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Prayer Letter - New Guinea
News
September 21, 2001
Friends and Family,
We have passed check 1 in Tok Pisin!
New Tribes Mission has set up a method of measuring the progress of
learning a new language by having four checks. Each check requires
us to know more about the language and the culture of the people. By
the time we pass check four, we should have gained enough knowledge
of the culture and language to communicate and teach spiritual
truths in a way that can be clearly understood. This will allow us
to attain our goals of presenting the Gospel, teaching believers,
establishing a church, and translating the Bible.
In a tribal language this process can
vary in the time it takes depending on the difficulty of the
language and the ability of the learner. The average time it takes
for missionaries learning an islands language of
Papua New Guinea is 2-3 years. We
are now learning the trade language of Papua New Guinea. It is a
simple language and is similar to English in many ways, therefore we
can reach fluency (or check 4) in about 3 months of full time
language study. Once we move into a tribe we will use this trade
language as a tool to learn the tribal language. Thank you for your
prayers as we move on to check 2 in Tok Pisin.
Please also pray for us as we build
friendships in the surrounding villages. As our knowledge of the
trade language grows and our friendships with the villagers grow,
pray that we will be a good testimony and a bright light to those
who are in darkness.
We were shocked to hear about the
horrific news in the
USA! In some ways we find it ironic that many of you were concerned
about our safety as we left the United States and headed to a
foreign field and now it seems the safety in America has been
jeopardized. So to you, we say the same thing that many of you told
us, “God is in control no matter where you are. The best place you
can be is serving Him wherever He puts you!” Notice, it’s the best
place you can be, though sometimes it may not always be the safest.
But in all situations we need to give God glory. Maybe it is time,
as Chris Tomlin wrote, that “America bless God.” We are praying
that you too, through this situation, can be a light for Him to
those who are in darkness.
Avalon continues to grow and do more
everyday. In the past couple of weeks she has caught a couple of
bugs (literally and figuratively). She has begun to warm up to the
nationals of PNG and now wants to go to some of them. She has been
a real help in allowing us the opportunity to talk with the people.
She already is our little “Island Witness.”
Bai mipela I tokim yu narapela taim
(We will talk to you another time),
Aaron, Lori, and Avalon
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