Olsen 01-2012

October Trip

My plan for this last trip was to fin- ish the translation of John’s gospel and to begin Ephesians. That was my plan. What God did was way beyond anything I could have imagined. It re- minded me of Ephesians 3:20 when Paul praises God by saying,

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all gen- erations forever and ever. Amen.”

I arrived in Alotau Sep. 21 to learn that the MV Kwadima, which had ex- perienced hull damage in August, was still not cleared for operation. Our manager, however, said a boat could take me to the village that night. There was no way I could be ready in such a short time and there was the problem of how I would return in time for my flight home so I didn’t go. How- ever, this same boat was able to stop at Nubogeta and bring Siyokira to Alo- tau to work. Our intention was that perhaps the boat would be ready in a week or so and we could go out then. In the mean- time Siyokira and I could begin working.

There was no place in- side for us to work, so I set up a table outside under the house and we began working on John. Amazingly, it took only 7 days to complete the last 8 chapters of the book.

So we moved on to Ephesians. Al- though more difficult than John, it took us just 5 days to complete. I had not anticipated finishing these so quickly, but thankfully, I had 2 Timothy ready so we launched into that letter. After another 3 days 2 Timothy was done.

One other book I had prepared a few years ago was Colossians. With a couple of weeks still left, we began working on it. At this point, however, Siyokira decided that he wanted to return to the village. Remember he had only planned for a week. So we began looking for a boat to take him back, but couldn’t find one. He agreed to keep working on Colossians and finished it after 3 more days. The next day I made copies of eve- rything Siyokira and I translated. Later that afternoon we were surprised to find a boat to take him to the village. Satan is still working in this world and he does not want this translation completed. Perhaps this was his at- tempt to thwart the work once again. But God uses these things to not only transform us, but He can turn such circumstances into something that will bring Him honor and glory. So join me in praising God for what He did. After I left I learned that Kwadima is again running.

There are just 5 books left to be translated to complete the Gumawana New Testament! PTL!

Roxanne and I will be making an- other trip in March-April. If you would like to help financially in this trip, please contact us.

New Dorms

New dorms are being built at our Alotau center. That is why Siyokira had no place to stay at the center this time. Be praying for John Boyer and the Papua New Guineas working un- der him as they continue construction of this building. There is a course coming up in February and it would be nice to house everyone right there at the center.

One need we have is for a computer monitor. With a monitor attached to my laptop I can turn it to face Siyokira and he will be able to see the changes as they are made.

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