Compilation post about this beautiful survey trip – helicopter, tropical island, wonderful people, win-win! – with daughter Anya, teammate Kristy, and translators Denis, Simon, and Christabel. From Sep 2022.
Tag Archives: Go!
Beginning Again
AND… we’re back in PNG! Consider being one who responds to Go! yourself!
One of the weird things about working overseas – at least with our model – is the coming and going, and therefore the stopping and starting. But the stopping and starting provides an opportunity to reflect, learn, and grow. Since God made people to need sleep, giving us each new day as an act of grace, it’s logical that stopping and starting can be healthy.
The lessons we’re mulling at the moment are simple. Yes, simplicity is one of them: how can we limit the physical and mental clutter so that we can be more at peace as we engage in God’s work? Being present is another: not only to shrug off unnecessary concerns, but also to invest in now, in the people and tasks immediately to hand. Sometimes we get to focusing on some grand plan and miss the things right in front of us.
Things here haven’t changed drastically in the 8 months we were gone, or even in the 11.5 years since we first arrived in PNG. Hundreds of language communities await translation. The challenges to doing Scripture translation and engagement remain significant. But we’ve built relationships, learned a lot, have conducted research in 70+ language communities, and have had three girls join our family in those years! Our task now is to remain patiently engaged, present in the now, celebrating every blessing from God and every good thing he allows us to participate in.
One of those good things is the Participatory Methods for Engaging Communities workshop in a few weeks. We’ve been using participatory approaches since 2011 in our research, and I finally got a trainer to PNG in 2017. It seems to have stuck, as this is now the 4th or 5th workshop since then, and we know of various staff using these skills in their work! Katie is organizing groups for students to practice newly-learned skills with… and those groups or teams will get a free facilitated team-building or decision-making activity. These approaches are excellent in PNG, where relationships and collaborative decision-making are highly valued.
People and Opportunities
Language research is about people. It’s easy to talk about the adventure – the heat, the bugs, the mountains, the mud. Or about the work – facilitating group discussions on language vitality, collecting wordlists. But ultimately it’s about getting to know the people and discover opportunities to serve them.
A 2012 survey was particularly memorable, being more adventurous than most trips. Here are a few of the people we met along the way:
- The people of the first village, so remote in their river valley that we reached them by helicopter. Only women, children, and a few old men present. Most of the working men were two days’ walk away at a mine. Those remaining in the village were timid, uncertain about how to handle their foreign visitors.
- Children – We’re conscious of our ‘bling’ factor on survey. We have to carry papers and pens for research, water and food for sustenance, something to sleep in, medical supplies. Very quickly this begins to look like a great deal of wealth to rural PNGans, and, relatively speaking, it is. I pulled out the GPS to mark our location, the kids watched me curiously. In 2012, smartphones were very rare in the rural parts of PNG, and the GPS must have looked doubly strange.
- Guide – Lazarus, the man who volunteered to guide us on a path so seldom used that – many times that day – I could be standing on the trail and not be sure where it went from there. We later learned that Lazarus didn’t know the path either, but his jungle literacy was far better than ours. As he scouted far ahead to discern the path’s direction, he would leave sticks pointing the way. In a jungle full of sticks, our ability to read the sign he’d left was at kindergarten reading level, at best. Lazarus had to come back to show us the way.
- Armed local – Two of the surveyors were battered by falling throughout the day on the tricky trail, one a bit delirious. We descended a precipice after dark and were met be men with a rifle. They were afraid of retaliation from a nearby tribe with whom they were in conflict.
- Dead daughter – An old man asked for conversation with a female surveyor. We were mystified, as this is culturally inappropriate. It turned out that he thought she resembled a dead daughter of his. He wondered whether our colleague was his daughter, returned from the grave with white skin.
- Boatsman – We floated downstream in a forever-long dugout canoe, all four surveyors crowded together on a small bench in the middle. Bumping sideways over hidden logs, trying to remember if everything damageable had been sealed tight. The man with the pole at the far end of the canoe looked on with amusement.
