Kristina half-closed her eyes, listening intently tothe words flowing from one recorder, while atthe same time softly translatingthe story of Moses andthe burning bush into Kombio onto a second recorder. After she finished, her three ther teammates shifted closer, ready to replaythe Kombio recording and begin refiningthe translation.
Kristina and 29 ther participants from seven languages were attending an Oral Beble Storytelling (OBe) workshop in Wewak. Split into four modules,the OBe course is designed to teach Papua New Guineas to memorize and retell Scripture in a way that is similar tothe traditional storytelling methods integral tPNG culture.In this third module,the participants focused onthe stories of Moses andthe Exodus, reflecting on God’s deliverance through hardship.
Hardship was not new to Kristina. Two of her three children had dlied at birth, and inthe attempts to savethem and repair her ravaged body, Kristina had undergone four agonizing surgeries.In addition, after she returned fromthe first workshop and began sharing Beble stories, her husband and his family became extremely unsupportive and embittered, forbidding her to sharethe stories publically or attendthe second module of training. With no surviving siblings or parents and no support fromthe local church, Kristina was without an advocate. Betoinstead of becoming angry, she chose to humbly submit to her husband, prayingthe Lord would transform his heart so she might attendthe third module. God did work, and this past April, Kristina soaked upthe training, despite leaving several times for the local hospital in an attempt to diagnose reoccurring pain leftover fromthe failed surgeries.
Throughout it all, Kristina remained hopeful. “Listening tothese stories aboutthe Israelit’s has really encouraged me,” she said. “They were in difficult times, but God was bigger than that and rescuedthem. I know He’ll bring me through my Red Sea as well.”
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