CHURCH PLANTING, BIBLE TRANSLATION, and LITERACY
PROJECT TIMELINE AMONG THE TABO PEOPLE
TIM & KAREN SCHLATTER
1985 - Called to full-time service.
1985-7 - Training in Masters-level linguistics.
1987 - Tim, Karen & one-year-old Abby land in
Port Moresby, PNG.
- Training in skills to survive in remote jungle
setting.
1988 - Began evangelizing Tabo Villages.
- Settled at Mapodo.
- First seven churches planted.
- Jessica born at a mission hospital
(three hours' travel upriver by motorized
canoe).
1989 - Built permanent home at Saiwwase
(corrugated iron roof, water tank, simple indoor plumbing, 12V battery system
for lights, Codan two-way HF radio).
- Began translating Mark.
1990 - Published/dedicated the first Tabo
scriptures.
1991 - Lauren born at mission hospital.
1992 - Genesis published and dedicated.
- Began translating Luke.
1993 - One year furlough
(68 months after our first arrival)
1994-6 - Revised Mark
- Translated Matthew, John, & Acts
1997 - Severe drought hit PNG (eight months of food shortages and great
physical testing).
- The Tabo Church and its leadership grew and matured in faith.
1998 - Returned to the U.S. for renewal & restoration.
1998 - Began relationship with BPC in May.
2000 – Returned to PNG to the International
Mission Community at Ukarumpa in June.
2000-4 - Six more church plants.
- BPC work team.
- Genesis revised and reprinted.
- Remaining books of NT translated in
draft form.
- Publish Aramai and Fly River dialects
(a decision that added another year to the life of the translation task).
2005 - Final phase of preparation for publication.
2005 – Typesetting of both Aramai and Fly River Tabo NTS is complete in September!
2006 - Translation and Printing of NT is complete!
- CELEBRATION & DEDICATION IN OCTOBER!
Praise God for over $24,000 given to help publish the newly translated Tabo New Testament. $17,000 was requested to cover publishing costs and excess funds will go toward literacy training, training for the men of the Tabo tribe to begin translation of the Old Testament, and the Celebration planned for 2006 when the New Testaments are ready. This is the first time anything has ever been published in the Tabo language. May God be glorified through this work that Tim & Karen began back in 1987.
We received the following letter from Tim & Karen on November 8, 2005:
Dear friends and colleagues in ministry,
Thank you all for the mutual effort you gave these past weeks in finding the best way to help us through our financial predicament.
Although God had already given us a peace about our situation some weeks before, hearing the specific details of His answer through the BPC family was a great encouragement. We felt humbled, yet honored at the same time. While those two words capture best the entire range of emotions we felt, we could additionally say that we felt cared for, appreciated, privileged to be a part of the same family, and plain just overwhelmed.
Thank you, Pastor Hu, for ultimately being the one who decided to bring our need before the church in such a direct way. What was most humbling about your decision (humbling in a good way!) was that the mention of our needs followed appeals on other Sundays for people around the globe who are truly needy, those who recently went through hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes and who had next to nothing materially even before those disasters struck.
If there is any way to pass on these sentiments to the entire congregation, would you please do so on our behalf. Bible translation in the world today is a highly complex team effort, and the translation for the Tabo people has been (and is) no exception. The generous giving of BPC has reminded us once again that, in addition to all the colleagues in ministry we depend on over here in PNG, we need equally the prayers and support of all of you who remain at home.
Feeling blessed to be a part of what God is doing,
Tim and Karen Schlatter
