Prayer Partner Letter

July 2014

Dear Prayer Partners,

There are often volunteers from the United States who go on short-term mission trips to bless the missionaries who serve overseas. These include such people as mechanics, construction workers, carpenters, doctors, nurses, childcare workers, cooks, encouragers, and about any other ministry you can think of. The length of these trips can be from one week to several months.

Alta Beasley is a stateside missionary with Pioneer Bible Translators who earlier this year volunteered two months of service in Papua New Guinea as an encourager and cook (something she’s done several times). She accompanied her husband Wes who was there to serve as a translation consultant. She wrote of her experience as follows:

I usually like to play “itinerate hostess” and have all of the Pioneer Bible Translators personnel in Papua New Guinea over for a home-cooked meal. I had some of them, especially the singles, over in groups and the rest as couples. It took me a whole month and a half to get to everyone, and I had some of them more than once (27 people in all for 10 meals). I also hosted a group meal at our apartment along with a “sing and share” and communion time. That was so enjoyable. The staff here is so over-worked and shorthanded that they seldom take time to get together. So that was a big part of my personal mission for being here— to give them fellowship opportunities and time away from work to enjoy each other. I love to do that. I had to fight/endure a few days with no electricity and thus no fans while I cooked all day in the heat, but God gave me the strength to do it.

I have also been trying to finish up the altering of all the bed sheets for the twin beds in the national translators’ housing. The Lord blessed this branch with funds to build a dormitory for the national men and women to stay in when they come in from their villages to work on checking, exegetical studies, literacy workshops, etc. The Pioneer Bible Translators staff here purchased 60 plus sets of sheets for the twin beds in the dormitory. Unfortunately, when the order arrived the sheets were all king and queen size. Two years ago I started altering these sheets to fit twin beds and am now finishing that job. I’m also using the strips I cut off the flat sheets to make drawstring bags to put each set of sheets in so they can be easily distributed when the nationals come to town. I am close, but I will not be able to finish the job before we need to go. Hopefully, I will have done enough that it won’t be hard for those here full time to finish. If not, I’ll finish them when I return, Lord willing.

Thank God for Alta Beasley’s ministry of love and practical service to the missionaries each time she goes to Papua New Guinea.

Praythat Alta’s example will encourage others to go on a short-term mission trip to serve missionaries their church supports or that they personally support.

Thanks for your prayers,

Gerald Denny
Care Department Director
Pioneer Bible Translators