Scripture Dedications

Over the last year or so in Papua New Guinea (PNG), there have been MANY Scripture dedications in multiple different languages.  Before Christmas, we celebrated these as a mission community and we’ve wanted to send an update about it ever since.

Papua New Guineans represented the people groups around the country who had received Scripture in their own language:

New Testament/New Testament plus Old Testament Portions

4 languages (including Hinsaal-Patpatar, Urat, and Yopno) received full New Testaments, and 3 languages (Dedua, Wantoat, and Waris) received full New Testaments and portions of the Old Testament.

Mini Bibles

13 different languages (including Anuki, Are, and Buhutu) received Mini Bibles: an overview of the Bible created from portions of many different New Testament and Old Testament books.

Scripture Portions

Before publishing a full New Testament, translators will often publish portions of Scripture.  This can include books like Genesis and Luke published in the Adzera language or Mark, Colossians, Titus, and Philemon published in the Teop language.  5 different languages received Scripture portions over this last year.  We love to see Scripture get into the hands of the people as soon as it is available.

Languages Impacted

In total, 33 different languages received Scripture in the last year in PNG.  Praise God!  I (James) have personally worked with several of these languages since we came to PNG in 2011.  We are grateful for the opportunity to be involved in translating Scripture into the languages of PNG.

An Exciting Addition

It’s hard to believe that Baby Post #5 is due in just a few months (May 5th)!  Our kids keep asking when the baby will be here, and Timothy thinks it’s coming in a few days.  :-D  We currently have a single bathroom and all 4 kids in a single bedroom.

As the boys and girls get older, we really want them to not have to sleep in the same bedroom.  It’d also be REALLY nice to have an extra bathroom.

So… we’re planning on adding an addition to our house!  We’ll be adding 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.  It’s a fun and exciting time of planning and expecting.  Would you please pray with us as we proceed with this project?

If you’d like to know more details, please feel free to contact us.

Prayer and Praise

• Praise: The Paratext 8 Workshop that James helped run went well and had about 20 participants.
• Prayer: For the upcoming Paratext Course – almost 15 Papua New Guinean Bible translators are planning on attending.
• Prayer: For Christina and the baby in the last few months of pregnancy.
• Prayer: For our house addition.

Thank you for your partnership in our ministry,

James and Christina