Game of Drones

So one of the things I brought back from furlough was this mini drone.  It is a really small, cheapy, with camera that I found at the Maker Faire.  After crashing it the first time, I decided to modify its landing gear and put on these styrofoam blocks.  BUT, that kept if from going up high, as there is a lot of extra weight and drag.

My son came up with this idea:


As he had some surgical tubing left over from making his slingshot rifle.

This did the trick.  Less weight, less drag, AND it keeps the motor covers on better.  This is GREAT for soft landings in grass or hard landings on rock.

I got the camera rather high up, the wind caught the drone and I nearly lost it, but after a bit of hunting for it, we found it.

So now I'm hoping to get some shots of where we live.  From the air, it looks like a bit of a shantytown, it looks much nicer from the ground.

Losses and Answers

A friend, co-worker, and brother in Christ died this week. Today we
hold his funeral. Yesterday my wife and I visited his house and gave
some banana bread to the family. This time of mourning is called a
'haus krai' (house cry) and it is similar to a wake, but with the PNG
cultural adaptation. The idea is to focus a time of mourning, getting
the wailing and the tears out during this time.

This community is giving his body back to the village that sent him, and
in doing so, they are thanking that community for the many years of
service this PNG man gave to our organization. The people here chipped
in food and water as very practical thank you to this village who is
also undergoing drought.

When this community pulls together and reaches out in love, is when it
shines. When the chips are down, these people prove to be wonderful and
loving, and incredible.

At the same time, this Monday there was a very important meeting which a
friend/co-worker was going to, and we prayed as a small group for that
meeting. God did a wonderful thing there. The results of that meeting
were well beyond our wildest wishes and it went really well!

(I can't discuss more detail than this.)

But the point is, that even amidst grief, God is still there and
working. Even among discouragement at the loss of a hard working
brother, God brings encouragement in other forms by relieving us of a
large burden.

I do not know the label for the emotion of being in the middle of
relative upheaval, and yet still knowing God has you safely.
But I know it is a very alive place to be. You feel as if you are truly
living life when you live like that.
Ups and downs, good news and bad, faith, acceptance, grief, excitement,
knowing God is in control and working all around you.

It is truly something else.

Burning need for Translation

One of the many hats that I wear where I live, is a fire helmet. As a member of the volunteer fire crew,
I get to drive around in an old fire truck and shoot water from the hoses to put out fires.



As you might be able to tell from the writing on the side of the truck, the fire truck is from Japan. Being a Japanese fire truck, all of the valves and gauges are labeled in Japanese. There is a slight problem in that none of the fire crew can read or speak Japanese. Imagine going to a fire and not knowing for sure if you needed to move a lever to the left or right to engage the a pump.

To overcome this problem, the fire crew had a Japanese speaker translate the Japanese labels into English. The English was then written in permanent marker in the appropriate places on the truck.




Great. The Japanese labels have been translated into English. But the work doesn't stop at just getting the words translated. Imagine if the Japanese translator approached us and asked about the translated labels and our response was, "You did a great job. We never take the truck out of the firehouse, but whenever we go there we stand back and appreciate the hard work you put into making that more understandable. Sometimes we even read the English words and marvel that those Japanese characters say that." He'd probably be very frustrated because he wanted his translated labels to be used to have an impact on fighting fires.

In a lot of ways, this is just like our desire to see God's Word translated into the various heart languages here in Papua New Guinea. We don't want to produce an end product that just sits on the shelf. We want people to actual read God's Word in a language that they can understand. But we want them to do more than just read it. We want them to be fully engaged with it. We want it to be used to have an impact on transforming their lives and communities. 

turning 16

My daughter's 16th birthday party is today

Years ago when I heard classics like 'you're 16, you're beautiful and
you're mine" or "sixteen candles" or "happy birthday sweet 16" I said
'I'm going to play those songs when my daughter turns 16.

I remember Potsy singing to Joany on Happy Days, on her 16th birthday.  I romanticized the idea of one day being a father with a sixteen year old daughter. 

I don't know exactly how this happened, the time sort of slipped by.  I still feel like there are a lot of things I wish to impact to my daughter.

Where we live, when your child graduates high school, they are sent out into the world on their own.  I have less than 2 years left with my daughter under my roof.

My wife and I are entering into that stage of life where so many people have been before us, but we enter it now for the first time.

I'm finding I don't like the idea of her turning 16.  I don't like the idea of seeing her in a full length gown.  Dads, is this normal?

I'm fighting a strong desire to be grumpy all day.  She's growing up.  I'm fighting the desire to do the cliche'd dad thing ' I used to hold you and you were no longer than up to my elbow..... how did you grow up so fast?'.....

But at the same time, I am proud of who she is becoming.  We get compliments from people about her all the time.

I always told myself I would not be that typical dad who gets all emotional at times like this, but man it's hard not to be.

On a practical side, Kendal is working hard to make this day perfect.  They've been planning this party for a year.  Our oven is misbehaving and the first attempt at a cake came out horribly.  And my wife is an excellent baker, so you know its not her.  Kendal has been cooking all day... but not everything is cooperating.  I think our oven is dying or something.

I wasn't able to download the birthday songs (playlist) that I wanted, because for some reason my computer is being buggy.

Sydney has a cold.

All this smoke and dust is giving me a sinus infection.

It is one of those days... you want it to be perfect but a lot of things are going wrong...

and you just think 'life is never like the story books, we'll make the best of this that we can.' and you soldier on.

Thankfully, my daughter isn't like some of those kids you see on those reality shows, she's not throwing a fit, she's just adapting along with us and really keeping me from being grumpy because of her good attitude.

She does that a lot.  She's awesome that way.

Where There is Smoke, There's Fire

(that's not fog)

It is dry season here.  It hasn't rained in weeks.  The grass is burnable, the water tanks are emptying, the roads are dusty.

Monday morning it was both a record cold morning, and a record smokey day.  Fires burn all around us in the valley for multiple reasons:
-kids are bored and start fires
-traditional beliefs that smoke brings rain
-preparing gardens for planting
-...more....

On days when the wind isn't blowing, the smoke settles into the valley and even inside of buildings you can't see down the hall clearly.  People with Asthma are having a hard time. 

On days when it is windy, the fires burn longer and further.

