Vol. VII, No. 1

Beasleys' Backlog

of news fromPapua New Guinea

Field Address:

Wes & Alts Beasieyc/o Pioneer Bible Translators

P.O. Box 997

Madang, Papua New Guinea

Forwardir>g Agents:Larry & Dottle Taniisiey112 Stone Cove

Clinton, MS 39056Phone (601) 924-0299

Jan. Feb. March, 1984

PLANS TO EXTEND FURLOUGHAfter much prayer, consideration, and

consultation with P.B.T. officers we have

decided to extend our furlough for six months.We had originally planned to return to PapuaNew Guinea in June of this year. I had alreadydecided before coming home that I wanted toget further training at Fuller TheologicalSeminary in California after finishing myMaster's degree in Linguistics this year. Afterbeing on the field and determining that ourKurti language program would involve trainingand working with national translators, I knew Iwould need more training in preparation forthis. I plan to do that during my next furloughbut have decided to start that training while I amhome now for several reasons. One reason isthat my Veterans educational benefits willterminate at the end of 1984. I can take my firstterm this fall having it financed by the V.A.Another reason for beginning the training isthat Fuller offers extension courses at aChristian Leadership Training Institute inPapua New Guinea which I had planned to takeadvantage of during my next term on the field. IfI have already had my first semester at theseminary in California then I will be able toreceive credit toward my degree for the coursesI take in PNG. Of course, these plans arecontingent on my passing my comprehensiveexams for my M.A. in Linguistics here in Dallasin April. If I don't pass, then I will stay here inDallas and take the exam again this fall. Pleasebe in prayer for me during this time. I will betested on material I learned five years ago and

about which I feel a little rusty.Our plans for this coming summer and fall are

shaping up fast. We will be leaving the Dallasarea the first of June and will travel to Cincinnatiwhere we will be the missionary speakers for aDaily Vacation Bible School. We will go on toMichigan where we will do the same thing in ayouth camp and visit some supportingchurches there along with Alta's family. Then,we will visit Christian friends and supporters inNew Jersey, South Carolina, and Georgia andattend the North American ChristianConvention. In August we will visit our homechurch. Southwest Christian Church inJackson, Mississippi, and other friends andsupporters in Mississippi. At the end of Augustwe will begin our trip to California visitingsupporters in Colorado. Alta will beginteaching the boys again this fall with ourcorrespondence courses in preparation for ourgoing back to PNG. Also, while we are inCalifornia this fall we will finish buying andcrating supplies for our return to PNG. We planto return in January of 1985. We are alreadygetting anxious.

We are looking forward to seeing many of youduring our visits this summer and ask for yourprayers for our safe journeys and that we will bethe Lord's ambassadors wherever we go. Thankyou for your continued prayers and financialsupport of our Kurti translation project. Pleasewrite us if you have any questions about ourwork or our plans.

In Christian love, Wes

AN UP TO DATE ON OUR ACTIVITIES

We had a VERY cold and beautiful vi/hite

Christmas at my parents' home in Michigan.Jonathan and Adam v^ent sliding almost everyday but "Mom and Dad" stayed inside and keptthe fire w/arm most of the time. The 20° below

zero temperature was a long drop from thetemperature in the tropics. We did brave theelements a few times, though, to go sliding withthe boys and loved it. I even got to show themsome old tricks and games for playing in snowand ice. It brought back so many memories ofgood times when I was growing up. I alwayslove to go back to northern Michigan and amthankful for my parents and friends there andour heritage. It was good to have all my sistersand brother and their families together again forthe first time in about 5 years. We enjoyedrenewing acquaintances again with ourChristian friends in the churches there too.

We are all in school this semester. Wes has a

class in Sociolinguistic Aspects of LanguagePrograms which is proving very helpful to himin planning our Kurti language strategy. He isalso studying for his comprehensive exams forhis Master's degree which he will take in April.We're all cheering for him. Iam taking a class inCultural Anthropology which will be veryhelpful to me in writing up our anthropologicaldata on the Kurti people when we return.Jonathan and Adam are continuing to do well atBrookhaven and have made many new friends.They are already lamenting the fact that they

M . [A

Adam opening presents at his party

will have to leave them soon but also mention

how much they miss their friends back in Souh.We celebrated Adam's birthday last week - ourbaby is ten years old now. It seems impossiblethat we will have to buy three adult tickets whenwe return to Papua New Guinea in Januarybecause Jonathan will be 12 in August.

