Newbreak Missions Team 2

In September, we were privileged to host a team of five from Newbreak Church. In November, we were privileged to host another team of five from the same church. It was a busy week of travel, open air preaching, and showing the Enga Jesus Film.

The Second Newbreak Missions Team

The Wild West
After the team got settled in, we took a trip to what is called The Wild West, which is the western part of Enga Province. Upon our arrival in the village of Mulitaka, we discovered that the back, right tire of my truck had a puncture from a piece of metal and was slowly deflating. Fortunately, there was a tire service in the village, so Pastor Duane from Newbreak Church and I went to get the tire repaired. In the two hours while we waited for the repairs, a crowd of about two hundred people gathered around us in a perfect semi-circle to meet us and listen to "the white man speaking in Enga." We had good interactions with the crowd and invited them all to watch the Enga Jesus Film that night at the local high school, just a short walk from the tire service. About 6:45 PM I got the film started and then asked Van Hooper from Newbreak Church to look after the equipment while I went to eat dinner in the house where we all were staying. Some time afterward, Van came running up to the house a little out of sorts, saying that there were men with machetes who were causing a disturbance. I went down to see what the problem was, and it turns out that so many people showed up to see the film that there was no longer space for anybody else in the room where we were showing it. The men with bush knives were demanding that we move the projector and screen outside so that everyone could see the film. I told them that we would show the film a second time once the first showing ended, and everyone was happy with that. It is a good problem when people are demanding that space be made so that they too can see the Jesus Film in Enga!

The venue where we showed the Jesus Film in Mulitaka

The next morning we traveled to the check point at a village called Maipya, which is the last village where the people speak Enga rather than Ipili (the next language bordering Enga). We set up a small speaker in the market area. As people gathered around, I introduced the team members from Newbreak Church who shared greetings and short testimonies. I then shared my own testimony and the gospel message in the Enga language and gave people an opportunity to repent from their sin and put their faith in Jesus. Afterwards people were invited to buy Audibibles and memory cards with the Enga recordings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the Abraham story from Genesis. We did the same in the villages of Tumandan and Mulitaka. By the end of the day we had preached the gospel to over 500 people and sold a handful of Audibibles and memory cards. It is difficult to gauge response to the gospel messages that were preached, but we trust that some seeds were planted in good soil and will bear fruit.

Preaching the gospel in the village of Maipya

Kompiam
After returning from The Wild West, we spent a day at our home in Immi village, where the team helped us with many home improvement projects, which was a great blessing. The next morning we headed out to Kompiam, which is quite literally the end of the road in the northeastern part of Enga Province. A local pastor in Kompiam had set up a grand stand in the main field outside of the government station, and we shared greetings, testimonies, and the gospel message just as we had in The Wild West. The people in Kompiam were particularly receptive, and one older man shared in tears about how much it meant to him that I was speaking in Enga and translating God's Word so that they could understand it in their own language. Afterwards many people bought Audibibles and memory cards containing the Enga Bible recordings. At night we showed the Enga Jesus Film in a local church, and despite a torrential downpour, sixty people showed up to see the film.

 

People gathering to buy Enga Audibibles in Kompiam

Thank You
We wish to express our appreciation to Dan Lamborn, Duane Flewelling, Van Hooper, Mike Kuypers, and Susana Leung for taking time out of their busy schedules to minister to us and the people of Enga. Along with your help and the help of the first team from Newbreak Church, we preached the gospel to over one thousand people and showed the Enga Jesus film to about six hundred people. We may not know the fruit of our labors until we get to heaven, but let's pray that God will move in the lives of those who heard the good news and bring them to repentance and faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Review of the American Literary Version of the Bible

The American Literary Version (ALV) is an update to the American Standard Version (ASV) that was published in 2016 as a part of the Bibliotheca multi-volume set of the Bible. Bibliotheca broke new ground by producing a Bible without any chapter numbers, verse numbers, section headings, or footnotes. It is stunningly beautiful in its radical simplicity. Many other reviewers have focused on the physical beauty of the Bibliotheca Bible, and so I will focus on reviewing the American Literary Version translation, which was produced by Bibliotheca.

What began as a light revision of the ASV (i.e. updating thee and thou) turned into a more in-depth revision as the funding for Bibliotheca increased. The resulting translation is more literal than the ASV, while still maintaining a relatively high degree of readability for those who are well-versed in the Scriptures and who don’t mind looking up an occasional word in the dictionary.

While many modern translations such as the NASB, NKJV, and ESV claim a high degree of literalness, they are not as literal as one might expect. Often these translations make changes to the text to increase the readability for modern readers. However, while the translation becomes more readable, the literal meaning of the actual Greek or Hebrew source is obscured. The ALV more consistently provides a truly literal rendering of the Greek and Hebrew source text.

Consider, for example, 2 Peter 2:4. The NASB reads, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell…” The Greek word translated as cast into hell is ταρταρόω, which is a verb that means ‘consign to Tartarus’. In Greek thought, Tartarus is a place of punishment and torment located below Hades. Tartarus is different from the word γέεννα, which is usually translated as ‘hell’. The ESV and NKJV follow the NASB in translating ταρταρόω with the word ‘hell’ instead of ‘Tartarus’. The ALV is more literal in translating the underlying Greek of 2 Peter 2:4. It reads, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus…” In addition to rendering ταρταρόω more literally, the ALV also translates γέεννα as ‘Gehenna’ rather than ‘hell’, which preserves the imagery of the Valley of Hinnom, the city dump of Jerusalem where trash was burned.

Philippians 1:27 is another example in which the ALV is more literal than even the most literal of modern translations. The NASB and NKJV translate Philippians 1:27 as “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ…” The ESV translates it as, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…” The underlying Greek word for the bolded text is πολιτεύομαι, which literally means ‘live as a citizen’. Philippians is written to Christians living in a Roman colony, where there are many retired soldiers. The people of Philippi were known for their patriotic nationalism. In such an environment, the Christians in Philippi may have been tempted to see their citizenship as being in Rome rather than in heaven. But Philippians 1:27 specifically encourages the Philippians to view their citizenship in terms of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the gospel of the Kingdom of God. But this talk of citizenship is obscured in the NASB, NKJV, and ESV. The ALV, on the other hand, translates Philippians 1:27 as, “Only behave worthily as citizens of the good tidings of the Christ…” This more literal translation highlights Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians to live as citizens of God’s Kingdom rather than as citizens of Rome.

Another example of how the ALV exceeds other translations in literalness is Matthew 5:3. The NASB, NKJV, and ESV all translate Matthew 5:3 as, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The ALV translates it as, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” The underlying Greek word is plural and so the ALV renders the source text more literally. It may sound awkward at first to say “the kingdom of the heavens,” but that is only because we are used to hearing “the kingdom of heaven.”  The plural form ‘heavens’ is actually quite natural in English. For example, we don’t have any problem with Genesis 1:1, which states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Neither are we disturbed by Psalm 19:1, which says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”

In its quest for preserving the literary nature of the biblical texts, the ALV preserves idioms that modern translations alter. For example, the NASB and ESV translate Genesis 29:1 as, “Then Jacob went on his journey…” (The NKJV is similar.) However, the ALV preserves the Hebrew idiom and translates it as, “And Jacob lifted up his feet…” In another example, the NASB translates 1 Samuel 25:22 as, “May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him.” The ESV and NKJV similarly employ the words one male. However, the actual Hebrew text does not say one male. It says, “one who pisses against the wall,” which is a rich idiom denoting a male. The ALV preserves this idiom and the strong imagery it evokes.

