NEWS AND PRAYER REQUESTS FROM JOHN AND BONITA PRYOR

June, 2001

June is a month of celebration for John and Bonita Pryor, missionaries among the Ap ma

speaking people of Papua New Guinea with Pioneer Bible Translators. This month they begin
their 25^ year in Papua New Guinea. Their younger son, Josh, celebrated his 21=* birthday on
June 12, and they celebrated their wedding anniversary on June 13.

Missionary Aviation i=ellowship(MAP)is celebrating 50 years of service in PNG in a special

ceremony on June 16. John has been asked to be a keynote speaker, representing the missions
in Madang.

John and Bonita and Caleb and Rute returned to Madang June 8 and will help with the orientation

of the PBT/PNG interns(5 young people and their 2 team leaders), who will be visiting various
bush allocations throughout the summer. Please pray that this will be a good experience for the
intems and that God would use this time to show them His will for their lives. During the time in

town, Caleb and Rute will also be helping lead the PBT Children's Retreat scheduled for the end
of June. They anticipate retuming to Samban around July 6.

Praise God with us for the great Sunday School attendance and the children's eagerness to learn.

They have had a couple more people join them in helping to teach, which is an answer to prayer
as they anticipate the return of Caleb and Rute to the States in September.

The translation work is progressing well, as Maso has completed the rough draft of Ephes/ansand
is now working on Galatians. Please continue to pray for him and his family and ^at he would
recover the money that is owed him; pray for him to have peace about the situation.

Please continue to pray for the church in Samban, especially the leaders, that relationships would
be restored and that there would be repentance and revival in the church.

The water tank is lower than normal for this time of year as the rains have stopped suddenly.

Please pray that the rains will come sufficiently to keep the water tank filled and that the people
of Samban will have a good growing season, something they have not had for a couple years.

Please continue to pray for John and Bonita and their sons. Josh and Jesse(and his wife Karie
and daughter Naleh), as well as for their extended family. It is difficult being separated by so
many miles. Pray for safety for ail and for their peace of mind at being so far away.

Thank you for your prayers and your interest in this ministry. May God bless you richly.
JOHN & BONITA PRYOR
Pioneer Bible Translators
P O Box 997

FORWARDING AGENTS:
Bruce & Mary Ann Graff
Lebano" St.

Madang 511

Nashville, IL 62263-1410

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Phone: 618-327-3234

jpryor@pioneerbible.org.pg

graff@midwest.net

NEWS AND PRAYER REQUESTS FROM JOHN AND BONUA PRYOR

July, 2001
John and Bonlta and Caleb and Rute enjoyed a productive time in Madang last
month. The youth retreat was a great success. Rute had had an ear Infection and then
adverse reaction to the medicine, so she was not able to attend all of It. Caleb's
girlfriend. Dawn Morris, was there visiting and helped out. Bonlta, Caleb and Rute
returned to Samban on July 6. Pray that Caleb and Rute will be able to accomplish all

they would like to during their last two months In the village before returning to the
States In September. Pray for their Sunday School classes and the other teachers, and
for the other classes that Caleb and Rute are teaching.

Please pray for John, who has come back to the States to help Josh with some
major decisions In his life. Pray for Josh to be led by the Lord In making all of these
decisions. Pray also for John and Bonlta both while they are away from each other. A
recent e-mall said that the villagers were grateful that Bonlta, Caleb and Rute had
returned to the village and were being very protective of them. We thank God for this.

We praise God for some good rains In recent weeks that have the water tank to
3/4 capacity. However, they need regular rains to maintain the water tank level. Please
continue to pray for rain for their area during the dry season.
Seven Interns arrived In PNG last month and are In the process of visiting

different villages. They will be In Samban July 24-30. Pray for their safety and that
they will experience all that God has In store for them and follow His leading.
Please pray for wisdom for Bonlta In her role of Assistant Director of Language
Affairs, as she tries to help the other translation teams In their work. She spent much of
her time In Madang fulfilling these duties.
Maso continues to work on the translation of Galatians Into Ap ma. Please
continue to pray for him.

Thank you for your Interest and your prayers. May God continue to richly bless
you.

