I've Only Learned How To Fight

"I never went to school. I never learned how to read. I never learned how to speak English or Tok Pisin. The only thing I ever learned how to do was fight." As I heard these words, I was standing in front of the congregation of the Assembly of God Church in Immi, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. I was immediately struck by just how desperately the Engan people need the Word of God in their own language. Sai Mata, the man who spoke these words, was one of the leaders of the Immi congregation. In fact, he was one of the few men left in the village because so many of the other men had been killed over the years in tribal fighting. The church itself had been burned to the ground multiple times, and the church that is there now had been rebuilt just a couple of years ago.

I had been asked by Pastor Darren Terros, one of the men who will be a part of the Enga Bible translation team, to come speak at the church in Immi. We were given a wonderful reception by the church. As we walked across the field to the church building, the entire congregation was outside singing worship songs, and as we reached the church grounds, they put a flower necklace around each one of our necks (including the children). As the singing finished, they stood in line waiting to greet us and shake our hands. It was the best welcome we have received during our time in Papua New Guinea!

I had prepared to share a message in Tok Pisin, the main trade language of Papua New Guinea, thinking that the congregation would be able to understand me. Pastor Darren, however, translated the entire sermon into Enga because many of the people did not know Tok Pisin. What we didn't know is that when Pastor Darren had started pastoring this church two years prior, he told the congregation that one day they would have a "white man" speak at their church. Since they were just a small, village church, it seemed unlikely that a "white man" would ever come, but we were humbled to know that God used us to fulfill Pastor Darren's prediction. Many non-believers came to the service that day to hear the "white man" speak, and so it seemed appropriate to give an altar call at the conclusion of the service and give people a chance to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It was difficult to gauge how many people responded because Engans are more reluctant to raise their hands than people in America are, but I did see some hands slightly raised, and I know God was working on people's hearts.

After praying for people to receive Jesus Christ, I then told people how important it was to read their Bibles. And as the words were coming out of my mouth, it struck me. Nobody in Immi has a Bible! And even if they did have a Bible, almost nobody in Immi knows how to read! I realized in that moment, just how important it was not only to have a good translation of the Bible in the Enga language, but to have an audio recording of the Bible so that people who will likely never learn how to read can hear the Word of God in the only language that they really understand! That is why one of our first and primary goals is to make a translation of the Enga New Testament available on something called an Audibible, which is a small, hand-held, solar-powered audio player that allows people to hear the Word of God in their own language. Please pray with us as we direct our translation efforts towards this goal. And please pray that the people of Immi will experience a long-lasting peace from tribal fighting.

If you would like to see a video of our welcome at the church of Immi, please click here. Please note that our oldest son, Jacob, was holding the camera as we approached the church, so it is a bit shaky, but you will nevertheless get a glimpse of how it felt to be welcomed the way we were in Immi. Sai Mata, the man mentioned in this update, is wearing a light green shirt, and in the video he is standing next to Pastor Darren Terros, the man who is wearing a white shirt and a tie.

The Power of Language

During our initial six-week stay in Wabag, Enga Province, we learned just how powerful it is to speak to people in their own language.

I (Adam) had taken just a few steps down the street in Wabag town when I realized that I was unintentionally stealing the groceries I was carrying. I had left the store without paying for them! I quickly went back into the store where I had bought them and said, “Namba kame silyo!” which means, “I am forgetting.” (At that time I could not yet say “I forgot to pay” so I just said what I could to get my point across.) I had shopped in this small store a couple of times before, and I had always tried to speak in Enga. This time, the store workers were so excited to see a ‘kone’ (white man) trying to speak Enga that they forgot to ask me to pay! Luckily I was able to pay for my groceries without any problems, and they were impressed that I had come back after realizing I hadn’t paid.

I have encountered similar reactions all over town whenever I speak in Enga. When I stop to speak with someone in town, I soon have a crowd of people around me who are fascinated to hear a ‘kone’ speaking Enga! People have literally squealed with joy at hearing me speak Enga!

The reactions are not the same when we speak in Tok Pisin, which is the main trade language of Papua New Guinea. Many foreigners can speak Tok Pisin. But there are few foreigners that take the time to learn Enga!

Now, if people get that excited to hear a ‘kone’ speaking a few words of broken Enga, imagine how excited they will be to hear the very word of God in Enga! Learning someone’s language tells them that you value them, and I believe that when people hear the Word of God in their own language, they will experience the love of God in a unique and powerful way!



When were you in Wabag?
We were in Wabag, the capital of Enga Province, for six weeks from September 19 to October 30.

