{"id":333,"date":"2019-04-08T08:38:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T12:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/?p=333"},"modified":"2019-09-09T08:51:17","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T12:51:17","slug":"what-you-didnt-know-you-didnt-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/2019\/04\/08\/what-you-didnt-know-you-didnt-know\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT YOU DIDN\u2019T KNOW YOU DIDN’T KNOW"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When we lived in Papua New Guinea it took around three weeks for a letter from the USA to arrive in New Guinea.  Not bad, if you weren\u2019t expecting a letter and one just showed up.  However, we did not live at the location where mission mail arrived\u2026 we lived interior, in the tropical rainforest where postal services were not available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026So how did you get\nyour mail?\u201d <\/em>you ask.  The mission\nairplane brought our mail and supplies to us once every three months.  That\u2019s a long time to wait, especially if you\nare running low on supplies.  (A story on\nthat to be featured in a future newsletter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me give you a \u2018for instance.\u2019 \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you wrote and sent a letter to us\u2026 And, if your letter arrived\ntoday and we had a supply flight yesterday, your letter would be placed in a\nmail bag and sit in our supply bin until our next supply flight, typically\nthree months later; then your letter would reach us.  \u2026But our mission pilots cannot wait around for you to read three\nmonths-worth of mail so my reply to your letter wouldn’t get out of the bush\nuntil the next supply flight.  Yep, three\nmonths later, and then another three weeks to get to your location back in the\nUSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put this into realistic terms, if you wrote and sent a letter to\nus on March 1st<\/sup>, it would arrive in country around the 22nd or\nthereafter.  If my supply flight was March\n20th, your letter would not reach me until sometime after June 20th<\/sup>,\nand my reply to you wouldn’t reach you until after the second week of October.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Golly, I think back to the days of courting Joyce when we\nexchanged more than 3,100 letters.  I\ncouldn\u2019t imagine waiting that length of time to receive a letter from her.  Oh, by-the-way\u2026 back then (1971) postage was\njust six cents or the equivalent of thirty-eights cents in today\u2019s\neconomy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did we learn from this experience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Selfishness\u2026 I am a typical American and I do not like to wait for\nanything; \u201cI want it and I want it NOW!\u201d<\/li>
  2. Patience, patience, patience\u2026 yes, patience often requires\n\u2018sitting on your hands\u2019 and waiting.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s put this into perspective of God\u2019s Word \u2013something we take\nfor granted despite the fact that there is hundreds of translations and\nparaphrases of the Bible available to us in our English language.  Think about the millions of people of the\nworld who don\u2019t have a Bible in their language. \nThat, in itself, is a stark reality for many, but think about it; if\nthey don\u2019t have a Bible available to them in their heart language then it is safe\nto assume that they don\u2019t know God because no one has brought them a clear\nunderstanding of His story and the gospel. \nThey\u2019ve been waiting a lot longer than six months to receive His Word\neven though they don\u2019t know it exists. \nNor do they know the way of salvation and light.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ethnos360 is working hard to place hard working missionaries in some of the most remote places on the planet in order to bring them the light of the gospel AND God\u2019s written Word in their language.  But let\u2019s look at a timeline of getting the Bible to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    First, a missionary must be trained and equipped with the\nknowledge and skills to engage with unreached peoples.  That includes Bible training, missions\ntraining which entails language & culture acquisition skills, an understanding\nof New Testament church principles, teaching skills, and understanding key\nelements of Bible translation.  Such\ntraining can take up to four years or longer. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Once a missionary is so equipped, they locate a people group with\nwhom they wish to engage.  But the\nmissionary does not know or understand the language and culture of the people\nso they will spend the next four to five years learning these elements for life\nand understandable function among such ones. \nOh, and then there is the learning of worldview\u2026 what makes these people\n\u2018tick.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then comes the task of teaching God\u2019s Word.  Where do you start?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Well, you begin with foundations\u2026 teaching who God is; His nature,\nHis character, His attributes.  Next you\nlaunch into the story of creation and follow thru the Old Testament laying a\nfoundation of truth that points to a coming redeemer, just as God disclosed His\nstory to us in the pages of the Bible. \nBear in mind that the Bible lessons you teach must be developed on the\nbasis of knowing and understanding the language & culture of the people,\nthen translated into a comprehensive scope for teaching.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There comes a time when the story culminates in the gospel.  –Remember, God\u2019s Word says \u201cFaith comes by hearing, and hearing<\/strong>\n(understanding) by the<\/strong> [proclamation\nof the] Word of God.\u201d<\/strong>  Once you have believers you begin to disciple\nthem in the principles of walking in Christian light\u2026 how to stand on their own,\nas well as establishing a body of believers as a living church.  So there is a lot of work that goes into the\neffort of getting to this point.  Next is\nthe task of translating the Bible.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ah yes, Bible translation\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Coworkers in Paraguay wrote, \u201cwe are currently involved with three different translation projects. One team checked the Gospel of Mark, and another team checked Galatians, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus. These books are now being distributed.  The third team is preparing for a printing that includes a revision of the\nNT and about half of the OT.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cCurrently, the Scriptures are in several different booklets. To bring your Bible to church, you would have to bring a bag full of books weighing about 10 pounds. So, this printing will put all the Scriptures into one book which we trust will help serve the existing church.  The Gospel of John is being translated as well as the Gospel of Luke, which has a total of 1,151 verses.\u201d  Wow! That\u2019s a lot of\nwork!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another co-worker writes from Papua New Guinea with this update: \u201cWe were able to get 2,200 verses of a translation checked by another consultant.  Then we were able to check another 2,750 verses of two other translations.  During this time the two more New Testaments were completed as well as a revision of a New Testament. we also were able to use this time to finish a huge literacy project for a tribe and assist several other tribes with their literacy programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A field director wrote and said that \u201c7 different translation checks were taking place\nacross a period of time.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     This is exciting news in that people who have waited much longer than we\u2019ve ever   waited for our mail to arrive in the tribe will finally have God\u2019s written word in their very own language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But why should such ones have to wait so long to have something as precious as God\u2019s Word made available to them?  In part, it is because few are going to the hard to reach places of the world to establish thriving churches, and in part, it is because not many are willing to go.  We certainly are grateful for those making sacrifices to carry the gospel to lost people waiting in darkness to receive a message they\u2019ve never heard.  \u2026And we are grateful to those who stand with us in prayer and the giving of resources so that such ones might hear the glorious news of the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We would value your prayers as we continue to mobilize and mentor those God is raising up to finish the task He\u2019s given us to do.  Pray also for open doors of opportunity to stimulate the interest in missions\u2026 perhaps at your church or in a home meeting.  We are here to assist you in any way we can.  Please contact us for scheduling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When we lived in Papua New Guinea it took around three weeks for a letter from the USA to arrive in New Guinea.  Not bad, if you weren\u2019t expecting a letter and one just showed up.  However, we did not live at the location where mission mail arrived\u2026 we lived interior, in the tropical rainforest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":276,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}