The phone call came at 10 p.m. on a Friday night, and like most phone calls received late at night, it was bad news. Samson, the brother of our dear friend and co-translator, Emson, had just died earlier that evening. Emson’s family was calling him home to mourn with them and fulfill his cultural duties as a brother.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. After the Culture Meets Scripture (CMS) course held for the Nukna people in September, Emson had been chosen, along with two other Nukna people, to join the Scripture Use teaching team. They would come to Ukarumpa to receive training and then go out as part of a team to run courses like CMS and Bible Backgrounds in other language areas. This was the first time something like this had ever happened among the remote and isolated Nukna people, and there was a lot of excitement. Emson had only just arrived two days earlier to begin his training, and now he was being called back home. He was in shock over his brother’s death, and filled with disappointment over having to leave the training. But he agreed that he needed to return home.
The Nukna area is so isolated that we knew the only way to get him home without it taking a week or more was to have him flown back. It was a Saturday, but I contacted our mission aviation staff at home and explained the situation. They graciously spent the afternoon moving pieces around so they could squeeze in an extra flight Monday morning to get Emson home. We were so glad that he would be able to get back in time, but our hearts were also heavy that after so much anticipation, he was losing out on the opportunity to be part of this training and outreach. We wondered, what are you doing, Lord?
The next morning, Sunday, Emson showed up at my house with a smile on his face. He said, “I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and praying, and I believe that God wants me to stay. God gave me this work to do, and I need to see it through!” He then quoted Luke 9:61-62 – “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’” Emson looked at me and said, “Everyone dies. But as long as we’re alive, it’s our chance to do God’s work. I’ll mourn my brother later.”
Next week, Emson and the other two Nukna trainees, Yana and Rike, will travel to the Tami language area to help teach the Bible Backgrounds course. Recently, one of the American translation advisors for the Tami translation program shared during the Sunday morning church service that she has been praying for a revival among the Tami people. You might remember what a big spiritual impact the Bible Backgrounds course had on the Nukna people when we held it in 2019. Would you join us in praying that Emson, Yana, Rike and the rest of the team would be used by God in a mighty way to impact the hearts and lives of the Tami people?