A combined team of Calvary Chapels recently returned from a short-term missions trip to Uganda, Africa.

"I went there with the expectation of serving and loving the people, but instead we were served," Pastor Tom Balli explained. While his wife Sandi and older daughter Breanna had been to Uganda before, this was his first time to Africa.

"The Ugandan people showed me that what we need is Jesus and a personal relationship with Him--not projects or programs. They showed me the love of Jesus, reaching hearts. We here in the U.S. tend to miss out in simply seeing Jesus in others and sharing Jesus with others."

The team, which consisted of 32 people flew into Entebbe Airport on January 5. Their first experience with Uganda was in the capitol city of Kampala where "the amount of people and traffic is beyond description," Pastor Balli added. "And the poverty is beyond imagination, but the fact that the people are content is amazing."

Kampala is situated by famous Lake Victoria, one of the largest lakes in the world. The team was hoping to see the Wangaza Children's Choir (which charmed our mountains last Fall), but time constraints prevented them.

While in Kampala, the team started construction on a church called Agape Chapel, an extension of Agape Baptist Christian Church. Before the team flew out of Africa, they went back to the Chapel to dedicate it. Pastor Balli was deeply moved by the progress the locals had made on the building--and the plaque that mentioned the two Calvary Chapel churches. The entire neighborhood and even the Muslim Mayor turned out for the dedication.

After their construction work, the team got on a bus and headed south to Kabale. On the way they passed the Equator, marked by a white Arch.

"On that spot, water flows straight. Two steps North, the water flows counterclockwise, and two steps South, it flows clockwise," Pastor Balli explained. "People go to that Arch to do science experiments."

Several miles past the equator is Kabale, located in the mountains, at about the same elevation as our home town.

"It is a spot of incredible beauty," Balli described. "Very plush, cooler than the city (80 degrees and humid as opposed to 100 degrees and humid), with a deep lake nearby. We were surprised that the rural area has even more poverty than the city, with villages made of clay huts."

The mountain people seemed more reserved at first, but once the team got to know them, they showed as much love as the city people, yelling out "muzungu" (an affectionate term for "white people") whenever the bus pulled up. The team visited five projects run by Compassion International, a worldwide organization that allows Sponsors to support children and their families. Compassion sees that the sponsored child gets a education, medical attention, clothing, food, birthday presents, and Christian love.

"The Compassion children write letters to their sponsors, and they love to get letters and photos in return," Breanna Balli stated (while most people in Uganda speak some English, Compassion will translate the letters into native dialects).

Breanna (age 16), who had traveled on another trip to Uganda with her mother Sandi 3 years ago, also described visiting a Baby Orphanage run by three native women and some volunteers. Each of the 60 cribs had the baby's name and story on it (some babies were named by the staff since they were found by the roadside).

Breanna remembers holding an eight-month-old boy who had a fever. "The baby was having a hard time breathing," she uttered. "He had been found in a dumpster. I prayed that God would not let the baby die in my arms. Later I found out that they took little Philip to the hospital, and he recovered."

Many of the babies suffer from AIDS or malaria, but they are loved as much as the healthy ones.

"I got to see an example through the kids of how we are supposed to be like Jesus," Breanna added. "Through faith, anything can happen. I hope to study at the Calvary Chapel Bible College Extension in Kampala, and I would love to live in Africa."

The team also visited Bethel House, an orphanage founded by Ed Cornwall of Calvary Chapel.

"They decided to start a High School there for the children," Pastor Balli said. "So that's an extension of this mountain!"

Besides visiting with children, Balli attended a Pastor's Conference that was held in Kabale, in an impressive, two-storey Anglican church on the mountaintop (everyone hikes up instead of driving, because Ugandans love to walk). About 150 African pastors attended, welcoming Pastor Tom Balli and Pastor Joel Roggenback to share God's Word with them--plus Tea Breaks and meals.

One of the last events the team attended was Compassion Park Day, back in Kampala, where 120 children came from all over Africa to meet their sponsors.

The youngest member of the Uganda Team, Chelsea Balli (age 12), exclaimed, "I really liked Compassion Park Day! That was more exciting than visiting the Equator. We attached to the children, and I got to know a little boy named John, about ten years old, who was orphaned and left with his stepmother who burned him. He had white spots all over his skin. He was so loving. That was my first trip to Africa, and I want to go back!"

Her mother, Sandi Balli, was impressed that the team could help build a church in the outskirts of Kampala, so that local people could walk to services. "This was my second trip to Africa, and I was still amazed by their love for us. Seeing our sponsored kids was great. Moses and Flavia, both six years old, live on the shores of Lake Victoria, and I met them in a Kampala park."

The team returned to California on January 20, excited to share their stories at both churches, using videos, personal stories, and music.

"Every place we went in Uganda, they greeted us with dancing and singing," Pastor Balli concluded.

For more information about short-term mission trips to Africa, visit the web at www.omegacc.com

Jim and Lori Arnold and their children Daniel, Jennifer, and Josh have been missionaries to both Scotland and Ireland over the past 10 years. Jim, Lori, and Josh met me and my family at the Mandarin Garden Chinese Restaurant Sunday afternoon for lunch and an interview.

