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Daily Scripture
 
"I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I wil praise You among many people."

Psalm 35:18

GOD BIGGER THAN INTERRUPTIONS IN URIAI WORK

God is helping Lisa and her co-workers face various interruptions as they translate the Scriptures for the Uriai people.

December 26, 2007

by Dena McMaster

Watching a video Bible study called "Life interrupted" by Louie Giglio helped missionaries working among the Uriai people in Papua New Guinea understand the value of interruptions.

"Louie's been talking about how the one non-negotiable thing in life on planet earth is interruptions," wrote Lisa Kappeler. "He challenged us to embrace them based on the fact that God is bigger than any interruption and that no interruption can stop Him from what He is doing in our lives."

The first interruption to the work occurred when one of the missionaries' children began having convulsions due to a high fever. The doctor recommended that the family be evacuated immediately.

The next day, Lisa and her coworker, M'liss Spero, traveled to an Abau village and then on to the mission center for a translation workshop. God was a lot bigger than the interruption. Everyone arrived safely for the workshop. Tomas' fever went down and he was playing by the next afternoon.

When Lisa and M'liss arrived on Friday they were told that their co-workers, Tim and Bekka Peterson, needed to remain out of the tribe until Bekka could completely recover from her recent bout with Dengue fever.

"The Petersons would appreciate your prayers as they look to God for complete healing for Bekka," wrote Lisa, "and He is bigger than this interruption in our lives individually, as a team and to the Uriai church planting effort."

Finally, Lisa was able to begin the scheduled translation check with a missionary experienced in translation, Linda Krieg. They were able to begin checking the Scripture with four Uriai language helpers but then the power went out. Yet another interruption -- they tried to continue but by the end of the day it was impossible to see facial expressions to know whether the Uriais actually understood what they were reading. They would have to wait for a free Saturday during the workshop before they could begin the check again. On that Saturday, they were once again interrupted, this time by sickness. Linda persevered with a trash can by her side for emergencies and the check was finished.

"The check went well," Lisa wrote, "in that we found areas where what I had written didn't really convey the meaning I wanted it to convey. Praise the Lord with me for all He taught me -- and that again, He was bigger than the interruptions that came into this part of my schedule too."

Pray for good progress and insight as Lisa translates the Scripture. Pray also for Bekka Peterson to heal so that the family can return to help with the Uriai church planting effort.