Day 1

Pray for
Papua New Guinea.

Day 2 Pray for the

Ap ma people.

Day 3 Pray for key

Ap ma people.

Day 4 Pray for the

Pray for the disarming of the

spiritual powers that continue
to hold people in bondage.

Pray for the bonds tying people

Pray for Ap ma pastors and

church workers.
May they

Pray for co-translator Maso

themselves

true

children. Pray for protection

Pray that God will give them a

hunger for His Word and a

understanding of the Gospel

for them fi-om the Evil One.

and a desire to share it with

Praise God for the

keen desire to learn to read it.

their people.

talents and his faithfulness to

Pray that God would receive

the praise that is due Him for
the blessings oflife.

Pray for Mukok Balu and his

Pray

that

the

government

leaders will lead unselfish lives

to evil spirits to be broken.

have

for those they serve.

Pray for aid to reach all those in
need, especially those in remote

Pray that

Pray for the

church, that
divisions may be broken down
through unity in Christ.

Pray for the Scriptures to be

available in all the languages of
PNG so that believers can grow
and not be led astray.

Leko, his wife Dani, and their

Maso's

the task oftranslation.

areas.

Pray for government workers

to do their jobs to the best of
their ability.

Translation Team.

Christians

would

son Luke Mukok that as leaders

of the church in Samban area

they will remain healthy and

encouraged about the work.

know freedom from the fear of

sorcery so that they can also

lead their neighbors to an
understanding oflife in Christ.

Pray for Joe Wangi and Steven

Dakamut, that they would

him true love for the work.

become the faithful dedicated

church leaders God would want

Pray that God will bring

Christians together so they can

them to be.

demonstrate Christ's love and

Pray for all the church leaders

in the language group to learn

also be united in reaching out to

their community.

Pray for co-translator Balu

Mukok, his wife Jenny, and
their children.
Pray for
protection for them from the
Evil One. Pray that God will
multiply Balu's talents and give

to

read

the

vernacular

Scriptures well and to use them

in their preaching and teaching.

Pray for the interest in

vernacular Scriptures to spread
throughout the language area.

Pray for the protection of the

team's work time, especially
that no problems occur in the
lives of our co-translators that

would cause them to leave the

work.

Day 5 Pray for the

completion of the Ap
ma

New

and

the

Day 6 Pray for the

Pryor Family.

Testament

Literacy

Pioneer Bible
Pray

that

we

will

remain

committed to the task despite

program.

Day 7 Pray for the

total ministry of
Translators in PNG.

the difficulties.

Pray for the health and safety of

Pray for the completion of the
book of Acts, which is in
process.

subsequent

books

to

translate.

good .suggestions

transition

and

he

encouraged about the progress

of the work.

Pray that a literacy team would

join the Pryors to supervise the

literacy program for the Ap ma

people.
Pray for national workers to be

raised up to involve themselves

in literacy training.

to

home

schooling; our transition and

continued living in the bush.

TRANSLATION
MINISTRY AMONG Tf
AP MA PEOPLE OF

each team member.

Pray for the Support staff in

Madang whose labor allows the

Wwik

translation teams to remain in

tndonAftla

the bush.

Pray for good

Pray
for
the
checking
committees that they will offer

FOR THgl'RYORS

making: Jesse in the States;

Josh's

Pray for wisdom in the choice

of

Pray for adjustments we are

PRAY

(Man Jays)

health, for

discernment to know how to

Pray for the addition of more

deal with people, and for God's

Support staff to help with the

work in Madang.

help in situations that could

disrupt the work.

Pray for more translators.

Pray for us daily to protect

ourselves with the armor of

God for battling the spiritual

powers.

Pray for protection of our

personal time with God.

Pray for the provision for

needed funds for group housing
in Madang.

Pray for the daily ministry of

each member that he/she may
be sensitive to co-workers and

Pray for wisdom in decisions

we have to make about the
work.

Pray for the needed financial

means to carry on the work.

nationals alike.

PAPUA NEW QUINE/

I he Fryor pamhy

New
Guinea
News
Forwarding Agents:
Mr.& Mrs. Bruce W. Graff
173 W.Lebanon Street

NashviUe,IL 62263-1410
Bonita

Josh

P.O. Box 997, MadangSll, Papua New Guinea

served when we were first married. We know many of the

September, 1996
A Tribute to Our Forwarding Agents

How do you say thank you to a certain couple who has

represented you and worked for you, without pay, for over
nineteen years? The only way I can think of is to say, "Well
done, good and faithful servants." I am sure there is a great
reward awaiting you.

Bonita's sister Susan Dunlap and her husband Dale have

serN'ed as our forwarding agents since before we began our

translation ministry in Papua New Guinea in 1977. They have

done an excellent job keeping records, sending out receipts,
representing us, and always looking out for our best interests.
It has always been reassuring to know they were "taking care
of business" for us when we could not do it for ourselves

because we were thousands of miles away. Susan has recently

same people. Some of the churches they have served over the
years have supported us since we have been involved in Bible
translation. They themselves have supported us on a personal
basis as well.

