bare, the snow covered every part of the tree, creating a stunning and vibrant outline instead of just dead-looking ‘tree bones’ as they are called in Enga.

What once looked dead and dark had now become alive and bright. In fact, the whole neighborhood was lit up with striking beauty. I was struck by was how white snow is. I just kept saying, “It’s so white.” I didn’t know the color white could be so … white! I then found myself thinking about the words from the hymn “Nothing but the Blood.”

Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

I never realized just how white and pure the blood of Jesus made us. I had to smile as I became aware of another way that God reveals himself in the natural world around us. I love the imagery of light overcoming darkness, and here it was again in a way I had never seen.

“I didn’t know the color white could be so … white!”

This Christmas we have much to be thankful for. We are all together this year. Adam continues to work with the Enga Bible translation team remotely and is now checking the Old Testament books that have been drafted. He is also helping our organization with year-end financial reporting. Jacob has applied to a few colleges and is very excited about transferring to a four-year school next year. We are so thankful for Adam’s mom, Heather, who watched over Jacob for the 18 months we were apart, and for the faithful prayer warriors who prayed for him and the rest of our family during that time. Bella had a great first semester at Taylor University, and we are so grateful that her transition to the States, though not easy, has gone well. We love having her at home with us. She too had a very exciting first snow experience.

Asher is the one we worried about the most this past year. This furlough we chose to put Asher in school rather than homeschool him. This is the first time he has experienced school in the U.S. We are more than thankful for the experience he has had at Eden Christian Academy. He has made many friends and is on the basketball team, an experience that we did not think he was going to get during our year in the U.S. He is also learning to drive and spending lots of time behind the wheel.

Bella fully enjoying the first major snowfall of the year

After 15 years as missionaries, we now have friends all over the United States and in many countries throughout the world—people who have been part of our lives in various places and through different seasons. We miss you! We’d love to hear from you and know what is happening in your life. Please send an email, a text, a note, or make a phone call. Let us know how we can pray for you. I think that’s all I really want for Christmas.

Every year it can be a struggle to make Christmas about Jesus. It is always a busy time with concerts, sports, and all the obligatory Christmas preparations that have nothing to do with celebrating the birth of Christ. But I hope this Christmas you can steal away a moment to worship the newborn King who brings light into a world of darkness.

Remembering Maniosa

“Is that a word?” This is a question I (Adam) was asked multiple times by Maniosa Yakasa, the lead translator for the Enga Bible Translation team. Maniosa had a rich English vocabulary and a singsong voice that made an impression on any expat he spoke with. He once told me about a theological disagreement he had with pastors who were following a false teaching, saying, “So I confuted their argument. Confute—is that a word?” I wasn’t sure, so I looked it up. It was indeed a word, and Maniosa was using it correctly! I learned so much from Maniosa, who himself had a great love for learning and an incredible aptitude in a wide range of areas.

Maniosa had a smile that would light up a room, and he always exuded the joy of the Lord. Life in Enga is not easy, and there are trials and difficulties each day that can sap whatever bits of joy a person may have left. But by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Maniosa had discovered the secret of being content, even joyful, in all circumstances.

Reverend Maniosa Yakasa

One morning as the translation team and I were sitting at the translation booth in Wabag town, Maniosa received news that a tribal fight had broken out in his home village of Sakarip. There were rumors that his house had burned down, so he went home to investigate the matter. When I called him later that day and asked what had happened, he said with his singsong voice, “They murdered seven of my pigs!” Only an Engan would use the word “murder” with pigs, and only Maniosa could report such bad news with joy in his voice.

Later Martha and I gave him some clothes and shoes to share with others in his village whose homes had been burned to the ground. When we asked him about it later, he told us that instead of giving the clothes and shoes to his tribesmen, he had gone down the road and found the enemy tribe’s hired mercenaries and given the items to them instead. Maniosa understood more than any other Papua New Guinean I have ever met Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies. He was truly a man of peace.

Maniosa drove an old red Land Cruiser. Nothing on the car worked unless it had to. I remember once riding with him from Wabag to Mt Hagen (at that time a three-hour trip). The gauges for his main fuel tank and reserve fuel tank both showed dead empty. As we made our way out of Wabag, we passed one fuel station after another, and Maniosa did not stop to refuel. As we started driving through the more remote areas, I began to get nervous, thinking that we would run out of fuel, but somehow we made it to Mt Hagen. Only years later did I realize that neither of the gauges worked!

Maniosa at the Enga New Testament dedication

Our whole family has pleasant memories of riding in the back of Maniosa’s Land Cruiser. During one of our first stays in Enga, Maniosa drove us to Mt Hagen for the weekend so that we could enjoy some restaurant food and a hot shower. He stopped at a roadside stand along the way to get us some chips (french fries). Checking to make sure we had enough to eat, he asked us a few minutes later in perfect English, “How is the potato situation back there?” We all laughed and smiled. Maniosa continued down the road (which was in bad condition back then) swerving to the right and left around potholes and singing hymns at the top of his lungs. Later he told us that we were going through an area where roadside bandits often hold up cars. He confronted this potential evil by singing mightily unto the Lord, and he kept us safe.

Maniosa was a strong man. Even into his early seventies, he would often do push-ups on the floor when we took breaks from our translation work. Nevertheless, he had some health problems, which he described to me once with his singsong voice, a smile, and a chuckle, saying, “The doctor says I eat too much pig grease.”

Maniosa never knew when he was born, but he estimated that it was around 1946. The farther along we got in our New Testament work, the more I prayed that Maniosa would live to see its completion. God granted that request, and Maniosa was there to see the dedication of the Enga New Testament on July 2, 2024. He continued working on translating the Old Testament into Enga for the next year until he died of a massive stroke on August 31. His great joy that he radiated on earth is now made full in the presence of the Lord, and I can only imagine that Jesus received him with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

How Do We Get More Audio Bibles?

