Vol. IV, No. 2

Beasleys' Backlogof news from

Papua New Guinea

Field Address;Wes & Alta Beasleyc/o Pioneer Bible TranslatorsP. O. Box 178Madang. Papua New Guinea

Forwarding Agents;Larry & Dottle Tanksley112 Stone CoveClinton. MS 39056Rione (601) 924^299

March/April 1981

MANUS ISLAND: Kurti people.. and Father, we ask that you would direct our activities on this survey and give us guidance as we

seek to know your will concerning the Kurti people. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen." With these words,we concluded our time of prayer as our family waited on the "Totol" to sail to Manus Island. It wasThursday, March 26,1981 and, as we moved out of Madang harboron the 60 ft. ship which would dock inLorengau 27 hours later, I began to ask myself a familiar question: "Will this be the people with whomGod will have us work? And, if so, how willAltaand I know?" Wehad discussed several ,ingredients which would be important to us.We both want to work in an area where there .. ^ . loremgauis a definite possibility of training nationalco-translators. We both want to avoid ^ manus ^ ^placing an additional burden on our ** "ooverworked support team. I want to work inan area where I might be able to doconcurrent translation programs in several ^closely related languages. In other surveys, AomiRai-TYwe had not been able to find a place which fit *h. o'these "specifications" and Iwas beginning to ^wonder if we would. Sowiththesequalmsin jour mind (and others in our stomach), we "sailed across the 250 miles of open water !I(the Bismarck Sea) and docked at Lorengau, , ^1^the capital city of Manus Island. We spent " jSffseveral days initially discovering what jfacilities were available in Lorengau and *meeting with several government officials. p ^Then, we took a two-hour, ocean-going- lycanoe ride to Liap, the closest village of the C xSKurti people. i\_

! X , egcJiMui\ tThe Kurti people live in nine villages which I ^are located on the north coast and inland ^some 35-55 kilometers from Lorengau.During our limited stay, we visited only twoof the coastal villages: Liap and Derimbat.

A O M

HAN usIS.

4R A L TY s L A D s

We rode out to the village of Liap on this ocean>goingmotor-driven dug-out canoe with outrigger. They'refascinating. We spent the night in this little grass hut on the seashore.

However, we spoke at length about the Bible translation work we would like to do and received anenthusiastic and positive response.

April 3rd, we returned to Madang via SIL plane. Wewere pleased with the survey and impressed with theKurti people. Basically, everything we looked for was evidenced in the area and the people. Ofcourse,there were some negative items but our overall impression was predominantly positive. We then tooktwo weeks to study the situation objectively and to seek earnestly God's guidance. After that period, wedecided that we would commit our lives to the Kurti people and work in God's power to translate the Bibleinto the Kurti language. We ask that you join us in prayer that God will bless this commitment andprovide His power for this work.Until the end of June, 1will continue working in PBT administration. During July, we will go to Ukarumpaagain with the other PBT members to complete the PBTworkshop house. Lord willing, we will begin ourKurti program the first of August. We also pray that we will be able to find and meet any Kurti speakersliving in Madang, Please pray with us!

WHAT SHALL WE NAME THE BABY?

Alta with "Little Irene". She was fascinated with myglasses.

Last Fall when we went back to the village of Garati to visit the Pryors and the family from Tung withwhom we had lived for six weeks, we had a nice surprise. Our "village family" had a new addition a babygirl about 3 months old. When I asked her name I wastold that she hadn't been named yet. "We have beenwaiting for you to come back to give her a name." Iwasquite surprised but began to remember something Ihad been told about the custom in some areas ofasking the expatriate missionaries or other workers togive children a "Christian" name. They give theirchildren a name in their own language but some wanttheir child to have a "western" name. I felt honored thatthey wanted me to choose the name and that they hadwaited for so long. I named the baby"Irene", after my Xmother in Michigan. "Little Irene" Is about eightmonths old now. |^a . ,When we were on Manus Island a,few weeks ago I meta young couple who had a small baby about three Aita with "Little Irene". She was fascinated with mymonths old. After a couple days they came to me and asked if I would name their baby. So, now there isJuanita" on Manus Island after Wes' mother in Missis-

have been takenan run

guess have to on ournames In some

requires you to actually change your name if a child isnamed after you. You literally "give" the child yourname. William Butler was talking to Wes the other dayon the transceiver from his village in the East SepikProvince. He told Wes that a new little boy had been ''born in the village and he had been named "Yangves". ^ ^Wes spent a month in that village last Summer helpingWilliam build his house and had made a lot of friends Adam admiring "Little Juanita" on Manus Island,there. It took Wes a while but finally the light dawned they had named the baby after him "young Wes". They have no "w" in their language which accounts forthe "v" in "Yangves". We love these people and continue to askforyourprayersthat we will not fail themin the task God has sent us to do. Thank you for your prayers.