I am in the process of making lists of items weneed to purchase to take back to Papua NewGuinea with us and have begun buying somethings. I have to buy our clothes for the threeyears we will be there now since all the summerclothes are on sale in the stores. If I wait until

later all the winter things will be out and we can'tuse those in PNG. It's hard to know what sizes

Jonathan and Adam wiil be in the next three

years.

Wes and I are attending the Institute on BasicYouth Conflicts this week and really enjoying it.We are thankful that it is being offered while weare here. We have to drive to Ft. Worth for the

sessions but it is worth it. We have enjoyed ourfurlough thus far and are thankful that we havebeen able to do many of the things that welooked forward to while on furlough. We aremissing PNG and especially all our friends inSouh village and are getting anxious to return.Thank you for your love, prayers, hospitalitywhen we come to visit you, and for yourfinancial support of our work. God bless eachone of you.

Love, Alta

Jonathan enjoys his fifth grade friends. (Jonathan is in upperleft-hand corner)

PRAISE GOD FOR HISWATCHFUL CARE!

While we were driving in southern Michiganon our trip back to Dallas the first of January wehad a little mishap with our van. We werestopped along side of the road to take care of aminor emergency when a large wheel from apassing tractor-trailer rig came off, rolled downthe road and rammed us in the rear of the van. It

did extensive damage but we were able to drivethe van. In fact, we had to catch the driver of thetruck to inform him of his lost wheel. We were

able to have the body work done at the trucker'sexpense and it looks as good as new. Ourgreatest item of praise, however, in this wholething, is that none of us were outside the vanwhen this happened. We praise God for Hiswonderful care for us.

ANXIOUS TO BE BACKAll four of us are mentioning more and more

often how anxious we are to be back on Manus

Island in the village of Souh and back at ourwork and life with the Kurti people. We've beenreminiscing about various things. Here is astory that the boys wrote about one of theirexperiences while we were building our houseand a poem that Jonathan and I composedduring one of his fourth grade language classesin Souh.

JUNIOR LUMBERJACKS

The men in our village were working real hardto get enough poles to build our house. Oneday they invited us to go with them to bring abunch of logs in from the jungle. We got into abig dug-out canoe and went up the coast aways, about % mile. We came to the mouth of ariver and went up it until we came to the logswhich they had cut the day before. About 20logs had been tied together with a piece ofstrong, rope-like vine. It made a kind of raftabout 5 feet wide and several feet long. Theytold us we could get on the logs and begintaking them down the river while they waited foranother man. We had a pole and a paddle toguide the raft with. We were going along prettygood until we came to a place where some treeshad fallen into the river. We were looking to theside and our raft got caught on the trees. Wewere pretending the men were the bad guys and

we had to get away from them so we startedworking real hard to get the raft loose. One ofus jumped off and tried pushing while the otherpushed hard with the pole. We didn't make it -the guys came along and captured us, tied ourraft behind the canoe, and pulled us back to thevillage. Mom found out later that it was ourvillage Grandpa's idea to take us on this trip.Adam had some sores on his legs and "Papu"was worried about them. He believes that thewater in that river is really good for sores and heknew we couldn't resist getting in to it. It wasfun anyway. Adam's sores went away but wethink it was from Dad's hard scrubbing. He'smurder on sores!

Outrigger canoe used for ocean travel along the coast.

IN THE VILLAGE OF SOUH

by Jonathan and Alta

If you live in the village of SouhWhen the Northwest Wind does blow,You'll find you should never beStanding under a coconut tree.

ITEMS NEEDED IN PNGMany of you have asked what types of things

we need to take back to Papua New Guinea andwhat types of things the Kurti people would like.Our forwarding agents have a list of some ofthese items which you may obtain by writing tothem. Thank you for your interest and yourwillingness to help supply these things.

Vol. VI, No. 2

I'ys.o

Beasleys' Backlogof news from

Papua New Guinea

Field Address:

Wes & Alta Beasleyc/o Pioneer Bible Translators

P.O. Box 997

Madsng, Papua New Guinea

Forwarding Agents:Larry & Doitie Tanksley112 Stone Cove

Clinton. MS 39056Phone (601) 924-0299

June/July/August

FAREWELL TO SOUH VILLAGE - MANUS ISLANDWe had no idea how hard it would be to leave

our friends and adopted family of Souh villageafter having lived with them for 16 months.We had worked together daily building ourhouse, learning their language, struggling withtheir culture and different ways, crying withthem at deaths, and suffering with themthrough illnesses. We had played with them,worked with them and, through it all, witnessedto them of God's great love through Jesus andthe authority of God's Word as the final say in allthings.

