God's Power and Solar Power

It's another steamy evening in the jungle. The last rays of sun have just disappeared behind the coconut palms and the cicadas are going at it like the Trans-Siberian orchestra. Sweat pours off you face as you stare at your laptop screen, trying to memorize a list of vocabulary words in a language that has never been learned before. The moths and flying termites flock to the fluorescent light overhead, in spite of the fact that your windows are now closed. They land on your computer screen and your hand sticks to them as you brush them away.

You adjust your desktop fan so that it blows directly into your face and double-click to open another MP3 file--you just have to hear that phrase you recorded with your language helper one more time. Suddenly all the lights go out in the house, and a window pops up on your computer to say you only have one hour left of power on your laptop. Your house just ran out of battery power!

Young Buglere couple

New Tribes Mission specializes in reaching isolated people groups--many of whom live far from the nearest power plant. Their goal is to plant growing, self-governed churches that will reach out to others in their area with the Good News that Jesus Christ has paid for their sin by His death on the cross.

This is a huge job that involves learning and analyzing a language that often has never been written down, building relationships with the indigenous people, learning to understand their culture and worldview, teaching them to read and write, translating the Bible into their language, teaching them about God, the Bible, and mankind, and, last but not least, living with them!



 

Embera woman cooking over an open fire



Missionary Technology class has enlightened me as to how complicated this can actually be. It is not always necessary to string your hammock up in the same hut as them, but it is essential to live near enough to them to have daily interaction in their own language and on their own turf. This becomes more complicated as our list of bare necessities grows longer. Usually, the nearest grocery store is at least an hour's flight by cessna or a day's hike away.

How do you store enough food to last you until your next supply flight comes in? In a cooler? In an AC, DC, or kerosine refrigerator? How do you prepare it once it comes? Over an open fire? A gas or electric stove? A hotplate? Where do you get your water from? A river? A well? From the rain on your roof? How do you collect it? How do you get it to come out your faucet? Do you even have a faucet? How should you light your house? What about air conditioners or fans? Where on earth are you going to get electricity for all of this? A generator? Your car battery? Solar Panels? The nearest city? All these questions, and more than you and I would ever think to ask, are answered in Missionary Technology class.



NorthWahgi believer and one of the missionaries



This class has deepened my appreciation for people like the Lenz, Wilson, and Hulley families who were able to share a clear gospel presentation with the North Wahgi  people in Papua New Guinea in their own language this year!

Read more about their experience on the NTM website!