Numbers That Count
by Paul Beck
The barriers to the Gospel in New Guinea are considerable.
The mountainous terrain on this island that is politically split between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea make it hard for missionaries to reach isolated people groups. A further challenge is the hundreds of languages that are spoken there, many of which do not yet have a fully-translated Bible. MAF teams based on the island are active in overcoming both these obstacles.
The final piece…
Buzz Maxey is a second generation missionary serving with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Indonesian Papua. He and his wife Myrna recently visited the MAF hangar in Wamena to collect a very special delivery that pilot Daniel Perez was flying in that day from the village of Silimo – a handwritten manuscript of the book of Numbers that had been translated into the Ngalik language. The work also represented a significant milestone – the final piece of the Old Testament that needed translating.
As the document was brought from the plane, MAF national and international staff, along with Buzz and Myrna, gathered around it. In unity they prayed that it would help Ngalik speakers to better understand God’s Word in their native language.
Taking a tour of the hangar and meeting the MAF team, Buzz then explained that although this book had been completed by two translators, Amos and Enos, the work to translate the Bible into the Ngalik language had originally been launched by Edward Maxey, his father. Buzz estimates that within the next five years, the Ngalik Bible will be complete, proofread, published and available for distribution.
Thanks to MAF
‘Dear MAF friends’ begins Buzz in a letter to the team he met that day. ‘Each one of you (and many other MAF pilots) have done so much over many, many years to partner with us, the Edward Maxey and now the Buzz Maxey, families.
‘You have done so much to see that Mom and Dad Maxey got in and out of Tulem, Pasema and then Silimo. Now you have done so much to get us all around Papua so that the Ngalik Old Testament translation can go forward, HIV and AIDS awareness can be taught, soccer coaching and discipleship teaching can happen and pastors retreats can be held.
‘For all of this, your partnership in building the Kingdom here in Papua and also the friendship we share with you, we say a huge thanks,’ the letter concludes.