A few days before we were scheduled to leaveindividuals came by the house, sat on theveranda and talked quietly. "You're going toleave us". "You have to go see your father andmother and family". They could understandthat. It is very important in their culture for aperson to keep in close contact with his family,"When will you come back?" In all thequestions we could sense the fear in theirvoices that we wouldn't come back. They hadexpressed several times that they couldn'tunderstand why we would leave our nice homesin America and our families and come to live in a"pies nogut" (a no-good place). Although wealways tried to convince them that we werehappy there and that they had helped us to builda nice house and we had all the food we needed,

we could sense what they were feeling: "Nowthat they see what it's really like to live herewithus they won't come back."

We had been very busy tyring to go extra fastwith the boys' schooling, getting the house inorder to leave it for a year and making travelarrangements. One day Wes had gone to the

village meeting to talk to all the villagers.He gave a brief report on what had been donesince our arrival in the village, why we wereleaving and what we would be doing while in theStates, and our plans upon returning afterfurlough. Apparently one elderly lady, who is avery good friend of mine, hadn't realized wewere to be leaving so soon. She heard Westalking in the meeting and that was the first sheknew of it. I was teaching Jonathan and Adamin the house when I heard someone come upthe steps and down the veranda to our frontdoor and knock quietly. I could hear a softcrying. I went to the door and opened it and shecame in and took my hands in hers and cried,"You're leaving". 'You're leaving". I felt terribleand asked her if she didn't know already. "NoWes is telling everyone that you're leaving". Icould hardly keep from crying myself and Iproceeded to tell her that I was very sorry thatshe hadn't been told and that we thoughteveryone knew. I calmed her down and got hersome tea and cookies and explained to her whywe had to go and that we would be back in abouta year. She said. "What wilM do? If Simon (hereldest son) leaves and you're gone too, what will Ido?" I told her that Simon was not going to leaveand she would be all right and that we would beback and would think about her while we were

gone and would pray for her. I was thinking, "Howhard it was to leave our family and friends in theStates," and now, "How hard it is to leave these newfriends with whom we have become so close", I

thought, "How great heaven will be when we don'thave to say 'good-bye' again!"

Two nights before we were to leave, the villagers

prepared a big farewell feast for us.They fixed all our favorite local foods; sweetpotatoes and yams with coconut, taro with

coconut, chicken boiled with greens andcoconut, lots of bananas, papayas andpineapples and our "not-so-favorite" possum.I had fixed some of their favorites: popcornkool-aid, rice with meat and lots of rolls andbiscuits. We were fed first along with the headmen of the village. Then the young men werefed followed by the children, the women and,last of all, the young girls. (I never have feltcomfortable with that arrangement as it seemsthe young girls do most of the work at thesefeasts -,they never complain though.)

After the feast each of the big men of thevillage gave a speech. In the speeches theymentioned how happy they were that we hadcome, everything that had happened since wehad come, and that they understood why wehad to go home. We had to go see our parents.One old man said, "If you had come a long timeago we would have eaten you, but now God hasshown us His way and we know you have cometo do His work". We got a laugh out of that.Several people and groups of people presentedus with special gifts of money, handwovenbaskets and grass skirts, and necklaces ofcarved dogs teeth, shells and beads. We felthumbled and in awe as we realized that some of

the gifts were very old and valuable in theirculture and traditional dress. We were

wondering why they weren't dancing anddressed in their traditional dress and singing asthey usually do at feasts and which we love tosee. Finally it dawned on us that they were toosad. They were truly sorry to see us go.

Early in the morning of the day we were toleave the village, people started to come by tohelp us carry our things down to the beach andto help us with last-minute things in the house.They shook their heads and clicked theirtongues as we closed the windows and lockedthe doors. When we arrived down on the beach

the entire village was gathered there with thecanoe waiting. As people began shaking ourhands and telling us farewell the schoolchildren, who were gathered to one side begansinging:"Now is the hour that we must say good-bye.Now you are going far across the sea.While you're away, please remember me. .That was too much! We began crying alongwith everyone else and just about changed ourminds right there. People began touching usand hugging us (not very common in that culture)and shaking our hands and crying. We managed

to get in the canoe and they all began pushing itout into deep water. As the water got deeperand deeper they continued beside the canoe,mothers carrying babies, old men and women,young people, and they began singing anothersong of farewell. Whenthewaterwasupto theirwaists and chests most of the people stoppedand began waving while the teen-aged boysand girls continued on swimming and pushingthe canoe. After the motor was started, theyjumped on and rode out into the deep waterabout '/j mile, said good-bye, dove off and swamashore. It was a very touching farewell and leftno doubts as to our welcome back into the

village upon our return to PNG.