Jim, an enthusiastic man who is now the Youth Pastor at our local Calvary Chapel, has an amazing ability to communicate with teens in their own language. He grew up in the valley where he got into car racing.

"My mom left my dad when I was 10, so I grew up with my dad and 2 other brothers and a sister. I didn't have a clue about God and didn't care either. I got into rebellion in high school. I was a pretty adventurous person, jumping out of airplanes and racing cars. I met a man named Bill Osborne through racing. He shared the Gospel with me, and I began to think about God. Bill kept inviting me to go to church, and I kept saying no. Then after a bad experience, I went to church with Bill, to Calvary Chapel Riverside (now called Harvest Fellowship). Greg Laurie preached straight to me. He gave an altar call for anyone who wanted to get right with God, and I was the second person down there. My life has never been the same since."

Lori, a pretty woman with blonde hair and an emerald green sweater that she bought in Ireland, grew up with her parents, sister, and brother in Escondido. Her parents and 2 siblings attended a Catholic church.

"I always knew about God. I had an interest and a desire for the Lord. When I was 9, I was lying on my bed while my mom was washing the sheets. I started talking to my girlfriend through the bedroom window, and she told me I needed to ask Jesus into my heart, so I did. So since I was little I knew that God was taking care of me. I went through my rebellious stage but then rededicated my life to Christ after I met Jim."

When she was a child, she never thought she'd be a missionary, but she had an interested in going to Scotland after doing a school report about it.

"Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him," Lori quoted from 1 Corinthians 2:9.

"You never know what God is going to do. God is fun!" she added.

Jim and Lori met on a date during Labor Day Weekend, 1979 and have been together ever since. They moved to the mountains, got married, and began attending Calvary Chapel in 1983 when they got involved in children's and youth ministry. Jim began to get complacent in his walk with God until he heard a song by Steve Camp called "Living Dangerously in the Hands of God."

" 'How easily Jesus is forgotten among the comforts of our lives,' " Jim quoted the lyrics. "I was a Christian but not really living for Him. Those words challenged me to give up the world and live for Christ. And then there was a short-term mission trip to Scotland, sponsored by the church in 1989. Lori wanted to go and started praying about it. I said 'why do we have to go to another country to tell people about Jesus? We can do that here.' But God calls us to specific things in our lives. The Lord convicted me that I needed to go. We didn't have the money, but God provided it all. When God calls you He will provide everything that you need to accomplish His plan in your life."

"I was scared to death on the airplane, thinking 'what am I going to do?' We landed and went to Motherwell, Scotland (South of Edinburgh), where we started walking down the streets and inviting people to come to this little church we were sent to help. We were there for 2 weeks, and I had the best time just talking to people, to the youth. Many people came to the concerts and got saved, and it was just awesome. The Lord strengthened my faith. When you step out in faith, not knowing what you're going to do, God uses you and just builds your faith up. If you make yourself willing and available, God will use you."

"The first week in Scotland, we ran out of money," Lori confided. "But God literally sustained us. A local butcher came up our driveway one day and started loading bags of groceries into our car. We hadn't even said anything about our financial situation."

Jim and Lori went back to Scotland 2 more times on short-term mission trips. They began thinking about a longer stay there and included their children in learning about Scotland and missionaries' lives. Then they all took a month-long missionary training program in Tijuana where they got a crash-course in cultural anthropology, cultural shock, and cultural stress (living without American amenities such as English and running water). They began learning how to adapt to another culture, not make that culture adapt to them.

They all moved to Scotland to work with the church in 1994. "We stayed there for 2 years," Jim explained. "I worked with the youth, and we started a Bible study in our home in the small village of Law."

I asked them how they ended up in Ireland.

Jim explained, "When we got back from Scotland to California, I remember thinking that there are so many good churches, teachers, Christian colleges, and bookstores here. I asked God to send me where there's not so many churches. So I spent 2 years in the mountains, where I was an intern pastor and taking Calvary Chapel Bible College courses. I needed that time of preparation. Then we met a couple who had been to Ireland and suggested that we start the first Calvary Chapel in Ireland. A man named John Henry Corcoran from Ireland was speaking at a local Calvary Chapel. I went up and asked him 'How come there's no Calvary Chapels in Ireland, John?' He looked straight in my eyes and said, 'Well, you need to pray about starting a Calvary Chapel in my homeland.'"

Lori added, "When I went to shake John Henry's hand, he stared at me and said, 'Cork.' We didn't even realize what that meant, but we kept hearing that word from various people and found out it is the second largest city in The Republic of Ireland."

In 1998 the Arnolds visited Cork for a couple of weeks to get an idea about the place. They liked Cork, staying at a local Bed & Breakfast. They took a walk and met some young men, Tim and Nyle, who invited them to a local Bible Study and then to their house for dinner. The next night the men asked Jim to go into town and share the Gospel with people. So they got thrown right in to the ministry.

They came back to the mountains and told the church that they felt called to Cork. Within 3 months they had all the support they needed for 4 years there. Someone even paid for their plane tickets. In June of 1998 they were living in Cork, Ireland--with their 3 children, 2 suitcases apiece, and not knowing anyone except Tim and Nyle. They started Calvary Chapel, Cork, the first Calvary Chapel in Ireland. It took 9 months before they had their first church service. They met in a hotel conference room downtown, and Jim was the Pastor. He worked with the local churches and got to know the local people, integrating with the Irish culture and lifestyle. They never got opposition from the Catholic churches or priests.

