Mibu Ministry

Hope for Tariknan

2012-01-12T10:21:00.000+10:00

Tariknan was the very first place the Mibu church decided to start an outreach back in 2006. The teaching went well with a great response to the gospel message. Like Mibu most of the village who heard the gospel message came to believe that Jesus paid the price of death for their sin, thus restoring a broken relationship between them and their creator.

But relatively soon after that, as the bible teaching began to progress toward the growth and maturity of these new believers, something happened that has been a heavy burden on the heart of the church in Mibu ever since. Several key influential people there joined the opposition that came from the predominant religious system in that area. These influential people made it difficult for the teaching to continue, even frightening much of the rest of their community away from continuing to hear God's word. As a result, the teaching in Tariknan fizzled out with no one left to continue it.

Since then, over the years, there have been a number of folks in Tariknan who have said that they want the teaching to come back despite the opposition. The church here in Mibu has shared this burden with them and has tried to find a way to get the teaching jump started again in Tariknan. But each time the church found that they just didn't have the people in place to send. But this didn't stop them from revisiting the idea again recently. A couple months ago an exploratory visit to Tariknan was made by a small delegation from the church here in Mibu. They wanted to assess whether or not, after all this time, there might be some way to bring the teaching back. They needed first to find out who all is interested and where the teaching might be able to happen. What they found there was amazing! Publicly, a huge number of the people of Tariknan were asking for the teaching to come back. This includes those influential folks who originally led people away from the truth in the beginning. In fact, the one person who exerted the most negative influence back then publicly admitted that he was wrong for doing so and that he too wanted the teaching to come back. The people there said that they know they heard God's truth, but pulled away from it. Over time, they realized that their continued commitment to that other religious system was a mistake, and they thought they might not ever have the chance again to hear God's word. The overall sentiment was of great gratitude for God not having given up on them and continuing to pursue them through the efforts of the Mibu church!

The problem still remained though. Who would the church send to continue teaching in Tariknan? The solution; The church in Mibu has begun a new round of teacher-training. About 10 guys are being trained and discipled in their desire to be a part of the ongoing teaching needs both here and in Tariknan (and possibly other areas someday). Please be in prayer for these gentlemen as they are groomed for service by the church here in Mibu. Pray for their ongoing persistence in being faithful with the task that is being entrusted to them.

Quick update on Geoff's illness: Geoff returned yesterday (wed) to Mibu since being medevac'd last week. He seems to be completely recovered and we're not expecting any more complications. We're all super glad to be back together as a family! Thank you all so much for your prayers for us during this last week!

Slight medical scare

2012-01-04T16:57:00.000+10:00

You may have heard through our family that I (Geoff) was medevac'd out
of Mibu early Tuesday morning with symptoms that were consistent with
meningitis. Since all this happened so very rapidly we really only
managed to keep in contact with our family and pastor John. We know that
you may have already been informed of these details and have been
praying for me. For that I want to extend a huge thanks! What a blessing
to have such a wonderful group willing to maneuver their already busy
lives in such a way as to come together out of concern for us and to
pray! But just in case you may not have gotten the information and now
that things have settled a bit I'm wanting to update you on what happened.

Monday morning I woke up with a really bad headache that continued to
get worse through the day. Later that afternoon, the pain was much much
worse and also accompanied by fever and a stiff neck, typical signs of
meningitis. We contacted our doctor on the radio and asked what he
thought. After asking us more detailed questions he said that I needed
to get out to the clinic as soon as possible. He had Shannon give me a
number of injections and other medicines (which we were thankful to
actually have in stock in our little 'Husa Medical Cabinet'). We were
going to have to do what we could to get through the night when the
helicopter could come get me.

The next morning the helicopter flew me to Lapilo where our clinic is
located. By then I was starting to show some signs of improvement. But I
guess you don't mess with meningitis. The medical staff worked rapidly
to narrow down the possibilities. Everything continued to point to
meningitis. A spinal tap sealed the deal, showing that it was a viral
meningitis (rather than the much more dangerous bacterial meningitis).
That's what we really needed to rule out was the bacterial kind. So,
though I've still got a few more days of discomfort left, things are
looking like they'll continue to improve on their own and there's no
significant danger. Whew!

We're always amazed to see how things can come together during scary
moments like these with logistics and the skills necessary to discern
what's going on and people praying... even though we weren't able to
keep up with our normal means of communicating with you! We see this
fine tuned machine all come together and make it happen and you can just
see that God has all the right people in the right places! Awesome. Body
life!

At this point, Shannon and the girls are super thankful to have the
Osborns with them in Mibu (don't know how we'd do it without you,
Osborns!) and they're looking forward to my return hopefully in the next
3 or 4 days. For now, the doc wants to see things continuing to get
better and make sure we're in the clear. I'm still getting frequent
headaches through the day, but overall they seem to be getting better
and better; it kind of cycles though.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers during this! You can especially
pray for Shannon, the pregnant mom, taking care of 3 energetic little girls!

Geoff for the Husas

Happy Holidays

2012-01-02T05:49:00.000+10:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Husas in Mibu

Welcome Osborns

2011-12-24T12:54:00.000+10:00

It all came together kind of last minute, but we've been able to welcome the Osborn family for an extended stay of six weeks here in Mibu. The Osborns (Joseph and Elizabeth, along with Belle (4), Lucy (3), and Everet (1) ) are here staying with us in Mibu for what is called 'bush orientation'. They arrived in Papua New Guinea in August, have been getting acquainted with things here in Papua New Guinea, and have also been working hard to learn the country's trade language, Pidgin English. They arrived here in Mibu last Wednesday, the 14th and are planning on heading back out to town with us on January 25th.

Bush orientation is one of the final steps of preparing a family for ministry in a remote location. The idea is to finalize their study of Pidgin English language and to gain their first longer term exposure to what life is like living in the bush. This also affords them the opportunity rub shoulders with the believers here in Mibu as they spend time in their world. One more step toward preparing the Osborns to begin serving wherever it is that God directs them. So please be in prayer for their time here, that this exposure would give them wisdom and insight and that they'd sense more of God's direction through this experience.

As for us, it's been a blast getting to know Joseph and Elizabeth and the kids. We've been enjoying helping them get settled in and giving them the 'lay of the land' as it were, showing them how life in the bush looks for us.

Update on travel logistics

2011-12-20T07:19:00.000+10:00

(Our apologies for the random picture that just showed up in your inbox yesterday. Here is the text that the picture was supposed to accompany. Our email system sometimes tears our emails apart and decides to send just one little part. Ironically enough, the content of the picture is still rather random :)

Over the last few weeks, our busyness seems to have gotten in the way of keeping you updated. There are several things that we'll be trying to catch you up on here over the next several updates. So stay tuned!

For starters we wanted to inform you about where things are at with our plans to return home for Husa baby number four. We're super thankful to see that so far about $8300 of our needs for this trip has been graciously provided! The total needed for travel and medical expenses is estimated around $15,000.

Currently the plan is to be returning home on January 27th, sometime in the afternoon. The baby is due around the end of April. Then we'll give enough time to process paperwork, entry permits, passport, etc and return to Mibu on July 20.

Please continue to pray with us regarding the health of the baby and also for Shannon who typically experiences a great deal of discomfort and pain associated with pregnancy. Please also be in prayer for our housing needs when we're home. If anyone happens to know of a house that needs house sitting during our time home, we're still looking for something that fits our small budget within reasonable proximity to the Tempe/Chandler area.

As the time for travel approaches, we've got much work to finish up here in Mibu as well as packing up our house which will sit unoccupied during the months that we're home. It's hard to believe that the time is so close already! We're really looking forward to seeing you and hopefully having a chance to visit and share about the wonderful things God continues to do in Mibu!

(here's a random, fun picture of Skyler, Maddie, and Abby all enjoying some imaginative play time)

2011_11_5852_copy.jpeg

2011-12-19T19:29:00.000+10:00

The attached file was originally sent with another message.

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Follow up on Bapake

2011-11-18T06:55:00.000+10:00

You may remember in the recent report on the outreach areas that Sesi expressed concern about Bapake (see picture) and his family. Bapake is the main teacher in the outreach areas. He works with and trains a number of other teachers between Yongem, Titirapok and Langgane to faithfully teach God's word. He and his family are fully invested in service to God and have even relocated from Yongem to Titirapok in order to carry on their work. While they still spend some time in his home village of Yongem, they mostly live in Titirapok. This has its effects on him and his family. Since they're away from their own land and gardens a lot more, it's changed the dynamics of their survival. Sesi points out that he has no money to get clothes or blankets as well as a number of other necessary items.

Recently Sesi and others here mentioned the need to the church in Mibu asking if people would be willing to help Bapake. The response was overwhelming and unprecedented here! Over a period of several days, people pooled together over 140 Kina (about $60). One person alone gave 50 Kina! It may not seem like much to us, but it's a lot by Mibu standards (equivalent of about 28 days wages). That 140 Kina ought to easily take care of the needs of his family for some time.

Adding more to what was clearly God's Spirit at work here was the joy with which people gave! They really were happy to help Bapake and his family! There was no pressure, no compulsion; just hearing the need and out of concern for Bapake and his family as well as the work that God is doing through them, just feeling good about being able to help!

Again, a sign of growth in the church born out of a real love for God and the joy of being his people.

Follow up on women in outreach areas

2011-11-10T06:51:00.000+10:00

If you remember, in a recent report put together by Sesi regarding the church in Titirapok, Yongem and Langgane, he expressed concern about the women there. He's concerned that the women may not be understanding the truth about Jesus. They're not too sure about their trust in his work on the cross.

After hearing this, I encouraged Sesi to consider how big of a deal this is and how easy it might be to let this issue slide. Culturally here, it's very easy for the women to be forgotten, as it were; left kind of in the background.

So the other day we had a meeting about this issue specifically. Bapake (who is the main teacher in these three outreach areas) came to Mibu, along with a few others. We sat down together with several others in the church and brainstormed about how the women in these areas might be encouraged.

I pointed out that I remember when, not that long ago here there were times where the women didn't seem to be getting things quite at the level that the men were, but that now we see that lots of the women have grown tremendously and are strong in their faith. So we asked what may have helped the women here along. The idea being that maybe that help could be reproduced in the outreach areas to help the women there.

Here, we've seen the men interacting more with their families, intentionally leading and teaching. That certainly is having an effect. Here, the women have been involved together in regular prayer and times of discussion as well as review of points in the bible teaching. They've connected in Christ centered fellowship in this way. The women here have also had the care and influence of friendships with Brooke and Shannon over the years, who have focused specifically on encouraging them. All these together have definitely been a tool God has used to encourage the women of Mibu in huge ways in the certainty of God's love and provision for them.

So some ideas that were thrown out there had to do with ways that some of the more mature women here could be involved in the lives of the women in Titirapok, Yongem and Langgane. The major hurdle to overcome is mainly geographical. The women here do already have relationships with the women there. So the idea was presented that some of the Mibu women would pray regularly for one or two of the women there about whom they would choose to be specially concerned. Another idea was to have times here and there where a small delegation of women would go there to spend a few days with their friends and encourage them, having prayer meetings and discussions and review of lesson material. And vice versa, there could be times as the relationships develop further that some of the women from there could come here and spend time with their friends in Mibu. The importance of encouraging the men in the outreach areas that they need to focus on encouraging their wives in gentleness as well as talking together about what they're learning and struggling with was also stressed.

These and a number of other great ideas were talked about and will be pursued. The main idea though is that there be an ongoing godly influence not only in the lives of the men, but also in the lives of the women there. It was so encouraging to see the genuine excitement in the meeting as they sought to find ways to implement venues of godly influence in the lives of the women who are such a big and important part of the church community! Yet another sign of growth here! One thing that is an obvious next step is that they need to spend some time talking with the women of Mibu to get their input; to get their help in developing a realistic plan to implement.

Signs of growth

2011-11-07T18:52:00.000+10:00

Sesi (see picture) came up early in the morning recently knocking at my door. He'd just returned from several days with the churches in the areas where the Mibu church has done outreaches. Completely on his own initiative, he'd wanted to go there and spend some time evaluating things so that they could help strategize how to keep things going in a positive direction there. He had taken notes and wanted to share them with me.

I was so encouraged to see that he'd just done this without being prompted. He just thought it was a good idea. He was right! But I was also encouraged to see the wisdom he displayed as he went through his observations with me and pinpointed areas of church growth that are positive and areas that may need a little attention. He had individual reports for the church in all three villages that he spent time in (Titirapok, Yongem, Langgane). Here's the boiled down version.

- For example, he noted that the men, when they're talking together, always seem to be talking about Jesus. How great is that?! Evidence of Jesus becoming more and more a real part of their lives!

- Sesi also pointed out that the men there really enjoy making new songs to sing about Jesus.

- The teaching there seems to be going well. The people talk often about how they want to be like the church as they read about it in Acts!

- Sesi observed how people so joyfully talk about the story of how Jesus has been changing their lives, their joy even accompanied by tears at times.

- The workload for bible teaching seems to be shared well between the teachers from the three villages.

- One of the teachers had to be disciplined and removed from a place of responsibility after being caught in adultery. The fact that the church deals with these discipline issues right away and does not follow the cultural norms of covering things up to save face is a really big deal. So while it's not a positive thing that this guy did, the church's reaction is a positive sign that they recognize the importance of the witness of the church!

- Sesi was concerned that many of the women seem like they might not be tracking along with the men. He noted that as they talk about Jesus, many are uncertain of the once-for-allness of his death and resurrection. Many don't seem too sure what that means for them when they die. (Stay tuned for more development on this one...)

- Sesi was also concerned about Bapake, the main teacher/leader there, who has been faithfully directing things over there for a number of years now. The concern had to do with how Bapake's involvement in the ministry is affecting his family. It's hard for them to maintain a garden when they don't live in their home village anymore. Since they don't have much of a garden, they've not done much in the way of cash crops, keeping them from being able to buy new clothes. Their current clothes are falling apart. His family is also really in need of blankets to stay warm during the cold nights that are so typical here. Thankfully, the people in Titirapok where Bapake and his family live have built him a house and given them cooking utensils. Bapake's wife is starting to feel the strain of being away from home so much. (Stay tuned for more exciting development on this one too...)

All in all, the report shows really positive signs of a growing church. I'm still amazed at how Sesi was moved to do an evaluation like this on his own! Praise God!

Garage Sale!

2011-11-06T18:21:00.000+10:00

HUSA BENEFIT GARAGE SALE

245 W. LaVieve, Tempe 85284

November 18 & 19

6am - 2pm

Our core team is having a garage sale in a couple weeks to help raise funds for our trip home. Now might be a good time to clean out that storage space and put your unused stuff to a good cause! If you have anything you'd like to donate, please get a hold of Gary or Kris Husa at 480.839.0338.

Please, no clothes.

Lots of exciting stuff happening with the Mibu church right now! Stay tuned!

Baby Logistics

2011-11-03T19:09:00.000+10:00

We often find that in making plans for our lives, God shows us that he had a little something different in mind! For us recently we were pleasantly surprised to find out that God is seeing fit to grow our family one more time! We've been anxiously contemplating what the best route to go is for delivering this baby. With the health problems Shannon experiences during pregnancy and during delivery it's just not an option to remain in Papua New Guinea in the time leading up to the big day. The options boil down to traveling either to Australia or to Arizona. And as has been in the past, when comparing costs and other factors, the Arizona option is the best.

Along with the unexpected change of plans, come the expenses that go with those. We estimate that the total expenses for our return home and out of pocket medical expenses will be between $13,000 and $15,000. For obvious reasons, we usually like to plan ahead for this kind of expense. This time however, we find ourselves ill prepared to take care of such a need. Much as God has provided in unexpected ways with the addition of this wonderful new life, we're also praying and waiting for his provision for the logistics of bringing that life into this world.

We have been so blessed to have a wonderful group of brothers and sisters, and friends and family, who take a genuine interest in the exciting things God is doing among the Mibu people here in Papua New Guinea. We sense God's confirming hand not only in the great things he is doing here, but also through people like you who do so much to help make it all happen! As those who have already been so supportive of the Mibu Ministry over the years with your prayers and finances, we would like to humbly ask if you would be a part of helping to meet this upcoming need.

We would like to be able to make plans to return home sometime early this next year, staying 12 weeks beyond the delivery date in late April, to allow time for all the paperwork and entry permits that are needed to return to Mibu and continue serving the needs of the maturing church here.

If you're one of those who have already been so faithfully helping to meet our monthly needs, maybe you would prayerfully consider giving an extra month's worth this year. Or maybe you've not sensed God directing you in the past to provide financially for the ministry in Mibu. Would you prayerfully consider whether this might be a worthwhile time to help with a specific need?

If you would like to send a financial gift, please send a check, payable to "New Tribes Mission" with a note in the memo, designating the funds for "Geoff and Shannon Husa - Baby" to the following address: New Tribes Mission, 1000 E. First St., Sanford, FL 32771. All gifts are tax deductible.

Thank you so much for your consideration. And as usual we're really looking forward to being able to see you in just a few short months here.

Geoff and Shannon and the girls

Living Hope in Mibu

2011-10-24T17:10:00.000+10:00

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice... (1 Peter 1.3-6)

God's words, uttered through Peter were ringing true Saturday morning as I sat in a church meeting down in Mibu. About 35 people were meeting together to pray, talk about church matters, read God's word, and just be encouraged together. The sense of God's spirit at work in their hearts practically had my own heart bursting. These weren't people sitting there, bored, or maybe just there because it's the thing to do or because others were doing it. Eyes flashed with excitement as Sesi began the meeting.

He started the meeting off with a talk-picture. He said to everyone there that if someone came up to any one of them and said that that they were going to build them a house to live in, providing the tools and materials and labor involved, they'd be ecstatic about it. They would be so happy that they'd been relieved of all that goes into that huge task (which incidentally, a family here in Mibu has to do every few years). Sesi continued, saying that that kind of provision is just a physical thing. But what God has done for us is so much bigger, having given us life and a real hope, where we have a place in eternity to be with and see Him. Our excitement as a community should reflect that. We all need to think about this and wait-look (put our hope) toward that time as we finish living out our short physical lives here. That's the thinking that will change the way we live our lives here.

We haven't yet taught on 1 Peter, but Sesi has got it! His words and others like them continue to encourage the church as they move forward, meting out their faith as they strive toward godliness as a community.

Please continue to be in prayer and praise for the amazing things that God is doing and certainly will continue to do among the Mibu people!

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-10-08T15:09:00.000+10:00

We're so thankful to be back in Mibu again after 6 weeks in town. We packed up our luggage and moved 6 times during that period. We don't particularly enjoy that kind of lifestyle and so we're loving being back in OUR HOUSE again!

But even better was the glowing report we got about how the church in Mibu did while we were away. Sesi couldn't contain his smile as he reported the following on the day we returned...

- The church meetings and teaching have been going well. However there is a growing concern about the continuing presence of unbelievers at the church meetings. It's not that the church doesn't want to be bothered with the unbelievers. But the church meetings really aren't evangelistic in nature. The teaching that happens at the church meetings is geared primarily for believers who are growing in their faith. This is a good thing that the church is seeing this more clearly on their own. Possible solutions forthcoming.

- There have been a number of folks who are meeting on Saturday afternoons to discuss concerns in the church, work through the teaching material for the church meetings, and pray. These meetings went very well and continue to be well attended by people who are genuinely concerned for the church in Mibu. In addition, Sesi has begun to lead the group through a review of the parenting lessons that were developed a couple years back. This shows the positive influence that the women have had in their weekly meetings as they've persisted in coming together in prayer, discussion, and review of the parenting lessons for some time now.

- No major event happened while we were away. There were, however, several small issues that came up which the church seems to have dealt with well.

- Leaders from the prevalent religious system that surrounds Mibu continue to take issue with the church in Mibu. Recently representatives from Mibu were invited for a discussion of sorts to happen with these leaders in one of the outreach areas (Titirapok). A small delegation left yesterday to go there and have some talks with these religious leaders. Nobody is sure of the exact intent of these talks, but we're praying and hoping that they result in open doors rather than continuing opposition to the spread of the gospel. We would appreciate your prayers as well over the next few days.

- The Mibu and Beng villages have begun to alternate back and forth where they meet for the church meetings each week. They've always held this as ideal, but it has never worked out well for various reasons. We're glad to see that they have begun to alternate back and forth again and seem to be sticking with it! Since people from both villages meet together this helps everyone share the burden of going back and forth instead of just one village or the other. Working together in unity!

It's always an immediate encouragement when we come back from town and see the church encouraged and doing well. We're tremendously blessed to have been given a job serving with such a great group. Their growing maturity warms our spirits. But lest we forget, there is still a great deal of work with translation, developing new lessons for the church, discipleship and even with literacy. While we thank God for what he's done so far, we're still looking to him for all the rest that needs to happen before we can say we're done here.