- Translation enthusiast – A man accompanied me around a village, assisting with information about the language use habits of residents. At one point he asked, “There were three ladies that came in 1990. We thought they were going to begin translation. Why has no work begun?”
These people remain without vernacular Scripture. They are family, or could be. Some need a clear invitation. Probably best to give that invitation in their language!
For groups like this one, our research’s conclusion is clear: they’d benefit enormously from the Bible in their language! Pray that people would answer God’s call to serve this group and many others like them.
72 days until our return to PNG!
Carrying Burdens
We shared about Papua New Guinea 11 times during two trips this month. From ten minutes with an excited group of kids to an hour-plus with a group around a fire, what we shared was different each time. We enjoy and are blessed by these opportunities to connect with others and focus on PNG.
However, my overriding sentiment by that fire was frustration with trying to communicate cogently about the people of PNG. Why frustration?
- Because PNG is fantastically varied. Its languages, cultures, and environment are strange to many in the USA.
- Because I tend to provide a multitude of facts for those unfamiliar with PNG. Facts can educate, but they don’t necessarily impel action.
- And because yes, I desire to impel people to action for PNG, in a world where everyone has a stage and all are shouting about a cause they care about. A world where most of the audience is weary of the noise.
Jesus’ call is to radical faith-lived-out, to sacrifice, to being transformed each day into the new being he originally designed us to be. His commands to Pray! Give! Go! are for you, me, and the people of Papua New Guinea too. For PNGans, ‘the ends of the earth’ is places like America, which needs Jesus’ saving and sanctifying every bit as much as PNG does. Disciples of Jesus should expect to crisscross the globe – and other earthly barriers – until Jesus comes.
Feeling frustrated brings reminds us of Jesus’ words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30) And so we pray that the urgency appropriate to the task be paired with the peace that passes understanding (Phil 4:7).
I’ve been around Bible-less peoples my whole life, and the question below still don’t have good answers. There are some answers – we’re not without hope, and God has his ways – but the lack of vernacular Scriptures in a huge barrier!
- How can a non-believer learn who God is – and how he’s different from local deities – without a Bible in their language?
- How can a new believer come to know God’s character – and how God wants her to live – without a Bible in her language?
- How can a believer become spiritually mature without the wealth of history and truth a Bible in her language would provide?
- How can a pastor or lay leader teach and disciple others without having comprehensible Scriptures to guide him?
Praise God for the work he accomplishes in hearts and minds even where vernacular Scripture doesn’t exist! Pray that he would be swift to rally his children to translate Scripture for all peoples.
May Jesus “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Indeed, may it be in PNG, the USA, and among every tribe and tongue, that “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Eph 3:20-21).
78 days to PNG!
See more pictures from the PNG gallery at beautiful PNG. Other galleries at the Carters and survey trips.
Heaven’s Glory
As fall colors sweep in waves across northern forests, we rejoice in the sacred rhythm of seasons, Creator-sanctified by an eternal God. When chill chills, we think fondly of PNG, where the changing of seasons is subtle, and green persists year-round.
Enjoy PNG’s splendor below, and see the full album at https://carter-pathways.com/?page_id=120. We are 85 days from return!
Heaven’s glory, expressed on earth
Tree stone flower, divine mirth
Ballet of temporal splendor
Timed tune, eternal metaphor
“Let there be light” – the first command
Climax creation – woman, man
Dare we dance to heaven’s voice?
Maestro plays, joyfully noise!
Psalm 19 and others speak more on this topic. How does God use creation to speak to you? What is he saying to you? How are you responding?
God gives us everything. EVERYTHING, not least these precious and incredible bodies. How is your body his temple? How do you use your body to seek first God’s Kingdom?
Our generous Father is delighted when we praise him for his goodness, and when we worship him by revering him with the resources he has given us. As I reflect on this, I perceive we’re doing fairly well in the longer-term redeployment of the resources God’s given us stewardship of (see this recent post), but less well at being ready to be generous-without-notice: with cash, possessions, or time.
