For Pioneer Bible Translators, “prayer is strategy”. My professor at Johnson University, the late Bob Martin, had a lot to say about prayer in his book, God Our Father.

“Teach us to pray” is the only thing the [...]]]> By Laura Roberts

For Pioneer Bible Translators, “prayer is strategy”. My professor at Johnson University, the late Bob Martin, had a lot to say about prayer in his book, God Our Father.

• Prayer is essential in any effective ministry. (Luke 11:1, Martin, p. 176)

“Teach us to pray” is the only thing the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them. Nor should it be otherwise for us! For whatever our ministry, the resources of its fulfillment depend entirely upon a personal and meaningful relationship with God.

• Prayer is more about cultivating a relationship than getting our requests answered. (1 John 5:14-15, Martin p. 177)

. . .Prayer finds its ultimate fulfillment, not in receiving, but in securing and sustaining us in our relationship with God, whose identity as “the Word” (Jn. 1:1-3) “speaks” of a Creator God who desires that communication that communication or conversation alone makes possible.  . . .As such, prayer can never be said to be in vain, for, within the context of our relationship with Him, God will either give with Himself the answer for which we have prayed or He will Himself be our sufficiency in lieu of its answer (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

• Prayer is about us showing God that we know we must depend on Him. (Matthew 6:8, Martin, p. 183)

[The] practice [of prayer] is intended to secure and sustain us in our relationship with Him. As such, prayer becomes an expression of wanting Him and needing Him . . .We are to pray, therefore, not simply to get something from God, but to cultivate a dependence upon God.

• Delayed response to our prayers sometimes is God’s way of showing us the strength of our faith. (James 1:2-4, Martin, p. 187)

To encounter God’s silence following our prayers may be His way of testing our faith, for we are sometimes tested, not that God might know the measure of our faith, but that we might know. Will we keep on praying, believing that God hears and answers prayer . . . even though His silence is His only response?

Yes, prayer is an essential part of PBT. It has to be, because in everything we do, our ultimate God is to help people cultivate strong relationships with Jesus. Everything else is just a means to this end.

Laura Roberts is a Teacher for Missionary Kids at Ukarumpa International School.

“They will look on me, the one they have pierced…” “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” “Those who look to Him are radiant and their faces are never covered with shame”

In recent months, God has been hammering out in me a whole new understanding of His mercy, grace, and love. [...]]]> By Rhonda Hayward

“They will look on me, the one they have pierced…” “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” “Those who look to Him are radiant and their faces are never covered with shame”

In recent months, God has been hammering out in me a whole new understanding of His mercy, grace, and love. He keeps directing my gaze to the Cross. In gazing, I have been broken and undone. He loves me. Like THAT.  And like the four living creatures of Revelation, who covered with eyes, cannot stop gazing at Him, I cannot grow weary gazing at such a Love. Love penetrates my heart and shame falls off. And “Lenses of Love” are given, to see the wounded, hurting ones around me. Seeing with His eyes, I am compelled to ask “O God, living in me, what would you do right here…right now?”

Recently, I was driving, and saw three women walking, holding a gas can. Not just my eyes, but my heart saw them.  A quick prayer, a quick turn around, and I picked them up. Listened to their pain, loved and spoke hope to their hearts. I am praying and believing for fruit to result.

We recently returned from PNG. As a result, 13% more of the Tay New Testament was completed as 1 & 2 Corinthians and Hebrews was translated. God willing, the four remaining books will be translated this fall on a return visit. We anticipate typesetting the Tay New Testament next year. Our goal, however, is not to just get a Book printed.  We long for transformation of Tay lives and communities. For men and women to see themselves and each other through God’s glasses of grace and love.

O, God, give us your Lenses of Love…for ourselves…for the world.

“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest”. John 4:25

Steve is a Bible translator and him and his wife serve among the Tay language group.

Life on the road…or rather the road of life, the journey can be interesting.

I have learned a few things in the past few months on my first ever home assignment/furlough.  Pack light, be flexible, and always have your supply of sunflower seed close by for road trips. No but really, a [...]]]> By Emily Hinebauch

Life on the road…or rather the road of life, the journey can be interesting.

I have learned a few things in the past few months on my first ever home assignment/furlough.  Pack light, be flexible, and always have your supply of sunflower seed close by for road trips. No but really, a few things I have learned are:

• It seems once you have given your heart to another part of the world home becomes harder to define, yet it is a frequently asked question so something has to be said.  I say, I was raised in Montana, reside in Papua New Guinea but I await my eternal home in heaven.  2 Corinthians 5:6-10.  I have learned to think often about my eternal home, when I doubt where my earthly home may be some days.