In all of these cases, the ALV is not only more literal than the NASB, NKJV, and ESV, it is more literal than the ASV as well. In at least one instance, however, the decision of the ALV translators to retain the ASV rendering results in a translation that is less literal than the NASB, NKJV, and ESV. That is the translation of the word ἀνομία. The NASB, NKJV, and ESV all translate this word with its literal meaning 'lawlessness'. The ALV, however, retains the ASV rendering of 'iniquity', which means 'immoral or grossly unfair behavior'. While immoral behavior is often contrary to the law, such is not always the case, and so 'lawlessness' is a more literal translation.

Regarding textual basis, the ALV translates from the Masoretic text in the Old Testament and the critical text in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the ALV is less likely to follow the Septuagint (and other ancient versions) than the ASV, NASB, NKJV, or ESV. For example, in Exodus 8:23, the ASV, NASB, NKJV, and ESV all follow the Septuagint text with translations like, “I will make a distinction” or “I will put a division.” The ALV follows the Hebrew text and renders Exodus 8:23 as “I will set a ransom.” There is good reason to believe that the Septuagint preserves the original reading in this case, but the ALV seeks to be a faithful translation of the Masoretic text.

Regarding style, the ALV retains much of the archaic vocabulary of the ASV. Personally, I don’t mind this as, in my opinion, it adds to the literary beauty of the translation. It also constantly reminds me that the Bible was not written in modern English. I just keep my dictionary handy so that I can look up words that are unfamiliar. Those who are accustomed to the King James Version probably won’t have much trouble. The ALV does, however, update the words thee, thou, thy, and thine to their modern equivalents and also drops archaic verb endings like -eth and -est. Similarly shalt and wilt are rendered as shall and will.

There is, however, one update introduced by the ALV that does take some getting used to. The Hebrew interjection נָא is used to indicate earnestness and humility and is usually translated in the ASV with the words ‘now’ or ‘I pray thee/you’. For example, in Genesis 18:3-4 the ASV reads,

My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

The ALV prefers to translate נָא with the word ‘pray’ in every occurrence. (The only time I have ever heard the word ‘pray’ used in this way is in the expression, “Pray tell!”) This often results in awkward English phrasing as seen, for example, in the ALV rendering of Genesis 18:3-4,

My lord, if, pray, I have found favor in your eyes, do not pass away, pray, from your servant. Pray, let a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest under the tree.

This does not make for smooth flowing English. Nevertheless, after spending some time with the ALV, I have gotten used to this idiosyncrasy. In fact, it makes me take notice of speech patterns that I might otherwise have missed. For example, in the story of the ten plagues in Exodus, I noticed that Pharaoh eventually shows more humility in his requests to Moses as indicated by the word ‘pray’. In Exodus 10:11, Pharaoh says, “Go, pray, you who are men.” And in Exodus 10:17, Pharaoh says, “And now forgive, pray, my sin.” Without this somewhat awkward occurrence of the word ‘pray’, I don’t think I would have taken note of this change in Pharaoh's tone. Nevertheless, I think I prefer the ASV’s use of ‘I pray you’ and ‘now’ for translating the Hebrew interjection נָא.

One final note of interest is the rendering of the proper name of God, known as the Tetragrammaton. The proper name of God consists of the four Hebrew letters יהוה roughly equivalent to YHWH. We don’t know for sure how this name was pronounced because the associated vowels are the vowels for the word adonai and not YHWH. Most scholars, however, believe that the name is pronounced Yahweh. The Tetragrammaton has traditionally been rendered in English as ‘the Lord’. The ASV, however, sought a more direct translation and rendered the name as ‘Jehovah’, combining the vowels for adonai with the consonants for YHWH. The ALV simply renders the Tetragrammaton as YHWH. While it might seem that a name with no vowels and all capital letters would be a stumbling block to reading, I find that my mind naturally reads YHWH as ‘Yahweh’, and so it is not an issue for me.

In conclusion, the ALV is the most literal modern translation of the Bible available today. And despite its literal renderings, it has a relatively high degree of readability. It is certainly much easier to read than Young’s Literal Translation, from which it draws some of its translation choices. The awkward use of the word ‘pray’ does detract a bit from readability, but one quickly gets used to it and finds that it becomes less of a distraction over time. I highly recommend the American Literary Version to anyone who has a relatively high level of biblical literacy and who wants to know what the underlying Greek and Hebrew text actually says. And for those who read the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books of the Bible, you will be interested to know that Bibliotheca makes them available as a separate volume in the ALV translation.

Regarding the format, I find that reading the Bible without chapter and verse divisions, footnotes, or section headings is incredibly refreshing. The beautiful layout of the American Literary Version in the Bibliotheca Bible is unparalleled by any other Bible I know of. I can't put it down!

I will leave you with some sample passages from the American Literary Version so that you can get a feel for the translation.

The Beatitudes
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake
     of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in the heavens,
your name be hallowed,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
as in heaven, so on earth.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And bring us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

Psalm 23
YHWH is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths or righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my foes.
You have anointed my head with oil;
my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of YHWH
for length of days.

The Gospel of John Prologue
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
This one was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him,
and without him was nothing made that has been made.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not apprehend it.

There came a man,
sent from God,
whose name was John.
This one came for witness,
that he might bear witness of the light,
that all might believe through him.
That one was not the light,
but came that he might bear witness of the light.

There was the true light,
which lights every man,
coming into the world.
In the world he was,
and the world through him was made,
and the world did not know him.

To his own he came,
and those who were his own did not receive him.
But as many as received him,
to them he gave the right to become children of God,
to those who believe on his name,
who were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man,
but of God.
And the Word became flesh,
and tabernacled among us,
and we beheld his glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.

John bore witness of him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘He who comes after me has become before me,
for he was before me.’”
For of his fullness we all received,
and grace for grace.
For the law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No man has seen God at any time;
the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father,
he has declared him.

Romans 8:31-39
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Is is Christ Jesus who died, yea rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of the Christ? Shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Even as it is written,

     “For your sake we are killed all the day long;
     we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Take My Pyakende Upon You

“Take my yoke upon you…and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:29-30 are some of the most difficult to translate into the Enga language. From the time that I became a Christian, I was taught that a yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the neck of two animals and attached to a plough or cart that they are to pull. This is an easy enough concept to understand for people who come from societies that make use of beasts of burden, but in Papua New Guinea, there are no beasts of burden. Consequently the concept of a yoke placed on animals is completely foreign. Thus, we have struggled greatly in our attempt to translate Matthew 11:29-30.