Where did you stay in Wabag?
We stayed in a guest house located on the grounds of the Wabag Assembly of God Church. The guest house was conveniently located close to town. While this was a wonderful place for us to stay, it will not be available for us long-term, so please pray for a long-term housing solution for us in Enga Province.

Why did you go to Wabag?
We went to Wabag to confirm our calling to do translation work in the Enga language, become familiar with life in Enga Province, and continue language study. After six weeks in Wabag, we are now ready to officially allocate to the Enga Bible translation project.

Is Enga hard to learn?
If you ask an Engan, they will tell you that Enga is very easy and that you will learn it in a few months. In reality, it is a very difficult language for an English speaker to learn. The sentence structure is very different from English, and the verb forms are extremely complex. It is nothing like learning Spanish or Tok Pisin, which are both relatively similar to English.

Have you started translating yet?
We had our first meeting of the Enga Bible translation team in September! Each team member was given a portion of Jonah to translate, which will help us evaluate each person’s translation abilities. However, the primary work of translating the New Testament is slated to begin in 2013!

How are Martha and the kids?
Martha and the kids are doing well. Martha homeschooled the kids while we were in Wabag, and she did a great job. The kids quickly made new friends, and they had lots of fun playing on the church grounds.

What's next?
We are now in Ukarumpa, where we are continuing independent study of the Enga language. We are hoping to go back to Enga Province in January, so please pray that we will be able to find suitable housing that will be available to us long-term.

Reuben's Story

"I'm not a Christian," Reuben told me (Adam) just one week after becoming our Enga language guide. "I don't go to church, and I like to get drunk," he continued. I was very surprised by his admission, because I had been lead to believe that he was already a believer. After all, his cousin was one of the key Engan leaders driving the Enga Bible translation project. Not only that, but Reuben had come to teach me Enga so that I could help translate the Bible into the Enga language. I was struck with the sudden realization that I now had my first opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with an Engan person. Reuben and I were taking our mid-morning break from language study, and so I took the opportunity to tell Reuben my testimony. "There was a time when I also used to get drunk and when I didn't go to church either," I told Reuben in the trade language of Tok Pisin. "But I felt like I had no meaning or purpose in my life. I didn't like who I was, and I wanted to become a better person. I quickly realized, however, that I didn't have the power to change on my own. But then Jesus Christ came into my life, forgave me of my sins, and helped me to become the person that God wants me to be. Now, I don't have any desire to get drunk, and I like going to church and worshipping God." I continued sharing more of my story with Reuben, and I invited him to the Ukarumpa Tok Pisin church service that Sunday. I also began praying for him and asked our friends, Humberto and Maria, to pray for him too. That Sunday, as soon as I entered the church building, I began looking all over for Reuben. I still hadn't spotted him by the time the service began, but I was pleasantly surprised during the "meet-and-greet" time when I noticed him sitting up front. I walked up to him, greeted him, and asked him to come sit with us. That night he joined me at a Tok Pisin Bible study. I started to begin our daily language learning sessions with a devotional in Tok Pisin and a time of prayer, and Reuben continued coming to church and to the Sunday night Bible study. Reuben shared with me how God was working in his life, and I felt God laying on my heart to ask Reuben if he wanted to ask Jesus Christ to come into his life. One morning in particular, I felt that the time was right. "Reuben," I said. "Would you like to pray and ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sins so that you can have eternal life?" He quietly, but resolutely replied, "Yes," and together we prayed as he received Jesus Christ into his heart. Reuben is different now from when I first met him, and it is evident that Jesus Christ dwells in his heart. He has also become a good friend of the family, and the kids love him (especially Asher, who calls him "Mr. Reuben"). Praise God for what He has done in Reuben's life!

Please Note

We are currently living in Wabag, Enga Province, where we have limited internet access. We are scheduled to complete our six-week visit on October 30, and we hope to give you a full report in November of our time here in Wabag. We may not be able to respond to email or Facebook messages right away, but we will reply as soon as we can. Please pray that God would help us to continue to learn the Enga language, to adapt to life in Wabag, and to begin forming meaningful relationships with the Engan people.

