Monday, October 22, 2012

Update on check of Romans/1 Timothy

After three days filled with 9 and 10 hours of reading, talking about and verifying comprehension we're very happy to let you know that the final bits of Romans and all of 1 Timothy have survived their final sifting! Just a few little tweaks here and there and they'll be officially ready to print and get into the Mibu people's hands! We're all tired and our brains are fried. Whew!

Special thanks to Greg Melendes and JJ Rasmussen for giving the huge amount of time and expense to fly in from overseas and provide this check for us!

We've flown back to Madang this morning. I've been reunited with my family. Sesi, Lucas and Keteng are taking off tomorrow morning to head back to Mibu. And our family will be heading up to Goroka for about a week before heading back into Mibu ourselves on November 1.

Blessings

Friday, October 19, 2012

First day of checking

Well it wouldn't be Papua New Guinea if our original flight to meet the consultants wasn't cancelled. All ticketed, checked in and everything, just waiting for our flight to arrive and they announced it was cancelled. Pack up the bags, go back to the New Tribes Mission center, thankful for another night with my family, and had to get up at 3:30am to go to the airport again by 4am. Waited until 6:10 before finally boarding and taking off... But the important thing is we made it. Neither myself, nor the 3 Mibu guys (Sesi, Keteng, Lucas) slept well last night, and we had to hit the ground running because we were coming in so late. Not a good circumstance in which to do translation checking. But you do what you have to with what you have.

Despite our rather limited mental capacities, the check started off well on this first day. We started with 1 Timothy and finished the first 4 chapters after about 9 hours. Tomorrow and Sunday we'll finish 1 Timothy and start working through the final chapters of Romans.

Can't wait to have this stuff done and totally finished with the checking processes!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Translation check

Today we start checking the material in Romans and 1 Timothy that has been translated into the Mibu language. Please pray that this final check goes well, that wisdom and discernment are practiced and that it will result in a super high quality translation of these portions of God's word into the Mibu people's language.

We're so blessed to be a part of this effort. When God's word speaks clearly in one's own language, like the Mibu people will have in theirs, one's understanding of what God is communicating about himself doesn't have to lie on the other side of a wall of awkward wording. Awkward, unnatural wording (Greek-like, even) requires either someone telling you what it means or otherwise acquiring a large battery of academic skills in order to scale that wall to achieve comprehension. It's awesome to be a part of a translation effort that aims to provide God's word in a way that it, rather than the person telling them what it means, can have the authority it deserves. We're seeing that happen already. And through that, we're seeing the power of God's words at work in the lives of the church in Mibu!

Thanks for praying for us!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

SVCC Team on their way home

The conference team from Sun Valley Community Church departed just a couple days ago and I've finally had some time to go through the pictures of their time here.

The Madang regional conference was very good. Everyone was glad to hear Dennis speak on family and marriage. We were given some practical ways to reduce conflict in family life as well as increase intimacy in marriage. Good stuff! The program for the kids went very well too. The theme was "Incrediworld Amazement Park," during which the children heard teaching giving them helpful tools to remember and honor God as the creator. Our kids enjoyed it quite a bit. Skyler and Maddie are still singing the songs they learned during that program. Kevin, Lori, Theresa, my parents, and Shiloh did a great job with that! And in order for all the above to happen, Joey was busy taking care of all the errands that were needed, running to town to get food, helping with setup, cooking, etc.

Then after the conference was over, the team had just one last mishap with their travel plans; a delayed flight from Madang to Port Moresby, which dominoed into missing their international connection, and quite a bit of last minute rush to figure out hotels and booking new tickets. Air Niugini, once again lived up to their reputation and refused to help with any of the costs caused by the delay. So we spent hours on the phone with the travel insurance company (Yes! The team bought travel insurance, which paid for itself multiple times - Thanks Travel Guard). The team stayed the night in Port Moresby, had tickets booked for them on a different airline and from what we've heard, have finally made it into Brisbane and are awaiting their next leg bringing them back home. As stressful as those times are when traveling, being stretched like that and the feelings of helplessness are certainly good tools to help us realize our dependance on God. The team got to experience one of those times.

Looking back, we're sure they'll remember this whole trip; their trip into Mibu, the conference in Madang, and even their traveling woes, with fond memories and increased awareness of God's activity in the world.

We are so grateful for the time that the team took out of their busy lives to come here and serve the way they did. We also want to thank all those who contributed in some way either by praying or through finances to send the team here.

PS, as far as conference pix... will have to wait till I can gather them from others who were actually taking photos during conference. Didn't actually take any myself as there were lots of other, far better photographers snapping away.