Saber In the Village

 
I got this email today from a translator in the village who was encouraging our efforts in producing audio Bibles.:

The last time out in the village, we gave out 9 of the sabers that came from project funding.  I put onto those sabers whatever recordings that I had that were ready.  We passed them out to the translators and I showed them how to use the sabers. [Others] were taking pictures as we were doing this.  The smiles on their faces say it all.  Sorry that I cannot show you all the smiles of the villagers in each village!  But, at least I can show you the translators' faces.  May God bless you for your hard work - May He give you peace - May you know the blessing that your work has been.

 

 

The Pain of Shipping

My kids are so awesome, months ago they thought ahead to work with me to
order gifts for people, mom, brother, sister, etc.

I told them to estimate double the cost of the item from Amazon, and we
would hope they arrive in time for Christmas.

So, we wait.
As we wait the kids see other things to give and start to spend their
hard earned money (we don't give an allowance, but we give them work
opporunities)

Today I got a package, and each gift they had ordered was well beyond
double the price, because not only did TAX get added, but shipping and
import fees.

So I'm looking at the kids, and haven't got the heart to tell them how
much it really costs, so I tell them,
you pay what you planned, and I'll pay shipping.

Most of my 'gift giving' this year was paying for intangibles like
shipping costs... but I wanted to encourage the spirit of planning ahead
and generosity.

Still, you should have seen their faces when they realized they had
forgotten about their online purchases... they ran around, calling in
the debts, scrounging their funds and gladly turned them over to me.
They worked that hard to make sure they could have a gift to give someone.

This is the second year in a row where I have been touched deeply by the
generosity of my kids. Sure they may complain about dinner, or about
other things, but they never ever complain about spending their last
dollar (Kina) when it comes to getting something for someone else.

I was never that unselfish as a kid, I was never that giving at their
age. They must get that from their mother.
I married well. (-;

Christmas in PNG

This is Kainantu town.  Anybody want a peanut? Or an egg?

Gift giving in PNG is an interesting thing.  According to the books, if an adult gives a gift to a PNGian, it creates debt for them.  But in reality, if the adult giver is an ex-pat (waitskin), it doesn't create as much debt because as we are seen as more wealthy, it is expected that the more wealthy will from time to time share.  Most often by throwing a party or a feast of some kind.

The one time of year in which we can impart a gift without causing debt, is Christmas time.  Each Christmas employees and friends are accustomed to receiving a bonus (we call it Amamas which means - happy). 

So, how to give the perfect gift?  Most often, the perfect gift is something unwrapped, and very practical.  A bag of sugar, a bag of rice.  That's the perfect gift.

A dear friend of ours has been a loyal worker for us, and each year we do give her her Amamas pay, her bonus gift, but we also try to find something nice to give her children.  This year, Calvin and Sydney were in charge of picking something out, and they chose a toy for each child.  PNG kids don't have toy collections.  They have "A" toy if that.

(Most of these rules change depending on where it is they live, the more 'bush' (remote from town) they are, the more these rules apply)

Often you can see kids running around with makeshift toys.  A wheel they found, they will attach to a bamboo rod with strips of rubber they found, and run around with it.  Or maybe you see them skidding down a hill of dirt on a banana leaf.  Maybe it's a coconut shell they're kicking around.

Getting to know some of these PNG kids because of the relationships our children have forged, has been a delight.  One thing we notice is that every PNG kid hits an age in which they stop smiling by default, and it becomes VERY hard to elicit a smile.

I was asking around about this, and I assumed it was because of hard work, a loss of childhood, or tragedy at the loss of loved ones.  All those may be true, but I've found that culturally, smiling, is often perceived as being flirtatious in young girls and men. 

And so they don't do it.

So what's Christmas like in PNG?
Not really any gifts to open, not many smiles, and yet, there is family and love, and in some houses, a recognition that Christ was born. (and at least in 2 houses this year , a present to unwrap)

PEACE

I'm sure many of you have heard the story, or some mutated version of
the story, of the miraculous Christmas Peace that happened during WW I.
(if you haven't here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce)

One of the prophecies we hear quite often around Christmas time is
Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a Child is born .... and He will be called....
Prince of Peace"

I spend most of my time thinking on the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the
coming Messiah and most of those thoughts are centered on the enormity
of God becoming flesh. But today I have been thinking about the
concept of PEACE.

The word used there for PEACE entails a lot of leadership. At the time
of the prophecy, there was horrible, wicked, leadership. The prophecy
was giving hope to a world without it. A world who was crying out for
someone to be a decent leader, and to bring peace.

I grew up in a country, and a state (California) where even the history
of war was barely alive. If you visit the southern states, you'll find
the Civil War is very much still in the memory of the people. If you
visit the South Pacific Islands, WWII wreckage is not hard to find.

But I grew up knowing peace where I was and so the idea of a savior who
brought peace, wasn't the most impressive thing about Christmas to me.
If you watch what is going on in the Middle East, it definitely doesn't
feel like peace. And yet, in the middle of WW I , this random peace
broke out, because of the celebration of the birth of Christ.

I live in a country now where Peace is needed. There are always rumors
of impending fighting. We have witnessed village houses burning down,
people fighting, killing. People not showing up one day because they
have to attend a funeral. Nearly everyone we know from this country has
lost multiple relatives in some fight or another. Peace is not a way of
life here.

And those who find Christ, and try to rely on Him, often try to choose
more wisely and still find themselves under extreme pressure in the
culture to seek violence.
You killed my brother, so I'll kill your brother, then you killed my
uncle, so I'll kill your uncle, and it goes and goes and goes.

This week, I'm focusing on the fact that a name for Christ is the Prince
of Peace. Because that seems like a very real need to me around here.

