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Press Release: July 26, 2024
Friday Field Notes
Check out the latest updates from our missionaries!
TRANSITIONS AND UNKNOWNS – Michael and Naomi Ersland
We have made our way to the capital city as we approach the birth of our baby. Your continued prayers are appreciated for the health of each member of the family, for the transition of baby outside of the womb, for our family as we transition to the change of life after birth, for healing, for God’s provision each step of the way, and for our family as we continue to seek what is next for our family after the Komba Bible is complete.
The transcript of the Bible has been sent to the printers. There are several steps that will still need to take place before printing begins. Michael continues to follow along in this process with the translation team while also working on his thesis. Your continued prayers are appreciated! Please pray for good communication with the printers, for the translation team, for God’s provision for each step of this process and his removal of barriers, for all the various relationships involved in this process, for Michael as he works on his thesis, for the Komba people as it has been a hard start to farming season, and for favorable weather for farming.
(Bottom) Running checks to get the text ready for the printer.
PRE-FIELD ORIENTATION FUN – Nathan and Sarah Federwitz
Now that we have been back “home” in North Carolina for a few weeks, we have been able to resettle into our life at JAARS. For Nathan this means working in the JAARS Aviation Department. We have had some fun aviation-related opportunities recently that we want to share with you.
During the spring, JAARS conducts a “Pre-Field Orientation” (PFO) for pilots and mechanics. The orientees receive instruction from the experienced missionaries who work in the JAARS training department. Even though Nathan is not participating in PFO this year, he is helping where he can. The goal of PFO is to prepare the orientees to be able to operate in challenging environments on the mission field. The culmination of this training is a ten-day long Mountain Week. Prior to that event JAARS puts on a “production cross country”, which is a simulation of a regular day of being a missionary pilot. The pilots transport passengers and their cargo to various runways and locations, dropping off the passengers they were carrying and picking up more. We were able to assist with this day as passengers.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Michelle Gillard
In recent weeks, Papua New Guinea has experienced natural disasters. Our Waria River Cluster Project Translators were caught in the thick of it. The Zia language group had such extensive flooding that all gardens were destroyed. In PNG, people in the villages live on subsistence farming. If the crops are washed out, there is no food for that season. But the
women’s group from Zia communities living in the city of Lae, an urban center down the coast, are trying to do some
fundraising to get some rice, noodles, and tin fish to send back to the Zia villages. These donations are taken via boat on the ocean and then upriver to reach the villages because there are no roads to these areas.
Steve Ttopoqogo-LBT and his team traveled up the Waria River in the Morobe Province to visit the Qaire, Paiawa, Numbami, and Mawae languages. This survey was to see if there was interest in starting up translation projects. The Waria River is flooded higher than they have seen in over a decade so this survey trip was covered in prayer.
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