OXFORD — A missions conference this weekend at Oxford Advent Christian Church will feature Marilyn Laszlo, who spent 24 years translating the New Testament for a tribe in Papua New Guinea.

The conference will run Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 9 and 10. The theme is As We Go Forth, and the public is invited to all events free of charge.

Fifteen organizations will have representatives and exhibits informing people of their work around the world.

This is the 12th such conference hosted by the church and the second time that Laszlo has keynoted. The last time she was guest speaker was in 2002.

The Indiana native taught history and physical education from 1959 to 1965 before joining Wycliffe Bible Translators. In 1967 she was assigned to be Bible translator to the Sepik Iwam tribe in a village in Papua New Guinea, a group of 600 islands in the South Pacific.

 “Looking back on our arrival at Hauna village, I can see how amusing it really was,” Laszlo recalled. “About 400 came out to see what we were doing. They had never seen white women before. And they were arguing among themselves whether we were men or women. Well, they finally came to the conclusion that we were neither. We were ‘its.'”

 Arriving at the village in a dugout canoe, she and her translation partner lived with the people and took an unwritten language, created an alphabet for it, taught the people to read and write, taught basic sanitation, did medical work and completed the New Testament and related portions of the Old Testament in 1989. Teams now take the Gospel up and down the river to many other villages in dugout canoes.

Now, Laszlo is a national speaker at missions conferences, churches, colleges, retreats and camps, as well as for Wycliffe USA, which will be represented at the conference.

 On Saturday, Oct. 9, displays will be open at 10 a.m.; lunch at 11:30 a.m.; Kids Safari (elementary ages) from 1 to 3 p.m., foliage trip from 1 to 4:30 p.m.; International Banquet and Costume Contest at 5:30 p.m.; and worship service at 7 p.m. with musicians Eric Jewett and sons and guest speaker Marilyn Laszlo.

 On Sunday, Oct. 10, there will be Sunday school classes led by missionaries for all ages; worship service at 10 a.m. with guest speaker Laszlo; evening service at 5:30 p.m. with the Jewetts, and Laszlo speaking.

 For more information pone 743-7310 or e-mail [email protected]