The Ends of the Earth

The alarm went off at 5:15 a.m. It was time to get up and travel to 'the ends of the earth'. In Acts 1:8, Jesus said, "you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (NLT). For me, both literally and symbolically, the 'ends of the earth' is Enga Province in Papua New Guinea. I (Adam) turned off the alarm, got ready, and went with my language guide, Reuben, to wait for a PMV (public motor vehicle). After waiting for nearly an hour and a half, we got on the first PMV of the morning and headed off to Goroka, about two hours away. From Goroka we boarded another PMV for the four and a half hour trip to Mt. Hagen (not including the hour and a half we spent driving around Goroka trying to fill up the PMV with passengers). In Mt. Hagen, my co-translator, Maniosa Yakasa, picked us up and drove us the remaining three hours to the village of Sakarip, just outside the town of Wabag. It took a total of twelve hours traveling over bumpy, pothole-filled roads, but I finally made it to 'the ends of the earth'.


During my one-week stay, I (along with my co-translator Maniosa) visited leaders from various churches to tell them about the Enga Bible translation project and ask them to support the work by providing capable people to help. All of the church leaders enthusiastically supported the translation project and pledged to provide whatever support they could. The importance of this church-support cannot be understated, because if local church leaders do not support a translation project, it is not likely to succeed. I was especially pleased to visit the Wabag Assembly of God church and attend their Sunday service, where I was asked to get up and share a little bit about why I had come. While I had only been studying Enga for about five weeks, I was able to get up and tell everyone my name, where I was from, and how many children I had in the Enga language. The people were overjoyed to see a 'kone' (white man) speaking their language. I then switched to Tok Pisin (the trade language) and explained more about our ministry and the need for a translation in the Enga language.

It became clear to me over the course of my stay just how desperately the Enga people need the good news of Jesus Christ to become alive in their lives. While Engans are very welcoming to foreigners, they are often short-tempered and quick to fight with each other on both the individual and the tribal level. These fights are very destructive and cause deep wounds that I believe only forgiveness and the love of God can overcome. Another problem that I witnessed firsthand in Enga was drunkenness. In traveling around with my co-translator, I was amazed at how many people in the streets were completely drunk, even in the morning. Without the love of God in their hearts, people in Enga are turning to alcohol to provide temporary pleasure and relief from the problems of life.

I was sad and troubled by the problems I encountered in Enga Province, yet overcome by the appreciation the people had that I had come to be with them. I was torn, questioning why I would want to live in a place that had such problems, but then remembering that God has called me to be a light in dark places. I am not called to choose the road that is most comfortable for myself, but rather the road that leads out of my comfort zone, away from all I know, and even to the 'ends of the earth'.

The Lord's Purpose Will Prevail

As we made preparations to come to Papua New Guinea, we had many plans about the kind of language we would work with, but it is the Lord's purpose that will prevail!

Proverbs 19:21 says, "You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail" (NLT). As we were preparing to come to Papua New Guinea, my (Adam's) plan was to work somewhere where no prior linguistics or translation work had been done. I was going to be a pioneer—the very first outsider to learn how to speak the language and translate the Bible! Certainly God would bless such a plan!

As our departure date drew closer, however, I felt a check in my spirit about my plan. God wasn't impressed by my lofty goals and ideals, and He began to show me the foundation of pride that they were built upon. God didn't care whether or not I was a pioneer—He just wanted me to trust Him and submit myself to follow wherever He might lead.

So just over one year ago I prayed, "Lord, I give up all of my own desires and plans for how this should work, and I commit to allow you to simply use me as you best see fit." God then began to lay the Enga people on my heart, and Martha and I have been praying about working with the Enga people ever since that time. Others have worked in the Enga language before, but they are still without an adequate translation of the Word of God. As the largest vernacular language in Papua New Guinea with over 300,000 speakers, Enga has one of the greatest Bible translation needs in all of Papua New Guinea!

This month I am making an initial, exploratory trip to Enga Province, and we hope to make a decision about accepting a long-term assignment to work with the Enga people soon thereafter. Please pray with us about this incredible opportunity to give the Word of God to so many people in their own language.

Where is Enga Province?
Enga is the highest and second-most rugged province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital of Wabag is located at 6,004 feet and has a population of 4,072 (the least populous provincial capital in the country). Europeans first visited the area that is now Wabag in 1938, and prior to the 1930s, the people in Enga Province had no knowledge of other people groups outside of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Wabag is connected to the rest of the Highlands by the Highlands Highway, and one can drive from Ukarumpa, where we live now, to Wabag (although it takes about nine hours to do so). Wabag is about two hours away by car from Mt. Hagen, which is the fourth largest city in Papua New Guinea and home to the country’s best hospital. It is also possible to take a short flight from Ukarumpa to a town near Wabag if travel conditions are less than favorable.

