Pryor John Bonita 1987 PNG

7/24/2019 Pryor John Bonita 1987 PNG

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NEWGUINEA

NEWS

Forwarding Agents

Mr. t u i Mrs. Dale Dunlap

Hduli'

( > ,

Hlu'u Koad

Knoxvillf,

I' N

Missionaries:

Jahn

and Himtla I r y n r

i i t . x fW7

Madang,

'apua Now

Guinea

Jesse, onita,John, oshua Pryor

Volume

11 May1987

GREETINGSFROMPNG

I t is hard

or

us o believe that

we ave

been

hack

on the

ield

for six

months.

Where have

they gone? Well,

I l l

t e l l

you. When

we

returned to

the

village last

October,

we ound

our housein need ofa

ot

ofwork.We

eeded

a

classroom

for the

hoys,

a

guest room

as ac

commodation for their

new teacher, extra

storage

space, a l l new

screen

wire for

the

house, and a new set of interior walls.

The

screen wire came

i r s t .

Gaping holes

were letting in too many i t t l e flying r i t t e r s .

I n

the meantime,

Bonita was

cleaning,

reorganizing,

emptying

drums

of

stored

goods, washing pots, pans, plates, e t c . , and

just

enerally

making ur housebecomehome

again.

t did take us

awhile

o adjust o village

l i f e again.

The oys,

on he other

hand,made

immediate

adjustment to village l i f e . Even

though

they

had enjoyed America and l l i t

had o

offer,

down

eep they're

just hush

kids.

Next

came

he new classroom/guest room

area.

After

we poured

the floor, he

classroom

went

up airly

easily,

considering

the

ground

erosion and the fact that we

had

never

planned to build

under

the house.

Once his

was done,

we poured

more

cement

and

added

close to

400

square feet

of storage and

work

shop space.

Then we

moved upstairs.

Originally,

wehad

put

hush

material walls

in the

house.

It was ess expensive,

plus

we

had virtually inexhaustible

supply.

Whatwe

didn't know was that this material was he

t r a d i t i o n a l home

o r the

o c a l

ant population,

and he gaps n

the

walls provided ahaven or

John receives Kood

help i n

putting

up he antenna.

P ^ i r s t

contact

by

our

radio was made

n April 27 o

America since

John's

return in

September.)


2/7

other four-legged c r e a t u r e s . So we removed

the bush material,

reated

the studs

and lates

with

n s e c t i c i d e ,

and put u masonite. Aftera

coat of

paint,

he walls e a l l y looked

r e a t .

We

also

remodeled the office

shelves,

he bedroom

clothing shelves and added a s e t of book

shelves for

the boys'

room. There

are

s t i l l a

few

odd

jobs

l e f t

to

complete the p r o j e c t , but

our

house

work has been placed on the

back

burner

in

order

that we ight move ack into

our

language ministry.

Since

the middle of February,we

have

een

in

f u l l - t i m e language work aga in. Besides

re

viewing a l l of a s t term's

language material,

we

ave

been trying to l o t this term's

course.

F i r s t on the

agenda

was

a mini t r a n s l a t i o n

course. We nvited

whoever was

nterested to

attend. Sixteen people responded. The i r s t

part covered

the material in the t r a n s i t i o n

primer which we

ad

published

beforetheend

of our

last

term.

The

nvolvement was most

encouraging

to us.

The econd

week of April

we eld part two

which involved

actual trans

lation

work. The

purpose of this course was

two-foldto

find potential

language

helpers,

and

to

squelch any talk

of

favoritism in our

selection

of

ust

who

orked

with us.

Another

result has been that

we

have otentialin some

of

he folk

to work n

areas

of

our

work other

than

translation, such

as literacy. We re

hoping that we can maintain these f o l k s

interest

over the

long haul

of he work

ahead.

MEET

MERRILYNNE

March

17th

was

a

big

day

in

Sambarjk. The

boys'

new

teacher,

Merri

Lynne Smith,

ar

r i v e d . Even though Bonita has enjoyed

teach

ing the boys,

over

the a s t

few years,she

has

had

an

ntense

desire to be more

ully involved

in the

language

ministry. During our a s t

fur

lough

we sought a teacher

who

could come

and teach

the

boys, allowing Bonita o f u l f i l l

her d e s i r e . Merri

Lynne

s a 983

graduate

of

Johnson

Bible College.