A couple of weeks ago a friend of ours who is a Lutheran missionary in Enga sent an email, saying, "How do we get more audio Bibles? So many [people] are asking for them." Thankfully, we had some in stock in Wabag town at the church we work out of, and we could direct our friend to get more there. It is encouraging to know that people are asking for the audio Bibles and that more and more people are accessing the audio version of the Enga New Testament.

The Enga New Testament is also being read from the pulpit in some churches. One of the Enga translators sent the video below of Martha Martin, the granddaughter of translator Martin Harty, reading the Enga New Testament from the pulpit during a Sunday morning service. We are thankful that people can listen to the Enga New Testament not only on audio Bibles but also at Sunday morning services.

After the Trauma Healing course took place last March, there has been great interest in having the Scripture Use team return for another training. Pray for the logistics to come together for this to happen. There are many groups working to bring peace in Enga Province. Pray that these efforts would be fruitful. Pray also that the Holy Spirit would do a mighty work to change the hearts of the warriors involved in tribal fighting.

Plans for the Coming Year
We returned to America (Pittsburgh area) in July for a short three-month furlough to help Bella get ready to attend Taylor University in the fall and also to help Jacob as he enters his second year of Community College and applies to four-year universities. It has been a busy time: doctor's appointments, helping Jacob buy a car (with his own money!), teaching Bella to drive in America (she now has her license!), enrolling Asher in school (more work than it might seem), and just getting situated back in America. It is amazing how many little tasks need to be done to get back into living normal life in America.

At the end of our three-month furlough, we will be doing a remote assignment until June 2026. This means that we will continue our work with Wycliffe, but that we will continue to be based in America from October to June. For a long time, we have felt the need to be in the U.S. for an entire year after Bella graduated, and to stay in one place. During previous furloughs we felt it was important to split our time between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, yet so much transition was never healthy for our family. For this school year, we will be staying in the Pittsburgh area. This will allow Asher to attend school for an entire year without disruption. It will also allow us to be here for Bella and Jacob.

A contributing factor to our decision to stay in Pittsburgh for the entire school year is the state of the international school Asher attends in Papua New Guinea. The school has been facing teacher and administrator shortages for years, and this 2025-2026 school year is going to be particularly challenging as far as staffing for the school goes. Because Asher does best in a classroom setting (rather than online or homeschool), we thought it best to enroll him in school here in America. But please pray for more teachers and administrators for his school in Papua New Guinea. (If you or someone you know would be interested in serving as a teacher or school administrator at Asher's international school in Papua New Guinea, please let us know!)

As always, thank you for your prayers and for partnering with us in the work of Bible translation. May God bless you abundantly!

Enga NT Distribution

During our trip to Enga in March, we were able to spend a few days distributing the Enga New Testament. Joined by Sam Nutter (a mechanic with a vision for Scripture distribution), Malon Kenas (Distribution Coordinator), and Stanley Piokol (PNG Bible Translation Association Assistant Area Program Manager for the Highlands), we targeted churches in eastern Enga Province. We had not previously done much awareness in this part of the province. So we drove as far east as we could while still remaining in Enga Province and went from village to village, visiting every church we could find. We gave the pastor of each church a copy of the Enga-English New Testament along with the Enga New Testament audio Bible.

Giving a local pastor the Enga-English New Testament and audio

As we made our way from church to church, the pastors were grateful to receive the Enga Scriptures. We showed some pastors how to download the Enga Bible app, Enga Library app, and Enga Dictionary app from the Google play store, and we stopped in a couple of market areas to raise awareness for the Enga New Testament and make some sales. As we went along, we told the pastors that they could purchase additional copies at a particular Chinese-owned store in Wapenamanda. We did this in faith, because we hadn't actually been to the shop yet or asked the store owner if we could sell Enga New Testaments there. When we finally went to the store, the owner at first refused to sell them. But after Sam Nutter reminded him that it was an opportunity to make money, he told us that he would stock them but would only pay for them after they sold. We quickly agreed to this arrangement and stocked his store with some Enga New Testaments. In Wabag town, we had a better reception. Last summer Martha had sold a carton of Enga-English New Testaments to a Chinese-owned store where we often shop. When she went back to check on whether the New Testaments had sold, she discovered that they were sold out. The owner then bought five cartons of Enga New Testaments and five cartons of Enga-English New Testaments (160 in total). We were able to get the Enga Scriptures into a few other stores as well.

The store in Wabag town that bought 10 cartons of Enga New Testaments

After distributing Enga New Testaments in eastern Enga Province and in Wabag town, we set up a tent to do open air preaching in Wabag. Malon shared about the importance of Scripture, while I shared my testimony in Enga. I'm always thankful for an opportunity to share about how God has transformed my life, and a foreigner speaking Enga is always a draw for people to come listen. We were able to display the Enga Scriptures, which some people bought right then and there.

Malon sharing about the importance of Scripture in Wabag town

While we only had a few days to focus on distribution, it inspired me to somehow visit all of the churches in Enga Province so that we can give pastors a free copy in print and audio formats. This is a difficult task, and I am not quite sure how it could be fulfilled. Will you please pray with us for God to work beyond what Martha and I alone are capable of to see the Enga New Testament distributed far and wide throughout Enga Province? As always, we thank you for your support, as we could not do this without your partnership.

Bella is going to Taylor University!
Bella will be enrolling at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, this fall to study Elementary Education. Taylor was Bella's first choice, so we are excited that she gets to go there. Please pray for her as she says goodbye to her friends and her home in Papua New Guinea, and transitions to life in the United States.