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m

OCT ' ^ 98

V Z 3

Pryors Prayers

Prais

PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATOR

F I E L D A D D R E S S :

David

W.

Sharran

O Brien

Pryor

B o x

9 9 7

Madang,

Papua New Guinea

Volume

VIII,

Issue

2

F O R W A R D I N G

A G E N T S :

K e v i n

L.

D o nn a J .

O B r i e n

c / o

P i o n e e r B i b l e T r a n s l a t o r s

P O B o x 2 4 5 9 3

Indianapolis.

IN

46224

March

-

August

1

P R O G R E S S R E P O R T

It has b een a

while

since

we

have g iv en you an update on our

work,

so

we

will do that

in this

newsletter. Many aspects

of our

work

involve

long

tedious processes, and

the

progress is slow. If we

repor ted on

these each

newsletter you might tire

as much of

reading

We ar e still working on , . . as we would

tire

of writing it. By spacing these

reports

a bit

farther

apart it is

more

encouraging to

us, and

hopefully to you,

too.

Church

Growth: Last

year

at

this

time

at tendance fo r

Sunday morning worsh ip was

so

lo w tha t men, women and children could all fit

in the

small

church

building

at the mission

s t at i o n . Now

th e

men , w o m en a nd c hi ld re n w ho

are

ei ther pre-school

o r p as t

sixth grade meet in

the large

recreation building at the s tat ion, and

the schoo l

age

children fill the

church

building

fo r th eir own ser vice. Last year at this

time

Sunday

night

services

were

held in the village

a n d c a n c el le d

if it h a d

r a i n e d

w i t h i n

t h e

h o u r

be fo re the service, Wednesday even ing prayer

meetings

were

off and on

and att ended

mostly

by

children.

Now

Sunday

evening

services

are

held in the recreat ion building

rain

or shine, and

prayer meet ing services are held

every night of

t h e

week.

If it rains, we m e et u nd er s o m e o n e s

h o u s e .

For years it h as bee n

difficult

to get anyone

be sides the village

pastor or myself to

be

interested

in

preaching and teaching

for

an

the services . Now we have seven

other

vi

men b es id es th e p as to r a nd

myself

who

ro

with

us to share t he p reach ing and teac

load.

(Our son John has a lso s tar ted preac

now, and

in my prejudiced

opinion

—

whi

shared

by t he p eopl e ~ he does quite wel

Coopera t ion

by

church members

p r e s i d i n g

over the s e r v i c e s serv

communion, e tc . was done

by

a

few

r el u ct an c e a n d w i t h o u t e n t h u s i a s m .

N o w t

are enough volunteers to take care of e

nightly p raye r mee ting

and

the services

Sundays

fo r

a full

month

and

still

not

have

u

everyone who is

willing

to b e used.

And

a

this

is happening

eight months

aft er the re

started, after things have settled down to a m

even

pace,

and

only the committed remain

The church is

now

in a period of

growth

th

so

essential to

their matur ing

faith.

This

is



time when th e miraculous is not an everyday

o c c u r r e n c e s o t ha t t he ir

faith c a n

be tested,

internalized

more fully and s tr engthened.

Though things appear outwardly calm,

it is

very

evident

that

th e

Holy

Spirit is at

work

in th e

lives

of

th e

people.

Literacy:

The spiritual

growth

of th e church

has p roduced

a

t remendous interest

in

the lives

of

t he o lder

men

and women

of

the

village in

learning

to

read.

In the

early days

of the

Australian

Church of

Christ

work among o ur

people,

the

older men

by

virtue

of

their

age

alone

assumed

leadership pos it ions . Over the

years,

though,

their children have had

th e

benef it o f

schooling

and l ea rn ing to

read

in

Pidgin

and

have

thus gradually t aken ove r t he

leadership roles. According

to

the ir cul tu re ,

this Is no t

ideal.

And

with

all

that

is going on

now.

they

are even more motivated

to learn to

read and have the scriptures in their language.

F o r

t h e s e r e a s o n s

w e

h a v e

c o m m i t t e d

ourselves to

teaching

the

older

men and women

first to r ea d a n d w r i t e in K ir e.

We

h a v e o u r first

pre-reading book

about half complet ed and

hope

to start

the class about the

last of

September or early October.

