We been blessed to see the believers meeting on their own, and the men sharing good teaching. But recently it has been thrilling to hear Abil and others discuss on their own about plans to reach several areas (both near and far) with the gospel. There are also some isolated groups where someone preached the gospel then left and people are either confused, or else new Christians wanting to be taught… the church here is looking at how to shepherd these groups, as well.

We all need air, don’t we? We fly in it, and we breath it (well, granted, we don’t have much pure “air” here in Manila!) Here’s some of our recent interaction with this important substance:

The funeral for Donna’s mom was on Tuesday. Now, after a few exhausting and emotionally draining days, Donna is finishing up details in Iowa and will be heading to San Diego soon, on her way back to the Philippines. She really felt everyone’s prayers and support during this time of loss. The amazing network of friends, neighbors and family in her mom’s little community was a real blessing, too.

Bill has been back in Manila since April 7th, attending the “Team Translation Workshop.” This went well (see below.) But his asthma jumped to a critical level. A new doctor, some new medicines, and better coordination between medicines has put him on a slow road to recovery. So far, the change in his condition has been slight, but at least there is improvement! Because of this, based on his doctor’s advice and upon some other factors on Palawan, he has decided to remain in Manila until Donna returns, focusing on getting his breathing under control. He will be working on Palawano discourse analysis and other projects related to the translation while in Manila.

The translation workshop went very well. Many of the desired goals were accomplished; translators/potential translators further trained; teammates gained new insight into the challenges their translator faces; others saw how they could play more of apart in speeding the process.

We all caught a glimpse of how much more there is to learn. A number of workshop participants commented on how they were challenged to go back and push ahead in their language learning, to try and learn deeper and more natural ways to communicate God’s truth.

We appreciate your partnership in this ministry of getting God’s Word translated and into the hands (and hearts) of the Palawano people!

Well, about 40 missionaries and over a dozen tribal Translation Assistants (“TA’s”) are gathered here in Manila for that workshop.

Giyang and the other two guys, Abil (one of our church leaders) and Arnel (our worship leader) are here with us, helping everyone on the Palawano team. We’re halfway through the two-week marathon. Jill Goring, NTM’s International Translation Coordinator is teaching on translation principles and techniques every morning. In the afternoons, all team members are getting a chance to put things into practice with live language helpers. Not everyone will become or replace the primary translator on their team, but this workshop is helping to put us all on the same page, and many are learning how they might be of help in certain steps throughout the procedure.

In the afternoons, another translation consultant and I wander around providing help to the teams, as needed.

In their “off” hours, our Palawano friends have been able to do some sightseeing and other outings. They have been to the top of a 23-story high rise, gone shopping in the mall, and the presidential palace at Malacañang. On that trip, they were with a linguistic professor who is a friend on ours. He was fascinated to elicit some language data from them, treated them to dinner, paid them for their time and gave them presents!

Thank you for praying. Keeping praying for this workshop to be profitable in bringing God’s Word more quickly and clearly in all these languages!

Well, even for us, travel-weary globe-trotters that we are, we just experienced a FIRST… while checking into my flight in Omaha, right between getting my boarding passes and my luggage tickets, we were all herded into a stairwell (they actually called it a “storm shelter”) for a half hour because there was a tornado in the vicinity! When they gave the all-clear, we finished checking me in, got some dinner and, thank the Lord, my flight was able to leave on time.

We just heard that my letter reached my main translation helper Giyang and he found two other guys (from among my suggestion list of names) are willing and able to come out for the Bible Translation Workshop. Thanks for praying with us on this one.

Our buyer called the airlines and they were plenty of seats for the needed date, so we should be able to get their tickets without any problem… but don’t stop praying until we tell you the tickets have been bought! Pray, too, that they can get photo IDs made quickly and without hassle, so they will be allowed to board their flight.