Adam admiring "Little Juanita" on Manus Island.

PRAISE AND PRAYER

Praise the Lord! Jan and Eunice Messersmith with their son, Hans, have arrived safely in PNG (April 12,1981) and are beginning their orientation.Praise the Lord! Roger Quarton and Judy Glaze have successfully completed the center phase of theirfield training. Pray that God will give them an especially meaningful village living experience (from Mid-May through Mid-July).Please pray for the following new PBT members and their families who are preparing now to come toPNG: Dave and Alice Parrish (translation), Dennis and Barb Davis (translation), Bob and Dawn Baird(support), Steve and Rhonda Hayward (translation), and Mike and Eunice Herchenroeder (support).Pray also for John Pryor and family as they return to PNG from furlough. John will be picking up the

responsibilities of the Branch Director.

Please pray for the following PBT families who willPryor (March), Ron and Lisa Augsburger (July), DaRobin Butler (December).

t)e going on furlough this year; David and Sharrann and Rosalind Wilcox (August), and William and

rs who are now considering how to deal with twomaging the moral fiber of this developing young

Pray for the Papua New Guinean government leadfsocial problems which have great potential for cjacountry: alcoholism and pornography.Praise the Lord for a successful survey to Manus Island and for giving us guidance and peace in ourdecision to work with the Kurti people. Pray for the Beasleys as we prepare in many different ways tomeet the challenges before us in the Manus Island iwork. Pray that God will provide peace, wisdom,safety, and strength.Praise the Lord! God has provided faithful partners wand encouraging letters. i

1o support us regularly with prayers, contributions.

NOTICE: We will have ttwo short slide programs narratedby Jonathari iwailable the last part of June. Ifyou would lifo to see them, please contact ourforwarding agents. One is entitled, "Life inPapua New (guinea" and the other is entitled, "ATrip to Likan't.

& ^0)

iStto ^ cw J5 ^ o a>

Vol. IV, No. 3

Beasleys' Backlogof news from

Papua New Guinea

Field Address:Wes & Alta Beasleyc/o Pioneer Bibte TranslatorsP. O. Box 178Madang, Papua New Guinea

'Which Church?"

Forwarding Agents:Larry & Dottie Tanksley112 Stone CoveClinton, MS 39056Phorw (601) 924-0299

May/June, 1981

"Without equivocation, tell me now to what church do you belong?" It was a serious question whichdemanded an equally serious answer. The man posing the question had stood up in the back of thecrowd and made his way to the middle of the room. He was six feet tall and weighed about 230 poundsand all the assembly was nodding in respect and in agreement with the sentiment underlying hisquestion.

For the last hour, I had been speaking to the men and women of the village of Derimbat, trying to explainto them the nature of PBT's ministry of Bible translation. Iwas also seeking their reaction to the idea of aBible translation program in their own Kurti language. I had tried to speak clearly and state both theintended goals and the means I intended to utilize to accomplish these goals. Nevertheless, to most ofthem, it was a completely new concept and many of their questions remained unanswered. Confusionand suspicion were evident. "Is this 'white-skin' trying to divide our village by starting a newdenomination?" "Don't these 'Evangelicals' know that this is a Catholic area?" "Why does he keeptalking about the Bible?"

As I finished my prepared talk, the people began to voice their doubts. Ianswered questions for anotherhalf hour before the big tall man walked forward and delivered his ultimatum: "To what church do youbelong?"

Then I realized that some of their confusion and questions were present because I had consciouslyrefused to categorize my Christianity. In all my talking, Ihad not given them the necessary clues to placeme in a specific "pigeon-hole". And Ithought, "My! Eleven thousand miles and a cultural world apart, yetthese people are reacting in the same way as people I've known in the USA. Both attempt to re-make Godin their own image and try to understand God's church according to their own rules rather thanaccording to God's own word, the Bible.