I'm on the volunteer fire team and in 5 days we've had a record breaking 7 calls.  We responded to 3 fires yesterday alone, and one of them threatened to evacuate the school because of smoke (the fire wasn't close enough, but for kids with asthma, thick smoke is dangerous)

This is part of what life is like during dry season here.  Plenty of excitement for sure.  Between fighting fires, and drying my clothes on the line, most of my clothing smells like smoke.



I don't know if this happens in other countries, but I think it is a unique thing for sure.  The longer the rain tarries, the more fires get started.  We're all praying for rain!

Victim Mentality

The dictionary defines this as:

Victim mentality is an acquired (learned) personality trait in which a person tends to regard him or herself as a victim of the negative actions of others, and to think, speak and act as if that were the case — even in the absence of clear evidence.

For me, practically it looks like this:
Victim mentality: "I didn't know that! Why hasn't anyone ever explained that to me?"
vs.
My mentality (I have no title for it) : "I didn't know that!  I should investigate that further, I wonder why I never investigated that before."

I have been trying to teach my son how to stop saying the word "Can't".  It is self-defeating.  Deciding that the world is out to get you, is self-defeating.  You can't get anywhere with that mindset.

The Bible tells us we wrestle against things not of this world.  Our attitudes can be a part of that.  Yes spiritual warfare can affect your stress level, and your attitude.

God is sovereign - believe that (bellee dat).
You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you - believe that.
If you abide in Him, you will accomplish things - believe that.

Having a victim mentality, feeling like everything in this life is happening to you, because of someone or something else, is a failing attitude.  But, it gets one thing right.  Humility.  Unfortunately it also creates despair. 

On the mission field you need a few things to stay alive and productive:
-a recognition that GOD is the only one who gets anything done.  We're along for the ride.  We're invited by HIM to participate in what He is doing.  No good we go and get a big ego about this, humility is key.

-hope - God is our hope.  Even when we don't see fruit from our labor, God is our hope.

-God is in charge - He is an excellent planner, so follow His path.

Be encouraged... WHO has stood against GOD and come out unscathed?  No one.  Don't despair.  Instead be full of hope.

Keyless entry

Under the topic of "Who Knew?"  comes a pretty funny little interaction this morning.  Last night, new keyless entry digital keypads were installed to access one of our office buildings.  Part of the installation is having everyone create a personalized pin who needs access.  This includes several Papua New Guineans as well as expats.
Most everyone was able to follow the instructions with ease.
-press a 4 digit code
-press the unlock button
-wait 30 seconds
-press your 4 digit code again

That was it.  One of the men, Asi, was having a hard time with the concept that the 4 digit pin you input, is YOURS and you should remember it.  And then, it should be the same 4 digit pin you enter every time.  But, the guy who was explaining it to him, is still getting better at his Tok Pisin and didn't mention that you had to remember the code and use the same one.  Why? Well because we all take it for granted that most people understand that concept.  Only Asi didn't.

So what was happening was a sort of 'who's on first' dialogue.

"Push 4 digits"
he pushes 4 digits
"now we wait... okay now push 4 digits"
he pushed 4 different digits
"that didn't work... push 4 digits again"
he pushes yet a different 4 digits
"hmmn, I wonder what is wrong."

they repeated this over and over until the lock master realized Asi was pushing a random and different 4 digits every time.
"okay, now.. let's try this again. push 4 digits"
he pushes 4 digits
"now push the same 4 digits as you did the first time"
"I don't remember those 4"
"okay let's start over, this time remember the digits you press the first time.... and push 4 digits"
he pushes 4 digits
"okay now push the same 4 digits again"
he pushes 4 digits again
..it works!

it was a fun few minutes as they were figuring that out together... but what I am looking forward to is tomorrow when he realizes that he needs to remember those 4 digits EVERY day, and not have to do this procedure every morning.

I got a good chuckle from that.  You never know what information you take for granted until you run across someone else who doesn't take that for granted.

-chad

Going Around

Have you ever woken up one day and said 'God, what are you doing? What is the point?'

I know plenty of people in ministry have, and they struggle through times of feeling less-than-effective.  The truth is that the Bible tells us, if we are following God, there will be fruit, but what it doesn't tell us, is that we'll always be able to see all of it.

About 2 years ago was the last 'Luke Video' I did.  It's the Gospel of Luke, told in the heart language of people, and put to video.  Since then I've been asked to do various other jobs and I don't know when I'll be able to get back to doing that.
I honestly was asking myself for the last day or so 'God, what's the plan here? I'm pretty sure this is what you want me to be doing, but it is nothing like what I was doing.'

On my way back into the office I happened to run into the translator I worked with on that last video I did.  He said 'hey, I wanted to tell you something neat.' 

He proceeded to tell me how he has never once shown that video.  My heart dropped.  It was my last video, it was fruit... it was an awesome time when I felt super alive in my ministry...
Then he continues, because the people have taken the video and put it onto smart cards and have been copying it to everyone they know and everyone is watching it on their cell phones.

He said, "I've heard cute stories of old men walking around clutching Bibles in their language who can't read.  They feel the book is precious, but what is it really doing?  But this video, is taking on a life of its own.  People are watching it and copying it around.  They are saying 'this is a good video, it is the first time we understand what Christ did!'.

He hasn't had to show it because everyone has already seen it.
And then he said "I'm certain that in a short while we're going to start hearing about how that video has impacted lives."

It appears as if that last video I did, has gone viral.  Which is exactly what I was praying it would do.

To anyone out there discouraged that they can't see what God is doing, hang in there.  God knows what He is doing.

Jury Rig #783

  

What you are looking at, is one of those laptop cooling pads with USB activated fan, duct taped to a side mounted Mac Mini.
Talk about a missionary field fix!

The fan on my main computer went out, and I installed a software to tell me if it was getting too hot.  Well, after a while it got too hot without a fan, and, wouldn't you know it, there are no Apple Stores nearby that I could go and pick up a spare internal exhaust fan.

So, I mounted the computer on its side, opened it up (left the cover off) and duct taped a make shift fan to it... and viola.. it is working!

This of course is a stop gap measure until I can get the $14 part here from the U.S.

Wayne

So I have this 2010 mac mini.
I carefully downloaded the 'how to replace the hard drive' pdf with pics.
I decided to take my time doing it.

The logic board has sockets, that the various sensors and such snap into (they pry up, not pull out).  Successfully removing the connector requires a fine touch, and a glued in place socket.

