Can you imagine the Prime Minister visiting a party to congratulate you for reaching a special milestone? For Bible translation teams in Papua New Guinea, that is exactly what happened.
On Saturday, 28 March, a special service was held in Papua New Guinea for the 70 years of service of SIL and Wycliffe organisations in the country. The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, the Honourable James Marape, addressed local translation teams and expatriate workers from Australia and throughout the world with words of deep gratitude, sharing:
The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Hon. James Marape poises for a photo in front of a banner that celebrates SIL PNG’s 70 years of ministry in PNG.
I’m here … celebrating SIL’s 70 years of unfailing service to the country and our people translating languages. We are the most diverse nation on earth as far as different languages are concerned – over 800 different language groups. For 70 years, SIL has stood as a pillar of service in our country. Your work has reached into the most remote parts of Papua New Guinea, bringing not only the Word of God, but also literacy, education, and hope to our people. It’s so nice to see Wycliffe Australia in partnership also commemorating 70 years of partnership with our country. You have been here for 70 years – longer than our nation has been independent. You are among the forerunners who helped shape the Papua New Guinea we know today. I want to say thank you very much for the support from Wycliffe. Thank you, God bless. Keep on supporting the mission field here in Papua New Guinea.
Helen Sahl was one of the guests who attended the special celebration and she was equally impressed by the words from another influential politician. The Honourable John Boito, Minister of Agriculture, made a special mention of the ‘third culture’ children of families involved in Bible translation work in Ukarumpa:
We thank you for the way you represent our home to the world. Even if you live thousands of miles away, the ‘Ukarumpa DNA’ makes you part of our family forever. We hope you always feel that the gate to Ukarumpa is an open door to your childhood home. With that, I challenge the current generation of SIL members and our local PNG partners: Do not let the fire of the 1956 pioneers fade. Continue to innovate. Continue to honour the landowners. And most importantly, continue to ensure that every Papua New Guinean can read and hear the truth in the language they value most. Thank you, God bless you, and happy 70th anniversary!
A short-term trip to Kenya changed Peter Boal’s life. He participated in a number of medical trips that involved visiting Bible translation workshops and began praying about how he could get involved. Now Peter and his wife, Fleur, have settled into their new roles as ‘house parents’ to the children of mission workers in Papua New Guinea. They did not imagine, however, that the journey there would take so long.
Peter and Fleur met during their university studies. Peter then worked as a science and maths teacher before changing careers and becoming a paramedic. Fleur worked as a counsellor, chaplain, and social worker before taking on more home duties while raising their children. The couple considered serving God cross-culturally but it took over six years of waiting from the time they were accepted as members of Wycliffe Australia to arriving in PNG and overseeing a residential hostel for children attending the Ukarumpa International School. The parents of these children are serving with SIL Global, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and other mission organisations.
There have been a few delays and challenges in getting to PNG. How have you stayed focused?
Peter: Holding onto the dream is what tests your faith. I never thought I’d be going overseas to serve the Lord AFTER my retirement, but God often has a different idea of timing to what we do.
Fleur: God was preparing us during that time. We needed to be home for our family and work out what we were passionate about. This job requires an equal partnership and after Peter retired as a paramedic, we realised we could both give time to domestic roles so we could share the work among us.
What do your roles involve?
Fleur: We’re working in partnership with MAF Australia and caring for five teenagers. Our youngest daughter, Mikayla, will also be with us in the hostel. Having stability for the kids will be wonderful as they have not had consistent caregivers for more than two years, which meant that families involved in aviation and Bible translation often had to take time away from their tasks to do homeschooling. We’ll be looking after the everyday needs of the teens, homeschooling two school subjects, and also managing the property. Peter is also volunteering with the fire brigade.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to use their vocational training in mission?
Fleur: The interpersonal skills we’ve both developed through our various roles are proving to be very useful now. There are generally roles for everyone who feels called to support the work. Anyone from mechanics to doctors, dentists, teachers and administrators are needed to keep things running smoothly.