Surprise!

2011-09-28T08:52:00.001+10:00

You don't have to be able to discern the blob in the center to know what this is! No, we didn't go digging an old sonogram out of the archives. This was done just about a week ago! Yes, the Husa family is getting a surprise visit from the stork, come next April! What always amazes us is seeing the little heartbeat of this new little life for the first time!

As we anxiously await the arrival of our fourth child, we'll also need to begin making plans to come home for about four months to have the baby before returning to the field to continue much needed service in Mibu. Sometime around March thru June will be the time that we'll need to be home. There is also the possibility that we may send Shannon home earlier with the kids because of health problems she has with her pregnancies.

As this news comes as a bit of a surprise to us, we're feeling a bit less prepared than we have in the past to handle all the logistics that will be involved. Areas we could use help with include the following...

1) The biggest and most urgent need is the finances to purchase round trip airline tickets (about $10,000).
2) A working vehicle that will seat a family of six, including three car seats (A minivan perhaps).
3) Affordable housing in the Tempe/Chandler/Gilbert area - near our home church, Bethany.
4) Two cell phones we could make use of during our short stay.

Would you please join us in prayer, first as we thank God for a new little Husa on the way, but also as we ask and wait for His provision for the trip home to deliver the baby.

Translation Consultant Workshop

2011-09-15T12:40:00.000+10:00

The last couple weeks, we've been in Wewak, way over on the other side of Papua New Guinea, attending a Translation Consultant Workshop.

It's an interesting mix of folks who have come together from all corners of PNG (and even one from the Philippines), expressing a desire to sharpen their skills. It's interesting to think of the various backgrounds from which we all come; a carpenter, a linguist, a saleswoman, a welder, a number who became full time missionaries right out of high school, a cad drafter, an engineer, a restaurant worker by day/band member by night, and four subsistence farmers. Though our backgrounds and skill sets are so varied, all have come together with one commonality being that we love and value the power of God's word, and recognize the importance of seeing it translated clearly and accurately. From where we stand at least, bible translation is the higher calling!

The idea is to check through one of our brave peer's translation of Ephesians, using it as an exercise to hone our skills toward being able to evaluate another translation for accuracy and comprehension. We've spent a great deal of time working through the exegesis (study of what it means) of this letter, and have also been checking it with four mother-tongue speakers of the Dinangat language into which it was translated. We want to make sure not only that the translation is highly accurate, but that it is communicating clearly in a way that reflects the meaning of the original. At the end of the day, we want to know that our Dinangat brothers will understand it precisely how Paul intended it to be understood. As we do that, we hope to receive helpful criticism and understanding that will help us do our jobs better.

We're very nearly finished with the process and have been blessed to see the deep love and concern for God's word that is also obvious in these Dinangat men. It's always exciting to see others who, like the many in Mibu, care enough to sacrifice their time and leave their families for such a long time to come to this unfamiliar place so very far away from home. The prospect of sitting and being questioned by a panel of people they don't know must have been nerve wracking, but they chose to do it anyway. Definitely having overcome that fear and developed new relationships, they've been doing great and have greatly benefited their translation and us who are translating into other languages.

The Pervasion of Prominence

2011-09-12T06:17:00.000+10:00

One thing that we often take for granted in all our communication is a little something that we call prominence. Prominence literally permeates every little bit of communication, and it simultaneously happens on multiple levels. Prominence is to blame when we understand what the main point of a paragraph is, and who or what is being referred to primarily. It's to blame for some characters being in the background while others are brought to the front of the hearer's mind. It's essential for understanding what information is backgrounded while the exhortation is highlighted. Prominence does so much more and is absolutely essential in any communication.

Did you know that the Koine Greek language has different ways of indicating prominence than English? And English has different ways of indicating prominence than the Mibu language. And the Mibu language has totally different ways of indicating prominence than Greek. And round and round it goes. Each language has its own specific ways of clearly marking prominence. A mother tongue speaker has those 'patterns' of prominence embedded in their brains so they can follow it without even thinking about it. But as soon as we cross those linguistic lines, it's a whole 'nother ball game!

Look at the attached picture. What's so funny about it? What should be the main message is actually backgrounded. And the information that should be backgrounded carries the prominence. It's silly right? But this happens more often than you realize in translation (yes, even in our beloved English translations!).

That's why we as translators need to be aware of this whole issue of prominence. How are things made prominent in the Greek text that we're translating from? How is prominence handled in the language that we're translating into? Only as we get a better understanding of this issue can we translate God's word from one language into another in a way that truly communicates.

One example would be in the story of the prodigal son. In that story, in the Greek, the way the father is introduced sets him as the main character in the story (prominence) right from the very start of the story. The way everyone else is introduced in the story sets them in the background... even the now unduly famous 'prodigal son'. In addition, at the end of the story there is a teeny tiny little marker that has a big big job of developing the author's point. It happens to set the actions of the older brother next as bringing the author's point home (another kind of prominence). He wants his hearers to understand the comparison that's being made between them and the older brother. And, of course, all throughout the story there are these little peaks and valleys of prominence that would have had the original readers keeping their focus and emphasis in the right places, shading some information as background and others as carrying the story forward.

In a translation that sticks to the form of the original, like many of our English translations, these issues of prominence aren't carried through and we end up with a sort of 'flattened' text; often difficult to discern the author's single, God inspired intent. Or even (and this actually happens in the epistles), where backgrounded information takes the front seat and an exhortation gets lost; just like in our picture here.

So back to our example, when we translate this story into the Mibu language, we need to be aware of the ways that the Mibu language uses to show the main character as the main character and the ways that it keeps the other characters in the background. We also need to be aware of the forms the Mibu language uses to drive the point home. In the Mibu language, using these forms correctly will result in a text looks very different than the Greek form, but very intentionally carries the overall meaning much more closely to what the author originally intended.

Information overload!

2011-09-03T08:42:00.000+10:00

After the recent church evaluation, our family left Mibu and started a 2 week long course called the Advanced Language Workshop. We're just about finished with it at this point and my brain is feeling overloaded! Don't get me wrong. The information is GREAT! It's just that it's a LOT!

To learn about the deeper levels of how a language works we...

Break texts down into propositions on a chart.
Chart out all the grammatical features of each proposition.
Chart out all the semantic features of the text.
Note the hierarchical organization of the pieces of the text.
Review the chart trying to discover the patterns the language uses to communicate.

That's the chart. The chart is the tool. But then we need the knowledge for how to use it. That's the part that leaves our heads spinning at the end of the day! You see, each language has it's own specific way of doing things like helping the hearer keep track of what or who the speaker/writer is talking about and to keep track of what is important versus what is just background info. Each language handles the breaking up of information into 'chunks' as well as relating all those chunks together in different ways. And to complicate things even further, each speaker/writer has at least a subconscious awareness of shared knowledge and experience with the recipients of their message. All this (and much more than I could possibly write about here) comes together to determine a very specific combination of sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, all structured and related to each other in ways that are fully capable of communicating just what the author intended. This is true of every single piece of communication that has ever left the lips of one's mouth or otherwise been penned. In fact, the only time these principles of communication are violated, one quickly concludes that the author suffers schizophrenic!

These principles are true for every language on planet earth (even the dead ones).

Learning these things gives us insight into the nature of human communication (and even how God created us to process information). Awareness of them is hugely beneficial to better understanding of how the language works into which we desire to translate God's precious word. They also help us grow further in our understanding and conviction of just what God intended to be communicated to us in the original language that his word was inspired to be written.

At this point, we've had this crammed into our heads with just a kick off in the application of it. My head hurts!

Why spend all this money (yeah, it costs!) and time to try to learn this stuff better? Is it so we can feel smarter? Is it so we have an excuse to buy more aspirin for our headaches? Is it so that we can get so into it that the thoughts of communication patterns keeps us awake at night because we just can't let it go? Nope. Nope. And nope. We do it because Jesus did it. That's right, by being born an actual human baby and being raised as part of a specific people, culture and language, these things became so much a part of him (in the unique patterns of his mother-tongue) that they all happened in his communication to people without him even having to think about it; just like we do with our own mother-tongue. Jesus communicated to people in the normal everyday language, and he did so by first becoming one of them. In following this model as best we can (and since we can't be 'born' again into Mibu culture) we find other methods by which to learn how to communicate naturally with the people we serve. Understanding these things also helps us on the other side, when we're trying to understand what the biblical authors may have been communicating when they wrote because the translations available to us are largely based on Greek forms. Those Greek language patterns are hard to understand clearly. (Do you ever struggle to understand what was being said when you're reading your bible? There's a reason for that!). So we need to sort through the forms available to us in order to better discern what the authors intended to communicate. It's when we can discern these things accurately that we can then turn that message around and put it in a form that works in the Mibu language. That is why we take the time and expense to attend workshops like this!

We're looking forward to being able to use these tools and this knowledge better so as to better serve the Mibu people!

Mibu Church Evaluation

2011-08-31T08:27:00.000+10:00

As you may remember we asked you to pray for an upcoming church planting evaluation. The evaluation is done, and we want to share with you some of the excitement we're feeling as a result of that recent evaluation.

Three of the more mature believers from the Itutang tribe came to help with the evaluation as part of their training (red shirts in picture). This is different than how things have typically been done in the past as usually it's just expats doing the evaluation. The Mibu people connect on a whole different level with others of the same nationality. The Mibu people had all their time planned out; time to show them around, times and topics for discussion, who would host them each night, etc. The Itutang men had specific areas they wanted to talk about as well during their visit with their Mibu brothers. Their time together went wonderfully and we look forward to how this new connection with another body of believers will work itself out over the years. We're already imagining visits back and forth and leadership meetings.

Overall the evaluation was very positive. It was really great to get an outsider's perspective (yet, one based on experience in similar situations) on where things are at with the Mibu church. There are so many good things going on in the Mibu church right now. The little bit of teaching that the consultants witnessed was done very well. Translation (though slow) seems to be communicating clearly. The church is encouraged to keep pressing on for the most part. Lots of good stuff.

Yet as is to be expected at this stage in things, there are still a lot of areas of need. For example, while the church has been taught and discipled well up to this point (and they're really getting it!), there is still a big need to continue that process and develop leaders and certain skills that will allow them to stand on their own without so much external input. And while the church has quite a healthy view of who they are as God's people and their purpose, there are a few things that might need to be touched on again to help them see how what they believe definitely doesn't mix with some of the other prevalent beliefs that still float around out there.

We were able to talk about some different ideas for keeping things going in a healthy direction. It was also pretty clear that there is still a big need for another full time couple or family to help out with the Mibu Ministry, mainly with the tasks of continuing lesson development and discipleship/training. The Mibu Ministry will now 'officially' be listed as having this need. We're praying and hoping for God to direct the right people to us here.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Geoff and Shannon

Meetings in Mibu

2011-08-15T17:19:00.000+10:00

Mid Saturday morning. I was working on a project under our house when I noticed Sesi coming up the trail to our house. I could tell just by the way he was walking that he had a purpose... and that he was pleased about something.

I stopped what I was doing and walked out to greet him. Then it clicked. Ah yes, this morning they had had a meeting for the men of the church; one of the first ones they'd been able to get together for quite some time now. Sesi and Keteng had been trying to get regular meetings like this going on and off for about a year now, but just couldn't get anyone to show any interest. The purpose of the meetings is to pray and discuss church matters (planning, issues, etc). The two of them wanted to try one more time here to get a meeting together. I remembered the recent worry that nobody would show up again and that maybe people are just upset for some reason. All this came back to me as I pondered the reason for his happy demeanor. I realized that the meeting had happened and had probably gone well, so after some small talk I asked him if they had met.

Sesi's face lit up as he prepared to tell exactly why he'd come up. Before he started though, we agreed that it would be good to talk over some coffee in my house. Once inside, what he proceeded to tell me had both of us smiling big and praising God. Quite a few people had shown up and were eager to be involved. They met and discussed topics of concern. Then they prayed together. Out of concern for the growth and well being of the christian community here in Mibu they focused primarily on these points in their prayer and discussion; 1) That God would help us, here in Mibu but also the church as a whole, to hear and follow his word and to be a good witness to those who have not yet heard. 2) After Sesi and Lookas have worked with me translating into chapter 3 of First Timothy, they've felt rather burdened about the need for overseers and other servants of the church to emerge over time. They acknowledged that nothing we men can do will make the right leaders. It's all God. So they asked God to begin to prepare these folks and help us discern who among them is qualified. They also discussed some other church issues like meeting times, and other smaller topics.

Knowing that a small contingent of national believers from the Itutang people is scheduled to visit this week. A good part of their discussion revolved around what they hoped to get out of their visit. The visit is part of an effort to provide mutual encouragement between churches. We hope that the visit of these Itutang men will be a huge blessing to the Mibu folks, maybe giving them some insight into their own church maturity and direction. The Mibus are extremely excited about it and as such, developed a game plan; a schedule and a list of topics they want to discuss with their Itutang brothers. A couple of the bigger topics they're hoping to talk about are persecution in the church and also to share about struggles that each church encounters.

Then finally, in their meeting, they decided to plan ahead of time a few of the topics they want to discuss and pray about next Saturday when they meet again.

Hearing about these men coming together for the sake of community dependance on God's direction and in the heart of keeping things moving forward was a huge encouragement to our hearts. Please join us in a prayer of thanks to God and also that this kind of involvement could be maintained over the long term.

Other prayer requests:

1) We're planning on traveling quite a bit over the next month and a half (Aug22-Oct5). We'll be away from Mibu all that time, attending a full month's worth of language and translation workshops and then attending our annual regional conference. Pray for our family during our travels to the different locations. Pray too for the workshops to be a fruitful time of both learning and fellowship.

2) Also keep the Mibu church in your prayers during our time of absence; that they would continue in faithful dependance on God's direction, in whatever they face.

3) Continue to pray for the translation process here. It seems so slow sometimes. We need constant growth in our abilities to be able to get this job done.

4) Pray for the health, logistics, finances and other support that is needed throughout this entire translation process. God's economy doesn't suffer like ours does. We trust and rest in him for all our physical needs as well as spiritual.

CPG2YSFANYUW

Interfacing Again

2011-08-04T16:33:00.000+10:00

We had to say goodbye this morning to some guests who have been here for the last week.

You may remember a couple months ago how Shannon and I had the opportunity to teach about bible translation and talk about life in the bush with some students in the 'Interface' program. We both really enjoyed the 'full circle' effect of having been through the Interface program ourselves more than 10 years ago and now being in a place to bless others who are similarly seeking God's will for their young lives, questioning whether God might be directing them to serve in an unreached tribal location on the other side of the world! We enjoyed being a part of that so much that we wanted more! So we invited a group of those students to make a side trip here into Mibu where they could experience tribal ministry happening.

These 3 young men and 4 young women (joined by the Devines, an NTM couple who came to provide food for everyone) were amazing! Watching them jump right in, unhesitatingly spending many long hours with the Mibu people, despite the HUGE cultural and linguistic gap, was such an encouragement to us! As they tried learning some little tidbits of the Mibu language and culture, and listened to different Mibu testimonials about God's work in their personal lives and the life of the community, and as they spent time visiting in their homes, gardens, village and surrounding areas, they formed relationships that served to encourage on all sides. For the Mibu people, they were more than a little excited to have the opportunity to encourage those to whom God may be directing toward serving in another tribal location who has yet to hear the gospel. For the students, seeing and hearing the Mibu believers spoke to the power of God's word in any culture or language. For us, seeing what may possibly be the next generation of young church planters excited and in awe of God's work here reminded us of ourselves just over 10 years ago when we were on an Interface side trip similar to this one.

We're so thankful to have had the honor of sharing this experience with these young folks this last week!

Good News in Mibu

2011-07-24T17:10:00.000+10:00

Here's a noteworthy update from our co-workers, the Tartaglias!

Moofore's house and garden is one of my favorites in the whole area. His

steep yard drops away on three sides, showcasing a wild panorama of the

surrounding mountains and valley rivers. It is still the only place I've

been where both the village of Mibu and the village of Beng can be looked

down upon from one single spot. It makes me happy to think of Moofore here,

on top of his local world. Because of the severe deformity of both his feet,

he seldom leaves his own yard.

When the Gospel was first presented here 5 years ago, we stood by and

watched with amazement as God turned almost every adult to Himself. But

there were some who did not believe. Moofore was one of them. I've gone to

visit with him twice since coming here a few weeks ago, and today the

conversation touched on spiritual things. This was the first time I have

seen evidence of concern for his own sin and status with God. He asked about

overcoming the real problem of sin and its penalty. At that point, I asked

if we could pick up the conversation again in a few days, and asked him to

keep thinking about that very question, and to ask others what their

thoughts are. (After hundreds of conversations about this, I know there is a

lot of good understanding out there.) I told him I'd visit again in a few

days, and would like to ask you to pray with me for Moofore before we

continue. Might this be his time to understand and believe the Gospel?

---------- then a week later------------

I went to visit Moofore again at his hut. Walking up the path to his place,

I felt such a sense of the bigger purpose God has for us during our stay on

earth. Isn't it incredible that hundreds of people can be praying for the

salvation of one man on the other side of the earth? What a privilege it is

to be involved in what He is doing in the world.

Moofore called me in, and we sat talked for a while on local matters before

the conversation moved to spiritual things. As we caught up, God brought to

mind the many people who wrote to say they were praying. Thank you, each and

every one of you who prayed! The only thing I felt lacking as we talked

together was the lack of other Mibu believers there with me. So many others

here have been involved in sharing God's Word with him over the years. No

sooner did I have that thought, than two Bible teachers from the Mina

churches (8 hours away) and one of the teachers of the Mibu church poked

their heads through the doorway!!! As they walked into the room my heart was

bursting at how God was answering our prayers. I looked at the men God had

sent at just the right moment (even the right day!). Each of these men has

sacrificed for the sake of the Gospel. And now all this coming together for

one crippled old man! God's patient love truly is great!

The timing was right, and we were eager to talk about Christ. Moofore soaked

it up, interspersing questions and thoughts of his own. We discussed Jesus

being born sin-free, His being God, and also Emmanuel - "God with us". We

talked about how he was called "The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of

the world." We talked about how Jesus miraculously fed thousands of people

and how so many of them sought Jesus not for a relationship with Him, but to

get more food out of Him. Finally we talked about how Jesus was punished not

for His own sins, but for ours. And how God's anger for sin was given

completely to the One who never sinned. In illustrating the wrath of God

being absorbed by Jesus, one of the men pointed to a sheet hanging in the

doorway that was casting a shadow into the house. He said that God's wrath

is like the sunrays, and that Jesus is like the sheet that absorbed the sun,

casting a shadow for us to rest safely in.

Moofore spoke and answered with real understanding, so we asked him again

where he thought he would go if he died. He said confidently that he would

go to heaven. We asked him about his previous stumbling block - his own sin. His reply: "Because of my own sin I deserve hell. But our penalty, I mean,

MY penalty, has been paid by Jesus!"

Furthering discipleship

2011-07-16T08:17:00.000+10:00

(This is the message that was supposed to be included with the random picture that just went out. Sorry. Our email system does that sometimes.)

Have we been back in Mibu a month already?! Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Speaking of fun, it's been great to have our co-workers, the Tartaglias back, if even just for a short time. We've had lots of time together to catch up on what God has been doing in our lives, and to talk strategy and the like.

More importantly though, they've been able to spend much needed time providing personal, one on one encouragement for the believers here in Mibu as well as continuing to teach through 1 Corinthians in the church meetings. With me focusing primarily on getting God's word translated into the Mibu language, this kind of ongoing discipleship has been minimal at best. Shannon has been able to spend some time with the ladies here in Mibu, but the attention for developing the men and leaders has been really lacking. Though we've yet to see what the results will be, we're really hoping and praying that Joey's time with the believers here will be a real lasting encouragement.

Meanwhile, we continue to make steps toward getting additional co-workers in here to help us finish the job here in Mibu. Part of that process, as far as New Tribes Mission is concerned, is having an assessment done on the church here. We're making plans for this to happen (hopefully sometime mid-August) where consultants would come and spend some time with the church to assess where they're at and what is still needed here as far as outside help. Once this evaluation is done, then Mibu can be officially placed on 'the list' as a ministry still needing additional help. From there, it'll just be a matter of waiting for God to provide the right family to meet the needs. Would you please be in prayer with us for this whole process of looking for additional co-workers?

Here are some additional areas for which we'd appreciate your prayers:
- For the church here in Mibu to remain encouraged in their relationship with Jesus. Right now there is very little right now in the way of bearing up these young believers. They still need lots of help before they can stand on their own.
- For the ongoing bible translation project. It's a BIG project that we estimate possibly another 9-10 years to complete. Pray for all the factors that have to be in place for this project to be completed successfully (ie. Faithful helpers, physical health, finances, translation consultants, etc.).
- For the remainder of the Tartaglia's visit here in Mibu. They're only here for 13 more days! We, as well as the church here, will miss them greatly!

