Martins' Memos PNG News Briefs |
||
| Ukarumpa | Papua New Guinea |
December 9, 1996 |
The Martin family said a tearful good bye to their son Joel as he took the family car and drove out of their Dallas driveway on his way back to begin his second year at Taylor University in Upland Indiana. A few days later Bill, Lenore and Jason flew on to California for a two week break and regrouping before departing on September 12th for their fourth term in PNG. The Martins arrived at Ukarumpa on September 17th tired from traveling, but glad to be back in PNG. "Having one member of your family residing more than 9,000 miles away is a new experience for us as a family," reports Joel’s Father, "but we are confident that we are all still in God’s caring hands, regardless of the distance that separates us."
"My eyes got larger as I looked over the exercise books full of handwritten drafts," reports advisor Bill Martin. "I knew that national translator Charles Kowak had been working on the translation of John and Hebrews while we were on furlough. However, what I didn’t know, was that he had also nearly finished 1 Corinthians. Moreover, he had also encouraged another translator we had trained years ago, to complete the drafts of James, 1 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and Jude!" Bill got out his calculator and quickly calculated that the two translators had together translated 25% of the New Testament while the Martins were away in the USA on furlough!
About three weeks after the Martin’s arrival Charles came to Ukarumpa to make plans to finish the Nyindrou (Lindrou) New Testament. He shared with them the trials and sacrifices he had experienced in getting an extension of his leave of absence without pay from Community School teaching for another two years. Charles told the Martins: "With God’s help I want to finish translating the New Testament for my people in the next two years." The Martins were greatly encouraged to hear Charles’ commitment to finishing the work. "It will take much prayer on the part of our prayer partners," said Bill, "since we know that the challenges suddenly increase when a translation team moves into the final stages of finishing a New Testament. Satan is never happy at the prospect of God’s Word becoming available to a new people group."
Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! With that, the computer suddenly stopped responding. "I was almost finished typing Charles’ translation of 1 Corinthians, when it suddenly made that noise," Lenore said to Bill. Upon investigation, Bill discovered that the hard drive on their computer had failed. "You get a real sinking feeling, because you realize that a lot of work may have just disappeared," said Bill. Although Bill had been making daily backups of the Scripture revisions he had been doing with Charles, he had not made any backup of the book of 1 Corinthians that Lenore had been entering on the computer. "I’m sorry, it looks like the book of 1 Corinthians will have to be entered again," Bill said.
The day the hard drive on the computer failed was the same day that Bill and Charles made firm plans to complete the New Testament. It was also around the same time that the telephone system suffered a breakdown (see article below). "When you are in this kind of work," Bill says, "things don’t just happen by accident. We are very aware that there is spiritual warfare going on and that the enemy doesn’t want the New Testament to be finished.
Although Bill was able to buy a replacement hard drive from the TECS department at Ukarumpa, the hard part was restoring everything from backups. "Unfortunately, the last full backup of everything on the computer was made in Dallas three months ago," Bill said.
The Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea has suffered a breakdown in telephone communications due to acts of vandalism. The authorities are saying that it will probably be months before normal telephone service can be restored. The center at Ukarumpa has installed a temporary satellite link which enables limited communication. However, E-mail messages must be flown to the capital city of Port Moresby one or two times per week to make connections with the outside world from there. "E-mail has been such a great way to communicate," says Bill, "so it is a little hard getting used to E-mail taking a week or longer to get through. We are hoping and praying that the normal phone service will be restored sooner than expected."
"You are going to have to pedal hard to catch up," the school counselor told Jason. "You have missed a whole term in the Ukarumpa International School calendar, but I think you can do it," she added. It was a real challenge for Jason, but he made it successfully through the fourth term, and is now breathing easier since the start of the six week Christmas break.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We thank you for your part in the ministry of Bible Translation to the people of Papua New Guinea. We trust you will have a glorious Christmas! In his service,
Bill Martin (and Lenore).