NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

My main language helper, Harry, took me to his house the other day. His house is built with bush material, unlike some houses here in town. You see these “ples haus” or village houses here and there but this was my first personal tour. Harry also showed me how to climb up a coconut tree to retrieve the coconuts.

You must be wondering…do they have water? How about electricity? Well…Harry does have a generator but doesn’t have the money to put gas in it. So no electricity at all. There is no city water in his house either. There is a running creek in a big bush right behind his house…about 10 minute walk. That’s where all the people go get drinking water and wash (shower).

Due to my passionate desire to have a lengthy missionary career (preferably with two legs), I politely declined his invitation to climb up with him.

As part of our national language and culture study, we asked Gail’s language helper to cook us some authentic PNG food this week.  Food…and everything that comes with eating…is a big part of any culture and PNG is no different.  Most people (even right here in town) simply eat papaya, mango, yam and coconut for food most of the time.  There are other times where they will cook food over fire though they do not do it everyday.  What you see below is a pretty big meal.

The day began with Gail going to town market to do some shopping with Ruth

Starting fire…

Scraping coconut meat for coconut milk.

Bananas and sweet potatoes…staple food in PNG.

Greens (veggies) and fish are cooked in coconut milk along with some salt and ginger.

The whole cooking process took about 3 hours.  Abby and Kala both enjoyed the bananas and fish.  The greens turned out really good.  It is definitely not the way we are used to cooking but it opened our eyes to the day to day living of the people here.  Here’s our host family…

Several days ago we attended our first funeral here in Papua New Guinea.  Dominic was a long-time friend of New Tribes and he lived right here on property.  He had helped with bush health training, bridged community relationships and even helped NTM to move into his people group.

He took all four of us into town when we first got here and showed us around.  He also promised that he would help us with our pidgin study.  Two weeks ago, he had a massive heart attack in the middle of the night and soon passed away.  NTM flied his body back to his village the other day.  Dominic was a “big man” so his body traveled to different locations on the Sepik river so that people could pay their respsect.

Despite his many years of partnership with NTM, Dominic was not a believer.  The loud wailings at the funeral painted the finality of a life who does not know Christ.  We are reminded again of the urgency of missions to bring the Good News to those who have never heard.

Psalm 103:15-18 reads…

As for man, his days are like grass.  He flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone and its place remembers it no more…

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with his children’s children – with those who keeps his covenant and remember to ober his precepts.

Every morning I go up the road to a little “buai stand” on top of the hill. In PNG, everybody chews betel-nut and I mean EVERYBODY. They take the nut, dip it into little kabang (lime) and then chew it all together with some mustard (daka). The family in this buai stand has made it their mission to teach me Pidgin…so this is my school!

buai, kabang and daka

Gail and the girls came up for a visit today.

Talking with my language helper Charlie.

I go with my tape recorder, camera and a notepad…sometimes I just listen to them, trying to hear the tempo, the tone and the mannerism in which they speak. They just all said to me today, “Wayne, you can hear good now…we are going to teach you how to talk!”.

“Poro” in Pidgin means “friend”. Here are some poros I hang out with regularly.

This is “Willy”. He works here at the NTM center. Funny guy. I asked him yesterday to stop speaking English to me…so it’s all Pidgin from now on.

Kappy speaks Pidgin so fast that I am not sure if the locals even understand him.

This is Robin. He drives a PMV (local bus) around town. His house is pretty close to NTM so I go there twice a week for some language sessions. Very patient language teacher.

Lawrence is Robin’s father. He loves going into the history of PNG, war stories and the good old times. Speaks excellent English…turned out he was a courthouse translator in the city before.

The life of William Borden has challenged me in so many different ways.  If you don’t know about Borden, just google up his name.  I have been reading his biography and came this poem in the book.

The life that counts must toil and fight;
Must hate the wrong and love the right;
Must stand for truth, by day, by night –
This is the life that counts.

The life that counts must hopeful be;
In darkest night make melody;
Must wait the dawn on bended knee –
This is the life that counts.

The life that counts must aim to rise;
Above the earth to sunlit skies;
Must fix its gaze on Paradise –
This is the life that counts.