Recently, however, I came to learn that a yoke can also refer to a wooden frame that a person places on his neck or shoulders to make it easier to carry a heavy load. Indeed, the Bible often makes figurative use of the word ‘yoke’ as it refers to people and not to beasts of burden (see 1 Kings 12:4-14). As I was pondering that idea, I began to notice that when Engan men carry heavy logs on one shoulder, they often balance the load by supporting it with a small stick placed across the other shoulder. A few weeks ago, it clicked in my mind that the small stick they use to make it easier to carry a heavy log is like a yoke. Excited by this realization, I quickly asked my friend Benjamin if the stick that men use to make it easier to carry a heavy log has a name in Enga. Sure enough it does. It is called a pyakende. With great anticipation, I asked the translation team if we could use the word pyakende to translate the word ‘yoke’. After wrestling with the phrasing for a little while, we came up with the following translation: “In order to remove the heaviness from your shoulders, take my pyakende. When you have taken it, you will receive rest. As my pyakende helps you, what I give you to carry is not heavy and you will carry it without struggling.”

Lightening the load with a pyakende

My Heart Will Go Thud
One of the things I love about Enga is the rich metaphors it employs. Sometimes, however, these metaphors can be difficult to grasp at first. There is one particular metaphor that I have struggled to understand precisely: mona lyuu lenge. I knew that the entire phrase meant something like ‘to be at peace in your heart’. I also knew that mona meant ‘heart’ and that lenge meant ‘produce a sound’, but I really struggled to know what lyuu meant. Usually a word that comes before lenge is some sort of sound or speech, but what sound is produced when your heart is at peace? As we were translating Philippians 2:19, the team used this phrase to describe how Paul would feel when he received news of how the Philippians were doing. So I asked the team what exactly mona lyuu lenge meant. Often it is hard to get a straightforward answer to such questions, but the team explained that the literal meaning of lyuu lenge is the sound that is made when a large object hits the ground. For example, when a cluster of pandanus nuts hits the ground, it makes such a sound. Finally I realized that the word lyuu literally means ‘thud’ and that lyuu lenge means ‘go thud’ or ‘make a thud sound’. Well, I was happy to figure out the literal meaning of the word lyuu, but I still couldn’t see what it had to do with being at peace in your heart. The team then further explained that when you feel anxious about something, it is like your heart is hung up on whatever it is that you are anxious about. But when your anxiety is relieved, your heart falls back into place. And when your heart falls back into place, metaphorically speaking, it makes a thud sound just like a cluster of pandanus nuts when it falls to the ground. So, in the Enga translation of Philippians 2:19, Paul literally writes, “When [Timothy] tells me how you are doing, I will hear and then my heart will go thud.” I think my own heart went thud when I finally realized the meaning of this rich metaphor!

A cluster of pandanus nuts

Translation Progress
Since August, the Enga translation team has completed drafts of 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, James, and Philippians. We are currently working on drafting 1 Peter. As God enables us, we are covering much ground each day, even through the more difficult books of the Bible that we are now translating. We have now drafted 73.5% of the New Testament. Please pray that God would enable us to finish drafting the entire New Testament by 2019.

Newbreak Missions Team

We have been so very blessed over the past week to have a team of five join us from Newbreak Church in San Diego. After an overnight in the capital city of Port Moresby, the team hit the ground running. Due to a flight cancellation, the team flew into Mt Hagen (two hours away) instead of Wapenamanda (20 minutes away), and so the team crowded into our Toyota Hilux for the longer, but beautiful drive to our house.

The Newbreak Missions Team

Just an hour and a half after their arrival at our home in the village of Immi, we went off to a Seventh Day Adventist Church camp meeting, where we had the opportunity to share the good news with the people and sell a few Audibibles. The next morning was Sunday and so we went to a Catholic church at the invitation of one of the translation team members. After the service, we headed to the local Assemblies of God church for a traditional style mumu, which consists of pork meat, chicken, bananas, sweet potatoes, and vegetables cooked by stones that are heated in an earthen oven (similar to a Hawaiian luau).

Eating a traditional style Enga mumu

On Monday morning, the team went on a walk in the village of Immi, and one of the team members shared the gospel with three young men that he had met on the road. Later in the morning we visited the Enga Bible translation center in Wabag town and got just a small taste of what translation work is like. After seeing just a few minutes of the translation work, one of the team members, Pastor Steve Bombaci, said, "All I can say is, I have a whole new respect for Bible translators!" Around lunch time we headed to the village of Sakarip for a public event to share the good news and raise awareness of the Enga Bible translation work, selling a handful of memory cards and Audibibles.

Visiting the people of Sakarip village

On Tuesday, we traveled to the town of Wapenamanda to play the Enga Bible on a loud speaker and preach the gospel in the open market area. We ended up speaking to about fifty people who gathered around. We then traveled to a Foursquare school to train community health workers. There we shared stories with the students of how God has worked in our lives, and we encouraged them to be lights in the remote parts of Enga where people have no access to healthcare. We shared the Enga Bible and Enga Jesus Film with some of the Engan students; many of the students were from different parts of the country and expressed interest in receiving audio recordings of the Bible in their own language.

James Jaurez sharing the gospel with people in the open market of Wapenamanda

On Wednesday, we visited the headquarters of the Catholic Church to dedicate the book of Luke along with the other Scripture portions that we have completed in the Enga language. This was the highlight of the team's time in Enga, as the Catholic Church welcomed us and the Bible in Enga with singing and dancing and much celebration. Adam had an opportunity to share his testimony and the good news in the Enga language, which the people warmly received. The missions team members were blessed with what was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as they were welcomed with beautiful songs written particularly for the occasion. At the end of the four-hour long event, we sold many Audibibles and a few memory cards.

Listening to the Bible in Enga

On Thursday, we took the morning off after what had been a very busy few days and went swimming in the river by our house, and then into town to the cultural center. At night we showed the Enga Jesus film in the big field in front of our house. Despite the fact that it was pouring rain, there were about 150 people huddled under a tarp watching the film. The vast majority of the people were not believers. At the conclusion of the film, we had the opportunity to share the gospel with many. On Friday, we took a hike up the mountain across the river to a village called Napotesa to present the gospel and share some personal testimonies. On Saturday, the team prepared for their return to America, and they are traveling back to America now as this update is being posted.

Preaching the gospel in the village of Napotesa

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to Pastor Steve Bombaci, Karen Adams, James Jaurez, Derrick Watkins, and Dan Mudd for taking time out of their busy lives and flying halfway around the world to share God's love not only with the people of Enga but with us as well. We were truly blessed by the love that they showered upon our family and particularly upon our children. Their time with us went better than I could have imagined, and I told them not to underestimate the value of what they have done to encourage us as a family. Thank you, Newbreak Church, for sending this wonderful team to bless the people of Enga and to bless our family.

Translation Style

One of the biggest questions that Bible translators must ask themselves is, “What translation style should we use?” There are two main styles in use today: formal equivalence (also known as word-for-word) and dynamic equivalence (also known as thought-for-thought). We will look at the differences of these two approaches using Matthew 5:3.

Word-for-Word
Although many state that they prefer a word-for-word translation of the Bible, there is virtually no Bible in any language that follows a strict word-for-word translation. To illustrate why that is the case, I have made a strict word-for-word translation of the Greek text of Matthew 5:3 below.

