&6/^(3PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS

AMinistry in Bible Translation and Literacy Instruction

DAVID W. & SHARRAN O'BRIEN PRYOR. MISSIONARIES

Volume IV, Issue 1

MEET THE GIRI PEOPLE

Language reveals a great deal about thesociety of people who speak It. For InstanceIn a fast paced society like America wristwatches "run" while In slower paced Mexicotheir watches "walk". Likewise, In a primitive, animistic, and spiritist society onecan expect the language to reflect Itssuperstitions and Its concept of thingsforeign to Its realm of understanding.

For example, the Girl word for an evilspirit Is "-to/L". Their word for "white man"Is also "tXJfC, and for a long time he wasregarded with fear and distrust. Thus someof the Items Introduced by white men werelikewise given evil spirit connotations. Aflashlight Is called "^OA.vap"whlch literallymeans "evil spirit's fire", and medicine Iscalled "tOAmbe.gZ" or something evil spiritseat. Any animal bigger than a pig that Isnot a pig Is called "tOActcum" or an "evilspirit's pig". Concepts like these probablyhad something to do with their acceptance ofnew Items, technical or agricultural. Intotheir culture.

These words are based on Initial exposures that occurred years ago. Just howstrongly these superstitions are still heldwill need to be checked out. In our villagewhich has received much Christian teachingfrom the Australian Church of Christ MissionI am sure that they are not held as stronglyas In other Girl villages which have not hadas much exposure to the outside world andChristianity. Also, the examples have beentransliterated. There Is still much work todo before we will be able to develop an alphabet for the Girl language.

Kevin L. & Donna J. O'BrienRoute # 2, Box 19

Oakland City, Indiana 47660Forwarding Agents

January. 1979

CHRISTMAS IN PNG

Many of you have asked how we spendChristmas In Papua New Guinea. Well, It Isdifferent, but we try to make It meaningfulto us for our benefit now, and hope that Itwill be helpful to our people's understanding of Christmas some day.

We had a few decaratlons that some ofyou have sent, and we strung our Christmascards on the wall behind our hammock whichfunctions as our sofa or lazyboy recllner .After much prayer we decided to put up ourChristmas tree, but In our bedroom so Itwould not be seen and misunderstood. We havepeople In the house off and on all day, andwe dldn"t want to get Into discussion aboutthe way Americans celebrate Christmas, orour people might think they've found a keyto the cargo cult. We put two differentcardboard manger scenes up and tried to telleveryone that came In the house the story o|baby Jesus, but few seemed Interested. Wehad Christmas music, too, because some ofyou have sent us Christmas tapes. We couldclose our eyes and see snow and everyonebustling about preparing for Christmas. Yousent us many card and letters filled withlove, news, and promises of prayers. Someof you have treated us like family and haveseen to It that our every need has beentaken care of.

Christmas day I got up at 6:00 to washour towels as usual and found a young man onour door step wanting Dave to take hisfather to the hospital. His father had a badnight with an attack of asthma. When Davegot him to the hospital he was sure he was

(cont. on back page)

SHARm'S SHARING

Another yean. haM come to a cto6e, and mthank God and all OjJ you ion. the pfLOQfies^ m[nenz able to make thZd yeafi. We have beentn ou/L ba&h home located betiveen two GoAotlvMage& -&tnce October 7. VoJianpul am ^tlZlmth 06, and in 6pite o{ pKoblem^ with kUuji^e, continued to be a biggefi help to ubeach mek. Hi& bun.den ok the rnxk ojJt/iayi&tcutLng the Bible ^oa. hU people 6eem6to ghjow 06 we aJie able to talk mofie to himin the GiJuL language, HZ6 people constantlytell him to make 6ujvl he teJUU us everythingnight 40 that when we "tunn the talk" (translate the Bible)we will translate it as theytalk,

Sevejuxl o^ the old men in the villageare now telling if6 stories and ways oj theirancestors, We've heard stories o

HERE'S HOW WE DID IT!

