I'm in the Southern hemisphere?

So I just realized yesterday that because I'm in the Southern hemisphere, the sunshine comes from the north rather than the south. That's a weird concept that I haven't quite gotten used to yet. I also saw the Southern Cross constellation Sunday night, which was exciting. Even though the days are usually sunny, most nights are cloudy, so that was the first time I saw it. I don't know any of the other southern constellations, so I didn't recognize anything. Nothing was anywhere close to as bright as the Southern Cross though. Actually, I did recognize another one - it was the Big Dipper, which appears just above the northern horizon here.

Sunday was a fairly relaxing and restful day, which is nice. At school, there are so many Sundays where I have to be working on (or at least thinking about) all the things I have to do. I went to the English service rather than the Tok Pisin service this week, so it really wasn't that much different from anything we would find in the States. The evening service, however, was centered on the work of the translators here. The Lee family (from Korea) recently finished translating the New Testament into a tribal language (unfortunately can't remember the name...), and they were sharing about the nearly 20 years of work that they put into that and the dedication when the new Bibles arrived for the first time. They showed a video of the highlights of the dedication, and it was amazing to see the joy on the faces of those who were seeing God's Word in their native language for the first time. 1200 Bibles were distributed that day, with hundreds more to follow in the days and weeks following.

It's incredible to think of what it must be like to spend 20 years or more in the same village, translating the New Testament into that language for the first time. God certainly gives these translators strength that they don't have themselves. Some have a harder time than others, but even the "easiest" translation work still takes many years to complete, with many obstacles along the way. The village lifestyle is not easy or comfortable either, with most villages here lacking electricity or easy communication with the rest of the world. I can't imagine what it must feel like to see the fruit of their work after having gone through all that. I already mentioned the immediate result of joy on the people's faces, but there is also the long-term and more important result: many of these people will come to Christ, or at least know of Him, as a result of having their own New Testament.

Monday and today were spent mostly in the finance office, doing what probably everyone (even accountants) would consider less-than-exciting tasks. Examples: taking 4000 paper Kina notes fresh from the mint (which means they stick to each other), counting them in groups of 10 and folding those in half, then putting groups of 100 in rubberbands. Or, taking rolls of 25 coins, removing 5 of the coins, re-wrapping the roll that now has 20 coins, and collecting the extras that had been taken out to make new rolls of 20. This is so that it's easier for the cashier at the little bank to serve the customers who come in. Or another, photocopying all the checks that are ready to go in to the bank as a deposit. (There were a lot of those too)

I had plenty of time during these tasks to reflect on the work I'm doing here. I'm not here to serve myself, but to serve God and the people around me, so I've tried to have that attitude as I do these kinds of tasks. When I look at it that way, I really don't mind what kind of work I do. I'm just here to do whatever I can to help out, and right now that's an area where someone was needed to help.

Another way to look at it: I won't be translating the New Testament this summer, but that work wouldn't be sustainable without the support work here in Ukarumpa, part of which is the work of the finance office. Within the finance office, there is also work that is not glamorous, but it makes the operation of the finance office possible. So in a way, even folding money or rolling coins is furthering the mission of SIL.

Of course, there are many things done here that no one thinks of as "missionary work." When you think of being a missionary, let's say specifically here in PNG, you would probably first think of being a translator or someone who goes out and preaches God's Word in the tribal languages. Then maybe you'd think of the pilots who fly them around, and possibly even the doctors who serve the nationals and the mission workers here.

If you thought about this for a little longer, you could probably come up with other jobs, like accounting (though that's obvious to you now if you have any idea why I'm here this summer :), or teaching the children of those who are working here (which includes all subjects), or mechanics who repair the planes and vehicles that are so essential to the work.

But... now that you have a support center where almost everyone is based, you suddenly have a multitude of other necessary jobs. What about running a store, so that people can buy food and household supplies? How about a post office? Who will be equipping and maintaining the houses and buildings of the center (electricity, plumbing, construction/repair, etc? Or who will make sure that the supplies for all these jobs reach the center from the nearest port or larger town where they are available? Who takes care of the computer system and network of communication? Would you guess that there are people here to just serve as house parents for the children of translators, who need to go to school, which means they can't be with their real parents in the villages during the school year? (Their official job titles are "mom" and "dad") Further, who's going to manage, and more importantly, coordinate ALL these people and positions to make sure that the work done is effective?

The list could go on, but I think you get the idea. Some people have said that Wycliffe/SIL is the only organization where you can switch careers three times, yet still be working in the same place. Mission work can be done by anyone, in many different ways, and it's all important.


P.S. before I end this post, I know some of you are wondering what kind of birds are flying in the picture at the top. They happen to be black kites, and they are ubiquitous around here. It's not hard to take a picture like that, with more than one of them in the frame. It is harder, however, to get two of them in the frame in front of a cloud like that, which is being illuminated from behind by the setting sun.