The last couple of months provided lots of opportunities for Brena and I (John) to be busy in our respective jobs. Things were operating pretty much normally here at Ukarumpa so translation work was able to go ahead as well as the cafés and coffee houses that Brena does. Unfortunately, there has been a large increase in the number of COVID cases throughout Papua New Guinea recently, and we now face restrictions that will make work more difficult for both of us (like a limit on the number of people who can gather indoors and no travel between provinces). We would appreciate your prayers that we would trust God each day and remember that he is faithful and sovereign over our lives. Here are a few highlights of our last two months.

Wampar Training

Five of the interns that I work with are translators for the Wampar language translation project. They are a talented group and dedicated to getting the Bible translated into their language. For two weeks in February, I had the pleasure of teaching them how to use the more advanced features of the specialized translation software (Paratext) that is used by translators. Besides enjoying interacting with them in class, it was an encouragement to me to hear their testimonies (in our devotions each morning) of how God brought them to faith and then led them to be involved in the work of translation.

The Wampar language translators at the completion of the Paratext (specialized translation) training.

It was encouraging to hear Jack Kase’s testimony of how God brought him from darkness into a relationship with Him.

Migabac Consultant Check

The McEvoy family, whom we have known since coming to PNG, are currently in the U.S. after having finished the New Testament in the Migabac language. There is a relatively new Migabac translator, Karis, who is working on the Old Testament and as part of his training he needed to have 11 chapters of Genesis consultant checked. I spent three days doing the check and it was a pleasure to work with and get to know Karis and the two other Migabac men (Cromwells and Leune) who helped with the check by answering my questions.

It was fun working with and getting to know the Migabac translation team (Karis, Cromwells, and Leune).

House Guests

Matt and Liz Gentry have been managing a Wycliffe center on the island of New Ireland in PNG. We have known Matt for many years as he grew up in Solomon Islands. Liz and their two kids Lucy (age 7) and Tasman (age 5) needed to come to Ukarumpa for a couple of weeks and are staying with us. It has been fun to have them and they brighten our days!

Our house guests for a couple of weeks: Liz, Lucy and Tasman Gentry.

Cafes/Coffee Houses

Brena has been doing cafes on most Saturday afternoons and then night-time coffee houses about once a month since mid-January. I enjoy going by and seeing how many people are enjoying the time to get to together and have a cup of coffee and special dessert. There are usually lots of people who go, and one of the cafes had over 100! I’m thankful Brena has a job she enjoys and is obviously gifted for.

The Wampar translators enjoyed going to a Saturday Cafe and eating some desserts they had never tried before.

Family News

We just heard this past week that our daughter-in-law Sara (Grant’s wife), was accepted for a pharmacy residency program at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Virginia. We are proud of Sara and excited for her and Grant as they begin this new chapter in their lives. They will be moving to Charlottesville in the next month and Grant will likely be looking for a new job there.

PRAISE:

• that we have been able to have a time of productivity in our respective jobs
• that we have continued to have good health
• that Sara was accepted into a pharmacy residency program at UVA Health

PRAY:

• that God will protect us and others here at the mission center in PNG from COVID-19 as medical care is very limited
• that translation work will be able to continue here in PNG even with the rise of COVID cases
• that Grant and Sara will be able to find suitable housing and work (for Grant) as they move to Charlottesville Virginia

TO BE IN TOUCH:

john_bruner@sil.org – PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

TO GIVE ONLINE:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

TO GIVE BY MAIL:

send gifts to: Wycliffe Bible Translators, PO Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862 (The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators – include a note that says it is for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner)

With about 250 languages still needing God’s word in Papua New Guinea, we are thankful to be back here where we can help with the task. This last month was full so thought we’d show you through pictures what we’ve been up to.

The Christmas holidays were definitely different without our kids or extended family with us, but God provided many colleagues and friends here who helped fill in that gap. It was fun to visit with old friends and get to know new ones.

