Resumed Translation

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SETTLED IN TOWN AND WORKING ON LUKE
We’re up and running with translation again. It’s good to be “back in the saddle,” although we’re in a new location now, working from the city.
God has been so good in making this transition go so smoothly. We have felt his hand and are thankful for everyone’s prayers.
In just over two weeks we were moved into the house (including some rewiring and other basic repairs that needed to be done.) Both of us had to spend some time at various government offices renewing licenses and such. But even with all that, Bill is already back at work (in his new office) translating Luke! It’s a great feeling.
We have 4 of our Palawano men scheduled to come up to Puerto the end of this month. They will spend a week working full-time with Bill on revising large sections of Luke. Donna will use one of the men for several hours each day to do recording, another important step in the translation procedure. We have a consultant check of Ephesians and 1 Peter scheduled for late March, and are hoping to get Luke ready for a check in June.
God has already provided much of what was needed for us getting moved to Puerto. There are still some logistics (scheduling workers) and expenses related to setting up the quarters for our Palawano translation helpers. And we still need to pay the balance of the cost of the vehicle we are buying.
God also answered prayer in that we immediately found a church home here in town. We know many were praying about this. We’ve felt very welcome there. Our main ministry focus even while here in town will be the Palawano translation. But we are glad to find a place for worship and fellowship and we hope to be a blessing there, as well. We already see the beginning of some special friendships there.
CONTINUE TO PRAY…
Pray for the remaining details for our getting set up here, including the expenses mentioned above. But most of all, please pray as we get back into translation that we will get momentum going and make good progress, Lord willing faster than ever! Pray that we can work out the scheduling of the various Palawanos we will bring to Puerto in rotation to work with us.
Note that the server hosting our web site continues to be down. Bill is already working on a new version of the site that will be hosted on a different servers… Stay tuned!!
Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna

New Plans

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QUICK UPDATE…
We’ve been having a great time in the USA seeing family (our girls especially!), friends and supporters. Both of us have had also chances to speak in churches and Bible studies, sharing about the Palawano work.
UNREST IN THE PHILIPPINES…
The political situation in the Philippines continues to be a concern. Things seem to have calmed down on Palawan for the moment at least, but in the larger scheme of things, the problem remains of those who want to create a separate state in the southern Philippines, including parts of Palawan. This situation might affect many missionary and church efforts and may eventually result in persecution for Filipino and tribal Christians.
OUR PLANS…
When we return to the Philippines in January, our goal, as always, will be to complete the Palawano New Testament translation as quickly as possible and get it in the hands of the Palawano church.
Since being home the Lord has given both of us a strong sense of his leading that to accomplish this goal with the least delay and disruption, we should move to town and finish the translation from there. So we will be shifting our home and base of operations to town. Our Palawano translation helpers will continue to work with us, as we bring them to town in some sort of scheduled rotation.
CONTINUE TO PRAY…
Pray with us about the logistics and costs of this move and all the adjustments it will require in our day-to-day scheduling of translation work. Pray we can get settled quickly in town and see good progress in the translation. Praise the Lord with us that he has already provided a house for us to rent!
Reaching Palawanos together with you,

-Bill and Donna

Home, Sweet Home

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QUICK UPDATE…
It’s so great to be home!
Praise the Lord for safe and uneventful travel to the USA. It has been wonderful to see our kids and all the rest of the family. We were even here in time to celebrate our nephew’s 23rd birthday last night. He was born the day we arrived in San Diego on our first home assignment in 1985! Wow.
We are overwhelmed by the Lord and his people… through the gracious generosity of two families, the Lord has provided two cars for us, both economical (!), to use while in the USA. This is such a huge blessing for us and beyond our prayerful expectations!
CONTINUE TO PRAY…
Please pray with us as we seek the Lord and ponder how the current political situation on Palawan may affect our plans and ministry allocation. And ask God to keep the Palawano believers safe in these troubled times, and that their faith might remain strong and active!

Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna

Change of Plans – Coming Home Sooner

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OUR TRIP TO THE USA…
Due to some recent events on Palawan, we have adjusted the timetable of our upcoming mini-home assignment. Instead of flying to the USA in mid October, we will be coming home early, this coming week, in fact!
We will still return to the Philippines in mid-January, so this means that we will be home for four months instead of three. Also, it means we will get to see family and many friends that much sooner! With the unexpected change of plans, we’ve had a busy week getting last-minute paperwork, packing, shopping and other details done on short notice.
Pray with us, too, as we still need a car to borrow (or the means to procure a rental) for our time  in the USA, and now we have one month less to see that need met. Praise the Lord we have a place to stay when we arrive.
The server hosting our web site continues to be down. One thing we will be doing once we get home is to get the site up and running again. In the meantime our blogs are still up-to-date.

Reaching Palawanos together with you,
-Bill and Donna

Countdown to USA

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LAST DAYS FOR USA TRIP…
We thank God for a good week in Puerto Princesa. We were able to get online and finalize many of the arrangements for our upcoming 3-month home assignment (Oct-Jan), including housing, church meetings, etc.
The big prayer request still pending is at least one good vehicle to use while we’re home, something economical if at all possible. The car were were to have had blew a head gasket and won’t be available for us, after all.
While in town, Bill was also able to connect with a linguist friend and to accomplish some goals related to the grammatical analysis of Palawano and other languages NTM works with.
Monday we head back to the tribe and plan to accomplish as much progress in the translation of Luke as possible in the five weeks before we fly out and head to the USA.
PRAY WITH US
We are so thankful that Bill’s cold got better after about a week, and his asthma is normalizing again.
Pray with us regarding progress in the translation and for continued healing of interpersonal issues in the Palawano church. And please pray concerning a vehicle and the other logistic needs for our upcoming travels and our time in the USA.
Thanks once again for your part in Reaching Palawanos!

Clinic Crisis, part 2

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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!