For many years, people have wondered how such nice people, ended up with such incredibly long names. Some years ago Neil was given an award at a conference for having the longest name of anyone present. This is one of the chief reasons he goes by "Neil". We were in fact, engaged, before I realized his full name was Cornelius.
My family in Italy has often asked yet in Acts chapter 10, we read about the outpouring of God's Spirit on the household of Cornelius, the commander of the Italian Regiment. I just finished revising that chapter of Acts this morning and it was a joy to read.
Many things come to mind about the character of God when we read the story of Cornelius.
1. Cornelius was a generous, praying man, who feared God. He was not, however, a Jew.
2. Peter was a generous, praying man, who feared God, and was not a Gentile.
3. Peter needed God to speak supernaturally to him before he would "lower" himself to go to the home of Cornelius.
4. Cornelius thought that Peter was his better. Peter may still have had some ideas like that since rather than humbling greeting Cornelius he restated his old prejudices and how God had changed his mind.
5. God poured out His Spirit on the house of Cornelius and that experience transformed not only the converts but the onlookers so that Peter was now a defender of those he might once have shunned. (They should be baptised, who can object?)
The thing that struck me once again is the Loving Unity that occurs when God enters the picture. That is not remotely like uniformity nor agreeing in all matters. Cornelius was still uncircumcised and served in an army that was politically opposed to the convictions of Peter's countryman. Peter was not about to join the ranks of the military to show solidarity with Peter. According to the laws of the land at that time, Cornelius, from man's perspective, would have been one to have authority over Peter. From the perspective of the spiritual, Peter had God-given authority to BLESS Cornelius.
As we translate the New Testament we spend hours on passages we would normally read in moments. This can be a wonderful gift as we have the chance to meditate on what the Word contains. When we do meditate, we see how petty is the human heart, and how magnificent is the nature of God.
God grant us the strength, the prayer support, the courage, to speedily deliver this Good News to the Mesem.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
2009: The Year of Ministry Urgency
Looking at Tony, I realize we have indeed been with the Mesem for nearly 16 years. He was born our first furlough, and was six months old when he began a Mesem. Our friends tell us that he is fully Mesem since he grew up there, while Neil and I must settle for being "part Mesem", having worked in another region in PNG prior to moving to Samanzing, and of course, we were both well into our thirties when we began working there. I think if it were not for the amazing changes in our son, it would be hard to believe so many years have passed, but they have indeed.
As we reported in our last newsletter, the Mesem are very excited to have a date of 2011 for completion of the New Testament and we are really asking people to pray for this that there are no more obstacles, hindrances, hassles, or setbacks as we bring this part of the work to completion. We need God's Spirit to enable us, and protect us, as well as to enlighten and empower the Mesem people who read the Word and work along side us.
As in any ministry, without some plan of how to go from A to B, a work with the best of intentions can flounder. There is a clear plan in place, which we believe the Lord has given. Likewise, it can be a terrible mistake in any ministry, but more so in missions, to assume you will always have an open door. We really believe that time is limited and there is great urgency to complete the translation that the church might be equipped to move forward.
This week I put together my CV and passport sized photo and Neil is sending them off to the church leadership in PNG who will write to request our visas for return. January is a slow month because many Papua New Guineans travel home for the holidays and as travel is quite challenging (in other words, it takes a long time), a Hilda that would be brief here, takes longer over there because the amount of work involved just to get home and back again is considerable. We don't expect to hear for several weeks, but are confident that the Lord, who has guided this transition will expedite our visas.
We've been asked many questions about our timing for return. Tony is 16, so he is a sophomore in high school. He has faced extraordinary pressures for the last five years and he asked that he not change schools in the middle of the year. Our lease ends in June, and given that we don't yet have our visas in hand, and our living and education plans are not finalized, we will remain in the US till Tony finishes the school year. This does not delay completing the scriptures. At this point when so much of the scripture is already drafted and being revised we can really make as much progress here as we can overseas by concentrating on computer related tasks that don't require we have Mesem speakers with us. In fact, since we are not in PNG some of this work we can do more efficiently since we always have power and have fewer interruptions during the day.
Neil is developing a spell checker. The language didn't have a written form when we started and people wrote words as they thought they should be spelled. Of course, not everyone wrote them the same way so for any given word there are numerous spellings. Neil is standardizing the spelling and then the entire New Testament will be spell checked for consistency. The same will be done for "key terms" like "baptism" and "grace" which have also changed over the years. While Neil works on that, I have continued with the book of Acts, which has been moving very quickly or very slowly depending on our schedule. I am pleased with what we have so far: a draft of the entire book and the first six chapters completed with the seventh to be started today. Luke was a rather prolific writer, so his chapters are long and he has a lot of them. Neil will tackle Luke, and I will be completing Acts.
So it is with some humour that I am nicknaming 2009 "The Year of Urgency". In reality, we always live in urgent times: we don't really know how long we have to live or how long the doors will remain open in Papua or anywhere for that matter. So we ask that you pray for us, and we for you as well, that we would live "redeeming the time". This is the mindset with which all believers are to live, and our prayer is that all of us will have a sense of expectation for the great things God will do through us in this coming year.
Pray for the Mesem. Please pray this work all the way home.
