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Greetings from the Allen’s in
Amdu!
It’s been a little while since
you’ve heard from us so we’ll catch you up on what’s been happening.
Leaving America –
Returning to PNG
On January 18th we
said our goodbyes in America and began our trip back to PNG. We
arrived on January 21 and then had a few days to get reacclimated to the
time zone and weather before flying back to the Amdu tribe on January
29. Since then we’ve been getting settled, catching up with our
teammates and also getting back into a full-time schedule of language
learning (and homeschooling). It is good to be back and we are
thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness in bringing us back here to serve
Him.
Back into Language
As a result of being gone from
the tribe for almost 10 months, we forgot some things and regressed in our
language ability. Add to that the fact that our teammates continued
to progress while we were gone and you get that we probably sound like 2
year olds to our Amdu friends! (We have a 2 year old who talks quite
a lot. Sometimes we probably don’t even sound that good!) But
we have noticed a positive side to the gap in being immersed in Amdu
language and culture. We feel like we are hearing things we missed
before and new things seem to be registering more quickly than
before. We still have a long ways to go, but we are encouraged and
will continue to press on to learn this unwritten language. Please
pray that we will continue to make progress.
It seems like everyone
always likes to hear bloopers that language learners make so I’ll share a
recent one. The word for “cook” and “make a string bag” are only one
letter different. One day in an attempt to say that I (Emily) wanted
to make a string bag, I instead said that I wanted to cook a string
bag! The ladies had a good laugh over that one!
Regional Conference
Each
year all of the New Tribes missionaries in our part of PNG gather together
for a regional conference as well as standardized testing for our school
age kids. We were supposed to be there today, but the weather here in
Amdu meant that our plans were changed. Our pilot slipped through the
heavy clouds yesterday and was supposed to fly right out again with our
teammates, but the clouds and fog were too heavy for him to leave. So
he stayed overnight at the Allen Hotel and then left this morning to take our
teammates out to town. He then returned to get us. Between the
time he left town and when he got here (1 ½ hour flight), the clouds had
closed in again and he couldn’t land. We could hear him circling
overhead, but couldn’t see him because of all the clouds. Lord
willing, the weather will be better tomorrow and we will be able to get
out! Please pray with us for blue skies in Amdu tomorrow. 
The picture was taken this
afternoon. Looking down our airstrip you can normally see mountains
and ridges all around. Not today!!
Check out our blog
Even though we don’t have
internet in the tribe, we can still update our blog via email. We’ve
posted a couple things since being back in Amdu so check them out if you
are interested. www.ntm.org/bart_allen You can also click
on the subscribe tab on our blog and fill out your name and email address
if you would like to receive an email notification when we update our blog.
Thank you
Many of you who receive our
updates are closely connected with this ministry in the Amdu tribe through
your prayers, financial gifts and encouragement to us as we live in this
remote place. Please know that we value your part on our team and we
thank the Lord for you. We also love to hear back from you.
Getting emails is never a bother. Quite the contrary – it is
encouraging to hear news from home and be reminded that people are praying
for us.
Your missionaries to the Amdu
people,
Bart and Emily (Luke, Titus,
Caleb and Micah too)
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