• On the days I wake up and struggle with what it is I need to do today, thinking I want to change the world by doing thing I am reminded the best thing I can and should be doing is praying. Praying and believing without any doubt that God is going to hear the prayers for spiritual revival in Papua New Guinea, salvation of friend’s families in the United States, spiritual development in my personal walk and for those who I am around.  James 1:5-8.  I have learned to seize the opportunity pray boldly for the ministry in Papua New Guinea and around me in the United States.

• I made a crazy goal to run a half marathon on my home assignment in the efforts to practice discipline in my life and push myself to reach new goals.  This has been a task at hand to commit to running throughout the week when it is the last thing on my list that I want to do.  I am always amazed that after a run how great it feels when it is over.  Leading up to the seconds before I start a run in the week I am trying to convince myself that I love to run, but who am I kidding right.   I accomplished a goal that day, I ran.  I have learned it is important to not just be so focused on one aspect of life that we forget to care for ourselves in other aspects.

These may not be relevant to everyone, but I thought I would share some of the lessons that God teaches me as a young missionary experiencing some more “first” of transitional life I live.  My prayer that through each lesson of life is that it will bring glory to the Father and that I will humbly recognize it as an opportunity to know Him more.

Emily is the Scripture Use Specialist and serves the team in many other roles as well.

I’m trained as a Bible Translator, I have a Master’s degree to be able to do that. I’m writing this, taking a break from editing Elementary Prep curriculum (the equivalent of kindergarten) that can be adapted to various vernacular languages. Why is a translator doing literacy work that they haven’t been trained [...]]]> By Lindy Pate

I’m trained as a Bible Translator, I have a Master’s degree to be able to do that. I’m writing this, taking a break from editing Elementary Prep curriculum (the equivalent of kindergarten) that can be adapted to various vernacular languages. Why is a translator doing literacy work that they haven’t been trained for? Because there is no one else here to do it.

To facilitate usage of this curriculum, I recently organized a meeting for school board members from some of the language groups that we work with. At the meeting, a government official encouraged them to teach the children to read in their heart language first and then move on to learning English in later grades. In July, teachers from these languages will come and produce books and other materials in their language to be used with the curriculum that is being developed.

The surprise came for me at the end of the meeting. I thought we were done. And then one of the school board members raised his hand. “My question falls outside of this program. Why does PBT do so much translation without thinking about literacy? They pour lots of money into making books and then what happens to the books? The work is wasted. It happens sometimes in other languages and now the Mborena Kam is getting close to being finished. What will happen to the New Testaments? Will they just sleep on the shelves?”

I started to try to respond with a platitude, because that was all I could give, but he continued. “I was  really glad when I heard about this meeting and about the workshop in July. PBT is finally doing some literacy again. But it isn’t enough. There needs to be adult literacy classes too. Some adults know how to read Tok Pisin and English but they can’t read their language. Others can read slowly but they need fluency classes. Some adults can’t read at all. What good will the New Testament be to them?”

Then in the silence I tried to respond, but what could I say? “You’re right. We haven’t done anything with adult literacy for a long time. We don’t have enough people. I’m a translator, not a literacy worker. I’m just doing this because no one else is here to do it. Pray for more people.”

Lindy is a Bible translator.

Praise be to God for all the faithful men and women who have supported us and the many others involved in the translation work here in PNG!  Today, April 10, 2012 the first of our national coworkers arrived for a consultant and revision checking session and are eating and visiting and sleeping [...]]]> By Jacque Harper

Praise be to God for all the faithful men and women who have supported us and the many others involved in the translation work here in PNG!  Today, April 10, 2012 the first of our national coworkers arrived for a consultant and revision checking session and are eating and visiting and sleeping in their new housing!!!! The place will be full with 24 men from several language groups. We have never had the room before to have more then 8 at one time so this is very exciting. This group will be here 2-3 weeks. Following that the building will be in use most every week. Currently Bob and I are the “on sight” managers and it will be interesting to see how many things we still need to arrange for or change from the previous standards at the old housing. The previously used building was not ours but we cooperated with 2 other organizations in caring for it. Now this one is totally ours and we want to see the workers enjoy it and that it is well maintained for many years of use. Please pray that we will be able to find and hire a PNG man who would be able to oversee the use of the building for us and be capable of seeing that the rules are kept. Here’s a photo of all the mattresses that arrived this morning. Daniele  is small enough that Bob could put her on top without the mattresses falling over. Her mother, Augusta, is one of our regular cleaning staff and a good friend to all of us.

The lower flat remodeling is going well. Licensed electricians and plumbers are currently finishing up this week so that means Bob will be able to start closing up the walls and doing other interior work.  Our new employee, carpenter helper Ishmael, is working out great. He is a good help to Bob. February 20 to March 14 we were blessed to have a friend from Grand Junction be with us to help Bob. They were able to accomplish a lot during his stay.  We wanted to delay his departure but felt guilty so decided to let him return on his own at a later time. We’re making two 1 bedroom flats out of a three bedroom residence below us. Pray that we will be able to complete these in time for our new fall arrivals. There are always so many urgencies that take Bob away to other places it’s hard to stay on one task. Pray for God’s provision of another teammate to help in our Technical Services Department.