Easter Sunday was their first church service, and they had no worship leader. Then 2 girls from Oregon emailed them, saying that they wanted to come to Ireland to help. One of them brought her guitar and became the worship leader.

Three Irish people came, and the church kept going every Sunday. (The churches in Ireland tend to be small, around 60 people maximum--not like the mega churches in America that have attendance in the thousands.) Soon the church got a local man named Dennis to be the worship leader, and another Irishman named Dave became Jim's assistant. The church moved out of the hotel in a year and a half and got their own building at a downtown intersection. Another American couple came over to help and ended up leading the church when the Arnolds returned to California in 2002.

Jim and Lori are going back to Ireland in March, to visit the "family" they made over there.

One of Lori's best memories of her service in Ireland was when The Festival of Hope came to Cork. They brought bands and gave free concerts in the Town Hall. 700 people showed up, and 40 people went forward to accept Christ. Cork had never had an event like that. Another memory was their last summer there when they had a baptism in the river. The park was covered with daffodils. Two children were being baptized. Jim was standing in the river with the kids, and the church was singing worship songs. People in the park start gathering to watch. Then three other kids wanted to get baptized right there.

"That was good of God to let us see a bit of the fruit from the 4 years we had there," Lori said with a smile. "It's nice to step out of your usual way of doing things and see what God can do," she added.

"Ireland is traditionally Catholic," Jim explained. "The people have religion, but they don't know much about the Bible, and they don't usually have a relationship with God. They are very inquisitive and would ask us about our faith all the time. They had the idea from television that born-again Christians were weird, whacked out, like a cult. There were very few Christian book stores. The Irish are really big into sports like Hurling, Rugby, and Soccer."

Jim's fondest memories of Ireland was walking through a downtown park where the teens gathered to drink, smoke, and practice witchcraft. He would do Bible studies there, and the teens would listen. "We discovered that the young people would listen to us more than the older adults would," Jim stated. "But often their families would harass them for going to church and reading the Bible. But once in a while a parent would get interested and start coming too."

I turned my attention to seventeen-year-old Josh and asked him what it was like to move to Scotland when he was 8.

"It was pretty fun. It was an adventure. I remember coloring maps of Scotland. I went to public school and had to wear uniforms. I'd go to the shops to buy things for my mom."

Ireland was a little harder for Josh to adjust to because he arrived at the age of 12.

"This time I didn't want to leave my American friends and school. I had my birthday and no friends. In school I didn't know anybody. I went straight from 6th grade to High School. They have 6 years of High School! For the first year and a half I hated school and tried to get out of it as much as I could. I finally accepted that we were there for God. Then I met a Christian friend at school and got a good group of friends and started having fun. Teen groups would come over on short mission trips to help us, and that was great. They would do concerts, and some of my friends would accept Christ in their life. Alcoholism is a big problem over there, and a lot of people are out of work, so it tends to be depressing. School is really hard. You have to take tests at the end of your senior year. If you do well, you get a free ride to the university. But there's a lot of pressure, and many teens drop out of school."

"When I returned to America, I went to a private Christian School, and I was glad. But after about 6 months I began really missing Ireland. I got to go back in the summer, and it was a really good time, hanging out with old friends. Then my whole family came back to the States so that I could graduate from High School here."
Now there is a Calvary Chapel in Galway and in Dublin. Calvary Chapel, Cork has grown from 3 people to about 40. It's not always about big numbers.

I asked the Arnolds if they'd like to go back to Ireland.

"Yes," Lori replied. "There's a part of me that misses living on the edge. I adapted to a different lifestyle. The church in America is like a bubble. We go from one bubble to another. But in Cork we were on the streets with the people all the time. I miss the relationships: having people over for dinner, talking over lunch or coffee. They're very family-oriented. Americans tend to be more organizational than relational. The Irish are also very cultural, with opera houses, musicians playing harps on the streets, old universities and castles. They have a rich history, literature, and even their own Gaelic language. And Cork was very multicultural. They even had a Mexican Shop."

"The most difficult thing about being a missionary in Ireland was a lack of a Christian support system like we get here on the mountain," Lori continued. "And you don't have the American culture that understands your mindset. It's like you're on the front lines, in a battle, and you get very tired. When a group of teens would come on a short-term mission, it was like a breath of fresh air."

Jim shared that he also would like to go back, even long-term. "I'm fairly adventurous. I like living out my faith."
"Do you have to be adventurous to be a missionary?" I asked.

"No. You just have to be willing to go where God will send you. Drop everything off and surrender your heart to the Lord and just go."

Josh admitted that he also would like to go back. "I miss it a lot. After high school I'm thinking about going to Bible College. They have extension campuses in England that I really want to go to. I want to be part of the ministry because it's what I grew up in."

"What was the hardest thing about being a Missionary and a Pastor's Kid?" I asked.

"Being without friends. No social life. I had to work at the church too, and I remember times I didn't want to get up early and set up for church every Sunday. Also, there would be times Dad would be out studying or working with other people, and it would be hard to catch time with him. So I had to learn to share him. The best thing was seeing God work, to know that God could use me, at a young age."