Fun facts about new language work

Some interesting facts about the Doromu-Koki language:

• the language has 30 words for banana, the staple food
• there is only one 3rd person pronoun, and it can mean 'he', 'she', 'it', or 'they', depending on the context
• Doromu-Koki uses a number of colourful idioms, including:

◦        'good sweet potato' (a nice girl)

◦        'stomach pain thinking' (heartache)

◦        'stomach child' (a beloved child)

◦        when you are hungry, your stomach 'grumbles,' and when you have diarrhoea your stomach 'does a landslide'

• Translating the New Testament has required creating new words, including:

◦        'good word' (gospel)

◦        'plant straight thinking' (believe)

◦        'give stomach word' (promise)

◦        'say soft stomach' (forgive)

◦        'say one stomach' (agree)

-Chad

On mobile device

Some png butterflies

Funny WOOPS!

so one of the things I do is I record and edit spoken Scripture in other languages, and put them on devices to be played in the village.  Last month I did Luke in several languages and they were brought on Saber players to the village.

I found a few mistakes, words left out, or said twice, and cleaned them up and worked with the translator to get them re-recorded.

But the funniest one, is one I couldn't have caught because I didn't know the language.  The way we catch them is we read the Bible in their language and listen.  We trust the pronunciation is correct because there is no way for us to know that 'ooloolu' is said 'ooh, loo, loo' or 'ooh loo luh' we have no way to know as sound editors.


During the playback, they found a mistake.  One of the readers had said a wrong word which was nearly identical to the correct word.  Which is why when editing I don't process the sounds too much because an S and F can easily become confused with too much filtering.

Anyway the verse was Luke 9:17 regarding the feeding of the 5000.

"[17] They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over."

Only the word for "satisfied' was said wrong so it changed meaning to be "fighting in such a way as to punch a man lying on the ground with your knee in his chest" (very violent)

So the crowd listening heard this:
"They all ate and were violently fighting"  (or some derivative of that).. and the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over"

The PNG people started laughing hilariously at this.
Definitely a need to edit that one.

Translation

This is happening.... teaching nationals to do translation, teaching them to use netbooks.

VSAT pic

doesn't this just blow your mind?

tree hunting 2

Every year it is our tradition to go tree hunting. Since we have a three
foot tall artificial tree, (it was easy to ship over) that we bought
from Costco for $15 6 years ago, we don't exactly need a saw. BUT, it
has been our tradition for me (dad) to go hide the tree somewhere in the
jungle of PNG.

Typically I hide it, put up a sign saying 'Tree Farm', then we pile into
the car, and drive around sipping cocoa, listening to an ipod with
Christmas songs, and the kids have to answer Christmas trivia. Whoever
answers right, gets to choose 'LEFT or RIGHT' at the next intersection.

This way we turn a relatively small area, into about a 40 minute search,
as they're searching for that sign to tell them where to start looking,
and since the driver (me) knows where to go, it is a way for me to not
have control over WHEN they'll find it.

This year I got stuck in the mud a little, but, the kids found the tree,
and then my son and I mock up cutting it down and carrying it (it weighs
about 9 lbs), together... sometimes we even fake needing a break to get
in the spirit of it.

Then we complain about forgetting rope to tie it down to the
car...etc... the whole 9 yards.

We have a lot of family traditions that we do here, and the reason we
started them, was because often at Christmas time people get homesick,
and miss their old traditions, many of which you simply can't do here.

But when you have NEW ones, that are associated with living here,
suddenly the 'homesick' part goes away. You do your PNG customs when
here, and your USA traditions when in the USA.

We have a pretty long list of things we do, and ways we get excited,
prepare for Christ's coming.

Our perspective on Christmas is that is a GREAT teaching time for your
kids. You can reinforce family values with fun, and tradition. You also
teach generosity, kindness, and the real reason for Christmas.

This particular tree tradition, was something that came to me on a lark.
I was rummaging through some scrap wood and found this sign, and it said
'trees' and suddenly the idea popped into my head. I discussed it with
my wife who played along and before we knew it, we had a really fun
family tradition.

Tree hunting

Tree hunting

Son Singing

White Christmas

That is smoke. So thick its filling our house up. Grass burns nearby to bring us not the kind of white Christmas we dream of.

Gulp

On January 17th I get on a plane and fly to what has been reported as
the loveliest part of PNG.
Kokopo/Rabaul area. Live volcano.
Malaria country.
Sand fleas.
WWII wreckage.
Yamamoto's Bunker

I'm going to record a Luke video in the Uru language for the Baining
people. I'll be in the village 2-3 weeks. That is a record for me, my
longest stretch thus far, is 7 days.

There will be hiking, there will be flying, there will be rain, and mud
and there will hopefully be at the end, a DVD to show Jesus speaking in
their own language.

I'm excited about it with the kind of excitement that makes any
adventure REAL.
I'm nervous that the equipment might fail.
I'm nervous I might not be up to the task.
I'm hopeful that I am up to the task.
I'm thinking I'm going to love it.
I'm thinking it might be the biggest adventure of my life to date.
I'm hoping it has a tremendous impact for the kingdom of God.

So far I'm hearing that there is much excitement about this project.
I'm hearing that it has inspired an entire group of people to learn to read.

I'll be posting pics.
I imagine I won't be wearing Indiana Jone's leather as it'll be hot, but
I might get to climb a volcano!

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm very much looking
forward to it.

PRAY:
- That I don't get sick before, or during the trip... it's Malaria country
- That the equipment doesn't fail.
- That the process goes very smoothly.
- That we have enough time to get it all done, without burning out.

Thank you

Lemons

Someone years ago planted an honest to goodness lemon tree in our yard years before we got here.
It's a small skinny tree, but I've never see a yield like this from trees ten times as big.

It's almost a shrubbery, it's so thin, but these grapefruit size lemons grow, more than 20 feet in the air.
This time of year, it's yielding, but it's constant spring here, so it yields frequently.
The problem is they are so high up in the air. 
So I bought a little 2 dollar basket, and put it at the end of a 10 foot dowel.  2 weekends ago I picked a few dozen lemons that were ripe. I didn't even scratch the surface.

This tree is so skinny, my kids can't climb it because it would snap.

Last saturday I took a dozen lemons from it.

Still hadn't scratched the surface, because I couldn't get UP there to pick them.

So I asked around.  And learned 2 things
1 - Lemons are super rare here, most people use MULI's which look like small oranges
2 - the way to get it to grow lower, was to trim the top, but then seal it with something so it doesn't rot.

