Author: billanddonna

Clinic Crisis, part 2

Posted by
CLINIC REOPENED…
After the trouble and threats we had last week, we closed the clinic. It remained closed for a little over a week. We were waiting for the local government official to come in a deal with the problem.
When it became obvious that the official resolution might never happen (or at best, would be weeks in the future), we decided, in agreement with the clinic workers, to reopen the clinic.
We’re thankful that there were no medical emergencies during the week the clinic was closed. People found some other, albeit way more expensive(!), places to buy medicines. A few neighbors came to us. But we were actually surprised at how few cases came to us. We sort of expected everyone to simply default back into the pre-clinic days of “going to the missionary’s house” for everything.
So the clinic is open. And the statement was made, if nothing else, that we won’t tolerate abuse threats to the clinic workers. So we’re hoping the community will exert a little social pressure of the few troublemakers to keep them in line, so that the clinic can remain open for everyone.
But PRAY WITH us, that there will be no more incidents or problems for the clinic workers.
TRANSLATION PROGRESS
1 Peter is almost done and ready for the consultant check. It might already be finished if Arnel had not gotten sick last week. He and Joseph are coming tomorrow and I’ll do “comprehension checking” of the final chapters with them. We’re excited to see more Scripture, chapter by chapter, being readied for the church here! Luke is being drafted and reworked in the early steps of the process. Long long chapters!!! But some really exciting narrative and of course, the Lord’s teaching and parables.
PRAY WITH US
Other items for prayer… Bill managed to catch the bad cold that all the Palawanos seem to have lately. Often, due to his asthma, colds like this can become more serious and take a long time to get over. Pray that he’ll be able to throw it off and continue feeling well and productive!
Thanks once again for your part in Reaching Palawanos!

God’s Word Being Used

Posted by

HOW TRANSLATORS GET ENCOURAGED

As you know, the reason we are here is to give the Palawanos God’s Word. Of course, we have to translate it first. Not just a minor detail! But the biggest blessing for us is when we see the translated portions being used and affecting lives.
Just today in church, Arturo got up and shared. He has been Bill’s best friend since 1982 and one of his main translation helpers over the years. He read from his brand-new copy of the book of Acts and taught on how we must “go through many trials” in this life before we reach God’s Kingdom. It gets worse before it gets better. But oh, when the Lord returns, how much better it’s going to be! His message was both a challenge and an encouragement to the body to trust the Lord and to live for him. To seek to win others.
We’ve seen this over and over. Each time a new portion of Scripture is distributed in the Palawano language, there is a surge of growth as God’s Word does its work!
Thanks to all who prayed to see the book of Acts (all 1,007 verses of it… whew!) translated, printed and distributed.
Now please keep praying with us that God will continue to give us wisdom and endurance as we are translating Ephesians, 1 Peter and Luke. We can’t wait to see how God will use those books in here!
Thanks again for partnering with us in Reaching the Palawanos! 

Acts Conference

Posted by

We praise God for a really successful conference April 25-27. The
church here studied Acts 1-6, hearing it in Palawano for the first
time ever! Six different men taught, some teaching for the first time
in front of the group. The older kids and teens were assigned to read
the passages to the congregation before the men taught, and they did
great! Kids, teens and some adults went crazy with the memory verses
Bill assigned! It was such a blessing to see everyone encouraged and
challenged by the boldness of the Spirit-filled apostles as they
preached of the resurrection they had personally witnessed!

Ruben, a Palawano teacher and church leader from the Megkalip area
north of us (Jim Wilson discipled Ruben's dad Taya in the 80's) came
for the first two days of the conference and gave a great message on
faith.

The weekend was topped off with a baptism, only two individuals, but
both special to us. Bingbing, one of Donna's faithful workers, was
baptized, giving a clear testimony of her strong faith. And Ula, a
young adult paraplegic, was also baptized. She's the reason our tribal
church has “handicap access,” something you might not expect! And her
sweet spirit is always so uplifting (she also memorized the most
number of verses, by the way.) Her wheelchair was carried down the
trail and placed in a few feet of water (her first time to ever be in
the river, she said), and the men baptized her.

This past week we finished the revision and rechecking of Acts 7-28.
Now we can do some editing and print books for the church!

Continue to pray for some issues within the church here. A couple of
individuals are nursing hurt feelings and it's hurting themselves and
affecting others, too. Basically the church is split down the line
between two family groups who are on the opposites of a struggling
marriage. Bill has counseled the couple, and various family members.
God seems to be working, but the enemy is looking for more chances to
destroy unity.

Stones, Flu and Translation

Posted by

Health and Ministry Updates…

In February, we had a THIRD blasting procedure done on Bill's kidney
stones. But once again there was no apparent result. Please pray that
the stones will either pass on their own (and without too much pain or
requiring an emergency flight out of the tribe) or that they will
simply “stay put” and let us get on with life! We've had about enough
of doctor appointments, procedures and all the delays involved with
that!

Also, the tests to determine the cause of the stones produced mixed
results and the doctors' final conclusion is that it is NOT related to
overactive parathyroid, so there is no surgery on the horizon.

