THE WORST FLOODING IN DECADES…
You’ve probably heard of the horrible flooding in Manila last weekend. And by strange coincidence, we were in Manila for shopping and meetings, instead of safe at home on Palawan. So we thought we’d tell you how it was for us…
God was good and protected us and kept us from going out on Saturday as planned. We might have gotten stranded in another part of town, or worse yet, stuck in a taxi halfway home blocked (or surrounded) by rushing water on all sides. We had to cancel several other planned engagements since we and the people we hoped to see were on opposite sides of the deeper water and flooded bridges.
For countless others, however, the flooding was a devastating nightmare. A number of people we know were affected, among them: one friend, our NTM Manila bookkeeper and his family, had 7′ of water downstairs for 48 hours, with their car submerged the whole time, while they huddled upstairs praying; one of our Filipina teachers who guides our new missionaries in their language study was stuck on a second story roof in the rain all night until she could be rescued by kayak; others of our mission’s Filipino office staff also lost everything but their lives. The stories are countless and we only personally know a few. Many families across the city actually did lose loved ones, including many small children who were swept away.
BACK ON PALAWAN…
We were able to return to Palawan on Monday and get back to work on the translation. Progress continues at a steady and encouraging pace. Next week Bill will have 4 men here to work on revising all the newly-drafted chapters he’s been working on. Donna will use Susing, one of the men, to record some chapters in the oral drafting step of the process.
PLEASE PRAY…
Please pray for health, strength and mental energy, as well as wisdom so that the week of work with the Palawano men will be very profitable.
Pray for those who were affected by the flooding and pray also that some other storms forming to the east of the Philippines will not bring heavy rain to Manila causing renewed flooding.
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Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna
Translation Work this week
WORKING WITH TRANSLATION HELPERS…
Starting this week, Donna is spending 6 days of working with Lini, doing the recording of the middle chapters of Luke. This is a very important step in the translation process, and it is mentally draining work for both Donna and Lini, so please pray for concentration and endurance.
Donna is going to try something new this time… she will have Bingbing do some of the reading to Lini, since often it seems that after so many hours of reading, Donna’s voice gives out first, while Lini’s mind still has energy to continue. We’re hoping this strategy of using Bingbing will enable Donna to get more chapters done over the six days.
Lini’s husband Lito is here, too, along with a helper, finishing off the housing for our Translation Helpers. We’re enjoying having their youngest daughter Leah up here too. She’s such a cutie.
MEANWHILE, IN BILL’S OFFICE…
Bill will be continuing to draft the final chapters of Luke.
We’re excited to see this continued progress toward completing this long (but exciting) book!
PLEASE PRAY…
Please continue to pray for us as we push ahead in the translation. This week, pray in particular for Donna and Lini, and pray for Bill as he works to get more freshly drafted material ready to go over with the men.
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Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna
Translation Helpers… update on Cancer Patient
WORKING WITH TRANSLATION HELPERS…
We just finished our week with the 4 translation helpers. We are still trying to find our rhythm for working with the men in a longer, more concentrated block of time like this, but all considered, it was a productive time. Bill make a lot of progress on revision the draft of the middle chapters of Luke and was able to get the men’s input on the fine-tuning of some earlier chapters which are further along in the procedure. Donna got some chapters recorded, so now Bill can review then. Now it’s back to drafting ahead, reworking previous material and listening to those recordings, all to get ready for the next time the men come up.
Even more exciting is the fact that Bill worked through the final stages of Ephesians and 1 Peter with the men. He has written up a summary of last few changes and will send that back to the consultant. Once that’s approved, we can print and distribute copies of these books!
AND HELPING A PATIENT…
Pidi had the biopsy of the growth on his foot. The doctor is pretty sure it’s melanoma, but the results won’t be back form Manila for a week, or more likely, two weeks. So we sent Pidi on home to the tribe. Once we have the results, he will come back to town for surgery, if he is willing to go through the ordeal. Even the travel itself was difficult for him. He’s not at all used to “city life” and he has severe motion sickness. in fact, even just driving to the appointments here in town, he would get sick. Poor guy.
