Kurt, Johanna, Kassia, Lukas and Matthias

Our family in Papua New Guinea | 2012

Ukarumpa and Aiyura Valley

Ukarumpa is SIL's center of opperations in Papua New Guinea and where we live and work.

Miniafia New Testaments from the dedication in 2010

"God is a Miniafia Man," the loincloth-clad speaker exulted! "Before He was English, and American, and Australian. But today He has become Miniafia!"

Doini Island

Photo by Tim McIntosh (SIL PNG's boat manager in 2008) | Many of the 100's of islands in PNG can only be reached by boat.

Where do you play when you live on an island?

Children from Nubwageta village playing near the shore.

Miniafia New Testament Dedication

New Testament dedications in PNG usually include elaborate processions to welcome the Bibles.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Word | Tok Pisin Bible School

2010-12-22 Tok Pisin Bible School

Greetings from Papua New Guinea!

“The Word” is a weekly photo and caption detailing the impact of Bible translation.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

"Great joy to ALL people!" | December 2010

“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today...” -- Luke 3:10b-11a (NLT)

Dear Loved Ones,

We want to wish you a blessed Christmas and a new year filled with joy! Right now we are rejoicing with the Malei people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) who have just received the New Testament in their own language this past weekend. Praise God! Now the Malei can learn of and understand in their hearts the joy that our Savior, Jesus Christ, brings. What an incredible Christmas gift that is!

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(Pictures of the Malei NT Dedication celebration)

We are back in Papua New Guinea! We arrived safely in Ukarumpa (our home and place of work), without any delays or complications, on November 19th. We have had many things to do since we arrived and are still settling in. One setback we have experienced since getting here is our bodies getting adjusted to the stomach bugs that are so prevalent here. Our family, all of us except Matthias thankfully, has been sick at one time or another (several of us are sick as I write this update). Please pray with us that God would return us all to health quickly.

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(from left to right: Matthias and Kassia; Luke helping to set up our Christmas tree)

I (Kurt) started back to work with the network team at the Communication and Technical Services department and am getting up to speed on the changes that have been made while I was on home assignment. I have been able to put to good use the experience and training I gained while working with the network team at SIL’s Dallas offices. We are in the midst of virtualizing almost all of our datacenter in order to more effectively and reliably provide the services we do to translation teams and support personnel.

Johanna is busy, at home unpacking our belongings that have been in storage and organizing our house. We have been blessed with a home here so the transition has been easier than when we first came to PNG in 2007. Kassia has started kindergarten and was already involved in the primary campus’ Christmas presentation.

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(from left to right: Kassia’s Christmas presentation; Kassia and Johanna in our back yard)

Thank YOU for being a faithful part of our ministry and the work that God is doing in Papua New Guinea.

He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon!" Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! – Revelation 22:20 (NLT)

Yes, come, Lord Jesus!

Kurt (for Johanna, Kassia, Lukas, and Matthias too)

FamilySignature

Friday, December 17, 2010

Finding His Words Again

Papua New Guinea {2010}

29 June 2010 128 It was three in the morning and the lights were on. Someone was walking around the guest house

Taitus, a national Bible translator, was staying at the Bible Translation Association (BTA) offices in Ukarumpa, along with his sister Fesi and her husband Rumu, far from their village home in Somba Siawari.* They had completed a week-long translation workshop and planned to spend extra days in town.

That night in the guest house, Taitus was suddenly awake, and aware of a thief.

A man had broken down the door and was now inside. Upon seeing the intruder, Taitus thought first to defend himself and his family members. But the man’s face was covered and he seemed unafraid. In his hand, he clutched a machete. Taitus backed away.

Rumu and Fesi came into the room and the man charged at them. They fled and hid in the bedroom. Undaunted, the intruder grabbed two laptop computers and left.

And just like that, in the dark of night, all their hard work was gone.

A year of translation work was on those computers. Several books of the Bible were drafted and ready to send for checking. Now they were lost. Discouragement overwhelmed the small translation team. They felt like a part of them had been snatched away.

Together they wondered, what is God showing us? Even though they were afraid, they thanked God that none of them were hurt and prayed for the man who stole the computers. Maybe God would bring the man to Jesus through this. They also prayed that somehow God would bring back their computers.

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He answered in ways they never expected.

A year before, some colleagues who had worked with Taitus, Rumu, and Fesi had noticed their decade-old computers. Unknown to them, these colleagues had already sent new laptop computers in the mail, to be delivered to a translation team in need. Only three days after the robbery, the translation team learned of the gift and their colleagues’ wishes for them to have the new laptops. All they had to do was go to the post office to pick them up. Shocked and amazed, they realized God had answered their prayers months before they had even prayed them!

And He wasn’t finished.

They took the new computers to their IT department to install all the programs they needed, and while they were there it was discovered that an even older computer they had turned in for a data transfer still had all of the past year’s work on it! Miraculously, it had been preserved and all of it was recovered.

Their hearts filled with praise to God! Together, the translation team reported, “We thanked Him for giving us more than we ever imagined was possible. And now, we can’t wait to get back to work, translating His mighty Word so that people in our village can know His power!

“We can’t stop praising our Lord…we just can’t!”

* Taitus, Rumu, and Fesi are national translators and literacy workers with the Bible Translation Association of Papua New Guinea.

-- by Jon Bilbro

This story can also be found on theWordisLife.net

Ethnologue | Languages of the World entry for Somba-Siawari (also known as the Burum-Mindik)

Map of where the Burum-Mindik live

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

The Word | Teacher Training

2010-12-08 Teacher Training

Greetings from Papua New Guinea!

“The Word” is a weekly photo and caption detailing the impact of Bible translation.