Under my mosquito net

They would watch us, and we didn’t know how to do any of those things, and we knew how to read and write. “We are pathetic in this culture, Lord.”

I just went on and on. I felt so overwhelmed. I was so tired of the heat and mosquitoes, the mud and the snakes in the house, and just the whole battle against nature – everything rusts - the paper clips, the staples, the kerosene lantern, anything and everything with metal…and there was no way to keep the mosquitoes or bugs, snakes, and rats out of the house. The bugs would get in the floor, cereal, and sugar, in just everything. I would just eat them and pray. There were rats, which were huge, and it sounded like they were playing soccer from one end of the house to the other. They would nibble on the legs of my bed…and, there was no inside toilet, and I certainly wasn’t going out there at night. Too many snakes!

That night in 1973, God touched me and made it very clear. “Marilyn, I have created these beautiful people, I created their language, and I can speak this language more fluently then the people. The words are there and they need my words translated into their language.” An incredible peace and calm came over me. There was no way I could possibly give up and quit, when I knew He had clearly called me to this country. This was the turning point, a major turning point. God spoke to me under that mosquito net.

The price of following God – don’t give up, stay the course, and persevere. The next morning, with determination and renewed commitment, I moved ahead.

That night, under my mosquito net once again, with my flashlight resting on my shoulder, I started counting the verses in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc. Luke is the longest book…nearly 1,000 verses. Altogether there are about 10,000 verses. So, with my calculator, I figured if I could translate 10 verses a day, five days a week, I would be out of here in five years.

Twenty-four years later I finished. What happened? Well, the village people’s schedule does not revolve around mine. They do not operate by any calendar. They didn’t know about calendars. They didn’t know there was a Sunday, Monday Tuesday, etc. They didn’t know there were four weeks in a month. They didn’t know about time. Our watch tells us when to get up and when to go to work etc. It is not an 8 to 5 culture. They are very hard workers, but they work when they need to work. They know what needs to get done. Forget the schedule. I was not in the USA. A very big and beautiful lesson was learned. Under the mosquito net was my classroom with God.

Another thing that really slowed me down was sickness; the malaria, the diarrhea, hepatitis, infections, high fevers, trichinosis, and worms. All of which drove me to my mosquito net for days and nights. I would dream about having a nice cold apple or a nice fresh green salad…I would think about walking through the mall and going out to a restraunt and to a movie…all those things. Yes, those were the beginning days.

As I learned the language and understood more of their culture, the more I fell in love with people, the jungle, and the amazing Sepik River. What incredible beauty all around me. The numerous flowers and butterflies of all kinds…a bird paradise. No pollution or noisy traffic – just the quiet sounds of God’s creation. At night I would go to sleep listening to God’s symphony of jungle sounds.

Just to write about all this makes me very homesick. Was it worth it all? Oh, yes! I would do it again in a heartbeat. They have the Word of God in their own language.

Prayer is essential. One of the most amazing things in Scripture is how much time Jesus spent in prayer. He prayed for every difficult task and at every crisis in His ministry. He prayed regularly.

Never stop praying, no matter how dark and hopeless your case may be – never give up. I really got to know God and my Lord in a very deep and meaningful way.

I can’t thank my prayer partners who prayed for me those twenty-four years, through some really tough and difficult times…three times where my life was hanging in the balance. But, here I am to tell the story. God is faithful.

Now is a whole new chapter and a new kind of jungle…just as important, however, as the work in Papua New Guinea…and I love it. I have added a whole new team of prayer partners and supporters to my mailing list. How grateful I am for each and everyone of you.

Pressing on until our work on earth is done,
Marilyn Laszlo