As missionaries prepare to teach the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea to read and write they ask themselves many questions.
"Are all the materials here and ready? Do we know the language well enough to communicate? Are we fit enough to answer their questions in their language? Who will build the school house and how big should we build it?"
These and other thoughts are constantly in the missionaries' heads.
"We are a bit nervous but also very excited about it," wrote Ralf and Elli Schlegel. And the 14 students that will make up the first-ever literacy class are also nervous.
All the students are adults but some have never been to any kind of school before. Now they're expected to be at school on time every morning and concentrate for up to two hours on letters and sounds. They are familiar with the sounds, but they will be learning letters they've never seen before, let alone used to make words.
Missionary Gary Smith and a Dinangat co-worker, Jeremiah, will teach the class, looking for able men and women to train as future teachers. The missionary team wants to hand the school over to Dinangat teachers as soon as possible.
The missionaries have their questions, but instead of worrying they are committing their concerns to God.
"For it is He who wishes, even more than us, that the Dinangat people will learn to read and write so that they will be able to read His Word on their own," the Schlegels wrote. "He is the One who has started this work and He is the One who wants to draw the people to Himself. We are only His tools which He uses, so why worry?"
Please join them in praying that the material will be communicated clearly and that the Dinangat people will diligently apply themselves to reading and writing their own language.
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