Unfortunately, the glue had aged or been eaten away or something on the fan connector.. and up came the entire socket, pins and all.

I successfully did the HD swap.  But no fan.

So I went online and found 'how to re-solder the fan.'

Seeing that I needed tools and skill I didn't possess.  I laid down my torx driver, and went to bed, hoping that a friend of mine might be able to save me.

I went to my friend Wayne.

Wayne is an electronics engineer turn missionary.  His specialty is radio tech, and he's one of a dying breed of electronic repairmen.  He took one look at the tiny soldering joints, the 0.015" solder points and said 'oh yeah, I can do this.' 

When Wayne says that, you can take it to the bank.  He's one of those guys who takes the time to do something right.  Everything he does, he does completely.  He even put epoxy on the bottom of the socket to make sure it doesn't pry up again.

(not that I'm ever going inside that computer again).

When I popped that socket I gasped.  And my only thought was 'well either that was just a $700 mistake (new logic board) or, Wayne can save me for pennies'.
Wayne saved me, and it costs next to nothing.

The electronic engineer/tinkerer... the guy who can get down and dirty with capacitors and soldering irons.  The guys who time and time again save us from expensive and time consuming repairs are an awesome bunch of guys.  But they are a dying breed.

When I first got here, we had at least 3 such people on this center.  Three people who could fix a microwave, repair a power supply, or put a new motor in your fridge.
They were all over 50 when I got here.

Now there is one left, and his name is Wayne.  But Wayne won't be around forever.

And then, our only recourse will be to keep more spares on hand, wait months to order repair parts.  Because no young people are becoming electrical engineers turn missionaries.  ALL the guys in the past who have come to do this job, have had white hair.

We need some more white haired guys to come do these things!  It is an awesome skill set to have on a remote mission field.
 
Wayne has saved me personally and professionally so many times I can't count.  He has literally helped hundreds of people with his skill set, simply by being on the mission field.  He has repaired the X-ray machine for the clinic, radios for remote translators, laptops, solar panels, kitchen appliances, you name it.  If you plug it in, he's fixed it.

Here is a frequent scenario.
A power surge happens, a Bible translator sitting at his desk hears a 'pop!' and realizes his laptop no longer has power.  He packs it all up, goes to see Wayne. (Or the repair guys at the repair dept. which more often than not, is Wayne alone, but sometimes is some of the Papua New Guineans that  Wayne has helped to train.)  Wayne takes the laptop, opens up the power supply, finds a burned out capacitor or something, removes it, replaces it with a spare piece he has kept in stock... and the laptop is back and working that same day, and the translator is translating again that same day.  Out of pocket expense, a few pennies for the capacitor.


This is a gross simplification of what Wayne (and his ilk) do.  It's a tremendously busy and complex job that he does.  Without people like Wayne, that translator would have to wait weeks for a replacement power supply. 

So what happens when the Waynes (electrical engineers) stop coming to PNG?  A lot of things get thrown away that could be repaired.  They get replaced.  It means that translator will have to carry a few spare power supplies with him wherever he goes 'just in case'.  It means that moment where I 'gasped' and went to bed didn't have the 'saved by the bell' relief moment at the other end.

The stuff that Wayne has his hands in, fixing and repairing during work hours.  AND THEN all the things he does in his personal time, fixing items for people who simply do not have the money to buy new ones (we're missionaries!)....


 (here's Wayne repairing a boat console)

You're starting to see why people like Wayne are so useful here.

To you, and me, that pile of broken electronics is little more than junk.  To people like Wayne, that pile of junk is spare parts that could mean the difference between spending hundreds of dollars, and spending pennies.

God can use every skill set to further His kingdom.  Some skill sets are becoming more and more rare.  I seriously do not know what is going to happen when we're devoid of anyone like Wayne.  I expect a lot of things are going to break, and in our customary fashion, we'll get by and make due.  But some of us will remember the times fondly, when we could get things fixed, and we'll sigh and wonder 'what is Wayne doing now?'  If we truly run out of people with skills like Wayne, the collective electrical and electronic components will shudder in fear and pray they never die.

If you're an electrical engineer, and thinking about missions, I can tell you personally, you will be so useful where we live.  Because we don't live in a country with electronic stores or repair shops, and it takes weeks to get parts from outside the country.  If you're looking to be loved, and valued... and maybe even a little over-worked... come to PNG!

Rubber Sweat

One of the oddities of living where we are, (and I have no idea why this happens, someone explain it to me) is that rubber behaves very oddly.

It sort of, melts. Rubber bands, left unused will melt in place. Earphones and headphone covers will disintegrate or flake apart. And remote controls, which have rubber insides, sweat.

see those little beads of sweat around the pieces?

So when you return from a year's absence, there are a few things you need to do.
First, hopefully you didn't leave batteries in anything, because they will have decayed and sweat, and corroded and ruined whatever they were in.

Assuming you had the foresight to disconnect the batteries, then you may have to clean the rubber sweat from your devices. Today I found two devices whose buttons were not working. Our cordless telephone and our TV remote. So what did I do?

Electronics repairmen please excuse me for not knowing the right vocabulary or even the right techniques.

I opened them up, carefully, then removed the rubber pieces, took a rag with a degreasing agent and removed the sweated/melted rubber from the contact points on the electronics. What happened is all that 'rubber sweat' caked over the contacts and then the buttons wouldn't make a good contact to the electronics and thus not work.

 So after degreasing or removing the decayed rubber, and then exposing metal again, the contacts worked, and my remote/phone was working again. It is one of the oddities of living here, I don't know if it is the elevation, the humidity, the ants, or what... I don't really know. But, it is one of those things no one taught me, I just figured it out on my own, and fixed it.

I probably didn't do it the proper way, but I did it none the less.

Quick Update

We're back, we're settled in.
Unpacked, house is back to what it was like, and we've begun our jobs. Kendal is in the registrar again and I'm reporting to my role as Chief Officer, Internal Communications.

What does that mean? Good communication greases the skids for translation work. Bad communication is like putting the brakes on. Changes are happening so fast in this day and age, that we need to move more quickly. But you can't move a large body of volunteers without concensus, and you can't get consensus without communication.

Sorry no pics just yet, you can let us know what pics you want to see, and we'll try to post them.

It's been rather busy just getting ourselves back into the swing of things.