Blessed the poor the spirit, for theirs is the kingdom the heavens.

In the strict word-for-word translation above, the word ‘the’ appears four times. In Greek, the word ‘the’ has a different form in each of the four occurrences. But because English only has one form of the word ‘the’, the nuances of each form of the Greek are hidden. As is the case with strict word-for-word translations, the result is not grammatically acceptable, nor is it understandable to the average reader. Such translations appear only in specialized reference works called interlinears.

Formal Equivalence
Translations in the formal equivalence style seek to follow the actual words and structure of the source text as closely as possible while keeping in mind the rules of English grammar and style. In English, most of the formal equivalent translations flow out of the Tyndale-King James tradition. Three of the best known formal equivalent translations in English today are the English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and New King James Version (NKJV). Not surprisingly, all three produce the exact same translation of Matthew 5:3.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

When compared to the strict word-for-word translation, you can see that the changes are quite minor, basically making the translation conform to rules of English grammar and style and giving the nuance of each occurrence of the word ‘the’. The only other changes are the addition of the word ‘are’ and the adjustment of ‘heavens’ to ‘heaven’ because in English we don’t refer to ‘heaven’ in the plural.

Dynamic Equivalence
Translations in the dynamic equivalence style seek to recreate the meaning of the source text for modern readers by using moden ways of speaking. In other words, such translations look at the underlying meaning of the source text and then ask the question, "How would we say that today?" There are a wide variety of dynamic equivalent translations for Matthew 5:3.

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (NLT)

Happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. (CEB)

God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom of heaven! (CEV)

Great blessings belong to those who know they are spiritually in need. God’s kingdom belongs to them. (ERV)

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. (MESSAGE)

A quick survey of the dynamic equivalent translations above reveals the concerns of the translators. It is evident that the translators do not think that the phrase ‘poor in spirit’ is easily understandable to modern readers. In fact, of the five translations, only one makes reference to ‘spirit’ (ERV) and only one makes reference to ‘poor’ (NLT). Two of the translations make it clear that God is the one doing the blessing, and two of the translations change ‘kingdom of heaven’ in an attempt to make it more understandable. One translation considers the word ‘happy’ to be more understandable to the modern reader than the word ‘blessed’.



Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantage of formal equivalent translations is that the reader has a very good understanding of what the source text actually says. The disadvantage is that it usually takes more work to come to an understanding of what that text actually means. The advantage of dynamic equivalent translations, is that the text is more easily understandable. The disadvantage is that the reader often has little idea of what the source text actually says, and he or she is more limited by the interpretive decisions made by the translators. As a rule, formal equivalent translations vary little from one another, while dynamic equivalent translations vary greatly from one another. When a language already has a formal equivalent translation that gives access to what the source text actually says, dynamic equivalent translations can help the reader to consider possible interpretations or to hear the text in a fresh way. However, I would be concerned if there was only one English translation of the Bible and it was done in the dynamic equivalent style, because I would have no way of knowing what the source text actually said (apart from learning Greek and Hebrew).

How This Affects Enga
These issues of translation style are relevant for Enga as well. The current translation of Matthew 5:3 in Enga is written below (in an English back-translation).

God blesses the people who are poor in spirit and want him to help them. Those blessed ones will be in his kingdom.

As the Enga translation now stands, we have added the phrase ‘and want him to help them’ to clarify what is meant by the term ‘poor in spirit’. We have also changed ‘kingdom of heaven’ to ‘his kingdom’. In addition, instead of saying ‘the kingdom is theirs’, we say that they ‘will be in his kingdom’. Finally, we have made it clear that God is the one doing the blessing. (Adding ‘people’ and ‘those blessed ones’ is not so much an addition to the text as it is a requirement of Enga style.) Thus, the Enga translation as it now stands is clearly in the camp of dynamic equivalence.

However, as time goes on, and I reflect more and more on decisions like this that we made early on in the translation process, I am inclined to move more towards the camp of formal equivalence. For example, I am going to recommend to the team that we drop the explanatory phrase that says ‘and want him to help them’. Additionally, because the Kingdom of God/Heaven is a present reality now and not just a future hope, I am going to recommend that we change ‘will be in his kingdom’ to ‘his kingdom is theirs’. In addition, I will explore whether it is feasible to say ‘the kingdom of heaven’ instead of ‘his kingdom’. It may be that it is acceptable to be more literal in this case, but it may be that this is an issue similar to the issue in English in which ‘heavens’ needs to be changed to ‘heaven’. In Enga it may not be possible to talk about ‘the kingdom of heaven’ without making it sound like the kingdom is physically located in heaven. (This is an important distinction since we know from the proclamation of Jesus that the kingdom is at hand and that it is in our midst.) So I hope that we can adjust the Enga to read as follows:

God blesses the people who are poor in spirit. The kingdom of heaven is theirs.

You will notice that I am not recommending removing the fact that God is the one doing the blessing. That is because the rules of Enga grammar usually require the one doing an action to be identified. You can’t just say that people are blessed. You have to say who is blessing them. Similarly, you will notice that I am not advocating for the addition of the word ‘For’ at the start of the second sentence. That is because such an addition would be extremely awkward in the Enga language. What is listed above is probably the closest that Enga can get to the source text while still following basic rules of Enga grammar and style.

Why Shift Toward Formal Equivalence?
There are three reasons why I am inclined to shift toward formal equivalence in Enga: (1) Many Enga pastors also speak English and they will compare our translation to formal equivalent translations like the ESV. If our translation is significantly different, they might consider it inaccurate and reject it; (2) Many Enga pastors have completed Bible school and have basic training in biblical interpretation. As a result, they are more equipped to wrestle with a more literal translation; and (3) Enga does not already have a formal equivalent translation that people can use to find out, more or less, what the source text actually says. While it is impossible for Enga to achieve the level of formal equivalence of translations like the NASB, ESV, and NKJV, it seems wise to move more in that direction.

While shifting our style will require us to revisit our translations of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the majority of verses are fairly straightforward and do not contain the difficulties of Matthew 5:3. However, this is the reality of the translation process. A translation is never really done, but it must constantly be revised and updated. Even a translation such as the ESV has been revised three times since its initial publication in 2001. And don’t forget that the ESV itself was a revision of the Revised Standard Version (1971), which was a revision of the American Standard Version (1901), which was a revision of the English Revised Version (1885), which was a revision of the King James Version (1611), which was a revision of the Bishop’s Bible (1568), which was a revision of the Great Bible (1539). And although the Great Bible was the first authorized translation of the Bible in English, it drew heavily from both the Matthew Bible (1537) and William Tyndale’s translation of the Bible, which was not yet completed when he was burned at the stake in 1536. (Incidentally, in that long line of revisions over 490 years, Matthew 5:3 has remained unchanged apart from minor modifications to spelling and punctuation!)

All that to say, Bible translation requires constant revision. Please keep us in your prayers so that we can be as faithful as possible to the original source text, while communicating clearly in the Enga language. It is not an easy task.

