Pioneer Bible Translators – Apr 2017 Prayer Partner Letter – The Song of Her Father

The Prayer Partner Letter is a publication of Pioneer Bible Translators

April 2017

Brian and Hannah Paris serve in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with their two little girls (Ray-3) and (Willa-1). Brian, as Director of Pioneer Bible Translators’ work in PNG, had just completed preparing for and leading the five-day annual group meeting (Jan. 16-20, 2017). It was an intense time of work that the Lord richly blessed. However, he was in need of a break so he and his family arranged for some days away in Cairns, Australia (about 800 miles away). Brian and Hannah were feeling nervous about how their daughter Ray would handle being in a new environment as she had had difficulties in the past. The article Hannah wrote before they left on this vacation appears below.

THE SONG OF HER FATHER

This is the first major trip away from home where both girls will be totally out of their element. Out of the safety of their room and the comfort of their routine. Granted, their routine will include playing, swimming, and eating, but the change is a disruption nonetheless [from their normal life in PNG]. Our most recent experience with this was our trip to the US last June, and many of you will remember it was rough. The times with family and friends were unforgettable. The nights of screaming were also unforgettable. The black man with red eyes coming out of Ray’s wall made his first of many appearances [in her bad dreams]. We prayed alone, we prayed in community, and we prayed globally. We fasted. We tried this technique and that technique. Finally, as prayers were answered, our lives became normal again.

When the world watched 2016 turn into 2017, it rejoiced. For whatever reason it seemed that 2016 was a year of missed expectations and massive disappointments for everyone, and there was a collective sigh of relief. My reaction was the opposite. I silently screamed, “Noooooo!!!” I tried valiantly to keep the clock from its relentless march, because 2017 means transition, transition, transition for us. It is our year of home assignment in the U.S. What I call in my heart “The Year of Up-rootedness.” I am dreading it and yet longing for it all at the same time. To see family versus missing my home in PNG; to have cooking conveniences and generally be physically comfortable versus losing our routine; to reconnecting to our home culture versus missing our PNG family. Home assignment is a ball of joy and heartache slammed into grueling months of travel. Moreover, we just got our girls back from the darkness of bad dreams and crying. Will they spiral again, starting with a much-needed-but-routine-blowing vacation [before they head for the States]? Oh, 2017, what is ahead of us!

Now back to the present here [their home in PNG]. I peeked around the hallway corner to check on Ray. She was happy, sitting in the middle of the floor directly under the fan in her underwear reading energetically to her dolls. I popped back to the living room reporting all was well to Brian as I sneaked out the door for an afternoon run. Ray hardly ever falls asleep during naptime, as she is happy to “rest” with her books and toys. When I came back, she was draped over the couch, groggy eyes staring out at me.

“Oh, no. Did she fall asleep after I left?” I asked Brian, eyeing her warily.

“Yep. Passed out in the middle of the floor. But she’s waking up okay this time.”

When she does go to sleep in the afternoons, she wakes up grumpy and sensitive. We have looooong evenings with a Ray who has napped. Therefore, we left her alone to slowly come out of the fog and she did just fine. As she sat silently watching me cook dinner, I asked how her rest had been. Did she have dreams?
She answered, “Yes. I dreamed.”

“What about, kiddo?”

“God.”

“Um… Good! What did God do in your dream?”

“God sang to me, and I went to sleep.”

“What song did he sing?” “A song for my heart.”

“Why do you think he sang to you?”

“He loves me.”

“Do you love him?”

“Yes, I do.”

Later Brian asked her if she could sing the song for him and she said, “Hmmm… no. It’s just in my heart.”

Though we will still have to actively choose peace [for the girls] in facing this year of home assignment, we are not feeling nervous about the impending transitions – the ones that bring joy and heartache, newness and loss, refreshment and disruption. God has transformed Ray’s sleeping experiences from traumatic evil to holy glimpses of himself. He is answering our nightly prayer that when our girls sleep, he would reveal himself to them. We pray repeatedly that he would call them and pull them to him while protecting them from evil. We now know beyond any doubt that he is doing it. He will keep doing it as they sleep in hotel rooms, many different homes, a new apartment, or an interesting camper. He is their true Father, and he will sing them a heart-song as they drift into sleep, no matter where their beds happen to be.

Thank God for his loving care for Ray. Pray that both Ray and Willa will be free of nightmares and protected with dreams of God’s love songs for them throughout their time in the U.S. and beyond.

Pray for other Pioneer Bible Translators’ children to feel secure in God’s love as they go through frequent transitions, including traveling around the U.S., sleeping in different beds in homes with people they often do not know.

Pray that missionary families coming on home assignment will plan adequate down time so that they are refreshed and ready to return to the field when it is time to return to their ministry overseas.