THE kids are super happy. They're seeing many of their friends again, our house has been a flurry of teenage activity, with people coming and going all day. It's been great.

Staffing Issues

Literacy Course

Betty touched my arm, her curly head bobbing in inquiry. “I know that it costs thousands of kina [PNG currency] to attend a school like this literacy course. So, how is it that I’m able to come? Someone must have paid my school fee—who was it?”

 “Many churches and people in our home countries have sent money to help pay your school fees so you can attend this course,” I explained. “They believe it’s important for you and your community to be able to worship God in your own language.”

 She grasped my hand with both of hers, her eyes wide and sparkling. “Please, please thank them for me!” Laughter burst from her as she couldn’t stop grinning. “This course has helped me so much!”

 Currently, a personnel crisis in the finance office means that we’ll no longer be able to effectively support people like Betty to go to translation and literacy courses. Do you have skills in accounting or financial management? Contact Tara Ellis (hr-recruiting@sil.org.pg) to learn more how you can serve in a vital role here in PNG.

--------------------------------------

Staffing needs here ebb and flow.  Sometimes departments have more than enough people, and other times they have so few people to get the bare minimum of work done.

When some groups can't get their work done, then Bible translation slows or stops.  Finance is one of those groups.

Because of the training, and the time it usually takes to raise financial support, the average time it takes for a new person to arrive at our field is 2 years.

So imagine, you're doing the work of 6 people, you're tired, you're burning out, you know if you don't keep on, then the department will close and Bible translation will crawl to a stand still.  And then image the light of the tunnel is at least 2 years away.  2 years until you see someone coming to relieve you.

What would your response be?

There is this thing I call the 'staffing hopper'.  Like a grain hopper or a silo.  We have people in various stages of getting here.

Recruiting    - these people haven't decided to join us yet.
Training - they've joined and are still in their home country preparing.
Support Raising (partnership development) - they are still in their home country raising finances.
Jungle Training - they are in PNG and going through several weeks of training.

So from that 'hopper' you have the time to get in country, and the odds that you will get in country.  All kinds of factors contribute to people never making it.  Some can't raise the support, others have a serious family need that changes their plans, a death in the family, change of country assignment, etc.

So:
Recruitment - 5 years out, smallest chance of them arriving in PNG
Training - 2 years out, medium chance of arriving in PNG
Support - 1-2 years out, better chance of arriving in PNG
Jungle Training - 14 weeks out, they are in PNG, good chance they will be assigned the job they came to do.


Are you getting the picture?
So... now... imagine you're that tired, one cowboy working in a job meant for 6 people, and you don't see anyone in Jungle training with skills to help you, no one in the support phase, no one in the training phase, and no one in the recruiting phase.

What is your reaction?  Yeah.  I know.  The spirit wains, we tend to look at things as being bleak.  We start to beg borrow and steal staff from other places, hoping they won't burn out and get upset that they aren't doing what they love to do.  This is the reality of staffing in a country with over 800 languages to translate, 400 of which have work yet to begin.

God knows what He's doing.   God has abundant resources.
Please join me in prayer, we have some very critical needs here.  Finance personnel is highest on the list.
School personnel is second highest.

Would you pray that these needs are met?  Pray that God would send some of those resources to fill the needs?

Thank you.

Internet first

I photobombed Bible Translation work!!

Just making it fun. No disrespect intended. I just happen to know the translator in this pic and have tremendous respect for his work and the work of the many others we support.

--Chad

Fwd: Uk

Ukarumpa in 1964

Ukarumpa in 2015

Two Lives One Dream

in 2008 a book was published about the ministry of the McBrides in PNG.

http://www.wycliffe.org.nz/index.php/resources/itemsforsale/110-the-mcbrides-and-their-mission

The story starts in 1964, and it is a quick read.  There are several stories of miracles and God healing people…. changing lives, etc.

It was a different time in PNG but the stories still ring true.  Back then, Nancy had to get to PNG via ship, we take a plane.

There's a hilarious story about the first time her kids saw a white person, and the first time they went to Disneyland (and were freaked out).

Here's an excerpt I liked: "… we gave him the Gospel of Mark in his own language and he read it all the time.  One day he said to us "If I hear the English Bible it means nothing to me.  It would be like eating sweet potato from a distant place.  It would taste unfamiliar.  When I hear God's Word in Gimi it tastes so good I get filled up and satisfied."

It is definitely a good read for anyone who has been in Ukarumpa.  It is reminding me that our predecessors really did blaze a trail. They were definitely made out of strong stuff!

In NZ

Flight and all details went very smoothly, praise to God for that.

Nothing tests your international traveling mettle like flying 12 and a half hours with no sleep and then driving 3 hours on the opposite side of the road in an unfamiliar car going towards an unknown location and yet thanks to the help of others and the grace of God we arrived with almost zero problems now we will recover from jet lag and adjust to the time zone thank you for your prayers!!

Yeah I know

I am going to make a shirt that says "yeah I know I am tall.  Yes I will watch my head. ".

People are frequently telling me I am tall. I hear it a lot on flights

Excited

The number one question we've got in the last week is "Are you excited to go back to PNG?"

The answer is yes!

I gather from people asking us this, that it is important that we show our excitement.  Only I feel awkward showing that excitement because it feels as if we're not paying enough respect to those whom we are leaving.

If you're sitting next to your mom, and someone says 'are you excited to get back?'  If you stand up and shout 'Goodness YES!'  is your mom hearing: 'Are you excited to leave your family and not see them again for 2 years?'  'Goodness yes, I can't stand one more minute with these people!?"  They probably aren't thinking that at all.

I'm probably over thinking it, but it seems insensitive to be overly exuberant about returning home to PNG when in the presence of those whom you are leaving.

At the same time, it seems important for people to know, because they continue to ask.  And I understand that.  They want to know 'are you going back with energy? Or are you going back burned out?'

So, if those whom we are leaving will afford me the grace to give full voice to our excitement, I will do so now.  Please do not be offended by this.  And know our departure is also filled with sadness at goodbying you…. but for this one brief blog (Velma did he say brief? Is that boy completely Loco?) , I'm going to take the blinders off, and just run with it.

-YES!!  WearesosuperpumpedtogetbacktoPNGwecanbarelyhideit!

