Putting money where mouth is

A friend just told me that the audio bibles we produced for his language group are outselling the printed scripture 2 to 1. The printed scripture is 1/2 the price as the audio player.

This is a good fiscal reminder of how important media is.

Work

After sitting in on a recording session and seeing all the retakes, edits, space removal noise removal checking of Scripture and so forth, the sitting in translator said.

"Wow i didn't think this was work but now I see it is a lot of work"

Yes, yes it is. At the end of a full recording day youre tired and want to go into sensory deprivation for a while.

Fast Food

no restaurants available around here.


but on market day, they sometimes sell homemade donuts, so you can pick up a bunch of bananas and some donuts.

That's about as FAST as breakfast can get around here.

Often people are nervous about moving here because of the requirements of cooking. They're afraid:
-I have to learn to cook everything from scratch
-with different ingredients
-lacking certain ingredients from time to time
-with no restaurants
-with milk powder

but rest easy.  You don't have to be a great chef to survive.  You can buy pre-packaged and sliced bread, chips in the bag, cereal, buy hamburgers at the store, etc.  Not everyone is an excellent cook, nor needs to be.   (it doesn't hurt, but you can survive).

It's more costly to live like that, but isn't it more costly to live like that anywhere?

Introducing

Hot off the presses

new website

I revamped our website
http://www.gimpel.tv/png

it includes videos and more explanation of what we're doing and why, and
how.
You should definitely watch the 'what we do' video as I made that one (-;

New Sounds in the Night

(courtesy PNG experience: http://thepngexperience.wordpress.com/2013/06/)

28 June, 2013 – Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea – Written by Tim Lithgow with Tim Scott

In the early 1980s, Barbara Hardin and Linda Weisenburger settled on the coast a few hours’ drive north of Madang to learn the local language and translate the scriptures.   Those first years were very discouraging as the local community showed little interest in their own language.    But when Hardin and Weisenburger were seriously considering whether or not to continue, Maia language speakers from Wagedev village asked them to come and work with them.   The following decades continued to be a struggle as, apart from a few key people, there was limited interest in the program.   Logistic challenges emerged as the road to the village deteriorated to the point where it was only passable in dry season.  The helicopter became their preferred mode of travel, and they persevered in the work.

 

Recently, a dedication was held for the scriptures that have been translated: portions of Genesis, Ruth, Matthew, Mark, Acts, and a few epistles, in printed form and on Audibibles*.  Encouragingly, the community worked together on repairing the road into Wagadev.   But one week before the celebration a torrential downpour caused a landslide that completely cut off the road.   As only God could orchestrate, a helicopter was going to be in the area the day before the dedication, so the visitors were shuttled in.

 

On the dedication day, dancers escorted visitors into the village, actors presented dramas depicting the truth of God’s Word protecting from evil, and speakers reminded the community of the importance of this event – God now can speak to them in their own mother tongue: Maia!  The local Lutheran pastor, not a Maia speaker, spoke passionately, promising the people that the scripture readings in church would now be in Maia.  True to his word, at church the next morning ALL the scripture readings were in the Maia language.

 

As the sun set over the tropical jungle, the nightly noise of the cicadas and other tropical creatures was mixed with the sound of Maia scriptures being played on the Audibibles as groups of people listened to God’s Word in their mother tongue.

* Audibibles are pre-recorded, dedicated mp3 players with portions of heart language scriptures stored on them.

By The PNG Experience

Importance of Audio

A quick video I did to teach myself a new software. It's not great, but it gets the point across.

Orphanage Mission

For Christmas, the kids at the school held a fund-raiser to get money enough to buy clothes from a thrift-store for children at an orphanage in Lae.  My kids wanted to participate. I may have said this before, but my kids far outdo me in the generosity department.

Per capita, my kids give (what little money they can earn or raise) away more money than I ever did when I was their age. 

One night at dinner my son brought this up and said "I would like to donate K20 to this" and so, to encourage him I replied, "I will match whatever you give up to K50". (I don't mind sharing the real numbers because they are nothing to boast about.)

Well, donation time came, and my son and daughter asked "Dad was that K50 each?"  I had to think about it.  And replied 'yes'.

So my children got together and plotted.  My son after having spent his money (he saved like a miser) for Christmas gifts, had slightly more than K50 to donate, and my daughter had slightly less.  So my son plotted to give his sister the difference so that they could get the full 'MATCHING' out of me.

That night at dinner I had no idea what I had committed to and before I knew it, the orphanage was getting much more money out of the Owens household than I had anticipated.

Apparently my kids didn't need encouragement, they knew it was a good thing to do. What I did was give them a way to work the system, which they did, and I have respect for that too.  (I would like to see more of this creative financing used in ministry.)