When they lived in Ireland, shopped in Ireland, worshipped in Ireland, and watched Irish T.V., the Arnolds couldn't help but see America--across the Atlantic Ocean--in a different way. It was hard for them to adjust back to the American lifestyle.

"There are so many choices in America! I remember going to the grocery store and seeing all they types of canned tomatoes and feeling overwhelmed. We have massive Christian book stores, churches, T.V., radio--so much opportunity. In Ireland we had to make do with limited resources. Over here, everything is at your fingertips."

Jim said, "People sometimes criticize missionaries, saying they are robbing other people of their culture, but I say that you can be Irish and be a Christian or American and be a Christian. You don't lose your nationality or your culture. Christianity didn't start in America! It's so cool to go anywhere in the world, even where you don't speak the language, and find brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said 'Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" (Matthew 28:19-20)

When asked what advice they would give to someone thinking about being a missionary, Lori said "Pray. Find out what you can about that culture. Read books about missionaries and their adventures. Talk to your pastor."

"Go on a short-term mission trip. Experience what that's like. Don't be afraid of faith. God can use anybody at any age. If you feel called, go," Jim exclaimed. "But remember that you can still be involved in the global community by praying for people in other countries. You can be involved in Cork and still be in the mountains."

"God can use teens in missions," Josh added. "You think you're going to bless others, but you get the blessing from them. You learn patience, to make meaningful relationships with people. God is Cool."
"We learned a lot from the Irish people. We became part of their culture," Lori added with a wistful, far-away look in her eyes.

For more information, visit Calvary's website.

This Easter is special for the Village of Tumun Gain in Papua New Guinea, a Pacific island located along the equator and north of Australia. This year the people will have the New Testament and Psalms in their own Numangang language, beautifully bound into their own Bibles. Though the Bibles will not arrive until October, they are already celebrating, starting with an Easter to remember.

"The Villagers will perform a big Pageant to tell the Easter story," explained mountain resident Nathan Hynum who grew up in Papua New Guinea--as the son of Wycliffe Bible Translators Dave and Barbie Hynum.

"The villagers will use banana leaves as palm fronds to represent the Triumphal Entry, boxes for the mule Jesus rode on, and blankets to represent the soldiers. They will make a wooden cross and bang their water tower to sound like the thunder that echoed at Christ's death."

This Easter is also special for Dave and Barbie Hynum who spent the last 27 years translating the Bible into the oral Numangang language--a task that involved their whole family and the entire village.

In the multimedia dance drama "Peace Child" (which appeared in here last January), Don and Carol Richardson left their American college town and flew with their baby daughter across the world. Their mission--to bring Good News to Papua New Guinea, an island covered with mountains, rivers, tropical rain forests, and beaches.

Less than 100 years ago, the island tribes were cannibalistic head hunters. The island people were very grateful for the arrival of Christianity to their country. Christians brought the Good News of Christ's love for them, which helped them overcome a long history of the fear of animistic spirits and tribal warfare. Christians also brought better medical care, housing, education, and useful technology. The bigger cities such as Port Moresby are fairly modern, and there's one main paved highway from one end of the island to the other.

Not long after the Richardsons' adventure which resulted in the book "Peace Child," Dave and Barbie Hynum heard the call to bring their young family across the world. Thus began the painstaking task of first learning the language and then writing it down phonetically. Then, with a help of a Wycliffe translating team back home, computer programs, and plain hard work, they used various early versions of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek to translate the meaning of the text into Numangang, checking and double-checking it for sense and accuracy, with final proofreading by both native and missionary.

"Many of the tribes of Papua New Guinea had embraced the Christian faith but did not have Bibles in their own languages," Dave Hynum declared at a recent interview. "Sure, they could learn to speak and read English--which is nothing like their own language--but when they finally could read the Bible it would be like us reading the Bible in, say, Egyptian."

Dave and Barbie Hynum had met while studying at Westmont College in Santa Barbara and married after they graduated. Barbie, who grew up in a Christian home and always wanted to be a missionary, studied cultural anthropology. Dave, a mathematician, became interested in the idea of using his logical skills to learn a language and translate the Bible into it.

Papua New Guinea is a place of many languages. Each jungle village can have its own language unrelated to the village near it. So Dave went to Wycliffe Bible Translators' Summer Institute of Linguistics in Oregon and fell in love with their program. He and Barbie had their first child, Carolynn, and then went to Wycliffe's Jungle Camp in Mexico for six weeks. Then they went for more Wycliffe language and cultural training before landing on the island of Papua New Guinea in 1977. By this time, Carolynn was two years old, and they were expecting Nathan any time. The young family began looking around for a village to work with.

They discovered the rugged Morobe Province.

"When we first hiked over the mountain into the tribe's area, it seemed as if the trees and rocks were singing with joy," Barbie declared.

"For you shall go out with joy,
and be led out with peace;
the mountains and the hills
shall break forth into singing before you,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." (Isaiah 55:12)

This adventure caused Barbie to go into labor 2 weeks early. Nathan was born in the medical clinic at the Wycliffe Support Center on the island. Later, Nathan's grandparents and uncle came over to build the village house for Dave & Barbie's growing family (they had 2 more children: Jeremy and Beth Anne). The grandparents ended up staying for a few years, so Nathan got to be with them while he was growing up in the jungle. The village eventually got a church building, a native pastor, and a worship team that plays electric guitars with an amp hooked up to a generator.