There have been questions from time totime about how we built our home. Perhapsthe most frequent questions have been in regard to our water system. Here are some ofthe questions and answers:

Q. Where do you get drinking water?A. We have a corrugated iron roof from

which rain water is collected. Gutters anddownspouts route the water to our 5,000 gallon tank.

Q. How did you get a 5,000 gallon tankto your house site?

A. The tank comes unassembled in acrate and weighs about 1200 pounds. It wasshipped from Lae to Madang on a small coastal freighter. From Madang it was brought bytruck to within a mile of our house where ithad to be unloaded due to muddy road conditions. We borrowed a trailer from the Churchof Christ Mission, and after loading it onthe trailer, pulled it to the house sitewith a 4-wheel drive vehicle. We broughttwo trailer loads of sand to construct a 12X12 foot cement base for the tank. It was puttogether with over 1800 bolts and took fourdays to assemble.

Q. If your tank is at ground level andyour house is 7 feet off the ground, how doyou get water into your house?

A. We have a hand pump with which wepump water from the 5,000 gallon tank to a50 gallon tank on our roof. From the roofthe water flows by gravity to our kitchenand bathroom sinks, shower, and toilet.

Q. Do you have indoor toilet facilities?A. Yes. Due to rain, mud, frequent

sickness in adjusting to living conditions,kids that have to use the toilet during thenight, and snakes, we decided to try tobuild our toilet indoors. We installed a regular toilet complete with full plumbing anda bush style septic tank.

Q. How did you build your septic tank?A. We got an old, rusty 1,000 gallon

water tank that was full of holes and hadthe top cut off it. We dug a hole in backof our house big enough for the tank anddeep enough for it to sit two feet belowground level. After putting the tank in thehole, we put logs over the tank, covered thelogs with plastic and tar paper, and 18inches of dirt. So far, so good!

TRIP TO U.S.A.

Most of you know that during the lasttwo weeks of November I made a special tripto America. The Executive Board of PioneerBible Translators thought it highly important that I as Director of the Papua NewGuinea Branch attend the November Boardmeeting and asked me to come. As a new organization, up-to-date information is essential for each new stage of development andpolicy decision that is made. In thie particular meeting many new policies were to bediscussed which would greatly affect thedevelopment fo the translation ministryamong our brotherhood.

There are many opinions about the necessity of the trip, the expense, practicality,etc. I assure you that these questions wereconsidered by the PBT Board, too. It wasfor the Boards* and PBT/PNG Branch's sakethat they brought me back.

Our organization had been hindered byconfusion over several issues which has impeded progress and development both in theU.S.A. and P.N.G. Now only were thereanswers needed by both the Board and theBranch, but input from each was needed onmany issues. After all aspects were considered, the Board felt it necessary and advantageous, worth the expense to avoid expensive mistakes in the future. PBT, not ourfamily, financed the trip.

HEALTH REPORT

Our general health is very good rightnow. Amy's malaria is finished, John has acold, but other than that all we have is theever present sores. We are waiting for somenew vitamins that we hope will combat someof the sores at least. When you pray for usplease pray for the Giris, too, as they havemany sores and many have malaria, colds, andfl u.

(cont. from front page)

going to die so he grabbed Dave, and Davestayed with him to comfort him and pray withhim. By the time Dave got back we barely hadtime for he and John to eat and run to go tothe Christmas morning service at Bunepas at9:00. Dave preached one of the 3 short talksin Pidgin. Amy and I couldn't go as Amy wasstill recovering from malaria. At 11:15 weread the Christmas story, and John and Amyfinally got to open their presents. They hadto wait a long time!

Amy was still feeling very sick untilshe opened a package from two ladies inIllinois which contained a beautiful doll.The immediate smile seemed to make her feelbetter all day.

We received three Christmas boxes ontime this year, and three more have comesince Christmas. We all now have newclothes, new towels, and the kids have newtoys and reading materials. We thank Godfor all our friends and family in Christ whoshower us continually with gifts of lovefrom your hearts.