We were able to spend Christmas afternoon at a gathering with some of our colleagues

Here we are with Hilkka Arminen who was in our Field Training Course here in PNG in 1997 (before we went to the Solomon Islands)! She has been working in translation ever since.

Enjoying an afternoon trip to a nearby town with our good friends, Terry and Cyndi Cirre

John has been very happy to be back in PNG and have plenty of translation work to keep him busy. He was able to do a consultant check of Ephesians for the Kaluli language in January. He was thrilled to do it, especially since it was the last book of the New Testament that they needed to have checked!

John with the Kaluli translation team

Noel Diru (below) is one of the consultant interns John mentors. He came to Ukarumpa last week to meet up with a Wycliffe expat consultant and they planned to go to a remote location for a consultant check. Unfortunately, the expat consultant had a medical emergency and the trip was canceled. While Noel is waiting to return home, John is mentoring him by having him practice checking some translations and reading articles on translation theory.

John has also been preparing to teach five other interns he works with how to use specialized translation software. They will come to Ukarumpa for two weeks in mid-February.

Noel Diru with John

I (Brena) have been enjoying getting back into my Staff Care job. In December I put on a Tea for ladies who spend time out in the villages doing translation or literacy work. I’ve also been scheduling Saturday Cafes and have put on two so far, with the help of a great team of bakers and servers. Around 90 people come each time to spend time with family members and/or friends. One mom told me her teenage daughter loves to come to the Cafes because it’s the one time all week she feels like she’s away from our fenced-in center.  It does my heart good to hear that! I’m so thankful that I can do something that I dreamed about doing almost 20 years ago. I’ve also been cutting hair two days a week and that’s been a humbling experience (since I’m not a professional), but also fun.

Village Ladies sharing around the tables

With one of my rotating teams at the Elim Cafe

This translation family from Germany enjoys coming to the Cafes every Saturday to have a late lunch of desserts so that the mom doesn’t have to think about making a meal

cutting hair in my “salon”

 PRAISE AND PRAYER:

• We are very thankful that there haven’t been a significant number of COVID cases in the area of PNG where we live and because of that we have relatively few restrictions. Pray for continued good health.
• Solomon Islands has been closed to nearly all international travel for almost a year, which means John isn’t able to make his usual trips there to teach and consultant check. Pray that the country will reopen for travel before too long.
• Please pray for wisdom, peace, and strength as we carry on with our lives and work here. We are thankful for those of you who give financially and commit to pray for us.

TO BE IN TOUCH:

john_bruner@sil.org – PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

TO GIVE ONLINE:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

TO GIVE BY MAIL:

send gifts to: Wycliffe Bible Translators, PO Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862 (The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators – include a note that says it is for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner)

Merry Christmas from Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea! We are so thankful that God allowed us to return to our work here and that you have been a part of that through your prayers and gifts.

Thankful that we found our 27 years worth of Christmas ornaments that we thought we had lost when we went to the U.S.! Unbeknownst to us they were sitting right here in our storage!

TO BE IN TOUCH:

john_bruner@sil.org – PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

TO GIVE ONLINE:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

TO GIVE BY MAIL:

send gifts to: Wycliffe Bible Translators, PO Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862 (The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators – include a note that says it is for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner)

Brena and I are now in California and are cleared to return to Papua New Guinea tomorrow as our COVID tests came back negative. Thank you for your prayers! Starting last March we had been planning to travel to visit many of you, but unfortunately COVID-19 put an end to those plans. Because we weren’t able to see you in person, we recently updated a short video (*click on the link below) we made about our ministry with Wycliffe Bible Translators, and we hope you will take a few minutes to view it. We are so thankful for your prayers and support as we continue to work to give people access to God’s Word in their own languages.