Peter: Take the time to look after yourself. You can’t say yes to everything! You have to concentrate on the things that God has called you to. The goal is ultimately Bible translation but you need a team.
PRAY:
that Mikayla will adjust well and make good connections
Robert and Loralie Handasyde live in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea, with their two young children, Emily and Michael. They felt called to serve in cross-cultural missions but were not sure what that would look like until, as Loralie describes, they ‘came across an open door and walked through it!’
Robert was always interested in flying. He heard that helicopters in missions were a real need. He shares:
PNG has minimal infrastructure, so to get supplies to a remote location in the mountains can be tricky without a plane. Many places are inaccessible when flooding closes roads, so they really need help with flights.
Similarly, Loralie wanted to serve God in some way but was surprised that she could use her training and experience to become the first long-term optometrist to care for the needs of locals and others serving in Ukarumpa. She says:
We know that our roles are appreciated [here]. When I can provide glasses for people here in Ukarumpa, they don’t have to take time off work to travel and make costly trips to see an optometrist back home. It makes a difference. The trouble is, it’s often harder to explain here in Australia about why our roles are helpful and how they connect with Bible translation. Churches often want to support a pastor, church planter or Bible translator, so it takes a bit to explain why support roles are so important.
A powerful testimony of the importance of the various roles involved in Bible translation was a recent Scripture Application and Leadership Training workshop in a remote village in the highlands. Robert flew Scripture engagement leaders into the area so they could teach local language communities how to read their Bibles in the context of their culture.
Robert explains: One man who was known to locals as a ‘raskol’ [criminal] turned up to the workshop, not even knowing himself why he had walked an entire day to reach the village to attend the training. After hearing the Word of God being preached in his mother tongue, his life was transformed. He gave his life to Jesus, along with seven others. People in that area had almost nothing, not even enough to buy cups. Yet 40 people came out to purchase Bibles after the training! Working together, you see God opening doors for the gospel.
PRAY:
that the Handasydes continue to be encouraged in their work
wisdom for Robert as he trains new helicopter pilots
for deeper connections with churches and more opportunities to share
for more teachers to fill roles at the International School
that a dentist can be found for the clinic.
Steps to serving: A taste of Bible translation in Papua New Guinea
A smiling Helen Sahl (Wycliffe Australia) sitting in the pilot’s seat of an SIL Aircraft at Aiyura Airport
Papua New Guinea is recognised as one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, with over 800 languages still being spoken in a country with a population of fewer than 10 million people. The language needs in the region are vast. Ukarumpa is an international SIL community that was created to serve as a hub for Bible translation throughout Papua New Guinea. It was chosen as the location for a short-term exposure trip to give Aussies a taste of the work Wycliffe Australia supports and discover the range of roles needed for Bible translation and language development to happen.
As soon as we began talking about the possibility of running a trip to PNG, we made prayer a priority. This needed to be God’s trip and we were going to follow him. As Moses said to God in Exodus 33:15, if he wasn’t leading us then we didn’t want to go. We saw answers to our prayers as a team of 12 came together, person by person, from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria from all ages and all backgrounds. We saw God’s hand in everything from the team dynamic, to the program, the travel arrangements and meeting people all along the way.
The impact on the participants was overwhelmingly positive. They had opportunities throughout the trip to visit many departments in Ukarumpa, including a training centre, medical ministry and to make village visits. This opened their eyes to the needs for more people to help with finance, information technology, teaching, maintenance, building, management, mentoring, linguistics, literacy, Scripture engagement and much more. They were challenged to consider how they could be involved in helping Bible translation happen in PNG.
Hearing the hearts of our Papua New Guinean brothers and sisters was so special. We visited homes, villages, gardens and walked places together. Our team were great listeners and learners. A bonus was seeing the team reach out to others who were staying at the Ukarumpa guesthouse, including a film crew and visiting linguists. Many of the Ukarumpa residents interacted with the group, inviting us to their homes and spending time with us over meals in the evenings. We thank God for the privilege of leading this team and pray that many more will consider how they could serve others in the Bible translation task. Several of the group are seriously looking at how they might be able to serve at Ukarumpa, or follow a path into Bible translation and language development.
