We just finished up 4 days of checking Shari and our co-worker Lori Morley in their progress towards fluency in the Simbari language. The checking went well and now Shari will be working towards her last fluency check. 
(Lori M. will be moving on to level 3 studies) Shari and I took this check before furlough and I already passed but Shari needed more time, so this was a re-take for her which she passed this time. We thank the Lord and look at this accomplishment as one more monument to God’s faithfulness as we serve Him among the Simbari People.
This is how we do language checks: We use a native Simbari speaker who also knows the Pidgin trade language. An experienced language consultant comes in and we go over a thorough written exam. The one being tested reads each answer of the written exam to the native Simbari speaker who then tells the consultant the meaning of the sentence in the Pidgin language. 
After the written exam has been checked then there are oral speech checks. In one the missionary tells a story to the native Simbari speaker who tells back the story to the consultant in Pidgin. The check is to see how many points of the story can be understood by the native speaker and how smoothly the story flows. This process is also done in reverse with the native speaker telling a story to the missionary. This whole checking process takes several days and gives the consultant a fairly good idea of the language abilities of the missionary.
The last day of the check, was spent discussing strategy with the visiting consultant. We discussed discourse analysis (a difficult area of study that reveals how language features often signal when a speaker is adding extra background information and then how he gets back to the main theme of the story. Also ways paragraphs are indicated by linguistic features and so on.) Understanding these discourse features of the language is important for making our speaking and translation flow more naturally. We also talked about future teaching and translation plans.
I, David, am still working towards my final fluency check in the Simbari language. It is scheduled for Feb. of 2000. In the meantime I will be doing the discourse analysis and investigating and drawing conclusions on all the World View aspects of the Simbari culture (Beliefs in the supernatural, tribal religion, shamanism, myths, knowledge/understanding of natural elements like the sun, moon, stars and rainbows and such) Then last, but not least, I am working at picking up my speaking speed. There is still a lot of ground to cover in just four months. PLEASE PRAY!
For the last two months we have had some monsoon-like weather that just sat on us. For two months all we saw was fog and rain from morning till night. We even ran out of some food supplies because the plane could not come in. The Simbari people were starting to worry because they could not do any garden work for the whole time because it was so muddy. During that time a young man went missing and the people searched and searched and could not find any trace of him and they believed he fell in the river which was larger than normal because of all the rain. Well, the weather finally improved and then just a few days ago they found his body. This young man helped me a lot in my language study before our furlough and now he’s gone. 
We featured this picture of him on our July 97 letter. It hurts us to lose our friends because we want so much to share God’s message with them. Our hearts are so full of all that God has already done for us and all that he has waiting for those who trust him. So we, like the Apostle Paul, as debtors to the Gospel and out of love for our Savior, want to be able to say,
“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.” Rom 15:20-21
Thank you for your being a part of the team in reaching the Simbari through your prayers and support.
In His love,
David & Shari Ogg