So, the team went to Lae, and bought the clothing and helped at the orphanage with repairs.  In the end it turned out they needed more money than they had asked for (originally asking for K20 per family)... as the clothing cost more than anticipated, but because donations had exceeded what they asked for, every child was able to receive multiple outfits for school and home, etc.

I have said this before.  No matter how much work my wife and I do in this country, there is a part of me that wonders, if God called us all here, so that my KIDS could minister.  Because when they act on their faith, it ministers to the world.

Village Tech

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkVision-LT1421-Widescreen-Monitor/dp/B005L2NA54/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389070009&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+monitor+lenovo

This little USB (displaylink tech) powered monitor is awesome.  Works on mac/linux/windows.  Typically when we go into the village we have to carry a few external monitors for lip syncing the video dub we're working on.  The recordist (me) needs a monitor (usually 2, the laptop for the audio software and an external for the video window), and the reader facing the recordist needs one.

This means we often have to lug around at least 2 large monitors with us.  Thank goodness for LCD, carrying the big heavy CRT monitors is a thing of the past.

BUT still there was always this problem of power, and splitting.  We'd have to split the VGA out to 2 monitors.
But now, with these USB flatscreens we have:
-no need for wall outlets
-super portable and light
-no need to split the vga out, just attach to usb port

I'm really liking these little units!

Audibible Dedication Video

From the PNG Experience site, this video shows in their own words, what
the work we do, means to them (I work in Audio Bible production among
other things).



http://youtu.be/qB6aFslqrps

Flash n Beep

  I

It's sunny out, the kids are outside playing ball, and then suddenly, the skies open up and a flood of water begins pouring down.  This is not uncommon.

I am sitting at my desk, looking out my window and in the distance I see a bolt of lightning.  This too, is not uncommon.

The moment I see the flash of lightning, the power goes out, and the familiar beeping of the UPS begins.  Moments later the power is back on.  This also, not uncommon.

KABOOM.. the thunder makes our dog jump up, run and hide.  Not uncommon.

The internet goes down, as my DSL modem took a bit of a hit, but powering it off and on again brings it back to life.

I can't hear my wife in the next room talking because of the loudness of the rain hitting our metal roof.

All of this not uncommon.

So why write about it?

Because there is just something so awesome about a lightning storm (a weekly occurrence it seems), that knocks out the electronics, and even fries some of them.

It's a real life example of a comparison of God's power and Man's power.  No matter how cool our gadgets, they can easily be wiped out with a single lightning bolt, and when you see that bolt, you're frozen for a moment, in awe of God's might.

Sad Loss of Footage

In October 2012 I spent 3 weeks living in a village, recording and
producing a video of the book of Luke in the Ura language. Being a
video guy and wanting all those partnering with us back in the U.S. to
be shown what was going on, I shot a lot of video.

At the end of that video the translators I went to work with, expressed
their gratitude for my work, and gave a testimony of what my work meant
to their people and their project.

It was possibly the most meaningful video footage I've ever shot.

Being paranoid because it was on SD card only, and knowing that my
camera may go missing one day. I squirrelled the SD cards away for this
week. This week was the week I had planned to edit that video and bring
it to life and send it to churches and partners and supporters so that
they would feel the impact of what they brought to bear.

I took out my SD cards this week and the footage was gone. It was gone
from my backups, it was gone from all of my systems (work and home). It
was gone.

And I have mourned the loss. Not because I'll never get to relive what
I've lived, but because none of it would have been possible without your
partnership. I wanted to give you the next best thing to having been there.


But I can't, because it's gone.

If I would have been given the chance to stand up in front of a church
and speak for 5 minutes, I would have simply shown the video. It was
that communicative.

This is what you WOULD have walked away with:

-Kokopo is a beautiful place, but the people need God's Word.
-With your partnership, together we achieved giving them the experience
of SEEING Jesus Christ and HEARING Him speak in their own language.
-You would have seen people crying at the realization that Christ loves
them.
-You would have seen sweat and labor put into the process of making that
happen, hikes, heat, bugs, and small rooms.
-You have have seen and heard from people who have been working towards
this for decades tell you how our family personally has contributed to
the realization this video.


But you don't get to see any of that now.
I am upset about that.
I want you so badly to realize what is going on over in this country.
How God's Word needs to push back the spiritual war, and change lives
through saving souls.

HOW could I show you this spiritual battle? How could I explain how much
the enemy doesn't want to let go of people to God?

And then it hit me.

The loss of this video footage could be a simple oversight, it could
have been that I got too busy, lost concentration, put off the project
for too long, lost the footage.
Or,
it could be the result of spiritual warfare. I know that right now I'm
very much battling discouragement and anger at the loss of it.


BUT....
then I sat and prayed against it... and God's timing is crazy
wonderful. I got a very encouraging email from friends minutes from
saying 'Amen'.

God is at work here, and I'll find a way to show you.

