So Much News!

A lot of exciting things have happened since our last newsletter! In February I (Adam) took a two-week course on developing a website for a local language. At the end of the course we launched the Enga Bible website (engabible.org). The website is presented in Enga and English. (The default language is Enga, so click the dropdown menu on the upper right if you want to view the site in English.) The website hosts all of the content we have created related to the Enga New Testament, including audio and video resources.

In the process of building this new website, I learned that the Lumo Project had used our audio recording of the book of Luke to create a Luke Gospel video. The film combines breathtaking live action footage with our audio recording of Luke to create a captivating presentation of the gospel. It is a visual translation, so to speak, designed to deeply engage people with Scripture. I also discovered slide show videos that use our audio recording to share short portions of Scripture with color illustrations and photographs. It is amazing what happens once you have an audio recording of the New Testament!

The Enga Bible website

We have also created an Enga Bible app that includes the text and audio of the Enga New Testament. A great feature of this app is that it highlights the text sentence-by-sentence as the audio recording plays. This really helps people practice reading in the Enga language. This app is available on the Google Play Store. A similar app called Scripture Earth makes the Enga New Testament available for iPhone users. And both Android and iPhone users can access the text and audio of the Enga New Testament with the YouVersion Bible app. It also highlights the text as the audio recording plays.

Using the information I have collected over the years, I have also created an Enga Dictionary app. This app is available on the Google Play Store and has proven to be very popular.

After we launched engabible.org, I began paying for advertisements to promote it on Facebook. The first ad I ran (which cost $30) generated over 10,000 visits to the site in seven days. This ad was written in English and targeted people living in Enga as well as people living in the larger towns of Lae and Port Moresby (where many Enga speakers live). This ad simply directed people to the website. I then ran a more targeted ad, focusing only on people in Enga Province. This ad played a short video demonstrating how the Enga Bible app highlights the text of the Enga translation while the audio recording plays. Although this ad has generated fewer visits to the website (just over 2,000), it has resulted in many more downloads of the Enga Bible app. The most recent statistics I have show that over five hundred people have now installed the Enga Bible app on their phones, and the number continues to rise each day. Years ago, when we first decided to come to Papua New Guinea, I never imagined that we would be promoting an Enga Bible app or that hundreds of people would be installing it. So much has changed in the last twelve years, and technology is making it easier to distribute translations of the Bible.

The delivery of the Enga-English New Testaments

In the midst of all this excitement, we received news that the 5,000 copies of the Enga-English New Testament had arrived. Our neighbor, who oversees the men who pick up shipments from the port town of Lae, was the first to let me know. When I saw just how many boxes there were in the shipment, my first thought was: “How are we going to transport all of these up to Enga?” I didn’t realize just how many boxes it would take to ship 5,000 copies of the New Testament. Our initial plans were to transport them by plane, but now it looks like we may need to hire a trucking company to help us out. We also received news that the regular Enga New Testaments would be shipping at the end of March. That will be 5,000 more copies that we need to figure out how to ship. But figuring out how to get New Testaments to Enga is a good problem to have! Meanwhile the Enga translators are working with church leaders to plan the Enga New Testament dedication. The most recent meeting was attended by 18 church leaders, representing 10 different denominations. We are thankful that the Enga New Testament is a cause for unity among the Enga churches. Please keep us and them in your prayers during this exciting time as we ramp up for the dedication on July 2.

Come teach in Papua New Guinea!

Critical Need
The Ukarumpa International School (UIS) that Bella and Asher attend has a critical need for teachers during the 2025-2026 school year and beyond. The high school needs teachers for English, Social Studies, Math, Religion, Art, Science, and Spanish as well as for electives like Photography. UIS has small class sizes, and the students are well behaved and do their homework. It is an extremely different experience than teaching in the United States. Living in Ukarumpa is like living in a small town or village. There are about 200 other expats here. It is a great place for a teacher who is retired or who no longer wants to teach in the US school system but would still love to teach and make a difference. There is still so much work to be done, and the school is an integral part of making sure that work continues. Please pray for this need and share this information with anyone you know who might be interested in teaching for a year or two to support Bible Translation in the beautiful country of Papua New Guinea. Please feel free to ask us any questions, and be sure to check out the following links for more information. (Please note that Ukarumpa International School is affiliated with TeachBeyond.)

How TeachBeyond Supports Bible Translation in Papua New Guinea

Ukarumpa International School videos

Learn More at TeachBeyond