Friendship that endures
by Deb Fox
A large crowd gathers, alive with dancing and shouts of praise. A steady procession of people carrying New Testament translations walks past in a continuous line. For many people, this is a highlight of the 70-year anniversary celebration of SIL in Papua New Guinea: the presentation of God’s Word translated into 233 Papua New Guinean languages since 1956. Nothing can dampen the spirits of those in attendance, not even the sudden downpour of rain.
As people begin huddling inside a large marquee, Robyn Davies proudly carries the Kandas New Testament to the front. After a few minutes, something catches Robyn’s eye. She notices the Executive Director of SIL International, Dr Johnstone Ndunde, holding a copy of the Label New Testament. This translation, made for a small language group of fewer than 300 people, represents something beautiful: that God cares for all people and wants them all to know him in the languages they understand best.
Robyn explains:
The Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 is something that resonates with the Label people: they may be small but they are no less important to God. Jesus didn’t say, ‘Well, 99 is enough, don’t worry about that one!’
Robyn has been supporting minority language communities in PNG since 1987. After spending a couple of years teaching at a Christian school in Darwin, she found herself in PNG working alongside Swedish translation advisor, Lisbeth Fritzell, on the Ramoaaina language. This was the start of a friendship of almost 40 years, which has also included living and working among the Ramoaaina, and forming life-long connections with the Ramoaaina, Kandas and Label people they worked alongside.
The work is long and it can be easy to think that nothing is happening, but Robyn says that over the years there have been many ‘little glimpses of God at work’. She reflects on the transformation in the life of one of the Kandas mother-tongue translators over the course of around seven years. Working with God’s Word truly transformed his life. After he received prayer for his sick child, and while translating Luke 15, he was challenged to put his faith in Jesus and trust that he is the true and living God. Sadly, this translator passed away at the age of only 35. Yet his legacy lives on. At his funeral, guests said that he had preached in church only the week prior on The Prodigal Son. When working with the translation team on this passage, he had been challenged by the response of the elder brother, which he had never heard about before.
Robyn says she is encouraged that God is working in the lives of the Ramoaaina, Kandas and Label communities. She is grateful for the friendships and sense of community that come from her time in PNG. Robyn and Lisbeth are both preparing to leave PNG at the end of 2026 for a six-month home assignment and a return to their respective home countries (Robyn to Australia and Lisbeth back to Sweden). Robyn shares:
It’s going to be hard at the end of the year when we go to two separate countries! But both Lisbeth and I know that as God has guided us, been with us and held us in the past, so he will in the future. We’re just weak people that God is using.
Please pray:
- that the New Testaments in Ramoaaina, Kandas and Label language communities continue bearing fruit
- for the distribution of MP3 players and apps in Label and Kandas.
MORE https://wycliffe.org.au/member/robyn-davies/
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