Tyler and Emily in PNG

Emily reflects on her recent 10 day trip to Gandep Bible College in rural Papua New Guinea to teach a scripture use course.

At the recent Scripture Use course I taught, the students were asked to pick a verse from whichever book of the Bible that had already been published in their language. In the past the teachers assigned a scripture verse for the sake of making memorization charts lesson easier for the students.

During this course some students only had the book of Mark; others the book of Luke, and a few had a whole New Testament in their language while others had no translated scripture in their language at all. It was unique to see what verses of the Bible they chose. Yes, of course a few students found a really short verse since it was easier to memorize and put on their chart they were preparing to make…the least amount of work possible. But others chose meaningful, lesson teaching opportunities.

I was blessed by our student Peter’s choice. Peter is a Kire speaker and has had the New Testament in his language since 2000. He chose Revelation 3:20. Now my first gut reaction was when he came to me with his selected verse was, oh no what in the world will this memory verse chart say. But when I opened up my Bible to check the context of the verse I was happy to read-

“Nde mbarara, gu thçmkamani thsgap kav, thçma fukfugap ki. Guma the na kamthooý mbararagip, thçma ntararga, guv hen ýgirçp, ana phorgç kçrga. Gu ana phorgç kçv, ana phorgç mbçrga, ana na phorgç mbçrga.” (Kire translation)

Okay, so I really didn’t understand it in Kire so I had to look at it in English,

“Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, we will share a meal as friends.”

It is a verse from the “message from the one who is the Amen-the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.” The verse reminded me of the gift of community so many Papua New Guineans have taught me. It also brought out the image of Christ that someone else would see and humbly reminded me of how precious it is to be a part of the family of God. It also deepens my desire which burns inside of me to share a meal as friends with Christ and many, many Papua New Guinean brothers and sisters in heaven.