We were meant to be here this year and it was good, but we miss our work, we miss our purpose, we miss friends, we miss our home, we miss using our talents, we miss the life we've gotten use to, we miss the school.

Every hardship this year, was harder because we didn't have the support of being at our 'home base'  Our normal.  We were in a boat this year, not on a firm foundation.  We were rocked harder by the rocks.  When we arrive back in PNG, it will be as if the final healing can begin.  

Our souls long to be serving God.  We served Him in the ways we could while in the U.S., but knowing it was temporary, there was only so much we could do.

We have been called to do this work, and taking a year off is hard.  It's like that constant feeling that… THERE IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO BE DOING…. and yet can't.

So yes we're excited.  

But that's only the half of it.

Furlough is also about re-energizing.  The first half of this furlough was exhausting, draining, emotionally depleting.  We prayed 'God we can't return to PNG this way, we need our passion back, our energy back.'  And God has been building us back up during the second half.

We are returning with so many ideas, and energy and love, and willingness to take on new challenges.

We are returning with the emotional exuberance similar to that of our first time arriving.  Filled with wonder and 'what's going to happen this term!?'

So we're excited on that level as well.

And then for me, of course, there is a third aspect to excitement.

And that is the part of 'excited' that actually implies action.  When molecules are excited they are moving about.

Are we moving about?  Yes.  Though the last few days have been visitations and goodbyes, we will be moving about quite literally as we get on the planes and fly off.

But then also as we land, and begin scurrying all over the place doing the millions of little things we have been waiting to do.

Are we excited?

Yes.  Like a child on Christmas Eve.  Like a teenager on their first upside down roller-coaster.   Like someone bathing in an ice cold waterfall.  Like missionaries with a caling about to land at their destination.

Pray for traveling safety, and pray for the people of PNG that they come into a saving relationship with Christ.

Hearing From the Source

I've told you stories of how much the AudiBible is impacting people... this video includes quotes from the Kandawo people who received one and what their reactions were.

"We were starving and we didn't know it. Now this audibible satisfies our hunger and tastes sweet. Now I am waiting for my father to come and get me."

"When you came and introduced this machine to us it enlightened our minds from being like wild animals. It has taken us out of the destructive road we were on and put us on a new road."

"You have to understand how very much this has changed me."

"I had no idea that Jesus died, but I am amazed at Jesus. This revelation makes me cry."

Hellbye Goodlo

My son was asked today "Are you excited to get back to PNG and see all your friends?" and he replied "Yes, very much, but every joyful hello to someone comes with a tearful goodbye to someone else.  So I'm not looking forward to that part of it."

Author Evans G. Valens once wrote: (edited version)

"How lucky I am to have known somebody and something that saying goodbye to is so darned awful."

Who do you think said it better?  I'm biased. Mostly because I don't attribute these things to luck but to God.

Maybe the flipside of Valen's sentiment would be "How blessed I am to have known somebody that saying hello to is so darned wonderful!"

or maybe "How unfortunate I am to have spent a life devoid of tearful goodbyes and joyous hellos."

 

Musings on Father's Day

For many, the idea of Father's Day doesn't bring warm feelings.  Some grew up never knowing a dad, or perhaps knowing a cruel dad.  Others, like my wife, may have recently lost their dad and today brings up some hard emotions.  For these reasons, often the idea of God as a 'Father' doesn't really hit home to everyone.  I propose the idea that there is another aspect of fatherhood that we can use to frame our relationship with God.

I happen to be among those who had a good dad, and for that reason the idea of God as a Father communicates to me more of what the Bible meant it to.

But I have noticed something sort of quirky about Father's Day.

The person you are, and the person your kids think you are, isn't always the same.  This is most often shown by the gifts you get on Father's Day.  You may share the same experiences together with your kids, but their memories of it, and their perspective on it, may be drastically different than your own.  And so, for Father's Day maybe you opened something that said to you "my kid totally does not know me at all.  I'm allergic to chocolate covered cashews!"  But your kid may be thinking 'dad always eyes those chocolate covered cashews, and passes them up because they're so expensive… I'm going to treat him this year!"

And so I have noticed, that when your children become older, and you hear their stories, that sometimes how THEY view you, isn't exactly how YOU view you, or even how your dearest friends view you.

Sometimes that can be good, (they view you as more awesome than you think you are) or bad (they view you as having more failures than you feel you deserve credit for).

In the end of our lives, we are a collection of memories from people who's lives we've touched.  When you gather at a memorial, you hear all these many facets of a person you did not know about, and sometimes are surprised by.

A human being is an extremely intricate thing, and no one other human can ever fully know us completely.  Some get very close.

But God can know us completely.  Know us better than we know ourselves.  Ironically, though God never changes, we can spend our entire lives getting to know Him, and still fall short of the fully knowing Him.

I find this aspect of fatherhood very interesting.

As a man of 40 I viewed my dad through a different lens than a child of 5 did.

As we mature, and we grow closer to God, and experience more of life, we gain a richer understanding of who He is.  And we can describe Him to other people, and yet, how wonderful will it be when we are in His presence one day in heaven and realize how truly remarkable He really is?

There are some parts about God I'm sure I know well.  There are other parts that are a mystery to me.  I am excited about knowing Him more with time.

One aspect of Fatherhood that appeals to me when I think about God being a Father, is the idea that we can continually get to know Him better as our relationship matures, and we experience more sides of His nature.

Goodbye

 The moving out process has begun. This video we made for fun.

 You can check out our website for more detailed info: http://www.gimpel.tv

Ideas

Before we left for furlough, back in June 2014, I had created a 'note' on my phone listing all of my ideas for things we could do/learn/bring back from furlough.  I had planned out how I would spend my time in the U.S. knowing that things don't always go according to plan.

Some of the many ideas I had:

-market the need for solar panels in our house, to christian businesses

-research new internet technology and purchase and deploy in PNG

-learn basic 3d printing and modeling

-learn basic robotics programming enough to teach young people

-raise enough money to purchase a new vehicle

-publish book

-introduce kids to new and exciting things

-bring back cool educational things to help and bless the PNG community.

The list was really long.  I figured if we accomplished even 50% of it we'd be golden.

We got close to 85% of it I think, maybe more.  The Solar thing never happened… that was a no brainer but had a lot of up front costs we couldn't afford.