During their Bible translating project, Dave and Barbie Hynum had the help of Tribal men such as Tiriju and Salang, who make sure that the translation makes sense in Numangang and not just English.

Barbie has been heading up the government-approved Literacy Program, getting help from natives like Salang's son Samuel.

Samuel was Nathan's childhood friend, and when Nathan moved back to the mountains to attend school, they missed each other.

"I wouldn't trade life in the village for anything in the world. Anything," Nathan confided. "I never felt shortchanged at all. I didn't have the modern conveniences of American kids, but I didn't suffer. I was homeschooled, and I played outside with the village kids. We made our own toys: pinwheels and airplanes out of leaves, balls out of spongy tree guts. We'd let the harmless big spiders crawl all over us. My dad gave me a machete when I was 4. We'd eat roasted grasshoppers, lizards, and snakes. The people used to think the snakes were evil spirits. There's one poisonous green tree snake that is also very tasty, and we would hunt it. Sometimes the whole village roasted a 20-foot Anaconda snake that took 12 men to carry."

When Nathan married Jamie, Samuel was Best Man. Now Nathan and Jamie are proud parents of Kendyl (born in 2003) and are working on their mountain log house business.

Dave and Barbie Hynum would take breaks to return to the United States to visit their children and grandchildren (while still working on the translation project). They both received their Master's degrees five years ago--Dave in Pastoral Studies from the International School of Theology and Barbie in Literacy from Cal State.

Now that Dave and Barbie Hynum's Numangang Bible is finished, they are working with a publisher.

"That was not an easy job," Nathan admitted. He called every Christian/Bible publisher in the United States, and finally Tyndale House admitted that even they could not afford to publish the book in the States. The strict jungle requirements include real leather with a plastic cover (due to high humidity), sturdy Bible paper with gilded edges (which will last longer), and sewn bindings (not glued bindings because the ever-present jungle cockroach will eat the glue). The Bibles are being printed in by a Korean associate of Tyndale House, and the cost is about $15 each (including printing and shipping). The first edition will be 1200 Bibles with later editions hoped for. They Hynum family, with help from local churches, is raising money to pay for the Bibles, thought they will charge the Papua New Guinea villagers a small amount so that they value the books all the more.

A mountain group is planning a trip to Papua New Guinea in October, 2005--for the dedication of the New Testament in the Numangang language. Tumun Gain Village will host a two-week party, complete with sing-sings, roasted pigs, and dancing. The group will depart from California, route through Syndey, and land in Port Moresby, with shorter flights, buses, and hiking at the end (expect at least two days for travel to Tumun Gain Village).

For more information about the missionary efforts in Papua New Guinea, read "Peace Child" by Don Richardson. Anyone interested in attending next year's village party or wanting to support the translation costs can visit the Web at www.wycliffe.org, dial 1-800-WYCLIFFE.

Nathan Hynum grew up on the other side of the world, on a long Pacific Island called Irian Jaya on the west side and Papua New Guinea on the east. The island is covered with mountains, rivers, tropical rain forests, and beaches. It is located on the equator, north of Australia. Nathan's parents, Dave and Barbie Hynum who were with Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, went to live in a village in Papua New Guinea when his older sister was just a baby. There are no roads into the village, and you have to hike over a jungle-covered mountain to get there. There is no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and (gasp) no Internet access (though Barbie is hoping to get a satellite link this year for her Macintosh laptop).

As I interviewed Nathan (who is on the Worship Team at our local Calvary Chapel), he explained that less than 100 years ago, the island tribes were cannibalistic head hunters. The island people were very grateful for the arrival of Christianity to their country. Christians brought the Good News of Christ's love for them, which helped them overcome a long history of the fear of animistic spirits and tribal warfare. Christians also brought better medical care, housing, education, and useful technology. The bigger cities such as Port Moresby are fairly modern, and there's one main paved highway from one end of the island to the other. A true story tells about a secular anthropologist who interviewed an Island native about how Christianity affected his culture. The native replied, "well, if it hadn't been for Christianity, I would be killing you with my spear, eating you, and saving your head as a trophy. We are thrilled to be Christians."

The Lutheran Church evangelized Papua New Guinea in the 1930s. "When I was about 10 our village had a big party for a Lutheran missionary who had spent 30 years in the village next to ours," Nathan explained. "The story goes that when the young German missionary first came to our village, they warned him not to go to the next village, for he would surely be killed and eaten. But he said, 'God said I'm supposed to go.' He made the hike, and the headhunters caught him and tied him to a stake in the middle of the village. The women kept coming and pinching him to see how plump he was, and they prepared a huge feast around him. That night they put him in a central hut and danced until late. Early in the morning a strong wind blew down every hut in the village but the one the missionary was in. The terrified villagers thought he was a god and brought him offerings. Well, he stayed, learned their language, and shared the Gospel of Christ with them. He retired when I was 10 years old, and that's when my village gave him a party."

Nathan proceeded to tell me his parents' story.