2011_04_4548_copy.jpeg

2011-07-15T16:35:00.000+10:00

The attached file was originally sent with another message.

File Name: 2011_04_4548_copy.jpeg

Full Circle

2011-06-21T20:16:00.000+10:00

We just finished up our two weeks of down time in Madang. It was a great time as a family to rest and recharge for ministry in Mibu.

Our co-workers, the Tartaglias, returned for several weeks of service in Mibu too! It was great seeing them after many months. They've already returned to Mibu and we are now in Lapilo (Goroka) awaiting the next time our helicopter is available to take us in (which happens to be tomorrow, the 22nd).

We had a great semi-last minute opportunity arise giving Geoff the chance to teach about bible translation at the Interface program currently going on. Then both of us had some time to talk to the students about what life in the bush is like. What was so cool about this is that it's one of those full-circle kind of experiences. Many of you probably remember the very first time, back in 2000, that Shannon and I came to Papua New Guinea. It was for the Interface program. As a result of doing this six week program, where we lived in huts, spent time learning some of the trade language, attending many classes about tribal missionary service, and hanging out with the local folks, we realized that Papua New Guinea was definitely the place to come serve. Prior to the program, Geoff was gung-ho and ignorant. Shannon was not so sure. But through the interface program we were able to gain a realistic idea of what tribal ministry might look like. And more importantly we saw how God amazingly provided and sustained so many others who were trusting him in their service in so many remote places. After we did Interface, both of us were on the same page regarding where to step next. God really used Interface to give us strong direction in our desire to serve.

So it was really cool for us to be there 11 years later, helping to challenge and encourage a new group of students. Who knows, maybe some of them will become bible translators and church planters some day!

Children of hope... Part 3

2011-05-23T18:24:00.000+10:00

Linet (Lee-net) opened her eyes. It was black inside. Through the small unscreened window she could see a section of blue ribbon accenting the distant black mountain peaks. It was early morning. The night was about to finish. The roosters were beginning to crow. As she lay there on the bamboo floor, the little girl became more and more conscious of the penetrating cold, against which the sheet that she shared with her younger brother did little. The chills forced her thoughts straight to the now black fire pit in the middle of the room. Having gone to sleep by the heat of its glowing embers, the darkness residing there now only served to heighten her awareness of just how cold it was.

Her little brother was still asleep next to her as she removed the half of the sheet that covered her and carefully found her way through the dark, to find her father who was still sleeping. "Nan. Nan." she whispered as she nudged his shoulder with her tiny palm. Having elicited only a stir, she tried again. This time he awoke. In the darkness all he could see in front of him was the faint blue glow of pre sunrise making her eyes and teeth the only discernible features of the little silhouette standing over him. "Nan, I'm cold. Make a fire. Let's eat," she said.

He propped up on one elbow and gathered his thoughts. A flitting sense of disappointment came and went as he realized his planned time to himself to read some of God's words and meditate on them in quietness was now gone with the early awakening of one of his children. "Alright. First you need to go get some wood from under the house," he told her. He knew that, as young as she is, this request would only result in smallish twigs and sticks. He would have to wake up her mother so she could go get some proper firewood and bring back some food from the garden. Or maybe he could just get a few pieces of firewood from his brother's house nearby. He got up and slipped out the door where the morning light, still faint on the horizon was quickly turning to orange. Seeing that his brother had plenty of firewood he grabbed a few pieces and brought them back into the house where Linet huddled, trying to keep warm as she waited for him. Her little sticks lay there at the end of the rectangular fire pit.

Her dad poked around in the ashes exposing the few remaining embers that lay buried from the previous evening's fire. He combined them together and quickly had a nice little fire going with the wood that had been gathered. Linet sat there on the edge of the fire pit, feet inside it, and waited to be warmed. Meanwhile her dad laid back down to get a little more rest. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her of the hunger. "Nan, Nan, I'm hungry! Can we eat?" Giving up on the idea of continued slumber, he sat up again and nudged her mother out of sleep. "Do we have any food leftover in the pot from yesterday?" he quietly asked her. She stirred a bit and then mumbled hoarsely, "That food is old. We'll have to cook up some new stuff. I got some bananas yesterday. Just cook those for now. I'll get some more food to cook in the pot in a little bit." Linet's dad went over and took the bananas out of the string bag where they hung on the wall. Taking them over to the fire, he carefully separated each one and placed them on the fire where they would cook. Once cooked, he carefully peeled the blackened skins off, handing a steaming banana to Linet. He told her to place it on the edge of her sheet on the floor. "It's hot. Let it cool off a bit first," he said.

After complying, Linet looked across to the other side of the fire pit where her dad was sitting. She watched his face glowing orange in the firelight as he got his book out, opened it up and began reading to himself. She wondered about that book. She'd asked him about it several times. He seemed to read it a lot. He had tried reading a bit out loud to her not long ago, but it didn't mean much and she had gone off distracted and played with her brother. But still, that book made her wonder. She knew that some of the recent changes in their family were because of that book. She also knew it had something to do with how God helps us. Her mom and dad had even fought over it one time. They didn't know it, but she witnessed the whole thing, peeking through a gap in the wall planking, as it happened outside their house. Whatever her dad was reading in that book, it made him want to change things. Her young mind could recognize her dad's frustration with one of her moms who would argue about these changes. Along with the confusion, Linet had some happy thoughts about some of the changes. Her dad was much more gentle with her and her brother than he used to be. He paid more attention to her now too. But still, she wondered. There were times, when the talk of change seemed only to add to the tension. It seemed like her moms and her dad weren't very sure. She remembered having watched him on many occasions talk with his friend, the tall white skin, about kids and the way families are in their houses. He always had lots of questions. Her mom had had similar conversations with the tall white skin's wife. Linet's little mind was brought back from wondering as her stomach reminded her of the banana that would be ready for her by now.

The rest of the family was waking up now, joining Linet and her father around the edge of the rectangular fire pit and eating cooked bananas. The sun had appeared above the mountains now. Its brilliance seemed to seek out every little crevice and hole in the facing wall of woven bamboo. It beamed its light into the darkness, its little parallel rays cutting through the smoke. Linet's birth mom went to the garden, coming back after a while with the day's nourishment. Now sweaty from the trek and the burden of a full string bag hung on her head, she went back to a small room and began to prepare the food for cooking. Meanwhile Linet's little mom finished nursing her youngest brother and took the pot and dishes out to wash them and fetch water for the day's needs. After the food was cooked and the family had eaten, Linet's father called her and her little brother and told them that he and their two moms would be gone all day, working in the coffee garden. The kids would need to stay home. It was just too inconvenient to bring them along for that job. They didn't want to risk being slowed by the young ones and have to walk back in the rain. Their grandma would be around if they needed anything. Otherwise, her and her younger brother, Malcolm, were pretty much free to do whatever. Both Linet and Malcolm cried as they watched their parents heading up the trail on their way to the coffee garden.

Standing outside their house, Linet scanned the mostly vacated village. Most of the adults were out picking their coffee. The older kids were in school. She could hear the rhythmic drone of their scholastic drilling echoing up from the school house down below. Linet couldn't wait until she was old enough to attend school with the rest of the children. But for now, she found herself, with her little brother following, meandering up to her grandma, who she spotted sitting in the entrance to her house, smoking her tobacco.

After spending the morning around her grandma and eating leftover food from the meal they'd eaten earlier that morning, Linet heard the sounds of some other children in the middle of the village. She wandered out to join them. It was a small group of kids who, like her, were too young to be in school yet and found themselves busy each day with whatever their imaginations could conjure up. One of the boys was her cousin. Being mostly boys, the chosen activity which kept their focus was shooting their little mini sized arrows with the mini sized bows their fathers or uncles had fashioned for them. Lizards, leaves, tree stumps - whatever. If it posed a potential target, they were all over it. But the ultimate prize for these young hunters was a bird. This particular bird unwittingly became the center of their attention after flying over them and into a tree at the lower end of the village. Linet was content to merely be along for the ride. Girls didn't hunt. So she followed the group who's interest in the game they played was just heightened into something more serious. No longer loosely galavanting around letting their arrows fly, they were focused now. All of them wanted to be the one that shot that bird. They were in a stiff and quiet run now, Linet bringing up the rear as she observed. She watched them as their eyes pierced the foliage of that tree, scanning for signs of that little bird. One little boy whispered, "There!" and quickly fired his crooked little arrow which twisted through the air, missing. The bird flew. The boys followed. On to the next tree. At one point, Linet got caught up in the excitement and picked up a rock, throwing it at the bird. The bird quickly flitted away out of the aim of the boys who hunted it. Linet's cousin approached her angrily, yelling about how she messed up their hunt. He acted on his anger and hit the little girl squarely in the face with two blows of his hand, eliciting tears and screaming - and blood.

Play time was over. Linet screamed out her frightened pain as she made her way back home. Her grandmother met her in the village, having detected an issue needing attention. When she saw the blood she queried in her terse tone that was so typical. Linet managed to blubber out through the tears that her cousin had hit her. The old woman took Linet, going behind the house and digging up some cognac roots with which to treat Linet's wound. She washed a piece of root, then chewed it up to a loose wad of pulp before placing it on the corner of Linet's lip from where the blood had coursed a now coagulated path down to the under side of her chin.

Tired from the trauma and the pain, Linet fell asleep on the bamboo floor of her grandmother's house. She was awakened by the familiar sound of her mother's voice, who had just returned from the garden. Excited, she woke up and called out to her as she went outside to greet her. Her mom commented her surprise on the now swollen cheek and lip that graced Linet's face. Her father and her little mother, who were just a few minutes behind also joined in asking who had hit her. Upon further examination they noticed too that a few of Linet's baby teeth were loosened on the side where she'd been hit. "He must have hit her really hard!" her father exclaimed. Linet's cheek and lip hurt, but she was just happy to see her mom and dad back. She ran with them back to their hut.

That evening, when the sun had set and everyone had eaten their fill. A couple men from a nearby village came into the house and were sitting around the fire, smoking tobacco and talking with Linet's dad. Linet lay down sleepily. Though her attention was being pulled away by her drift to unconsciousness, she overheard her moms and her dad starting to talk with the visitors about her encounter with her cousin that day. The last thing she would remember was a quiet group chuckle as the story was being relayed. As the conversation carried on one of the visitors wondered if her parents did anything to the offending boy. "No, it's not like we were there. We didn't see what happened," they said, both in agreement on the issue. Following the pattern of social etiquette, some betelnut was passed around, each taking one and chewing it as they continued to socialize. The discussion then went on to a series of more random topics. As the betelnut high died off, so did the conversation. The day's toils in the garden were catching up to them. The last thing Linet's father mentioned before the visitors departed was that he still had a lot of work to do tomorrow with his coffee. He debated whether or not to bring the kids. Or maybe one of the mothers could stay home and keep them from getting into trouble. He'd decide in the morning. For now, all he perceived between now and another day's labors was a good night's sleep for his family.

Children of Hope... Part 2

2011-04-20T16:57:00.000+10:00

NAME: Max (short for Makau, 'ma-cow') AGE: ~10-12

This morning my father and I woke up in our temporary lean-to out in the bush. My mom and dad and myself and my three younger brothers usually stay in one of our houses, either close by our pigs or in the village. But dad is splitting wood for planking on the side of a new house he's making. It's a big job so we're camping out near the work site pretty regularly lately. This morning we woke up with the sun and started our fire to keep warm. Looking forward to our special treat of leftover pig meat from yesterday, we put it (stuffed in bamboo) on the fire and heated it up. After eating I left my dad there. He would later go to another village about a day's hike away. He's the elected local level councilman who is expected to be at a big court meeting. As for myself, I headed down to Mibu for school. Since it was still early, I thought it would be a good time to take the long route and hunt for birds and check our traps along the way.

NAME: Longge (loang-gay) AGE: ~17-18

I left my husband and 3 month old baby girl at home this morning so I could get some food and supplies for the day. We needed some bamboo for water and for cooking and food storage. We also needed some taro and sweet potato as well as some greens to cook with our meals. Our garden is about 1/2 mile away up the mountain so I had to leave early this morning so I could get back before everyone got too hungry. Sometimes we live with my dad and my two moms, as well as 10 of my 11 younger siblings, so it's a lot of food I have to get. After we eat, I'll be joining many of the other women who go up to the water. There, us ladies will wash the pots and pans, the clothes, and also to fill up the water jugs for our families. I'll probably take one, or even a few, of my younger siblings to help me out.

NAMES: from left to right, Lakwan, Kwobe, Sama AGES: ~7-8, ~4-5, ~8-10

We're just coming back from getting some pit-pit from Sama's mom and dad's garden this morning. Her mom asked her to go get some food and we three friends decided to all go together to bring back a bit of food for each of our respective families. Some time after we eat we'll probably play outside with our other young friends where we'll spend the morning kicking and throwing little balls around that we've made out of various materials we've found. We were doing that yesterday and it was so much fun!

NAME: Nines (nee-nace) AGE: 4

Me and my mom live with my maternal grandmother as well as my mom's brother and his wife and my two cousins. My dad died when I was very young, so it's just me and my mom and our family. This morning my mom is leaving me at home with grandma so that she can pick coffee with the rest of the family. She says that's how they get money to second-hand clothes and other things each year. Since it's time for harvesting coffee right now, lots of other parents are leaving their kids in Mibu as well, so I'll bet a lot of my other friends will be here in the village and we can play. Yesterday, my mom had a bunch of other women over at our house to pray for our families and for the community. My mommy asked me to go outside because I was being too loud. Lately, she's been telling me a lot that she's changing the way she raises me. She says that she wants to start training me the way that God wants her to. She says she wants me to learn to think about and follow God's talk.

NAME: Pos (short for Posilongge 'pos-i-loang-gay') AGE: ~9-10

My two brothers and one sister are all younger than me. I'm old enough now that I go with my dad, when I'm not in school, to help him with jobs in the garden, collecting firewood, or other things. Sometimes, when mom or dad can't take me with them, they give me the task of keeping my younger siblings out of trouble. Most of the time though, when it's not time for school, I enjoy playing with my friends. My dad made me a bow and arrow set out of bamboo. My friends all have theirs too, so we go around and shoot at things with them. Every now and then we actually get a bird! We also like to play games when we have marbles, or sometimes we'll play a game where we fling a spinning top made from a coconut shell and see how many seeds we can knock over. Today while I was playing, the tall-white-skin came down and asked if he could take my picture. I said it was alright and then tried to look like I should for a picture. He told me I always look angry and then asked if I know how to smile. I think he got what he wanted eventually though, because he teased me a little bit in front of my friends and I just couldn't help but crack a little smile as we all started to laugh.They're the ones next in line to hear and hopefully respond to the word of God here in Mibu. Investment in their training is where it's at if one wants to leave a Godly legacy behind. With the fairly recent arrival of God's word and teaching in their language, it's power, manifest through changed lives has the potential to powerfully effect these younger ones. As you join us in prayer for both the believing parents here in Mibu and for their children, we thought we'd try to provide a window through which you could take a quick glimpse into the lives of this upcoming generation. Small as this window may be, we hope that these little snap-shots of life might help you connect more with the people you're praying for.

Children of Hope... Part 1

2011-04-02T12:24:00.000+10:00

Children of Mibu

One thing that often gets overlooked in our updates is the children of Mibu. Yet, more and more, the focus of the church here is on the youngsters. These young ones are where it's at when considering the long term continuation of the gospel message and thus, the survival of the church here in Mibu. I've heard it well said that, "If we don't learn how to train our children up to know and honor God then all this (the Mibu Church) will fall down someday."

So true. But this is no small hurdle to overcome. As you may or may not remember, a couple of years ago Shannon and I worked on developing and teaching some parenting 'basic training' type lessons. The idea was to plant the seeds of basic biblical parenting principles. The lessons covered topics such as God's design and his view of parenting, God given parental authority, His expectation of parents, our need and expectation (even having the goal) of obedience, basic disciplinary principles, and more. These lessons have been taught through one time (with the need for much review in the future) and printed as booklets. These printed booklets have been distributed to every family.

But as many of us parents have learned (and are still learning), changing patterns of parenting is a long, often very difficult journey. Adding to that difficulty is the fact that many of the old patterns here had arisen from a near zero hope of the parental capacity to shape and direct children, as well as a lack of understanding and/or willingness to exercise parental authority. The beginning of this journey here in Mibu has a sharp learning curve. At the moment, we would estimate that we're somewhere pretty early on in that curve with a ways to go.

With the current shortage of manpower present here the continuation of lessons and discipleship in this area is slowed tremendously. We're encouraged that Shannon has been able to get out with the ladies each week and spend time reviewing some of the topics in the parenting lessons, adding depth through more practical examples and discussion. Yes, we are indeed seeing growth as parents begin to take hold of the biblical truths that have been taught.

More useful than the book though is the idea of seeing these principles lived out before them; an example they can follow. Our family dynamics aren't perfect by any means. At the heart of things we share all the same struggles that our friends in Mibu do; Anger, frustration, feelings of hopelessness, apathy and more... All these are our natural bent. It is here that the one thing that can truly shine forth and make a difference is God's loving grace. His grace provides us with the foundation needed for forgiveness and understanding and unity as well as the ability to continue forward with our eyes on Him. When family life begins to be characterized by an understanding of his grace then that family is onto something. We hope and pray that our family and the families in Mibu would only continue to grow in their understanding and experience of the outworkings of God's loving grace in their lives.

In order to help you, our prayerful and financial supporters, 'connect' with this area of life in Mibu we'd like to take the next few updates and try to open up for you a window into the world of the children here in Mibu. If you feel the burden as we do, would you take some time to be in prayer on a regular basis for the future of these young torch bearers and for the parents, who by divine appointment have been given the task of passing the torch.

FYI... Translation check postponed

We were ramping up the excitement for our upcoming translation check. But unfortunately as our translation consultant was traveling from the US, he was informed that his wife had had a heart attack. We're glad to hear that she's OK now and ought to recover nicely. But this means that our translation check will have to happen another time. Till then, we'll just keep plugging away on this huge job of translating the New Testament.

General Update

2011-03-15T17:53:00.000+10:00

Translation progress

We've been working hard to put the finishing touches on our Romans translation in preparation for the upcoming translation check! Everything is coming together wonderfully! We're really looking forward to getting the final opinion of our able translation consultant. The check has been moved back about a week due to unforeseen maintenance needs on the helicopter. The new dates for the check are April 5th and 6th.

We've received positive feedback with the preliminary checks that the consultant has already done. Seems everything is on the right track here!

Wonderful visitors

Yesterday (monday), the helicopter brought in some special guests, Drew and Bobbi Scholl, along with their 3 children, as well as Drew's brother Matt, who will be visiting with us until Thursday. They live and work in town and have been looking for the chance to visit a real bush location for a while. It doesn't get any bushier than this! We've been enjoying good times of sharing and fellowship together as we get to know their family. We've also been doing some hiking and visiting with some of the folks in Mibu. It's been a real blessing to have them here. We already know we're going to miss having them after Thursday!

Prayer for the believers in Mibu

Please don't forget to be in prayer for the believers here in Mibu. With no new bible teaching happening right now and not enough manpower present to keep discipleship and training moving forward it can be a challenge for these young believers, with a lot of teaching left to hear, to remain encouraged. It's times like this that you see God working in ways that really are phenomenal. With no new teaching happening and no certainty about what is to come and when, their love for God and his word is showing as they seem to keep finding ways to hold it together under God's love for them! Please continue to be in prayer for this growing process for them!

Maybe you can help!

Call it writer's block. Call it whatever. But we're having a hard time lately with the ole creative juices. We know that there are many questions and/or many things that you would love to know more about regarding Mibu Ministry. So maybe you can help us get the juices flowing and tell us what, if anything, you may be interested to hear more about. Questions about the church? The people? Tribal church planting ministry? Questions about life and work here? This is a great time for us to make sure we're not overlooking something that YOU would love to hear about. And while we can't promise that every request will be handled specifically, the whole process can be very helpful for us to know what you might be most encouraged to hear about. Drop us a line!

Break... Upcoming Translation Check

2011-02-13T16:54:00.001+10:00

***Welcome to the new look of the Mibu Ministry updates! This new format allows us to deliver our updates for free while also giving them a fresh look.***

We've spent the last week and a half out in town for our first break since returning to the field. It's been a great time of rest and relaxation with the family. It's so much fun to come out and take the girls swimming and go out on the boats and in to town to find ways to spend their allowance! Breaks like these are also our time to catch up with things on the internet; catching up with family and friends, software updates for our computers, and revising our plan for getting updates out to you!

Recently we've been working on plans to have a consultant check what we have translated so far in Romans. The check is now scheduled for March 31 and April 1. The plan is to have him check Romans chapters 6,7,8 and 12. This is a big milestone marker in the overall translation process. They've been difficult and challenging, stretching me way beyond my skill level and that of my translation helpers.