Nevertheless, the question remained: "To what church do you belong?" Icouldhaveanswered that Altaand I are part of a brotherhood of Christian Church/Churches of Christ but that would havecommunicated very little in real information. So. I said a short prayer for wisdom and replied somethinglike this: "The Bible only speaks about one church; I am a member of that church. My work of Bibletranslation will not create a new church and divide this village between old and new. The Bible in yourKurti language will enable youto see more ^ a i ^clearly what God says about His church."

How about you, to which church do you be-long? Ifyou can only answer in terms of la- . \bels, then consider these facts. The Bible "tells about the foundation and growth of

the church. Only the Bible contains Holy-Spirit-inspired teaching regarding thenature of Christ's church. The Bible speaksof only one church. The multiplicity of"churches" which exists today representsSatan's work in encouraging both falsedoctrines and division.

In both villages, the people began tounderstand our intentions and gave us avery positive response. We were excited bytheir offers to help us build a house. Beforewe decide where we will build, I will returnin August for an extended survey to all tenvillages of the Kurti area. Then, Alta and Iwill decide which of these villages seems tobe best for housebuilding. Our wholefamily will live in this village utilizing localhousing until we are more confident thatwe have made a good choice.Please pray that God will grant us wisdomin choosing our house location. Pray thatall who seek to know about God's churchwill seek direction from God in His Wordand through prayer. Also pray that we willbe able to communicate clearly as we beginthe Kurti Bible translation program.In our next prayer letter, we will tell youmore about Manus Island and our plans.

FROM ALTAWe apologize for being a little late in getting this newsletter to you. These past two months have beenhectic with packing and moving twice and our annual branch meeting. We only missed three days ofschool in the process soyou can see why it was hecjtic. We moved out of the house on the harbor whenour Director, John Pryor, and his family returned frojrji furlough. We moved to alittle house PBT rents indowntown Madang. Wewere there the month of Juneiwhen we packed up again for the trip to Ukarumpa.We'respending the month of July in Ukarumpa wip the other PBTfamilies trying to finish the groupworkshop house. Instead of flying this time the boythe coast to about 5,500ft. in the Southern highlandclimate again. The house is progressing nicely andback to Madang in August. The boys and I continhouse. We plan to take the last two weeks of our t|

KWI*TI

LORENGAU

MANUSIS.

ouCAi^rvtui

SOlOMON ISLAM)!

Map showing Kurti area where we'll be working.

nd I drove up with Wes. It is a five-hour drive fromItwas a beautiful drive and is good to be in a coolere guys hope to have it "livable" when we have to goto have classes so don't get to help much on thee up here off to help and to have a little vacation

before returning to Madang. The boys are anxious ifor Mom and Dad to go with them to "blackberry"hill. Idon't know if that's the real name for itor ifth^ named itbecause oftheoccasional blackberriesthey find there. Assoon as classes finish each day thfey ask ifthey can go to "blackberry" hill. They takepieces of cardboard and slide down the grass with the national kids. They love it - it's almost as fun assliding on the snow in Michigan.

We always appreciate your letters and have received some nice goodies in packages lately and want youall to know how much we appreciate your thoughtjf^lness and prayers. Many ofyou have expressedexcitement and interest about our allocation plans. We hope to be in the village on Manus Island beforethe end oftheyear buthave no specific dates yet. {I'jll try to tell you ourtentative plans. You might bewondering, "Why are their plans always tentative?" jlihe reason is, there are somany things that can alteryour plans here. We plan to return to Madang the rniddle of August at which time Wes will prepare foranother survey trip to the Kurti language area on Majr us Island. He will be gone two or three weeks while

The "jungle telephone".

the boys and Istay in Madang. The purpose ofthis trip willbe to visit the rest of the villages of the language group wewere not able to visit on the first trip and to try to determinewhich village will be the best village in which to settle.When he returns we will then begin making plans for thefamily to move to Manus Island. We have no idea how jlong this will take and ask for your prayers. We will take /enough of our household things to get along with until we /can buiid a house. The remainder of our things will be /stored in Madang. After we have lived in one of the ^villages for a couple months we will then be ready to beginbuilding our house. We will try to use as much of the localbuildmg supplies as we can but will have to come back to X ' 7^ ^Madang or Lae for some materials. This will be another v^lL y^hectic and trying time and we ask for your prayers. // ir ^ /Many of you have asked about transportation to Manus ^Island and how we will travel to our village and receive 11 \ ; v^supplies. I'll try to answer some of those questions nowbut I'm sure I'll be able to answer much better in about six ^ Vmonths. Most of our supplies and personal travel from The-jungle telephone".Madang to Manus Island will be on a small cargo shipwhich makes the trip every two weeks. This is about a 28-hour trip. There are also two Air Niugini flightseach week and occasional JAARS flights. Both the flights and the boat will put us close to the main townon Manus Island which is Lorengau. This town has two main stores from which we will be able to buymost of our supplies. We will also buy many bulk items in Madang and have them shipped to Manus.These will be items that are either unavailable on Manus or are very expensive there.