William Tyndale translating the Bible into English

Thankful for the Potholes

If there is one thing that missions work in Papua New Guinea gives you, it is the opportunity to complain. I wish that I could say that I have not fallen prey to that temptation, but I have, and often.

Complaining is a disease. It is like a viral plague that is quickly transmitted from one person to the next. Before you know it, everybody is infected.

In the book of Numbers, we read about how the Israelites complained incessantly to Moses, accusing him of bringing them out into the wilderness to die, while longing to go back to the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that they ate in Egypt. It seems that they forgot the whips of their slave masters and the ruthless efforts to kill all of their newborn sons.

I recently heard a poem about thankfulness that caused me to give serious reconsideration to the things I am so apt to complain about in my life. I decided to write my own poem about thankfulness as it applies to life here in Papua New Guinea:

I am thankful for the rain, because it means that my water tank will not soon be empty.

I am thankful for the cold, because it means that the threat of malaria is far reduced.

I am thankful for the potholes, because it means that I have a car to drive.

I am thankful when the store is out of meat, because it means that I can afford such a luxury.

I am thankful for the bee hive in my wall, because it means that I have a home.

I am thankful for the ants’ nest in the power outlet, because it means that I have electricity.

I am thankful when I have to hang up the laundry on the line outside, because it means that I have clothes to wear.

I am thankful when the Internet is slow, because it means that I have near instant communication with the world around me.

I am thankful when I must walk on slippery paths and steep hills, because it means that I am healthy enough to do so. 

I am thankful for the potholes, because it means that I have a car to drive

Translation Progress
The translation team continues to make progress in drafting the New Testament. Over the past two months, the team has drafted 2 Timothy, Philemon, Colossians, and is currently working on the last chapter of 1 John. In June, Martin Harty, one of the Enga Bible Translation team members, came to Ukarumpa and recorded the book of Luke. Because Martin is such a skilled reader, we were able to complete the recording in just five and a half days. We now have three gospels recorded in the Enga language. Although we will be distributing Luke on a limited basis in the months to come, we are looking forward to the arrival of two teams from Newbreak Church to officially launch the book of Luke to the larger community in Enga in September and November. Please pray for the book to be well received. 

Martin Harty recording the book of Luke

An Unexpected Opportunity
During our most recent stay in Enga, we had the opportunity to explore the area surrounding our home in Immi village. One day we crossed the long, suspension bridge over the Lai River and headed along a path up the mountain. It was a beautiful walk and it was not too long before we could look back and see our house on the other side of the river. Just as we were about to turn around and go home, we came upon a small market area. Jacob, our oldest, was walking ahead, and as soon as the children saw him coming, they erupted in a frenzy of excitement. As the rest of us arrived, I (Adam) was quickly ushered into the center of the market area and told that I needed to speak to the people. Extemporaneous speaking in Enga is not my strength. Fortunately, however, I was able to recall some of the things I had said in the sermon I had recently delivered in the Enga language, and I did my best to share about the Kingdom of God with the people at the market, playing for them a small sample from the Gospel of Matthew on my phone. That unexpected occurrence made me realize that God has given me a tremendous opportunity. Because people are so excited to hear a foreigner speak Enga, I have the possibility of going almost anywhere in the province and drawing a crowd just by speaking. Please pray that God will give me the wisdom and ability to make use of this special opportunity to share the good news of the Kingdom in public places. Please pray as well that He will give me increased fluency in the Enga language.

A Time of Rest

I (Martha) know I am entering Enga Province when I begin to see a small scattering of lupines lining the road. When I see the tall violet flowers standing at attention, I begin to relax and ease into the transition. After a whirlwind four weeks in Ukarumpa, with all of the end of the school year activities, including Jacob’s sixth grade graduation, we chose to spend the kids' school break in Enga. We have never done a four-week turnaround before, and needless to say, it was not easy. We were tired, but the opportunity to be in Enga without having to homeschool sounded too good to pass up. So far it has been worth it. We began our stay by hosting a new missionary couple from Romania in our home for a few days and showing the Enga Jesus Film at a church down the road. This involved Adam having to back our truck into a stream so several men could carry the generator across the water and up the hill to the church. It was a beautiful night and several people were able to watch the stories of Jesus come alive on screen in their own language. Unfortunately, it was cold, and by that time Adam’s body had worn out. He came down with a terrible stomach flu and has spent the week at home in bed.



After an exhausting several months (honestly two years), we all spent the week doing virtually nothing. I have to say this has been one of my favorite weeks ever. Not the times where Adam thought he was on the verge of death of course, but the times when I watched my kids make spinning tops out of Legos, and then name the tops, and create games and competitions with them. The times when we read aloud a biography of Amy Carmichael, and I heard my kids debate about who had the hardest experiences: Gladys Aylward, Corrie Ten Boom, or Amy Carmichael. Over a year ago they debated about who the greatest superheroes were: Batman, Superman, or Iron Man. Those conversations made Adam’s and my heart ache a bit as we began to realize how meaningless such heroes were, and so we have started to introduce them to real heroes—heroes of the faith. We have had some beautiful discussions about what it means to be obedient followers of Christ. We had decided ahead of time that for this trip to Enga, we would not watch any TV shows or movies or have any time on the tablet, so instead the kids have lost themselves in books, played outside with the local children, and stayed up late beating their mother at a card game called Nerts with screeching laughter.



All the while, Adam has been resting and recovering. I think sometimes when we don’t take time to rest, God smacks us on the head and says, "If you are not going to do it yourself, I am going to make you." Unfortunately for Adam this meant fever, chills, and lots of other unpleasant things. With Adam unable to drive to town, our food has been running out, particularly garden food. We have really wanted some bananas. So a few nights ago I decided to pray for someone to give us bananas. I usually don’t pray for small things like that. I guess I think God doesn’t have time for those things, but lo and behold, someone brought us bananas the next morning. Our God is in the small things too. He knows our every need and hears our every prayer. Adam is doing better now and is able to drive to town to restock our food supply, so please don't worry about us.



We have a couple more weeks before we return to Ukarumpa for the first term of the school year. At that point, I will begin to homeschool Jacob. This will not be easy for my extraverted son, but he will take band and an elective course at the high school, and he is in full agreement with this decision. Please pray for this transition to homeschooling Jacob. Please also pray that I would be able to get out into the community during the next couple of weeks, meet some more people in the community, and learn a few more Enga words and phrases.

Preaching in Enga

In April, I (Adam) shared with you that I was feeling led by the Holy Spirit to begin preaching, both in Enga as well as among the missionary community in Ukarumpa. Well, I am happy to report that I have preached twice now in the Enga language. It took me a long time to prepare my first sermon. Each sentence was a struggle as I would painstakingly have to figure out how to communicate in Enga what came so naturally and easily in English. Sometimes I just didn’t have the level of fluency in Enga to say what I wanted to say, so I would have to find creative ways to make the same point. Nevertheless, I was able to compose the sermon in such a way as to communicate the message that God had laid upon my heart. Surprisingly, as I was in the worship service waiting for my time to deliver my message, I was not the least bit nervous. And while I was forced to read most of the sermon as I delivered it, I was still able to get good eye contact with the congregation and preach rather than just read aloud. I was encouraged to know that the congregation was following along because they applauded at the right moments. A few weeks later I delivered the same sermon again at another church, this time feeling a little more comfortable and even straying from the script at a couple of points, speaking off the cuff in Enga. Please pray for me as I attempt to write more sermons in the future. Pray specifically that my skills in the Enga language will increase and that I will not be bound to reading the majority of the sermon from a printed script.