So far, chapters 6 and 7 are nearly done, chapter 8 is nearing completion, and chapter 12 is just in its beginnings. Chapter 8 has my head reeling! We've still got a LOT of work cut out for us in order to get things ready in time for the consultant. So we would appreciate your prayers. We depend on God's help daily for this translation to happen; for drive and motivation and wisdom to maintain high level of accuracy, for all the needed helpers from Mibu to be consistently available as planned, for much needed focus hour by hour, day by day, week by week. And most of all, for me to have the discipline and care needed so as to not drive my family nuts by letting work keep me from being available to serve them as my first and most primary ministry :)

Thank you all for your many prayers and gifts that support us as we serve in Mibu!

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2011-01-20T23:02:00.000+10:00

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Christmas Wishes From Mibu

2010-12-21T16:03:00.000+10:00

We're just a few days away from celebrating Christmas here in Mibu and very much looking forward to it. We wanted to wish all of you a wonderful holiday, filled with remembrance of the birth of the one that God sent to do all that was needed for us to have peace with himself, the Ultimate Gift Giver.

As we celebrate this year, we do so with great thankfulness that people like you have been and continue to be such a large part of delivering his wonderful good news to the Mibu people. You've all helped deliver the message about the only gift that really matters.

You've helped make a difference here in Mibu, where in the past, they spent this season trying to do things that would eventually culminate in a community wide 'purging' of all the wrongs done over the last year; an attempt to make themselves right. Now, this season is spent in peace, knowing that all that ever needed to be done for their sins has already been done. They trust in that and can focus on celebrating that gift as a community.

Merry Christmas!

Geoff and Shannon Husa
and Skyler... and Madelyn... and Abigail

Working through Romans 6

2010-12-03T11:11:00.000+10:00

Recently here in the Mibu ministry we've been trying to get things rolling again with the translation. It's been a task that is picking up steam a little slower than we had anticipated.

Prior to our return home for furlough, I had worked through chapters 6 and 7 of Romans, and had done a fair bit of study in chapter 8. I had considered 6 and 7 pretty much done; just a few more small checks left to do before being ready.

Upon our return here in Mibu, I set about performing those checks on 6 and 7, only to find out that there are a couple larger areas that just don't seem to be communicating what Paul intended there. I'm not convinced that it's a faithful rendition of the original.

So it's back to the drawing board with those sections. Back almost to the beginning. There's a lot of work left and it's a bit frustrating. But I'm also very thankful that this problem has been brought into the light and is going to get fixed.

The biggest problem is in 6.2-5 where it's talking about how the believer has been 'baptized' into Christ and is thus identified with his death and resurrection; new life. All this is given as an argument for why it just doesn't make sense for us to continue living in sin.

Right now as it stands the argumentation that Paul uses just doesn't come across. It's just a bunch of confusing data about death and former slavery to sin and freedom from sin, but the underlying connections just aren't there. So I'm setting about the difficult task of asking why the connections aren't there and then doing what is necessary to fix them.

I believe that part of the problem has to do with the foreignness of talking about ourselves as if we're dead to something else. But also complicating matters may be insufficient terminology about our 'old self' and 'body of sin' and being 'united with him'. It's a lot of abstract concepts all coming together here to create in the reader's mind an understanding of the new reality that is given through God's grace. It's so important to get this right. So it's worth the time to hit it as many times as is needed to get it right; to make it truly mean what God intends to say through Paul here. Only then will this passage have the power that God's words are said to have. Only then will we see these words actually take the authoritative place in their hearts that changes people's lives and bends their desires and their hearts more toward their creator. And in this case, helps them see the power that is given them over sin!

Please be in prayer with us as we seek his wisdom and understanding with this hard biblical text and others like it.

Geoff, for the Husa clan

follow up to faithful women

2010-11-15T09:07:00.000+10:00

Saturday's ladies' meeting was in Mibu and I was shocked upon my arrival to see 15 ladies as well as a few younger girls in attendance. That was 11 more than last week and 5 from last week weren't even there today! If you remember a prayer request of my friend Mangaveng last week was that her husband's 2nd wife would have the desire to attend these meetings. Well, as I walked into the house where they were meeting she was sitting on the front porch!! Praise God! I'm not sure how much she was able to get from the meeting since she was outside but just being there was a big step in the right direction. Thank you to those of you who may have prayed for her.

As much as I love being able to attend these ladies meetings and be with these faithful women I would love it so much more if I could understand more of what they are saying and be able to encourage them. I have seen much of my language ability returning slowly but please pray that I would be able to find time to progress even further in that area.

In addition to the women I mentioned last week these are some more women who were in attendance today:
Tasem (ta-same), Jongetape (jo-ngay-tah-pay), Noonoye (noo-no-yay), Jepit (jay-peet), Tooma (this is the woman Mangaveng prayed for), Ti (tee), Ketoola (kay-too-la), Keteng's wife (I can't remember her name), Nenang (nay-nang), Maiya (my-yah), and Eson (ay-sone). One thing you can pray for is that when there are meetings in Mibu most of the women from Beng don't show and vice versa. Pray that they would see the importance of meeting every week and be willing to make the 20 minute hike back and forth.

One thing that has come up since we got back here is that a man from another village (not a Mibu village) is wanting to marry one of the young girls from Mibu. He is an unbeliever and already has one wife so the Mibu people have said no, he may not marry her. This really upset him and he went on a rampage chopping houses belonging to some of the people who are family of this girl and even killed a small pig and ate some of it and let the rest go to waste (a pretty big deal in these parts). He is threatening harm to many of the people involved and they are terrified of him to the point that some of the families are living with other families and they don't walk around alone, or if they do they carry bush knives or bows and arrows for protection. In the past they would have wanted to get revenge for the damage being done by beating this man or even killing him, but as believers they have said they aren't seeking that in this case but just want this man to go back to his village. I was walking up the trail today with my friend, Eson, whose family is the main recipient of the vandalism and she related some really encouraging things to me. She mentioned that this man went to their home with an axe and was threatening her husband. Her husband was terrified and started praying for protection. He then stood up and asked this man why he is making so much trouble. The man dropped his axe and just said "go get the girl and bring her to me" and then left. Eson's husband told her later that he wasn't afraid of dying because that would be a good thing but God had spared him anyway. It is so encouraging to see the Mibu people looking to God to solve their problems instead of trying to do it in their own strength or by resorting to their old ways. Supposedly the man who is causing all the trouble has a brother who is a teacher in town and we are currently trying to get a hold of him so he can work something out to get this brother back in his village and stop harassing the Mibu people. Please pray that this situation would resolve peacefully and soon.

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for us and the Mibu people,
Shannon

Faithful women of Mibu

2010-11-08T20:42:00.000+10:00

One of the things I've been looking forward to upon our return to Mibu was sitting in on some of the ladies meetings. Several months ago our co-worker, Brooke Tartaglia, starting meeting with the ladies on Saturday mornings to share a short lesson and pray together. I had been hearing about the growth of the women and their desire to meet together and pray and was anxious to see it for myself.

This last Saturday they were meeting in the village of Beng and as eager as I was to go I was tempted to skip this one because the hike to Beng is much more difficult than the hike to Mibu and my knees and pelvis had been giving me trouble. But my wonderful husband knew how much I needed a break and strongly encouraged me to go down. He offered to watch the kids and even made me my own walking stick to aid in the hike. I was really thankful that I was able to get out and the hour plus hike gave me some much needed quiet time with the Lord that has been lacking lately.

Once there I could see that the women were happy that I had gone and I was excited to be there and see firsthand what a Mibu women's prayer meeting looked like. 12 women plus myself ended up gathering in the small schoolhouse in Beng. My dear friend Wunjo led the time together. She shared 10 prayer requests from the previous week and they each took turns praying for those items - anything from sicknesses to outreaches. It was so neat to see their concern for others in the community and the need to see God's word continue to go out to further villages. The prayer request that stood out to me the most was from my friend and work helper, Mangaveng. Her husband has another wife and she is not interested in attending the Saturday meetings. Mangaveng was praying that she would have a change of heart and start going. I kept thinking how if my husband took on another wife I would have a lot of animosity toward her and be tempted to not think of her or pray for her. I was very encouraged to see that she cares for this other young woman and for her spiritual growth!!

Would you please continue to pray for these women. That their time together would be fruitful, that they would see God's faithfulness in answering prayers, that they would be an encouragement and testimony to their husbands and the other women in the community and that they would grow in their love for the Lord. If you would like to prayer for them by name the ladies that met last Saturday were Wunjo, Mangaveng (mang-uh-veng), Nema (nay-ma), Gipain (ghee-pine), Daiyel (die-el), Mangge (mang-gay), Laoo, Biop (bee-ope), Wep, Nimoke (nee-mo-kay), Nansi, and Joonumeng (jew-nuh, mang). Also, I just found out today that Nimoke's husband is against her attending these meetings as well as the literacy class she has been going to. He thinks it will give her bad thinking (if I understood her correctly) and has forbidden her to go. She is going to take two weeks off in hopes that during that time he will change his mind. Please pray that he will have a change of heart and allow her to continue attending both of these meetings. Wunjo also told me that when they meet in Mibu (every other week) the women from Beng don't usually go so that would be another prayer request.

Some additional prayer requests for our family would be:

1) We are fairly certain that Geoff broke a rib when he slipped on the trail yesterday. Please pray for quick healing for him.

2) We have only had 2 or 3 full nights of sleep (until 5 or 6am) without Maddie and Abby waking up 2-4 times each night since we got here. We are exhausted and would love to be able to sleep through the night again. Last night was a record... over 10 times awakened by one thing or the other.

3) Pray that I would be able to find some time to keep learning the language here. We have stopped nap time for the girls to help with the night time waking and I am homeschooling now so my schedule is very full with hardly any time to do anything other than take care of the kids.

Thank you for your prayers!!

The Husas

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2010-10-30T03:10:00.001+10:00

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2010-10-30T03:10:00.000+10:00

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Update on Shannon's health

2010-10-26T09:03:00.000+10:00

Thank you all for your prayers. We're so thankful that God answered the way he did. Shannon's pain began to subside last night about 6.30 and she was able to sleep through the night. Her pain and her fever are gone this morning. She's just a little bit achy still, but a HUGE improvement over yesterday. She said it was the worst pain she's ever experienced! Still not sure exactly what it was, but we're still thinking kidney stones accompanied by an infection. We're so glad to see her up and smiling this morning.

Haven't heard for sure from the doctor, but we're guessing that there will not be a medevac today. Seems safe to give it another day since we already have the helicopter scheduled for tomorrow to take my brother and sister (Lauren and Neal) out to town.

Thank you all for your prayers. We'll let you know if anything changes.

Geoff

urgent prayer request

2010-10-25T20:32:00.000+10:00

Please be praying for Shannon's health. She's got a lot of symptoms that seem like she might be passing a kidney stone, but other symptoms (ie. fever) that are concerning the doctor enough that he's talking a medevac in the morning. He's had us change antibiotics and wants us to update him via email in the morning. Unless there's significant improvement he'll be ordering a medevac in the morning.

To compound the difficulty of the situation our radio is not working for talking to other people. We don't have internet or phones out here in the bush. A working radio is a very key component in handling big-deal stuff like this so we're having to handle all this over email on our HF radio. We're extremely thankful that even though we have this limitation on our communication we were still able to get a hold of the doctor quickly.

Meanwhile, Shannon is in a great deal of pain. We would appreciate your prayers tonight as we try to get through till the morning. We'll keep you posted as we have opportunity.

Thanks!

Geoff

Husa update

2010-10-23T20:08:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the lack of communication so far but we have been having a lot of trouble getting our e-mail to work.

Well, we arrived in Mibu on Tuesday morning just as planned. There were only 2 Mibu people up to greet us because no one knew what day we would be returning. After hearing the helicopter several more came up to greet us though. It was so great to see some of our dear Mibu friends again.

We got right to work putting food supplies away which took a couple of hours and then we started to unpack our clothes, both from our suitcases and things that we had in storage. We felt like we really made good progress until the evening came and we discovered that there was a huge ant nest in a trunk of clothes and that Geoff's chocolate protein powder that he brought from the states had exploded all over EVERYTHING in our suitcase! It took a while to clean those messes up and a huge pile of laundry started to pile up. In addition to all the bedding left by visitors and all the clothes that smell of mold and mildew. We have hardly had any sun since arriving so we have been very limited as to how much laundry we can do. Also, some rope that we use to hang clothes under the house in rainy weather is missing so we are limited as to how much we can hang up and have had clothes hanging from the railing on our porch and loft. Wednesday felt like we didn't get a whole lot accomplished. Probably because we were all so tired from the day before. We did get a little bit done though, but with the house such a wreck and so much more work to do the stress was mounting. Thursday Lauren and I finally got started painting the girls new room and were able to get it completely finished. Yesterday was Maddie's 3rd birthday so a lot of time was spent preparing for that as well as trying to work on different projects around the house. We did manage to have a fun celebration though amidst the chaos. After the girls' naps we had cake and opened presents in their new room and then we ate pizza and watched a movie. The girls were so thrilled that they got to eat cake on the floor and pizza in the living room. It's the little things:) Yesterday was also a very rough day for me as I discovered I have a very serious bladder infection. Luckily we are armed with the necessary medicines and I was able to start treatment since I was having bad pains in my kidney and stomach. This morning I was feeling feverish and achy and still having some pain but I am feeling much better now so hopefully I will still be able to hike down to Mibu tomorrow. Upon arriving we discovered that our radio is not working so we have not been able to communicate with anyone out in town which is pretty frustrating. We can hear them, but they can't hear us... for some reason when we talk it's not transmitting. We are just praying that nothing serious comes up before we can get it fixed. We have arranged to get a loaner radio in here on Wednesday and send ours out to be fixed.

Although, there has been much chaos and it seems like every day is one step forward and two steps back things are starting to look up. The main house looks a bit better every day, the girls' new room is finished and ready to move into now and Geoff and Neal have made a lot of progress on the new storage closet in the new addition. We are really hoping to get a lot more done before they leave in 4 days though. We must have told Geoff's brother and sister about 100 times how glad we are that they were able to come back with us and help us out.

The kids have adjusted fairly well. They love being back here and running around outside, especially in the rain. Maddie is very afraid of the people though and both Maddie and Abby have been waking up several times a night. I'm sure it is just jet lag and the complete darkness here so hopefully they will fully adjust soon. They are also very deprived of mommy and daddy attention since we have been so busy so I'm sure that plays into it as well. It will be so nice to get our house in order and start a normal routine.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our family. We appreciate it very much as we adjust to being back in Mibu and the changes and sacrifices that come with that.

Love,
Shannon for the Husas

Safely in Mibu

2010-10-19T19:28:00.000+10:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that we're safely in Mibu. Got lots going on trying to get situated (including some email probs) so we'll just keep this short.

Geoff for all of us

Arrived safely in PNG

2010-10-18T12:01:00.001+10:00

Well it's Monday morning (the 18th) and we just got in this morning... a day later than we had originally planned. All flights went really smooth. Connections went well. Kids were better behaved than they've ever been on flights and slept about 1/2 of our 14 hour flight to Brisbane! It was a great trip, until we got to Port Moresby.

It was in Port Moresby that we boarded what was to be our final commercial flight, which would take us to the town where New Tribes Mission guesthouse is. This flight was just one hour after our arrival from Brisbane and so after clearing immigration and customs, we had to RUN with kids in tow and all our carry on luggage from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. We ran as best as a family laden with goodies can run, and because of the heat and humidity typical of the tropics we boarded the plane heaving and sweating. Whew! The disappointment came when after closing the doors and starting the plane, the pilot announced that they were having a problem with a cabin pressurization problem. Long story short; our flight was cancelled, they put us up in a hotel with meals, and we stayed the night. This morning we came back to the airport about 5am to re-check all our 13 heavy bags only to find that a mistake had been made and none of the passengers from the cancelled flight had been re-entered into the system. But finally, after switching lines 3 times (still hauling all our luggage to each one) we got checked in and were off to await the boarding call for our flight. Fun adventures, right? All is well now though and we're in Goroka where we're scheduled to fly in on the helicopter to Mibu tomorrow. Can't wait.

My brother and sister, Neal and Lauren, both came with us to help with the kids and luggage and to help with some other projects in Mibu. It was so great to have them on our flights and helping with the kids. We're so excited to have them here with us! We'll have to have them write an update or two during their stay! Always good to get the perspectives of others!

Now, many of you have asked how in the world we would take 3 young kids, all our carry-ons and 13 pieces of luggage across from the domestic to the international terminal in LAX. Here's the picture that answers that question!

Thanks for all your prayers through our travels!

Geoff and Shannon and 3 jet-lagged girly girls

9 days and counting

2010-10-07T00:21:00.001+10:00

Organizing... Prioritizing... Packing... Last minute errands...

That's the mode we're in full time right now; actually more than full time. We're getting ready for our scheduled departure date on October 15th (less than ten days away!) when we're planning on returning to our home and our ministry in Mibu. We can't believe that a whole year has gone by already. But I can tell you that we needed it. Most prominent in our mind as far as things accomplished this year is that we were able to connect on a deeper level with our church family here in AZ as well as make many new personal connections. We enjoyed the chance to strengthen the excitement level and sense of partnership in the Mibu Ministry. It's so so good to go back to the field feeling the blessing and support of others who are excited to see God continue his work in Mibu! That was our number one goal for our time home this year.

We've also been prayerfully at work to try to get our regular monthly support levels up to 100% of what is recommended for our family to serve most efficiently in Mibu. We've definitely seen some growth in our support base, but we're still about $1500 a month short of 100%. All that to say that we're still looking for financial partners in the Mibu Ministry. If you feel like you might like to support this ministry by helping with the financial side of things your help would be greatly appreciated. Just go to https://www.ntm.org/give/1089 and you can donate right online. Or for other methods, please check out the details at http://mibu-ministry.blogspot.com/p/give.html

We are feeling rested, energized and so very ready to be back in Mibu. We can't wait to get re-integrated into our friendships and life there, get a routine back for our family (this year has been awesome, but far from having family routine in the mix :) and continue to be a part of nurturing the growth and maturing of the church in Mibu.

Thank you all for being a part of our lives. You're such a blessing to us!

Geoff and Shannon Husa
...and the girls

Come hear about the Mibu ministry this Sunday

2010-09-16T04:36:00.001+10:00

Just wanted to let you all know that this coming Sunday (the 19th) we've planned a time to get together with you and your family to share the wonderful things that God is doing in the Mibu ministry in Papua New Guinea.

Whether you're familiar with the ministry or can't quite recall exactly what it is that we do in Mibu, this presentation is for you. Come get a taste of what a tribal church planting effort looks like! We'll cover a short history of the ministry in Mibu, some about what it is that we do there to serve the Mibu people, and also some exciting things that are happening there with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. You'll also hear several ways that you can be a part of this ministry!

Please join us to show your support and learn more. We'll be meeting in room C-1 after the second service at Bethany Community Church. Plan to be there from 12:30 to 1:00. There will be activities planned for kids and snacks provided for everyone to tide those hungry bellies over till lunch!

Again, the place is Bethany Community Church in room C-1. The time is this Sunday (the 19th) 12:30-1:00pm. It's a family event. There will be snacks!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Departure of short term team

2010-07-31T03:52:00.001+10:00

Just a reminder that the short term team to Mibu is scheduled to depart today (Friday afternoon). We'll be traveling to MIbu, Papua New Guinea where we're planning on building a small addition to our house.

Back when Shannon and I first built our house, we'd been trying to have children for seven years. With no children yet, and hopes of having them still prevailing, we decided we'd probably be pushing our luck to build to accommodate two children. God has blessed us beyond our plans (as he usually does) as we've just had our third child, and so we're feeling the need to expand our little 928 square foot house. We'll be adding an extra bedroom, a half bath (an essential with four females in the house!) and a little storage closet.

I'm really looking forward to having this chance to see my friends from Mibu. Gary, Greg and Steve are all looking forward to serving in this way and getting a chance to work alongside some individual believers in the Mibu church on this project.

We would appreciate your prayers as we go along. The trip dates are July 30th through August 13th. We'll keep you posted with updates and photos throughout our travels!

Enjoy!

Website facelift

2010-07-18T06:26:00.001+10:00

Hello everyone. Just wanted to let you know that we gave a major facelift to our Mibu Ministry website. We made it look nicer (at least we think so) and we've added a lot more information about the Mibu Ministry. More photos, more information, more fun. Take some time to check it out. Just click on the following link.

http://mibu-ministry.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Geoff

Husa update

2010-06-09T12:53:00.001+10:00

It's hard to believe we have been on home assignment for eight months already. Time sure flies when you are having fun! Since we've been back we have been pretty busy, both with fun things and ministry related things.