Our Christmas dimmer was a new experience that we really enjoyed. We haddinner with the Australian missionaries atBunepas and had a very typical English dinner, much like Tiny Tim. We ate turkey ,roasted while potatoes (the first we've hadfor a long time) and peas. The dinner wasserved with white and red corbonated grapejuice. Our dessert was a Christmas pudding,which is a steamed fruitcake. After dinnerthere was no TV to watch football games, sothe men came to our house to play with Johnand Dave's battery-operated roadrace set,and we ladies talked. That evening we sat onour bed with our candles around the tree andsang all the Christmas songs we knew andsome we didn't remember wVirr

PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORSDavid W. & Sharran 0. Pryor, MissionariesKevin L. & Donna J. O'Brien, Forwarding AgentsR.R. 2, Box 19Oakland City, Indiana 47660

PLEASE PRAY WITH US...

... That the government of Papua NewGuinea will not move too swiftly towards in-digenization at the expense of its ownpeople, especially in the realm of missions.

... that the Augsburger family's supportwill increase. They are existing on lessthan 2/3 of the full support they need. Ifthey are not receiving full support by Maythey will have to return home to raise funds.

... that God would bless our minds andears as we continue in this very importantstage of language learning.

... for continued wisdom in buildingrelationships with the Giri people.

... for God's guidance and blessings inthe development of PBT/USA and PBT/PNG.

... for continued good health.

... give thanks^ for^our brotherssisters in Christ who minister to us intheir prayers, letters, and support.

Our Giris rested from digging yams intheir garden but did not celebrate Christmasany other way. The most important part ofour celebrating Christmas can never be takenfrom us. We still worship the Lord in aspecial way during the Christmas season forbeing willing to come to earth as a babe andteach us how to live in the will of His andour Father in spite of all obstacles put inour way by plans of men. We want to wish alla Happy New Year and thank you from ourhearts for your love, prayers, letters, andgifts of alllkindsT

BOX

U.S. Postage PaidNon-Profit Org.Permit # 7Oakland City, In.

47660

/ PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS0/ A Ministry in Bible Translation and Literacy Instruction

t1 Vl- L .1

OAVIDW. & SHARRAN O'BRIEN PRYOR. MISSIONARIES

Kevin L. & Donna J. O'BrienRoute # 2, Box 19

Oakland City, Indiana 47660Forwarding Agents

Volume IV, Issue 2

A,B.C ... NO, WE CAN'T USE "C"

After six months of working with our language we are in the final stages of analyzingits sound system. From this analyaztion willcome the decision of how many symbols (letters) we will use to teach our people how toread and write. There are some crucial decisions to make at this stage, so I thought wewould familiarize you with the technical sideof our work.

Three different areas of concern are involved in developing an alphabet: the linguistic analysis must be accurate; it must besocially acceptable; and it must seem rightand natural to the people. I will share twoproblems we have encountered in the Girisound system and relate them to these threeareas of concern in hopes that you will un -derstand and be able to feel more closely related to our work.

We are confident that our analysis iscorrect in revealing two features in the Girilanguage that are not present in eitherEnglish or Pidgin English - nazalization andvowel lengthening. Vowel lengthening islengthening the time of pronunciation of thevowel as in "oooh!" Nazalization is pronouncing the vowel sound through the nose. I'llsumbolize a lengthened vowel be a hyphen following it (pa-i

SHAKRAN'S SHARING

What u)ouZd you think ti you awakm^d inthe. dzad oi night to tkz 6ound oi dmj^^ Itha6 bccomz a HzguZaA occu/iznct \^d/L a& . AtiVUit It 6CjaA.zd uA a tUtlz, hot knowingwhat the Aca6on& ^OA thm wzaz. Now they6titt 6cxULt u& 6omz be,(iau6Q, wz do know ukcuttkay oAtl Sormtime^ they aAz ^OA a 6ing6ingbut that i& aZway^ an unchanging thud, thud,thud coAAying no rm66agc. The, wim& aAo, caZ-le,d "gaAgmuts" (goA-a-moots), The,y aAo, thecZo^ut thing the. bush has to a telephone,and the "gafuamut taJUz" can be heand ^oA many