Preaching my first sermon in Enga

Later this month I will be preaching my first sermon among the missionary community in Ukarumpa. And while I was not at all nervous about preaching in Enga, I am a bit more nervous about preaching to this community in English. It is intimidating to preach to your peers, especially when so many of them are Bible translators with an in-depth knowledge of the text. It is also difficult to preach to a group that comes from a wide variety of church backgrounds and cultures. So please pray that the Lord will guide me I deliver my first sermon to the Ukarumpa community on June 18.

Literacy
Last month we began literacy training with a small group in the village of Immi where we live. Included in the group were three teenage boys, not much older than our son Jacob. I had selected Matthew 4:18-22 as a short text for us to read together, and each person took a turn reading one sentence at a time. Because everyone there had some experience reading in Tok Pisin and/or English, they were quickly able to pick up on how to read in Enga, even though some of them had never tried reading in Enga before. Benjamin’s son Lami was particularly skilled at reading, and Martha and I were encouraged to see the group doing so well. Please pray for the group to gain fluency in reading in Enga, and pray that more in the village will develop an interest in learning how to read.

Benjamin and his son Lami reading Scripture in Enga

Translation Progress
During our six-week stay in the village, we were able to make great progress on the translation. We finished our final checks of the book of Luke, which we are in the process of recording as you read this. We also finished reviewing all of my advisor notes for the book of John, and so I am now ready to back-translate John into English for a consultant check. We then drafted 1 Timothy and Titus, and the team is continuing to draft 2 Timothy. The epistles are more difficult to translate than the gospels, so please pray for wisdom for us as we translate. For example, we spent about an hour and a half on 1 Timothy 1:11, which says, "in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted." The problem was that the translators kept wanting to make 'I have been entrusted' the main point of the text, when actually that clause functions like an adjective to modify 'the glorious gospel of the blessed God'. It is subtleties like these that non-native English speakers can really struggle with, and the epistles are full of constructions like that. In Enga, the main verb always comes at the end of the sentence, and so when they see a verb at the end of the sentence in English, they assume that it is the main verb.

Home Sweet Home!

Greetings from Immi village in Enga Province! We’ve been in our new house here in Immi for three weeks now. What a thrill it was to see the kids excitedly run through their new home and finally be in the place we’ve been talking about for years.

The trip here was long and difficult, as the rainy season has wreaked havoc on the roads. We are extremely grateful for our friends, Matt Taylor and David Smith, who braved the difficult roads and caravanned with us, driving an additional truck filled with our furniture. They helped put our futons and bunkbeds together and didn’t complain about the fact that we did not have a real meal for forty-eight hours. The refrigerator we had purchased didn’t work, so we had to drive it back to Mt. Hagen (two hours away) to get it repaired. When we came back, it still didn’t work, so the store delivered a new fridge the next day. We’ve never been so happy to have cold food!

Because of things like that, it took awhile for us to settle in, and we still have lots of little projects to do to fully turn this house into a home, but we are thoroughly enjoying all the amazing comforts of having a washing machine, constant electricity, and plenty of water that never gets shut off unexpectedly. The kids continue to marvel that we have an oven that we can turn on without a match and that also has a light, fan, and timer. We still don’t have a bathroom mirror, but I (Martha) am rather enjoying having no idea what I look like for days on end.

Jacob is enjoying teaching the local kids how to play baseball, while Bella and Asher make new friends and play under the house in the mud. While Adam is away at work during the day, I have been busy homeschooling, cooking, and trying to keep the mud off the walls and floor. Nevertheless, I have still found time to make and share lots of banana bread with our neighbors from their generous donations of bananas. It is good to be in a place that we can truly call home.

Jacob and his friend Lami playing Wiffle Ball behind our house

Translation Progress
Since arriving in Enga last month, we have completely finished checking the book of Luke so that it is now ready for recording, which will begin at the end of this month. We have also completed our read-through of the book of John, which I (Adam) am now translating back into English to be checked by a consultant. We are also drafting 1 Timothy, which we expect to complete in the next week or two. It is encouraging to see continued progress in our work and to see the Word come alive in the Enga language. I know many Enga people are eagerly awaiting each new book as we translate. Just last week, a man came to the place where we translate to see if the book of Luke was ready for release yet. The translation team informed me that many others are also asking when the next book will be released.

The kids are excited about the new house

Enga Literacy
Last month I was delightfully surprised when Nete Talian, one of the Enga translators, told me that his church was now doing literacy training in the Enga language using our translation of the Bible. One of the largest barriers to people actually reading the Scriptures in their own language (and not just listening to recordings of them) is the low literacy level most Papua New Guineans have in their vernacular language. If they go to school, they are taught to read English, but they are often not taught how to read their own language. And because people are not trained to read their own language, they are often intimidated to try. I then found out that Benjamin and his wife Martha, the couple who donated land for us to build a house, wanted to attend that literacy course, but they didn’t have the funds to do so. As a result, we have decided to start our own Enga literacy course for the people of Immi village. Please pray for guidance as we have never taught adult literacy before, and pray that the people in Immi village will develop a hunger to read the Word of God in their own language.

Election Season
We are now in the midst of election season in Papua New Guinea. Here, instead of non-stop television advertisements, there are non-stop caravans of vehicles campaigning for the various candidates, which involve incessant megaphone announcements and parades through town. All the noise makes it hard to concentrate on translation work, so please pray for added focus as well as for a peaceful election process.

It Is Well

Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And it is well with me

Those words from the Kristene DiMarco song, "It Is Well", captured the theme of our biennial conference last month. Translators and support workers from all over Papua New Guinea gathered together to remember that when we keep our eyes on God, it is truly well with our souls.

I (Adam) was asked to share a testimony on the first morning of the conference relating to the theme of "It Is Well". So I shared about the accident that occurred on January 30th when we were transporting our building materials to Enga. I shared about this accident in our last newsletter, so I won't go into the details again. But there was one part of the story I didn't share with you, and it was this part of the story that the Lord prompted me to share at the conference. This is [in part] what I shared:

As the initial chaos [revolving around the accident] settled down, I looked up and saw the driver of the truck sitting on top of the truck with his face in his hands. He looked devastated. And I felt the Lord prompting me to go encourage him. So I climbed up on the truck, put my arm around him and said, "What happened is not your fault. You are new to this country, but we have been here for a few years now, and let me tell you that these things happen. Trucks turn over all the time on the Highlands Highway. This is not the end of the world. What is in the back of the truck is just stuff, but we can praise God that nobody was seriously injured. We'll get this figured out and we'll get the truck fixed. It will be okay." Then I prayed for him.

