Vol. XII, No. 1

6va.o

Beasleys' Backlogof news from

Papua New Guinea

Field Address;Wes & Alts Beasleydo Pioneer Bible Trar)slatortP.O. Box 997Madang, Papua New Guinea

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

January-June 1989

Jonathan's namesake with his younger sister and relatives.

I guess we will have to call our newsletter"Beasley's Backlog of News from Papua NewGuinea and the USA." We have been home ayear now and normally would be ready toreturn to PNG now. Because of my father'sillness and the boys' schooling we will remainlonger. Wes made a trip to Papua New Guineain February and will tell you about that elsewhere in this letter. I'll try to bring you up todate on what we have been doing since I lastwrote at the end of last year.

We spent Christmas in Mississippi withWes' folks and had Christmas later with my

folks here in Michigan. When we left Mississippi we rented a trailer so we could bring the restof our things (which we usually leave in storagewhile we are overseas) on to Michigan for usehere. We had car trouble in southern Illinoisand had to leave the car and trailer there(special thanks to Howard Kraps at the Salemchurch for his special help). We got to spendsome extra time with our good friends inIndiana, the Larry Payne family. It was a long,tedious task but we finally put our things instorage, got the car home and then went backfor our things in March.

Wes left for Papua New Guinea the end ofJanuary. We didn't like the look of glee on hisface as he left us in the snow and ice ofMichigan to head for the tropics. We all wantedto join him. The boys were doing fairly well inschool until January and February. Theybecame tired of staying inside all the time andjust couldn't seem to become acclimated to thecold. So, I took them for ski lessons and theyfound the snow beeirable and even enjoyed it.Wes returned the first part of March. He hadmissed the ice and subzero temperatures.

While we are here we sire attending thechurch where I grew up the Spencer ChurchofChrist. It is a country church that runs about90-100 in attendance. We enjoy working withthem and the boys enjoy being in the youthgroup. They spent their spring break fromschool making a trip to Show Low, Arizona tovisit an Indian mission and to help with somerepairs. It was a good experience for them. TheSpencer church has started 4 house churches inthe surrounding area which is exciting. Wehelp teach the children occasionally in thesehouse churches and Wes helps supply preachoccasionally at Spencer while the preachers areaway and also in a small church to the south ofus which has no preacher.

The boys were on the track team in schoolthis spring and both earned their letters plusother awards. Jonathan has played saxophoneand bass drum in the band all year and thisspring Adam started learning the drums. Theyboth marched in the July 4th parade a few daysago and Jonathan marched earlier in theNational Trout Festival in my hometown. Theyboth did well academically and, generally, hada successful school year. We praise the Lord forhelping them to make a good adjustment andfor their teachers and fellow students who werevery helpful and accepting.

Wes and I traveled to Dallas the end ofMay tohelp teach at our Pioneer Missions Instituteand to attend our PBT board meeting. It wasgreat to see some of our fellow missionaries whoare sdso home on furlough but it made us quitehomesick for PNG and our work there. We werethrilled to meet some ofour newestPBT recruitsand to help in their training and to answersome of their questions. We have some verytalented people joining our ranks and feel theLord is opening so many new areas in whichour group can serve.

The month of June has brought us lots ofbusy days. School was out the second week of

June but the boys continued to go daily for theirdriver's education classes. Wes andI have beenbusy each week with either a DVBS or a camphere in the Northern Michigan area. We haveseveral more scheduled before the summer isover. Please continue to pray for our travelsand for our witness for the Lord wherever we go.

We want to thank all of you who have beenpraying for my father. He is not doing well atthe time of this writing. He just got out of thehospital again. The chemotherapy caused hiswhite blood count to drop too low and so wasdiscontinued. He has many complicationsfrom that and other medicine and is quite weakand discouraged. Please continue to pray forhim. We are thankful that we can be with himat this time and help him and my mother asmuch as possible. Thank you for your prayersfor us too. Please continue to pray for ourwisdom and for the Kurtis and especially forCazimir. God bless you all.

OUR WORK HEREIN THE USA

While we are living here in the States, we arelimited in the work we can do on the Kurtitranslation program directly. We plan tomaintain regular contact through the mail withthe people there especially Cazimir. Wehavearranged for other Bible translators fromPioneer and Wycliffe Bible Translators inPapua New Guinea to visitManus periodically.As I mentioned elsewhere, I visited Manus inFebruary and next year, our whole family plansto make a trip to PNG during the summerschool break. The main goals ofthat trip will beto gather information about the future of thetranslation program and to give Jonathan andAdam the chance to make one last trip toManus to say "Goodbye!" to their PNG fnends.Besides all the normal things we do in the USA,I will also be working on the Kurti dictionaryand a descriptive grammar of the Kurtilanguage.

