Why We're Here (Laura)

Why are we here? Why did we move our family to the opposite side of the world from our home, family, and friends? The obvious answer is that we came to support the work of Bible translation, so that everyone can hear the Good News of God's love for them - and understand it because it's in their first language, their heart language. What I've been learning, however, is that God is so much bigger than even that great task. He is doing so much more...for us personally, for our family, and for our understanding of Him and His love.

Since Matt and I work mostly from our main mission base, we don't always get to see the individual language projects going on. So, we were thrilled to be able to be a part of a Bible dedication last month on a tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific...

The Arop-Lokep people group lives on Long Island, a small volcanic island off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG). They are one of over 830 different language groups in PNG - that's right, on this small island nation there are that many unique languages! Last month, the Arop-Lokep people received the Bible in their own language!

We'd like to share our photo journal of this amazing experience with you...

Approaching Long Island after a 30 minute flight in a Kodiak airplane. We couldn't believe how beautiful the shoreline was! The coral reef was like something out of "Finding Nemo"!

This is the airstrip that we landed on - we are so thankful for skilled pilots here!

 We were welcomed by a crowd of dancers, singing in a traditional "singsing" dance. They were waiting for us at the airstrip and then led us to the village about a 15 minute walk away. They danced and sang the whole way there!

 Once we made it to the village, we ate lunch and got settled before heading out on a hike through the gorge. A deep gorge was formed some years ago, when the lake at the center of the volcano overflowed. We felt so small as we looked up the sheer walls to daylight above.

Our guides through the gorge.

Feeling small...the walls here were so high that we couldn't get a picture from the bottom to the top.

Matt's "doorstep".

Needless to say, Matt loved his accommodations while we were there. He shared this house with several other men and enjoyed fishing out of his window (yes, he brought a fishing pole - only the necessities!).

The day of the dedication was such a special day, especially for Jeff and Sissie D'Jernes, the Bible translators who spent over 20 years working on learning the language, building relationships, and translating the Bible into the Arop-Lokep language.

The women of the village, celebrating the arrival of the Bibles.

We walked down the beach to the dedication site as the dancers led the way.

They loaded the Bibles onto a canoe that was custom-made for the dedication. It carried the translators and Bibles to the dedication ceremony to symbolize God's Word arriving on the shores of their island.

Listening to the dedication ceremony.

These men helped with the translation project over the years and were deeply moved to finally hold God's Word in their own hands, in their heart language.

Before flying back home on the last day, we hiked up to the caldera lake (crater lake) at the top of the island. It took us over 6 hours to hike there and back, but it was worth it! Our guide had to hack his way through the jungle to clear a path for us at times. The freshwater lake at the top is over 800 feet deep at the center! Only a handful of "outsiders" have been to the lake so it was pretty awesome to be able to see it!

Our view of the crater lake from the sky.

We are continuously amazed that we get to be a part of the work being done here; to bring God's Word and the news of His great love to people like those on Long Island.

Click HERE to see a video ("The Word has come to Long Island")!