PNGans practice relational generosity regularly. We continue to learn from them.
Dream Pig
Fire-side story time! I wrote this story in 2015 imagining one PNGan’s life and his perspective on Bible translation. How different PNGans see and experience Bible translation varies widely across PNG.
Imagining life from another’s perspective can aid in relationship-building, especially across cultures. Of course, such imagining is inevitably imperfect; assumptions and conclusions should be checked and rechecked.
Dream Pig is also flawed, and there are things I’d change about it now, 6 years after I wrote it. If there weren’t things I’d change, I’d be concerned, as that would indicate I’ve stopped learning.
Helicopters Get Lost Too
I’ve preached on “light” at two churches recently. Light makes for an interesting Scripture word study. When you explore verses that talk about the Father God and Jesus being light, other characteristics of God became clear. For example:
- Ps 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
- Jn 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Psalms 27 speaks of the salvation offered by God – both an eternal inheritance and a stronghold on earth. John 8 promises guidance for a life leading to eternal life with him. Isn’t it good to have a God who lights the way and walks with us?
Three times I’ve been in a helicopter that got lost.
- On a survey in 2011 we had an amazing flight, island-hopping our way out to West New Britain (a province in PNG), then flying upward between volcanoes to the people to be researched. We landed in the wrong village – on a sand spit sticking out into the ocean – before identifying our target LZ as a soccer field in the next village up the coast.
- The next year we were navigating up a river canyon. The jungle canopy below was unbroken as we banked to follow the curves of the river. Then we saw a small clearing. We flew upriver a few more minutes until I confirmed we’d gone too far and needed to try the clearing we’d seen. It turned out to be the right spot. (Canoeing Sideways was from this trip, but I haven’t posted a full trip report yet))
- In 2017 Tikvah and I went on a weekend trip with others researching Scripture engagement. Our destination was 3 hours away by road during dry season – this was rainy season – but under 10 minutes by chopper. As we circled over a lake looking for the village, I used my headset to ask the pilot, “Isn’t the village over the next ridge?” Tikvah remembers that ride and trip with great fondness.
Our heli pilots are amazing and are essential for accomplishing research and Bible translation in many of the remote parts of PNG. I’m sure I was just lucky to have been on three trips where we got “lost.” As Daniel Boone said, “I can’t say I was ever lost, but I was once bewildered for about 3 days.”
People today experience a significant degree of lostness. They’re “walking in darkness.” As I reflected in my sermon on light, one way PNGans experience lostness is in the changes brought to their communities by contact with the outside world. Without speaking about the pros and cons of such contact, many villages had systems which were largely functional before contact (also dysfunctional in significant ways, as one would expect in all human societies…). Contact with other technologies and ways of thinking has created complexity and confusion. Of course many cultures experience disruption, but for communities in PNG, the contact was often abrupt and therefore more disorienting.
You can think of many other kinds of ‘lostness’ experienced by people today, including in the West. How can people get found?
We believe in a simple answer: a supreme Creator who made humanity and the universe – “God’s Playground” a friend calls it. This God desires to be in fellowship with humanity, but humanity chose (and chooses) to go their own way, turning from their Creator and seeking to find meaning elsewhere. Jesus provided a way for humanity to reenter relationship with God by bearing the consequences of sin at the cross, proving his power over death by rising again.
More poetically: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:4-6).
In my sermon, I reflected that the worst situation is when you’re so lost you don’t even know you’re lost, don’t know that you need to be found. The most lost may be the most fringe, or the most absorbed in following another god (e.g., money); it can be intimidating or difficult to be around these people. That didn’t deter Jesus, and it shouldn’t deter his children.
Jesus’ work shows us the way to God and allows us to be with him. “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:19-25).
This is the ‘simple answer:’ to turn (repent) and reenter relationship with our Creator and Father. Mt 4:16 …“the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Good news that needs spreading! Even with wayward helicopters.
One of our pilots – someone we play ultimate frisbee with when not being transported in his heli – has a YouTube channel if you want more heli action.