PRAISE & PRAYER:

• We are so thankful that we were able to spend some quality time with our kids and extended family this past week. Thankful too that God has kept us healthy and free from COVID!
• We will be traveling on four different flights before we land at our missions center in the highlands of PNG on Wednesday, November 11. Please pray for safety and good health.
• Pray for us as we set up on our home again, quarantine for two weeks, and then get back into our work.
• We are thankful for you!!

TO BE IN TOUCH:

john_bruner@sil.org – PO Box 1 (134), Ukarumpa EHP 444, Papua New Guinea

TO GIVE ONLINE:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

TO GIVE MY MAIL:

send gifts to: Wycliffe Bible Translators, PO Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862 (The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators – include a note that says it is for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner)

In mid-September we heard the good news that eight Wycliffe members who work with us in Papua New Guinea (PNG) were able to make it back! Most of them had made a number of unsuccessful attempts to return since June, so it was great that they finally made it. Since they were the first ones to make it back since March, it is understandable that the other missionaries at the Wycliffe translation center in Ukarumpa were thrilled to see them arrive. (photo below)

Our colleagues were able to make it back on a World Food Program flight from Malaysia to PNG and we have heard that these flights will hopefully happen once a month. We have decided we will try to get on one in November, but we won’t know for sure until sometime in mid-October if it is indeed going. Then we will need to find tickets to get to Malaysia to catch the flight. The list of steps to take and forms to fill out for returning to PNG is pretty daunting so we would greatly appreciate your prayers.

Before we could prepare to return to PNG we had to get medical clearance from the Wycliffe clinic there. After what seemed like innumerable medical exams, we recently received approval. While all those exams weren’t exactly fun, it is good to know that, at least according to the doctors, we don’t have any major medical issues.

I (John) had mentioned in our last update that I was going to be doing preparatory work for the book of Revelation for the Zabana language in Solomon Islands. I subsequently found out it was not ready for me to check and the team is currently working on getting it ready. They are hoping to have it ready in the next week or two.

We’ve enjoyed our time up here in Waxhaw getting together with friends and supporters, a visit from Brena’s sister and husband, and a weekend in the mountains with our kids. (photos below)

Please Pray:

• that we will be able to successfully navigate the complicated process for returning to PNG
• that God will give us wisdom as we plan what to do during the time we have left in the U.S.. (The coronavirus makes it more challenging than it normally would be.)
• that our remaining time with family and friends will be special. We are grateful for the connections we have already been able to have since coming to Waxhaw and look forward to more.
• that the Zabana translation team will be able to complete work on the book of Revelation so I can begin doing preparatory checking on it in October.

To Be In Touch:

john_bruner@sil.org

*New Address – PO Box 248, Waxhaw, NC 28173

To Give Online:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

To Give By Mail:

send gifts to:
Wycliffe Bible Translators
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862

(The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators – include a note that says it is for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner)

Brena and I (John) are thankful that in this time of uncertainty about the future, our hope rests in God who is in control of all things. While it is discouraging to not know when we will be able to return to Papua New Guinea and continue our work in Bible Translation, we know that God has this situation in His control and we can trust Him to bring good things out of all of this. We are also very thankful for all of you who support us both financially and through prayer. We feel very blessed to have a team of people like you who make it possible for us to continue serving in Bible Translation.

After all the moving we have done over the years, it was a very pleasant surprise to us that our recent move from Charleston SC to Waxhaw NC was not very stressful. We decided it was probably because we didn’t have to get all our belongings into suitcases for a flight. We are staying at a Wycliffe center here in NC and plan to be here until we can return to Papua New Guinea (PNG). (*Please note our new address at the bottom.) Right now we are just waiting to find out if traveling there is actually possible. Six families tried just this past week but their flights were canceled just a few days before their planned departure. Also, the number of COVID-19 cases in PNG has increased suddenly in the last couple weeks from about 10 to about 200, and we aren’t sure how this might affect our return. While that number of cases may not seem significant, it is for PNG where there is limited medical care. Once we do hear that travel back to PNG is possible, we will begin looking to purchase tickets. While we wait, I will continue to keep up with managing the programs of the 17 interns I’m responsible for and also doing some preparatory work for a consultant check on the book of Revelation for the Zabana language. This is the last book of the New Testament that needs to be checked so it is exciting to see that this significant milestone is near to being reached.