JOHN & BONITA PRYOR

Pioneer Bible Translators
P. O. Box 997

FORWARDING AGENTS:
Bruce & Mary Ann Graff
173 W. Lebanon St.

Madang 511

Nashville, XL 62263-1410

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Phone: 618-327-3234

jpryor@pioneerblble.org.pg

New** graff@charter.net

NEWS AND PRAYER REQUESTS FROM JOHN & BONITA

PRYOR
August,2001

The Interns did not go to Samban as planned In July. Instead, Bonlta, Caleb and
Rute spent an unscheduled 10 days or so in Madang. The people In the village became
very concerned for their safety as rumors of a gang heading to Samban circulated.
They could not locate known members of this gang. They were told It was the same
gang (or similar) that had robbed the village of LIkan, where PBT missionaries William
and Robin Butler work, at gunpoint In June, so they felt It necessary to go Into Madang
until the rumors died down. At no time did Bonlta feel In danger, but It was a big
concern for those who felt responsible for their safety. Bonlta was able to work on
several things that she needed to attend to while In town, and the Interns were able to
go to the village of Angguna where Martha Wade works. Bonlta, Caleb and Rute were
able to return to Samban on August 2. So please pray for their safety and protection at
all times.

Pray for Caleb and Rute as they finish their time In the village this month. They
were quite disappointed In having to go to Madang. They were able to enjoy the time
there with no responsibilities, however. Pray that they will be able to finish their classes
as they want, that God will provide others to continue these classes, and that they can
put closure on their village time and say their good-byes. Pray also for their speaking
engagements and travel plans once they return to the States In September. (They will
leave Madang on September 11, the morning after we arrive there.)
John will be returning to PNG this month! He and Josh are scheduled to leave
Nashville, Tennessee, on August 11 and arrive In Madang on August 13. Pray that they
have safe travels and that the time In PNG will be good for Josh and he will follow the
Lord's leading In His life.
Please continue to pray for the water situation In Samban. Due to the dry
season and the many visitors for the sports tournament In early July, the water tank
level went down quickly. When they went to Madang In late July, It was down to V4
capacity. Since then they have had a good rain which brought It back to nearly full and we are grateful for this! - but It Is a matter to keep before the Lord In prayer since It
Is the dry season and rains are normally scarce.
We would also ask that you pray for Bruce and I and Paula McRoy as we prepare
to go to PNG from September 8-25 to visit John and Bonlta. Pray that we will have
safety In our travels, that we would be a blessing to John and Bonlta and the work they
are doing, and that God will watch over our family and keep them safe while we are
gone.

Continue to pray for Maso as he works on rough drafts of the Scripture. Pray
that John will be able to get right back into the translation process where he left off.

You are special to John and Bonlta and they appreciate your prayers so much.
May God continue to bless you as you labor for Him.

JOHN & BONITA PRYOR

FORWARDING AGENTS:

Pioneer Bible Translators

Bruce & Mary Ann Graff

P. 0. Box 997

173 W. Lebanon St.

Madang 511

Nashville, IL 62263-1410

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Phone; 618-327-3234

jpryor@ploneerbible.org.pg

graff@charter.net

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

Nashville, IL 62263-1410

E-Mail: graff@charter.net

John & Bonita Pryor

P.O. Box 997, Madang 511, Papua New Guinea

See this newsletter in color on the web at <www.pioneerbible.org.pg>

E-Mail:jpryor@pioneerbible.org.pg

September 2001
In April we began praying that God would expand our terri
tory, never dreaming of how far we would be moved or how
much we would be stretched. We have definitely experi
enced growth, and our faith is increasing.
God has been stretching us both as individuals and as a fam

ily. In June it became evident to us that John needed to go

back to the U.S.A. to help Josh through some major transi
tions. I remained here to keep things moving in our various
teaching endeavors and literacy concerns and to attend to
various administrative duties for our group. This was a very
difficult time for us, since we had never been away from
each other for that length of time(a little over eight weeks)
in our 30 years of marriage. Again, who would have thought
that God would have expanded our territory to circle the
globe!
God has expanded our influence in teaching, as John and I
have both continued to be involved in our Bigman's Sunday
School class. I teach the literacy and memory verse part, and
John teaches the Bible lessons. We have also both been in-

IP*A
mM

volved in the Sunday School class for the chil

dren. John has been able to use his little ven

triloquist dummy to help him teach various les

sons. Our numbers for the children have contin

ued to grow, now averaging around 230 each

Sunday. John, Caleb, and Rute have worked
with three young boys, who now play guitars
and the keyboard and lead the singing. The chil
dren are continuing to learn their memory verses
and to show great enthusiasm for the puppets
and coloring their pictures.