Dave and Barbie Hynum met while at Westmont College in Santa Barbara and married after they graduated. Barbie, who grew up in a Christian home and always wanted to be a missionary, studied cultural anthropology. Dave, a mathematician, became interested in the idea of using his logical skills to learn a language and translate the Bible into it. Papua New Guinea is a place of many languages. Each jungle village can have its own language unrelated to the village near it. So Dave went to Wycliffe Bible Translators' Summer Institute of Linguistics in Oregon and fell in love with their program. He and Barbie had their first child, Carolynn, and then went to Wycliffe's Jungle Camp in Mexico for 6 weeks. Then they went for more Wycliffe language and cultural training before landing on the island of Papua New Guinea in 1977. By this time, Carolynn was 2 years old. The young family began looking around for a village to work with. One day, they hiked over a mountain in the Morobe Province. As they approached the Tumung Gain Village, home of the Numanggang People, they felt as though the trees were singing and clapping their hands for joy. The Bible says:

"How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him
who brings good news,
who proclaims peace,
who brings glad tidings
of good things,
who proclaims salvation." (Isaiah 52:7)

This adventure caused Barbie to go into labor 2 weeks early. Nathan was born in the medical clinic at the Wycliffe Support Center on the island. Later, Nathan's grandparents and uncle came over to build the village house for Dave & Barbie's growing family (they had 2 more children: Jeremy and Beth Anne). The grandparents ended up staying for a few years, so Nathan got to be with them while he was growing up in the jungle. The village eventually got a church building, a native pastor, and a worship team that plays electric guitars with an amp hooked up to a generator.

"I wouldn't trade life in the village for anything in the world. Anything," Nathan confided. "I never felt shortchanged at all. I didn't have the modern conveniences of American kids, but I didn't suffer. I was homeschooled, and I played outside with the village kids. We made our own toys: pinwheels and airplanes out of leaves, balls out of spongy tree guts. We'd let the harmless big spiders crawl all over us. My dad gave me a machete when I was 4. We'd eat roasted grasshoppers, lizards, and snakes. The people used to think the snakes were evil spirits. There's one poisonous green tree snake that is also very tasty, and we would hunt it. Sometimes the whole village roasted a 20-foot Anaconda snake that took 12 men to carry. By the time I was 12 years old I had been to China, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Guam, Thailand, the Philippines, and even Russia. I love New Guinea. It's my home. Missionary kids are Third Culture kids. They grow up in one culture, adopt another, and create their own."

The Hynums would stay for 4 years in Papua New Guinea and then go back to America for a year, visiting supporting churches and all the National Monuments, museums, and states they could find. This pattern continued until Carolynn got sick when she was 14. At about the same time Nathan fell off a zip line into a tree and injured his neck. So in 1989 the Hynums came back to the States, staying in Costa Mesa. A chiropractor cured Nathan, but Carolynn's illness lingered, so the family moved up to the mountains where they continued working on the Bible translation in a small-town atmosphere. Tiriju and Salang, men from the tribe, flew over to help them.

Dave flew over to Papua New Guinea for a few months at a time to continue working on the translation project. The Hynums got to move back to stay in 1998. Barbie's Literacy Program has been adopted by the government, to teach local school children how to read and write in their own language.

Carolynn has recovered from her illness and is living in Oregon with her husband and 2 children (she got an Associate's Degree from Calvary Chapel Bible College). Jeremy graduated from California Baptist University and works as a sales rep for a California plastics company. Beth Anne is an Art major at Point Loma Nazarene College (she recently got to study art in Paris and Milan).

Both Dave and Barbie received their Master's degrees 5 years ago--Dave in Pastoral Studies from the International School of Theology and Barbie in Literacy from Cal State.

When the Hynums were all living in the mountains, Nathan began attending a private Christian School, where he met childhood sweetheart Jamie.

"He told my class about growing up in the jungle where there were spiders as big as your face, just to freak out the girls, and I thought he was cute," Jamie commented.

Jamie, who moved to the mountains to pursue figure skating at the Ice Castle International Training Center when she was 9, eventually gave up skating for ballet. Nathan actually started dancing at the mountains' Dance Academy just to be with her. Nathan eventually went to Bel Haven College in Mississippi, where he got a B.A. in Dance Performance. He followed in his father's footsteps and went to the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Oregon, then returned to Papua New Guinea for a visit in the summer of 2000. He came back to the mountains to do "The Nutcracker" with Jamie, and they began dating and got married in July of 2001. Salang's oldest son Samuel, Nathan's boyhood village friend, was a Groomsman in their wedding. In 2002, Nathan began working on his Master's degree in Worship from Hope International University in Fullerton. Nathan and Jamie's daughter Kendyl was born in July of 2003.

"I'd like to finish my Master's degree with Wycliffe. They have a course in ethnomusicology, the study of primary culture's music. I'd like to help lead worship in a native people's own style, not American's. Jamie and I honeymooned in Costa Rica and fell in love with that country. We'd like to go there as missionaries, maybe starting a beach resort near San Jose, to give the young girls a way out of prostitution. God doesn't dream small, so it may happen. We even met another couple who are also interested in working with the Costa Ricans."

Right now Nathan has a new Log Home business in the mountains, but he would like to get back into missions within the next 5 years.