Can you speak Enga?
Although we have learned to speak Tok Pisin (one of the official languages of Papua New Guinea) fairly well, we have very little knowledge about the Enga language. However, during the month of July we began learning Enga from a man named Reuben who came to Ukarumpa from Wabag to teach us. We are using a method of language learning called the Growing Participator Approach. The first phase of this approach involves a lot of listening and very little speaking (much like how infants learn language). What we end up doing is a lot of pointing and physical response to commands our language guide gives us. It is a highly effective technique to engage in language quickly without memorization. You can see a sample from the third day of our sessions at vimeo.com/45234759.

What are the translation needs?
Although prior translation work has been done in the Enga language, the Enga people are still without a translation of the New Testament that speaks to their hearts. The priority for Enga is to publish a translation of the New Testament in the Central Dialect using a style that sounds natural and lets the Word of God speak powerfully to the Enga people. An audio recording of this translation would also be done to make the Word of God accessible to the many people in Enga who are not able to read well.

If you would like to hear more about our opportunity to work with the Enga people, including a quick 'hello' from everyone in the family, please watch our video update that was shown at Covina Assembly of God on July 15.

Ukarumpa Village

Ukarumpa is the Wycliffe center of Bible translation operations in Papua New Guinea, and it is where we are based when we are not in a village. Ukarumpa gets its name from the village that is situated just across the Ba'e River over an old, dilapidated bridge. Historically, missionaries have not always had the best relationships with people from Ukarumpa Village because many of the younger men have been known to cause disturbances of many kinds. In the past year, however, the leaders of Ukarumpa Village made a formal apology for all of the disturbances and vowed that the village would change their ways. This opened the doorway for a small group of missionaries to begin a Bible study in Ukarumpa Village which many of the young men who have caused problems have been attending. I (Adam) have been privileged over the last two Sundays to be a part of the group going to Ukarumpa Village and building relationships. Although my primary ministry will be in the work of Bible translation, I am excited about this opportunity to mentor our neighbors in Ukarumpa Village and encourage the younger men as they seek to follow Christ. Please pray for us as we reach out to our neighbors across the Ba'e River. Please also continue to pray for us as we consider a long-term allocation among the Enga people. (See our June update for more information about the Enga people.) Thank you, as always, for your prayers and support!

Gadsup women crossing the bridge that connects Ukarumpa to Ukarumpa Village

God's Word in Enga

Greetings from Ukarumpa in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. For the last month we have been settling into life in Ukarumpa after fourteen weeks of orientation in Madang Province. Ukarumpa is about five thousand feet above sea level, and we have been enjoying the cooler weather as well as the relative absence of mosquitoes.

Since our arrival, Adam has been working with Maniosa Yakasa and Danley Noah from the Enga language group for the annual Translators' Training Course (TTC). The five-week course is designed to introduce native speakers of Papua New Guinean languages to the Bible translation process by helping them develop study skills, explore their own language, learn helpful Biblical background material, and practice basic translation principles. As the course progresses, each language group applies what they learn in producing a thoroughly checked and approved translation of Genesis 22:1-19 (God Tests Abraham). The Enga language now has its first-ever written translation of this key story from the Old Testament! What a joy to be a part of the team that has made a portion of the Word of God available in the Enga language for the very first time! If you would like to see the story for yourself in Enga, please click here.

Getting to know the Enga translators

Enga Province is the highest province in Papua New Guinea, with the provincial capital of Wabag being situated at just over six thousand feet. The Enga people were one of the last people groups of the world to make contact with the West. Up until the 1930s, the Enga had no knowledge of the existence of other people groups outside of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. With nearly 300,000 speakers, the Enga language is spoken by more people in Papua New Guinea than any other vernacular language. Yet they have no Old Testament in their language, and the New Testament needs major revisions in order to sound natural, and be used and accepted. This means that the largest people group in Papua New Guinea is still, in essence, without the Word of God in their own language. What a tremendous need and opportunity!

We have felt the Lord leading us to pray about working with the Enga on a long-term basis, and we invite you to pray with us about this decision. As you pray, if you sense the Lord speaking to your heart about this opportunity, please share your thoughts with us. We believe that if the Lord is calling us to this work, He will confirm that call in the hearts of our partners as well. If we were to work with the Enga, we would spend many months of the year in Enga province learning the Enga language and facilitating the translation work. Adam would be thoroughly involved in the translation process, especially in consulting the original Greek and Hebrew of the Bible and checking the translation to ensure that it is faithful and accurate to the original texts. He would also provide the technical support needed to use Bible translation software and publish the work (probably including audio recordings as well).

Thank you for your prayers! We are excited to see what the Lord is going to do.