Natural leader. Goiniri language translator Dominic Pusai (2nd from left), is a leader among the translators. We have not heard if he was released from jail on Monday, so we don’t yet know if he’s in Arop for a translation workshop with the other translators. (See last week’s Friday Photo for details on why he was in jail.)
Please pray for a truly final resolution to the conflict that unexpectedly landed him in jail, and that he can return to the translation team soon, if he hasn’t already done so.
Praise the Lord with us that Tadji, the one remaining airstrip in the Aitape area, is open again.
Pray our partners in Arop can overcome technical problems with the team’s Internet connection there.
PDF Version of original post.
Update on January 17, 2012:
Our partner Ben Pehrson has written with these new details on Dominic’s situation, which has to do with his having killed someone in self-defense years ago. My comments for clarification are in square brackets, prayer requests are in bold italic.
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I stopped in to see him last week on Wednesday, and the meeting didn’t really happen last Tuesday as expected. Only two people showed up from Kabore and they weren’t there to witness the bel isi mani [peace money, compensation] that was given (I think K6000) [more than $2,000--a lot of money by local standards] before. So the meeting was postponed to this Tuesday. I also met with Sgt. Nasnas [an Arop man, a leader among policeman, whom we have known for decades] and he explained to me that there are two possible ways that this will be resolved. If they come with evidence to prosecute Dominic for murder, then they will need to follow through in the courts with that. If they don’t have evidence, then the police will be a third party to help mediate an out-of-court settlement between the two groups. He explained that one of the reasons they are holding Dominic is for his protection. Obviously, the pain of the former heavy ["heavy" = "problem, dispute" in Tok Pisin, Papua New Guinea's main trade language] is still strong and they attacked Dominic in public. He is concerned if they were to release him that they could kill him. I think it is clear, too, that they are holding him because the group from Kabore is accusing him of being an escapee and the question of that prior case being completed is not settled. [Dominic did escape from jail several years ago.]
I asked Sgt. Nasnas if there was anything I could do to help Dominic’s case, and he asked me about his work with us and how far it extended. He seemed pleased to hear that Dominic is a leader in the project and that there is a desire among the newer translators to follow the example of the Arop translators in spreading the work to other languages. He asked me how far the Onnele languages [those related to Dominic's Goiniri language] extended and if it included Kabore, and I explained that it did. [In case this is not clear enough, let me spell it out: Dominic and the other translators want eventually to expand their Bible translation work to include Kabore, the language of the people who have this "heavy" with Dominic and recently attacked him. [Pray that the Lord would make that dream a reality in the years to come.]
He [Sgt. Nasnas] seemed happy to have that as an extra piece of information that he would like to bring into the meeting on Tuesday depending on how the meeting goes. He would like this heavy to be settled and the two groups to shake hands and not threaten Dominic anymore. If they do after this is settled, he said that would be a new thing. [Pray that the Lord would touch the hearts of all involved and that this would happen!]
I offered to pray for Sgt Nasnas and he seemed very pleased about that. He said that our work in bringing God’s Word to the people helps his police work in a big way. He’s not sure about any other groups, but he knows that the word of the Lord changes people and that makes his job much easier.
I visited Dominic again today. He seems a little more worried than he did last week, probably since the day for the meeting is coming up soon now. He really does not want to be in there. He just wants to get out and get back to the translation work and be an encouragement to the other translators. He’s concerned what will happen to the Onnele Group if he is not there to push them along. [Dominic is developing into a great servant-leader for that group of translators. [Pray that the Lord would continue to develop him as a disciple, translator, and leader.]
In other news, Tadji [JN: the only airstrip in the area around Aitape and Arop that has been open in recent years] was open enough to fly everybody but me there last week (I went by truck with most of the cargo). But John Mork [one of our Jaars pilots] said it wasn’t cut wide enough or long enough. It is therefore closed again. I met with D.A. [District Administrator--who happens to be an Arop speaker] again [about cutting the grass at the airstrip] . . . I took all of [what the DA said] as his well-meaning communication to me that I better not rely on Tadji being cut again any time soon. [Pray that we can find a way to keep this airstrip open. The translation project's progress depends on all of us--translators, advisers, consultants, and our families, being able to come and go when we need to.]
The possibilities for the VSAT [our satellite Internet antenna at our translation center in Arop village] problem have shifted from an internal networking problem to the possibility of something wrong in Singapore, to the possibility that service was disrupted because our payment got held up at the bank. [Pray that this gets back on-line soon so I can help the translators during this workshop, even though I'm in Indiana.]
Dan Bauman and Andy Weaver seem to be making good progress with the audio recordings of Luke. Sissano and Pou went first, and Wolwale started on the second day to give the other guys a break.
There are 10 translators present: Joel, Felix, Jonathan, Lyons, Kenny, Petrus, Clement, Augustine, Kelly and Florian (another Nugia brother from Sumo to replace Kelly when Kelly goes to grade 10 in Vanimo [Sandaun province provincial capital] this year). [Please continue to pray that each language will have two translators at each workshop.] If that were the case this time, we’d have 22 translators present. I don’t know why the rest are not there.]
[Arop translator and team leader] Emil and Alexia really loved the picture that you took of David that we printed out for them. We visited them down at their house a few days ago. I wailed over the grave site and they joined in with me. We all quieted down and started talking and Emil and Alexia started wailing again when we brought out the picture and they saw him again. This morning they came to town with me to settle their funeral debts in town. Emil really thanked me for the picture. They said they hung it up and he said it is really nice that it is like David is there smiling at them all the time. [Please continue to pray for this couple after the loss of their only biological son, David.] (They have other adopted sons).
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So that’s the news from Arop. Now you know the rest of the story, or as much of it as I know. –JN