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We are having more opportunities to expand our terri

tory in the language area, as we have helped with vari
ous community projects, treated snake bite victims, paid
for emergency medical evacuations, etc. At the end of

Prayer & Praise

September, we will be hosting an in-service training

course for the community school teachers to show them
how to use the vernacular materials that we have devel

oped for teaching the grade four students how to read

and write in Ap Ma.

Praise God for His daily presence and sustaining ^

love.

to learn that we are completely dependent upon Him.

Praise for the growth in our classes and our contacts with other people in the area.
Pray for our community school teachers, who will
be using the new vernacular materials in the last
term of the school year here (Oct.-Dec.).
Pray for our travel back to the U.S. and our medi
cal and family concerns.

We are continuing to pray that He would use us to reach

others for Him wherever we may be.

Pray for Maso as he attends an Epistles Workshop^

in November to complete Galatians & Philippians.

Josh was able to return to PNG with John and will be

here for a couple of months. Then the three of us will be

returning to the States for a couple of months. We need
to get Josh re-settled, and I need'to have some medical
tests done. So again, God is expanding our territory. In
these times of expansion and growth, we are continuing

Thumbs Up
The past year has gone by so quickly. There have been many surprises along thisjourney. The
tears flowed the last day when Rute and I left the village for the last time. It was very hard to leave
the people knowing that it would be a long time before either of us saw them again. By the time you
receive this, Rute and I will already be traveling in the States. We wanted to write a last newsletter

to share with you some of the images of the last couple months in Samban. Thank you for yours
prayers and support that you have given to us during these
months. You have helped in ways that only the Lord can re
pay. Just like this picture, we give you two thumbs up for
your ministry to us and the people in Samban. Thank you and
may God bless you for your generosity. We will be traveling

I to our supporting churches and reporting about our work in

!PNG. Here is our traveling schedule for the next couple of
months.

Sept.
Oct.

23

New Hope Christian Church, Roanoke VA

30

Woodbine Christina Church, Corbin KY

Meadowbrook Christian Church, Maryville TN

10

First Christian Church,

14

Fortville Christian Church, Fortville IN (AM)

Driftwood Christian Church, Vallonia IN(PM)
Kingsway Christian Church, Indianapolis IN

14
Nov.

10

Morristown TN

Servants of the Kingdom in Samban, Papua New Guinea

When I began looking for an in-

I ternship, I was attracted to Papua

I New Guinea because I already knew

I the missionaries.
John and Bonita Pryor are both

[graduates ofJohnson Bible College.

They served in two church and teach
ing opportunities before the Lord
called them into translation work.
V

--

They have been in PNG since 1977.

They have two sons,Jesse andjosh.

Rute and 1 went to school with both

I sons. John and Bonita were one of the

first teams to come to Papua New
Guinea. Through the years, the Pryors have seen a lot of change in PNG. They have been woiking with two national translators over the past 20 years to translate the New Testament into
the Ap Ma Language. (Continue on page 4)

Page 2

Stori bilong Mipela

Volume I, Issue 4

Say cheese,Erika and Grace. "But who are we really

supposed to be looking at? I am confused?!?!"

"Your everlasting love is higher, higher, higher than the

sky..." - the favorite song at Religious Instruction.

Someone should tell Caleb and Ruddy what is behind thema

beautiful "landmark" in the town of Wcwak.

4;

"Where do I go now?"
questions little Pam.

"Just follow those other

guys", directs teacher
Caleb.

Did we mentioned that we like to sing at Religious Instruction?

Praises

'Good health

Safe travel from the village.