\nUZe&,One night aAound 11:00 p. m, we

heoAd the GoAati gaAomut. It woke me with a6taAt, I woke Dave a& I ^wa& JiU/ve^-it wai -a-me66age that someone had died, I was night.Only someone didn't just die, a man was killed; md it wasn't an oAdinoAy man that killed him. It was a Sanguma, A Sanguma isthe moit e\)il, mo&t ieoAed ^piAiX. among ouAGinis, Even the ^ejw who have become ChAis -tians yeaAS ago 6titt ^eaA the Sanguma,

The Sanguma is a GVU man who woAksmagic. He uses hypnosis on his victim andhas many methods o^ administeAing poison into the blood -stAeam ojj the victim, causingdeath anywheAz ^Aom immediately to 2 oa 3day. The Ganatis, whom we live among 6aythey do not have a Sanguma anymoAe, but theBiAap village does, and 4o do ^eveJial o^ the0theft Gini villages.

The Bvuip people afve jealous oi theGoAati people because they have moAe moneyand pAestige than they have. That is becausethey oAe clo^eA to the mission station andthus get most oi the mission job6 and thenzioAe npAe, money. Having u6 i^thejA vijlageis also pAQAtigious, and we give them emptyplastic bottles oa cans with lids that theycan use to 6toAe wateA, 6alt, etc. Becauseoi all this and many otheA things theAe haveaimyi been pAoblems between the Ganatis andBinap6, When the BVuip man died two men

tkenz began to 6ay that a GoAotiSanguma had killed him. At iiAst the GoAotipeople weAe a^Aoid oS606 they planned and executed a way to getback at the ZiAap men ^OA ^pAeading ihisialse talk about them.

To end a ieud between two villages, oneoi the viHageJi invitee the otheA to a 6ing6ing, ShoAing in the dance and the eat-^9 oi pig togetheA was tkeJji way oi raying "let'6 ioAget about the tAouble and be

iAiends again," But the people oi GoAotimet and decided they had had enough, andthey weAe going to 6end talk on the goAomut,

fWhen one beats out a message on the dnum ioAij all villager to heoA, the talk oi the goAa-{mut is law. It can not be changed, altered,

OA ignored by any GiAi man, woman, oa child,A iew day& loten. and again late at nig^, weweAe awakened to the 6ound oi the goAamut,It was a long message, and all we could tellwas ot was ioACJiiul, had been heoAd, andcould heoA the Aeplxj iAom the village ioAaway.

The next day we leanned the message. TheGoAotis 6ent fie talk to the Binaps rayingneveA again would they go theAe ioA a Jsing6ing, and would. neveA again eat pig with

thm~oA even bAing-pigGoAati to eat lateA, We AeaHy wondeA whatthe outcome oi this will be in the iutuAe,The goAamut has spoken, the talk can not bechanged, and theAe is no way to end thebitteAnes6 between the two villages .

The BiAap men who 6aid it was a GanatiSanguma will be taken to couAt 6oon andhopeiul^ iined, but we oAe certain the pAo-blem will not end theAe,

TheAe is also a lot oi stealing andadultzAy among the GaAotis, These oAe 6insin OUA eyes, but only leoAned 6ins oi thewhite man in the eyes oi the GiAi people.They have not yet been able to accept God'6WoAd as the ilnal authoAity because theyhave the talk oi the goAomut, Please pAayioA us as we 6tAive to live a ChAistian HiebeioAe them and teach them God'6 talk, andas Vavid takes his tuAn pAeaching at themission on Sunday, and as we leann the lan-guage and pAepoAe ioA the day when we can

