Cherished and Appreciated?

September was our Missions Focus Month at church.  One of the highlights of my day last Sunday was the video we watched in Sunday School.

The video, titled “Return to Hauna”, was about Wycliffe Bible translator Marilyn Laszlo.  In the video, she shared about the process of learning and documenting the Sepic Iwam language of Papua New Guinea and the 23-year process of translating the New Testament their language.

I found the first portion of the 30-minute video on YouTube:

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There were many things in the video that were encouraging, challenging, and convicting.  But the one thing that struck me was how much the Sepik Iwam people cherished and appreciated their “talk” being carved (which they saw as only limited to the white man – giving him power) and, equally as profound, the fact that “God’s carvings” was given to them in their “talk”.

Two observations:

• How often we take for granted our written language – whether we hold it in our hands or view it on a screen.
• Even more, how often we fail to cherish the fact that we have “God’s Carvings” freely available in our own language.

May we follow the example of the Sepik Iwam people:

Cherish and Appreciate.

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BTW, I found a transcript of a speech Laszlo gave a Urbana 1981.  It gives a good snapshot of her work at Hauna.

I pray I would have a passion for people as Marilyn has…