Don’t you enjoy seeing new babies, like the girl Salisa all bundled up in this picture above? New life is a blessing to see and it is such a joy to be a part of it! Our new Tobo believers continue to enjoy their new life in Christ, meeting together each Thursday morning as Jason leads a study through key Old Testament passages, and some in the NT as well. They have been learning more about their newfound faith, including our dependence on God, and how we can talk to Him in prayer—thanking Him and telling Him about our problems and hardships and asking Him to help us. We are also encouraging each other to also be praying for those who still do not believe as well as telling them the Good News. Many of the believers are very shy about praying in public, as in the past only religious leaders would make public prayers on certain occasions. But we are praying and trusting that as time goes on, more of them will start to feel more comfortable in this area of prayer.
We are still amazed and heartened by the change evident in the life of our neighbor and landowner, Alis. This man was heavily into the cargo cult and has always been known as a hothead and given to fits of anger and threats in village meetings or other gatherings. Since Alis has become a believer in Jesus, he is so peaceful and has a calm, gracious demeanor. He is a real joy to speak with, and desires to learn as much as he can these days from the Word. Jason has even begun using his help in translating Bible lessons for the new believers’ meetings. Thank the Lord with us for our new brother in Christ Alis! His wife Lanisa is a good friend of Janeene’s, and has also been learning and growing as a new Christian. Lanisa is one of our better Bible readers, and was actually the first brave Tobo person to pray publicly in the believers’ meeting a few weeks ago!
Also, tomorrow morning, we are getting a visitor in here! Translation consultant Linda Krieg will be flying into our village to check the Tobo translation of the book of Mark, as well as some key portions of Genesis and Exodus. Our friend and another new brother in Christ Polas will be joining Chad and Linda for the next week and a half of work, which will involve Chad reading the scriptures to Polas in Tobo, Polas telling Linda what was communicated by using Melanesian Pidgin (trade language of PNG), and Linda will be consulting the back-translation that Jason had done from Tobo back into English for her benefit in helping us make sure that the meaning of the scriptures is as close to the original as possible.
Would you understand this sign if you were at an airport, like the one we saw at a layover in Taiwan once?
This would come across much better to most of us if the translator had said something like this: “You are welcome to use the following coupons here. Enjoy!” The language is ours, but something didn’t quite get through in the best way, did it?
This example is for coupons to be used at airport dining facilities. How much more, as we are dealing with the powerful and life-changing Word of God, do we desire that it communicate in a clear, understandable and natural way to our Tobo friends, just as we would read and understand the Bible in our heart language of English? This is where Polas’ role as a native speaker of the Tobo language is so vital in helping us during this check. Would you please pray for us as we put in these long hours of sitting, reading, and discussion to make sure that God’s Word for the Tobo people will be as clear and accurate as possible? We are so thankful for this opportunity, which will bring us that much closer to getting the Word of God in its final form into the hands of the Tobo people!
Thanks so much for your prayers, support, and encouragement! We look forward to letting you know how things go with the check!
Chad, Janeene & Elijah
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