August 2010

Who knew a month could possibly go so fast?  In the first week in August, we had the opportunity to travel to a Bible dedication 28 years in the making.  The Yopno live at 7,000 feet in the heart of the rugged Finnisterre Mountain range.  Therre are no roads and no navigable rivers near the Yopno, the only way to the village is by airplane, and the runway has only been contructed in the last three years, prior to that it was hike-in only.  The dedication was on a weekend and we spent approximately 26 hours total in the village, but what a 26 hours it was!  The Yopno were excited to have God's word in their language in the form of a written Bible and Megavoice players.  We enjoyed watching the Jesus video (based on the book of Luke) in Tok Pisin with them the evening of the dedication.  (Most of the Yopno people had never even seen a movie before).  As more and more flaming torch carrying Yopno villagers arrived throughout the movie, the crowd swelled to the hundreds.  Any thought provoking moment in the life of Jesus portrayed by the film would bring a clicking sound emanating from the tongues of the many Yopno pressed in around us.  It was a blessing for us to witness.

Kim's school schedule has been very fluid this past term.  As the Branch Photographer, she missed the first week of school while covering the Molima Bible dedication.  Upon her arrival back to school, she was switched from tutoring two young girls to teaching a seventh grade Pre-algebra.  After 4 days of seventh grade Pre-algebra, she was switched again to teaching Digital Photography.  She is now teaching high school French and Digital Photography, both of which she enjoys very much.  She fills the rest of her day in with her photography job.

Jacob's water project is moving forward.  The hole is now complete.  Due to a large seam of coal (9 meters thick) encountered in the hole that has been leaching some form of petrol chemical, Jacob has redesigned the intake to ensure that contaminated ground water from the coal seam cannot infiltrate into the water collected from the river.  The redesign involved ordering large diameter pipes.  Jacob is now waiting for the pipes to arrive so he can continue the process of constructing the intake.

We are expecting visitors!  Kim's sister, Tammy, and Jacob's brother, Justin are planning to visit us for a few weeks in the middle of September.  We are super excited to have them visit.  We are planning a week in Ukarumpa for them to spend time seeing what we do and helping out as much as they can,  Tammy as a nurse and Justin as an engineer.  We have some friends here who are translators on the island of New Britain and they have offered to let the four of us stay at their village in their house and use their truck for free!  New Britain has some of the world's best snorkeling, is home to many WWII aircraft wrecks, and has an active volcano.  We are hopeful that it will be a fun adventure for Justin and Tammy.
Prayer Requests:

• Praise the Lord that the excavation portion of the water project was completed early.
• Praise the Lord Justin and Tammy will be visiting us in September.
• Please pray for Kim as she is juggling photography and school duties.
• Please pray that Jacob has continued wisdom while working on the water project.
• Please pray for Ukarumpa Center as raskol activity is once again on the rise.
• Pray that God will use our efforts here to advance Bible translation in Papua New Guinea.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!  
Jacob and Kim Brotzler