. ^give them God'^ talk in. theAA^language* Aawe hee the people openly winning against thethings the mission has taught them ioA 20yeaAS, we 6eek God'6 wisdom as we 6tAive to6how the GiAi people God's love and way oipeace in theiA lives. We need youA constant

y-pAayeAS, and thank you ioA all youA pAayeASin the past. We ieel the Aesult oi thosepAayeAS,

SCHOOL VAVS

John, Amy, and I have successiulZy completed ouA second yeoA oi coA^esponcenceschool. We iinished 2nd and 4th grades oneday and started 3Ad and 5th the next, We\sOAe getting so used to ouA school schedule )jwe seem to get less done when we don't have/Jschool than when we do!

i . &

I ''35S '^

GOISJG TO WORSHIP JN RAIW/ SEASON

Icont, iJ/Lom (Aont page., Hlght column]blood on me, and after I left the garden theywould come and eat all the yams I had planted.

The story could be told in this way:The night before a young woman gave birth

to a child, and he had visited she and thebaby at the mission hospital. But because hehad been near them both, the scent of thewoman's blood would stay with him for a wholeday. He would not be able to wash it off, because it would not come off until the end ofthat day. Because he had come through thevillage agter seeing his daughter and grandchild, the scent was passed to the other menas well, and they could not go to their gardens either. He had told them that he didnot believe that, and he was going to go tohis garden anyway. "Alright" all the mensaid, "but the wild p1gs will smell the woman's blood in your garden and come and reatyour seed yams tonight."

Not believing this (supposedly) and needing to work in his garden, he started hiswalk into the bush where his garden was located. But the closer he got, the more worried he became. So, he finally turned aroundto come back to village and do nothing exceptwait with the others until the day had finished and the scent had worn off. He hadstopped at our house to get a drink and tothink things through. If he went back to the

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Though we are always busy with languaclearning and linguistic analysis, there areother activities we are involved In, too. Being the "pioneer" of Pioneer Bible Translatepart of our work Involves opening up opportunities and paving the way for others t(follow. This means making cantact with othetlanguage groups and obtaining as much lingui;tic data from them as possible. Our languagesurveys help us confirm the borders of thevarious language groups, determine how manjdialects, if any, are in the language group;find the center of the language group or themost prestigious dialect, and where one mighlallocate to do the linguistic work.

These surveys require either river travelhiking (in either mountainous or swampy regions), or both. My last survey was madewith Oan Wilcox of PBT and Paul Williams, cChurch of Christ missionary, to gather datein neighboring language groups along the RamiRiver. Due to it being the rainy season, wecould only visit the villages located on theriver and one inland village. The inlancswamps are flooded at this time of year, sewe must wait until dry season to complete theinland survey. The river survey took tw(days, but it looks like the in-land surveywill take about seven days of walking aniwading to visit all the villages.

In February we got together with the twttranslation teams of the Church of Chris'mission for an informal linguistic con ference. All of us were to prepare and deliver a linguistic paper related to our present stage of work. Sharran presented a lecture on keeping a good linguistic file systerand I presented one adapting an orthography(alphabet). Our two groups found the meetiito be mutually beneficial and decided to havethem semi-annually. Our next one is irAugust, and we hope to present our complete)phonological (sound system) analysis and ouiGirl orthography (alphabet) at that meeting.

village, he would be admitting that he believed the talk of the ancestors when he harsaid so strongly that he did not. But if hwent to his garden and the pigs came and atehis seed yams, then he would have had shambecause he had refused the warning and allthe men would never let him forget it. Whashould he do?

Finally he said, "I am going back tt th'village now. Thank you for the water."

These are the people God loves, the Girpeople.

(cont. from front page, left column)want Luke 15:22 misunderstood as "on his chest..." So we will havea way of symbolizing these in thelanguage.

Maybe you are already askingnot use this simple system above,where the social acceptability isGovernments usually prefer that theof minor languages in themuch as possible to that

Put a ringto developwritten

why weThat is

involved,alphabets

country conform asof the national,

do

official, and trade languages. This type ofrepresentation does not. Also, most often thepeople want their written language tc looklike the more prestigious ones. The alphabetmust also be acceptable by the other dialectsof the language group. We are thankful thatthere are only two ddalects of Giri!