So today, me and the kids did Surgery. 
We cut off only 2 branches from up high, so that the smaller off shoots would yield lower next year.
And then we picked all the lemons, ripe ones, and nearly ripe ones, from the fallen branches.

As I did so, I sealed up the cuts, and noticed in one spot the skinny tree had strained in the weight of the huge lemons, and the wind, that it fractured, and had a bad case of rot inside.  So we did surgery, and possibly saved the lemon tree's life. Now that I know how rare it is, I'll definitely be keeping good care of it.

There has to be about 15 dozen lemons.  I'm about to pull out the juicer and start freezing concentrate for lemonaide.

When people come to our house, they get lemonaide.  NOT muli juice, which is good but different.
And when they do, they get a little taste of America, a little taste of home.  And you see their faces,
they take a sip, say 'AH!' and then say ,hey! that's LEMONAIDE!

That's what me and the kids did today, at least for part of it.





I'm not much of a gardener, but learning as I go is part of the job requirements here (-;

The list of things I've had to teach myself (translation = I'm no expert at them but functional enough to be handy)

-Wood worker
-Carpenter
-Welder
-Electrician
-Gardener (okay tree surgeon?  Lemon squeezer?.... no wait I know how to prune bougainvillas too, so I'll let it stand)

What will I learn tomorrow !? (-;

Framed

My daughter came to me a while ago, and having been forced to take woodshop in school, she found she was liking it.
She decided to ask me if we could make her brother a Christmas present.

Sssh it's a secret.

Now as a dad with a newly teenage daughter, I was of course looking for a common activity we could do together, spend time, maybe share some anecdotal guidance.

So for an hour every saturday for a while now (since October), we've been crafting a frame.

She wanted it to be a good manly frame... so her plan was to make a wood frame, not overly sanded... sort of rough, and then to take a small chain that she had scavenged which turned out to be a timing chain off a dirt bike ... and outline the frame with it.  At one point she was bartering with our friend to get a better chain, and ended up trading up.

She didn't even want all the grease off the chain, it had to be manly.

As the weeks progressed she started saying things like 'oh I know what that is, a bandsaw'

and... when I'd ask for a clamp she'd say 'spring clamp or C clamp?'

We'd chit chat about stuff and generally have a good time... good stuff, stuff I've been waiting for years to get to.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my time alone with the kids this week while Kendal has been gone.  We've had some really good one on one times.

We sanded, we cut, routed, measured, glued, grinded, bent, mitered, drilled, stained, and wrapped.

Here's the finished project. But don't tell Calvin

My Bday Song

My daughter wrote and sang this to me today...
The cynic in me said 'oh yay, another showboating moment' You know, like when your kids say 'we have a puppet show' for you, or 'we want to dance for you'.... you sort of think 'well, okay, sure, the next 15 minutes I'll partake in being your audience.'

But then she started singing, and my daughter has a good, pure talent.

And I got unexpectedly choked up... which I hid well. Of course the 'friendly giant' line cleared that up with laughter.

Here are the lyrics:

Dad's B-day Song
Happy birthday my dear dad,
I really want, I wish I had
Something Very nice to say to you
So here is all that I can conclude

you're safe, strong, with you I belong,
Happy birthday for this year! Happy Dandy, you're my daddy!

You're a friendly giant that I always will adore.

You're nice, amusing, and I'd be losing, if you were not here.

Happy Happy Birthday, Daddy dear.

My kids

My kids are so cool. They made the best blueberry pancakes theyve ever made me for breakfast. Syd wrote and sang a song that made me laugh and nearly cry. And they decorated without waking me up.

How do I feel?

Today is (American) Thanksgiving day here. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I assume you have it as a holiday. We do not.

It is also my birthday. I was born in 1973. Man had been to the moon repeatedly by the time I was born.

People ask me how it feels to turn 39.

This is my answer:

I feel good. I feel as if I am in my prime. The confidence that I have is more calm assurance than the previous bravado I had as a younger man. I am aware of what I can do, and see improvement in the areas that I have lack. I am happy with how I have spent my life, I am happy in my family, I am happy with where I live and what I do and with the friends and family that I have in my life. I am for many parts, content, and yet young enough still to have ambition and goals. There are people who are aged enough to call me young man still, and I may yet live to be double my current age. It is still and adventure. When I was younger I did not think I would live to be this old, because this age seemed 'OLD' to a child. Yet I do not feel old, only older. My body is still responding to the demands I put on it, however it is beginning to show signs that I should take it a tad easier from now on.

I can't eat what I used to eat.
It takes longer to kick a cold, or heal a bruise.
But my mind is more keen than it has been. I know more, I've lived more. I feel as if I am in balance, where my mind and soul are increasing in wisdom and my body is decreasing.
I feel as though I'm at crossroads where my mind and body begin to go in opposite directions, but I'm thankful that it is going to happen slowly.

My life has made a change in purpose. It is far less about me now, and more about my children, and my family, and what I can still accomplish for my King while still alive.
I look forward to my midlife crisis, which I expect is 6-7 years away. I wonder what shape it will take, if it will happen, and what on earth kind of sports car I can find here in PNG. (-;

I'm thankful, for the years I've had, the years I've yet to have. I look forward to what is yet to be achieved, experienced, and struggled through. I feel as if I have spent my life well, and whatever follows from this point, is gravy.

And I say this all now, because next year, when I turn 40, I might not be in such a good mood.

If you ask 100 fifth graders 'at what age is a man 'over the hill'?' 88% of them would say '40'.

So, I'm enjoying my last year, on the hill. I've no illusions I was under it, I've been on it for a few years now.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Million Dollar Idea

a joke of mine is to say 'that's a million dollar idea' every now and then, regardless of whether or not one truly is.
But most of the time, they are... good ideas. And I believe I have about one a week.

If I could supplement my income by selling my ideas, I would. But the phone hasn't rung with that particular offer yet.

Today's million dollar idea is ... rising kitchen counters.

My wife being gone means I'm doing more cooking and dishes than normal. I find that my back begins to hurt and it makes me grumpy.
And the reason is, because the counter is precisely 4 inches lower than it should be for me.

