HAMAMAS

I am getting to be an old woman.  I can tell this because of the hot flashes-because I am starting to like the old hymns in church better than the newer hipper worship songs, AND I am longing to be a grandma:)  All of these things tell me I am getting old.

WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS

But I was young once.  When I was around 32 or so, Tim and I sold or gave away almost everything we owned, joined Wycliffe Bible Translators, and moved to Papua New Guinea, with Anna and Ruth in tow.  God clearly told us to do it, and WHAT IN THE CAT HAIR are ya gonna say to that? Wycliffe’s mission is to pretty much do what the name says.  Simply put, write down or put on tape God’s Word into every viable spoken language in the world.  This is something Tim and I were passionate about long ago, and still feel the same way today. Nowadays Tim serves as the Counseling Ministries Director, and while I am currently working  outside of the org to make a little extra $, I worked for many years as a personnel administrator.   For the over 25 years we have been members of Wycliffe, it has been the adventure of a lifetime.  I would not trade it for anything.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

I could go on forever about the adventures we had in PNG,  about trying to get the village chickens NOT to lay their eggs on Anna’s pillow,  about washing in the river, cooking over an open fire, learning a new language, and quite a few “didn’t make it to the outhouse” stories. I could tell you about our fabulous village papa Banuti, or Ruth lapping water out of my village sister’s prize piglet bowl.  I could tell you about living later on the mission station that had electricity about half the time, about NO NEWS from home.   To be truthful, it was hard at times.  We weren’t always safe, and in the village Tim got so sick, it was touch and go for awhile. Still, I would not trade that adventure God gave us either. But I am saving all those amazing stories for another time. 

HAMAMAS

Right now I want to discuss HAMAMAS.  This is an awesome word.  In Pidgeon, the language we spoke in PNG, it means, happy, glad, content, ecstatic, elated, euphoric.  To “HAMAMASIM” someone was to make them very happy.  I feel sooo HAMAMAS when I use my hot flash extinguisher –AHHHHHH.  Ya know that feeling you get when you take the fam to the beach- and it is a struggle packing, getting there, unpacking, but then you hit the beach and lay in the sun…HAMAMAS  fer sure. 

OLD BUT NOT OUT

Yes it is true, I am getting old.  Sometimes when I talk to people who don’t know much about missions and taking God’s Word to places that have never had it, I say too much and they get bored. They would rather talk about American sports or Hollywood or the latest Christian celebrity pastor’s book they read.  I like this stuff too, and I am way in to my sports teams.  But what makes me the most hamamas now is hearing of a young person who has caught the fire of Bible Translation and wants to help with the many languages left in the world.  Sometimes I tell people “I am just and old woman who loves missions.”  Yes I am getting older, I have aches and pains and hot flashes and menopause.   But I am not out.  I am still as passionate about missions and my Jesus as I was when I was 32.

CERTIFICATE

As I think about my life there are lots of things that make me HAMAMAS.  My wonderful husband, my kids, my good friends, my family.  There is one thing that makes me feel pretty choked up when I think of it.  When Tim and I left PNG we received and unassuming little certificate that still hangs in our house to this day. It tells of the 23 translations completed in the country while we were there helping.  I would not trade that little certificate for tickets to the super bowl- I treasure it close to my heart. 

(*please see my facebook page for a great video of what God is doing in Cameroon, Africa! WOOT!)http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1492235043

 BABEL

What are you passionate about? What drives you?  What makes you so hamamas you could just jump up and down for hours straight?  Sometimes when I think about  the MANY languages left in the world that don’t have even one word of the Bible translated- I scratch my head.  I say to my God, “Lord, about this tower of Babel thing?  WHAT IN THE CAT HAIR were you thinking? …He seems to say back to me: “Denise, I got it….just wait til you see what I’ve got…”

Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear You, Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations, (tribes and tongues) will come and worship together before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”