Corrected Merry Christmas

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

 

Geoff's parents visit

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

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

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

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

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