My office desk is 4 inches too low, ...everything is meant for people of average height and so I'm constantly bending over and using lower back muscles... when washing dishes or chopping vegetables, etc.

So.. why not make a set of kitchen cabinets that can rise and lower 4 inches? ..or even more?

How many kitchens have you been in that have a step stool near the sink? The smaller kids need to use it to help with dishes, or get a drink.

Simply keep your cabinet doors 4 inches from the bottom, and then put a recess in your floor (easy to do in my house, since we're 12" off the ground)...
and construct your wall tile in such a way that a small gap is permissable, and when you have guests, raise the cabinets to hide the roller marks.

use flexible pvc on the sink, and it's a done deal.

boom, there's a million dollar idea. flip a switch, up they go, down they go... easy.

Tall people and short people the world around will find them useful.

Crushed can

this morning I decided to wake the kids up with a science experiment.
I took a bowl and filled it with ice water,
then took an empty tin can, filled it with steam from kettle,
and put it into the ice water, it instantly imploded.

They both shouted 'COOL!!!'

and then we talked about why it happens.

They both told me explosions where when the pressure inside of something, is too strong for the outside pressure, implosion is the opposite.
When you fill a can with steam, you're replacing the room temp air with hot air which takes more space, and when it hits the cold water, it instantly condenses which turns it into water, which makes the inside pressure much less than the outside pressure and the can implodes.

IT's an easy experiment you can do at home, especially if you have an espresso machine or something that serves up steam in a tube that goes inside the can.

To K92

To celebrate our car being back, and to give us something fun to do while Kendal is abroad, I decided to take the kids 20 minutes down the road to Kainantu (k92) which has a gas station, a small grocery store, and a farm supply store.  They hardly EVER get out (and yes Calvin still gets car-sick).

We headed out this morning at 8am and saw several single ladies in line waiting for a PMV (public truck).  I offered them a ride into town and we all jammed in.  They later said 'that was the smoothest ride into K92 we ever had!'.  It was nice to be able to help someone again in that way.

The purpose of the trip was to let the kids have their fill of the 'outside world' so I wasn't really in any hurry or had anything to buy, so I was perusing and walking around and feigning interest in anything the kids got excited enough to show me.

This one made my son laugh.  Rut Bir.  He asked me to take a photo of it.

We ended up buying a few small things like marbles.  Sydney wanted a Meri Blaus which is a shirt indigenous to here.  

Calvin didn't want much of anything, but he did want a lighter, total cost 25 cents.  I splurged and bought it for him.  When he got it home, I had to teach him how to light it, and when we did, the flame shot up about 6 inches!  

"WOAH!!!"

The kids both said 'wow, this was a pretty fun first day without mom!"

I'm glad they had fun.

What God is doing with Audio and Video

I like to share these stories when they come to me:


November 2011 was the first recording for the Cotabato Manobo of five Genesis stories and Jonah. 
           These were dramatized Scripture recordings with sound effects, and included their music. Here is a 
           report from the Filipina missionary serving with Translators Association of the Philippines: 

                     We were excited to bring along with us the test CDs to play for people to listen with 
                     the purpose of promoting the translated Scriptures.  We noticed how excited 
                     Manobos were to listen to the stories and hear their own musical instrument played 
                     with the story.  The CDs were tested in different villages and varied occasions like 
                     thanksgiving celebrations, Bible study, prayer meetings and even at homes in the 
                     evening.  People liked it and wanted to listen to more stories.  This resulted in people 
                     buying Manobo New Testaments.  So we are planning to record more Bible stories 
                     during our next meeting in Davao in February (2012).  

When the CDs were played, the people would leave everything to listen.  Especially appealing were 
          their own ethnic musical instruments played prior to each story.  People didn’t need an invitation to 
          listen; they would just play the CD, and young and old would rush to the place the sound was coming 
          from and an audience was instantly formed. 

          Generally, people do not enjoy reading.  Audio dramatized Scripture recordings are extremely helpful 
          in getting Scripture to people.  Seeing the importance of presenting material in an oral form, we 
          encouraged them to make two or three questions for deeper understanding, choose a Bible verse, and 
          add a 30‐second explanation of the story or explanation of the answers to the questions.  At the third 
          recording session in July this year, the group reported that people find the questions for discussion 
          instructive and requested that questions be included for the next recordings.  Thirty Audibibles went 
          out after the recording in February. The Audibibles themselves are missionaries. After listening to OT 
          stories on the Audibible, two villages reported that now they need to build churches.  In another 
          village, a spiritually weak church listened to the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount 
          Carmel. The people came to the conclusion that they must destroy their charms, and worship only 
          God. Now their church is growing spiritually and also growing in attendance! These audio dramatized 
          Scripture recordings, with their music and added sound effects, are the biggest hit on their charts!  

          We look forward to one more OT recordings with this group, and then going on to the book of Acts. 
          Also, we are hopeful of doing Acts recordings with partners for other languages in an area where 
          another religion predominates. May God's Word live vibrantly through these efforts. 

Waxing Poetic

Don't worry I'm not going to write a poem.

I'm sitting here, looking out my window while the rain is pouring down
so loudly I can't hear the person next to me.

As I watch the hard rain hit the metal roof of my neighbor's house I see
a mist that arises from the conflict.
Without the sun, the mist creates a halo affect around the house, the
harder it rains, the thicker the halo.
With the sun a small rainbow is formed.

And I think to myself, that this symbolic conflict, is an essential one.
The rain, strives to hit the earth and is stopped by the metal roof, and
channeled into gutters and stored in water tanks, and used to drink and
feed, and wash, and clean.

As it does so, it makes a flurry of noise, and spits up a mist, but the
metal roof doesn't seem to mind.

If you're lucky from time to time it can actually be the source of some
beautiful imagery.

The water flows down the road, into the river, which soon will have
children playing in it, people washing their clothes in it, and drinking
from it.

It is a good conflict, a necessary one, and like many other conflicts,
it can get horribly messy as with a hurricane, and damage people around it.

Or it can resolve well, and turn out to be a good thing for all involved.

Every rainfall has that potential.
Every conflict has that potential.

