After the storm: The growth of Bible translation in Vanuatu
By Deb Fox | Wycliffe Today Winter 2024 Edition
Jared and Bethany Killey are Wycliffe Australia members who recently relocated to Vanuatu to work with SIL Vanuatu. They have been learning the national language, Bislama, and settling into their location in the capital Port Vila, along with their two young sons Nathanael and Matthias. The Killeys recently returned to Vanuatu to take up a translation assignment. They are preparing to work with an experienced language survey group from Papua New Guinea to determine the most viable language group to focus on when they move to the island of Espiritu Santo. The island has around 40 active indigenous language groups but some of these are endangered or almost impossible to access. Much of the language data on Santo has now been updated after a visit from SIL Ethnologue workers to help new teams determine which languages to focus on. Bethany says that they are ‘not rushing the process so [we] can be wise about what we are committing to for the next 20 years’.
The Killeys are excited about their return to Vanuatu, despite a tumultuous experience the first time they visited the island nation. Vanuatu comprises 83 islands and these are located in a ‘cyclone belt’, with active volcanoes and conditions that are prone to severe storms and earthquakes. When Jared and Bethany visited Vanuatu last year for training and orientation, they experienced two major cyclones in close succession which wreaked devastation on local infrastructure and services. Jared also contracted shingles during the trip, which made it difficult to support his young son and then-pregnant wife. Despite the incredible challenges, Jared says that the community spirit was an encouragement:
Wherever we looked, people were helping to clean up. Everyone pitched in. We felt God’s protection and provision. Thankfully we had been able to meet people before the cyclones hit. We were able to attend a conference and get to know everyone better.
Jared & Bethany with sons Nathanael and Matthias
Prior to the cyclones, the first in-country orientation course for new workers was held in three parts in three parts. This included formal classes, including an introduction to Bislama, culture and history of the Church and SIL in Vanuatu. Jared explains that the opportunity to meet with people and learn more about the culture and language was an invaluable part of their time away:
We had previously done some language learning over Zoom so being able to actually have a conversation with someone in Bislama was wonderful! We also spent time in a village on the island of Nguna. To get to that island, we had to travel north and go on a little boat. We had structured activities during the day that aligned with the local lifestyle – weaving, broom making, cooking. But it was wonderful just sitting down and chatting with them during that time. The people are quite proud of their Christian history but they realise that it’s one thing to have a few books of the Bible translated but there is a need for the whole Bible and Scripture engagement skills to help grow people’s understanding of God and his Word.
Bethany adds that the village stay was also significant for the local community:
When we arrived, we were welcomed by the chiefs of the village. We were the first visitors who had come in quite some time so it was really special to them. Depending on the time of day, there are several different greetings that I would get wrong every time! We mostly spoke in Bislama but when we were at the village we tried using some of their own language and their faces would light up! ‘You’re speaking my language!’ They realised that if we cared about them enough to travel there, God must also care about them.
Please pray for Jared and Bethany as they continue to seek God for which language community to support. To hear more about what the Killeys are doing in Vanuatu, or to support them, please visit https://wycliffe.org.au/member/jared-bethany/.
The silver lining of endurance
By Kathy Cummins | Wycliffe Today Winter 2023 |
I’ve cried a lot in my 17 years of literacy work. I’ve become frustrated, yelled at, and even hit people! I’m not proud of my reactions but I have often found this life of language work hard and at times I wanted to give up.
The frustration comes from waiting around for people who say they’ll come but never show up. It’s teaching women literacy skills for two years but discovering that none of them have successfully learned to read and write. Added to this has been the anguish of getting ripped from our home and community due to civil war and not knowing if we could ever go back there.
Then, a glimmer of the rewards of endurance arrives. I realise that I can speak the language and mostly understand what native speakers say! Locals tell us they know that God loves them because he sent us to them! I see children I once cradled in my arms learning to read and write their language. A teenager I taught is now translating the Bible into his language!
We have been developing deep friendships, born of shared waiting, hardships, work, and life. We are helping the community render God’s truths in the God-given intricacies of their language structure. What a privilege! This is the silver lining of endurance. I’m not sure how ‘willingly’ I am enduring, but the glimmer is there.