After all this is achieved, the test mustbe passed with the people themselves. Dothey feel that the alphabet adequately andaccurately represents the sound and structureof their language? Viill it be easily taught,easily read, and easily written by the people?We rely heavily on God's guidance and yourprayers for our work to be successful.

VARAMPUL, OUR LANGUAGE HELPER

Many 0^ ijou have oifeed about VoAanpaland kl6 kanUZy, and oaq, thankful ^on. tkn

and pfiayoA^ (tan. He. ^ 6tiZthetplng ll6. Vonvthy and tkeOi 2-yeoA-old daugfUeA ^natiy came back, and nou)things a/ie better. VoAanput has begun tobwitd a house, cohtcJi man6 6he has consentedto 4>tay keAe, PfuLcse the LoAd! -

PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORSDavid W. & Sharran 0. Pryor, MissionariesKevin L. & Donna J. O'Brien, Forwarding AgentsR.R. 2, Box 19Oakland City, Indiana 47660

nxssiQn sspBOXl?? ^

IS *>60^9

PLEASE PRAV WITH US ...

... that ouA pfiogfiess tn language teanyUngand analyzation fXilll go quickly and smoothly,... ioA. the ^ptnttwxl condition ojJ ouA peopleto tmpAove and that God mtnlsteA to themth/LOugh u6.... ^OA VoAonpul and VoAothy to continue tobe diacvn closeA to God through this wo/ik.... that God w-ltl guide PBT cleanJUj as ttcontinued to develop Its ^tAuctuAe and mtnls-tAy,... {^oK OUA continued good health.... uxisdom In ouA cAo.S6-cultun.al dealings,.

In thanking God {,0A. the AugsbuAgeA's additional suppoAt coming in. They have hjeceiv-

'ed in neiA) ^uppoAt and v)ill now beable to remain in PhiG.

im

VIQBS ASSOC.*fcT.

U.S. POSTAGE PAIDNon-Profit Org.Permit # 7Oakland City, In.

47660

(fi / ^

PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORSA Ministry in Bible Translation and Literacy Instruction

DAVID W. 8e SHARRAN O'BRIEN PRYOR, MISSIONARIES

yolume IV, Issue 3

PRAYER MKES THINGS HAPPEN

As I sit down to write to all of you thissunny, Sunday afternoon, my heart is fulland running over with thanks and praise toGod for what He is doing through your prayers and ours.

This morning, after the Pidgin worship service, vie all gathered at the Ramu River towitness the baptism of one of our teenageGarati boys. It really was a thrill for ourv/hole family, but mainly for our son John,who had a real part in bringing Irai to theLord, Irai is very shy and hard of heauring.He wanted the discipleship classes offeredby the Australian Church of Christ Missionfor those who want to bec(ire Christians, butwas too shy to ask the missicmaries* Oneday Irai and John were talking and Irai asked John if he could give him the classes.He wanted to hear every word, so when Jut, the two new language helpers who ai*e now working with us.

... for the Giri people, many are sick andmany are spiritually sick. There are a fewwho have become Christians, but because offear of the evil spirits and shame when t^yhave done something wrong, they have fallenaway. Many have lost apparent interest inliving for God.

... for Sharran, as she continues to teachJohn, fifth grade, and Amy, third grade. Itrequires a lot of patience, lofve and tine.

... for Dave, as he tries to train two newhelpers and tries to finish the Phonologywrite-up needed to establish a tentativealphabet for the Giri language.