Call to Action
[Mail recipients, please go to the webpage to see the video.]
In our first post, we invited you to tell us what you want to see here! That invitation stands.
Also in our first post, we said, “[Surveyors] write reports, but we aren’t fully satisfied when readers are just informed. Our research is intended to be applied, acted upon – in the survey context, this means language communities being served as a result of our research into their needs. Likewise, we’d love for you to act on what you see here by praying, becoming part of our team, or getting involved in a more direct way yourself! Jesus’ call to “Go!” is for all believers.
This week, instead of adding to the word count, I want to invite you to action, or to conversation. So, today, I’ll share highlights from posts to date. They’re organized by our call to action: Pray! Give! Go!
Watch the video or read the text below, they are nearly identical.
Pray! – there are many in PNG without Scripture in a language that communicates best
We answered “What is Language Survey?” with “We do applied research, desiring that those we study would benefit from language development.”
We recounted a 2011 survey and defined language survey as: research the sociolinguistic situation to identify needs and desires and suggest strategies for meeting them.
When a Language Dies – the story of a grandma who was the last speaker of her language – explained, “A language is an artistic system to express all of the meanings deemed valuable enough to articulate verbally. A collaborative effort to explain the world. A tug of war between new words striving to find acceptance and old ones reluctant to be forgotten.”
Pray for those who’ve lost a language they loved, to find identity as God’s children. For those losing one to understand its value and to have wisdom to respond. Pray God’s message would be clear, regardless: “The heavens declare the glory of God… Day after day they pour forth speech… they have no words… Yet their voice goes out into all the earth” (excerpts from Ps 19:1-4).
After telling the second half of the 2011 survey, we noted, “Though there is translation work going on nearby, Mur Pano people haven’t been able to partake in a significant way. If you were one of the residents of the village, how would you think about the possibility of Scripture in your language? Would you judge it worth the effort? Will speakers of Mala and Mur Pano be among the “persons from every tribe and language” singing “You are worthy!” to God? (Rev 5:9).”
Pray for the 70 language groups we’ve researched in the past decade! Consider playing a part in researching and advocating for other speakers of minority languages by partnering with us!
Give! – your partnership enables research, which enables strategic Bible translation
As in the canoe described in Furlough & Partnership – Canoeing Sideways, we aren’t steering on furlough… YOU are. God uses you, his Body, to care for cross-cultural workers, send them to their place of service, and support them while there. Without the Church providing transport, overseas workers get dumped in that muddy river.
Furlough is a faith-growing exercise for cross-cultural workers. We do what we can, then wait trustingly – balancing the while – for the Church to say, “Yes, we want to make that happen!” (If you’re ready, get in touch, go to Partner, or ask us for suggestions about work that aligns with your interests.)
In Is It Dangerous? we asked, “Why do we do it?” Here’s one way to look at it:
- Problem: people without any Scripture in the languages that communicate best
- Solution: experts translate the Bible, guided by research (that’s our job)
- Outcome: people engage with Scripture in their languages, better able to know and follow God
Would you go to an event if your invitation was written in a language you don’t know well? “If this is really for me, why isn’t it in my language? I’m not entirely sure what this is about.” God invites people from every nation and tongue to his table. Translating the invitation – the Bible – makes it clear and cogent.
By last count, there were close to 2000 language groups in Oceania, Asia, and Africa about which not enough is known to categorize translation need with confidence.
Solution: RESEARCH! Understanding what type of translation is beneficial and where is the first step towards meeting the needs of these people who are, in some ways, “the least of these” (Mt 25:40, 45).
Research guides translation experts to where they are needed, and often provides strategic information about how to work with a particular people group. Those translation experts do the heavy lifting, often investing 10-30 years working alongside local people to complete a New Testament.
The outcome is wonderful: another people group with God’s Word clear and attractive. “God speaks my language!”