Ready to leave Madang on our trip home

(This letter was given to us by a group of Souhvillagers during the farewell dinner theyprepared for us two days before we left.)

Worship Community Group Souhc/o fvlark Keleh

P.O. Box 165

Lorengau, Manus Province13 April, 1983

Mr. & Mrs. Wes Beasley & Sons,We the small group of what we call Worship

Community Group plus the whole people ofSouh:

We all assemble here tonight to say farewellto you. You are leaving us so soon to go up yourway. And when you feel down hearted listen tous as we say it a long way to America it a longway to go.

But we thank you very much for your greatwork you have started among us. We don'trecognize (comprehend) your living with us.

So Wes, we have not enough thing to giveyou, but this is only K10.00 (about US $11.80)for this small group. We know that it would beturn into a hundred fold. So don't forget usall from now and then.

May the Heavenly God bless and protect youand your family through ail your voyage to seeyour father and relations.

Best regards from us to all your Fathers,mothers, relatives and friends from us here. We

Yours always in Christ.

Pray meeting group andChristian people of Souh

(This letter is just exactly as it was written, inEnglish, with only the parts in parentheses addedby us for your better understanding - Beasleys)

Saying good-bye to our friends in PNG

ARRIVAL IN THE USAAfter short stops in Hong Kong and Honolulu

we arrived in Jackson, fvlississippi on May 1st.We were thrilled to have our church family fromSouthwest Christian Church waiting there towelcome us. There were posters, greetings andhugs, flowers, pictures and lots of fun for us intrying to guess which children were which (theyhad all grown so much in S'/z years-some of theadults had grown too). It made us feel sowelcome and loved but left the airline crew a

little puzzled.Several people have asked us what things

have changed or what things seem different tous after having been gone for a while. I'llmention a few.

In Papua New Guinea we had not been in atown large enough to have a stop light, let alonepedestrian signal lights. When we were inHonolulu, we were crossing a street on foot

after the light had flashed "WALK". Abouthalfway across the street the light naturallyflashed "DON'T WALK". Jonathan, in a panic,grabbed all three of us and shouted for us to goback because the light said, "DON'T WALK".Jonathan and Adam were fascinated withelevators and escalators and automatic doors.

They had forgotten about them while we weregone.

What things have impressed us?- clean, well marked streets- neat haircuts on men

- lots of American flags waving every day- all the food in the stores

- lots of new houses being builtWhat things are a joy to us?

- a fresh fruit and vegetable counter in everygrocery store that is always full (especiallywith cauliflower, broccoli, grapes, peaches,plums, asparagus, spinach, radishes andlettuce)

- crisp cereal- shoes that fit and in a wide variety- roadside parks and public toilets

and for the boys- McDonalds and video games (we have to

limit these)What things were hard to remember at first?

- that the steering column is on the left sideof the car and the signal lever is on the leftside of the steering column

- that you turn the light switch up for "on"and down for "off" (just the opposite inPNG).

- that we didn't need to buy two months'supply of groceries at one time (the storesare all close by and some are even open 24hours a day)

- that the bank is open on Saturdayand for the boys again

- you absolutely must wear shoes to church!

CURRENT NEWS ON THE

BEASLEYS

After a quick visit with our home church, Wes'family, and my family we settled into anapartment in Duncanville. Texas. Wes began aneight-week course in Biblical Hebrew on June 6and is still involved in that. Several people in thearea churches have loaned us furniture and we

have bought some things - enough to make doand to be comfortable. God has blessed us. I

have had some medical tests, all of which havebeen negative for which we are grateful. I havesome more to be done and am feeling quite well.

The boys and I have both had dental work done.Jonathan and Adam will both be fitted with

some type of orthodontic device in a few weeks.They have been in summer school for twoweeks and will finish this week. The purpose ofthis three weeks was to determine where theyare in their education and in which grades to putthem this fall. They are enjoying riding theirbicycles and swimming in the pool at theapartment complex.

After attending the North American ChristianConvention next week, we plan to go on up toMichigan visiting churches in Indiana andMichigan and spend some time on my folks'farm. We are looking forward to that as we havebeen quite rushed since our return to the States.We will come back south the third week of

August. Wes will begin his studies at theInternational Linguistic Center and theUniversity of Texas at Arlington to finish hisMasters degree in Linguistics and BibleTranslation and I will take some courses at the

I.L.C. Jonathan and Adam will be enrolled at

Brookhollow Christian School in DeSoto.