Right now we are back in the tribe, translating Ephesians and Luke and
finalizing the book of Acts (fixing all the problems discovered during
the consultant check). We plan to have the Palawanos study Acts 1-6
during their upcoming annual conference the end of April. We trust
that the content of those challenging and exciting chapters will be a
blessing to them as they hear it in their own language for the first
time! On Sundays lately, Bill is teaching through Nehemiah and he
plans to resume his Saturday morning Bible Study soon, focusing on
training the Palawano Bible teachers.

There is a lot of sickness among the Palawanos lately. A very painful
stomach flu and a long-lasting chest flu have hit many of the small
children and babies and everyone is of course very concerned. We are
helping the clinic workers to deal with the complicated cases,
including some where pneumonia has set it. And there is always
malaria, which is very opportunistic and often strikes the children
when they are run down from other illnesses.

Meanwhile, it's been a very rainy beginning to “dry” season.
Personally, we are enjoying the more pleasant weather, but it is a
problem for the Palawanos as they are afraid they will not be able to
burn their new fields. Inadequate burning means lots of weeds, which
means a poor harvest and therefore a longer “hungry season” next year.
So pray with us that the Lord provides the weather needed to produce
food for the community.

And pray, too, that the Word of God will continue to bear a fruitful
harvest in the hearts of the Palawanos, and for us as we translate
more books in the coming months.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,

-Bill and Donna

Translation Check Complete!

Posted by

Whew!

Thanks to God and to all who prayed. We completed the consultant check of Acts!

We faced many difficulties… for one thing, the check went slower than expected (and Acts, as you know, is a BIG book!). 1007 verses, to be exact.

Also there were heavy storms the whole time, so the river was usually a raging flood. This makes it difficult (and dangerous) to cross. It is deep, turbulent, murky brown, and branches (and at times, whole trees) are floating past. And of course, the consultant, Ginny Sharp, was staying on the other side of the river with our partners (Tim is her son and so Tim and Monika’s girls are her granddaughters.) Nili, the Palawano helping us with the check lives on the other side, too. Some days they could not cross at all. Other times, we had to wait for the river to go down and we could only work a half day. So the check stretched over ten days total.

So with the flooding, there were exciting moments shuttling them across in a small dugout canoe, which had the interesting “design feature” of sitting low in the water and filling up as you paddled! Tim’s dad Dwight grew up on rivers in Brazil (he’s an MK) so he know how to handle a canoe. But this “lowrider” canoe was a lot safer with a 90 lb Palawano guy paddling it.

But, praise the Lord, in spite of all that, we were able to finish the last verse of Acts just at as it got dark on the night before Ginny left!! And, we’re thankful, too, that the weather allowed Ginny and her husband to fly on as planned, so they didn’t miss their commercial flight back to Mindanao the next day.

The check produced good results. It did confirm that most of the book communicated well. But it also turned up a number of passages and words that did not communicate clearly, especially to the younger generation. So we’re thankful for discovering those issues so we can fix them! I’m going to write a blog soon about some of the kinds of issues we discovered.

Another fruit of the check was that Nili asked a few other ladies to sit in on the check as her “companion.” Out of that we discovered another young woman who is willing to help… not too shy, doesn’t mind sitting there thinking all day(!) and has a desire to help us with the translation. Her name is Nursalin. She’s a young mother of 22, and we’ve known her since she was born. Her father is Susing, one of our church leaders. After she helped with the check one day, I asked her, “So, Granddaughter, it wasn’t too much of a headache, was it?”

With a sweet smile, she said, “No, Grandfather, it wasn’t hard. And I think it’s good to learn more about God’s Word.”

We’re glad that she even sees the translation process itself as a chance to learn and grow. And we’re challenged to keep pressing on to see God’s Word in Palawano… clear and alive, communicating and touching hearts among the Palawanos far and wide.

Yes, “It’s good to learn more about God’s Word.”

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,
-Bill and Donna

God is Good

Posted by

An Answer to Prayer

We were blessed today by the power and grace of God.

There is a young couple in our church (~30 years old) whom we have known since they were 5 year old kids. Now they are grown up, active in the Palawano church and have 3 children of their own. The wife is Karing, who was one of Elisa’s playmates in the 80’s. The husband is Rinard, a brother of another of Elisa’s friends; a boy who use to color our Bible story pictures we used in the evangelistic outreaches.

For a number of months, Rinard has had a cough and felt weak. Antibiotics didn’t seem to do the trick and we were afraid his childhood tuberculosis had returned. So we had him taken to town to see the doctor, who had x-rays done. His lungs looked a bit cloudy and the doctor prescribed stronger antibiotics. But the greater concern was a mass in his left lung. The doctor wanted him to come back later when more tests could be done and the other doctor would be there to help make the diagnosis.

Rinard just went out to the doctor when we fly in (read my last two blogs for more on the travel circus to get us home!) That’s the last we knew until today…

…after church Karing came running over to our house, calling to us from outside (the custom here) and crying her eyes out. When we went out to greet her, she said that Rinard had come home and that a second x-ray showed that the mass was gone. That’s right, GONE. She was crying for joy, not sorrow, and kept praising God for how he cares for his children and hears our prayers. Read Donna’s blog for more detail on what Karing was saying.

Praise God with us for his grace and healing of Rinard. Pray, too, that this will touch hearts of believers and unbelievers alike, and bear fruit for the gospel.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,
-Bill and Donna