For any of you who might not know, our house\nhere in the tribe is run totally off of solar power. We have an array of\npanels on our roof and a bank of batteries under our house to collect and store\nall the energy. We then use that energy to power our lights, computers,\nwater pump, washer, fridge, freezer, etc. We knew before we left for\nfurlough last year that our aging batteries were in need of being replaced so\nwhile we were home, we ordered new ones. But they didn\u2019t arrive in PNG\nuntil after we were back in Amdu so we had to go for about a month without\nbeing able to use much power in the morning or after dusk. The batteries\nfor our team \u2018office\u2019 also needed replaced so the situation over there was\nabout the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the batteries finally did arrive,\nBart and our teammate Benjamin had to take some time out of translation and\nwriting Bible lessons to figure out how to get these new batteries (a different\ntype than the old batteries) hooked up correctly. Things went pretty\nsmoothly with the installation at our house, and we were very thankful to once\nagain be able to turn on lights after dark! The office, however, was a\ndifferent story. Picture sparks flying and system readouts not showing\naccurate numbers!! After many emails back and forth to our tech experts\nout in town and back in Missouri, they were able to get things functioning in\nan adequate manner. But we knew we needed someone with more expertise to\ncome in and troubleshoot some remaining problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully our tech guy Josh was able to\nmake the trip from town into Amdu. He confirmed that things at our house\nwere hooked up properly and working like they should. He also found and\nfixed a bunch of problems at the office and our coworkers\u2019 house that none of\nus knew even existed. Some of them were actually pretty serious so we\nwere thankful not only for his expertise in fixing these issues but also for\nthe Lord\u2019s protection!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We truly are a part of a larger team\nhere! We are out in a tribe, focusing on Bible translation and preparing\nto teach God\u2019s Word to our Amdu friends, but we couldn\u2019t stay here without the\nwork of all the support missionaries out in town. For those of you\nwho also support missionaries who serve in \u2018support\u2019 roles – thank you! \nThey are a vital yet often less recognized part of the work of tribal church\nplanting!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Translation Check<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On the heels of having our tech issues resolved\ncame the next big event \u2013 another translation check! Our consultant\nJason, who has years of experience and a wealth of knowledge pertaining to\nBible translation, came to check the next section of Bible portions (more than\n300 verses) that Bart and our teammate Missy had translated. The whole\ntranslation process is long with many steps that help to ensure accuracy,\ncomprehension and readability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So, what does a translation check look like?\u00a0 Picture Bart and our consultant Jason with their computers open on the table, sitting with 3 or 4 Amdu guys for several hours.\u00a0 Jason asks Bart to read a section of verses in Amdu.\u00a0 The Amdu guys listen as Bart reads, then Jason asks them to tell him, in the trade language Melanesian Pidgin, what they heard.\u00a0 If they leave out parts of the passage or if they misunderstand something, Jason might ask a few clarifying questions.\u00a0 This process is repeated until the whole passage is done.\u00a0 By the end, Jason can tell where there might be some problems that need to be looked at again and what parts are accurately and clearly communicating.\u00a0 Once the check is over and we make final changes that are approved by Jason, the verses are ready to be used in our Bible teaching and eventually printed to give to our Amdu friends.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n This translation check went very\nwell. Of course, there is a huge amount of translation work still ahead,\nbut as we keep moving along, it was great to hear Jason\u2019s encouragement that\nthe Amdu translation is going well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bible Lessons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With the translation check behind us, we sat\ndown as a team to talk about how to continue making progress toward our goal of\nteaching God\u2019s Word to our Amdu community. Since translation is in a good\nplace, it was decided that Bart would shift gears a little and begin to help\nBenjamin in the Bible lesson writing process. That is another huge task \u2013\nwriting clear, understandable lessons that not only explain God\u2019s Word but also\nat the same time dispel the wrong thinking that the Amdu people have always\nbelieved. There are so many things they believe that are in direct\ncontradiction to the Truth. They need a new foundation \u2013 one based on\nTruth that is only found in God the Creator. Just like with\ntranslation, the Bible lessons need to be accurate and understandable to our\nAmdu friends. The illustrations have to be ones to which they can\nrelate. All the little nuances of grammar need to be correct or the\nteaching will communicate something we don\u2019t intend to communicate!!! \nAlso like translation, the lesson writing process is done working closely with\nour Amdu friends giving input and correction to make it all clear and\naccurate. The work is intense and the hours are long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That catches you up to the present! In\njust a couple days, two more consultants will be flying to Amdu to spend a few\ndays (September 10-12) with us for a Bible lesson check. Bart and\nBenjamin will practice teaching a couple of the early Bible lessons to a group\nof our Amdu friends. These consultants, who have both gone through this\nwhole process in the respective tribes in which they worked, will give us\nfeedback about the Bible lessons and about our timeline for beginning the\nchronological Bible teaching. We look forward to their advice and the\nwisdom they will share with us from their years of experience. And we\u2019ll\nlet you know more about the timeline of beginning the Bible teaching as we get\na clearer picture after this consultant visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayer Requests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how can you be praying for us? Here\nare a few current requests:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank You!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It never seems enough to just say \u2018thank you\u2019 to\nthose of you who faithfully pray for us, support us financially and encourage\nus by keeping in touch with us via email. We are grateful for you and how\nyou are a part of the Amdu ministry even though you are halfway around the\nworld. We praise the Lord for the support team He has put together. \nHe daily encourages us to keep pressing on so that the Amdu people can hear His\nmessage \u2013 and He often uses you to be that encouragement. Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because He alone is worthy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bart, Emily and boys<\/p>\n\n\n\n ***See our next post for the latest news on the Bible lesson check.***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ***This update was sent out by email back in September, but we are just posting it on our blog now that we are out in town. The benefit is that we can now add pictures!*** We have to play a little catch-up here!!\u00a0 Hopefully none of you have been holding your breath while waiting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":392,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-family","category-ministry","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/392"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/bart-allen\/files\/2019\/11\/IMG_5053-600x450.jpg\")
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