She graduated

from

Ohio

tate

in 1986 with a

MA

n

Early

Middle

Childhood

Education.

She

taught in

Lexington

Park,

Maryland f o r two years

before attending

OSU. Bonita

met

Merri

Lynne t the

86

NACC/NMC hrough John's

mom,

l i v e

Pry r .

A f t e r

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

i n , Sep

tember, she

decided

to pursue

the

o f f e r

we

gave e r . She

had

the majority of her support

r a i s e d

by January

of t h i s year, and. . mow

she's

here.

Praise

the

Lord for answered

p r a y e r .

Please

be n prayer

o r

her as she ad

j u s t s

to

the c u l t u r e

and climate of PNG.iShe

w i l l

begin

u l l - t i m e

teaching with the boy he

f i r s t of

April.

At hat time,Bonita

w i l l begin

an

ntensive

language program. In p r e p a r a t i o n f o r

begin

n i n g t h e

t r a n s l a t i o n

o f G e n e s i s and Luk^

we

w i l l be attending a

grammar

workshop in

July and August. Preparations w i l l include

the taping and transcribing of several

t e x t s .

You remember that Martha

Wade worked

in

Samban hile we id administration work n

Madang

n

8 1 / 8 2 ?

She has donea

o t of work

in the basic grammar

f Botin. So

we i l l be

concentrating

on the discourse

t r u c t u r e .

This

i-r

Merri Lynne, Aisi and

Wongat

Merri

Lynne's village

parents).

w i l l

be

very

helpful

preparation for

our up

coming translation work. In the

meantime,

we

i l l

also be studying Genesis and Luke.


3/7


4/7

JESSE

AND

CORNER^

^A'S

that

s o t

a

w h o l e

p a c k e t ^ ? '

c l a s s b a c k a t Can n

. V a l e n t i n e s f

' h e m ,

o I m a J e

^ s^' ^ h a d L

J s

r e a t t o b e b a c k h -

M u k o k g o o

t h e b u s h

o f J '

b u s h

h o u s e .

T h a t ' s

i n ^


5/7

PRACTICING HOSPITALITY

The

best

way to learn about a group of people

is

to learn

their language, since their

language

is

an

actual expression

of

them selves. The Botin people,among whom

we

work^use

the body

parts to convey ideas via idiomatic expressions, in a way not

unlike

we English speakers do. For instance, we say "you

said

a mouthful" or "my heart is broken," which really have nothing

to do

with

their

literal

meanings, but

mean

something altogether

different. That is

the wonder

of

language. These

types of

sayings

cannot

be

solicited

in isolated

circumstances, but can

only

be

learned in the ebb

and

flow of daily conversations.

One day

my

husband's village father came by for a visit, as

he does

quite often.

As I handed him a plate of food, he

said to

me, "Wun

lam

nyaam es," meaning "your eyes are big." Since one

of my

village

nicknames is "long nose," I

just

thought

this

was

another descriptive

nickname.

Another man present attempted to

explain that the comment had meant that

"I

ate with lots of

people." Again I

was

confused as to how eating with lots of people

made me have big eyes.

I

finally determined, after more questioning,

that what was

really

meant

was

that

I was

being complimented for

being hospitable. The Botin people consider hospitality

a

very

important

virtue. Earlier

on

in

our work, we were

trying to

ascertain what

the Botin concept

of

a "good

man"

was.

The first

characteristics

mentioned

were that he was generous and hospitable.

The head

man

of our village always opens his home to people

passing

through,

just as people

in Bible

times were

encouraged

to

do. Like them, the

people here have

no decent hotels

for

travelers

and so

must depend on the

hospitality of others.

That

hospitality includes both

food

and lodging.

So our

head man has

even built a larger house to be prepared for visitors. I often

feel put to shame

when

I see how these people

share

out of their

meager resources with those

who pass

through our village.