PLEASE PRAY…
Please continue to pray for us as we push ahead in the translation. For part of this week, Bill will also be taking part in a linguistic research project, figuring our some aspects of the grammar of Central Tagbanwa, a language where some of our missionaries are ministering. Then we’re heading to Manila for leadership meetings and for Bill to oversee several missionaries’ final evaluations in Tagalog language proficiency.
And keep praying for Pidi, that he would put his faith in Christ.
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Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna
Translating Luke
SO MANY VERSES…
There’s a problem with translation ministry. Sometimes it’s hard to write a fresh-sounding update since it takes so long to get a lengthy book like Luke (1,150 verses, to be exact) done! So it seems like we’re doing the same thing… for weeks at a time. Nothing “new” to tell you.
And in a sense, we are doing the same thing: translating. Day after day. Verse after verse after verse.
So we need prayer for perseverance, patience, a high level of concentration. We need to stick at it, doing the “same old thing” day after day, week after week.
But in another sense, each day brings new challenges…
How to translate difficult concepts like…
…deny yourself?
…take up your cross and follow Christ?
What do you do when even the scholars argue over the meaning of a Greek word?
So we also need prayer for the fresh, new and unexpected challenges that turn up almost every time we sit down to work. We need wisdom and insight from the Hold Spirit in order to get the job done.
God’s Word… the most important message in the universe. So needed, so full of hope. So we take the job pretty seriously!
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY…
So please pray for us as we “do the same thing” day after day. And please pray as we “do something different” each day.
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Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna
Nili’s Heart
THANK YOU FOR PRAYING…
Here’s a final update on Nili.
Yesterday we learned from the doctor that Nili’s echocardiogram showed two defective heart valves. This is apparently a long-standing condition, which resulted in her enlarged heart and caused her recent symptoms.
She is on several medicines now, which have her blood pressure and heartbeat stabilized. Because of that, her breathing is normal again. So she and Odi went home today. Nili was missing their five children, as you can imagine.
She’s feeling a lot better than she was last week, and we’re thankful for that. She is supposed to avoid heavy work, which is difficult in the Palawano farming lifestyle. And according to the doctor, her condition could become serious and even life-threatening at any time in the future.
She will return to Puerto in a month to see the doctor as a follow-up. It remains to be seen how much she can travel to be involved in the translation project, but she should be able to continue working in the clinic in the village.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY…
Please pray for healing for Nili, for physical strength and health, as well as encouragement from the Lord and wisdom as she adjusts to a new level of physical activity.
Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna
Pray for Nili
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
…
…Nili (pronounced “nee-lee”) Mistero is a 31 year-old Palawano mother of five that we’ve known since she was 4 years old. She was one of our daughter Elisa’s best friends growing up. Now she’s our main clinic worker and also one of our key translation helpers.
She was just brought to Puerto today because she was very sick. She had to be carried for 3 hours in a homemade stretcher over the mountains, and then had to ride a shuttle van for 6 hours. That trip is not even fun when a person feels well!
Our doctor friend here in town examined her and immediately had her admitted to the hospital. Her breathing was very fast and her right lung sounded full. Her blood pressure was dangerously high. At the hospital, another doctor came in and took over. They suspected pneumonia at first, but she had no fever. Then an xray showed an extremely enlarged heart, about double the size you would expect in her tiny chest cavity. This means there has been a serious underlying problem for quite some time, which has only just now manifested these symptoms. The doctor said you don’t develop an enlarged heart overnight.
So they have her on oxygen and are running other tests like thyroid level, etc., to determine what the underlying causes are and how to treat it all. They’re already warning us that is will probably not be quick or easy to see her brought back to good health.
PLEASE PRAY…
Please pray for healing for Nili, wisdom for the doctors and pray for her husband Odi and their family.
Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna