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FOURTEEN STUDENTS ANXIOUS FOR FIRST CLASS

learning to hold a pencil

March 26, 2007

by Dena McMaster

The team of missionaries working with the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea will soon be teaching classes on how to read and write. They have also translated portions of the book of Genesis and the Dinangats will be helping them to check the translation for accuracy.

The classes will begin on April 30. The Dinangats are very excited about the opportunity to learn to read and there was much ado about who should be in the first class. Consultants have approved all the materials and the primers have been sent off to the printers.

Chalkboards and student supplies have been ordered and last week the posts for the school building were set in the ground and the structure is going up.

Missionaries Gary Smith and Jeremiah Markley will teach the first class.

Fourteen students have been chosen to attend the class and the missionaries will be looking for apt students to help them teach future classes. They will hold a teachers' training class at the conclusion of the literacy class in order to put the program entirely into the hands of the Dinangats.

The missionary team is excited to be taking the first steps in the process of teaching the Gospel to the Dinangat people. Missionaries Ralf and Eli Schlegel have translated portions of Genesis which will be checked by a consultant in about two weeks. These portions are the beginning of the translation needed for evangelistic Bible teaching.

Pray that the missionaries will remain diligent and continue working toward fluency in the language. Pray that as the Dinangats learn to read that the portions of God's Word that have been translated, it will penetrate their hearts and give them a hunger to hear more of His Word.