Back in October we celebrated Maddie's 2nd birthday. Is she really 2 already? When we arrived she wasn't talking very much and still wasn't walking, but she soon started doing both... and doing them well! Turning two brought her out of the baby stage and on to the toddler stage. She loves playing with her sister, her babies and reading books and she really LOVES to sing. She often entertains us with a one of her favorite songs - Jesus loves me, jingle bells, row row row your boat or twinkle twinkle little star, and dances along to any music or beat that she hears.

In November Skyler turned 4! Our big girl also started preschool soon after we arrived. She absolutely loves going to school and playing with her friends. She can now write her name, recognize all the letters and can count to 30. She got a bike with training wheels for her birthday and loves to practice riding it. Some of her favorite things are playing with her friends and cousins, playing with her dolls and trying to master the monkey bars. Just recently daddy started teaching her how to swim and she is doing very well with that. Not too long ago she decided she wanted to go ahead and get her ears pierced; a process which only got halfway through before she changed her mind :) She's waiting until she's older to get the other one done.

In addition to all the fun we've been having we have also been speaking in different churches and Sunday school classes about all the wonderful things God has been doing in our lives and in the Mibu church since the last time we were home. We've also been focusing our efforts recently on expanding our monthly support base up to recommended levels. BTW, if you're looking for a great ministry to give to, we'd love to share with you some of the wonderful things that God is doing in Mibu. Maybe the Mibu ministry is the right fit for your gifts! Let us know if you might be interested.

Geoff has also been very busy trying to put together a short term mission team to fly out to Mibu later this summer to build an addition onto our house. He's also been putting together lesson material for a Bible reading class he is teaching and trying to fit in all of his meetings and appointments.

Shannon tries to keep up with three little kids and with all the housework that needs to be done as well as doing homework for the two Bible study classes she is involved in.

The biggest thing occupying most of our time right now is adjusting to and enjoying our newest addition to the family - Abigail Marie Husa born on May 11th. So far she is an easy baby and sleeps well at night too. Both of her big sisters love to play with her and hold her. We feel very blessed to have 3 beautiful and healthy girls.

Prayer requests:

Pray that all of the kids passports and visas are processed in a timely manner so that we can return to Papua New Guinea the first week of October.

We are still in need of around $1800/month to meet our recommended monthly support before we head back to Mibu.

We also are estimating that we will need about $8,000 to purchase our return tickets to Papua New Guinea.

Thank you to all of you for your ongoing love, prayers, and support. We appreciate every one of you!

Love,

Geoff, Shannon, Skyler, Madelyn and Abigail

Welcome Abigail Marie Husa

2010-05-13T02:10:00.001+10:00

A special welcome to the new addition to the Husa family, Abigail Marie. She was born 5/11 at 11.51am, weighed in at a paltry 7lbs 13oz and is 21 inches in length.

The delivery, via c-section, went very smoothly... the best delivery we've experienced yet!

We'll likely be here at Banner Desert till Friday morning. Visitors are welcome. We're in 219c. Shannon's cell# is (602)618-9370.

Mibu ministry partnership development

2010-04-06T03:22:00.001+10:00

Here we are, at about the half-way mark of our year long home assignment before returning back to Mibu! Wow, our time home with you all is going by fast! We're working on a short update about our time home so far. Hopefully that will be going out in the next few days.

But here's what this email is about...

As many of you know, we have the pleasure of being a part of a much larger team than just us who are serving on the field. People like you have graciously given to us over the years so that we can continue to live and serve in Mibu. One of the things we're hoping to do while home is expand the base of people who partner with us financially. We're focusing our efforts on this task over the next month here.

We have prepared some information about our needs as a family and how you can be part of the exciting things that God is doing through the Mibu ministry. But we want to make sure we have your correct mailing address. If you've not already taken the opportunity to partner with us financially and would like us to send you some information about that, could you please reply and make sure we have your current address.

Blessings,

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Weng's song + cucumbers (From the Tartaglias)

2010-01-24T23:03:00.001+10:00

Here's the latest from our co-workers, the Tartaglias in Mibu. Cool stuff!

"Weng invited me over to hear the chapter summaries he's been working on as
he reads thru the Bible this year. We had just settled onto the bamboo floor
in his house when his mother turned and offered me a cucumber. I was kinda
surprised when she handed me a knife to peel it as well. It's been years
since anyone let me peel cucumbers, sweet potatoes, or any edible vegetation
for that matter. I guess it pains them too much to watch me try, yet remove
too much of the edible part along with the peel.

I thanked her and took the cucumber, then sat there listening to Weng
continue to read me his chapter summaries, trying to savor Weng's words and
this new chance I had been given at food preparation. I waited till Weng had
made it into the life of Abraham before I began peeling. The background
family noises quickly faded away, till there was only silence. I looked up
to find every eye in the house on me. Weng's mother quickly stepped over and
took it back, graciously telling me that she would not mind doing it for me.
Oh, well, maybe next time....

The highlight of my visit, though, was even after the wonderful chapter
headings and summaries. It was the song Weng shared with me before I left, a
song he had written himself last week.

"When Jesus comes back
He will judge the world
But according to God's pleasure
He regards us as His very own people
We will not be brought to trial."

Alleluia and Amen!"

Thanks for tuning in!

Geoff and Shannon

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Latest Mibu ministry news

2010-01-18T15:14:00.000+10:00

Here’s the latest from our co-workers in Mibu...

“After the church service, when many of the people had
dispersed, Parenoowe grabbed my skirt as I walked by pulling me down on the
rough bench next to her. Her face was drawn and tight, eyes still shining
with tears carefully held in check. She leaned her face very close to mine,
and with great emotion asked if we could talk about her daughter. It has
been less than three weeks since her 9 year old, Joonoomeng, had run down
ahead of her friends to the river, and whose body been found days later
washed up on the shore a few miles down the steep river ravine. Parenoowe 's
searing pain showed in her eyes, her voice, and the tight grip she held on
my hand. Her questions are the same that anyone would wrestle with... "Why
did this happen? Did I do something wrong that God allowed this? Where is
she now? Will I see her again?"

I wish I had something to say to Parenoowe that didn't sound
trite. "My friend, God is not angry with you, He is not punishing you. You
know this, don't you. He loves you and He loves your children. We all die.
We do not know when—today, tomorrow, when we are young or when we are very
old. Only God knows all of this. We cannot know. But we do know that we can
trust God with this. We will have to leave it with Him." I paused, thinking.
"What does Weng tell you?" I whispered, her face still very close to mine.
Parenoowe 's oldest, married son, Weng, has carried the family through this
time. He has been a Bible teacher and helped teach through the Bible to
other villages, and has a very evident love for the Lord and His Word."Yes,
this is what Weng tells me," she quietly answered.

Even while they were still searching for little Joonoomeng's
body, our family had hiked over to their village to see what we could do,
and be there with them as they waited for news. In the past, we would have been
needed at the forefront, reassuring and reminding everyone of God's love for
His children. Instead, when what we found were other brothers and sisters in
Christ ministering to the family, and to Joonoomeng's mother in particular.
And when Weng's faith was brought to the test, his little sister missing and
feared dead, his faith was steady and shone through brightly.”

Hope this is as encouraging for you as it was for us when we received it!

Geoff and Shannon Husa

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Just posted - Vestiges of Mibu

2009-10-16T02:29:00.001+10:00

We just posted a photojournal we've been working on over this last year. It's called "Vestiges of Mibu" and is available to look at and purchase at www.blurb.com. Check it out!

If you're interested in purchasing, please know that ALL the profit for the book ($10 per copy) goes toward funding the printing of portions of the Bible that have been translated so far into one single book. You can help get God's word into a more useful format and into the hands of the Mibu people.

It's a book release, and you're invited -- check out my new book at Blurb:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/602546/25ac53accc9ab1ba5235c0ea30989d71

Thank you,
geoff_husa@ntm.org

Back home safely

2009-10-08T04:34:00.001+10:00

Hello all,

Just a quick update to let you know that we all made it back to Arizona safely last Thursday evening without any further mishaps in our itinerary. We were so tremendously blessed by a house stocked with food and many of the little things that we needed for our daughters having already been taken care of. I think our church loves us J Thank you so much to all who contributed to that!

We’re super excited about the year that lays ahead here back in AZ and can’t wait to see you. We’re getting caught up in our sleep and getting over jet-lag here still. We’ve got Skyler enrolled in preschool classes, which she started today, and already have Geoff scheduled for some Lasik surgery this Friday morning to fix his eyes!

Sorry for the long delay in getting this initial update out, but we were having problems sending emails until just last night!

Looking forward to seeing you soon! Give us a call.

Geoff and Shannon and the girls

Geoff’s cell: (602)618-9356

Shannon’s cell: (602)618-9370

Our travels so far

2009-09-30T16:47:00.001+10:00

They don’t call PNG “the land of the unexpected” for nothing. We arrived at the airport in Madang around 6am and checked in and waited for about 1 hour before they told us that lightning had hit the runway and cracked it and we wouldn’t be leaving that morning. They told us to come back at 1pm so we headed back to our NTM center where everyone was confused to see us J We realized that this setback was going to have us missing our international flight the next day in Australia so Geoff made lots of phone calls to work things out. Several hours later and a whopping additional $3400 poorer, we had all our connections changed, bringing this one way ticket home to an unheard of grand total of $7900 (our family can usually fly round trip for that much)! Geoff then called the airline again around 11:30 to see if our flight was going to be finally leaving Madang and they said to come on down around 1pm. We arrived only to find out it wasn’t going to happen but they assured us that they could get us on a flight in the morning and would put us up at the hotel for the night including meals. So we accepted that offer and headed to the hotel. We ate lunch and put the girls down for their naps and enjoyed the air conditioning for about 2 hours, actually dozing off a bit ourselves, when the airline called and said the flight was going to be leaving after all and we needed to get down there right away. They said that they were holding the plane for us! We had already cancelled our hotel in Port Moresby so we asked if we could still just leave in the morning per the second original plan. The lady checked with her boss and said they really wanted us to be on the afternoon flight and that they would pay for our hotel in POM. So we woke the girls up and raced back to the airport. This time we actually made it on our flight but we were rerouted to Wewak (another city in PNG) which we didn’t actually know until we were descending. As we flew over Skyler said “we should call the water God because it’s everywhere!!” Too cute. So after a short sit on the plane in Wewak we were finally on our way to POM and then arrived around 7pm. One of NTM’s government reps met us at the airport with our passports and helped us figure out the hotel situation. It took almost 1 hour to sort it out but they put us up at a hotel with meals included. All of the nicer hotels were totally booked so we weren’t sure what to expect. On arriving at the hotel we were shown to a room about 7 feet x 12 feet with one single bed. The security guard quickly realized that was not going to work for us and arranged for us to have a larger room (here, the security guards help out with some of the work in the places they protect… so at the hotels they’ll often help with luggage and stuff and at stores they’ll actually help you find things you’re looking for) So anyway they moved us across the hall to a room with a double bed and a single bed which was much bigger. This hotel was a much bigger step down than what we’re used to… A MUCH bigger step J We were happy to have a place to sleep though and were able to sleep okay and were off to the airport early in the morning. We made our flight to Brisbane, Australia without any further delays and the girls were really well behaved on the flight. Maddie slept almost the entire way and Skyler just loved everything about the plane. So we are now in Brisbane where we will be until tomorrow morning (Thursday our time) and enjoying comfortable beds and fast food again J The plan now is that we will arrive in Phoenix around 7pm on Thursday so we hope to see some of you then and the rest of you not long after. Please pray that the rest of our flights go smoother than the first, for more good behavior from the girls and a safe arrival in Phoenix in 2 days.

Thank you all for your prayers for us!

The Husas

Historical moment... a milestone!

2009-09-13T17:17:00.000+10:00

Today history was made during the believers’ meeting in Mibu!

There is a young believing man here who has repeatedly, over the last couple years, been involved in activities that have needed discipline and admonition of his fellow brothers and sisters. More recently his involvement in these activities has only continued and so it was determined that some heavier disciplinary action needed to be taken. What is the church to do with such a man?

So a couple weeks back, Joey and I met with a few of our leaders in training about this and we asked the question, “What does the scripture say about this kind of issue?” With the church here not having been taught on it in the past, I entered this meeting thinking that it was going to be quite the task to work through some key passages on church discipline in order to help them see the need for and get behind some action regarding this man. We talked about Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5 and a few other key passages. Then on their own, they were able to come up with some other wonderful passages regarding the need for discipline and what a correct response to discipline should be. Without much help from me or Joey these men were able to come up with a plan of discipline based on what the scripture says!

So today, after Joey was done with the lesson, we addressed the whole church about the need to deal with this young man’s ways. With him present, I stood up and merely introduced the subject matter at hand and then quickly turned it over to Sesi and Keteng, the two men who were going to officiate the action. What these two men did was truly beautiful! They explained wonderfully from scripture why this unprecedented thing was happening. Then they proceeded to explain why this young man was the subject of admonition and then give a stern but loving warning to him regarding his ways. Even such a warning as to say that if he persists that the church will have to ex-communicate him as a final step to try to get his attention… right from Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. Such a stern warning, yet they managed to do all this while also communicating that they genuinely care for his well being and are doing this for his good. It wasn’t done in anger, but in a very loving manner. Afterward a number of people stood up and affirmed that this is for his good and that we all care for him and that this kind of action by the church toward him is good based on what they just heard. Afterward a prayer was said for him and the young man stood up and indicated his agreement with what we just did by shaking our hands and thanking us.

Now time will tell whether or not this disciplinary action by the church got this man’s attention. But for right now, today, what blew us away was that these two men were convinced enough by God’s word to do something that was totally unprecedented in their culture, even going against the grain of some very deeply rooted traditions. What I mean is that here, in situations like this, saving face is usually the name of the game. Not only by the one who needs to save face, but oddly enough, one’s peers often make lots of room for the saving of face. But that didn’t happen today. The action taken was done with the authority of God’s word and was decisive. But while being stern, it was done in a loving and gentle manner. Today the genuine care communicated by his peers was enough to overcome shame… and hopefully lead him to react not by running from it, but by humble repentance.

What excites us about seeing what we saw today, is that as we prepare to someday be absent from the people here, we strive to equip them to take on the responsibility of shepherding the church themselves. One major tenet of being able to shepherd is the ability to discipline with the mind of maintaining the purity of the church. What we saw today was evidence that they are definitely heading down that road of readiness! This one is usually a very difficult one to equip them for because the pull of the traditional way of doing things is SOOOO strong. But they did it today… and not just kind of. I mean they really did it all out. And not because the whiteskin said so, but because God’s word tells us that it is necessary!

So that’s what I mean when I say that history was made in the believers’ meeting today. It was such a great, imitatable example and we have high hopes for the impact it may have on the future of discipline and correction in the church of Mibu!

Praise God! And in the meantime, let’s not forget to keep the young man in our prayers, that his attention was got, and that today’s example was a real eye opener as to just how serious God takes the holiness of his people.

...a long time coming

2009-08-13T14:19:00.000+10:00

Well, it’s been a while… again… since our last update. We’re so bad about that recently.

As we’re getting closer and closer to our scheduled return home on September 29^th, it takes extra effort to keep our minds on things here in Mibu! We’re really excited about our first proper furlough coming up here; a time where we hope to not only ‘catch up’ with our beloved friends and family, but also to have the time to grow more in those relationships!

The recent child training lessons all went really well. We’re excited to see signs of people who are starting to perceive their parenting task from a biblical perspective. If there is one single thing that we hope rang out above all the rest of the teaching, it is that the parents are the God placed authority over their children. It’s been the other way around here for so long that that one truth really comes as a shocker to most; A real eye opener there. We drove that point home again and again.

It’s been so awesome to watch one of my close friends here, with whom I probably spend the most time as he’s my main translation helper. He’s had a preview of much of this stuff as he spends the most time with me and my family and as we’ve developed the lessons over this last year, I’ve had much discussion with him. At this point there is a clear and marked difference in his house as he has strived to incorporate what God’s word says into his role as parent to his 2 children. It’s encouraging to see him taking the time and gently directing and disciplining his children and showing a genuine care for them as creatures made in God’s image. His household will clearly be an example to the many others who have heard the talk and are now just starting down that road.

There are two more lessons left at this point. It will be a couple weeks before they’re ready. One will be Shannon addressing mainly the ladies concerning the young newborns. Then I have one more final lesson that I’ll be putting together here to wrap things up for this round.

In the meanwhile, Joey has begun to take them through the book of Romans… but this time with real scripture in the mother tongue! It’s very satisfying to see God’s word being used and adored by the people in their own language.

Translation check

2009-06-25T06:59:00.000+10:00

Sorry, this update is long overdue. I actually tried writing it immediately after our translation check (a few WEEKS ago!), but when I went to write, I just didn’t like what I was producing. Picky picky picky.

So we finished our translation check of the latter part of Acts and then Romans 1-5. The check went good overall and there were a few parts here and there I need to check out and maybe fix up a bit before I can say it’s all done for those sections. Overall I’m encouraged with how it went.

I always look forward to and enjoy the opportunity to get feedback and essentially have my training in translation furthered by one of our consultants. This time was no different and I only feel all the more equipped to continue on in the task.

One thing that you can be in prayer about over the next few months before we return home to Arizona for our furlough, is regarding the seeming constant interruptions that we’ve been experiencing here. Our computers have been a constant problem (we just recently had to make a decision to buy 2 new ones… ouch!). Even the new computers have been problematic for us. And my translation helper has had many legitimate things pulling him away for longer periods of time. The list just seems to keep stacking up and has gotten to the point at times where it just makes our desire to see this task continue seem so futile. That’s my struggle at the moment. However, we remain encouraged and our ultimate satisfaction and joy in pursuing this task is found only in knowing that God is not losing control of anything and in fact intends these things for a purpose. But if you could be in prayer for these next few months, knowing that things just aren’t going as planned (that is, not how WE planned) and that there are many other things that vie for our time, we would appreciate it.

Yoonare

2009-05-13T18:41:00.000+10:00

This afternoon (Wednesday) a VERY large group of people (probably 50+) made it back up to Mibu with Yoonare's body after what is usually a two day hike up from the coastal town of Saidor. With all that help, they were able to do the whole thing in about 24 hours. It was such an encouragement to see just how many people had gone down to help carry the body up like that. All that help was very encouraging for Keteng and the kids. It must have made that long haul back up the mountain so much easier for them.

They'll plan on burying the body tomorrow sometime after everyone has had a chance to see her and mourn for her.

In this whole thing the Mibu people have really seen Jesus' body, made up of his believers, in action. There was so much happening on so many fronts. Keteng was being graciously helped out in town by our supply buyer. He even, with the help of another friend of ours in town, fashioned up a coffin to transport the body in. The coffins in town are prohibitively expensive and so this really helped lessen the burden on Keteng. A friend of Keteng's was willing to lower the price of transportation on his speed boat to Saidor and then nearly the whole of his circle of friends here in Mibu went down to help him. Some other fellow brothers-in-Christ, from distant places, whom Keteng has befriended in the past, even managed to get some notes of condolence and encouragement through us to Keteng. There were so many other little details, but in the end, it left Keteng feeling encouraged about everything and giving honor to God throughout the whole thing. Just seeing how all these believers worked together to help him in his time of need has really blown him away.

Keteng's testimony through all this has been wonderful. His trust and faith in God's purposes has really shone throughout. We would appreciate your continued prayers for him as he and his family begin their journey without their beloved wife and mother.

Update on Yoonare

2009-05-08T17:19:00.000+10:00

It is with mixed feelings that we send this e-mail. We got word that this morning, Friday for us and Thursday for those of you in the States, that Yoonare passed away. We rejoice that she is no longer suffering and that she knew Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and is in heaven right now basking in His Glory. However, we are very saddened that we will no longer see our friend and that Keteng is now without his wife and their kids are without their mother.

Here's a little bit that our co-workers wrote about Yoonare in their recent update...

"She and Keteng have been actively involved with the church planting ministry from day one of our arrival in Mibu. Both of them were vital in helping our team learn the Mibu language, and helping to understand their culture. They often went out of their way to help with various projects, and were very patient and gracious with us in our learning progress. When it came time to present the gospel, they both paid attention with rapt interest. They both fell in love with God, and later, His Son, Jesus Christ. They were among the first to make professions of faith, and actively retaught the lessons they had learned in their home to their children. They were both quick to internalize the gospel, and let it change the way they saw the world around them. They were a great team together in a culture where affection and true camaraderie with your spouse is not always present."

We would also add that she had an outstanding sensitivity to God's Spirit in her life. She was always helping people and her community and seemed to do so out of her joy for what Jesus did for her. She had a quiet and gentle demeanor about her and we're going to miss that so much. (She's the one holding the baby in the picture, by the way)

Thanks to those of you who have been praying for this family. Would you please continue to pray that the community here would be able to come up with the funds and means to transport her body back into Mibu to be buried as soon as possible and pray for the adjustment this is going to be for Keteng and the rest of their family. They have 9 children, 3 who are married, 1 who is away at school and 5 more at home. They also have 2 grandchildren.