We plan to travel on week-ends some this fallto speak to churches in the south-central area.We will visit all our supporters sometime this fallor next spring. We are working on a schedulefor these visits but do not have all the details yetSchool will limit our activities quite a bit and wewill plan to spend next summer traveling to visitthose churches and individuals we aren't able to

visit during the school year. We have enjoyedour reunions with many of our Christian friendsand are looking forward to seeing the rest ofyou. Thank you for your faithful support to uswhile we were in Papua New Guinea. Thankyou for all the prayers you have offered up for usand for your letters, cards, gifts and offerings.You are a blessing to us and we constantly praythat we will be worthy of your trust and will befaithful servants. Please continue to remember

the Kurti people on Manus Island in Papua NewGuinea while we are away from them. We wouldlike to ask you to pray that their enthusiasm forGod's Word in their language will remain highwhile we are gone, that they will continueto realize the authority of God's Word and thatGod will be preparing a man. or men, to workwith us in the translation. These are our prayersfor the Kurtis while we are away and we ask thatyou join with us. Thank you for sharing with usin this work.

Alta for Wes & boys

NOTE; While on furlough we may be reachedthrough our forwarding agents or at our

residence as follows; Wes and Alta Beasley, 700W. Center. Apt. 116. Duncanville, Texas 75116,phone; 214-296-0335

It's been a long time!

' '5? • • -.0 y, -rorc.s:

f '

It B great to be loved!

Vol. Vli, No. 2

(e> */2.C>

Beasleys' Backlog

of news fromPapua New Guinea

Field Address:Wes & Alta Beasleyc/o Pioneer Bible Translators

P.O. Box 997

Madang, Papua New Guinea

Forwarding Agents;Larry & Dottle Tanksley112 Stone Cove

Clinton. MS 39056Phone (601) 924-0299

November, 1984

BACK TO P.N.G.!

The time is getting close for our return toPapua New Guinea and we are excited. We willleave Jackson, Mississippi on January 7, 1985to fly to Los Angeles. We will leave Los Angeleson January 8 and will arrive in Papua NewGuinea on January 15 with layovers in Honoluluand Hong Kong. We will lose one day as wecross the international date line. We will arrivein Madang just in time for our annual PBT/PNG

branch meeting which starts January 16. As ofthis writing we have our visas, our flights andlodging in Honolulu and Hong Kong areconfirmed and we are working on last minutepacking and details. We praise the Lord forworking out ail the arrangements. Please be inprayer for our safe travel and our return to theKurti people and our work.

We had a great summer visiting all oursupporters and seeing parts of the country wehad never seen before. We were grateful thatsome of our supporters were in areas where wehad never visited or we had to go through areaswe had never seen to visit them. These travels

took us through Niagara Falls which was verymajestic and beautiful. While in New Jersey,friends from the Hunterdon church took us into

New York City where we visited the Museum ofNatural History and the Empire State Buildingand experienced riding thesubway, Onourtripfrom New Jersey to North Carolina, we spent anafternoon in Philadelphia (which wasn't nearlylong enough) and two days in Washington, D.C.We were in Washington, D.C. forthe 4th of Julyand it was a sight to see. The crowds tended tointimidate us a little, but we pushed through andvisited the Smithsonian Institution, most of thememorials and the capitol building. We are so

HOW WERE OUR TRAVELS THIS PAST SUMMER?

thankful the boys had this opportunity to visitour nation's capital -- they were reallyimpressed and it made their history lessonscome alive.

After a three week stay with our home churchin Jackson, Mississippi and visiting supportersthere, we began our journey west. This trip tookus through Colorado where we have friendswho support our work. They showed usbeautiful Colorado and we have to admit that

we were very tempted to try to find some losttribe there who needs a translation of the Bible.

It was a very refreshing time for us and we thankGod for it. Time and space do not permit us totell you of all the great and refreshing times wehad with all our Christian friends and loved

ones but we are grateful for those times andthank each of you who had a part in our summertravel and in welcoming us into your homes.

,—

HOW DO WE LIKE CALIFORNIA?