I pray God give me the grace to make the conflicts I have in my life
turn out to be positive experiences.

Suzy's back

Suzy is the name of our Isuzu.
After 1 year of being repaired on, it's parked in our driveway now.

It was a crazy episode of trying to find a place to stay and a way to get down to town to pick up the truck. We found a ride down, and then found a place to stay through another church ministry. A couple who left their place open to friends, and a friend recommended me. So there we were in town. We took a bit of a gamble because I had a very small window of time to get my truck but had no idea if it would be ready or not.

If it wasn't ready, we wouldn't have a way home... and no place to sleep as we only had 1 night booked.

Day 1 - it wasn't ready, we slept in the 1 place I could find... but had to move out that morning
Day 2 - I decided to sit in the lobby of the mechanic shop and wait. After about 2 hours of waiting the mechanic said 'it's ready'. And it was.

We drove out of there, and my cell phone began ringing.
My wife wanted to know if I had the truck.
My companion's wife wanted to tell him his kids were very sick and to come home if he could.
The network room called to say email was failing.
Friends called to say their vehicle broke down on the way to town and could we help?
Other acquaintances called to say their water pump was failing and could we help them get home... he had his wife and kids with him.
Other acquaintances called to say they needed room in a car to put some cargo.
Another call said ANOTHER break down on the road.
And finally, the rescue vehicle sent to help people, ALSO broke down.
Another call told us there was fighting back near home, and fighting in town and to avoid certain places.

CRAZY.
Having very little time to prioritize and make decisions, we did the best we could, and were able to help some of the above list but not all.
In the end, everyone got to their destination safely, and we returned with our truck.

THAT was a successful trip.

You learn to redefine success when you're faced with too many risk variables that could cause failure. For me, success was getting home safe, on time, and with the truck I went to get!

Thanks to God, we did a lot of praying on this trip.

The total cost of repair was $2500. But as one friend said 'that's the pain of ownership, the pain of not owning is stress whenever you want to go somewhere and can't.'

For us, driving into 'town' is always a risk, you face the 5 P's

Pigs on the road
Pikinini's (kids darting in front of you)
Potholes (so big and hard to see, that you could easily render your vehicle immobile)
Pirates (bandits along the road)
PMV's (crazy drivers on the road swerving into your lane on blind turns to avoid one of the other P's or just because...stands for Public Motorized Vehicles but this category includes Large trucks too)

Driving the 3.5-4 hour journey (the time changes as the road gets worse) is always a tense thing that requires total attention and cat-like reflexes. So it's not the same as saying you'll drive somewhere in the U.S. In fact, driving in the U.S. is one of my favorite things to do now, I used to dislike it, but long wide straight highways are very nice.

I can gaurantee you, anyone coming to visit us, a very early part of your culture shock will be your first car ride here (-;

Today I finished

Today I finished the final chapter of Luke for the Sissano language. It
is post produced and ready to be put onto players.

That means, that I have now done chapters in these languages:
Arop
Barupu
Malol
Sissano
Kamasau

I have listened to Luke in several languages, and haven't understood a
single one of them (-;

Truck Saga continued

Okay so some of you have been following the truck saga... it broke, fixed it, it broke, towed it, dropped it off, had a gun pointed at me, blah blah blah... it sat for a year while we ordered parts.
Monday I got a call 'it's running, come get it'
Tuesday - nope not running now
Weds - yes it's running again your fuel was bad, the radiator rusted out, we repaired the radiator (without my consent so read that as 'bill increasing').
Thurs - wait, it won't run, we're missing the fan unit.. where is it?

Okay I had booked a car to go down there, found no place to stay, scampered around calling in favors found a place to stay, and then... now it's not running again because someone misplaced a fan unit and it's been a whole year.. GOOD LUCK FINDING IT.

so now... I have to wait 2 more months to pick it up, at LEAST because of my schedule, I can't get to LAE until Feb.

This is entirely nuts and I would be very less stressed if I told the guy 'keep it as payment for your struggles, I'm done with it.'

AS it stands, I'm going to have to pay $500 to GET to the place where I can pay $3000 for a truck under repair for 1 year... and HOPE I can drive it home.
But I'm a missionary so I won't lose my cool over it.

-chad

Programming

this is two megavoice players and their programming units
See next post on this

Pranking

Every year the missionary boys and girls at the high school decide to pull a 'senior' prank.  Most often that prank involves wrapping the main intersection up with video tape.  It's called taping and it's pretty lame and messy.

I have written to the teens before and challenged them to be more witty. I've told them a GOOD prank is one where no one is a victim, no horrible mess is made (that isn't cleaned up) and that everyone can laugh at.

They haven't caught on.

So today, I decided to actually DO a prank.  Let's see how long it takes the community to catch on.

it's 10am now.

These signs are at the intersection that the kids typically TAPE.... all I did was print out a simple word in yellow and black and change the signs.  I figure people who actually SEE it, might chuckle. 

Before

AFTER:


See, NOT a ton of work, not a ton of mess, witty, fun... and enjoyed by all.  Put up with poster putty so easily cleaned up.

I hope they'll learn from this. There are so many more awesome opportunities than TAPING.

Vote

So this month we voted via FAX.
I didn't have time to wait on our internet to set up EFAX or something,
so I used the land line.
It cost us 102.65 Kina ($50 USD approx) to get our votes counted. Normal
telephony dialing internationally costs about $2.50 p/minute

Currently we're at $25 per vote.
So if you read this, and then vote because of it, it drops the overall
price down.

Just letting you know, we may not live in-country, but we care enough to
vote from abroad, because what happens affects us all. I don't like
getting political on my blog because that isn't its purpose, but I'm a
very politically minded person, and so spending some money this way was
important to us.

You can guess why when I see folks not voting, who only have to drive 5
minutes and it's free for them, plus they get a cool sticker we don't
get, and get to live the experience.... well I get a little impatient.
When I see people dying in other countries for the right to vote, and
yet I hear more than 60% of my generation isn't voting?.... I get a
little sad.

How much would you pay for the right to have your voice heard? How much
trouble would you go through?

the Problem from a Newbie

So I'm still a newbie, looking at this thing with newbie eyes, and I'm
sure I don't have a full handle on all the nuance of the thing.. but
here goes.

