In one sense, this book is a standard missionary tale, the story of John & Bonnie Nystrom, who came to the Arop people in Papua New Guinea to translate the Bible into the Arop's heart language. In another sense, the Nystrom's are supporting characters in the story of the Arop translators, who translated the Bible into their own heart language. regardless of who gets top billing, the central moment of the tale is the tsunami of 1998. The tsunami devastated the Arop village, along with other communities on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. Before that disaster, the Arop translation project followed the then standard procedures of concentrating on a single language, being carefully checked, revised and rechecked by official translation consultants. Afterwards, the challenges that arose as the Arops tried to rebuild their community and the translators tried to restore their project opened the door for the team to try new techniques and technologies, relying more on the skill and direction of local translators than foreigners. This change led not only to an Arop translation of the book of Luke, but also versions for the Malol, Serra, and Sissano speakers as well. It's a heartening tale of suffering, healing and everyday miracles.
--J. ( )