By Norm Weatherhead

One of the neat things about living in the PBT Flats on Modilon Road is that the huge National Coworkers Housing building is literally in our back yard.  It has ten rooms with two single beds inside, plus two suite rooms with a large bed and small kitchenette area for a married couple to stay there.  There is room for up to 24 national men and women to stay in the NCH at one time.

When our national coworkers come to Madang, they work hard all day long on their translation or literacy projects.  They translate the Bible into their local village languages, and they prepare teaching materials in their vernacular which will help them to teach reading and writing, math skills and pass on “Culture & Community” stories to their children in their language.

In the evenings back at the NCH building, the men from these various language groups enjoy sitting around talking with each other.  Knowing that the men have free time in the evenings to visit and share about important issues of life, I asked back in January if they would like to hold a Bible study time together one evening a week.

It was so exciting to hear that they were very enthusiastic about this idea.  I picked up a book from the local Christian bookstore called “Baibel Doktrin” (Bible Doctrine in Tok Pisin).  The book simply lists important topics and then gives Bible references to look up and read about the topic.  The men would check mark what topics they would like to study and then we would read and share together what we learn from the Bible.

It has been a real joy to study such topics as “Who is God?”, “What is God like?”, “Nature of the Holy Spirit”, and “How the Holy Spirit Helps Us as Christians”.  Please be praying for all of our national coworkers who work so diligently on their translation and literacy projects.  But pray even more that the truths of God’s Word will reach right down inside of their hearts and continue to transform them more and more into the image of Christ.

Norm is the Director of Language Affairs.