Once we got here, and got access to Youtube… man, like a friend of mine said 'this decade has been like a Do-it-yourself renaissance'.  Tons of new and crazy ideas came flooding into my head.

Our super cool potato gun didn't happen…. but that's only because we thought of it too late.

When you have a dad full of crazy ideas,

and a son interested in mechanical engineering… 

then you have the formula for two people who want to try and build all kinds of interesting and quirky things.

And when you have a lot of ideas like that, then you feel this constant clock of time ticking.  4 years of high school for my son, he graduated from middle school this week.  2 years for my daughter.

tick tock… tick tock..

10 days before we move out of our house…

tick tock

15 days until we get on a plane

tick tock….

This constant barrage of ideas flowing into me… that is what furlough has accomplished.  It took a tired, 'I just want to sleep for a month' version of me… filled me with wonder and excitement and a million ideas…. 

and now the only restrictions are time and availability of materials.

This is truly a wondrous time… a time where imagination and reality are getting closer and closer.

I never want to hear anyone younger than 50 say "I'm bored."  There is too much to do out there, too many possibilities!

The only lament I have is losing this fast internet connection means that learning will come more slowly.  The water pressure of information will be slowing to a drizzle, but in some ways, that will free me up to act on current ideas, without flooding in the new ones.  

It'll be a welcome respite from the onslaught of information.  And so, to be honest, I am not really saddened by the slower speed or the higher cost of internet in PNG.  It is there if you need it… but it doesn't have the power to overwhelm you at every turn.

Sometimes people ask me 'Chad, HOW did you think this crazy thing up?'  I'll tell you.  At night, before falling asleep, I say my evening prayers, and I lay there with my eyes open, and begin to just think… think about this need or that need, and how I might meet it.  What we might be able to do.  And I drift off to sleep thinking about things…. in the morning, when I wake up, I sometimes have ideas, and I write them down quickly.

And then, I start to act on them quickly.  To me that's the key.  Give value to your ideas by not letting them just die.  They may die along the way, but sometimes, taking the first step, helps birth a whole new idea.

Enough blogging…

And now.. it's time to get working on some of these ideas!!!!

Moments of DOH!

Everyone has moved before.  We're moving back to PNG.  We're used to this by now.  It doesn't mean we don't have moments where we totally blank from time to time.  Because we have those moments, I tend to keep a spare key to our house somewhere outside, hidden, because… you never know when you're going to lock yourself out.

My chosen spot to hide the key was our BBQ grill. I put it there months and months ago.

We received the bbq grill from some friends who had one to spare, and they told us they didn't want it back.

So about 4 days ago I offered it to our neighbor who said 'no thank you.'

So I wheeled it out to the curb, slapped a "free, works great' sign on it, and waited.

The neighbor seeing me do this said 'it won't get taken any time soon, this is a cul-de-sac.

I told him 'thing disappear quickly in my experience, this will be gone before the night is over."

3 hours later I'm outside, leaving to pick up my daughter, it's 9:30pm.  A woman I don't know comes up to me, and says "Is this BBQ for sale?"

"no ma'am, it's free."

"does it work."

"yes it works great"

I chuckled because I was standing near the sign that read "FREE, WORKS GREAT!" and had responded with those exact words to her questions.

She began to wheel it off to who knows where.

She asked "why are you giving it away? did you buy a new one?"

"no" I replied, "we're leaving."

"awwww. leaving!?"  

I didn't know the woman, and was wondering if she knew me..  why would a total stranger be upset.  I watched as she wheeled it away in a general direction and got the idea she might be from nearby.  Our earlier attempts this year to make friends with our neighbors were all meant with gruff attitudes so we never succeeded there.

Today as I was thinking about returning the keys to our house, it dawned on me "uh oh, a total stranger has a key to my house and I don't know where they live!"

In a total missionary mindset, instead of deciding to pay to replace all the locks, I simply decided to find the bbq.

I took Calvin with me and we began knocking on doors in the general vacinity of where I guessed this woman might live.

Door #1 - an older lady with a hose in her nose answered the door gruffly.  I asked her if she had it, she said 'no' then asked about where I lived.

Door #2 - a teenager girl answered, my son was with me to make me appear less threatening, and replied "oh yeah, it's out back."

Within moments we had the key, no fuss no muss.

Thanks 'God!'

We plan ahead with our moves, but we still have those moments of DOH!"  (MoD's)

Another MoD:

Having planned parts of our return months and months ago, we made a reservation with a missionary house to spend the night on our way back to PNG.  Since then, we were glad we booked early because every available room in the town was taken up by visitors attending a large sporting event.

Last night we were informed, that there was a fire at the place we had booked.  So now we can't rebook anywhere.

We're praying that the place is repaired by the time we arrive.  We have 5 weeks for them repair the issue and recover from smoke damage.  That may or may not happen.  Pray that it does because there is literally no other place we can sleep for the night.  Either that or pray we don't need to sleep and can fly straight through.

How many more MoD's will there be between now and then?  We try to keep it limited as we plan the things we can plan, well ahead, and that allows us to flex when we need to flex.

Hastening

alternate title "How a Blasphemous Movie Can Be a Call to Missions"

In my seeking out which good films I've missed while in PNG, a movie called 'Rapture Palooza' in 2013 came to my attention.  I was watching a film, and this preview came up, and as I was watching it I was getting more and more wide-eyed in total shock... then the name hit... and I was agog.

First you should know, I have watched and laughed at scenes and films that would offend many other Christians.  I can enjoy people poking fun at religion, at the church, at mistakenly revered traditions and institutions.  I can laugh at people poking fun at my beliefs even. 

But this is something different.  I don't even want to post a link to the trailer because I don't want to cause anyone else to even be curious about this film.

At first, I'll confess, as the preview went on, I chuckled.  I thought 'this must be how the non-believing world sees what they believe is a 'myth'.  I can appreciate how funny it might be.  Having a reality show called 'embarassing raptures' is a funny idea... seeing a man on a toilet disappear.... okay it's a funny idea... but... then:

Near the end of the preview, Christ is descending from heaven on a white horse.  Two young people mistakenly shoot him out of the sky and then engaged in a conversation with God in which they apologize.

I felt bad for having chuckled.  I'm not really one who goes in for taking a christian stance against film, because I believe that many times, the church has in fact popularized a film that would otherwise have just gone away on its own.  Too many times, turning a film political garners more attention than it ever would have had.