We arrived in the Los Angeles area onSeptember 2. We couldn't figure out why It wasso cloudy in the middle of the day and thenrealized that it must be the smog we had heardso much about. We aren't convinced yet that wewould want to live in this big city but it is veryinteresting. There are many different ethnicgroups who live all around us and make it amelting pot community. There are over 100different languages spoken in Los AngelesCounty alone! The seminary also has manyinternational students and we feel very much athome with them and really enjoy being withthem.

The Lord has blessed us in so many wayshere. He provided us with a completelyfurnished apartment through ProvidenceMission Homes. It is an organization whichtries to provide homes for missionaries onfurlough. We are very grateful to them forproviding a place for us to stay with rental ratesmuch lower than normal for this area. Rent is

higher here than in any part of the country. TheLord also provided the boys with a school 272blocks from our apartment which uses thecurriculum from Pensacola Christian School.

We had prayed about this all summer and askedmany of you to be praying. If we hadn't found aschool which uses that curriculum, then Iwouldhave had to begin teaching the boys myself. Asit is, I can begin where they leave off when weleave this area in December and continue in

Papua New Guinea. The only openings theschool had left were in the exact grades theboys needed. God really answered our prayersand the boys are enjoying their school and newfriends. Also, concerning the boys' school, wehave another praise item. Diane Miller, former

missionary to Germany, is planning to return toPapua New Guinea with us to tutor Jonathanand Adam. We praise God for this answeredprayer and are anxious to introduce you toDiane. We hope to do that in our nextnewsletter. Meanwhile, we ask that you will bepraying for her as she raises additional support.

We have an added blessing while here inPasadena. Two of the Wycliffe families who aretranslators on Manus island with us are alsostudying here at the seminary. We enjoycontinued fellowship with them and with Davidand Sineina Gela who are Papua New GuineaNationals also studying at the seminary. Davidis the executive director of the Papua NewGuinea Bible Translation Association with

whom PBT works closely in PNG. We enjoytaking them shopping and helping thembecome acclimated to the U.S. We would like to

request that you be in prayer for theiradjustment and their two-year stay away fromtheir families and homeland.

I am almost finished buying supplies to beshipped to Papua New Guinea and hope to haveeverything packed and ready to crate within thenext two weeks. By the time you receive thisnewsletter we will have left California and will

be back in Mississippi and Michigan visiting ourfamilies once more before our departure forPNG in January. We thank you for yourprayers, love, and support and for your patiencein waiting for this long-overdue newsletter.Please continue to pray for us as we make finalpreparations, as we travel, say "good-bye" tofamily, and go back to our friends and work inPapua New Guinea. We love each one of youand thank God for you.

Alta and family

FROM WES

Thank you for your prayers! In June, 1984, Iwas awarded a Master of Arts degree inLinguistics from the University of Texas atArlington. Many of you will recall that we hadrequested your prayer support as I prepared forthe comprehensive exams. I passed those andsuccessfully completed my degree programthere in Texas.

Now, after a full summer of speaking to

supporting churches, I am attending schoolagain at the Fuller Theological Seminary ~School of World Missions in Pasadena,California. My goal at Fuller is to complete adegree program in missiology concentrating onBible translation. However, that is a long-rangegoal. Right now, we are here only for onequarter before we return to Papua New Guineain January, 1985. I am currently taking courses

which will be very helpful when we resume our anthropological researchamong the Kurti people on ManusIsland.

You may wonder why we have spentso much of our furlough time in furtherschooling or what value these degreeshave for a missionary. In many ways,missionary work Is the same for us as itwas for Paul. We certainly have thesame message and the same Lord andSaviour. On the other hand, the role ofthe missionary is changing. Today, wemust be prepared not only to preachand teach but also to train others to

preach and teach. We must bringspecial skills (such as linguistics) tothe field as well as "faith in action". Of

course, these ideas are not new. Paulinstructed Timothy to train faithfulmen and he also taught that eachmember of Christ's body has specialgifts.

Alta and I view our job as Bibletranslators with respect, some fear,and a clear understanding of thecomplexity of the task. Consequently,we always strive to maintain an attitudeof professionalism toward both our joband our preparation. Even when weare not in a university, we are learners.Keep on praying for us!

Mission Services

PO Box 2427Knoxville. TN 37901

ADDRESS CORBECTION REQUESTED

§lad Uidings

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given... And He will be called Wonderful Coun

selor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,Prince of Peace." —Isaiah 9:6

Our wish for you this Christmas time is thatyou will have a very happy and blessedChristmas and a new year that will be filledwith Spiritual blessings as you serve theSavior. —The Beasley Family

Non Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAID

Knoxville. TN

37901

Permit #374