Sunday School continues to be successful.
AH supportive church's are line up for visits.
Good visit from Dawn Morris, Caleb's girlfriend.
Continued encouragement received from family and fri ends.

Some of the faces that were part of our lives

these last ten months in Saraban.

Volume 1, Issue 4

Stori bilong Mipela

Requests

The teachers who are continuing the work with the Sunday School.

Page 3

Sulei, Rute,and Jessie enjoy an relaxed af'

ternoon in town of Angoram.

Pryors continue work with the Ap Ma language gro up.

Pray for the friendships left in Samban and PNG.
Our two months of traveling in the States.

Rute's return home to Portugal.

Patiently waiting in line for the next

game on our last day of school.
Ready to boogie: Pola dressed Rute with the tra
ditional grass skirt and all the jewelry of a tradi
tional "singsing"(ceremonial dance).

Caleb and Nick enjoy their last

meal togetherNick had prepared

some special sago for his friend.

Sewing puppets can be fun, al

though some do prefer to stay
back and play guitar.

Where is Waldo? It is actually Caleb and some youth

from Sunday Schoolthe last Sunday in the NnJiagc.

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(Continued from page 1)

i
The Pryors are also involved with the community.
John leads morning devotions during the week and Bonita
does medical work. They have strong ties and relationships with the people and are highly re
spected. Plus, you have not played a good game of PHASE 10 until you have played with John and
Bonita. This past ye^hey have opened their lives to Rute and me. Thank you,John and Bonita,
for the blessing of woifeing with you.
''How BEAUTIFUL ON THE MOUNTAINS ARE
THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD

NEWS OF PEACE AND SALVATION,THE

NEWS THAT GOD OF ISRAEL REIGNSl"

Here are some prayer requests from John and Bonita;

Pray for the Sunday School teachers and children as they

continue to study more of God's word.
Pray for Maso who is translating rough drafts of several
Epistles this year and who will be attending a workshop
concentrating on Phil, and Gal.in November.
Pray for wisdom for John and Bonita's decision about
how best maintain the airstrip. The tractor has major
problems.

New Guinea
News
Forwarding Agents:
Mr & Mrs. Brace Graff

173 West Lebaooa Street

Nashville* iL 62263-I4I0

EoMail: graff^charter.act

John &. Boniia Pryor

P.O. Box 997, Madmg SII, Papua New Guinea

December,2001

This newsletter is being brought to you by Pryors' for

warding agents, Bruce and Mary Ann Graff. John and

Bonita thought you would like to hear about our trip to

PNG to give you a different perspective on their ministry.

They have been living there and working among the people
for so long that they take many things for granted that we
looked at with fresh eyes. We took pictures ofeverything!

Set

tKw^kU^in cotor on the veb at <yrww.pioneerbibk.orgpg>

jpryor@ftomerbihteorg.pg

On Friday we finally headed for Samban. We were impressed

with the warm welcome ceremony given us by the people at
the airstrip. The next day another group welcomed us with a

traditional singsing. They are a very loving, generous people

and were very eager to share their way of life with us.
Doing anything in the village takes extra time due to the heat

and high humidity and primitive conditions. If it gets down to

80 degrees,that's cool! We didn't ask what the temperature
normally was! Bonita served delicious meals, but prep time is

When they were looking through them, Josh was amazed at

increased without the modem conveniences we are accus

the things we thought worthy of photos things they are

familiar with but have no photos of. It's because it was all
new to us.

tomed to and take for granted no microwave and limited

electricity off the battery. But we've never tasted sweeter
pineapples or bananas than in PNG! Bonita has to plan inad-

Paula McRoy had been planning to visit PNG for over a

year. In early April, her traveling companion had to back

vance so that everything she'll need comes out on the plane

or she has to improvise. And since bananas are often given to

out due to a job change,so she asked if Mary Ann would

like to go with her. We felt that Bruce would be more valu
able to them once there, so we asked Pryors for their ad
vice. Bonita said we should both come! So we began mak
ing plans and left the US on Saturday, September 8. It's a
very long plane ride to PNG! One thought that struck me
was how many times they had made this same trip through
the years, traveling with the boys as they grew up. This

them a stalk at a time and thus ripen at once, she is very cre
ative with recipes for ripe bananas!
Jobs requiring large amounts of electricity are done while the

generator is running, three days a week,about 9 hours a day.