The life that counts must helpful be;
The cares and needs of others see;
Must seek the slaves of sin to free –
This is the life that counts.

The life that counts is linked with God;
And turns not from the cross, the rod;
But walks with joy where Jesus trod –
This is the life that counts.

No matter where you are, let’s live a life that counts…

We have safely arrived in Papua New Guinea after a 30-hour trip! This is our 2nd full-day here in the country and we have finally set up the internet connection. Many of you guys prayed for our flight and God has indeed answered your prayers. During this long journey, we were greeted with many encouragements and surprises along the way. We were greeted by some old church friends from California in Hong Kong and enjoyed a great meal together at the airport. We were worried about the luggage allowance before the trip, largely because nobody knew exactly what the limits were. Well, when the limit was 80Kg in Hong Kong, our bags weighed in exactly at 80.0 Kg. When it was 100 Kg in Port Moresby, we threw in our smaller bags and the total came to 99.9 Kg. We were often waived through to the front of the lines, had no problem with customs and immigration. God really showered us with His blessings.

We are living in one of the orientation flats in the headquarter. It’s a 2-story unit with a beautiful view of the ocean. The weather has been pleasant too, just a little cooler than Taiwan with a nice ocean breeze. We are definitely not suffering here in PNG. Abby and Kala are both doing well. Abby slept for 15 hours after the exhausting trip. Abby and Kala have made quick friends with our guard dog and many of the kids here.

Abby asked me yesterday, “Daddy, when are we going to learn the language and preach to the people about Jesus? It was a good reminder of our goal here…bringing the gospel to the tribal people of Papua New Guinea. We will begin his language study next week while Gail will begin setting up the home school curriculum for Abby and Kala.

Please pray for

1. Wayne will need to find 2-3 guys here in the neighborhood for his language study. Please pray for the language learning process (the right language helpers, focus and patience and dependency on God).

2. Pray for Gail as she prepares for the home school curriculum. Getting homeschooling started will help the girls to get into a stable routine.

3. A lot of new missionaries tend to get sick a lot in the first few months here. Please pray that our health will hold up to the new climate and weather.

We still cannot believe we are living in Papua New Guinea!  We have talked, prayed, dreamed about this for the past 3 years and now we are finally here. Please pray for us as we aim to finish this race well.

This past weekend, our family visited Xiamen and meet up with Bob and Bee, dear friends from our SF church. We are the first in our whole family to set foot on China. It was quite neat also to visit Gulang Island, which I only studied from the textbooks until now.

If you have heard our sharing on mission, you have probably watched the Yembi Yembi film. Recently 13 more Yembi Yembi men and women were baptized. However, as the number of Christians grew, the oppositions grew also. The believers stayed calm while their fellow tribesmen taunted them and conspired to hurt them. Please pray for these new brothers and sisters that they would stand firm in the Lord and for wisdom for the missionaries to minister to the rest of the Yembi people.

Here are some of their testimonies….

Kelly Taman- “I wash now to mark before your eyes whose side I stand on, but God sees my deep inside, he knows I am His kid and no one can loosen his fingers from me”.

Zacchues- “I am standing on Acts 19 (the first part of the chapter where Paul baptizes some men a 2nd time). In mans eyes I have washed once before but I was a baby and I knew nothing of this talk. Now I wash for the first time in Gods eyes and he knows that my thinking on the bridge-man is clear”

Edward- “Keep your ears open good to what I am going to say. I am not joining New Tribes Mission, I am not going under some name. I am standing on the talk of Jesus alone and for that reason I wash to mark my outside because of my inside thinking”

If you would like to read more on NTM’s ministry in Yembi Yembi, please visit missionary Brook Bruser’s website: Bringing the Secret Talk.

Last week, we celebrated Abby’s 5th birthday. Both sides of grandparents were very accommodating- since wearing a party hat in public is not a particularly dignifying thing here in Taiwan. The kids had a blast.

Some updates about our PNG entry status… We received our entry permit (visa) this week. If the Lord willing, we will leave for PNG on 7/21, Wayne’s 33rd birthday.