... for Dave, as he tries to balance beingtranslator and director of PBT. This re-quires, among otiier things, surveys to prepare for all new PBT teams who are coning toPNG in the next year. / . , , (cont. on back page)

smmiN's smnjm

Loyit iUQk ^pejvt man^ kouA/i walk-in^ -in the.dJi&p pJngJje. tnxiLU, Sometimes we malked inike. b'LLiteAJjiQ. ^un and ^oin&tifne/i in piaxLOAyiO ovz/tQAOwn that aUMwugh thi/i i^ ^y-^on the. pathi ivejie. wet and ^Zippe/i;^ making,it impO'i^iJbXe. to walk at. tim&4, We oIao hadthe ex.oitemenJ: o(. making, qua. wa^ ovea. vatied

and iengthi ojt -log, b/iidgeA Aithoughwe have been kete ovejL two ^eoAA, we fjound4ome, bAAdgo^i pJ^t O/i much a chatlen^e a6 the^AAyit onoA we encoLovteJied*

Whai. wen.e we dning,, yjou might be OAking.^UMAeh/e/it \UeiX, Amy.'4 ^choot teMoixA hadnot aji/iLved, Ao we dedojied a vacxition fjixmAchooi. and decided to Apend it, in the bwshgetting, to know ou/l QinJ^^ A^ many, of, youknow, thefie an.e ei&ven cUxjuia on. viJUxig.eA,but now we know of., ^ome twenty. cxjmpA of.Qi/iiA iiving. deep in the buAh. and ^ome. cUo-^eto the kam "Ri-ve^ We weJie thnJJJjed to ^eehow many QiniA then.e aA.e but amazed to ^eehow few of. them oAe educxited and how iiJJUjetime. hxLi changed ^ome. of. thenu

AijooAt aiX of the cxrnip^ took veny. much the.Aome, Of couAAe, theA.e OAe the diffeAJznceA,iJhe the one. AkiJJ4^uLiy decoAxvted gA/^eJiight in the middle of the viiJjage* / hegAxive belonged to a ''big, man" who knew aiithe AingAing4, the talk of the duoM andAtoAjbeA; he. JiexUiy mi^ed^ Some of owiviliageA have had ^ome Catholic. infMxence.,40 thene l6 an occasional cao^* 3n onevillage we ^aaw a botlle of "hoiy wateA." anda wooden confe^^ion booth in a gAxiA^ hutwhich indicates how confuting, "religion" canbe to bu4h people^

We found a few people who dJidnPt know U4,but mo^ knew who we weAe^ Ihe QiAiA Jju4tweren't ^UAje we had cxxne to help theio. Aince.we live with the QaAjotLi^ One. man had 'ieena man fAom. the SummeA OnAtitule. of Linguistics and asked him to send a tnansiatoA. tohis village^ The SJL man toU him he couldnot as they. alAeady had a man leaAning. thejjilanguage^ He siad, "3 was sad as 3 didn'tknow you, now you have come and toid us ofyouA woaA and 3 undeAstand and am happy* "This was a man in the VIa viJJjag.e which wasthe last villag.e we visited* 3t made allthe sweating,, hiking., aching, iegs and planning. woAth it to meet one new man who wantedthe Bibie. in his language*

PART DEAF BUT CHRISTIAN AND HAPPY

by John Pryor

Sitting here in my swing-chair that my father, mother and I built, I clearly recall anincedent, a change, in a halfdeaf boy namedIrai. It started one evening, when I hadbeen talking to him about God. I asked him,"Irai, tell me your real feeling. Would youlike to have God as your friend and become aChristian?" His eyes lit up as if to say,I*m glad you asked, and without a secondthought said, "I sure would!" But then afrown came to his face as he said, "But Ican*t hear well] Who can teach me more?" hepaused, "Can you?" Two days later I was histeacher. Months past. We were done withthe lessons. One day I asked him, "Are youready now to give your life fully to Christand be baptised?" His eyes twinkled withthat, I*m glad you asked look for the secondtime. "Yes," he said, "I'm ready nowl" Aswe walked down to the Ramu River, a tingleof joy made my soul dance. "At last!" Ithought. At last and as he was eased intothe water and ceime out walking in newness oflife, and even while we wadked home, ray soulwas singing. "A sinner has COTie home," sisloudly as a soul can sing. But, I now realize that now I have to help him get stronger and grow. I Peter 2:2.

