March 1977

Dear Brethren:

 

Take a trip with me into a strange, vague, mysterious place. It is a place where millions live, although they go on almost unrecognized by the educated.

 

Can you imagine no daily newspapers, no magazines, no pamphlets, no books or road signs? What would your day be like if you never saw a single written word? Wouldn't It be hard for the housewife getting ready to make a fancy dish without a recipe to read, a business office without a typewriter or any paper work, no mail from friends and families far away? Wouldn't It be a strange vague and mysterious place for you?

 

If you had no Bible, how would you know anything about God, creation or salvation in Christ? Without the written word we would have no classics, no song books and no comic strips. Life would be pretty dull. The only thing we would know about other places is what we might hear by word of mouth and see through pictures.

 

Our trip is into the world of the ILLITERATE. Many millions live in this dull world. The only way they have to learn about other things is by word of mouth and an occasional picture. To say the least, these people are in a very small world. They know almost nothing except what they see.

 

They have never been able to read the stories of the Bible and hear of God's plan for all mankind. In English, we have many translations, paraphrases, versions and perversions from which we have a choice to read. The Illiterate have nothing. The English speakers have billions of books from which to choose. The illiterate have not even one.

 

This is the situation that most tribal missionaries find themselves in, working with illiterate people. Here in Chimbu In Papua New Guinea, government schools leave about 2% of the people with education. A few others learn to read through small schools in the trade language and a few are taught by individuals who know how to read.

 

May I add that some of the most wonderful people in the world are illiterate and I, by no means mean to reflect on their character, but only their limited situation.

 

As Christians we look at the situation and try to set goals to make Christ known to these people and see groups of faithful believers among them. The good news of the Gospel of Christ can certainly go forth without them knowing how to read, so we spend years learning to speak their tongue without the aid of a dictionary, alphabet or previous written materials. The obstacles of finding the right choice of words and Introducing and inventing a few others are finally conquered and the Gospel goes forth. Some hear the strangle message and although it sounds nice, it is so strange and foreign that they don't know what it is all about, Realizing "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God" there is an immediate need for someone to translate some scriptures. Who? You finally find out, it all rests upon your own shoulders.

 

Sermons are pretty weak without Scripture. Tracts would be nice, if people could read them. Your work finally comes to a stop. They must have the Scriptures in their language and Bible stories to explain God's plan for their lives.

 

You try a few verses and find it very difficult to get sentence structure, verb forms, pronouns, etc. in their proper places. You try a simpler verse. After It Is all finished, you read it to someone and he shakes his head and smiles. "That is real nice, but I don't understand English", he says. You gulp and realize there must be something amiss in your translation principles. What's the use!

 

Many missionaries are lost at this stage. The fruitfulness of their ministry in their homeland and their mother tongue seems to make so much sense to them and draws them away. Many leave mission work defeated. They could have reached those people, but they gave up too soon. Souls go on into eternity without Christ and salvation.

 

No one likes a quitter, but it may have been partially your fault too. You promised support to your missionary, but what kind of support did you give him? Do you pray for specific needs of your missionaries or are you one of those "God bless our missionaries' kind? Of course, it will cost you a bit of time and the horrible task of writing a letter now and again. "Oh, anything but that!" you say. And you become a phony and quitter too, as far as really helping your missionaries. You won't even take time to write a letter or pray intelligently, let alone leave your comforts and homeland to help the lost.

 

Some go on and keep trying. They learn more about translating and it gets a bit easier. They get native speakers to help them and the materials sound more natural and have all the words In their proper places. Checking the materials with more native speakers irons out the parts that aren't clear in meaning and the spelling errors.

 

You get more and more done and you realize only a small portion of the people will ever be able to read the materials, unless, "Oh no, not a literacy program!" Somehow you must help more people learn to read. Primers must be prepared and tested, revised and rewritten. Then they are printed and some type of literacy teaching is started.

 

Do you realize your privilege of knowing Christ and having His Word? Will you rally behind the great task of making Christ known and do your part whether it be writing, praying, giving or going?

 

In our last letter we mentioned Brother Kilal from Dumun who was being arraigned on attempted murder charges (on his brother). The case was settled out of court for a payment of $100 and 4 pigs. But Kilal has still not repented of this, he even acts kind of proud of it. Please pray with us that his heart will be softened to the Word of God.

 

This letter will more than likely be the last newsletter until you see or hear of us in the states. Please pray for us as we begin our travels home (in May) and that the Lord will provide the funds to enable us to return home. Mipela lukim yupela. (we will see you).

 

In the Master's service

 

Tobey and Kathy Huff
Box 69
Kundiawa
Papua New Guinea