If you will look at the map of Manus Island in this newsletter you will see that Lorengau is on theNortheast side of the island and the Kurti area is on to the west on the North coast. We will most likelysettle in one of the coastal villages of the Kurti area. Travel from Lorengau will, of necessity, be byoceangoing craft along the north coast. The trip takes about two hours by motor-driven canoe or lessin a speed boat. Our travels willmostly be by motor-driven canoe

necessity of buying our own boat. ^ iperhaps only once a month forsupplies. We will have radiocontact both with our missionaries , .u

. , Outrigger canoe used for ocean travel along the coast.in Lorengau and with our PBTpersonnel in Madang. Medical facilities are available in Lorengau and many of the villages have aidposts. We'll try to keep you posted on our plans as they materialize. We especially ask for your prayersduring these next few months of major decisions, travels, and unsettled state. Pray that we will havepeace and assurance during this time. Thank you for your letters and prayers. The boys send their lovetoo. "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall," Psalm55:22. I claim this verse for these next few months perhaps it will help you too.

Outrigger canoe used for ocean travel along the coast.

MAILING TIPS!We look forward to hearing from you and have really appreciated receiving your letters and packages.Here are some tips on mailing to Papua New Guinea.

Letters: Send only via Air Mail. Regular air mail letters to PNG are 40$ for each half ounce. Cheapestletter rate is obtained by purchasing "aerogramm^p for 30ion Services, Box 177, Kempton, IN 46049, Thanks.Note; From now on "Beasleys' Backlog" will be pi blished quarterly instead of bi-monthly. Our next"Backlog" will be for July, August and Septembek

Please pray for:Ron and Lisa Augsburger and family. They are leaving for a one-year furlough July 3, 1981.Dave and Alice Parrish and family as they come to Pa pua New Guinea July 13,1981 to begin their work asBible translators with PBT.

Rondal and Jan Smith as they begin theirinvolvement in administrative duties with PBT-USA as Vice-President. They will be moving toDallas in July.The successful completion of the constructionof the PBT Workshop House at Ukarumpa.Wes' extended survey on Manus Island in theKurti area in August.More translators and support workers forPapua New Guinea. Last July, we prayed forfive more translation teams and two moresupport teams. Since then, four translators(Judy Glaze, Roger Quarton, and Dave andAlice Parrish) and one support family (the JanMessersmith family) have arrived. God isanswering our prayer. Please pray with meagain for five more translators and two moresupport workers by next July.

Praise the Lord for:

A productive PBT/PNG Branch meeting.The Bible in English which communicatesGod's Word to man in the language which weunderstand best.

S

0)

oZlc/> ^ C(rt JS E

o o

2(S^

Vol. IV, No. 4

Beasleys' Backlogof news from

Papua New Guinea

Field Address;Wes & Alta Beasleyc/o Pioneer Bible TranslatorsP. O. Box 178Madang, Papua New Guinea