Since we will be in the USA for longer thanthe normal furlough time, we will also be doingsome other jobs connected to Bible translation.Specifically, Alta and I will be visitingchurches and Bible colleges to inform mission-minded Christians concerning the work ofPioneer Bible Translators. As opportunitiesarise, we will also represent PBT at conventions, rallies, seminars, and other meetings.

Adam (on left) and Jonathan playing in the band July 4th.

Already we have attended the North AmericanChristian Convention, the NationalMissionary Convention, the MichiganChristian Convention, Team Expansion's Pre-field Orientation, and PBT's Pioneer MissionsInstitute.

I will probably assist in an interlinear Greekdatabase project which PBT is currently working on. And, as if that were not enough, I planon completing my M.A. in Missiology at theSchool of World Mission at Fuller TheologicalSeminary in Pasadena, California. I only haveless than a year's work to go on that.

An enjoyable experience that I have hadduring our time here in the USA is preachingin area churches. Preaching is something thatI enjoy doing and something I always wish Icould do better but I realize that it is not mystrong point. However, I appreciate being ableto practice. I try to always give an encouragingmessage with a challenge to see the wholeworld from God's perspective.

Right now, there are a lot of unansweredquestions about our future. We have severalfactors to consider in making those decisions.We don't know what course Mr. Tanner's

Jonathan the new lifeguard.

cancer will take. We don't know if the localsituation in the Kurti area will improve anddesire for the scriptures will overcome theirother concerns. We have decided that weshould not change the boys' school for the restof their high school time. We want you to beaware of our predicament so that you can prayto God on our behalf for direction and wisdom.Please pray also that we will have peace andpatience through this time.

WINTER TRIP TOPAPUA NEW GUINEAWhen w^left Papua New Guinea in June of

1988, we told the Kurti people that we would bereturning to Manus to resume our work of Bibletranslation in October of the same year.However, as you know, our plans changed.

Although we wrote and informed the peopleof our change of plans, we decided that justwriting was not enough in this case. Before wehad left, I had spent a lot of time encouragingthem to select men to become members of anoversight committee which would help in the

reviewing of the draft translation. We had toldthem face-to-face that we would return inOctober; now, we felt that it was essential inorder to maintain trust that I go to PNG and tellthem face-to-face our change of plans.

With this in mind, I left alone for Papua NewGuinea the last week ofJanuary. Since PNG isa third world country, it is best to stay flexibleand hope to accomplish as much as possiblewhen travelling. I did not get to spend as muchtime in Sou village as I wanted but I was able toaccomplish most of my goals.

I spent the whole month ofFebruary, 1989 inPapua New Guinea, speaking about the futurewith the people of our village on Manus andalso with our PBT/PNG directors, GeorgesCarillet and Martha Wade. Our Kurti firiendswere understanding and sympathetic about ourdesire to be with Alta's folks. However, thelocal situation had seriously deteriorated. Aclan dispute about land ownership which hadbeen simmering for years had escalated justweeks before I arrived in February to the pointof physical violence. This ill feeling in thevillage is currently so serious that it jeopardizeseven the viability of the Kurti translationprogram. While I was there, I could not evencall for a village meeting to tell them oursituation because so many people were at oddswith one another. I did speak to manyindividuals and made a long announcementafter the church service on Sunday but I amsure there were some who did not hear enoughto truly understand what was going on. Inaddition to this, Memet (Alex) Keleu came a few

days before I left and told me that due to familyproblems, he would no longer be able tocontinue as a translator trainee. On thepositive side, our other trainee, Cazimir Tapo,expressed a desire to continue doing translation and to take part in the second year courseof the training program for nationaltranslators (which he has since completed successfully). I was able to arrange for someconsultant help for Cazimir from both PioneerBible Translators and the Papua New GuineaBible Translation Association. However, sinceCazimir, Alta, and I have worked as a teamdoing translation up to this time, I honestlydon't know whether Cazimir has enough experience and initiative to carry on without usbeing there with him. Cazimir needs yourprayer support.

I returned to the USA the first week ofMarchby an interesting and economical route. Asmany of you know, I am retired with adisability from the Army. In addition toreceiving a compensation, I also have theoption of flying via space-available ticket onmilitary aircraft in the Military AirliftCommand. So on the way back to Michigan, Iflew military stand-by part of the way. FromGuam to St. Louis, Missouri, the cost was only$20! Now that I have given this travel option atrial run, I think that we will give it a shot as afamily.

All the time that I was travelling and while Iwas in Papua New Guinea, I was aware andassured of your prayerful support. Thank youfor your help and yoiur love in action!

Before you move, please send the mailing lapel with a copy of your new address toMISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION, ^ Box 2427,KnoxvUle, TN 37901-2427.

Mission ServicesPO Box 2427Knoxville,TN 37901-2427

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Non Profit Org.37S50-9998

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