We are thankful for a fully furnished 2BR apartment here at the Wycliffe Center (JAARS) in Waxhaw. It’s a weird feeling to be empty nesters, but nice too! And we are already realizing how little food we are going through compared to having some hungry boys around.

WE ARE THANKFUL:

• That the move out of our house in Charleston went very smoothly and wasn’t too stressful.
• That both Joey and Luke have places to live in Charleston. (Joey with Grant and Sara and Luke with my brother, Dave, and his wife, Ceil ).
• For the tremendous year we had in Charleston.
• That God continues to supply all of our needs – our most recent being a very clean and furnished apartment and the use of a car until we leave!
• For many friends here in the area that we can connect with.

WE WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR PRAYERS:

• That the Lord would allow us to return to PNG before too long, and help us to be patient as we wait.
• That Luke will adjust well to living with Dave and Ceil. We are thankful they were willing to take him into their house when his plan to move into an apartment fell through.
• That we would be able to get a few medical and dental issues treated before we leave for PNG.

TO BE IN TOUCH:

john_bruner@sil.org

*New Address – PO Box 248, Waxhaw, NC 28173

TO GIVE ONLINE:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

TO GIVE BY MAIL:

send gifts to:
Wycliffe Bible Translators
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862

(The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators – include a note that says it is for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner)

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we still don’t know when we will be able to return to Papua New Guinea, we do have plans for at least the next few months. Last week we heard from the owners of the house we have been living in that the house is in the process of being sold and we need to be out by July 31^st. So we have decided to move up to the Wycliffe center (JAARS) in Waxhaw, NC, (*note new address below) in August and we will plan to be there until we get the word that we can return to PNG. They have furnished apartments that we can live in. For those of you who remember, we lived in Waxhaw as a family in 2003 when we had to return to America quickly because of my (Brena’s) OCD.

So the end of our wonderful year in Charleston is coming to a close. Joey and Luke will be settling into different living situations; Joey (as of this week) will be visiting friends in Michigan and then flying to Turkey (if the borders are open!) to visit his girlfriend, Moriah, who is there studying Turkish. After that he will live with Grant and Sara until he is able to go to India. Luke will continue working and by our next update we’ll know for sure where he will be living here in Charleston. It’s a sad time for us as we have so enjoyed this year of being in the same place as our three sons and daughter-in-law.

We have really enjoyed having Kairu with us this last month!

PRAISE/PRAYER:

• We’re so thankful that God has blessed us with a wonderful year here in Charleston; the provision of a house and car (thanks to East Cooper Baptist Church), and time with family (immediate and extended). Thankful, too, that God made it clear to us that we should move up to Waxhaw for the time being.
• We are thankful God is helping us to get all of the needed doctor and dentist appointments taken care of, that my sleep is better, and that the boys have places to stay once we leave. Please pray for them in their walks with Him.
• It will be a lot of work to empty this house of everything in it so we would appreciate prayer for strength and patience this next month.
• The PNG Wycliffe branch administration needs a lot of wisdom as they determine when to allow members to return. Please pray for them.
• Pray that God will give us peace as we wait, and clarity as to the right time to head back overseas

TO BE IN TOUCH:

john_bruner@sil.org

(*until July 31) 4 Fenwick Drive, Charleston, SC 29407

(*after July 31) PO Box 248, Waxhaw, NC 28173

TO GIVE ONLINE:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Bruners

TO GIVE BY MAIL:

send gifts to:
Wycliffe Bible Translators
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862

(The check should be made payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators – include a note that says it is for the ministry of John and Brena Bruner)