Peter encourages

us in his first letter

(4:9) to "practice

hospitality"ungrudgingly Paul also wrote

to

the Romans

to

"practice hospitality." Times change,

don't

they? Whereas

in

Bible

times,

it

was

considered more

or less

the

head of

the household's

responsibility

to

extend hospitality,

the

role

today is

more

in the

area of the woman of the household. The point is, Christians are

to

be hospitable. The Hebrew writer illustrates this with the

example

of Abraham, who

entertained angels

without being

aware

of

it. The requirements for church leaders in I

Timothy

and Titus

both

include the characteristic

of

hospitality.

Our greatest example

in

this area is the Lord Jesus Himself.

Regardless of

how tired He

was, or

how

inconvenient the situation.

He never turned

away

anyone.

In fact,

we are told

that

when we stand


6/7

before

Him,

He

will

ask

us about how we

took

care of His little

ones.

Ministering

to

them

will in

fact

be

ministering

to the Lord

Himself

Being

hospitable is

not

something

that comes naturally.

Fortunately, I have always been influenced by excellent role models.

Very early

I

learned by watching

my

parents and grandparents practice

genuine hospitality. As wonderful

as their examples

were, however,

I have grown

to a

deeper understanding

of

hospitality

by

coming

to

know more intimately the message

of the

Gospel. From Jesus we learn

the

real meaning of life. In Him was life and the life was the

light

of men

(John

1:4)

With

His

living

in us

by His Spirit we

become more submissive and sensitive

to

His leading us

to

respond

to the needs of

others.

We learn that so-called

personal rights

must

be surrendered

if

we are

to

be servants

to

persons

in need.

We can pray and ask the Lord to help us be sensitive to the

needs

of others, but it is not

always

easy.

Sometimes the need is

obvious, but our motives are wrong. We respond out of a sense of

duty, and maybe even grudgingly, which the Scriptures admonish us

not to do. So when I have

a

line of people waiting to have their

sores bandaged

or to

take medicine,

or

when someone

comes

to ask

for

a cold drink, or someone else needs some kerosene for his lamp, or

another needs

some batteries

for his flashlight, or someone else

is

hungry,

I

endeavor to remember

my

Lord when He

was

on earth and how

He

responded when the

crowds were

pressing in upon Him with their

many needs. And I pray that I can respond as lovingly.

And when

I

stand before His throne, I hope to hear Him say,

Come, you who are blessed by

my

Father; take your inheritance,

the kingdom prepared

for

you since

the

creation

of

the

world.

For

I was hungry and

you

gave

me

something to

eat, I was

thirsty

and

you

gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you

invited

me in, I

needed clothes and you clothed

me, I

was sick and

you

looked

after me, I was in

prison and

you came to visit me.

Matt. 25:34-36 (NIV)


7/7

Noyember 18, 1987

Deer Mom and

Dad,

;

:

This

time

of year is always very special , in regard to our

thankfulness for

all

God has done

for

us.

j

A s I w r i t e

t h i s ,

t h e r e i s

a

g e n t l e r a i n h e r e i n

S a m b | i n , '

' f i n d I c a ^ / h e a ^ ^

o u r w a t e r s t o r a g e t a n k o v e r f l o w i n g . F r o m 1 a s t M a y u r i t

1

t h l ' ^ m * K ^ e o f e

October,

our area, as ^ 4 . e l 1 as most of P N G j , underwent a S e y M s r e d r ^ ^ g h t f ^

We had only

12

inches of rain in those six months n o " : much,

considering we

average-bver a hundred

a

year.

Whi

le we

were

at

Ukarumpa our tank went;dry

because

of

the

lack

of

rain.

It

was

supplying water;ffor

about

everybody

in the

area. We even

had to

wait

unti

l ,

it had ra+rted before we could

return.

Since our return

in early

October, it h a s ; ; \ s t 1

L

^en dry,

but we have always

had what we needed,

and now water i ^ i n 4^undance again.

Thank you.

Lord.

Many

of ^ t h e local p e d p T e have given

us watermelon s

and corn

from

their

drough t-dec

mated-:

gap

e j i s

an expression of

love

that means

so

much

to

us. This is-

evidence of the

Lord s working through His

people.

Praise

Him

Documents

Pryor John Bonita 1987 PNG