Adam & Julie MartinTribal Church Planting with the Akolet of Papua New Guinea

What Would You Do? (Answers)

What did we decide to do in each situation we wrote about last week?  Read on…

1. “To Dance or Not To Dance” 

We decided to show our gratitude for their including us by having photos taken of us with the dancers, but to explain that we didn't want to dance "since we didn't know how and would probably mess something up and be embarassed".  They seemed to understand and accept that.

2. “The Non-Emergency Radio Message” 

Because our reputation as people of our word was on the line, we agreed to go ahead and pass on the radio message like we'd said we would, but made it clear that in the future we'd have to know messages ahead of time before agreeing whether or not to use mission radio time to pass them on.

3.  “The Lemongrass Dilemna” 

I decided that pulling it out really wouldn't accomplish anything, so I left it in the garden and explained to the ladies that people back home cook with it and that’s what I want to do too.  (Eventually they'll understand that we don't involve ourselves in magic, but we'll leave that for another time.)

4.  “Shoes for Stanis” 

Again it was the word of the missionary on the line - he said he would give the shoes to this guy so we didn't feel we could refuse.  But we've decided that we will for now hold onto the shoes and wait for an opportunity to talk with this guy further about how he's been behaving towards us.  (In typical cultural fashion, Stanis conveniently hasn't been around since we became aware that he'd stolen things.)

Language/Culture Update:

Drum Roll Please...we are now in Akolet language and culture study!  We have had meetings the 26th and 27th with our missionary language consultant, Aaron, who flew out just to get our language study kicked off in the right direction.  Please pray for us as we find out what kind of a daily learning schedule will best work for us and wisdom in the massive amount of information we will be seeking to break into manageable pieces as we learn from the Akolet people.  This will consume the next 2-3 years of our lives, so it goes without saying that we would greatly appreciate your prayers!

Tech update:

We're happy to tell you that the photo section of our website has been updated!  The result is a fun new way to look at all our shots.  To see for yourself, visit martinpng.com and click on "Photos."  Then click on a gallery and get lost in the beauty of our building projects we thought would never end!  You can even use your arrow keys to browse the pictures, so it's faster and more efficient.

One last thing...  Our web guy has moved our Bush Notes and Praises and Prayer Requests to a more stable service, which means there's a new "feed" address if you've been using those to keep up-to-date.  They are:

Bush Notes: http://www.martinpng.com/bushnotes/wp-atom.php
Praises & Prayer Requests: http://www.martinpng.com/pp/wp-atom.php

"We lift our eyes to Heaven; We wrap our lives around Your Life."

Adam & Julie Martin
Akolet Tribe
Papua New Guinea

What Would You Do?

4 long years of excellent missionary training and 1 1/2 years in the country have prepared you well, but you can never plan for every specific scenario you'll face as a missionary! What would you do in the following 4 situations we've faced recently? Answers explaining what we chose to do in each of these situations and why will appear in a later email.

1. In honor of beginning language study, you plan a feast and the people are preparing traditional costumes and spirit masks to do dancing and singing to show you more about their culture. Then you find out that the ladies are making costumes for you and your co-worker to wear and dance with them. The dance has spiritual significance you haven't even begun to delve into, but participating is a risky move because of how you may be putting your stamp of approval on their involvement with the spirit world. By not participating, you risk offending them and their generosity in making the costumes for you, thus hampering relationships you're desperately trying to cultivate. What would you do?

2. A man comes to you and asks if you will use your mission radio to pass on a message for him to some people out in town. You explain that you could only use the radio in a situation like that if it was an emergency, like life or death (or you'd have a steady stream of people wanting radio
messages passed along for any reason). The man says, "Oh, it is an emergency, but I have to tell you later closer to radio time what the emergency is." You're distracted at the time and agree to pass on the message, but later find out it's not a situation even close to an emergency. What would you do?

3. You ask about getting some lemongrass planted in the small garden you have in your backyard, and soon a man comes and plants it for you. In a conversation with some ladies a few weeks later, you find that the only thing they use lemongrass for here is garden magic to make things grow well - it's not a food to them. They all see the lemongrass in your garden. What do you do?

4. On a recent visit to your tribe, a fellow missionary (unbeknownst to you until much later) agrees to send a pair of shoes out on an unspecified future flight for one of the young men in the area because the young man asked. Unbeknownst to the missionary, this young man is the worst thief around and he has several items of yours and your co-workers (including shoes) that he denies stealing but it's pretty obvious he did. The shoes come in on a flight with his name on the box, but the young man doesn't know they've come. What do you do?

Remember that everything you do affects your testimony, whether good or bad, and the people you hope are the future church are watching closely....

For God's Glory among the Akolet People of Papua New Guinea,
Adam & Julie Martin

P&P - February 10, 2007

Praise God:

• For a great celebration of our 5 wonderful years of marriage on February 9th!


• For being as done with our houses as we can be until we get a few final building supplies shipped in. (We thought it might never happen!)


• For our partnership with the Colemans and the blessing that their friendship is to us.

Please Pray:

• For us as we start into full time Akolet language and culture study in early March. Specifically: for us to find good language helpers, be diligent in our study, and that the Lord would open our minds to really absorb both the words we're hearing and their way of life we're attempting to understand.


• For regular rain to keep our water tanks filled.  We've been hearing rumors of a possible drought coming.


• For Leo, an elderly Akolet man, who is very sick with what appears to be advanced mouth cancer. Pray that if the Lord is willing, that He would extend Leo's life long enough to hear the gospel in a few years and be saved. If the Lord chooses not to, pray that He would use this time in Leo's family to create a need in them to listen to our teaching when the time comes so that they can be saved.

Reptiles and Raisin Bread

Dear Friends,

What kind of missionary would I be if I passed up a chance to tell a "there was a snake in my house" story?

Just today (an anniversary we will never forget) I was baking raisin bread. I was going to check the bread in the oven when I spied what looked like a rotten banana peel poking out from underneath the stove. I thought to myself, "That's funny....we haven't had bananas in...." and then it moved. Yep, our first snake in the house. I immediately shouted over to Colemans where Adam was helping Ryan with a job, because in all honesty my worst jungle nightmare is a snake in my house and here that nightmare is, reality.

They came, toting a quickly fashioned stick with two nails in the end. By this time the chocolate brown snake had lazily unwound itself from its warm hiding spot, and we identified it as a 4 foot python. Not venomous, but somehow that didn't set my mind at ease too much, thinking it could have just as easily been under our bed as under our stove!

Anyway, they chased it to the other side of the kitchen where it was trapped underneath our refrigerator. Smelling that my bread was almost done, I gingerly stepped over to the oven to try to get it out while the snake was cornered elsewhere. Unfortunately, the guys only thought it was trapped. Even more unfortunately, I was the one to discover this when I very nearly stepped on it on my way to check the bread!

A lot of screaming, hopping around and general confusion ensued, but let's just say we caught the snake and he's no longer a threat! Once my heart stops beating so hard, I may actually enjoy a piece of raisin bread, but for now I just keep repeating to myself "For the sake of the gospel..."

For the Sake of His Precious Gospel going to the Akolet of Papua New Guinea,
adam & julie martin