July/August/September, 1981

BONG! BONG! The village leader used a large wooden pole to pound the "garamut" {GAH-rah-moot, atarge hollowed-out log), signaling to the people of Sou that two "white-skins" had arrived. Soon a largecrowd of men, women, and children had gathered at the meeting house and Ibegan to describe what wewere doing there and the work I wanted to do in their Kurti language.Roger Quarton and 1had experienced some delays in Madang, but finally we boarded an Air Niugini jetand arrived 25 minutes later at Momote airport, Manus, September 17,1981. The goals of our surveywere threefold: to see if there are different dialects within the Kurti language; to assess the need anddesire of the Kurti people for a Bible translation program; and to determine which of the nine Kurtivillages would be the best location to build the "Beasley bushhouse" and do our work.After contacting several government officials and speaking to the Education Department head inLorengau, Roger and I caught a ride to the Kurti village of Loemoi on the 35-foot copra boat, "HenryMartin." The rated capacity of the boat was fifteen passengers but it was carrying thirty-five! We ft^nd aspot on the roof and sat in the open for four hours as the diesel engine coughed out clouds of blacksmoke. Thank the Lord, we were in front of the exhaust and it was an overcast day. Around 4:30 P.M. westopped off the shore from Loemoi and a young girl in an outrigger canoe brought us to the beach. Rightaway, we met the head teacher who offered the use of a spare teacher's house for our overnight stay.Our survey was profitable and enjoyable. The Kurtipeople are very hospitable and in every village we werewelcomed and well taken care of. We found out thatthere are no dialect differences, that the Kurti people are / ^definitely interested in translation work in theirlanguage, and that the village of Sou (pronounced "so"in "so what") is the best location for us to work. /A tot of preparation remains before we move out to Sou.Alta and I must buy a gas stove, a large battery, andsupplies for six weeks. We must also sortand pack the /Oitems we want to take to Sou now. I will also need to /build wooden crates to ship our things in. We will be / "w Jjbuying, packing, and preparing for 2-3 weeks until I v..leave for Manus October 2^h on the boat. Iwill take careof off-loading our goods in Lorengau and putting themin temporary storage. Then I will travel to Sou to make ^arrangements for temporary housing. Then, back to Man pounding "garamut".

Lorengau where 1will call Alta and tell her to bring the boys. When they arrive, we will charter a canoeand transport our goods to Sou and set up housekeeping.Our first stay in Sou will last from the last week in October to just before Christmas. During this time, wehope to make a significant beginning in language learning. Ifeel that this is a very important time and willhelp us to keep moving forward in language acquisition even while we build our house.After Christmas holidays, we will be attending the PBT General Meeting in Madang in early January. Weplan also to use this interval out of the village to purchase our housebuilding supplies and other goods.Then, Lord willing, we will begin building our house in February,

Later in the New Year, we plan to attend two workshops; an Anthropology workshop in May and aPhonology workshop in July. These workshops will enable us to obtain expert help for our problems andquestions in these two areas of research.Thefirst six weeks in our allocation will be an important time. We will besetting precedents and makingfirst impressions which will be difficult to alter later. Also, we will be hearing the language with a clearand un-prejudiced ear which will all too soon begin to be influenced by our intuitive but unsupportedconclusions about the nature of the Kurti sound system. We ask that you support us with your prayersduring this crucial period. Pray that we will develop constructive habits of witnessing to and workingwith the Kurti people. Pray that we will make significant strides in language learning and analysis. Praythat we can be "ambassadors" for Christ rather than just representatives of another mission. Yourprayers and your concerned financial support are important to us and we thank you for your faithfulness.The people of Sou listened to my talk and asked several questions. Finally, it seemed that everyone wassatisfied and the headman said that they would be very happy for us to live in their village if we chose todo so. Now that we have looked at the advantages and disadvantages of each village, we have decided toaccept their invitation.

I

The boys grow taller every day. Jonathan and Adam have a puppy now. Her name isMitchie.

-/

Alta and Robin Butler sanding the table she and Wes made.We were able to use the "joinery" at the canter to make someof the furniture and trimming for the house.

FROM ALTA"Come on, Mom and Dad", the boys called down to us as we climbed several grass-covered hills in thehighlands at Ukarumpa. Itwas all Icould do to keep on walking with the thin atmosphere. 1was still notfeeling well at the timeandWes stayedbehind with line. Theboyswould actually runupthe hill. Theviewfromthe top was thrilling. Wecould seethe valleys.| Ukarumpacenter and mountains inthe background.We enjoyed our stay at Ukarumpa again and, with tne help of the other PBT teams there, were able tofinish our group house to the "livable" stage. There is still inside work to be done, but we all had otherjobs calling us back to the lowlands. The most exciting"Job" callingus was preparing to allocate! WhileWes was doing the final survey of the Kurti area on Manus, the boys and Ifinished their school year. Assoon as our new curriculum arrives we will begin second and fourth grades. Jonathan had a specialrequest at the end of third grade. He loves lemon ^ebox pie and asked me if 1would make one for himwhen he finished third grade and let him eat the who e thing. Imade ityesterday and he has eaten %of it.He will probably finish it off today. Now, while the boys are enjoying a vacation from school and I amenjoying being free from teaching, Wes and Iare ba^ in the middle of sorting and packing again. We willonlytake the bare necessitiesto the village now andiwill takethe remainder ofour thingswhenwehaveour housebuilt. Theseare exciting months forus anld the realization ofourpurposeincoming to PapuaNew Guinea is here. We thank you very sincerely for all your prayers for our guidance, good health,wisdom and strength. Thank you for your letters and for your love. We love each of you and definitelyfeel you are a part of this work too. '