I’m a strong proponent of long-term relational engagement across cultures, walking with God and pursuing him together, using all the languages we speak. Your part in this is pretty special, and critical. Without you, most cross-cultural Bible translation work – and the research that guides translation – just doesn’t happen. You provide the financial, prayer, and relational support needed for translation and research experts to do their jobs in those thousands of languages which remain Scripture-less.
Go! – many skillsets contribute to Bible translation
In What Just Happened? – multicultural teamwork, we stated that our organization in PNG includes staff from 15+ nations and tens of language/culture groups from around PNG. One of my goals as Chief Communications Officer role is to facilitate communication that builds relationships and team and enables collaboration within our organization and with partners. Pray for our staff as they navigate the complexities of multicultural teamwork and build relationships.
Languages and Mountains spoke of how we’ve served in a variety of roles as we see needs we can meet. What skills could you contribute? In PNG, a wide range of professions are needed!
We’re all ordinary (if anything created in God’s image is). All followers of Jesus have received the same call. Read how Tikvah responds in Obedience-Based Faith. How are you responding?
In Multi-part Harmony, we described how “[The Wheel of Vitality’s] primary purpose is to assess intergenerational language transmission, [enabling us to] make estimations about [the language’s] future. Since Bible translation is often a multi-decade endeavor, it makes sense to have some confidence that the language will be spoken when the translation is completed!”
While we were there, it felt like we, the translation team, and the local folks were singing a multipart harmony joyfully and beautifully. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Ps 133:1) But our tale in Milne Bay has a twist ending: the translation team moved to a different role a few years after this trip, so translation has slowed since. Pray that all the “singers” needed for effective harmony can be recruited.
A Walk on the Survey Trail: And then I arise [from the river], feet finding purchase among the stones, lungs breathing deep, life’s ebb and flow renewing. It’s time for another village with a different language, time to connect with a new set of beings made in God’s image. The Living Word seeks to be incarnate through Scripture in their language. He is already present in Spirit, but his message is not yet clearly and fully expressed in their tongue.
We’ve met many people in Papua New Guinea who would benefit from having the Bible in their language, enabling them to better know and follow God. There are many other groups whose need is unclear. Answer God’s call to make disciples! Pray! Give! Go!
Obedience-Based Faith
[Prayer requests at bottom (and a hilarious video).]
This young lady is one of my favorite people. She’s an ordinary girl, neither graced with superpowers nor recipient of extra-Biblical callings. Though sometimes grumpy about trying new things, she is obedient, just as we are seeking to be to our Father.
This 2014 trip began with a footbridge crossing – the vehicle bridge had collapsed – and included cramming vehicle-accident victims into our van for transport to the hospital. Sweaty nights on a tropical coast, ocean breeze blocked by trees. Being with local kids she didn’t share a language with. Patiently waiting through long meetings as the team discussed their research. Baths in a bucket.
What did she do in response to these challenges and discomfort? She danced in the rain.
We’re all ordinary (if anything created in God’s image is). All followers of Jesus have received the same call.
How are you responding?
Not everyone can go* – at least not to ‘the ends of the earth’ – but believers can enable disciple-making there by praying and giving. How are you saying “Yes, Lord” today? If not today, when?
*Or can they?
Prayer
Thank you for praying for the survey team’s trip to Gulf Province last month. They reported success despite significant challenges:
- Theft revealed conflict over the land of the airstrip they landed on.
- Sickness of a partner they were training – praise for access to a hospital in the area.
- Retaliation related to sorcery led to the team leaving a village during the night.
These certainly highlight the challenges of multicultural teamwork and the dangers of language research!
Please continue to pray for:
- Healing for an ongoing health issue limiting a surveyor’s ability to go on trips.
- Wisdom to know where to focus research in a nation with 840 language groups!
- Further opportunities for effective partnership.
- Hanna and the translation team as they take the next step with these communities towards language development and translation.
Is It Dangerous?
“Is it dangerous?” We get this question sometimes when we share about conducting language research in remote villages in PNG. Yes, there is some danger and a high degree of uncertainty.