SOLUTION first: - more people. We need more people with a desire to
serve with audio editing, digital sound, distribution and management.
Audio editors, recordists, video editors, dubbers, technicians, office
managers, project coordinators and funders.

PROBLEM: For the longest time our organization has had 1 single goal...
MAKE BIBLES. A few people in the digital media department a decade ago,
said 'but the people can't read.' Some went to solve this by teaching
literacy. But others went to solve this by making the Bible a spoken
tradition. Which meant recording.

The people in the power of decision didn't catch on quickly to the idea
of audio recordings. So in order to sell the idea, the technicians
decided to make the entire process served up on a silver platter.

-You need to manage the project as it takes months, and carefully track
all the little details.
-You need to apply for copyright
-Apply for funding - and get funding
-Plan the travel, book the flights
-Gather the equipment, test it
-Deploy to the village
-Do the recording
-Do the Post Production
-Create the final media
-Distribute the media

How many geeky techs have you met? If you look at that drastically
oversimplified list, I can tell you, techs are good at maybe 4 of those
things. But, in order to get the idea to take off, they were doing all
of them.

Fast Forward to 10 years later.
The techs are exhausted because they're doing things they're not good
at, and the NEED for audio has finally caught on. So the demand is
going through the roof.

BUT because the techs have handled every bit of the details, PLUS the
fact that they're already near burnout.... guess what... the work load
is piling on FAR too quickly.

Now I get why I was treated like the local hero when I arrived. FINALLY
some hope. Only the truth of the matter is, that the team didn't really
multiply so much as replenish itself. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE.

The situation we have now, is that there is such a demand for my time,
that I could spend several months away from home and in the village
doing recording. Or I could spend several months locked in my office
doing post production and editing.

But I can't do both, and on top of that, who is going to do all the
paper work to enable me to keep being geeky tech?

Some things are going to have to change in order to meet the demand....
otherwise what will soon happen, is that all the work the technicians
put into getting this ministry underway, will die.

The people will start to say 'well YEAH I need this, but that department
takes a year to respond.' (yes we have a year's backlog of work to be
done.)

So I'm blogging this.
Why?

In case there is anyone out there saying 'well I want to be a....
volunteer.... overseas, but all I can do is edit audio. Or all I can do
is manage an office well.'

WE NEED YOU.

if you don't want to come, please pray that God move someone's heart to
come.
In fact, if you don't want to come, could you begin praying that God
raise up someone to go in your stead?

The sexiness of this ministry is starting to wear off, and project
funding is starting to drop out. In order to make this ministry work,
(and it is VERY effective to have audio Scripture in a culture where
spoken word is truth, and stories are how the history is passed on)....
we need to do good work, quickly.

Otherwise, the opportunity will have passed us up. God is the one at
work here, and I'm seeing miraculous things happen... I saw one entire
village experience a complete revival at the idea of recording Luke!

So I figure God will send us what He needs.... I'm just the messenger (-;

thanks

Getting Audio Out

This is a Megavoice player. It's VERY popular (this and the AudiBible which is better) in the villages because you press PLAY and you hear people speaking in your language and reading the Bible.

To get the sound onto the device is a LOT of work. Translate the Bible,  fly to the village, hike, setup in a room, read the Bible, edit out noises and re-takes. Mix it all down, and push it out.  Minus the actual translation, it takes weeks and thousands of dollars.  Once you have a finished .wav file, you have to go through all kinds of programming hoops to get the sound onto the device.  THEN you have to distribute it.  Programming the first one takes days, the subsequent take about 5 minutes.  I'll be doing 30 of these next week. 

Why not use mp3 players?  These devices are specially designed to perform well in village environments.  They take multiple voltages to charge, charge via solar or outlet, are strong enough for a tank to run over, and won't to ANYTHING else, which means they won't get re-purposed and play mp3 songs unless WE want them to.  An mp3 player is far too fragile and far too versatile to effective get the Bible into people's ears.

This is only a small portion of what I'm doing in the digital media department now.  Stay tuned for more.

Halloween Bible Fun Fact

In the original Analytical Greek NT,
2 Corinthians has 13 chapters, and 13 verses in the 13th chapter.
AND.. that 13th verse mentions the Holy Ghost..

oooooh.. spooky... (-;

(I only mention this because I notice it's halloween and I'm here
converting books of the NT into audio .wav files for playback in the
village on the AudiBible)....

this is about as festive as I get on halloween, a holiday I'm all to
glad no one remembers around here.

Puppets

Today I escorted my daughter into town so her puppet ministry team could present to more kids in one place than I've ever seen in my life

another great day

Wow, I dunno if it's fair to have 2 really good days in a row like this.

My dept's NAS device arrived in the mail today, and I got it
configured. Hello 5TB of media storage!
I was able to solve a problem we were having with ios6 and it's wifi,
that's been plaguing the community for a month.
I got a nice email complimenting my work in audio-recording.
I got in touch with my old audio instructor Brad Brock (you can imdb
him, he's an accomplished guy).

It was one of those days when things just work..... and all of that on 5
hours sleep!

I'm loving this level of productivity!

The truth about intestines

This weekend my son and I had a bit of a digestive issue.
The truth about living in a tropical environment is that there are all
number of bacterias that you're exposed to and no matter how long you've
been able to work up your resistance, every now and then a few get through.

Digestive issues are no stranger to this lifestyle. Before coming here
I would NEVER talk to anyone in detail about their bathroom habits...
and now, everyone understands what you mean when you say,

"I have gastro issues."

It means, you can't safely leave any place that doesn't have a toilet
within 50 feet. (50 feet is the average distance you can sprint before
it's too late. (-; ).

So while this may gross some of you out, it's a part of life. While we
show pictures of where we are and what we do, and you think 'wow, that's
green and lush.' We're thinking 'yeah, I bet there are no decent
toilets for miles!'.