Bob and Jacque minister through technical services.

This morning started out like any other morning. I woke up a little before 7 am, took my shower, got ready for work, made my iced coffee in my to-go cup and headed out the door.  As I turned the corner off my street onto the cross street that would take me [...]]]> By Bethaney Butler

This morning started out like any other morning. I woke up a little before 7 am, took my shower, got ready for work, made my iced coffee in my to-go cup and headed out the door.  As I turned the corner off my street onto the cross street that would take me to the main road and into town, I saw a small crowd of people on the side of the road.  There was also a car pulled off in front of the crowd.  As I pulled up, I noticed someone lying on the ground.

Seeing the car, I thought maybe the car had hit her.  I pulled off to the side and asked a bystander what had happened. She informed me that they found this lady passed out, blood on her clothes and face swollen from probably being assaulted, possibly raped, who knows.  I sat there in shock, not really knowing what to do.  As I glanced back at the crowd, a Papua New Guinean woman looked sternly at me and then motioned me to go on, as if to say, “This is not your problem and none of your business.” This disturbed me deeply. A few moments later that lady turned and walked away.

Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”  Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”   Luke 10:30-37

I finally got out of the car. I was not going to walk away. I went over and joined the crowd, which seemed to have doubled in size.  I asked a few more questions.  The victim was not responding to anything.  She was still breathing though. I told the crowd that I was willing to take her to the hospital. I sensed an overwhelmingly unwillingness to help.  They started saying that she had probably been drinking and essentially brought this “heavy” (burden) on herself.  I stopped the crowd before they could hurl more insults her way. I said, “I don’t care what she did last night, or what happened to cause this, but right now, she is hurting, she needs help, and I’m going to help her.  Now you all can stand around or you all can help me get her into my car so that I can take her to the hospital.” There was silence. Then a few people helped me put her into my car.

I took her and dropped her off at the hospital.  I have no idea who she is, where she is from, where she lives, or if she is married and has a family. I don’t know, but God knows.  God knows her name, he knows how many hairs are on her head, he knows her heart.  He loves her.  She needed help. Christ’s love compelled me to help her.

Bethaney serves in many areas, one being in logistics.

Martha Wade and I (Diane Miller) took the slow route back to the USA for a brief furlough or temporary Home Assignment.  We stopped first at PBT’s East Africa Branch (EAB) where we shared Linda Loughren’s house with retired volunteer workers from PBT Canada, Rick and Linn Rehn.  (Linda is in the [...]]]> By Diane Miller

Martha Wade and I (Diane Miller) took the slow route back to the USA for a brief furlough or temporary Home Assignment.  We stopped first at PBT’s East Africa Branch (EAB) where we shared Linda Loughren’s house with retired volunteer workers from PBT Canada, Rick and Linn Rehn.  (Linda is in the US on furlough, so her lovely three-bedroom house was available for others to use.)

Martha did consultant checking for Bible translations in 6 different languages and a bit of training on the use of the Paratext program.  I holed up in my room most of the day and continued to work on editing our Elementary 1 Term 2 lesson materials.  When I came to something I did not understand or with which I needed some help such as a picture or a game that was mentioned but not included in the materials, I simply e-mailed Justin, our national literacy supervisor in Madang, who is also working on the E1 materials and a reply was soon forthcoming to solve my problems.

I won’t have much time for E1 in Israel where Martha and I are now at the Home for Bible Translators because we will be involved in a ten day course that includes touring many of the places where Jesus and his disciples walked and where Biblical events took place. I plan to resume my E1 editing job after I get settled for a month in Oregon, starting on April 10.   At that time modern technology will again enable me to keep in touch with Justin in Madang.  Hopefully I will be able to finish editing term 2 before the Apal men, who will be in town for a checking session return to the village.  If so, we can send it with them and they can take it back to the village for use in their elementary school.

Diane develops curriculum both in the vernacular and Tok Pisin languages of PNG.

“Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so” is a song I can remember my mother teaching me and in turn I taught it to my children. What confidence I can have in the knowledge of His unfailing love. But not everyone has a Bible or [...]]]> By Norm and Jill Weatherhead

“Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so” is a song I can remember my mother teaching me and in turn I taught it to my children. What confidence I can have in the knowledge of His unfailing love. But not everyone has a Bible or has heard of Jesus love. It is one of the reasons that propel all of us to leave our ‘home’ country and come to Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Sometimes getting the Bible translated involves people stepping into roles and doing tasks that were not the original reasons they came to serve in PNG.  This is in part due to the personnel shortage that exists at the moment within the Branch. Presently three translators find themselves working more in administrative roles of leadership, finance and literacy rather then doing the translation work. When I asked one of these individuals, “Is it hard for you to not be translating for the language you have been working among and instead doing this other task?” The answer came something like this “I love those people. I want them to have the Bible. God loves them more than me. But God doesn’t just love them. He loves everyone.”