T h e n

f r o m

m i d - N o v e m b e r

u n t i l m i d -

December

we

will

be

back in the highlands for a

primer construction workshop. During

that

time

we

hope

to

complete

the greater

portion

of

th e first Kire primer.

And,

if all goes well, our

first literacy classes with the primerwill begin in

th e spring

of

next

year.

It is encouraging

and

exciting to see the

interest of

the

older

people

in learning

to

read. I

c an t r e m e m b e r if I h a v e

s h a r e d

t h i s in a

previous

newsletter,

or not, but three of th e

older

men in

our

village have made trips to

Madang to

get glasses so

they will

be

able to

see

to read. That

really

touches us .

We

are a lso deeply moved

by

prayers we

have

heard at prayer meeting

that

go

something

like

t h i s :

Great Father,

we

are

really

happy about

what is happening in

our

church. So many

have

given themselves to You and we

are

al l wanting to

know

more

about

You We

have the Pidgin New Tes tament , but we

want

the

Bible in our

language.

We do n

understand what is taking David an

Sharran and

their

helpers so

long.

B

whatever

it is that

they

do not know or u

derstand

yet,

hel p th em

to

learn it quick

s o

w e

c a n

h a v e

o u r

o w n

B i b l e

a n d

all

o f o

people

will know how to read it and yo

church can grow in

al l

of

our

villages.

We

do appreciate

your prayers

in this reg

too. In fact,

we

do have

some real

progres

r epor t a long these

lines.

Translat ion: Before our three langu

helpers

went to th e se cond

year

course

national translators last April through J

they

h ad c omple te d the

translation of R

Jonah,

Esther

and

sixteen

chapters

of

A

S in ce th ey

have

come back from

th e co

they

have

completed the back

t ranslat io

these

portions,

and

as of yesterday, August

we have

completed

our preliminary

checkin

R u t h .

T h i s

m e a n s

t h a t

it h as b ee n

c h e c k e d

accuracy, fidelity to

th e

original,

spelling

err

proper

transliterations, proper disco

features as much as possible at this

stage)

n a t u r a l n e s s .

T h i s

is a real m i l e s t o n e f o r u

Next comes th e

checking

with

the vil

committee.

This.

too.

is

an impor tan t t es t.

translation will be read to

them

por ti ons

time,

and

they

will

see

if it

sounds

like

good

or is

to o unnatural and

awkward. Thei r

inpu

how it could

be

expressed

b ette r a nd

m

naturally

will be

received.

We will a ls o

them on the impor tant points of each port io

ensure that

th e

mess ag e h as

been

accura

translated for

their

understanding. Then

du

the

la st week of August a consultant from

Papua New Guinea Translation Association

meet with us fo r the final

checking.

You

might be ask ing

why

we

are

transla

these books for our first

pro ject s. Here

are

re sons

Since

we

first

began our p rogr am we

h

wanted

to train our national helpers as

full

possible

and s tre tch them

to

their

full poten

knowing

that

this would yield a be

t ranslat ion and

hasten

it s completion. We h

not

only

sponsored

them in

the first

and

sec

y e a r

c o u r s e s fo r

n a t i o n a l

t r a n s l a t



(conducted

by the

Papua

New

Guinea

Bible

Translat ion

Association,

th e S ummer

Institute

of Linguistics and

Pioneer

Bible Translators),

but I have also worked

at

fu rthe ring the ir

training

in t rans la ti on p rinc ip le s dur ing our

time

in

th e

village.

One of th e

first steps

is

le ar ning how

to

translate

a

simple narrative

(simple is perhaps

an

overstatement) . These

books

mentioned

are

narra t ives

wi th

little

d idac t i c mater ia l in t h em.

Clearly

establishing

the d is cour se

story

form

and

translating

it will

help

immensely

when

they

begin

translating t he gospe l

accounts.

Too,

simple

stories

are

th e

easiest

fo r new

readers to re ad with unders tanding . So

having

t h e s e nar ra t ives

t ra ns la te d s er ve s

a

dua l

purpose fo r our translation and literacy

p r og r ams .