The toilet situation in this country is like spinning the wheel of
fortune....

click click click.... Congratulations you won a sea toilet! You and a
guest will be dangling over a cliff hundreds of feet in the air, with
nothing but rotting boards to hold your weight. But wait! There's
more! If you're afraid of heights, and happen to look down, you can
expect dizziness, and a paralyzing fear that will force your gastro
issue to surface even quicker!

click click click..... YAY, you've won an actual flushing toilet....
however this toilet has no walls and no privacy, but you will be planted
firmly on the ground

click click click.... oh, Not good, this is a liklik haus. The ceiling
is 5 foot tall, so you'll have to do contortionist tricks to get in, but
once in, you'll enjoy the visual privacy of grass walls with NONE of the
audial privacy! Congratulations!

and it goes on and on and on.
You may think that in a world where you could have a sudden, prolongued
and intense need for a toilet, that it'd be a place with toilet
technology that exceeds the Japanese.... but you'd be wrong.

I'm going to take a moment now and say a silent prayer for all the
volunteers across the world who have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. ....
Maybe I should write a prayer.

I don't think this will make it on the wall of every house like
'footprints' but It'll be hung in my bathroom that's for sure:


Toilets
Lord you know the pressures within
I pray you provide a proper disposal bin
It may have been something I ate, or something I drank,
I drank it Lord to avoid bringing you shame.
What good would it do to say I am one of yours and then reject the gifts
of food offered me?
I desire not to bring shame upon my hosts, nor you, nor myself and so I ask
Please let me find a suitable toilet.

Lord you have sent me sea toilets, and outhouses.
I have suspended myself precariously over rotted boards and low ceilings.
I have trusted you to spare me from gravity and disgrace.
I have been engulfed by odors reminiscent of an unholy place.
Lord, I trust these times have built my character, and I thank you that
I still live.
Though I am temporarily blinded by my desire to die, and the hatred that
my intestines have for me.
Please bring me to a place where I can find peace and relief.

God, there are people watching me, there are people listening.
I fear I will bring dishonor to you because the noise I am about to
make, is in no way joyful.
I would prefer to be far away from the eyes and ears of other men.
But time is not on my side in this matter.
Lord help me to expel what must be expelled, so that I may return to the
work given me.
And when I return Lord, let there not be laughter nor snickering.
And when I return Lord let there not be a need to leave again quickly.

Lord you know my needs, my future needs and my urgent needs.
And my really really urgent needs.
Lord I am a sinful man, and forgot to pack the paper I need.
I trust that you will provide for me a proper place, a safe place, a
nearby place.
I trust that my footing will be sure, for a muddy path that creates
slippage will most definitely be my ruin.
I read that footprints poem once and thought it was nice.
Can you please carry me now? I don't think I can walk.

Amen.

Just the Right Bible

a friend of mine made this video, he and his family are here now doing
what they were meant to do.

Jesus Film

What is the Jesus Film?
It is an old but good film depicting the life of Jesus.  Dubbing it requires months of work.  First you assemble a team of actors. (Men and women who can speak the heart language of the intended audience)  Then you fit the script to match the time for decent lip sync.  Then you go to the village and setup a clean sound environment and begin the recording (usually a few weeks of work).  Then you edit it all, clean up the sound, sync it a bit and master a DVD.  Then you send the DVD to the copyrighters for permission to use, when they approve, you can distribute and show the DVD.

Who does that work? 
Me and the translator's team.  There are a few of us here who can do the work, and it takes a LOT of planning to make it successful.  You wouldn't believe all the 'behind the scenes' stuff that goes on.

In the end, you show it, and you have something like this.
Where over 600 people sat outside to watch Jesus speak in their language.  It is an emotional, and life changing event.



In January I have the opportunity to travel to a remote village for 3 weeks to do a dubbing of the LUKE video (which is like the Jesus Film only longer, with multiple 'episodes').  It will be my first village dubbing, and it will mean being away from my family for 3 weeks.  But when you weigh that against seeing people changed.... it's a no brainer.

I'm told that in this next village I'm heading to, the idea of being part of the film has boosted literacy such that now 17 men who couldn't read before, can now read well enough to read the script to do the dubbing.  now THAT is motivation!

Excited n Tired

Today I did my first editing of a recording of Luke chapter 20. It was
in the Barupu language. To do this, you take the recording, then put it
in your editor, and read along the script, and take out noise, spaces,
and multiple takes.

It seems easy enough in theory, but in practice, I'm listening to, and
reading a totally foreign language. It is tiring. It took me 1 hour to
do 1 chapter.

Okay, so, Luke has 24 chapters.
Each chapter has to be RECORDED, which is at LEAST an hour per chapter.
EDITED, and formatted, etc.

that's already 2 hours per chapter, that's 48 hours for 1 language of
Luke. And I'm working with others to do 4 - 6 languages.

I'm starting to understand why this takes so much time (-;

Still, it's pretty exciting.

Beef Free not Free Beef

Current price of ground beef ... translated price - $10.50 per pound

Current price of unleaded gasoline ... translated price - $9.52 per gallon

So we're currently not eating beef, or making any long trips.

Water Level Indicator

This weekend we cleaned our tank, but I also invented and installed a water meter. I had this idea cooking around in my head. We have 3 water tanks to our house, so we've never run out of water, but it hasn't rained in weeks and I took a risk cleaning a tank, because it meant losing some water. Since I'm on the volunteer fire team, I was able to use some of our water equipment to pump and store our good water into one of our three tanks. This tank is our main tank. (Technically we have 4 if you count the gravity feed hot water tank on the roof). Sparing you the details, they're all rain water tanks, and they are positioned in multiple areas to store rain water. They equalize to each other's levels. The tank we cleaned takes the brunt of the dirt from the roof (put there by passing vehicles on the dirt road stirring up dust).

Then the water distributes evenly to the other tanks. Our best tank is our new (3 years old) tuffa tank because it's not metal and doesn't have rust.

BUT, we have no way of knowing our water level, nor how much we use in a day or a week, unless we go out and tap the metal tank to see/hear/feel where the water is. Now we do.

Need:
-fishing line
-coffee mug
-empty plastic coke bottle
-metal weights (like washers or something)
-hose clamp
-old piece of pvc pipe

I'm rather proud of this invention, I came up with it when looking at the 'pay' water meters which gave you a REVERSE level. The indicator on the side of the tank would RISE when your water lowered.