But a portion of Scripture really jumped out at me when I saw the scene of Christ getting laser beamed.

2 Peter 2:
2 But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. ² And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.

10:b "Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones, ¹¹ yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these men, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed—do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed,"


It is completely and totally true here.  In this case, everyone involved in this movie, is brazenly and insolently insulting the glorious ones.

Okay so how are we to react to that as believers?

2 Peter 3: ³ Above all, understand this: In the last days blatant scoffers will come, being propelled by their own evil urges ⁴ and saying, "Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation."

We are in the last days... this film is blatantly scoffing the Lord's return.

So what kind of people should we be? How do we react?  Where do we picket!?

2 Peter 3: 11 Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must we be, conducting our lives in holiness and b, ¹² while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?

¹⁴ Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.

Okay so we are to remain pure, and hasten the coming of God.  The word "hasten" there has two meanings.  To eagerly await, and to urge on.  To hasten something on, takes diligence, zeal, and motion.

How do we urge on a time that is supposed to come unexpectedly (like a thief in the night)?  How do we take action to expedite the Lord's return?

There are smarter people than I who have come to different conclusions, but the one that I believe in, and have devoted my life to is this one:

Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

So what is my reaction when I see people blaspheming?  Yes I get full of righteous indignation, and anger.  I want to strike out and do something to stop it.  They are insulting the God whom I have devoted my everything to.  I get very upset.  I Peter says even the angels who are powerful don't harm these people.  It says the martyrs cry out for revenge.... God is not sending his wrath down on this earth yet, out of mercy.

These people don't understand what they are doing.  They don't get it.  They do not understand who they are insulting.  Even Christ, said it during his last moments on earth 'father forgive them,... they don't know what they're doing!'

So my reaction, in order to remain pure, is to love these people, and continue to spread the Gospel.  The same people who are mocking the return of God, saying 'oh yeah, why hasn't He come yet?'  are the same people God has delayed His return for.  To give them a chance.  He is merciful.

I hear it all the time 'God doesn't sound very merciful to me, all those plagues.'  Yeah, you see, He's all powerful, He's just... the mercy part,  you took that time to belittle Him, insult Him and make life hard for His followers.  That was mercy time.  Don't blow it.

Thus ends my sermon.  Sometimes I do get up on a soapbox... don't I?

Arop

If you've read "Sleeping Coconuts" then you have to watch this video
 

It is 30 minutes long, so it's not a quick view.  I won't write a lot of words to convince you to watch it.  I myself hit play and was compelled and couldn't turn away.

I know John and Bonnie.  My family currently lives in a home they previously owned.  This video follows their life as missionaries in PNG.  It documents how they met, how they raised their family and then how they dealt with a huge tragedy.

For all of the people who ask us 'what it life like in PNG' ... the answer... is this video.

On a personal note, Kendal and I have both used our skills to support the people you see in this video. We have prayed over them, cried with them, recorded with them, taught their kids, and more.

"It takes a team to keep us here, doing the work of Bible translation....." 27:09

Jesus Film

Though this video may seem a tad slow to you, rest assured it is exciting to me.
Why?  Because it shows three things dear to my heart:
1 - Jesus
2 - Papua New Guineans learning to do it themselves, for themselves
3 - Video

For those of you (like I used to be) who have no idea what the Jesus Film is, let me explain.
Many years ago, a movie was produced about the life of Christ.  The script was adapted from the book of Luke.

So, anyone who translates the book of Luke from the Bible, has only a little bit of work to adapt it into the movie depiction of Christ's birth, ministry, death and resurrection.  It ends in an altar call.

It is a very powerful thing for someone to see Christ speak in their own heart language, with their eyes and to hear it with their ears.

When this film is shown, people weep, shout, and become aware that Christ is REAL and ALIVE!

I have been involved in the recording, dubbing, editing, mastering, etc... of the Jesus Film in a few languages.  This video shows you that we're using TRAINING, to multiply our efforts.

Instead of 1 technician doing 3 Jesus Films in a year, that 1 tech, trains dozens of PNGians to do it, and hopefully within 10 years, 100 Jesus Films are out there, being shown on cell phones and televisions and bringing people to a saving relationship with Christ.

Reunion

Today in church our pastor talked about these online video reunions of military personnel coming home and surprising their family.  It got me to thinking.

As a missionary, you do reunions more often than most people.  You say goodbye and you say hellos.

I don't have a word for it, I might could make one up, maybe I will… let's call it 'Stunderful'….

It is this sensation that happens when something really good happens to you that warms you to your soul that you were not expecting.  But that's not all of it.  It is the specific sensation that comes from seeing someone you haven't seen in a really long time, and weren't expecting to.  Or, maybe you were expecting to, but you weren't expecting how good it would feel to see that person.

I've had encounters where I ran into someone and was surprised at how good for my soul it was to see that person.  It surprised me.  I didn't anticipate that seeing that person was like medicine to my spirit.

Hopefully I've expressed this emotion well enough.  It's when you walk away going 'wow it was really good to see them, so good I'm surprised at how light my soul feels right now!"

Maybe it's just certain personality types that understand what I'm talking about.  My wife tells me she gets it, but she knows it'll be good to see some people.  Me, it sort of sneaks up on me.

Like these military reunions.

I'm thinking, take that 'stunderful-ness' and multiply it by infinity, and that's what it'll be like to be in heaven with my Savior.  My soul, longs to be with Him, and I don't even realize how much.  So that surprising day when I finally am united with him… will be like these reunions a million times over.

How can you not look forward to that?

How can you not want as many people as possible to experience that?

This world needs the love of Christ and many of them won't allow themselves to run into His open arms.

Powerful Video

I've seen a lot of dramas and sketches, but the one in this video is powerful, and an excellent depiction of how the people of PNG understand what the Word of God means to them.

I teared up watching this, because these people 'GET IT'.  But they didn't always get it.  Not even a year ago, they didn't get it.   God changes lives, and works in people's hearts.

As you hear Mack and Doris explain this drama... realize that for a very long time, they were never completely sure if the Kandawo people would ever truly 'get it'. And then they see a drama unfold before them that they had no involvement in planning.... you can imagine how reaffirming seeing something like that would be.

