In 2007, a village in Papua New Guinea heard the gospel, joyfully accepted it and many of them began worshipping the one true God who alone is worthy.
Now these same believers themselves are beginning the literacy and gospel outreaches that are needed to reach the other 2,700 people who share their language. Amazing!
What is more amazing is that prior to the literacy program and the gospel presentation in 2007, they had been illiterate and in complete spiritual darkness. Because their language had never been written down before, they had been trapped in their tribal superstitions and were ignorant of the message God had passed down for them in the Bible concerning the gospel.
In 2004, as we moved into the village and began the process of language learning we were so thankful for training we received through the NTM training centers. In this village, there was no dictionary to turn to. The people couldnʼt tutor us as they themselves were unaware of the patterns in grammar and phonetics that made up their every day way of communicating. Even the way they thought and interpreted life was completely foreign to us. We were completely dependent upon the Lord to open our minds and show us how to proceed.
M. David Sills in his book, The Missionary Call, he quotes Ralph D. Winter, “God cannot lead you on the basis of facts that you do not have.” We saw this to be so true as we began the process of trying to understand the culture and language. The Lord did not give us ideas and plans from thin air or mystically come and inspire us. The Lord used our minds and the time we invested into being learners throughout the training as the substance to work with as he guided us through the Holy Spirit to do the work that He had sent us there to do.
Everything we learned in the training was crucial. All the little sounds we were hearing in the tribal language needed to be analyzed and written down into understandable symbols. The grammar structure also had to be analyzed so we could understand what was being communicated. When it came time to write an alphabet, we were able to use the training in forming new orthographies that we had received. It was not easy, but again, the Lord prepared us in advance with the knowledge required and then brought all the information back to the forefront of our minds when we needed it.
Sometimes we get so busy in what we are doing that we forget to stop and look back and remember how the Lord has worked in our lives to equip us for the work He is doing through us. In light of that, we want to stop and thank the Lord for the great cross-cultural mission training we received through New Tribes Mission. We want to especially thank the staff that works at the training centers for the time they give to equip new generations of missionaries and for passing on their life stories and examples to those of us who are able to take and apply those principles to our own new works.
We are also thankful for those who prayerfully and financially support these trainers and teachers as they work stateside. Their jobs may not be taking place on foreign soil, but they are no less impacting the world of tribal missions as their thoughts and ideas are spread throughout the world as they are implemented by the NTM students in many countries.The Lord is truly using them to give missionaries the tools they need to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
-Written by Bill and Kelley Housley, serving with NTM in Papua New Guinea.
You can receive their updates by requesting them at pilgrimspa@aol.com
We (the Farthings) met with Bill & Kelley and their partners 3 years ago to talk to them about their alphabet decisions.
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