Love.Alta

S

istw P

"> 2 o o

Qs;

so

a

Scu

ccc

ou

c

QO

Vol. IV, No. 5

Beasleys' Backlogof news from

Papua New Guinea

Field Address:Wes & Alta Beasleyc/o Pioneer Bible TranslatorsP. O. Box 178Madang, Papua New Guinea

October/November/December 1981

SOU: The First Six Weeks"Manus Diary ~

October 29,1981: Icompleted my tripon theTotol (a small ship) to Manus and arrived in Lorengau. Afterstoring some goods, I caught a canoe to Sou.

November 2, 1981: The Sou people have provided a house for me and my family. Today I go toLorengau, pick up the stored goods and return to Sou. While in Lorengau, I call Alta and teli her to comewith the boys on the next plane.November 12, 1981: Alta, Jonathan and Adam arrive today and we go straight to Sou. Alta and I bothstarted our day at 5 A.M. We were met at the beach by a crowd of people who welcomed usenthusiastically. The boys were welcomed officially by one of the village leaders in an interestingceremony (the significance of which we still have not determined). He came out to the canoe, pickedboth the boys up, and set them down about waist-deep in the water. Then, while making a long, detailedspeech, he splashed sea water on them with a branch until they were both soaked. As he finished, thepeople ran out to the canoe and carried our suitcases and other goods into our house. We began to getunpacked and rested a bit before the evening feast. That evening there were speeches, gifts, feasting,singing, and dancing until 3 A.M. the next morning.November 13 - December 14,1981: The balanceof our first stay in Sou was taken up by several activities.Most importantly, we got acquainted with the Sou people and they got to know us. They are differentfrom the Ramu-Sepik River people we came to know on the PNG mainland. The Sou people are moreout-going, less shy with newcomers like us. They have overtly expressed their desire to help us learntheir language and they go out of their way to teach us a newword or phrase. Because of their help in language learning, wewere able to learn all the normal greetings and some small talk.On the State Department's Language Acquisition Scale, wewould be rated at "zero plus". As the rating implies, we still have along way to go in language learning but we thank the Lord for ourprogress. Anthropology research is one way of describing whatwe do as we inquire and learn about the culture of the Kurtis. Inthe short time we were in Sou, we witnessed a wedding and adeath plus seeing everyday life. The Kurtis are a fascinatingpeople with an intricately woven tapestry of lifestyle and culture.We look forward to discovering more. Houseplanning took a wes speaking with one of the sou villagesignificant amount of time. At the insistence of the village leaders.

C"Tleaders, Alta and I planned our house to the extent that we could provideItJl'Vl'iiik' -1^^1 materials we would use in our bush house.

December 15,1981: For several days we have been praying for good weatherV '|^^||l|A|||d for our trip out. This is no casual prayer for our comfort because this is the

H ^ "northwest" season. The winds shift from the mild, gentle breezes from theNortheast to the wild, gale-force winds from the Northwest. The people stay

L^^EI close to home and coastal traffic is severely limited. The coconut trees bendover at a ridiculous angle and the winds test each house. Just yesterday,

r^jm some friends came by who had been waiting two weeks for good travelingweather. However, today, we wake up to clear, sunny skies. Thank you,

B ^ Father. The trip to Lorengau is not the best but we arrive safely and onschedule.

I December 16,1981: As wetake care ofbusiness in Lorengau, werememberthat two years ago today we arrived in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to

our term service.

December 17,1981: Today wefly Air Niugini to Madang. There is quite a lotPaul tells us interesting stories of to accomplish before we return to Sou. Christmas at Ukarumpa, PBTAnnualhis experiences during World Meeting in Madang, buying trip to Lae to obtain house materials, and oddsWar 11. Qpjjg which always come up. Lord willing, we will return to Manus Jan

uary 29th, 1982 to begin building our bush house. Again Lord willing, ourhouse will be completed by Alta's birthday, April 1st, 1982. We request yourprayers for safety for us and others involved in travels and building our bushhouse."