Keteng and the two kids that traveled to town with him are being well taken care of. Our regional leader has been looking in on them regularly and bringing food and things for the kids to do. They are arranging for them to stay with a family that they know in town until they are able to come back to Mibu. We are hoping they can begin the journey back by Monday our time.

update on Yoonare

2009-05-06T06:27:00.000+10:00

Just wanted to give a quick update on our friend Yoonare.

Yesterday when Yoonare got to the hospital in town they immediately got her hooked up to an IV because she was very dehydrated. The doctor's initial examination determined that both her spleen and liver are enlarged and that yes, she has an obstructed gut. He is also suspecting cancer. That one really surprised us. They did not want to go ahead with any surgery to remove the obstruction because of her weakened condition. They took some blood and x-rays and are still waiting for the results of those. They aren't saying anything about the possibility of cancer to either Yoonare or Keteng until they have the results, which we are eagerly praying that they come back negative. She is in a great deal of pain and they have moved her to another ward where the nurses can keep a better eye on her. Meanwhile Keteng is looking after Yoonare and both of their young children who went out with them and is having a hard time with that. They are asking that we send their older daughter and one of her uncles out to get the kids so hopefully tomorrow they will be able to do that. It will be a two day hike for them as well as a big expense so you can be praying for that as well.

Thank you all for your prayers for this family, they are really appreciated. We will keep you all updated as we learn more.

Love,

the Husas

Child training postponed - medical emergency

2009-05-05T06:11:00.000+10:00

We ended up postponing the first installment of the child training until next week. One of our friends showed up on our doorstep Saturday morning to inform us of his wife's worsening condition, and when all was said and done our best guess was that she had a very serious condition (obstructed gut, for any of you in the medical field out there) and needed emergency help. That kind of took over the whole weekend, including Sunday morning.

I went down to Mibu early that morning and was so blessed to see the community having come together the way they did to support and encourage this family. A large number of people was needed to help carry this woman on a stretcher a very full day's hike up steep mountain trails to the nearest airstrip, where we were hoping to be able to have arranged a flight for her the next morning. It only took about a day to organize the community effort and when I went down there the morning of their departure I truly was blown away by all the people who were helping! I happened to catch out of the corner of my eye, a number of people giving small amounts of cash to the family so that they could buy food in town (at the hospitals here, you need to provide your own meals if you can). A number of people quickly put together a stretcher. Many women were there to try to provide comfort for their friend and relative. The whole thing was just a very touching scene and I consider myself blessed to have witnessed it.

These are great opportunities for people to come to understand the specific work and experience of God's Spirit in their lives. I was glad to be able to talk with some of the people who were helping and point out and praise their sensitivity to the Spirit's movement in them. It was so great to see this community of believers come together with such genuine concern and desire to help!

Then as of yesterday morning (monday), our friend and her husband and the smallest 2 of their 9 children are safely in Madang town where the hospital staff can hopefully quickly discern the cause of her condition and help resolve the issue. We are very thankful that though it was the weekend and with nobody at work, with the help of some of our friends and co-workers in town, a flight was just able to get arranged! Then once the plane arrived in Madang these friends of ours took the time out of their days to go pick the family up at the airport, take them to the hospital and offer any help and assistance they might need. A HUGE help, as the whole hospital experience is very foreign and probably adding a lot of stress to an already stressful situation. What a blessing though!

For those who would like to pray for her, our sick friend's name is Yoonare.

Titirapok outreach update

2009-05-03T16:55:00.000+10:00

Earlier this week, after our weekly meeting with the teachers here, a group of men involved in bringing God's word to the village of Titirapok came and shared a report with all of us regarding the teaching there. After a long haul, with some interruptions here and there they have just finished the initial presentation of the Good News of Jesus and were excited to come and share that there are over 55 new brothers and sisters in Christ there as a result! There are still a few that they've not had a chance to talk with yet to see where they're at with things. So there likely could be a few more here and there. It's just so awesome to see how God has been working in people's lives to see his message spread!

We want to thank God for his providing faithful workers thus far. As you may or may not know, as God's word continues to spread through the mountains here there are the added challenges of continuing teaching and discipleship that must be handled wisely. Those who are going, need ongoing accountability and discipleship. They need to be fed and gain strength to then go and serve. They need to continue their own personal growth as well as taking this message of light to areas that have not yet heard. Sometimes the current 'system' that is in place to support these efforts is shaken and current methods must be revised. It's a scary thing sometimes to realize what little pieces of the puzzle can so drastically effect the big picture. We would appreciate your continued prayers specifically for effective ways to continue the teaching, training and long term encouragement of these people working to see the message of God's kingdom go beyond their home areas.

Child training teaching to begin in Mibu

2009-05-02T05:53:00.000+10:00

This Sunday (May 3rd - May 2nd for those of you back home) we'll be teaching our first installment of lessons for child training. This is an important time of topical teaching here in Mibu, that we hope will give them some of the key foundations for understanding how to lead their families and children in a way that honors God. God has really impressed it on our hearts to take the Mibu people through some basic training on these matters and we've been working on the lessons for it for about a year now. Don't be impressed yet! The reason we've taken so long to get the lessons ready (and there's still more to work on yet) is just because of time constraints. Lately we've picked up the pace a bit as the time draws near to get started and we've got about 5 lessons near a state of completion. And even though we're trying to keep this round to just foundational principles it's looking like we're going to have a hard time keeping it under 10 lessons! There's still a lot to do and so we'd ask for your prayers regarding this. We hope to find enough little bits of time here and there (outside of our many other responsibilities; translation being the biggest one) to be able to finish these lessons.

This first Sunday will be mainly warming up their minds to thinking about their parenting. Lots of questions will be asked in hopes of eliciting discussion from people about what they currently think about the job of parenting. They'll also be encouraged about how much God's word actually does teach us about parenting. Then next week we'll begin the process of moving through the various points in scripture that teach us something about our roles as parents.

Please be in prayer for these lessons. Like I said before, we're starting them out with very basic, foundational principles. A lot of the material is very different from how they currently perceive their roles as parents and so obviously we hope that we can present them in ways that are easily understood and applicable in their cultural context.

We would also appreciate your prayers regarding our time spent on the lessons. Shannon and I have been working together to develop these. Usually we have short little bits of time here and there to work on them, either together or separately. The difficulty is getting 'into the groove' enough to actually accomplish something during these short times. An hour here and there is usually just enough time to remember where you left off and add a little bit of thought... not much. I've thought about giving a whole day to it here and there, but I never seem to be able to find a whole day to take away from translation! So you see the difficulty. So we would ask for clarity of mind and wisdom as we invest our time into these lessons and try to get them all done to a high standard.

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Update on: Crossing the line

2009-04-06T17:34:00.000+10:00

Many of you have been praying for the situation where the gentleman had gotten angry at me and at the church here in Mibu and had decided to step out. Well here's an encouraging update.

A little while after our update about this man, he met with some of the developing leaders in the church here and actually confessed that he was wrong for the things he said and did! He explained that his words were driven by anger and that he was wrong for saying what he said and doing what he did. He went on to explain that he definitely does see that what we believe as a church here is in accordance with God's word and that he really doesn't have any desire to go back to the old system. Regarding his having said that he wanted out, that too was just said out of anger and a desire to save face because he was embarassed by his actions. He actually said this stuff! And further, he said these things in front of a small group of others who have been kind of following his direction! Not surprising that the Holy Spirit has been prompting this gentleman, but unexpected because I took his words seriously back then.

Because I'm rather skeptical of situations like this I decided to wait a bit before writing, just to see if this guy's actions reflect genuineness. So after a few weeks here it seems that he has indeed been repentant of his actions. Something we're all very glad for.

So what happened back there anyway? Though I'm not certain, I suspect that God is using this as a point of growth for him in his Christian life. Where in the past he has just been in a state of coasting, I think that after those events he's one step closer to understanding the true value of what Jesus did for him and it's implications for him as a member of his body. I suspect God allowed him to do this so that he would be challenged about where he really stands and what he really values. Maybe in God's divine plan for this man's life this sequence of events was needed at a time when he was at a crux in a particular battle of unbelief; a battle that he would have to experience in order to be brought to further realizations of the treasuredness of Christ over mere trinket hopes of the past. At least that's what I like to think God has been doing in this man's life. His demeanor in the past few weeks, since his apology, has allowed me to feel fairly confident that he does indeed remain desirous of God and is now aware of his sense of being left exposed to the cold when withdrawing himself from the warmth of God's love manifest in his church.

So let's praise the Lord for his confirming work in this man's life and continue our prayers for his future growth and maturity. Thank you all for your prayers so far!

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Out of his shell

2009-03-08T07:43:00.000+10:00

I have a friend here who, until recently, I'd pretty much written off as, 'just not gettin' it'. He's always held himself aloof, seeming actually to be really nervous and skittish not just around us, but the rest of the community here as well. Always mystified by his demeanor, I was never really understanding what was causing him to be like that. He's actually one of the more educated men here and his mind is very capable and he seems to know what he's doing so I couldn't quite chalk it up to being deranged or anything like that. But something has been holding this guy down.

As I got to know him more and more I began to suspect that his 'impairment' may be the effects of extreme guilt. Maybe the rumors I've heard about his having murdered his own mother are true. People in the community have not shown much respect for him in the past and some of the women have even expressed fear of him. He's not a scary man at all; extremely gentle and respectful, sensitive to others. I'm not sure what things of his past have such a hold on him, but I'm all the more certain that the weight of his guilt is so powerful that it disables him in many forms of social interaction. Even just talking with him and understanding him has been very difficult because even his speech is oppressed. He's almost afraid to talk and often trails off into faint whisperings that I just can't follow. There is one thing I've managed to hear as a general theme in his mostly undiscernable language, and that is his feelings of guilt. He has said over and over again, "I'm such a bad person. I've done so many bad things."

Recently (several months back, that is) he began asking me if he could get some copies of the lessons that we print. Remembering that years ago his interest in the teaching seemed minimal, I was happy to hear of his desire and gave him all the lesson books we have so far. Over time, he would come around about once a week to ask some questions about the lessons. It was clear to me that he is definitely understanding where the lessons are going; not something I necessarily doubted as he's shown evidence of being able to read even English pretty well. Another thing began to be clear as I listened to his questions; This man seems to be deeply sensitive to God's word. He's hungry!

Even more recently, I'm convinced and overjoyed to realize that this gentleman definitely has come to know the Lord as his savior. While he still struggles with guilt, when put in the press he holds on to Jesus' work on the cross. It was during one such 'pressing'; a time when, contrary to what one might expect, I FED his guilt, assuring him that at some time there definitely would be judgment for his many iniquities that he had been sharing with me, that he stopped me and very clearly pointed out Jesus' death on the cross as having taken place to take his punishment for him. "What about that?" he asked. "Is that not enough?" Well, after seeing him reach out for Jesus like that, I left my role as devil's advocate and assured him that yes, what he said about Jesus is most certainly true.

The weight lifted from this broken man's shoulders was so great that he couldn't contain his tears. His body shook with the emotion and he covered his face with his hands and cried. The tears and expressed emotion were unlike anything I've ever seen in anyone here. This man was freed and he knew it!

Since then, I've watched him seemingly emerge from a shell. He's still a little bit skittish out of habit, but even his speech has begun to change some. His demeanor now, stands in growing contrast to that of the past; one of oppression so deep that even his speech was effected. While in the past his guilt was as a mountain on his shoulders, now that mountain has moved off toward the horizon and is merely a shaded visage of where he once was.

The transformation is happening. While he still struggles with many things and is by no means instantly perfected, he's on the road to that glorious perfection and I'm excited as I wonder what 5 years down the road holds for this man? 10 years? What does the Lord have in store for him? He has been coming around a lot more and we've been working on helping him to understand the importance of being with other believers for encouragement and continued growth. He's even expressed interest, without any urging from me, to get started training so that he can take this message to others.

I'm sure that he would appreciate your prayers as he continues to grow in God's grace in which he now stands.

Crossing the line

2009-02-15T17:02:00.000+10:00

(Something appears to have gone wrong with the first attempt. This is a resend. Sorry if you've already gotten it!)

Sometimes we find ourselves sitting on a fine line between the need to be sensitive to culture and maintaining the integrity of God's revealed desire for us as a church. Sometimes the cultural norms kind of get in the way of God's word and I would even go as far as to say are sinful, going against what God's desire is for his people.

Here in Mibu culture, you don't dare step on someone's toes and indicate to them that you think something is wrong with their actions or worse, their heart. Even if done gently and lovingly, you run a high risk of the recipient of your exhortations 'rightfully' getting angry and even charging you a large amount of money to settle the issue. But a few years back, when the gospel was first presented, God's word did that very thing. It pointed to every single person and revealed to them that God himself thinks they are sinners and that there's nothing they themselves can do to take themselves out of that horrible condition. Many people responded in a way that gave the type of weight and honor that is due to such a revelation from our Creator. Many also moved on to hear and believe the provided way by which they could be restored in their relationship to God; an alien righteousness.

One of my friends here, whose way of life has never really seemed to steer any closer to accordance with that truth, recently became angry with me because I've repeatedly turned down his frequent requests for material help; something we're VERY cautious with here because of the expectations that giving handouts creates. He wasn't just a little bit angry or bothered by it. He actually was making a big deal about it and slandering the church and the work that God's Spirit is doing here. I've questioned for quite some time whether this guy had ever really understood the fact that he is a sinner whose only hope was something totally outside of himself. His recent actions and the things he was saying confirmed quite firmly my previous suspicions and so it was time to express my concerns to him, now that I had some concrete outworkings of his heart that I could refer to. I talked to some of our teachers who were also seeing the same things and we decided that we needed to meet together with him.

In that meeting I shared with him where Jesus says, in Luke, essentially that our actions are resultant from what is really in our heart, so that our actions are kind of a window, though blurry, into our hearts. I told him that based on his actions, I wonder if he might be in danger of turning out like the many examples in scripture where people turned away from God because of their desire for the easy life and the acquisition and maintenance of material wealth. His response was very angry, and much more of his heart in matters poured forth into the open.

He left in a rage, threatening to come back with his axe and chop our house down and bring all kinds of heavies upon us. He also said that only a large amount of money being paid to him would fix this situation and restore peace between us. Soon after, he sent a middleman (another interesting cultural story for another time) to inform us of what he's upset about and to work out the details of restoring peace with him; something we were desperately interested in, but not in a way that would be communicating to others that our having approached this man about his blatant wrongdoings was improper. We were able to stand strong on this point because we've seen the power of God's word to convict here. There are many who have responded to similar exhortations in exactly the opposite way and have continued to be faithful to what God's word has revealed to them. It's not impossible to work around this cultural hurdle!

Just a warning; this story doesn't resolve itself in a way that most would probably hope.

Long story short; this man, for some reason, changed his mind about demanding money for peace and we were able to restore the peace and maintain a civil relationship (signified by a handshake with the mediators and sometimes others present). This man expressed that he was basically intending to stay on the course he's on and that he is now officially reverting back to the old system (under which he was the recipient of material benefit). I fought the urge there to remind him of the infinitely more precious provision that Jesus provides, but was reminded that he's shown himself to be of such state right now that such words would only fall on deaf ears. So I remained silent and only nodded in agreement with him, that this was indeed probably the best move for him at the time.

While it's sad that this man has heard and chosen something other than what God offers, it's not unseen in history. Not a surprise to see it happen. In fact we're desirous of keeping the integrity of Jesus's precious bride, the church. Fakers like this gentleman are said in the bible to be as wolves among a flock of sheep; dissentious and leading people away from the truth. Very dangerous, and we're given every indication that their presence and participation within the church congregation is extremely undesired. It's not until they have the Holy Spirit within them and are recipients of God's promises that they receive any benefit from, or themselves become a benefit to the other members of Christ's body. So in that regard this thing happening was positive. Even more so because we seem to maintain a peaceful standing with him for the time being. We certainly hope that over time and the influence of the church here this man will eventually see what is infinitely more precious.

Crossing the line

2009-02-15T12:12:00.000+10:00

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creates. He wasn't just a little bit angry or bothered by it. He =
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shared with him where Jesus says, in Luke, essentially that our actions =
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a window, though blurry, into our hearts. I told him that based on =
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threatening to come back with his axe and chop our house down =
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bring all kinds of heavies upon us. He also said that only a large =
amount of=20
money being paid to him would fix this situation and restore peace =
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us. Soon after, he sent a middleman (another interesting cultural =
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another time) to inform us of what he's upset about and to work out the =
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of restoring peace with him; something we were desperately interested =
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approached=20
this man about his blatant wrongdoings was improper. We were able to =
stand=20
strong on this point because we've seen the power of God's word to =
convict here.=20
There are many who have responded to similar exhortations in exactly the =

opposite way and have continued to be faithful to what God's word has =
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<DIV><SPAN class=3D051374920-13022009><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Just a =
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this man, for some reason, changed his mind about demanding money for =
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we were able to restore the peace and maintain a civil relationship =

(signified by a handshake with the mediators and sometimes others =
present). This=20
man expressed that he was basically intending to stay on the course he's =
on and=20
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that=20
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only fall=20
on deaf ears. So I remained silent and only nodded in agreement with =
him, that=20
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time.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN class=3D051374920-13022009><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>While =
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this man has heard and chosen something other than what God offers, it's =
not=20
unseen in history. Not a surprise to see it happen. In fact we're =
desirous of=20
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gentleman are said in the bible to be as wolves among a flock of sheep;=20
dissentious and leading people away from the truth. Very dangerous, and =
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given every indication that their presence and participation within the =
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benefit=20
from, or themselves become a benefit to the other members of Christ's =
body. So=20
in that regard this thing happening was positive. Even more so because =
we seem=20
to maintain a peaceful standing with him for the time being. We =
certainly hope=20
that over time and the influence of the church here this man will =
eventually see=20
what is infinitely =
more precious.</FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>

A medical checkup

2009-01-13T14:42:00.001+10:00

Recently the whole family was flown out to Lapilo so that I, Geoff, could get something checked out that had us concerned. It was an unplanned, last minute thing that was decided on after talking to the doctor via email and seeing things worsen over a period of a few days. Due to the nature of the issues (worsening chest pain) and the fact that it was getting quite severe the doctor recommended we come out to rule out the worst and see what's ailing me.

The first thing we did was have my heart monitored and then get chest xrays. After having ruled out such things as heart problems or a possible collapsed lung, the symptoms seem to point most to either pleurisy (inflamed lining of lungs) or pericarditis (inflamed lining of heart). Most of the symptoms lined up with the latter. Both are not so serious, but otherwise painful conditions. And blood work seems to be pointing to a viral infection as the possible cause.

So while we were quite concerned there for a little bit, it's good to know that this will likely just pass with time and that the inflamation can be managed in the meantime. Currently I'm feeling much better. We'll see how things go over the next couple days. It seems like things are pretty much under control though.

We would have notified those who hold us up in prayer earlier, but it was all quite sudden and so we're only able to tell you about it after the fact.

We were blessed to find that even though all the guest housing in Lapilo is full at the moment some friends of ours opened up their home for us to stay while we're out.

We really saw the Lord provide in a lot of ways with this. Within a couple hours of deciding we have a medical situation, and even though the NTM helicopter was unavailable and in another faraway region, we had the SIL helicopter landing in Mibu to pick us up! Not only that, but in late afternoon! For those of you who don't know, pilots just don't plan on trying to get anywhere near us in the afternoon because our weather is so bad. But even though we'd been rained on for the previous 2 days straight, things cleared up the afternoon of our need and the helicopter was able to get right in. Then of course the graciousness of the friends willing to add another family to their house and host us during our stay here. We know the Lord provides in many amazing and often very personal ways and we've seen that here. So while unplanned flights like this can really take a big bite out of our finances (This round trip out of and back into Mibu will cost us a whopping $2500), we know that the Lord will provide there as he always has. We would appreciate your prayers in regard to that.

Currently we're OK'd to go back into Mibu as early as Thursday and so are beginning to make plans in that direction.

Thanks for the many who pray for us regularly!

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Leap of logic

2009-01-02T17:39:00.000+10:00

One thing that is posing a major learning curve for me right now in the translation task is how to effectively and faithfully connect the dots of Paul's logic in Romans. Many times the very nature of our more literal English translations have forced me to make leaps of logic between sections of the text. So while all the Greek words are there and rearranged to fit English grammar structure, some of the connections are largely ambiguous or even altogether absent. That being the case, I've often been forced to 'jump' from one section to the next, sometimes fairly certain of where the text is leading me and other times not so much. Thankfully, it turns out that with some education, lots and lots of commentaries, and often years of reading the same passage over and over again, those connections have become clearer. I often take that information for granted though and so the temptation for me is often to keep much of the form of the original text. When I do that though, almost invariably the translated text ceases to make any sense. It ceases to be a message, maybe becoming instead, merely a string of pearls made up of momentous sayings that may or may not bear meaning in relation to one another.

