There are two thousand Usarufa people living about three hours from here in the eastern highlands of PNG. The Usarufa New Testament has been available since 1980, but very few Usarufa people are able to read in their mother tongue.
James, one of our Usarufa readers, is the literacy director for the Usarufa and five other language groups. He believes that hearing God’s Word in Usarufa will encourage others to learn to read it.
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| James in the makeshift "recording booth" * |
After our fourth day of working together recording the Gospel of Matthew, James shared some of his thinking with us. He said, “I have a question I’ve never asked before. Many people in PNG believe in Jesus because their life here is no good and they have nothing. They want the things God promises in heaven."
Then he said, “It’s easy to understand why Papua New Guineans would believe in Jesus; if they believe, they will go to heaven and God will give them all the things the ‘waitskins’ have. But the ‘waitskins’ have everything already right here in this life. Yet they believe in Jesus. Why would ‘waitskins’ believe?”
How would YOU answer him?
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* After a 6.9 earthquake, a tree fell down and took out the power at our recording studio; so we set up a make-shift recording studio in our home here using cushions and mattresses.
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| Karen manning the recording equipment |
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| Getting the microphone positioned right |
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| James recording and Julie checking |
Comments
In heaven, we will have a even deeper relationship with Christ, no more tears, sickness or evil. We will have a new body! What little the Bible tells us about Heaven and Hell, I don't want to be separated from my Savior!