FROM ALTAOur first view of our new and temporary home was through a lot of special "bilas" (the Pidgin word fordecorations). As the entire population of Sou' village met the boys and me at the shore and guided us to thehouse they had decorated for us we felt that this was another new beginning. Wealsofeltalotof loveon thepart of these people and an intent desire to please us and to make us feel welcome. Our house is set backfrom the shore about 120 feet and is a small two room grass hut built on poles about 4 feet off the ground.There is a small front room which is the boys' bedroom, a slightly larger back room which is our bedroomand a five foot open area between the two rooms which serves as ourkitchen. We quickly settled in as thevillagers brought usfresh fruit jCyand gifts. The boys' correspondence courses were delayed in jn^customs in Port Moresby so I wasn't able to begin their new courses as planned. This gave both the boys and me a time to get acquainted ^withthepeople,iearnnamesandbeginourlanguagelearning. Soulsa very peaceful village and we feel we are going to be happy there.Wes had the refrigerator going when I arrived with a cooler full offrozen meat, butter, and cheese. We had also sent several boxes ofcannedgoodsaheadand,ofcourse,lotsofflourandsugar. IwasgladI brought plenty of baking staples and was able to keep cookies orcakeon hand forourvisitorsthroughouttheafternoonandevening. I Jonathan and Adam have enjoyed beingdid run out of cooking oil, however, and several of the ladies "rallied" close to the ocean.by making several bottles of coconut oil which is no small task. Ourfavorite time is when we sit out on the small front porch of our villagehouse and drink tea and talk with our neighbors. This is a goodlanguage-learning time too. Everyone is so eager to help us learn thelanguage, even the children. One of my favorites, the little three-yearold girl of Andrew, has noticed the adults speaking to us in Pidgin andthen telling us how to say the word or phrase in the locallanguage. One day when she brought me something she veryseriously repeated it several times in "Kurti" so Iwould learn it. I'll tryto get a picture of her in one of our newsletters. Andrew, her father, isone of the village leaders who has been so helpful in getting us settled Aita enjoys visiting with her newfriends.

Jonathan and Adam have enjoyed beingclose to the ocean.

and keeping us informed of village affairs and etiquette. In our future bobe-io-be???newsletters we will try tointroduce you tothe Sou people with whom iiijwe work.TVC. ihoiier. MUr po*r

Langendrowa and work with the people of the Titon language group.Bill and Lenore Martin and their two boys, Joel (5) and Jason (2), live on theextrenne west end of ManusIsland in the village of Lessau and work with the people of the Lindrou language group.A commitment that all the Manus teams hold in common is our commitment to the involvement of theManus people in the Manus Bible translation programs. Each of us is praying that God will raise upqualified and dedicated men from the respective language groups to become national translators fortheir own people. Please pray with us.

PRAYER AND PRAISE;Praise the Lord for so many answered prayers during our initial stay in Sou. The Lord's answer was trulya "full measure, pressed down and running over".Praise the Lord! Judy Glaze has allocated in Fulamu village in the Bau language group near Madang.Praise the Lord again! Roger Quarton has announced his decision to allocate in the Azao languagegroup on the Ramu River in the Madang Province.The Messersmith and Parrish families both completed Field Training successfully and are now gettinginto their respective jobs.Please pray for Steve and Rhonda Hayward and for the Mike and Eunice Herchenroeder family who willbe coming to PBT/PNG In 1982.

Please pray for the three other Bible translation teams working in Manus Province.Pray that our house-building in Sou will progress smoothly and safely.Pray that God will use us as witnesses for Him. We are constantly praying that God will grant us wisdomto "speak the truth in love".

We praise the Lord for giving us two years of joy In serving Him in Papua New Guinea. We rest in Hispromise that He is always with us. i

THANKS PARTNERS!You can't carry muchwith just a piece ofString. The women ofPNG take a piece ofstring and weave it together to make a bilum(BEE-loom: a wovenstring bag), which cancarry heavy loads. Ourwork is like thatalonewe can't carry much ofa load or burden, butwhen we are woven together with the rest ofthe body of Christ wecan carry a big load.Your prayers and support, combined withour efforts here, arebeing used to bring theWord of God to someof the Bibleless peopleof the world.

This woman is twisting string forweaving baskets.

O I - ;HillO 3 *