For example, as I'm translating the first chapter of Romans I realize that there's a rather large gap between 1.16-17 and what follows in 1.18. That Greek word 'gar', typically translated 'For...' in English says that there's some connection there, but what is it? Does it relate just the following sentence to the former or does it connect a much larger section? How does Paul move from talking about his not being ashamed of the gospel and the reason for that being that in it 'the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith' to talking about God's wrath? Does the connection and/or transition there go further than just that mention of God's wrath? If so, what is the connection and how do I make it clear without delving into the world of mere loose paraphrase? If I don't make that movement, or flow, of logic clear in the translation, or if I don't connect those two sections the way Paul intended them when first penned, then the reader will just finish with verse 17, hop over the foggy waters to verse 18 and beyond, and likely not have actually made the connection between the first and the second. Then as is very common, Paul may have appeared to just be throwing out random, disconnected thoughts that have something to do with God and man and his message to man... oh yeah, and he's angry too.

Then in other areas (like Romans 3.1-8) there are many things that Paul assumes his readers know. He knows what his Jewish readers are thinking. Paul knowing what they're thinking plays a huge part in determining the information that he leaves implicit; the things he doesn't make obvious. Even though that information is not explicitly stated, it's a very integral part of the message that Paul intended. And thus, it becomes very important information to consider and maybe even explicate when transmitting that message. In this case (Rom 3.1-8) the information that is an integral part of making any sense of Paul's argumentation is regarding the fact that the Jews had common conceptions regarding who they were as God's chosen people; specifically here, that they were the recipients of his promises of blessing. Paul knew what they were thinking about God's promises and also the act of circumcision. What Paul wrote assumes these things but does not explicitly state them. Because of who he knew his audience would be, he knew that he didn't have to explicitly state that information in order to get the point across. But these are things that the Mibu people (heck, even a lot of us) don't know without reading it in a commentary, or going to seminary, or otherwise being taught it. Yet, this was an inherent and integral part of Paul's message. Shouldn't it be clear then, in the text itself, when being transmitted into another language? So while I could very easily translate this into a fairly literal form for the Mibu people, it would come across as utter nonsense. It would be a bunch of questions that bear no connection to the rest of the text. The questions in this section probably wouldn't even come across as being supposed objections raised by the Jewish reader. If that's what happens when they read this then the meaning of the text is lost. I loathe the threat of how easy that would be to do.

It seems to me that when God's message gets obscured like that, it either gets left on the shelf, or the form of the text somehow escalates in value above that of the actual message that God is communicating. Maybe the wonderful good news even starts being perceived (as it has in the past and still is, even more than we'd like to admit) as a kind of 'holy' language meant to be understood only by those who are educated or otherwise dedicate significant time to studying it in order to understand it. That's not to say that diligent study of God's word doesn't have a place in our attempts to understand the depth and application of it's truth. But the message itself does have something to say and it was intended to be understood, even if elements about that message remain difficult and mysterious and in need of meditation and study.

So this means that the form of the Mibu translation ends up looking VERY different from that of the Greek and of our English translations. As great as they are if similar forms are used in our translation here it absolutely will not be understood. So that is one thing you can continue to be in prayer about as I study the meaning of the texts that I'm translating - that I would not follow the temptation to rush ahead before I'm convinced of what the intent of the author was for everything that he wrote. Only then, will I be able to communicate that intent faithfully into the language of the Mibu people. It's so easy to gloss over difficult connections and assume, "Awww, It'll make sense if they bother taking the time to think about it." But a long history filled with similar mistakes spread out over many different ministries shows that they won't get it. Those forms just don't fit in their language and the way that they process information.

I thank God that a good contingency of folks a whole lot smarter and capable than me have been able to glean from their mistakes and victories over the years to devise a process that allows us to move forward in translation, all the meanwhile being able to check and understand how the Mibu people are understanding the text. We learn and hone our skills in very practical ways as we go because of this process and I am very thankful for the many levels of checks that hold me accountable.

Corrected Merry Christmas

2008-12-23T16:39:00.000+10:00

Sorry about that last one. Apparently a word document won't send over this system. Here it is in jpg form.

The Husas

Merry Christmas

2008-12-22T06:09:00.000+10:00

Geoff's parents visit

2008-12-21T09:48:00.000+10:00

I guess we've been remiss in our writing lately. Sorry about that.

Things have been moving along as normal here, except we just had some special visitors in from the states; my (Geoff's) parents. We met them out in town on December 5th and then flew back into Mibu on the 8th. Then, sadly, they departed again just 2 days ago. We had a great time with them and celebrated my mom's birthday and then had an early Christmas celebration together. It was a wonderful time of building memories for the girls and catching up as a family. Having them here was very refreshing and it saddened us to feel the time go by so so quickly.

My parents both helped us out with a lot of projects around the house that have been neglected for so long. It was good to see some of that stuff done. I got to work with my dad making a much needed wardrobe to put the girls' clothes in, a project Shannon and I have talked about doing for a year now. He cut and installed a bunch of trim to finish that final touch on our house (yep, we started that project over 4 years ago!). My mom and Shannon re-painted the girls' room to be more befitting of the growing girlishness of it's two occupants. Our old, sun-faded drapes in over the windows in the family room were replaced with some newer fabric and done in a different style. And there were many other small projects that were done as well. Almost like coming home to a new house!

Over to the ministry side of things: Some of my earliest parts of Romans are ready for comprehension checking. That took forever, what with the difficulty of it and the many other things that vie for our time lately. I'm very anxious about testing this text, because I have so many uncertainties about it. I'm not sure if it's going to flop or fly. We'll see on Tuesday when I'm scheduled to check it out for the first time with Roifo.

The Titirapok outreach is still going strong. Apparently they're about half-way through the evangelism lessons right now and the reports are all still very good. I've been told that this week or next a bunch of people will be coming from there so I might finally get the chance to meet some of these people. Apparently, they, along with a bunch of people from other places are coming to Mibu for a week or so in order to welcome back someone from Mibu who has just graduated from college and is returning for a bit before going off into the world of professional work. So it could be a busy week as far as the social side of things here.

Thanks for your patience in waiting so long between updates!

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Sleepless in... Mibu

2008-11-09T16:39:00.000+10:00

We've finally come back into Mibu after more than a month being out in town. Actually, we've been back almost 2 weeks now. It's just that I'm only now getting around to writing an update after getting settled in!

We're back and into our routine. One thing that clues me in to the fact that I'm back into routine is that I frequently wake up at odd hours of the night and can't go back to sleep. I've come to realize more and more that it's just the burden of ministry that keeps me up. Not that I consider my ministry a burden, per se. But I wake up with thoughts about things going on with the church here or even more with translation issues I'm dealing with. Sometimes I'm bothered by something. Other times just excited about something and can't wait for morning. And then other times it's just mundane things that need thinking through. Once my brain gets going in the middle of the night, I'm done for. Anyway, I noticed when we were out in town I'd frequently be able to sleep through the night. Then when we come back in here the sleepless nights pick up again. Routine.

I'm very anxious to get started in Romans here soon. I have to finish up the last little bit in Acts first. That shouldn't take too long. After that I can really get started into Romans. I've spent some time here and there getting ready for it; reviewing some notes from our recent workshop and trying to think through my translation routine. One thing that has been weighing on me recently is a total feeling of inadequacy for what lies ahead. I feel like I really was able to get rolling with translation up to this point. Can you believe I've been doing it for more than a year and a half now? You'd like to think it's all downhill from here; that I'm beyond the hard part of the learning curve. Maybe I am, but I'm feeling like I'm not. After this workshop, whose purpose was to prepare us for translating epistles, I'm realizing that most of the method and the process that I had for narrative discourse were really only good for just that, narrative discourse. Now with the epistles I find that the way that I do things will have to change quite a bit if I'm going to be effective at translating the rest of the New Testament. In some regards I'm starting over again. Will I be able to find a routine that works again? I'm most certain I will, but at the moment I feel some level of inadequacy as I have before me the task of taking the various principles and trying to put them together in a way that I can make good progress in the translation task this next year. The workshop really helped with that. Now I just need to implement. Perhaps this has something to do with my early morning awakenings :)

Oddly enough, over the last few years I've found more and more comfort in feeling inadequate. I think that is where God uses us and teaches us the most. So I don't feel I'm in a panic. I'm ready to move forward, trying to take one faithful step at a time. But I am brought to this point again of realizing that if I am going to do this task that is before me that it's going to have to be in deepened dependance on God. I see that need afresh now as I stand before this huge mountain of a task. You can keep this in your prayers over the next few weeks and months (might as well keep em going for years) as I settle into this difficult genre.

Genuine fellowship

2008-10-25T12:21:00.000+10:00

One really awesome thing that I got to witness during this epistle translation workshop was actually experienced during our first night here.

I brought out two of my friends from Mibu, Sesi and Lucas, because I needed their help and there were also translation courses for them to attend as well. All the other missionaries brought their translation helpers as well, so all in all there were about 18 helpers attending the workshop from all over Papua New Guinea.

The first evening we were here, I went down to hang out with Sesi and Lucas and see how they were feeling about things. I got there and Sesi has this huge perma-smile going and starts telling me about how happy he is that all the other nationals at this workshop are believers. He explained how that within an hour or two of everyone being there they'd all shared how they came to know the Lord and even shared some songs that they typically sing in worship to God. I seem to recall him excitedly commenting something to the effect that we're all different but we're all the same. Later, we were all outside sitting around a little fire. The whole conversation was filled with joy and happiness as these guys talked about the different things that they're learning about God and how His truth has been affecting their lives. I listened to this continue on well into the evening, just soaking it in. It was so great to watch and listen to the fellowship of these men! I mean, here are these guys who are separated by many many miles, rivers, mountains, etc. They all speak different languages (yet share a common trade language). They've never met each other in the past and many of them have never even heard of the places that they all came from. Yet as soon as they find out that these total strangers share the commonality of Jesus, they're instant buddies. They took such joy in talking about and discovering how, though their cultures are so different the truth that they're learning to live by is the same. It was just so spontaneous and genuine and I really treasured that moment sitting there listening to and sensing the joy that Sesi and Lucas felt as they met these other brothers in the Lord! It deeply challenged me about the fellowship that I often take for granted in my own life!

Now these guys have shared nearly two weeks of their lives together and formed friendships that very likely will not be realized again except just in their hearts and memories. They all seemed to be so encouraged to see other believers out there; other people who have seen the preciousness of Jesus and who have realized their need for him. It served as yet another validation of God's power through this single gospel message they've heard as they see it lived out in the lives of others regardless of cross-cultural boundaries!

Translation progress

2008-10-20T23:43:00.000+10:00

There's quite a bit to update you all about regarding the last few weeks.

Just last week we had another check of my translation progress. This time it was the Acts portions that I've been working on for the last few months. I'm pleased to report that the check went really well! I think most of the credit has to go to my translation helpers who have been learning, right along with me, about translation principles. If it weren't for their love of the Lord and for what they've learned and for the time and effort that they sacrifice, I don't think the translated material that we put out would be at the level that it has been. And it only seems to be getting better! I'm so thankful for a team of translation helpers like the ones I have.

Currently I'm attending a two week translation workshop. It's called "Introduction to Epistles Workshop". In it we're being introduced to solid principles for exegeting, or studying the meaning of, tough books such as the epistles in the new testament. Being a learner of a foreign language ourselves, we've been challenged about our understanding of how people communicate. As is the case for all languages, the language that the new testament was written in undoubtedly has similar levels of complexity. So our job is to study to find out the intention of the author in the message that he penned and then to transfer that meaning accurately into the Mibu language.

We're learning how to look at the book as a whole and break it down into units of meaning and then to ask ourselves how each unit relates to the others. There are many ways that each language 'connects' these units. Actually, there isn't a single language that doesn't do that. But they all do it differently. How did the Greek language put emphasis on the major points of an argument? Then how does the Mibu language do the same? How does the Greek language organize the information that is required to communicate things? And how does it keep the main point the main point, rather than letting other important background information confuse the reader? Then once I figure that out, how does the Mibu language do the same? Understanding the answer to these and many other similar questions helps us be able to first, understand the message ourselves, and then, rearrange all that meaning into the Mibu language. If our study of the meaning was careful and thorough, and if the transfer of that meaning was faithful, then we should end up with a text that communicates the original meaning, without straying from historical accuracy, and venturing on the side of becoming something akin to loose paraphrase. All the bits of meaning should be there and there shouldn't have been added anything that wasn't found in the original communication.

Interestingly, very few of us know Greek! But thankfully there are a lot of very knowledgeable people out there who write books so that we can know what the Greek text is saying. There are also a number of really great translations out there that are based on very good exegesis of these scholars. So we end up with a lot of great information by which to study the texts ourselves and be all the more equipped to translate God's word into these languages.

I could talk about so much more here, but I'm already trying to be cautious not to bore you with too many details! The main point I want to communicate here is how excited I am about the translation process. I love it and so if any of you have any questions or are interested in more details, feel more than free to write, knowing that you're pushing my buttons!

Important update from the Husa's

2008-10-16T10:00:00.000+10:00

We're having to make some changes again here to our system for getting our email updates out again. Googlegroups just wasn't working.

Coming out to town after having been in the bush for the last three and a half months, we realized that as many as 75% of those who tried to sign on to continue to receive our emails on the new system have actually not been getting them! If you're one of them please accept our most humble apology. It must seem as if we've been completely slacking off on our communications. In fact, we have been writing regular updates. If you're one of those who missed them please know that you can catch up on all of them by going to http://mibu-ministry.blogspot.com/ We've also been including a lot more photos with our updates so you can get caught up on those too!

As well as changing how we are keeping you informed of the Mibu ministry, we also started a photo blog where we've been posting many more, not so ministry related photos as well. Family, friends, events, and general photographic opportunities; that's what we're posting there. Please feel free to check that out too! Go to http://husa-photo.blogspot.com/

Here's the lowdown with this new setup; you don't have to sign up for anything again. If you were getting our emails before, and our changeover a few months back got you bumped, you ought to be back on now. If you were getting our ministry updates before, you shouldn't notice any changes on your end.

If you want to change your subscription status, you can look at the bottom of any of our emails and follow the very simple instructions there. There is nothing complicated with it like there seemed to be with googlegroups.

Again, we're really sorry if you were not getting our ministry updates over the last few months. We're certain that this changeover will be so much easier and better for everyone.

Thanks for your understanding!

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Quick update

2008-09-23T23:27:00.000+10:00

We're looking forward to heading out to town tomorrow morning (Wed) for our regional conference in Madang. Once again, we'll be out for an extended period as I'll also be attending a translation workshop the last two weeks of October. And prior to the workshop I'll be having some portions of Acts that I've recently translated get checked by a translation consultant.

Some things to pray about:

For the logistics of 4 Mibu guys (Sesi, Lookas, Ekim, Kitanoo) getting from Mibu to Goroka to help with the translation check and the translation workshop. If for some reason they can't get out neither of these things can happen! The plan at the moment is to have them flown up to Goroka on the 9th of October.

For the translation check (October 10-13). That everyone doing the check is discerning and alert to potential problems with the translation so we can make sure that the very best possible translation has been made for the Mibu people.

For the translation workshop (October 14-27). This workshop is specifically to help me learn how to approach translation of the epistles, which are much more difficult than the material I've been translating up till now.

For my family during the workshop. I'll be attending the workshop by myself and so Shannon will have the girls on her own while staying at the guesthouse in Lapilo.

Other than that, not much else to write at the moment. But I thought I'd include a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure :)

Is this going anywhere?

2008-09-17T23:53:00.000+10:00

Sorry! If you get to the end of this email and are left wondering where I'm going with it, well you're probably understanding it correctly then. I've been sitting on this email for 6 days now. I wanted to share this little tidbit about an experience in my work last week, got it started, but blast it all, I couldn't think of what point I wanted to make! Some kind of missionary update writing block, I guess. So while the experience is kind of cool I couldn't make it come to a point. So after sitting on it for a while, I realized that if I don't get this sent out, it will likely be another 2 weeks before I get another update out! So here is a little bit of mostly, but not completely useless rambling for your reading pleasure. Hopefully the next one will be back on track somewhat. Feel free to comment on how to make my writing more worthwhile! By the way, what kinds of things do YOU want to hear about in this ministry? Feel free to ask us questions or let us know what you want to hear about and we'll try to get it covered, 'cause chances are, you're not the only one wondering!

This last week I was finishing up the last of my comprehension checks on some Acts portions I've been translating. Comprehension checks are where, after I've translated the passage I'll spend time with different individuals or groups and see how the text is comprehended and fine tune, or re-write the portions that need it. Being a culture that thrives on hearing and passing on information by mouth we know that if the text is good, they'll be able to tell back sometimes huge portions with most of the pertinent details.

We strive to have the translation easily understood by both the more educated and by those with less education. So at least one of my comprehension checks is done with someone who may be a little more removed from the type of thinking that school experience provides. There is a marked difference between how easily this type of person will comprehend a text versus someone who's a little more educated and trained to pay attention to details. That means that in my comprehension checks with the more simple minded it's a little tougher to iron out the details if something goes wrong. I just expect a touch more difficulty comprehending when working with such individuals. That was certainly the case this last week.

One thing that stuck out to me this week was how some portions of texts just really fly compared with others. I worked with a group of 2 guys during this particular check and there is an amazing transformation at times where, rather than struggling through the text with a lot of difficult concepts, they start telling it as if it's their own story. This was the case with the story of the Jewish exorcists in Acts 19. I read the whole story and when I signaled it was their turn to tell it back to me they just started going. Their faces lit up, their eyes sparkled with excitement as they sat up and really got into it. Bandying the story telling task between the 2 of them of them they cruised through the story without missing a beat and without hesitation. I love seeing that happen! They were so into it that they wanted to talk and laugh about it more; they thought the whole thing of the exorcists using Jesus' name like a magic word and getting their you know what's kicked was pretty funny! The thing is, they could relate to that story. Not so much with the exorcism thing, but with the magic words and even people thinking that Jesus' name is a special magic word and using it in conjunction with their parlor tricks and other social manipulations. They could relate to those things and so it really brings the story home to them. "We know people like that!" they were saying, referring to the many unbelievers on the outskirts of the Mibu language borders who they interact with almost daily.

One thing was for sure, after hearing them go through this story so clearly and easily, we've got a good text here. I'm realizing that while the other texts might be just as good, it's the ones that they can relate to specifically that really are easiest to understand. It's the texts that start getting into the harder concepts where we start to see the separation between the educated and the less educated. Start using terms relating to God's grace and mercy, and start insisting on differentiating between disciples, believers, and the church, or start differentiating between 'teaching the word of God' and 'teaching the kingdom of God' or any other terms that have some major overlap of meaning and the ones with less education start to show that they live in a world of extreme generalization as far as how they interpret the hearing of new information. How do I get the text to speak all those details to them? Since I see quite a number of others who do get the same details with no problem and that those that do are typically more educated, I'm convinced it is a matter of mental discipline and so I become less inclined to try any further to change the text. I think that as their interest in the things of God continues to grow and so therefore their desire to learn of him, so will their ability to learn how to read or listen more meaningfully. Is that really the solution though? Or am I just being naive? Hmmm.

Hey, by the way, in case you've forgotten, we post a lot more photos on another blogsite. There are more family photos there as well as photos that are not so much ministry related, but still fun. Check out http://husa-photo.blogspot.com/

Is this going anywhere?

2008-09-16T23:52:00.000+10:00

Devit

2008-09-08T00:13:00.000+10:00

Meet Devit. He's been leading the outreach in Yongem for quite a while now and seems to be doing a great job. Very faithful guy who seems to be doing a great job over there. Because of his faithfulness and leadership this new outreach in the next village of Titirapok will be beginning soon (tomorrow Sept 7th). Devit has been discipling a group of those who wish to be involved and it is out of that group that another leader has grown and will be leading this next group to Titirapok to oversee the evangelism teaching there.

Please continue to pray for faithfulness to God's word in Devit.

Devit1.JPG

2008-09-07T06:07:00.001+10:00

The attached file was originally sent with another message.

File Name: Devit1.JPG

Devit2.JPG

2008-09-07T06:07:00.000+10:00

The attached file was originally sent with another message.

File Name: Devit2.JPG

Mibu MCM evaluation

2008-09-03T04:01:00.000+10:00

The last few days (Friday thru Monday) have been jam packed with hanging out with the Mibu people and meeting together with two of our church planting consultants.