Drill a small hole in the top of the tank, put your old pvc pipe in there,if your hole isn't tight enough use the hose clamp to keep it from slipping in, Tie the fishing line to the empty coke bottle, this is your float. Drop it in the water. Run the other end through the handle of your old coffee mug. This is your pulley, drop the mug slowly into the water. It shouldn't move much once it settles. Run the other end up through the tubing and over the side. Eyeball your water level, and tie pull the tension in the fishing line taut. Then tie the fishing line to the weights right at the water level.

The weights will rise with your water level and sink with your water level. So far, so good, the mug hasn't moved, the line hasn't twisted. And now we know that after 2 days of no rain, our tank levels collectively go down about 3 inches.

The best part about this indicator is we can view it from our kitchen window.

I'm a simple man, being able to device simple things that are helpful and work, make me happy.

Rats die

lately we've had a bit of a rat infestation. We hear them running around in the attic, probably hunting for geckos. We like geckos, they eat mosquitos. We don't like rats. So, we waged war on the rats. Putting up the first trap baited with sweetpotato (aka kaukau) and peanut butter it wasn't ten minutes before I heard the trap close shut.

We've disposed of 4 rats in a 20 hour period so far! You may say 'disgusting' but actually we're all in 'hunter' mode and it feels like a pretty good haul. We all slept well last night, not hearing the scuffling sounds of critters up over our heads.

Yeah okay maybe the fact that hunting rats excites me is further evidence that I'm meant to be here and do this job. (-;

Bridge open

our bridge is open, it's been extended about 15 feet, but this is a temporary fix.
Still we can get fuel now, and go into town for food! (if we had a car).
Please continue to pray that the bridge gets permanently repaired soon.

Fire loses

Got back to the office after lunch today and the fire phone was ringing. Deployed the gang zipped over to the fire on my atv. along the way one concerned citizen was indicating i should slow down. They later realized that when i drive fast it IS an emergency. We let the small brush fire burn down. Wet the area. Refilled the truck and now I am back at the office. A bit dirtier. Exciting lunch break

After

My son had fun and his reasoning was 'how many kids get to say they were inside their water tank?!'

Super clean

All we need now is rain!

Before. Ready for mud

Mud on tank

Someone poisioned the water hole!!!
Quote from toy story

Our drinking water has been muddy this week forcing us to use a bucket filter. So we decided it was time to clean the tank. My son was very keen to go in. We found a lit of silt on the bottom. I reckon it hasnt been cleaned in a decade.

fetchin' the yunguns

Today's adventure was that I was asked to be a part of the convoy of vehicles meeting at the bridge (which is out) to pick up the returning youth from their off site, week long retreat.  I was assigned a Land Cruiser and told to pick up the sound equipment, so that it would be more secure enclosed.  It was all very well organized by my friend Geoff.  I was give a slip of paper, told what order to drive in, etc.

I was prepared for trouble and praying against it.  The bridge is out, so it is effectively a dead end loading zone.  We were told on Sunday it was quiet, but we hit during rush hour (tons of pedestrians). I was following my buddy driving a 6 wheel ex-army truck for cargo, and man was I impressed when he threaded the needle reversing up to the bridge.
THERE WERE A TON OF PEOPLE all around.  So I was trying to filter out OUR gang, equipment, keep the car secure, etc.  It wasn't very hard, the high schoolers did most of the loading and unloading.  On the other side of the bridge our vehicles were locked up and an undisclosed location.

So we transferred students and cargo alike, and though the seats were tight, having a bunch of high school boys wanting to ride on the army truck freed up several of them.    I mean who wouldn't want to ride 10 feet off the ground?   

How did you spend your lunch hour?

The Bridge in Pictures

The pictures don't do it justice.  When a vehicle gets on the bridge, the bridge teeters.  One end of it is held up by a rock.  The works dept. is putting a temporary fix on it by extending it into the dirt.  Vehicles aren't supposed to pass, so they put armed police on either end... however they don't seem to stop the vehicles that pass (the pics show a truck passing and an armed policeman standing there letting them do so.)

Our annual youth retreat involves driving 2 hours away over the bridge, but they can't. so... they load up the kids, drive to the bridge, walk over the bridge with their stuff and then get into new vehicles and continue on.  This requires twice the amount of drivers, and was going to require 2 trips, but some courageous driving by one of the Auto Shop staff, got the cargo over the bridge before the works dept. piled mounds of dirt on either end to keep that from happening.

notice the gap? that's where the rock is.

the extension "fix" truck ignoring the sign, policeman looking other way


I think that's all I need to say really.

Bridge

The bridge is officially closed now, and we can't afford to build a ford across the river, because the property owners want a LOT of money.  The government works department has started some repair on the bridge, which means it's closed.  We do not know how long they will take to repair the bridge, nor if the repairs will be permanent or a stop-gap measure until later.  What we do know is that when trucks go across it, it moves and teeters, and we know that each progressing rain makes it worse as the river edges erode.
 
But, seeing a tractor has to be a good sign... right?

except now we can't go anywhere until it's fixed (-;

Bridge Repair

our team has gone out a few times to repair the bridge (this is a joke picture)... and now we are investigating making a ford across the river.  In order to do that we have to secure land rights which often costs a lot of money.  We are being asked to pay money to allow trucks to drive across the land on either side of the river, to bring supplies....  my wife says 'driving across a river always makes me nervous'.  And reasonably so, sometimes we're driving in well over three to four feet of water.... and can only cross in certain vehicles, and only cross in a certain place, and only cross when the river isn't going too fast... but crossing rivers is a way of life here, although it makes going into town a lot more adventurous.

bye bye groceries

This is the burnt remains of the place we get most of our in country food stuffs.  Pray for a new way to get supplies.  As a result of this and the bridge failing, we've had to resort to implementing a store card policy so that we reduce the amount of sales of food stuffs to the neighboring villages, in order to reduce the speed at which our supplies are diminished.

internet is up

7 days.
We were offline for 7 days.

Not much else to say about that... except.... I'm going to go take a
nap, and say hi to my family.