Training:

Speaking

of training, we

have

trained Namput in

using

our Radio Shack TRS-

80

portable computer (made

possible by a

special gift from Mr.and Mrs. Jon Stevens). He

types the first draft on to

the computer

and

transfers

it from

th e computer

to a

cassette

for

storage. Then, after we have made the

necessary corrections on a chapter, he puts

each

chapter

file

back

on

the

computer, types in

the correct ions and puts the corrected file

back

on the cassette tape. When the checking and

corrections

ar e

completed,

the

work

that

he

has

done

-- in addition to putting in all the appro

priate field markers to tell

the computer

what to

do

--

makes the book re ady to r th e computer

print-out that makes the book picture ready for

printing and publication. Ifhis ancestors could

only see

him

now

Darampu is the next to be trained on the

computer. That will mean four of us (counting

Sharran and

myself)

who can

use th e

computer

to

enter and

manipulate all of our data for

analysis and scripture portions. But having

Namput

and

Darampu able to take

care

of a lot

of

the

busy work frees us for the

areas

of our

program which they cannot handle and

speeds the total

program

along. Besides

that, it gives them a greater feeling of ful

fillment being more a part of the work, and a

feeling of

achievement fo r

mastering

something so

technical.

Ethnic

research:

Sharran

has t ak en ove r

monumental task

of

assembling

all

the

observat ion and

research

notes that

have gathered over

the years

relating to

culture of the Kire people. As

she

gathers th

and

writes

them

up in

the

form of a

resea

paper, she is

able

to find all of the gaps in

knowledge of

the

people's

customs

and beli

This o f course will

l ea d t o f ur th er research a

additions to our data. The

end

of

this

pro

will

culminate

in finishing

th e

paper

publication and/or s torage in the PBT/P

b ranch

arch ives .

It

will a lso m ean one m

requirement

out

of the way putting us

one

s

closer to

total

t ime being

spent

in translat

and literacy. The target date for the

complet

of t he paper is May of next year.

Linguistic Analysis: We

are nearing the

of

this stage

of

the

analysis of

the

Kire

so

system. We have nearly 75 of all

the

so

alternations

(such

as s becoming

a z

so

when the plural suffix -i is added as in

word for bushkni fe : kos

+ i becomes

k

accounted

for, having discovered

the

envir

ments

and

processes

governing

these

chang

We are working now on some of the m

difficult ones that we think

are

governed rat

than c lassed

with

irregulars.

John

Clifton,

the

SIL consultant who

helped

so

much

in

the

analysis,

is

going

spend

part of his vacation with us here at Ga

to try to wrap up as much as possible at

stage.

We

have resigned ourselves

to

th e

that

some of th e mysteries of th e

sound sys

will no t

be

resolved until

we

get

further

literacy and get

some

feedback

from

people.

But

we are,

at

least,

far enough along to be

ou r

literacy

work. By th e time our liter

classes

begin next spring we

will

h

a c coun t e d

fo r

90 95 of th e s o u

alternations, written a paper

describing

all, and will

have

achieved approved ort

graphy status. This will allow us to be

publishing up a certain

percentage

of

sc

t u r e .

Thanks so

much fo r all of your pray

I

think

I

can

see

the

light at

the end

of

t unne l .



YOU ARE COMING

BACK

WHEN

We recently

made

a decision

to

extend

this

term from four to

five years

which

means

we

will

no t

be c om in g ba ck to the States until the

Spring

of 1987.

There

are

two main

reasons

for

thi s which we would

like

to share

with

you.

The

furlough timing as relates to John s and

Amy s schooling

is one factor. John is still

holding to

the desire

to

stay with

us

in

PNG

for a

year after he f inishes high schoo l and

help

us

translate.

He

is

taking

a

New Testament Greek

course now.

I ll be teaching

him some

translation

principles, and he will

work

with one

of

our language helpe rs to j us t

give

it a

try

and

gain some experience.

Not

only

wou ld this help our program, bu t it

would also

make it

possiblefor

Amy

to stay with

us

till

her last year of high school which she

would

th en ta ke in Amer i ca while we a re

on

furlough.

We

wou ld

enro l l

J o h n in J o h n so n

Bib le

Col lege dur ing August

of

1987

and stay

to

see

Amy s high school gradua tion in May, 1988

following which she

will

also enroll

in

Johnson

Bible

College.

Our

third

term

would

then

be

just

a

three year

term which would

get

us back

fo r

John s graduation, and then before returning to

PNG

we would

be

able

to

attend

Amy s

graduation

from

JBC,

too.

The

other

reason fo r extending this term

relates

directly

to

our

t ranslation program.

By

extending

thi s t erm fo r

another

year,

there

is a

good possibility that we

will get the

vast

majority

of all

our

linguistic

requirements out

of

th e way

before

furlough in 19 87 This would

mean t ha t we cou ld concentrate almost entirely

on

translation and literacy

work.

