Eventually the Lord brought the two men safely back to Ukarumpa with nothing worse than raw, sore
feet from the long hike. The mission had been accomplished and the Waffa people were a step closer to
seeing the beginning of a Bible translation project by these two women who remained in Kusing.
This was not the only occasion for which Walt put his own work aside to help others. He made other
such trips and soon picked up the invaluable skill of being a Bible translation checker. He was able to
take what he learned in Bible translation work and pass it on to others, helping make sure other
translations were being done accurately. Walt was well liked. With his sense of humor, he and other
branch members performed skits at various branch meetings.
Helping fellow translators was one trait of the Steinkrauses, as was generosity. On more than one
occasion, Walt and Vonnie helped out with the practical needs of others.
One couple they helped was Dennis and Nancy Cochrane, who had just started translation work with the
Duna people. One day Walt and Vonnie found out that Dennis and Nancy were using a small, two-burner
Primus kerosene stove in the village. Walt and Vonnie had a propane gas stove and really enjoyed it;
they wanted Dennis and Nancy to have that same enjoyment. They gave them the money to buy one!
Another occasion was when fellow Bible translators, Alan and Phyllis Healey, were building a house at
Ukarumpa. Early in the morning Walt arrived with some timber. Without saying a word he went to the
back of the house that was about a meter above the ground and skillfully and swiftly built steps up to
the back door and then left just as silently.
One other display of generosity by the Steinkrauses, which later bloomed into a significant Christian
ministry, was their hospitality to Doris, Elsie and Olive McClure, three sisters from Australia known as
the “Three Aunties”. These ladies were “parents” to the missionary children living in the boarding home
at Ukarumpa, the home later named DORELO (DORis, Elsie, Olive)2.
They left this work to continue the Sunday School class they started for the national children who lived
in a nearby village with the name, Ukarumpa. Before their move to the village where a house was being
2
To read more about the Three Aunties, read the book “What God Can Do” by Charles Micheals http://www.issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/what_god_can_do
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