Nathan and Jamie are planning a trip to Papua New Guinea in spring of 2006, for the dedication of the New Testament in the Numangang language. The tribe will have a two-week party, complete with sing-sings, roasted pigs, and dancing.

Nathan's favorite Bible verse is Revelation 19:6:

"I heard the sound of a great multitude, the sound of a mighty, rushing water and thunder, saying, 'Hallelujah! for the Lord God Almighty reigns.'"

One can imagine that multitude speaking in many languages.

For more information about the missionary efforts in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya, read "Peace Child" and "Eternity in Their Hearts" by Don Richardson (available at Amazon.com). Anyone interested in attending next year's village party or in supporting the translation effort can visit the Wycliffe website, contact Dave & Barbie Hynum at barbara_hynum@sil.org or dial 1-800-WYCLIFFE.

Last Friday and Saturday night (Jan. 21-22), the Rim High Performing Arts Center was transformed into a jungle. At 7:00 p.m., cannibals danced and tumbled across the stage, brandishing spears and machetes. They represented the native tribes of Papua New Guinea, where betrayal, warfare, and cannibalism were the way of life in the Twentieth Century.

The frenzied war dance, face paint, shell armlets, and grass skirts were replaced by the serene American scene of a young college couple named Carol and Don Richardson who danced out their wedding in classical ballet. The young couple settled into their first home, had a baby daughter, and felt God's call to travel across the world to Papua New Guinea--to share the Gospel with the Sawi tribes who had asked for help for their warring people.

Don Richardson narrated the story, and real black-and-white video documented the Richardson's hazardous journey. After hiking, canoeing, and climbing mountains, the Richardsons arrived at a Sawi village in 1962. The villagers made the missionaries feel at home, even helping to build their jungle house. Illiterate and in need of basic medicine, the tribes were glad to receive reading lessons and healing from their oversees visitors. A level of trust was established between the two very different peoples. The Richardsons learned the Sawi's language and told them the story of how God sent His Son to save all people, dying for their sins and sorrows and rising again to give eternal life.

But the constant feuds, battles, and retributions continued. The Sawis thought Judas, the Betrayer, was the real Hero of the Gospel, for they valued treachery above all--yet they were afraid of their own deaths. The Richardsons saw several of their jungle friends killed. Realizing that perhaps he had been wrong to bring his young wife and daughter into such a violent situation, Don Richardson packed their bags on the eve of another rumored war.

Then Don's closest friend, a Sawi chief, said,

"Do not leave us. I have an idea to end these wars."

Don apprehensively waited, and when the opposing tribe confronted the Sawi, the Chief brought out his only son (his astonished wife running behind) and gave the baby to the enemy Chief. In turn, that Chief gave his baby son. For this was the one way to bring peace ("cool waters" as the Sawi say in their own language). Each tribe would raise the other's baby as their own, thus preventing further attacks.

And so the cannibals realized that the true hero of the Gospel is Jesus, the Peace Child for all the world.
After the dramatic dance presentation, several troupe members agreed to an interview.

Rachel Bravo (Sawi warrior), is a mountain native and a Rim High graduate. She explained her reason for being part of the "Peace Child" Experience:

"I felt like it was what God wanted me to do, and I've always loved to dance," she declared. "I danced in the mountains' School of Dance for years. I went to Bellhaven College in Mississippi for 2 semesters and studied dance, but I felt really drained because I was just practicing but not performing. It's like having a sled in the summertime--you've got this great tool but can't use it. So when Sidewalk Productions (a division of Youth with a Mission) called me, I said 'yes.' We practiced for 2 months on the YWAM base in Montana, then took the show on the road, all over the U.S."

Anne Defario (another warrior) learned performing arts in New York. "I enjoyed street performing, so being part of 'Peace Child' is great," she explained, adding that "Peace Child" would be performing in California, Oregon, and Washington before returning to Montana for a break the end of March.

Grace Bedard from New Hampshire played the part of Carol Richardson (perhaps the most demanding role, as she has to climb a ladder while holding a babydoll and looking graceful). "This is my fifth year of ballet, and I've been working hard at it. It's really awesome to be able to use my passion to reach other people. I love being able to dance, see the country, and work with an awesome group of people. I read the book 'Peace Child' in high school, so when they called to ask me to dance, I knew the story. My favorite Bible verse is Psalm 91:11: 'He shall command His angels over you, to guard you in all your ways.' (no doubt a comforting verse for Carol Richardson, missionary adventurer).

When asked what she wanted to do after "Peace Child," Grace exclaimed, "I hope to dance with Ballet Magnificat in Jackson, Mississippi!"

Amber Good, the Backstage Manager and Booking Agent, shared some of her duties. "We have two shows a week for the next few weeks," she stated. "It's fun being in different cities. When working backstage, I do lighting, curtains, props, and even the steam that goes out of the jungle statue's nose."

"The best part is seeing God work in people," Amber concluded.

" 'Peace Child' is a true story, and it touches the lives of everyone who sees it."

For more information, read "Peace Child" by Don Richardson (available at your local library or Online). For more information about Youth with a Mission, go to www.ywam.org.