And you know what, despite everything that had happened, I had a peace from the Lord that it truly was going to be ok. Even if we had to scrap the project for the time being, I knew that it was going to be ok. In the midst of chaos, I had a peace from God that I couldn't quite explain. And, even though I wasn't looking forward to what it would take to get things back on track, I knew that things were going to be ok, and it was truly well with my soul.

I praise God for giving me peace in the midst of very difficult circumstances, and I thank Him that, despite our trials on that day, we now have a home to call our own in Enga.

Gathered together for conference

The guest speaker for the conference was Dr. Clive Burnard, a spirit-filled Baptist preacher from Plymouth, England. Dr. Burnard was a scientific atheist until the age of 32, when God proved to him that He was real in a way that he could not logically refute. God used Dr. Burnard to bring about great spiritual renewal among the people in attendance at Conference, and we were blessed beyond measure by his ministry. At one point, after I had shared my testimony and an additional brief message about faith, Dr. Burnard pulled me aside because he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray for me. He encouraged me, saying that God was going to use me in pastoral ministry and to preach His Word. There was no way he could have known that I had been struggling with the very call to start preaching (in addition to my translation work), both in the Enga language to the people in Enga, but also in English to the people in Ukarumpa. But his encouragement gave me the boost I needed to commit to following the Lord's leading. So pray for me as I prepare messages in Enga and in English (and perhaps Tok Pisin too). Please pray that the messages I prepare will be fully grounded in the love of God.

Martha also played an important role at conference, leading the spiritual emphasis team. Each morning for seven days, we were challenged by inspiring testimonies, dramas, and stories that reminded us that God is in control and we are called to trust in Him. At one point, we all wrote on triangular pieces of construction paper the mountains that are facing us, and we taped them on a mountain panorama on stage. On the last day of the conference, we each wrote a truth about God that would help us to overcome our mountains. We then placed them on the same panorama, covering over our mountains to remind us that with faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains. It was powerful to see hundreds of people streaming to the front of the meeting house, many in tears, clinging to their faith that no mountain is too big for God.

Dr. Clive Burnard

Prayer Request
On April 5 and 6, we will be traveling to Enga to 'move in' to our new house. We will be accompanied by two fellow missionaries, who will be driving a medium-sized truck carrying the furniture for our house. Please pray for safe travel over hazardous roads. (The truck is much smaller than the one that had the accident in January, so it should be a much easier drive.) Please also pray for us as we transition to life in our new home and for building relationships in the village.

Our House is Built!

It is with great joy that I report to you that our house in the village of Immi in Enga Province is now built. After three years of planning and waiting and delays, a crew of missionaries from the construction department along with Papua New Guinean employees and local helpers from the village of Immi put the house together in under three weeks.

Our house in the village of Immi

I wish I could say that everything went off without a hitch, but the trip did not start out well. On Monday, January 30, ten of us set off from Ukarumpa in a caravan of three vehicles: my small Toyota Hilux truck, a mid-sized Dyna truck, and a large Hino 700, which was hauling the bulk of our building materials. Because the Hino 700 was hauling such a heavy load, we drove slowly. I led the way in my truck, followed by the Hino 700 and then the Dyna. After three hours, we reached Goroka, where we stopped to refuel. As we started on our way, I realized that I forgot to put oil in my truck, so I pulled off at another gas station to get oil while the other two trucks continued on their way. I knew they would be going slowly and that I would easily catch up.

After getting oil and driving for about fifteen minutes, I came around a bend and saw a large truck similar to our Hino 700 that had overturned on the side of the road. At first I felt bad for the driver as I came upon the scene, but then I realized that it was our Hino 700. I pulled over on the side of the road only to see some Papua New Guineans flocking around the truck with great enthusiasm and excitement as if it were Christmas morning. I found out that the truck had swerved to avoid a large pothole and that the front left tire got caught in the soft ground on the side of the road which pulled the entire truck down. Fortunately there were no serious injuries, but there was great concern that our building materials would either be damaged or taken away. Thankfully the tarp covering our materials had not torn off and the straps still held everything in place (although one strap came within a few threads of tearing completely).

One of the straps hanging by just a few threads after the accident

We were also fortunate that the accident occurred near a large Seventh Day Adventist school. When the accident occurred, the head of the school’s security quickly came to the scene and told people to leave our truck alone and to go on their way. Nevertheless, it was still a chaotic scene, and so I climbed on top of the truck and yelled to the crowd in Tok Pisin, explaining that I was not a businessman but a missionary and that the goods in truck were dedicated to the work of the Lord. People slowly began to disperse, and the local tribesmen (including the head of security) assured us that they would look after our things.

We kept trying to call back to our families and coworkers in Ukarumpa, but our phone calls were not going through. Yet, by God’s grace, we were able to contact the head of the construction department every time we called out, and he was able to contact us. He arranged for a rescue vehicle to come and pull the truck back onto the road. The only problem was that the vehicle was more than five hours away. It was a little past eleven o’clock in the morning, but the truck wouldn’t arrive until close to five o’clock. So we sat around and waited.

As we spent the day waiting, the local Papua New Guineans who were watching our truck brought some food for us. And after a while, I remembered that I had a large quantity of banana bread and chocolate chip cookies that Martha had made for the trip, and so I shared our food with them as well, which they really appreciated. Then I sat down with them and we shared stories about life in America and a little bit about our work as Bible translators. At 4:20 in the afternoon the rescue truck arrived and the driver put the truck perpendicular to our truck by driving straight into the weeds on the opposite side of the road. Then he hooked three cables to the side of our truck and used a tiny remote control to operate the cables and pull our truck completely back up onto the road side. Our driver got back into the truck and it started up, but, to be safe, we opted to have the rescue truck tow our truck to the headquarters of New Tribes Mission, about thirty minutes away.

Talking with the local Papua New Guineans who were guarding our truck

It was after dark when we arrived at New Tribes Mission, and at that point we didn’t feel good about continuing on with the project. We didn’t know if our building materials had been damaged, and we also didn’t know how we were going to get everything to Enga. Plus, we were all in a bit of shock from the events of the day. We were all thinking that we would head back to Ukarumpa in the morning and try to get the project going at a later point in time. But when we woke up the next morning, we felt a renewed vigor. We realized that, despite the challenges of the prior day, this was our opportunity to build the house. There were other projects that the construction department was waiting to complete after the construction of our house, and a return to Ukarumpa could mean another long delay. Plus, it felt like a moral victory if we could somehow keep going. So we contacted Mapai Transport, the same company who had sent the rescue vehicle the day before. They agreed to bring a 40-foot flatbed trailer for us that same day. So we started the work of unloading the truck and reloading it onto the Mapai trailer.

As we began unloading, we were delighted to discover that the building materials had suffered minimal damage. Almost everything was still intact and usable. The team worked very hard from early in the morning until late at night unloading and loading, and by 8:00 p.m., the job was finished. Mapai came back the next morning (Wednesday) and hauled the flatbed away, although they had told us that it wouldn’t arrive in Enga until Saturday. So we made plans to transfer all the items for pouring the concrete post pads into the mid-sized Dyna and headed up to Mt. Hagen, and then to Enga the next day. We started as soon as we arrived (Thursday afternoon) and had the post pads ready by the time the truck arrived on Saturday. What followed was an intense two and a half weeks of construction starting each day at 7:00 a.m. and finishing around 6:00 p.m.