Be prepared. This loss of the footage for this 1 video has inspired me
to being home with us in June a DOZEN videos!!! We'll have so many
videos to show you'll be overwhelmed with everything going on.

So next time you see me, ask me 'Hey Chad, can you show me one of those
videos of what's going on in PNG?'

and I'll say 'YES!'

I have 9 right now, and hoping to make more.

listening to God's Word

Christmas Story

http://www.gimpel.tv/mov/Christmas_Story_Family_Reading.docx

I got this idea this morning. (Popped awake at 5am with it and finished
it at 8am) Most families read some portion of the Christmas Story on
Christmas Eve or whenever. Some of us observe advent, some read the
story Christmas morning, whatever.

But every year we read it I find the process lacking. Maybe you're not
like me and if not, stop reading. I don't want to rock a perfectly good
boat.

It seems like on Christmas morning the kids are all amped up and
excited, and then... we make them wait. Wait for coffee, WAIT for food,
WAIT for the reading of the Word and all they want to do is open a present.

Our job as parents is to EXCITE the kids about the Love of Christ....
and I'm concerned that by timing the reading of the Scripture wrong,
what we're really doing is saying..

"hold on kids, before you can get to the good stuff, you have to listen
to some boring words because of a tradition that unknowingly raising you
up to dislike and rebel against, when really what I'm trying to do is
teach you to love and value Christ more than presents."

With that context in mind, I came up with this:

http://www.gimpel.tv/mov/Christmas_Story_Family_Reading.docx

I didn't spend much time on it. It isn't chronological. It is only
interactive. A while ago the president of YWAM talked about his color
coded Bible so that families can take turns reading Scripture out loud.

What I've done is taken excerpts from the prophets, and the Gospels and
put together a story the entire family can engage in. Not a
chronological one. Not even a complete one. Let's be honest, most of
our kids can recite these things from memory. They know the Christmas
story.

All this is, is a different way to read it. More engaging.

Here's how I'm using it. Print out 4 copies (color or not). Assign the
parts. Begin reading. There are parts for non-readers as well.
For my family of four, I assign the parts as follows:

Dad - Narrator
Mom - Angel
Son - Prophet and Joseph
Daughter - Mary and Wise Men

Just read the Scripture when its your turn (there are a few
non-scripture lines in there you can modify as you see fit, I wrote them
to fit my son's personality)

The end result is... the entire family ends up reading the Christmas story.

Free Time

It is our tradition to stop all non-critical work for the 10 days of Christmas to New Years.  It's a much needed time of rest for people, and it's usually the time I get around to doing projects I've been intending to do.

However this year we're tightening the belt a bit, so I opted not to spend the money to fix up the house... so no big project, jsut small little things around the house.  It's what I do normally anyway.... putter around fixing things.

This week I decided to spend some time just playing with my kids.  I had come up with a plan to make a quick catapult out of a spoon and a rat trap.... and was thinking about it when my daughter said 'Dad let's make something out of dominoes!'


CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.   Sydney was tasked with building a domino castle, and Calvin and I began making siege weapons consisting of two 'ratapults'... and one double ballista we made out of inverting two nerf 'jolts' we got in a care package, and rubber banding them together with a popsicle stick for trigger and mount mechanism.

Calvin named the ballista 'Gemini' because it means 'twin'... he said.

Here are some pics:




It took us an hour to lay siege to the fortress, ratapults are hard to aim.  In the end, Calvin said our scientists made a technological development and got his huge nerf gun to lay waste to the castle.  But while he was developing, the Castle team (Sydney) also made architectural advances and built a wall 3 feet high out of egg crates.  I grew tired of the multi-hour siege, and decided  giant came across the land and destroyed everything.  Then I enjoyed peace while the kids cleaned up.

All in all, a successful morning of play.  You gotta make up your own fun every now and then, turn off the screens and enjoy each other.

Lights and Fun

Electricity here is pricey. My family has made Christmas traditions to
make the holidays less 'we miss home and family' and more 'we look
forward to our whacky traditions'. No matter how unlikely it is to see
lights on a house here (maybe 1 in 10 houses or less have lights).... we
still get in the car and sing carols and go looking for lights like
treasure hunting.

Each year it has gotten worse... until this year.

This year we announced to the community to have their lights on tonight
at 7pm and we were going to call it LIGHT NIGHT....
and for the first time EVER, we had traffic jams.

IT was raining hard, and people were out walking with umbrellas through
the mud! A simple little post, 'turn on your lights tonight at 7pm'....
and suddenly... the place was lit up!!!

I got such a huge laugh out of realizing we had actual traffic in our
community.

Plus, thanks to LED christmas lights, more houses had lights than ever
before! In 7 years of living here, tonight was the best lights we've
ever seen in this country!

I love the people of this community, there are times when I just want to
give them a huge hug.