In case you're wondering what "MCM" means, it's Mature Church Model. We have a model, slash outline, of what we see a mature church looking like. It is what we strive to leave behind here when our work is done here. The purpose of this weekend's visit by our consultants was to measure our efforts against this model and to provide encouragement for the future growth of the church here.

So we spent tons of time with the Mibu people just hanging out talking to them, asking questions and listening and discerning their hearts in regard to many things regarding God's work in them as individuals and as a community. It was a fun and encouraging time. We all even stayed the night down in Mibu one night so we could keep on talking.

I thought I'd share a couple things that happened that were kind of cool and couldn't have been timed better. These aren't things that the people did to show off, but were just things that came naturally, which is what made the timing so great (with the consultants here to see it) and is what made the incidents stand out as so cool.

The first day, we were just sitting around in Keteng's little haus win (an open house with no walls). We were just sitting around talking about the church and sharing stories. A couple of the Mibu guys were asking our consultants about the work in the tribes that they'd done in the past. At one point they asked them about the songs which their people sang to worship God, which they shared. Afterward a couple of the Mibu guys sang some of the songs that they'd made up to worship God. What was really cool is that their wives, and a couple of their daughters, who weren't really involved in the conversation, and who were sitting on the other side of the yard, making their bilums just kind of spontaneously joined in the singing, clapping their hands and singing with the guys. It was just really awesome to see the spontinaeity of the moment that seemed to have not arisen from their desire to look good (I don't think they realized how good it looked, really) but just from their joy and desire to praise God.

Sunday morning. We'd just woken up after staying the night in Keteng's house and were sitting around the fire pit talking. There was going to be a church meeting in a few hours so we were all waiting for the start of that. While we were talking one of the teachers who was slated to talk, and who happens to be a fairly new teacher in training (Samson), came in and sat down next to Sesi and it became obvious to me that he was looking for help to understand something about the point in the lesson that he was going to teach on. I watched in silence as he opened up his book on the floor and asked Sesi some things. Sesi took a little bit of time to explain something to him and then about 10 minutes later, he quietly told me that the two of them were going to leave and that he'd see me at the church meeting. When I asked him, he verified my suspicion that they were going to a quieter place where he could work with Samson through his teaching point. Discipleship in action! What was so cool about this is that Samson didn't even seem to give a thought to having me, the resident, all-knowing whiteskin be the one to explain things to him. It was the most natural thing in the world for him to just go straight to Sesi for help. Perfect! This was a perfect sign of a healthy sense of ownership to see that the default, even in the situation where it would seem easier to go to the missionary for answers, was to go to one of their own, more mature brothers for help. Again, this didn't happen so as to show off. I don't think they realized the importance of what they were doing and/or the perfect timing of it. It happened so casually and quietly that I only happened to notice and had to later tell the consultants what had transpired while they were talking to the others in that house.

This was an encouraging weekend for us because we're not always walking around with our evaluative senses on alert. This weekend was a good weekend to focus just on that and try to see things as our consultants might be seeing them. Definitely a good exercise!

Bidding farewell

2008-08-16T11:27:00.000+10:00

(apparently something got messed up with this the first time we sent this a couple days ago, so we're resending it)

Yesterday I had another one of those really cool moments with my friends down in Mibu. It was one of those moments where I got to see yet another part of the big picture come together in such a way that it really effects things and gets people excited!

We were having our weekly meeting to go over next week's lesson material and discuss various issues of the church. One of the things on my agenda lately has been to prepare them for an upcoming church planting consultation that we're having. In this consultation our efforts here will be measured against a model of what we see a mature church looking like. The purpose is just to get an experienced outsider's perspective on things and for us and the church here to be encouraged about how we carry on in our ministry. I need to prepare the guys for this consultation by just familiarizing them with the various points that will be used for the evaluation. However, at the moment, I'm not ready to give them the whole spiel. But I did want to start warming them up to the thought; kind of prime their minds for what I'll explain to them later.

So after we went through our study of next week's lesson I pointed them to Acts 20 where Paul is bidding farewell to the Ephesian elders. I've not been able to take my mind off this passage all week. It happens to be one of the passages I'm translating right now. But specifically one verse in the passage really has stood out to me. Verse 26 where Paul essentially tells these elders of the church, in which he labored hard for 3 years, that he is free from any guilt should any of them fall away. Most of our English translations don't make this very clear, but that's what Paul was saying. He's labored hard and didn't hesitate to teach them the whole will of God for their lives. Now it's time for him to go and he KNOWS that his job is done. He's confident that he's done everything that he could possibly do there. It's totally in their hands now.

Sitting there with a group of about 8-9 guys in the hut I told them that the work we're doing here is going to finish some day (not anything they haven't heard before). One day we're going to tell them the same thing as Paul when we leave. We intend to teach you everything we know and when that's done we're leaving it in your hands. We aren't going to be responsible for what you do with it after that. It's up to you to take this and keep going with it. If you don't it won't be our fault (assuming that we do indeed finish our course well here). It's hard to describe their reactions. They looked around at each other nodding and the energy level of the conversation picked up a notch. They'd obviously been affected by the implications of Paul's farewell. We talked about it for about a half hour or so after that before I headed back up to Tibu.

It was a refreshing reminder to everyone regarding this task of making disciples that has been given to us. And in a culture where something such as the local church is typically expected to be held together by someone from the outside this comes as a reality check. It really seemed quite powerful. For me the wider context of Pauls statement of verse 26 really brought back the importance of not only the message we speak and teach, but of the life we live here. One day I ought to be able to say that they've not only heard the gospel, but also seen it in action in a way that they can reproduce. Enough so, even, that I can expect them to be responsible for themselves in living and producing the fruit of that message themselves. Our responsibility, similar to the watchman of Ezekiel 33, will be finished. Or better yet 'transferred'. It's a great reminder too as our tendency is strong to keep a firm grip on everything and control it to make sure everything continues to go smoothly. But really what we're called to do is relax our grip over time, letting them experience the pressures themselves and grow in their own responsibility and stability.

Husa01.JPG

2008-08-14T18:16:00.001+10:00

The attached file was originally sent with another message.

File Name: Husa01.JPG

Husa02.JPG

2008-08-14T18:16:00.000+10:00

The attached file was originally sent with another message.

File Name: Husa02.JPG

Jongetape

2008-08-01T23:23:00.000+10:00

Yesterday (actually, a few days ago now... been real busy), I went down to Mibu to have our regular Tuesday morning teachers' meeting in which we go through the teaching for the following Sunday as a group study in preparation for the teaching of it.

We were sitting around in Jongetape's house (the lady in the picture) waiting for the rest of the teachers to show up. It was just me and Sesi and his sister and Jongetape, their mother. We were sitting around the firepit just talking about nothing of particular importance. The subject moved to the effect of God's Spirit in Mibu here and Jongetape just lit up and said something to this effect,

"It's true! Before we had God's Spirit we were all going around stealing, breaking each others' houses, hurting each other (and a list of other things I can't remember specifically). But now we see the change that God's Spirit is doing in our lives! Before we were that way and now we're different!"

I've heard this before. In fact, it's a fairly common thing to talk about here! Pretty exciting, eh. But when Jongetape said this the other day it stuck out to me because it didn't come out as just something that she recognized, but something that was extremely precious to her. Her face and expressions just exuded gratefulness and joy. It was very touching.

Needless to say, I had my mind on that even throughout the meeting that followed later. I was so pleased to see that kind of emotion in a place where emotions aren't so readily displayed.

Later when the teachers and I were going through the lesson and discussing the various points I noticed that Jongetape was sitting outside the room we were meeting in, just outside the doorway. She had been busy on and off preparing food for the group. During times when she wasn't busy with the food she'd come over and catch what she could of the discussion by sitting in the doorway and listening to the discussion about how the tabernacle that the Israelites were commanded to build was a picture of Jesus. She was totally into it!

It was a neat day for me because it was just one of those times where God painted out for me very clearly yet another portrait of someone who's treasure is Jesus. Jongetape knows the work of the Lord in her life and in the life of the community of believers and she values it greatly.

Oops! Correction

2008-07-24T06:16:00.000+10:00

I was just noticing a line in my last post that may have been a little misleading.

"I can't take too much credit though cause the portions in Acts I was working through this week were not exactly on par with some of the harder stuff I've done so far."

And I noticed, too late of course, that my choice of words made it seem as though I was aware of a lessened level of quality in my work and even worse, seeminly OK with it for the sake of getting it done. Please know that had I been more careful with my wording I would have said it more like this,

"I can't take too much credit though cause the portions in Acts I was working through this week were just not as hard as some of the more recent stuff I've been working on."

So rather than talking about the work not being good I was talking about how it went fast because it was just an easier text to work with. Hope this clarifies where I was coming from!

Please know that we do not think lightly of the work we do in translating God's word here. It's God's revelation to us and keeping it accurate is absolutely a high priority. When I do have a bad week as far as quality is concerned (yup, it does happen) know that we consider it cause enough to go back and keep working on it till it meets the standards that our Creator's words to us should have. We do make mistakes and have difficulties but we also trust in the work and strength of God's Spirit in our lives to realize and to work through them.

Thanks for understanding my little blooper!

Geoff

Upoo sonda yat yoogumungunyi jajung paptagut, undu wamun

2008-07-20T17:52:00.000+10:00

(translation of subject: In the lower two weeks (Iast two weeks) that we've been, what's happened, it's talk)

Wow! This week I actually managed to get through my goal for exegesis. My goal was to exegete/study and 'transfer' the meaning of 90 verses into the Mibu language; a goal I've not been able to attain for a while as I've moved more away from narrative and into more difficult texts. But after 50+ hours of sitting at a blasted computer, it got done. I can't take too much credit though cause the portions in Acts I was working through this week were not exactly on par with some of the harder stuff I've done so far. There were also not a lot of new terms that I had to put time and effort into getting ironed out. It was just a pretty fast paced week where everything was getting done as planned. I like those when they happen! Lest you think I just translated 90 verses in their entirety this week, what I actually got done this week was in preparation for next week, of which I'll spent the entirety, working with my translation helper to get him to be able to say large portions of the text so I can record it. (More about that in the next update) From there I've still got a lot of work to do before the text is ready to be called scripture; 2-3 more weeks of full time work before that 90 verses is at a point where I'm ready to have a translation consultant check it out.

The week prior, I finished working through the final touches of the gospel portions that we had checked. Implemented needed changes and then checked the bigger changes to make sure they were still understood well. Ahhhh! Good to get that done.

The teachers' sense of responsibility really shone this morning. Last week they all went to the coast to sell their coffee and were gone most of the week. That meant that none of the teachers, except for one were available to study through the lesson in preparation for teaching. Since so many people were gone and they usually stay longer than expected we decided that this week there wouldn't have a church meeting. We'd just pick things up again next Sunday. Well, a majority of the people were back from Saidor by Saturday evening and a group of the teachers took it upon themselves to spend the evening preparing for the lesson and make plans for teaching it in the morning. So they sent word this morning (the morning of) that they were wanting to go on with the teaching. Of course, that's OK! So Skyler and I went down to Mibu to meet with the other believers. The teachers did great and it was a wonderful and worshipful meeting. One thing I'm seeing more of is people who will speak up after a point is made and say something to the effect of, "Man, I'm really happy to learn this about God. Since God is so great let's say a prayer of thanks right now!" Or likewise with a song of praise. That happened twice this morning! It's just so exciting to see them growing in these little ways!

I'm so happy to see how God is working in these Mibu people's lives that I think we ought to all pray a prayer of thanks to God. Give God glory for the mighty work that only He can do in people's hearts! Take a moment to think... He actually changes peoples' hearts. No man can do that! He makes us WANT to love him and gives us the strength to live lives that reflect that love!

To Tariknan

2008-07-08T05:42:00.000+10:00

My eyes were burning. I was so extremely tired I could hardly take it... being in a meeting that is. We were in Mibu having a meeting about the future of Bible teaching in Tariknan. What is the Mibu church going to do to ensure the continuation of the teaching there, having recently dealt with the loss of the primary teacher there? That's what the meeting was about. But honestly I wanted the meeting to be any time but then, cause I just couldn't keep my eyes open! Managing to keep my eyes open and my attention sporadic at best, I happened to catch little points here and there as the meeting continued. But honestly, I just couldn't follow it... too tired! What's wrong with me?! I slept good last night. It doesn't help that we're sitting/lounging on the cool, comfortable bamboo floor of Kitanoo's hut.

After about 2 hours it seems like things are wrapping up and Sesi starts summarizing the points that have been decided on. I was snapped out of my state of semi-consciousness as he moved through the points and as I realized just how great the decisions were that they came to. They've decided that this Thursday morning, the whole lot of them (about 10 guys; teachers and leaders here in the Mibu church) are going to go to Tariknan for a couple days. About a month ago it was decided that two teachers from here in Mibu would be going to Tariknan to continue the teaching. Now that number has gone up to three. But first they want to assess the situation. Are the people there wanting to see the teaching continue or are they really discouraged? They've heard that there are many there who are anxious to get the teaching going again. Is this really the case? How can we encourage them about the impending teaching? Logistically, what are we dealing with? Will our brothers and sisters there help the teachers with food when they're there to teach or do we, here in Mibu, need to find a way to support the teachers there? Where will the teachers stay? Where will they teach? These are the types of questions this group of guys will be going to answer at the end of this week. They also want the people in Tariknan to see that this is a unified effort of the church in Mibu, not just some guys here and there that want to go teach something.

"Wow!" I thought. How cool is that. I might as well have not even been there at that meeting and these guys thought through the whole thing very well and took the initiative to make sure that things keep moving forward. How awesome is that? Yet another sign of how the Spirit is moving in these peoples' lives, making their concern for their brothers and sisters and for the continuing spread of God's precious word so real.

As for me, I'd better get a good night's sleep tonight.

Back in Mibu

2008-07-06T17:31:00.000+10:00

After our check, we spent a few more days in Goroka before coming back into Mibu. Finally, after nearly a month of being out in town, we came back into Mibu on Tuesday morning.

It's been a mad dash ever since then. The combination of several factors (being low on our case goods, not having another supply run for 3 months, backed up on house projects, our stuff finally making it in on the container from America, etc.) meant that we had the most stuff in our house than we've seen in a long time. It all had to be unpacked and put away. Sounds easy enough, except where to put it before you reorganize some things first. Anyway, we had a very busy few days, almost as busy as moving into a different house! Kind of odd, but that's what it felt like.

Our new helicopter did great. It's so nice to have that up and running. Thanks Ray and John Mark!

We were very happy to find out that the church seemed to do well in our absence for such a long time. They're all spending this next year reviewing lessons that have already been taught, giving everyone a second chance to hear those precious truths. Currently they're doing a quick review of all the OT teaching that points forward to Jesus. The day after we got back, I met with all our teachers, and was ecstatic to find out that they'd determined that more willing teachers are needed. They even took it upon themselves to find 3 more people to begin training. These three new people were also at the meeting and it was kind of wierd because I hardly had to do anything. Devit just kinda ran the show, guiding the meeting and making sure everyone understood their points. He did a great job, which had me feeling pretty good about what lies ahead this year with us being the only expat family here. Not only did he run the meeting well, but he was so faithful to stick to the material in the lesson and to God's word! It was really cool to see how little need there was for me to be there at that moment! If that can continue so nicely, that means I can pour more of myself into translation, which DOES need me right now. I did happen to take a picture during the meeting for your viewing pleasure.

In the weeks ahead, I'll be making changes to the gospel portions that were most recently checked, getting the final touches finished. Then I'll jump back into Acts and see if I can't get the ball rolling on that again and get it finished soon here.

We'll keep you all posted!

Geoff for the Husas

New NTM helicopter in action

2008-06-28T07:18:00.001+10:00

Or nearly, that is.

Thought we'd share that the new NTM helicopter (a long ranger, instead of the former jet ranger) is almost ready to go here! It's been purchased and retrofitted to suit our needs as a mission. Ray, the pilot, will be having his official test flights of the thing this coming week. Since, for his testing, they're looking for places that need sling loading, and since we need sling loading to bring our stuff into Mibu, it's been decided that Ray will be flying the new heli into Mibu this coming Thursday to bring our stuff up from the coastal town of Saidor. We'll still be going into Mibu with SIL on Tuesday as planned, but the shuttling of our cargo will be delayed till Thursday so the new NTM heli can be used.

We're excited to have our helicopter back! And a bigger one than the former at that! That means more payload and hopefully reduced expenses over the long run.

Finished translation check

2008-06-27T05:31:00.000+10:00

Sorry, the post that you got yesterday was supposed to have gone out a couple days ago, but for some reason didn't make the distribution list. I think I got that kink ironed out now :) Who said that technology is actually saving us time anyway?

So the REAL yesterday, we were all very happy to finish the translation check of the gospel portions. WHEW! The check seemed to go quite well, though I've not seen the official report on it yet! We were able to determine that most of the major themes and points were understood well. However a check is never without it's frustrations either. There are just somethings that I'm so sure are understandable. By the time the text gets to this final check, it's really been through the wringer a few times and there's just not much that should be left. So it's surprising when a bigger piece of information just doesn't seem to be tied in quite right with the rest of the text. We had a few of those. So as always, there will be some final checking and minor (hopefully) revisions to do when we get back to Mibu. Once done, these portions will be considered done and ready to be recognized as yet another portion of God's word in the Mibu language!

One thing I like about these checks is that I learn so much that will help me with my translation efforts later. The check is done only by someone who's had a lot of experience in translation and who can quite readily spot areas of strength and also of weakness in a new translator's work. So along with making sure that the translation is solid, they're also giving me guidance for the future!

Translation check

2008-06-25T07:27:00.001+10:00

Yesterday was the first day of the translation check. Things are going well and we're looking forward to cranking through another full day today! Thought you might like to see some pictures. We usually do our checks in the tribe, but we're 'borrowing' a translation consultant due to personnel shortage. He's had to fly over from the states and is only here for a month. He isn't here long enough to deal with all the logistics of getting out to each tribe that needs his help. So we're out here where he's at to do this particular check.

By the way, who was that that said they wanted to see a picture of my mug? Hope this has you content for a while :)

Oh yes, if there is anyone who is interested in seeing more photos you can check out the new photo blog that we started at http://husa-photo.blogspot.com We won't be sending these photos out over email. They're not so much ministry related as they are just family, friends and fun. We should be posting new photos fairly regularly. None of that confusing sign up stuff with this one! Just go to the website to check them out.

Upcoming translation check

2008-06-22T07:27:00.001+10:00

We finished up our break in Madang and have since flown up to Goroka where we anxiously await our translation check. It is scheduled for the 24th through the 26th. Two guys from Mibu, Posilongge and Kitanoo, have arrived here in Goroka as well and are enjoying their first experience of the town of Goroka.

We'll be checking portions of the gospels of Matthew, Luke and John that I recently completed. They'll be checked to make sure that both the content is true to the original and that the translation is easily comprehended by the listeners. In this check those listeners are Posilongge and Kitanoo. They'll listen to a portion of the text being read. Then they'll tell us what they just heard. After that, questions about the text will be asked that will help further reveal how certain aspects are being understood. The hope is that any unclear portions will be brought to light and then fixed and that everything is understood correctly, and not communicating something different from the original.

If you could keep us in your prayers during this time, that would be great. Translation checks, while great in what they accomplish, are quite draining by the end of each day. Pray that we'd remain strong in our dependance and love for Jesus, to the extent that we would maintain a consistent drive to keep his word to us true. We don't want to rush through things just to get it done, but want to carefully consider and question all the necessary areas of our translation to make it the best translation possible for the Mibu people!

Thanks for your prayers!

Geoff and Shannon Husa

Welcome

2008-06-17T20:55:00.000+10:00

Thanks for those who have taken the time to sign up to receive our updates via our new blog! It's been a learning experience to say the least! You know, we moved into the bush some 4+ years ago feeling fairly competent regarding internet. Admittedly now, I find myself extremely lacking about these things and I'm just hoping I've set things up in a way that makes it easy for as many as possible to make the transition and to keep receiving news about the ministry that they care about.

We decided that this was the time to make this transition because we're out on break now and have access (at least intermittently) to the internet and the time to get it set up and work out the kinks.

So, while you're all probably excited to hear more news of the ministry and/or family the intention of this post is merely to test the waters and make sure things are working good before we go back into the bush and no longer have the ability to straighten things out. If any of you feel the itch to reply and write something, would you please do so? This would help us determine whether there are a few settings that still need tweaking. And please, if you are unable to reply to this particular email, could you send us a personal email letting us know that is the case. That would be such a help!

Here's another picture of Skyler and her curls too!

Thanks again!

Geoff

Test3

2008-06-14T14:47:00.001+10:00

First one didn't work

Test2

2008-06-14T14:22:00.000+10:00

Now I'm trying this to see how it works using google groups for the email list. Another picture.

Test

2008-06-14T13:18:00.001+10:00

Just gotta test to see how this works out! Attaching a photo of Skyler too.