As

you

can

see, this

means that Sharran

and

I

will

return

fo r

our

third

term

by

ourselves.

Sharran

would

no longer

have the

responsi

bility of teaching correspondence to

the

children

and

would therefore give her full time

to translation

and

literacy. Though

the

children

will

be great ly missed and th e nest empty, we

will be

th an kf ul to

hav e h er a ss i s t ance a s we

h av e c omm i tt ed o ur se lv es t o

t rans la te the Old

Testament as well. But hav ing th e bulk of

term

fo r

translation with Sharran, myself,

our three language

helpers

all

work

together, we should be able to complete qui

b it o f t r ans la t ion

The only major drawba ck to extending

term

is that it

e xte nd s th e s ep ar atio n

t

be tween

us and

o u r

fami l ies an d f r i end

America. We continue

to

miss

you

all Inthi

have but one consolation: eternity is

com

soo

We

trust that you also see

the

wisdom

practicality in

this, and

we thank you in

adva

for your u ndersta nd in g and co ntin

expression

of confidence

and

love.

TH IS FURLOUGH

WILL BE

DIFFERENT

Last

fur lough we t rave led

all year long

motor home,

the

children

traveling with us

continuing their

correspondence

school w

we trave led. Thi s

next furlough we

will

nee

locate in

one

p la ce to allow Amy to finish

final year of high

school

in a

more

set

e nv ir onmen t. Too, David will have t o c on t

his graduate work. This will reduce the num

of speaking

engagements

we can have s

engagements will be limited mostly

weekend s

We

would appreciate

your prayers

guidance as to

where

to settle

during

year. It will

need

to be in th e

same t

as ,

or near

a

seminary, have

a

good

school

fo r

a

teenage

girl

who

will

undo

edly be undergoing culture shock,

be conveniently located

near the

graphic center of all our suppor

churches. We

sure

need God s lea

to

meet

all

of these

qual i f ica t io

Three different

a r ea s

are

u nd er c on sid

tion already.



P le a se J o in

Us In:

P r a i s e

For the

progress

we

have

made t his yea r

For

the

growth of

t he chu rch

For the

people s

Interest in

having

and being

abl e t o r ead

the Bible in

their own

language

Prayer fo r

Namput

as

he works

with us. He

has

by

inher

itance

th e position

of village headman,

but

so far because of h is

belief in God he

feels

t hat h e cannot accept his position. Never

theless

he faces constant

pressure from th e

village to

take

this

role

which

many

of

them

don t realize

entails

performing a magic

r i tual .

Waisi

(Darampu)

as he works with us. He

preaches

quite

frequently

in

the

village

besides working for us and the villagers

demand a very high standard of his

Christian

life.

O ne

small mistake makes

him subject to great

criticism.

Palau

as

h e wor ks with u s. He

se e ms

t o o ft en

be pulled away from

the

work due to his

involvement

in

many

other

things.

He is

trying to build up a reputation as a big

man which is

mainly

done by giving away

food. That requires

having

a

very

large

garden and

much time to work in it. Pray

that God

will help him to se t hi s priorities

a s

G o d

would

lead

him.

David in his roles as

translator,

linguist,

Advisory

Committee member for the

P B T / P N G

b r a n c h

a d m i n i s tr a t i o n

consu l t an t

fo r

o u r th ree

co t r ans l a t o r s .

preacher, husband and father. He

n

God s wisdom

daily

to

fulfill all

these

wel l .

Sharran as

a homemaker , superv iso

John s and Amy s school, anthropol

wife

and

mother.

Many days s eem

consumed in breadmaking, etc., so

needs

God s wisdom to help balance a

ro le s .

John as he completes 10th gra de. B e

schoo l h e p reach es,

sings

and

play

guitar and writes

songs.

He also spea

language best

of all of us.

Amy

as

she

completes

8th

grade.

recently

contracted

a

really

strange

tha t a ffec ts

th e

nervous system. Go

used

this

to

really help

her realize

important he r life in Christ really is to

Pray for her as

she

tries to find

her

ta

and ministry among our people.

Yourselves t ha t God will

continue to

im

upon

you how thankful we are foryou

and

p rayer suppor t, a nd

how vital

really are

to

our ministry.

pryor david sharran 1984 png

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