Transferring building materials to the Mapai trailer

Our friend Benjamin, who had donated the land for us to build, also let our team sleep in his house during our time there, and Benjamin’s wife, Martha, cooked all of our dinners for us. We would bathe in a small waterfall hidden in a cave just downhill from the roadside in cold, yet refreshing, river water. Benjamin and his family slept in a camping tent we had brought, keeping watch over our tools and construction materials at night. They had never slept in a camping tent before and really enjoyed the experience. As for us, there were eight of us in Benjamin’s two-bedroom bush house, but it worked out just fine as we all slept side-by-side, three to each room and two in the main room. By the time three more construction workers had arrived the following week, we already had the roof on the house, so four of us moved to start sleeping in the new house.

Trouble Getting River Stones
There are many more experiences I could share about regarding our house building project, but due to the length of this email, I will share just one. We needed to build a drain field for the septic tank. A drain field is basically a long, deep trench that is filled with large stones to give the septic water overflow a place to drain. So we needed to collect a large number of stones from a river for the drain field (enough stones to fill the back of a 12-foot long flatbed truck). So Benjamin told me to drive the mid-sized truck down the road to a stream. After driving a short distance, Benjamin directed me to turn off the road onto what looked like a walking path but was actually a 'road'. Nevertheless, I proceeded along the ‘road’ as he directed, praying as I drove along that the truck wouldn’t get stuck or tip over due to the conditions. As we got close to the river, I was instructed to turn the truck around and back it up the rest of the way, which I did nervously, praying as I went, and fortunately reaching the river with no incident.

Digging out the septic tank drain field

The river was in the land of the next tribe over, and as we began pulling stones out, one of the local landowners forbid us from taking any stones. Benjamin and those who had come to help us argued with the landowner for about fifteen minutes, trying to get him to change his mind. But no matter what they said, he wouldn’t budge. In my flesh, I began contemplating what I could say to him. I thought about saying, “Look, I drive to Wabag town all the time, but if you don’t help me I will never stop and take anybody from this tribe to town.” But as I stood there thinking such thoughts, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and reminded me, “If you love [only] those who love you, what reward do you have?” So, when it became clear that he wasn’t going to allow us to take any stones, I went to him and said the exact opposite of what I had been thinking. I told him, “You don’t want to help us, but that is okay. When I go to town, I will still stop and pick you up and take you if you want to go to town. There are no hard feelings.” He didn’t quite understand what I said at first, so I repeated it and shook his hand with a smile. Then we all started back to the truck. As we were walking back to the truck, he said to us, “Kuki mendalapo nyalapa,” which literally means, “Take just a few,” but in practical appication means, “Go ahead and take whatever you want.” So we started filling up the truck with stones, and he even got into the river and helped us. Later he came by the house to see the progress, and I gave him a can of Coke, which is a sign of friendship in Enga. God is good!

Thank You for Your Prayers!
After finishing the house in just three weeks (including travel time and delays), we returned to Ukarumpa exhausted. It took about a week for me to recover and regain my strength. We are planning on ‘moving in’ at the end of this month. We will still split our time between Ukarumpa and Enga, but having a house in Enga now will allow us to spend much more time there. Please pray for us as we transport furniture to the house in Enga and get settled in. Pray that our furniture would arrive in Ukarumpa in time for us to transport it to Enga when we go up later this month and pray for safety as we travel on the road.

Thank you for all the prayers and support along this journey of building our house in Enga and translating the Bible into Enga. We couldn’t do what we do without the prayers and support of faithful partners like you!

Construction is Underway!

After three years of planning, praying, and waiting, construction of our village house in Enga is finally underway! As you read this update, I (Adam) am in the village of Immi in Enga Province, along with a small construction crew, where we are building our house in the middle of the sweet potato garden in the picture below.

The site where we are building our house in Immi village

Because much of the construction was completed ahead of time in Ukarumpa, the main construction phase of the house should only take three or four weeks. During that time the construction crew and I are staying in homes with the local villagers, who are kind enough to host us and cook for us. Martha and the kids are staying back in Uka-rumpa because there is nowhere for them to stay as we work.

Because we will be living in a place without electricity or running water, our house will include a large water tank that stores rain water collected from the roof as well as a solar panel system to provide basic energy needs such as lighting, refrigeration, and a washing machine. That means that we are dependent upon getting lots of sun and lots of rain. Fortunately, Enga has both. When it is sunny, it is very sunny. And when it rains, it rains hard. It’s funny—when you depend directly on the rain for your water supply, it gives you a whole new attitude towards rainy days!

Our house site is situated right along the Highlands Highway. (You can see a small portion of the highway all the way to the right in the picture above.) This makes it very convenient as it is about a fifteen minute drive to Wabag town, which is where the Enga Bible translation team works. Yet it still very much has the feel of a remote village with beautiful mountains and streams.

Please pray for us during this time as I will be separated from Martha and the kids. Pray that the construction process will go well without any major problems, hindrances, or unexpected delays. Please pray especially that everything will be completed within the time allotted.

The truck loaded up to transport our house materials to Enga

Why Immi?
Many Engans wonder why we would choose to build our house in the village of Immi among the Dyuapini tribe. The Dyuapini tribe has a reputation for being the center of tribal fighting in Enga. And it is true that they have a long history of fighting reaching back to 1972. However, they recently paid compensation to their (former) enemies, and the new generation that has arisen is trying to turn over a new leaf. When some Engans express concern that we are building in Immi, this is what I tell them:

“When we were in America, many people were concerned about us coming to Papua New Guinea because it is not a safe place. Once we arrived in Papua New Guinea, we began thinking about working in the Highlands, but many people told us that the Highlands was not a good place. Then, when we decided to work in Enga, many people told us that Enga was the worst place in the Highlands. Now, you are telling us that Immi is a bad place, and we shouldn’t live there. But if I had followed that sort of thinking, we never would have come to Papua New Guinea in the first place. Besides, if missionaries are not willing to go to the more difficult places with the good news of the Kingdom of God, then who will be?”

The fact is that it is precisely places like Immi that are most in need of a witness to the good news that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Equally important is the fact that Martha and I both feel that Immi is exactly where God wants us to be. We know we have no guarantees (Martha’s heart attack in 2010 showed us that we don’t have any guarantees in America either), but we trust that the Lord is leading and guiding us, and we pray that our presence will somehow be a part of God’s work to transform Immi from a past of violence to a future of peace in the name of Jesus Christ.

Signing the agreement to build our house in Immi

Special Thanks!
When we first asked for prayer about the decision to build a house in Enga, one couple, without any prompting from us, donated $40,000 for our house. At the time we did not know them very well, and we were amazed that they were willing to invest so generously in our ministry in such a meaningful way. We would like to thank them again for their loving encouragement and support. Without their investment, I don’t know how we would be able to build our house and spend time in Enga working on the translation and ministering to the people.

To view a video related to our house building and recent translation activity, please click here.