Why do we do it? Here’s one way to look at it:
- Problem: people without any Scripture in the languages that communicate best
- Solution: experts translate the Bible, guided by research (that’s our job)
- Outcome: people engage with Scripture in their languages, better able to know and follow God
Would you go to an event if your invitation was written in a language you don’t know well? “If this is really for me, why isn’t it in my language? I’m not entirely sure what this is about.” God invites people from every nation and tongue to his table. Translating the invitation – the Bible – makes it clear and cogent.
God created humankind and seeks to live in everlasting fellowship with it. Sin – rebellion against God and his design for us – separates us from God. Some facts enable us to understand God’s invitation: that we are sinners and condemned, that Jesus as the sacrificial lamb opened a Way to God, that we have but to believe in the Savior and follow our Lord. Those facts must be communicated; complex communication happens best with words. Hence the Scriptures.
Let’s examine that problem further: “people without any Scripture in the languages that communicate best.”
- We’re about people, possessed of eternal souls, just as God is. Sometimes we get to talking a lot about languages and translations, but it’s about people like you and me.
- Once you’ve learned to read, it’s pretty difficult to know what it’s like to be illiterate. Similarly, for those with Scriptures in their language, it’s hard to imagine themselves without Scriptures. Try for a second. The Word is a treasure.
- There is no substitute for Scripture, no alternative. God purposed it and imbued it with great power.
- Languages are the primary way people connect with other beings, including spiritual beings. Multilingual people have several languages to choose from, but usually a particular language is used for their most significant interactions. They will benefit greatly if they are able to connect to God in that language.
Today, “Bibleless peoples” are on a continuum, which includes:
- those with no Scripture in their language
- those with Scriptures in one of the languages they regularly use, but not in the language that would ‘communicate best.’
For those with zero access to Scripture (1), the need for translation is clear. For those with some access (2), what is needed or desired can be less clear, but translation can often be beneficial.
Here’s a curveball for you: in Oceania, Asia, and Africa, there are hundreds of people groups whose level of Scripture access is insufficiently understood. In PNG, our team’s research in 70 language groups since 2010 has:
- described previously undocumented languages
- found multiple dying languages not in need of Scripture (these people now speak other languages), and
- has confirmed that the speakers of a significant portion of these 70 languages would benefit from Scripture.
By last count, there were close to 2000 language groups in Oceania, Asia, and Africa about which not enough is known to categorize translation need with confidence.
Solution: RESEARCH! Understanding what type of translation is beneficial and where is the first step towards meeting the needs of these people who are, in some ways, “the least of these” (Mt 25:40, 45).
Research guides translation experts to where they are needed, and often provides strategic information about how to work with a particular people group. Those translation experts do the heavy lifting, often investing 10-30 years working alongside local people to complete a New Testament.
The outcome is wonderful: another people group with God’s Word clear and attractive; “God speaks my language.”
It would be nice to end this post there. The reality, as shown by our Scripture Use Research and Ministry project (2014-17), is that many communities who have Scripture in their language do not use it as much as we hope. Why? Well… that’s another post. What it means: that communities benefit when someone – whether people from our organization or someone else – comes alongside them beyond the completion of vernacular Scriptures. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a strong proponent of long-term relational engagement across cultures, walking with God and pursuing him together, using all the languages we speak.
Your part in this is pretty special, and critical. Without you, most cross-cultural Bible translation work – and the research that guides translation – just doesn’t happen. With such an involved task, a tent-making approach generally isn’t viable. You provide the financial, prayer, and relational support needed for translation and research experts to do their jobs in those thousands of languages which remain Scripture-less.
Well, that’s one way to look at the ‘why.’ Additional pieces would include personal indebtedness to God’s redemptive work and the power of his Word in our lives. It’s a big endeavor, complex in its motivations. It’s part of God’s Kingdom work.
“Is it dangerous?” A counterquestion: “What’s worth risking in service to our Lord?” And a testimony: our experiences in remote PNG villages has generally been very positive. Hospitality is widely practiced.