The Australian team with workers from the Bible Translation Association of Papua New Guinea.
Feedback from participants:
We have made friends for life on this trip. I wouldn’t have changed anything. I loved the way you gave us time to process what we were seeing and learning, to chat, to share with each other, to debrief each evening. I loved getting to know everyone on the team so much!
–Karen
Since my trip to PNG, I have come to the realisation that it is so important to ‘do life’ with people. I felt stirred to offer comfort to people around me not just in words but in action – that’s where the kindness of God has the capacity to touch a human soul. I ask God that this stirring within me will continue so I can put it into action.
–Nathan
Planting seeds of hope in the local garden.
I secretly thought, ‘Why am I doing this? Oh well, I’m committed now, I’ll just go through with it. When I come back I will probably say, “Well that was inconvenient … and costly … and nothing will come of it”.’ I was so wrong. Right from the outset, I realised that God had put me into a very special team of people, diverse in age and background, skills and personality, but all with a generous passion for God and the people his heart yearns for. What a valuable investment of two weeks! I am pretty sure something wonderful will come of it.
Please note: Another trip to PNG took place in 2025. We will endeavour to collate feedback from team members and add these latest experiences as soon as possible.
A day at the SIL Clinic in Ukarumpa
by Deb Tan | Wycliffe Today – June 2018 | ABOVE PHOTO BY SUSAN FREY
Dr Carl Luther is getting ready for another day at the SIL clinic in Ukarumpa, in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Carl and his wife Carol are from the USA and serve in PNG.
DR CARL LUTHER
The first patient who walks through the door is an SIL colleague. The clinic was originally set up over sixty years ago to provide medical care for SIL staff like him. With over 800 living languages in PNG, SIL PNG is one of the larger centres in the world, with work happening in 193 languages.
Without a well-run clinic with adequate facilities, minor infections can become major illnesses, and medical issues now treated at the clinic may otherwise require SIL staff and family to leave PNG to access further health care.
The next person arrives at the clinic. It is a local Papua New Guinean woman carrying her sick son. She has just walked from a nearby village in the Aiyura Valley. It is a privilege to be able to serve the local community through the provision of medical care.
Apart from the usual medical issues of high blood pressure, heart disease, joint aches and pains and so on, Dr Carl also sees a lot of tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases in the local children who come to the clinic.
The chances of children surviving to their fifth birthday are low and the staff are keen to help improve the situation. An additional service the clinic provides is a community health clinic, where staff travel to provide some basic medical care for women and children in the community.
CLINIC PATIENTS
Very soon, the next group to benefit from the clinic will be the women of the Aiyura Valley. Thanks to funds raised through the Wycliffe Relief and Development Foundation, Dr Carl’s latest initiative to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer is now made possible. Lack of screening and a high incidence of human papillomavirus contribute to the cancer’s prevalence, as do other risk factors such as HIV, low immunity, and poor socioeconomic status. The clinic is now a proud owner of two vital but simple pieces of equipment – a colposcope (for screening) and cryotherapy (to freeze the cells of the cervix and kill the pathology early on). These funds will also enable training and the purchase of supplies for ongoing surveillance.
These are just some of the ways the staff at the SIL Clinic are showing God’s love. To all the donors and the Wycliffe Relief and Development Foundation who supported this recent initiative to reduce cervical cancer, thank you!
WATCH: Get a glimpse of the SIL Clinic in Ukarumpa and hear from some of its staff. Dr Carl also says a heartfelt thank you to donors for the cervical cancer project.
Thanks for your patience...
Waiting is hard, isn't it. But imagine waiting 2000 years for Scripture in your language! Thanks for your patience. And thanks for your generous support which will help bring the long wait to an end...
Thanks for your patience...