As we reported in our last newsletter, the Mesem are very excited to have a date of 2011 for completion of the New Testament and we are really asking people to pray for this that there are no more obstacles, hindrances, hassles, or setbacks as we bring this part of the work to completion. We need God's Spirit to enable us, and protect us, as well as to enlighten and empower the Mesem people who read the Word and work along side us.
As in any ministry, without some plan of how to go from A to B, a work with the best of intentions can flounder. There is a clear plan in place, which we believe the Lord has given. Likewise, it can be a terrible mistake in any ministry, but more so in missions, to assume you will always have an open door. We really believe that time is limited and there is great urgency to complete the translation that the church might be equipped to move forward.
This week I put together my CV and passport sized photo and Neil is sending them off to the church leadership in PNG who will write to request our visas for return. January is a slow month because many Papua New Guineans travel home for the holidays and as travel is quite challenging (in other words, it takes a long time), a Hilda that would be brief here, takes longer over there because the amount of work involved just to get home and back again is considerable. We don't expect to hear for several weeks, but are confident that the Lord, who has guided this transition will expedite our visas.
We've been asked many questions about our timing for return. Tony is 16, so he is a sophomore in high school. He has faced extraordinary pressures for the last five years and he asked that he not change schools in the middle of the year. Our lease ends in June, and given that we don't yet have our visas in hand, and our living and education plans are not finalized, we will remain in the US till Tony finishes the school year. This does not delay completing the scriptures. At this point when so much of the scripture is already drafted and being revised we can really make as much progress here as we can overseas by concentrating on computer related tasks that don't require we have Mesem speakers with us. In fact, since we are not in PNG some of this work we can do more efficiently since we always have power and have fewer interruptions during the day.
Neil is developing a spell checker. The language didn't have a written form when we started and people wrote words as they thought they should be spelled. Of course, not everyone wrote them the same way so for any given word there are numerous spellings. Neil is standardizing the spelling and then the entire New Testament will be spell checked for consistency. The same will be done for "key terms" like "baptism" and "grace" which have also changed over the years. While Neil works on that, I have continued with the book of Acts, which has been moving very quickly or very slowly depending on our schedule. I am pleased with what we have so far: a draft of the entire book and the first six chapters completed with the seventh to be started today. Luke was a rather prolific writer, so his chapters are long and he has a lot of them. Neil will tackle Luke, and I will be completing Acts.
So it is with some humour that I am nicknaming 2009 "The Year of Urgency". In reality, we always live in urgent times: we don't really know how long we have to live or how long the doors will remain open in Papua or anywhere for that matter. So we ask that you pray for us, and we for you as well, that we would live "redeeming the time". This is the mindset with which all believers are to live, and our prayer is that all of us will have a sense of expectation for the great things God will do through us in this coming year.
Pray for the Mesem. Please pray this work all the way home.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Yesu Klisto Laladn Kã Bʉsi
Yes, dear friends, there is a way to say it's Christmas time in Mesem. The words are literally Jesus Christs' Being Born Time Is. The word "la" which means, "arise, stand, born, happen" and several other things depending on the context is a word in Mesem that I quite like. I like the idea that "laladn" can mean not only birthday, but also arising. That the name of Jesus "arises" in this land and in the land of Papua New Guinea has been our long standing goal and prayer.
As I write this Neil is at the nursing home conducting a service and I remained home with our injured son to write, cook, pick up pine needles and ask God for new direction for the year 2009. Even as I do these things, I am reminded of an expression my friend Elyce used when she prayed for us and for the Mesem. Elyce would say, "Lord make Your Name great among the Mesem".
So this Christmas we bless you, are thankful for you, and pray that God's Name is made great in all the earth.
As I write this Neil is at the nursing home conducting a service and I remained home with our injured son to write, cook, pick up pine needles and ask God for new direction for the year 2009. Even as I do these things, I am reminded of an expression my friend Elyce used when she prayed for us and for the Mesem. Elyce would say, "Lord make Your Name great among the Mesem".
So this Christmas we bless you, are thankful for you, and pray that God's Name is made great in all the earth.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Mesem "Magic" Stone
Many years ago a village elder told us the story of a magic stone that the spirits in the rain forest had given to the Mesem people as a gift. Whenever the Mesem went hunting with the stone, they were guaranteed success. They would go out, set their traps and be guaranteed success the following day. We asked what had happened to the stone, and were told that no one knew where it was, but it was suspected it had been taken by people living in an area closer to the coast.
So, it was with great surprise that a friend of Neil's approached him and told Neil that he had the stone in his possession. He asked that it be taken to the US to undergo tests to find out the source of it's power.
The stone is safe and will be evaluated for age and we are amazed at the detailed work on the stone given that no metal tools were known in Papua New Guinea until last century. We'll keep you posted on what we learn but many of you heard us tell this story some 15 years ago when we began working with the Mesem. It's quite the modern day mystery!
So, it was with great surprise that a friend of Neil's approached him and told Neil that he had the stone in his possession. He asked that it be taken to the US to undergo tests to find out the source of it's power.
The stone is safe and will be evaluated for age and we are amazed at the detailed work on the stone given that no metal tools were known in Papua New Guinea until last century. We'll keep you posted on what we learn but many of you heard us tell this story some 15 years ago when we began working with the Mesem. It's quite the modern day mystery!
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