Otherwise, they use power stored in batteries. They were very

glad that Bruce and Maso got the diesel generator working
again since it runs more efficiently than the gas-powered one.

would not be the most pleasant trip for children, confined

to a plane for up to 13 hours at a time.

We arrived at Madang on Monday afternoon and were

met by many in the PBT family. They a// appreciate visi
tors from America even if they don't know them yet.
We spent the first few days in Madang, recuperating from
jet lag and preparing to go to the village on Friday. We
were impressed by all the preparations that go into getting
supplies to the village. Since they were in town, Bonita

i li

handled this. When they are in the bush, their buyershipper does the buying, boxing, labeling, weighing, listing
by priority, etc. Space on the plane is limited to a certain

weight, so you have to be sure the important things get on

first. And with no SuperWal-mart, it's not one-stop shop
ping either! Bruce was able to relocate the ham radio an
tenna cables, moving them from the director's office to the
radio room while we were in town.

Paula McRoy. John & Bonita Pryor, Mary Ann & Bruce Graff

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I sometimes wondered how John and Bonita manage to get

anything done at all since it seemed someone was always at the
door, needing their assistance with medicine, kerosene, etc.

This is all part of their ministry.

Prayer and Praise

i
1

** Praise God for safety in Pryors' return to the States in i?

October and Bonita's good medical test results.

^
** Praise God that Maso has had such a productive time ;
at the Epistles Workshop,completing rough drafts of j

Galaiians, Philippians.Jude a.nd2 Peter. Hshcgan f

: working on I Peter. Pray for continued progress and f
safety as he returns to the village Dec. 5.
'
** Pray that Josh will get his Massage Therapy license ?
soon and be able to find a good job. Pray he will fol|
low the Lord's leading in all he does.

** Pray for safe travel as John and Bonita return to PNG ^

in January.

Bruce proved to be quite handy in Samban. He and Maso

worked together to repair the diesel generator and then tackled
the really important project the tractor! John had been mowing
the airstrip with a small push mower, which is time-consuming and
hard work, especially in the tropical heat. They spent the Jjetter
part of two days working on the Kubota tractor, eventually taking
pistons from an old "parts" tractor and replacing them in John's
tractor. Bruce got a good education in "bush technology," mak
ing do with what you have. It was a grand time when the tractor
ran again! He was also able to check out the ham radio situation

and, with Maso climbing the 50-foot tower and one ofthe boys
stringing another wire in the coconut tree, he installed new coax

and antenna. Unfortunately, there was a major problem with the

radio itself, so he wasn't able to test it to be sure it works. Thanks

to the donation of a new rig, we should be able to talk to John and

Bonita on ham radio much more clearly when they return to Sam-

i|

** We received word over Thanksgiving that a big rain

resulted in a crack in the water tank at Samban. Pray

[
v

for wisdom in the replacement ofthe water tank.

** Pray for the church at Samban, its leaders, the Sunday I

School teachers and the students, that they will remain l

strong while Pryors are gone.

Being in PNG on September 11 and separated from our

families gave us a new sense of appreciation for what all of
our missionaries go through as they leave their loved ones
behind in the States to serve on foreign fields. Fortunately,
we were able to learn that our family members were all safe
within an hour of hearing of the attack on America. We

really appreciated e-mail at that time!

It was really wonderful to meet the people with whom

John and Bonita work, both in the village and the other
PBT missionaries, and to see first-hand where they live. It

gives us a deeper appreciation of their ministry and pre

pares us to serve them better as forwarding agents.

ban.

We were overwhelmed with the generosity ofthe people before

we left the village, especially since we'd been there only a week.
They had another singsing and escorted us to the airstrip in the
midst of it. We were glad to know they were friends!

If you would like to receive this newsletter via e-mail instead

of hard copy in the future, please notify us at
graff@charter.net. We also maintain a list of those who like
to receive monthly e-mail updates. Contact us to be added.