When we sent out one of our letters of thanks to our

contributors last year and shared that we were needing to find

a new person to do the forwarding agentjob, Mary Ann called
right away. She has always had a love for missions and said
that just a few weeks before there had been another
missionary in the area that had been looking for a forwarding
agent and she thought, "I would really like to do something
like that, but I don't know this family well." Then, in just a

few days, she received our letter and felt that maybe this was
what God wanted her to do. She and we prayed about it for
several weeks. When they came to Johnson Bible College for

changed positions and is now an assistant principal in an

elementary school in Knoxville. Obviously, this job requires

Homecoming in February, she decided to accept the

responsibility and took the PBT forwarding agent application

more of her time. We knew that she would need to give up the

form home with her. She filled out the form for both herself

responsibilities she had for our work. We are just thankful that

and Bruce and arranged for the three references for each of

she and Dale continued to do the work for so long. We do

them to \vrite letters and then sent everything in the next

want to say thank you through this letter, and publicly

acknowledge them for their sacrificial efforts over the years.
Thank you, Susan and Dale.

New Forwarding Agents

Now

we would like to

introduce our new fonvard-

ing agents to all of you.

week.(You didn't know it was such a big deal to be a PBT

forwarding agent, did you?) Everything went well and she and
Bruce were accepted, and then we all started the process of
changing banks, etc. We found, as we knew would be the
case, that all the paper work takes time to complete, especially
going from state to state. However, most of the bookkeeping
items were transferred by May, with just a few loose ends that
were taken care of by June. You will note the new address in

supporters for many years.

the heading of our newsletter. Thanks to all of you who

prayed with us about the filling of this important position. We
feel very blessed to have such wonderful people to be a part

Bruce was in the

of our team.

Bruce and Mary Arm Graff

have

been

friends

and

youth

group at the First Christian

Back Home Again

We are feeling rather like MacArthur these days."We have
retumed." As many times as we've done this, it is still
amazing that one day we are in America, and after a ride in a
couple of jets, we are right back in PNG. I guess it is the
closest to "beaming up and down" that we will ever
experience. Furlough is quickly relegating itself into the

Church in Murphysboro,
Illinois, when John was

youth minister there from

1973-74. He and Maiy Ann
attended

Johnson

Bible

College from 1973-77. They

served in Coyle, Oklahoma,

dream category. "Were we really there a whole year? Were

at the First Christian Church

we really there?" Familiar sights, sounds, and yes, even smells

after they graduated from

college. That was the first

Our r\ewforwarding agents:

Bruce, Mary Ann, Philip

are quickly re-establishing themselves into our conscious

church where Bonita and I

and Katie Graff

minds. Do we miss America? Yes. Do we miss our family in

America? Do we ever! You can put your arm around us

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prayerfully and tell us that the "empty nest" syndrome will

eventually not hurt so much, that it happens to millions daily,

etc., but it is tough having a son halfway around the world;
especially when we have always made it a point to participate

in his life as fully as possible. I suppose unconsciously we will

pour a lot more time and energy into Josh since he is here and

Jesse is back there. I hope Josh is capable of handling our

extra interest!

How does it feel to be back? It's always an adjustment:

more humidity, people everywherewalking, no footbalL
prices that have skyrocketed, poverty all around us, less
reliable services, driving on the left-hand side of the road

again, more potholes in the roads, no four-lane highways, a

slower pace of life, more time visiting with people, seemingly
more time to get things done, no answering machines, etc. Did
you feel yourself starting to get a bit envious? It is starting to
feel good again. The jet lag is about overwe're starting tp

sleep all night again and not feel nauseous and disoriented.
The let-down part of leaving family and America is

diminishing gradually. Seeing co-workers and friends here is

helping us to feel "normal" again.

pounds that resulted

will force us to be more judicious in our selection of certain

items and use of various available services. (4) Rising crime
rate in metropolitan areas will cause us to be more cautious.
(One of our families was recently attacked by a few thieves as
the family was entering a guest house facility in Lae.
Fortunately, no one was harmed, but the PBT truck they were

driving was stolen). But all these things come with the

So what challenges face us? First, we have to lose a few

furlough

Left to right: Philemon Sanders,

Jesse's roommate last year; Rob Stover,
Jesse's roommate this year; and Jesse.

from

territory over here. We know that God is in control and will

protect and sustain us in every situation.

the "I-won't-get-

ice-cream-this-great-for-three-years" syndrome. We have to

Overall, yes, it is good to be back where we know we're

get things organized here in town to promote a smooth

transition to the bush (line things out with a new buyer/shipper

supposed to be. We're staying in town until after the PBT kids'

as our old one is leaving for furlough on Wednesday), go

stays in town. [Note: the storage shed was broken into twice

we will head back out to the bush. Fortunately, it is the peak

of the dry season so the mosquitoes won't be bad. "Miles to
go before I sleep..." so wrote Frost. We've got a lot yet to do,
and out in the bush is where we do it. We'd appreciate your

while we were on furlough. So we haven't determined

completely all that we lost yet.] We also have to get used to

home schooling again, Jesse at JBC, life in general.

through all of our stored items here in Madang and determine,

with what we brought back, what goes to the bush and what

retreat later on this month so that Josh can attend that. Then

prayers for our continued adjustmentus to the work. Josh to

the following: (1) Having Jesse in America and us here. (2)

MAP currently doesn't have a pilot in Madang. We will be
serviced out of Wewak. Since we will be the only team in our
part of the bush until after January, we'll have to plan on
fewer plane runs (that means less mail and more extensive
planning of what food/supplies we will need, along with the
patience to handle our foul-ups in that area). (3) Rising prices

We may have an e-mail address by the time you get this.

We're still not sure how reliable it will be, but one of our

teams here has been quite successful with it. So we are going
to try. We'll give you the address in our next newsletter, or
you can contact Mary Ann and Bruce to see if they have it by
now. God bless you.