DABAMPUL, FALLEN AND BACK

For a long time now we have been asking youall to pray for the marriage relationship ofour language helper, Daran^ul and his wifeDorothy. We are saddened to tell you whathas happened y but know you all have beenpraying for them and will rejoice with us inknowing God can make good out of every situation.

Dorothy was not a girl from our Giri speaking language group; she came from Kar KarIsland. Because of all the differences inthe customs and culture of the Giri and KarKar peul*s experiencedhelp. We prayed fervently, as have many ofyou, as to what to do about Darampul workingwith us again. The day we decided we couldnever find a perfect language helper,Daranqsul wrote us a letter and told us somebig sins which the two new men helpers hadcommitted before. He did not want to downthe men, but wanted us to know there was nota man at Garati that hadn't committed somebig sins.

Now we will have three language helpers. Weare thrilled to have Daran^ul back, as ourwork wsis detered without him. We will alsokeep Na2i9>ut and Palau. This way, betweenthe three men, we always have someone available to help us at anytime. Also, we nowhave three men, who through our daily hoursof work, can get to know our Savior andLord. Even ^^ihen Darampul was not workingwith us he knew we loved him, and it helpedhim to realize God still does too. He hasa long way to go to really understand God'sways, but this is what he wants. Also,Dane, Darampul's new wife, wants to betaught about God so she can become a Christian. Prayer makes things happen. Don'tstop praying for us, our three languagehelpers, and our work.

(cont. from front page, left column)

The time is iri,jBlit: ftsr our work in PNG.They want to leam to read and write. Theywant to leam about the world; they want torecord their old stories. We hc^e scnaedaymany peqple we met in the bush will also decide they want Christ as the Guide for theirnew life and all its changes.

We ask you all to pray that God will findHis ways of revealing His power to our Garati neighbors. We have had maz^ deaths amongthem, and some of them are very scaled ofthe evil spirits. Some of them have returned to the old wayst beating the drums allnight long, and calling out to the devil ofman to end the dea-Uis. Our people need theBible in their language to help them understand fully what some have heard about Godin Pidgin for years. Pidgin is great, asfar as it goes, but s

(cont, from front page, right column)

for all four of us, as we strive to bea daily witness to our people who constantlybewilder us with their ways and culture.

for all four of us, asto speak the Giri language.

jtrive to learn

for continued good healthfull opacity for our Lord.

to work at

for the Augsburgers who still need moresupport to reach full-support.

We thank God daily for the continued flow ofletters, cards and packages that give usdaily encouragement as they assure us thatwe are loved and uplifted faithfully to Godby your financial and prayerful support.God bless all of youi

vmsse wsTH as:

OaxlL, a iU^yjOJo/i-oXd bot^piLejui of. ujoainm&A/ied a beJJjzvQji gXving. IiLa andkoxuLt to Qod on AugjMt 12,f-ive., yx)ung. ijz.eiiag.e. gJjUA cUao now want tobecome. CJuLbstjjan/i,The. houyAe. onxL cxin. a/ie. paid o^f^

Ihe. oppo/itunJJ^ to nie.&t many. and having. a chance, to talk wiMi them about ou/ikfonk and what Qod luanJi^ to gJ-vo. thenu

PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORSDavid W, & Sharran 0, Pryor, Missionaries |Kevin L, & Donna J, O'Brien, Forwarding AgentsR.R. 2, Box 19 iOakland City, Indiana 47660

I ho. Aa^buji^QA^ ato. ^tLLL ujiXh ll4,Qod i^ helping ?3T/hSQ in allan.e.a4 in ^pLte of.. deveJjoping. wiJJx many.OAg.anJ..^ationaJ. ncedyi.

%

U.S. POSTAGE PAIDNon-Profit Org.Permit # 7Oakland City, IN

47660

MISSION SERVICES ASSOC.RESEARCH DEPT.BOX 177KEMPTON, IN 46049'