Sleeping Coconuts

Peter looked up and saw the first of three consecutive waves, each over thirty feet high, throwing up a huge cloud of mist as it enveloped a friend?s house and threw it into the lagoon like a piece of driftwood. He then turned toward his own neighborhood in time to witness the massive wave breaking, completely submerging houses, tall coconut trees, everything. As it rushed toward their defenseless canoe, he watched the wave pluck his own house from the ground like a blade of grass, and sweep it high, carrying it on its peak.

In the late 1980s, John and Bonnie Nystrom came alongside Pastor Peter and several other men from Arop village in Papua New Guinea to translate the Bible into the local language. Now, while visiting another part of the country just ten years later, John and Bonnie learned that tragedy had struck Arop village, causing a massive loss of life.

What had happened? Were their neighbors okay? What about the members of the Bible translation team? Was this the end of Bible translation for Arop?

In Sleeping Coconuts, John and Bonnie Nystrom share their story of tragedy, teamwork and transformation, and the incredible way that God used a tsunami to change the face of Bible translation in Papua New Guinea.

For over twenty-five years, John and Bonnie have served with Wycliffe Bible Translators as linguists for various language groups in Papua New Guinea. They continue to work on projects from their home in Florida, making periodic trips to Papua New Guinea to work with the Bible translation teams face-to-face.