Washing Rest

7 years ago I knew next to nothing about washing machine repair.
Since then my wife and I have had a couple of clutch, midnight washing emergencies.
There was the time we were washing sheets the day before we left for the U.S.
or the several times the floor was flooded...

I've opened up more than a few washing machines since then.  But tonight I opened one that has been problem free for over 3 years and was bought for us new by supporters.

I realized I'd never opened it up when I went to open it and ... realized 'hey this is different'

Kendal and I were sitting down for a well deserved rest, and I heard a bad noise coming from the washing machine.  I ran in and shut off the washer. I asked my wife 'did you hear that?'  "no, hear what?"

It sounded like a faint motor unable to turn.

So, we hand drained the tub, and I got inside of it, and looked around, and if nothing jumped out at me was going to google the maintenance manual.

But I began checking the normal things.... clogged drain? no... vacuum tube has pressure? yes... hmmn...
I took the suction pump apart and found a chain necklace wrapped all around inside of it .... I do not know whose it is yet, because it's midnight, we'll ask the kids later but we also let friends use the machine so... it could be anyones.

The reason I took it apart at midnight was because tomorrow is the last day hardware dept. is open for 2 weeks and going without a washing machine for that long would be tough. (not impossible but tough) so I had to decided if I needed a replacement part.

Well, we didn't, it's in there happily washing clothes again. 

I suppose that's just one of the skills you pick up... necessity being the mother of .... well you know.

Here's the rub.
My wife and I both feel like we have a ton to do, like we've been very busy.  Tonight we said for 1 hour we're going to sit and relax.  But really we couldn't.  Too many interruptions.  But had we NOT decided to sit down, and rest,  I would have NEVER heard the chain caught in the motor, the motor would have burned out, it would have cost us $200 and 1 month shipping time to repair, and we'd be wearing dirty clothing for our Christmas picture.


There's GOT to be a lesson in there somewhere... maybe something about, how we NEED to rest from time to time for our own good.  I dunno it's late, do me a favor and come up with your own moral.

Amazon My Friend

I wanted to order some gifts for family back home. I was up at 2am and
decided to order the gifts, but mistakenly had them shipped to PNG
through an affiliate in the U.S.
I didn't realize this until after I fell back asleep then bolted awake
at 5am and said 'uh oh, I sense a disturbance in the force.'

Battling slow internet speeds, I got online and confirmed that yes, all
5 packages were coming to me here in PNG and because it was going to be
processed through our U.S. affiliate and then air freighted, I was
looking at turning $50 in gifts to more like $300 in useless junk.

So, I wrote a pleading email to our shipping dept in the U.S. and said
'I know this time of year you see hundreds of boxes, but if you see
anything for me, please, reject it, return it, or at the very least
DON'T send it to me here in PNG.'

I didn't want to pay $120 for a foam minecraft sword that was worth $9.

So I reordered the gifts, shipped them to the right address so they
arrive on time.

Then I got a ton of 'out of stock' emails.. ugh...

Days into this mess, I got an email 'Chad packages came for you today,
we rejected shipment.'
I went onto Amazon, and returned the items and was credited.

NICE!

IT was a miracle that this didn't turn into a nightmare waste of money.
All from being sleep deprived when ordering (something I won't do again)

Don't Drink n Drive, and Don't Amazon While Tired!

I'm amazed, that after 7 years here, getting things to us in country is
still as difficult as ever, and the cost is rising! That's why we
really appreciate hand carried items!

October 2012

Looking back at the past year and then some, I am reminded of the incredible blessings that living here has.



During a work break, teaching a young girl, who has never seen a yo-yo, how to throw and catch a yo-yo much to her mother's delight.

Satisfaction and Confirmation

Last night I felt like I needed to just sit and think. And so I did.
Life has been so crazy lately. We're looking at a 2 week department
closure for Christmas and I have been trying to think about what it is
that I want to spend those two weeks doing.

I decided though it sadden me, to drop one of my project ideas. My
justification is that sometimes I put a lot of energy into something
that no one uses. And I even thought of my video training. I've
created a lot of video training with the ethos of 'teach a man to fish'
rather than to fish for him. I figured my contribution to the efforts
here would last longer that way. But I've never met a single person who
ever said 'I watched your training video and it worked and I wasn't
confused, and it was helpful', etc.

Today I proceeded to announce I was re-prioritizing my efforts and was
met shortly thereafter with 2 confirmations.
1 person told me 'I'm glad, I was too busy to be able to help you with
this.'
another person a few hours later popped in and said,

"Chad, I just wanted to say today I felt happy like a little school boy!
I watched one of your training videos on how to create audio for the
village, and I followed it and it WORKED! It was perfect, I'm so happy
I can do this all on my own in the village now! This was great thank you
very much for making that video!"


Wow, I was surprised and very happy. I feel like for some reason this
week the Lord is really blessing us... like heaping it on.