Pray for Papua New Guinea

Even in the face of many challenges and problems, the Amam translation team under the leadership of Awi Manga is moving forward with their work. Tribal fighting continues amongst four tribes in the language area. Praise the Lord for His protection over the translation work, the team members, and their properties. Pray for these men and their families to persevere and hope in the Lord. And pray for them in their efforts to bring peace to the warring peoples.

Pray for Oral Bible Storytellers in the Sepik Province. Pray for those in the Kwomtari, Kukwo (Urim), Pouye, Malinguat, Kombio and Urat languages as well as the Tok Pisin team in city of Wewak. Thank the Lord for the Bible stories that are being told in these language communities and bringing encouragement and blessing to the Body of Christ there.

Praise the Lord for a successful three-day workshop on translation awareness held in the Mekeo language area. Thank the Lord for the new people who attended the workshop. They learned about Bible translation and the processes involved in this task. Pray that the Lord will continue to stir ther hearts to participate in Old Testament translation in various ways. Also, pray for interest to promote and distribute the New Testament which was finished in 1999. Pray for Victor and Ana Opungu as they provide leadership in the Mekeo work.

Pray for the Enga Bible translation project. Ask the Lord to prosper the work of translator Yakasa Maniosa and his team in their work. Pray for special wisdom when they translate difficult passages into Enga. And praise the Lord for good leadership and teamwork in this group.

Pray for Anselm Kuloi and Martin Ponomb of the Maring translation project. They have been provided a new computer for use in keyboarding their work.  Thank the Lord for Mara Iyama's visit last month to deliver the computer and train them in the basics of the Paratext computer program. Thank the Lord for the new resolve of the Church and community to complete the translation. One of the leaders challenged his people saying, "If we don't have the Word in our own language, then we are missing a very important part of our lives...we must complete the task!"

Ask the Lord to give the leadership of the Bible Translation Association wisdom as they develop a roadmap for the Oral Bible Storytelling work. Facilitators in 8-9 language communities in the East Papua Area have been trained. This training has now been multiplied to seven more languages in the Sepik* in the last two years. Additional training needs have been identified that will equip facilitators and trainers to prepare them well in training others. Many more languages are asking for training in Oral Bible Storytelling.

*The Sepik refers to the region of the Sepik River, the longest river on the island of New Guinea

Pray for translation consultant, Aluis Simatab, as he prepares for checking translation work in the Guhu Samane and Somba Siawari languages in Morobe Province. Ask the Lord to give him wisdom and insight in his preparations. Pray also for him to maintain good health at this time. Books that he is preparing to check include Isaiah, Micah, Esther and Ezra.

Every two years, the Bible Translation Association holds its national conference where members come together for encouragement, worship, and prayer and sharing about the work. This year the conference will be held July 1-7 at the Ukarumpa training centre. Pray that funds for each member's travel and lodging expenses will be supplied. And commit the conference planning committee to the Lord. Ask Him to give wisdom, creativity and skill to plan well. Mara Iyam, Lowah Mambari and Steven Ttopoqogo are part of this committee.

Praise God that Nico Daams and Edmond Teppuri could work together on remaining questions for the Nukumanu New Testament. Continue to pray for Edmond and his family -- for God's protection as Edmond finishes this final part of the translation and for God's guidance as he plans for the future. Pray for Paulus Kieviet as he does the typesetting in Holland.

Pray for the One Book workshop being held in Elwo village in Oro Province. The workshop will run from May 6 to 23 and is being facilitated by Duncan Kasokason and Selby Otire. Ask the Lord to bless this training time for the language groups that attend.