1/4 Goodenough Island Survey

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.

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.
The famous “bai yu pundaun!” most visitors hear as a warning from locals. “You’ll fall!”
  • 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!

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?

Helis can take you to amazing places!

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.”

We landed here for fuel, then took off between the two volcano cones.

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.

At the end of this survey in 2011, we stayed in a village where translators had worked for many years. A New Testament in that language has since been completed and distributed. Just next door is the language we surveyed, which had no language development at the time. A team from a partner organization has since allocated, appreciative of the strategic information provided by our research.

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.

Arial view of the village pictured in this post’s first photo.

Furlough & Partnership – Canoeing Sideways

Furlough is an important part of cross-cultural work, but it can be difficult! Before I get to that, I’d ask you to pray for two things:

  • Surveyors Crystal and Mary are on a survey trip to Gulf Province. Pray they’ll have wisdom, proficiency, and good teamwork. Pray for Hanna, the translator they’re working with, and her team, some of whom are on the trip to build relationships in villages. Pray for two YWAM staff who are accompanying the survey team to grow in their understanding of sociolinguistic research. Pray for Mary’s husband Devin as he looks after their child while Mary is away.
  • We’ve recently connected with several couples – ex-colleagues or on furlough – who are facing significant challenges in their marriages. It’s not uncommon for husbands and wives to have very different experiences overseas, and to then pull in different directions. Pray for healing and unity!

Furlough being difficult: in 2011 we were floating sideways down a muddy river in a dugout canoe that was ridiculously long and narrow. All four surveyors were scrunched on a small bench in the middle, laughing at the awkward scene we were making, but careful to keep our balance. At the far end of the canoe was a PNGan man with a pole… which broke on one of his first punts.

Many survey photos from this and other trips at https://carter-pathways.com/?page_id=7, scroll down. If you want to hear the story behind a particular photo, we’d be happy to share! This survey began in a helicopter.

On furlough we’re scrunched together, going somewhere sideways, not knowing what to expect. MANY of our colleagues have gone for furlough only to never make it back to PNG. We are 1 of only 4 teams remaining in PNG from the 21 teams we started with in 2010.

As in that canoe, 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.)

The girls were a lot smaller last furlough!

“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Heb 10:24)! There’s room to improve this partnership in both directions.

More inspiration from Hebrews 10: For we are those who “have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way”! “Let us draw near to God” and “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” (vs 19-20, 23) so that we will “receive what he has promised” (vs 36).

Let us be faithful in following and proclaiming this Way, for “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (vs 31)!