Craig and Daisy Tippie host a Spanish Fellowship ministry in their mountain home. Every Thursday evening at 6:30, several Spanish-speaking families in the area come together for native latin dishes from Mexican enchiladas to Peruvian arroz con pollo (chicken with rice). Children are welcome, and you might even get a cup of steaming Peruvian tea with cinnamon and cloves. After dinner and fellowship, they have a time of music and worship followed by a Bible study.
As Craig read from the Gospel of Mark in Spanish--a language based on Latin--I thought how beautiful and melodic the words sounded. I was grateful for the English/Spanish Bible they lent me and all my high school Spanish classes.

After the Bible study and a lovely Spanish prayer, Craig told me his story. He grew up in San Diego and became a carpenter.

"When I was a teenager, I thought about joining the Peace Corps or going overseas with the Red Cross. Then I dedicated my life to Christ. When I first went to Peru in 1996, on a short-term missions trip, I knew I was meant to be a missionary. God put the pieces of the puzzle together for me. When it came time to return to the U.S., I didn't want to leave Peru. The Pastor, Lucho Garcia of the first Calvary Chapel in Lima (Gracia Calvary Chapel), encouraged me to stay longer, so I did. I learned to speak Spanish while I was in Peru off and on over the next 8 years. Now there are 5 Calvary Chapels in Lima and one in the Amazon jungle."

Craig went on to explain that he has been to the Amazon rain forest 8 times. "It's not like what you would think. You have to travel over the Andes mountains to get there, in Northeast Peru. There's a lot of deforestation and loggers. There are villages all along the wide, placid rivers. You can see fresh water dolphins, which are black on top and pink on bottom, swimming next to the boats. Crocodiles and pirañas also live in the rivers, and big anaconda snakes crawl in the trees. Deep in the rain forest canopy are many Christian tribal villages and waterfalls. Wycliffe Bible Translators brought the Gospel into the jungle many years ago, and now many tribes have Bibles in their own languages. The natives make crafts to sell to tourists. Little kids try to give away parrots. And the huge bird-eating tarantulas drop down on your tent at night."

There are many dialects in the jungle and the mountains, but most people in Peru speak Spanish, especially in Lima, the capitol city of 11 million people. Lima is situated on the flat coastal desert lands and has 80% unemployment, with many homeless children, families living in city dumps, and high crime and drug problems. Yet Lima has its charm, including beaches, sea ports, and open-air markets which sell fresh fish and vegetables.

Another contrasting landscape is the Andes Mountains that separate the plains from the jungle. The summits reach 22,000 feet and were the center of the Inca civilization. Machu Picchu, at 18,500 feet, was the Inca royal estate, made with huge round stones carved and cut to precision. The Spaniards wiped out this great civilization in the 16th Century, robbing them of their golden treasures. But there are remnants of the Incas still living in the Andes mountains today and speaking the old Quechua language. It's amazing that people can live at such an altitude. Flatlanders usually take a bus to get there--on narrow dirt roads with no guardrails.

"They have condors in the Andes mountains with wingspans of over 12 feet. These birds can pick up a calf!" Craig declared. "It's awesome to see them fly overhead."

!Que magnifico!

Craig's wife Daisy was born in the Amazon jungle. Her mother intentionally chose the English version of the flower name (the Spanish word for daisy is "margarita")--perhaps seeing that her daughter would someday marry an American and live in this country.

!Que interesante!

Daisy's family moved to Lima when she was 3 years old. Craig met Daisy while he was working as a missionary in her church, Gracia Calvary Chapel. After being in Lima for 18 months, Craig was getting ready to go to Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta when the church gave him a going-away party. Daisy came up and told him she had been in love with him since she first met him 18 months earlier.

"I liked the church so much, and I was helping with the teenagers. Missionaries were always coming to help also. It was a nice time," Daisy said, a homesick look in her brown eyes. "It is cold here for me," she admitted. "It is very hot in the jungle."

Craig went back to California and finished his Bible College course, courting Daisy through emails and letters for a year and a half. Then he went back with a short-term mission team into the Amazon and invited Daisy to go with him.

"We sat in the jungle watching fireflies, and I pulled out a ring and asked Daisy to marry me," Craig explained.

!Que romantico!

They married in Peru a few months later, in the back yard of mountain native John Bonner who started the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Lima. That was the year 2000, and 2 years later they had their son Ryan. The newlyweds stayed in Lima for a few months to assist John Bonner and then came to work at the Calvary Chapel Conference Center in the mountains, where Craig helped with remodeling. They've been living here ever since, and Craig recently came on staff with the local Calvary Chapel church as head of maintenance, the Spanish ministry, and a helper with the youth.

Craig's favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 6:8: "Here I am, Lord; send me." His long-term dream is to return to Peru. He would like to learn the Quechua language and work with the people of the Andes Mountains. He showed me some distinctive black pottery and bright-colored alpaca (llama) wool garments that the natives make by hand.

In 2 weeks Daisy is flying back to Peru with a friend, to visit family and bring baby clothes for the poor of Lima.

"I'm so happy to go back to Peru!" Daisy exclaimed with a smile. "I miss the food. We buy fresh bread from the bakery every day, serve rice with all our meals, and have 20 different kinds of potatoes!"

Here is John 3:16 in Spanish:

"Porque de tal manera amo Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigenito, para que todo aquel que en el cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna." (San Juan 3:16)

For more information, visit Calvary's website.