So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen. – 2 Tim 2:10 (NLT)
Jesus, storms and cushions
By Lyn Wake | Wycliffe Today March 2020 |
Many of us will face ‘life storms’, those sudden circumstances that paralyse, overwhelm and disempower. Like the disciples in Mark 4 who were trapped in a sinking boat, terrified in the throes of a furious storm, I too have tried to ‘wake up’ Jesus, calling out in my despair, ‘Lord, don’t you care if I drown?’
Life storms tend to reveal where our fears are based and where our faith is placed. My family is facing another life storm with yet another cancer diagnosis to hit the extended family. My first reaction is fear. But I want to navigate this one by faith. By putting into practice the life-saving lessons I have previously learned when swamped by life storms, already I find myself more anchored and assured as I face this new tempest.
One of those lessons is the importance of ‘cushions’. Mark says that during the storm, Jesus was in the stern, sleeping with his head on a cushion (Mark 4:38). Jesus was not disturbed by the storm; he was able to rest in the knowledge that the Father was with him. Now as I journey through life storms, I look for the ‘cushions’ Jesus is holding out to me. Those cushions may come in the form of loving friends and family or in the gifts of material provision and shelter. In fact, there are countless blessings offered to us by the grace of God to help ‘cushion the blow’ of our trials.
But the best cushion is Jesus, the Word of God. As I receive all that he offers me in the midst of my life storm, joy rises. As I rest securely with him and lean into his comfort, peace floods in. He is with me and with just a word, he is able to quiet my soul and silence every storm.
In what ways has Jesus cushioned you through your life storms?
How can you cushion others through their trials and sorrows?
Be transformed by the Word as you engage with:
Mark 4:35-41 and Psalm 27
Praise you in this storm
By Belinda Fox | Wycliffe Today March 2020 |
I’ve faced my fair share of storms in my 10 years of living in Papua, Indonesia. One thing I’ve realised is that there are two ways you can respond to a storm. You can ride it out and then look back and see how God was at work. Or you can cry out to him in the midst of the storm. Praise him in the storm. The choice is ours to make.
In March 2019, Sentani—the town I call home—was ravaged by severe flooding and landslides. Hundreds of lives were lost and thousands of families lost their homes and all their belongings. After two nights of abnormally heavy rain and more on the forecast, we were all wondering how our town could possibly endure any more rain.
As this crisis was taking place, I was in Australia on home assignment. But although I was physically removed from the situation, my heart was fully in Sentani; breaking for my brothers and sisters in their suffering. As I wept and prayed, God brought to my mind the Casting Crowns song ‘Praise you in this storm’.
The song talks about struggling to understand why God hasn’t stepped in to save the day. ‘It’s still raining!’ But through the rain God whispers, ‘I’m with you’. That’s the message God had for the people of Sentani in the midst of their storm—that he was in control and he was with them. I sensed God’s leading to make a video (with Papuan Malay subtitles) using the song and a collection of photos people had taken depicting the devastation of the flood. That video ended up being viewed over 100,000 times. God’s promise of his presence in the storm brought great comfort.
Two of the worst-hit areas of Sentani happened to be right at the foot of two hills—one being the campus of the Hillcrest International School and the other the complex of buildings where our Papuan Malay Bible translation office is located along with other translation teams’ offices. Several thousands of people whose houses were washed away in the villages below these two hills sought refuge at these locations.
In the days that followed, these people experienced the love of Christ in very practical ways. The mission community, along with church, government and local organisations, provided food, shelter, medical care and a listening ear to those who had lost everything. What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ at work.
After the fourth straight night of rain, something truly amazing took place. People began to gather to worship God publicly in these places! Even before the storm was over, they chose to praise God, anchor their hope in him, and trust in him for deliverance.
Knowing God is with us is one thing, but praising him in the hard times is another. The chorus of that Casting Crowns song ends by saying, ‘Though my heart is torn I will praise you in this storm’. May we, like these remarkable Papuan people, learn what it means to praise God in the storms of our lives and cling to his goodness, whatever circumstances we face.
Thanks for your patience...