It certainly helps put things in perspective for me. It also prompts me to pray as well that more workers will come to Papua New Guinea that will work in these areas of leadership, finance and literacy so that the three, as well as others, can get back to the task of bringing God’s Word to life for the peoples here. The work will get done because Revelation 7:9-10 says:

“…after this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from EVERY nation…tribe…people…language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothes in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!”

Norm and Jill are based out of Canada and Norm is a Bible translation consultant.

Every afternoon, I take Bella, my guard dog, for a walk.  It’s a good chance to say, ‘hi’ to people see what’s going on in the village and stretch my legs especially if I’ve been working on the computer all day.  That Sunday was just like the other days, I got Bella’s [...]]]> By Jill Reipe

Every afternoon, I take Bella, my guard dog, for a walk.  It’s a good chance to say, ‘hi’ to people see what’s going on in the village and stretch my legs especially if I’ve been working on the computer all day.  That Sunday was just like the other days, I got Bella’s leash and called her to come for a walk.  We set off to the air strip on the other side of Samban.  We walked along greeting people as we went.  It wasn’t until I was on my way back when something out of the ordinary happened.

Nik, my village uncle, stopped me on the road before the bridge to Samban and said, “Your father wants to see you.”  We were a long way from my village father’s house so I checked to see which father.  The term father is not as specific as the one in English.  It turned out that it was my village father Edwik.  Now I was a little worried to hear this.  Edwik was going blind.  He was angry about this and even though I had tried to help him by sending him to Madang to see the doctor, he was turning that anger toward me.  He had written some nasty letters lying about me and the work of the translation project.  I was a little hesitant to go up the ladder to Edwik’s house.  Regardless, I attached Bella to a log in the ground near his house and went up to see Edwik.  I was surprised to see several people sitting in the small veranda area of his house.  The whole translation team was there.  Some members of the church were there too.  And there was the duck.  I was given a seat next to the duck.

When I had taken my seat, Edwik asked Dama to speak.  Dama said, “Edwik wants to say he is sorry for writing the two letters and lying about you and the translation project.  He would like to return to translation work.  His wife would like to be able to go to this course that will be happening next month.  Here is some money for you and some money for the director of the STADI course to show he is sorry for all his lies.  The duck is for you.  You can keep it or eat it.  It is up to you.”

Oh, wow, this was not what I was expecting at all.  I shook hands with Edwik and accepted his apology and said that we would look into ways that he might be able to translate using a recorder and his wife was welcome to come to the course.  At that point, Bella decided to chase a pig that the other dogs were chasing and she went off trailing the log behind her.  It was a bit distracting, but my uncle Nik got her back and we all settled down to pray for Edwik and his eyes.  After the prayer, Nik helped me by carrying the duck down to my house where we turned it over to my village brothers to take care of.

Most of my walks are not as exciting as this, but just goes to show you never know what might happen when you step out your door.  Please keep Edwik in prayer as he learns how to use the recorder and we work on translating the Bible orally.

Jill is a Bible translator working with the Ap Ma language group.

I have been studying and reading through 1 Samuel for the past month. I just finished the book and look forward reading into 2 Samuel. Chapter 30 tells the how the Amalekites raided Ziklag the town David was living in. They burned it and took everyone captive. They didn’t kill anyone but [...]]]> By Tyler Hewitt

I have been studying and reading through 1 Samuel for the past month. I just finished the book and look forward reading into 2 Samuel. Chapter 30 tells the how the Amalekites raided Ziklag the town David was living in. They burned it and took everyone captive. They didn’t kill anyone but swept the town clean then burned it to the ground. Once David arrived back to Ziklag after being kicked out of the Philistine army, he and his men wept. They cried and wept until they were exhausted of all tears. They wept until they could not weep anymore. At this point, when David was his weakest, however he still found strength. Not strength from his friends or fellow soldiers, but from the Lord. ‘But David found strength in the Lord his God.’ 1 Sam 30:6

There are times as a missionary you find yourself tired or want to give up and go home. During those times, I am reminded to relax and enjoy a day off. Find rest, regain your strength, and refocus on the reason and purpose of being where I am. I need to find strength and be reminded from David that strength is found in the Lord.

I have had many frustrations over the last week and I know satan is trying to distract me and knock me off course. However, I must stay focused and not have my strength zapped by something unworthy of a greater cause.

Tyler is the Administrator of IT for the branch.