SteveStanley

I started the week with a translation kick-off. I had a phone call with a translation consultant here in PNG who talked me through the procedure, the available tools and a suggested order to translate. With the kick-off done, I’m ready to start translation.
At some point, I’ll get to attend a team translation workshop where my teammates and I along with some Kovol helpers are led through the process and use the workshop to draft a chunk of scripture under supervision. One of these isn’t scheduled just yet, so after my kick-off, I’m ready to have a go.

What a nerve-wracking few days! 8 months ago we had a language speaking test where I scored level 8/9 leaving only a single level to go. Would 8 months of work be enough to get over the final hurdle? I had finished all of the paperwork required, but had my speaking level also improved?

Just as we finished Sunday lunch we got a knock at the door. On Sundays, we get together for a little church service as a family, we go down to the stream and have a paddle and we come back for a sit-on-the-floor finger food lunch. That’s a settled routine for us, and just as it finished there was a knock at the door. Our friend informed us that someone had been cut and we needed to come and see it.

One of the recommendations I received for the last few weeks before my speaking test is to work on a Bible knowledge quiz. The Wantakia team, a team elsewhere in Papua New Guinea provided me with a list of around 60 questions that they asked their people as they studied their culture and began thinking about how to teach evangelistic Bible lessons.

With me pulling so near to the end of my language study time I was told by my CLA consultants that I could have a go at translating some literacy books to start to familiarise myself with the translation process.
I’ve now finished all the paperwork I need to do to complete my language study time and I’m just waiting on a speaking test. The test is scheduled for August 27, which is further away than I hoped for. I asked what to be doing in the meantime so I don’t drive myself and my language helpers crazy just doing practice speaking sessions with them!

Following our 2 week’s break in Goroka it’s time to reset, pick new goals for this next little stint and get stuck in. Oscar is now on summer holiday having finished year 1, leaving Gerdine to experience a change of pace to looking after kids on summer holiday while trying to squeeze in language time.
I’m looking at what may be the last mile of the language learning marathon.

When we finish culture and language study (hopefully within the next 2-3 months!) the next work on the schedule is to prepare a literacy program. An alphabet is an essential part of that, and while we missionaries have some ideas it’s always good to check. It’s their language after all, what symbols would they like?

As I continued working through our culture study I came to “birth and dying”. I needed to dig into questions like “What happens when a person dies?”, “Is there a road to getting to heaven?”, “Are the dead conscious?” and “Does anyone ever return from the place of the dead?”.

In December an older Kovol man died. This man being a clan leader meant that it was a fairly big deal and people from all 7 Kovol villages came to mourn. There was tension at the time and fights almost started. In January a rumour was going around that the village the man came from was making accusations of sorcery. At a meeting in January, these were declared to just be rumours and everyone was “one stomach”.