Watching people you have ministered to for a long time, communicate to you now that 'yes we get it, we understand, God wins!'.... means more than I can say.  This video does a good job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP1nDYUmdFg&spfreload=10

Enga news

Reason to celebrate brought to you by our friend and co-worker Adam Boyd:

Returning Anxiety

When I was a young man, on Sundays, those last ten minutes of the drive to church I'd start to get nervous.  I'd get a real bunch of butterflies in my stomach, anticipating that soon I'd be amongst peers.

I hate that feeling and I have worked disciplines into my life over the years to combat that 'fish out of water' anxiety.
I have tested those disciplines by purposely throwing myself into situations that have made me uncomfortable.  I have tried public acting, performing on stage, serving behind the scenes, running audio for church.  I have played football in college, and basketball knowing I was no good at it.  I have held on to one motto:

"Never let being bad at something keep you from doing it.  If the only reason you have NOT to do something is because you're nervous, that's a bad excuse not to do it."

I have tried a great many things that would normally make me quite nervous, and each time I have pushed myself passed it.

From riding my first upside-down roller-coaster to moving to Papua New Guinea.

Stepping outside my comfort zone has become a way of life for me, and it is almost always accompanied by a strong sense of queasiness. 

Through years of hard work, I have turned that reaction into a tool.  Now I know, if something makes me nervous, it might be worth doing.
If the idea of taking on a new venture DOESN'T bring that sensation to me, then maybe it is because it is boring and not worth my time.
If the idea of doing something DOES, then maybe it'll be a challenge, and I'll learn some new skills and get excited by it.

In front of me now, are two such challenges that I'm committed to overcoming.
The first is a new job.  A position of leadership.  Something I've never aspired to.  I have no desire to be responsible for OTHER people.  I have me, and my family and that is enough for me.  Being the man who other people turn to for help, guidance and being an example, makes me nervous.  That nervousness is how I know it is a job worth doing well.

Also in front of me, is returning to PNG where there are a lot of new and young faces.  Hip kids, cool kids, just like those days back in Sunday School.  The idea of trying to integrate and make new friends, forge new relationships brings back the butterflies.

We've been telling our kids for years as MK's 'always be making new friends, always be welcoming to new faces, your friendship may mean the world to them! So keep stretching yourselves.' 

Well now the shoe is on my foot as well.  I will be modelling this for my kids as I try to extend myself to making new friends.

My wife and I have committed to always be forging new relationships.  Never closing ourselves off to new people.  It means keeping a wound always open, never putting bandaids on it.  IT means you may end up saying tearful goodbyes more often than not.  But you never know what God will bring about through relationships.  It is truly a discipline.  Our status quo would say 'they'll be gone soon, so why bother with the pain?' 

To me this is the epitome of Agape love.  Putting yourself out there, means that you're giving of yourself.  Each new friendship takes something away from you, and sometimes it gives back.  My interpretation of Agape is, whenever you reach out to give of yourself, there is always something available to give.  Even when you don't think there is.  That's the miracle of it, God is supplying the material you have available to give.

There is always a part of you, available to love others.  Agape.

You don't have to be a missionary to understand that.  It is easy to get socially isolated in your own home country.  God blesses us through people.  Even in times of hurt, when you want to retract, I would challenge you to reach out, and make friendships that you can share Christ's love through.

thoughts on returning to PNG

Typically I avoid public displays of exuberance.  It doesn't mean I don't feel elation and joy, I do.
But I typically do not express that loudly, and in public with song and dance.  The reason why is two fold.

1: I don't like to make people uncomfortable.  Whether it be, I'm happy and you're not, or you don't like how I look when I dance, or my happiness has come because your team has lost, I simply don't like to make you feel uneasy.

2: When I get overly happy, people suspect I'm on some sort of drugs, because I get really hyper.

Well, I'm breaking that rule. Because I just can't help it.  57 days until we return.

Question:  Owens family, how do you feel about returning to PNG?
Answer: Happy.

Question: Owens family does that mean you'll be happy to leave the U.S.?
Answer: No, we'll be sad to leave.  We're always sad to leave, and always happy to return.  We were sad to leave PNG a year ago, but happy to return to the U.S. and now, it is vice versa.  Sad to leave the U.S. and happy to return to PNG.

Question: Then doesn't that mean you're always sad and always happy since you're always moving?
Answer: No.  It means we have two homes, and for every sad, there is a happy, we live in balance.

God has built humans this way, to be emotional in relationships.

Right now, we're happy! We are celebrating that we get to go back! God has paved the way!

To quote Balky and Larry Hamliton:  "Now we are so happy, we do the dance of joy!"

Explaining Bible Translation

People sometimes ask us 'is that all that you do? Make a Bible? What about fresh water? AIDS? Literacy?' We're also asked "850 different languages? Aren't some of those dialects? Can't you just make quick changes to existing Bibles?

The answers are usually more involved than we have time to fairly deal with the topic. I find it frustrating that we have to constantly boil down years of training and experiencing and living, into sound bytes that don't do reality justice.

This video is one of my favorites, and yet, I'm rarely able to show it.  Why? Because it is 4 minutes long and people don't have the patience for it.  The times we've tried to show it, we see people drifting out of attention.

The reason I like it is because it talks about the HOW we do what we do, why it takes many people of many types.  It explains how we work along side Papua New Guineans and utilize their skills.  It talks about how we often do other things to bridge gaps and bring healing.

It talks about the process as a whole.  Often times I feel like the questions we are asked all peck away at one big picture.  It is VERY hard to give someone the big picture.  This video does a good job of that in only 4 minutes.  It is still just an overview, each little title and video have hours of stories behind them.  But it is the best attempt I've seen at covering the material.

We live in a day and age where complex problems aren't sufficiently investigated because most of us want sound byte answers.  Finding real solutions requires much more understanding than a soundbyte can offer us.  There is too much information in the world, for us to read all of it.  We have to discern what we pay our attention on, and many people choose to pay attention on things which require little time.

Bible Translation requires a LOT of time.  This month's dedicated New Testament took 23 years to create.

It is part of our youtube/facebook/twitter generation, that we want information boiled down more quickly for us.  And if it isn't quick enough, or simple enough, we move on to the next thing.

Bible Translation takes decades.  It takes a lot of people, a lot of effort.

This video is no soundbyte, but it is the most inclusive thing I've seen in the window of 4 minutes.

Take a gander, it will be worth your time if you have questions about Bible Translation and our role in it.