God Working in Susing

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Hot news from here among the Palawanos…

It’s 90 degrees in the house today. Could it be that dry season has finally arrived? Although the heat saps us, we pray that there will be a time of heat and the dry winds necessary for the Palawanos to burn this year’s fields. So far it’s been raining often and even on sunny days there just isn’t the blazing intensity and wind needed.


In our last update, We asked prayer for some men who have previously played key roles in the church here, Susing and Tirso. We in the week following that, God seems to be working in Susing’s heart. True to the culture here, Bill hear indirectly (from Susing’s brother Abil, our main church leader and teacher), about the issues underlying Susing’s discouragement. Bill then sent some thoughts back to Susing via Abil (Biblical counseling within the cultural pattern of having a go-between whenever possible.) Bill basically shared that when Satan can’t get you to fall into sin, he may try to get you discouraged. Focused on the struggle to support a large family. Listening to the unjust criticism that always dogs a leaders steps. Getting tired of it all. But in translating Ephesians we see that God gives “gifted men” to the church. Not all are meant to be leaders or teachers. So those who have those gifts need to use them… and they will be targets.

It seems Susing took this to heart, and along with your prayers, God has encouraged him. He came to help Bill with translation with his old “sparkle” back. He was at church this morning. And he’s talking about wanting to be involved with teaching at the upcoming conference the end of this month.

We are pleased with really good progress in translating Ephesians. We’ve gone through the first five steps. Soon the first couple chapters will be tested for comprehension… to see how they communicate the intended meaning to a fresh audience.

Please continue to pray for Susing, and for Tirso, who continues to hang back, uninvolved in the things of the Lord as he was in times past. Pray for the translation of God’s Word and for our upcoming conference (April 25-27) when Bill and a number of the men will teach through Acts 1-6, heard for the very first time in Palawano! Pray for us for endurance (remember, it’s 90 degrees in the house!), for health and wisdom in this ministry.

Thanks for your part in Reaching Palawanos!





Busy With Translation

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We are home in the tribe, and settled in again to our work here. Bill
is “cleaning up his Acts.” That is, all the issues that showed up
during the consultant check on the book of Acts need to be gone over
and re-worked. Some things he can do himself, and other items need
input and help from his translation committee of Palawano believers.
Then each change needs to be re-checked for comprehension, twice, with
two different individuals who haven't been involved in the process so
far. Bill is using Arnel, a young Christian man, and Nursalin, a young
mother. Arnel comes Fridays, Nursalin comes Wednesdays, and the
translation committee comes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Bill has also drafted Ephesians, and is working through that at the
same time. The translation committee gives input into the draft. For
the next step, Donna takes what they have worked over, and reads it to
Rini, who then puts the meaning into her own words, which Donna
records. Bill then listens to those recordings to see what he can
glean in terms of more natural ways of expressing the meaning. Soon
we'll begin exegetical checking and testing for comprehension on this
book, as well.

And so the days go. Please pray for all these people involved in
helping us with this job. We depend on them! And for us, for daily
strength and wisdom.

We mentioned in previous updates that Bill might need a surgery for
his parathyroid gland. Further lab tests have ruled out the need for
that surgery. We are thankful for that news. Thanks for praying for us.

Right now our hearts are burdened for many needs among the people
here. Over the years, a number of key believers have been side-lined
from functioning in the church. There are many causes: quarrels among
themselves, distractions from the world, jealousy. We are praying that
the Holy Spirit would do a strong work among the Palawano believers
and bring them back into a vital relationship with Christ. We are
missing key members of the body here, and it isn't functioning as well
as it could. Would you please join us in praying for a revival among
the Palawanos? We would especially request prayer for Tirso and
Susing. Both men have great gifts God has used in the church here in
the past, but today neither one is plugged into the body. Tirso is
also a clan leader for an area called “Rora.” We would love to see
Rora come alive spiritually again.

Thank you for your part in Reaching Palawanos!

-Donna and Bill

Stones, Flu and Translation

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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

Kidney Stones – Still

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A follow-up with Bill's doctor revealed that the kidney stone which
was treated with shock wave blasts was not fully fragmented as it is a
very hard type of mineral.

So he will be having a second ESWL (blasting) procedure done on Jan
15. After that we can decide together with the doctor when we can
return to Palawan

Meanwhile, Bill is working on drafting Luke and other projects, and
Donna is continuing her work on Palawano language and other projects,
including a number of counseling interactions, while we are unable to
return home to the tribe.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,

-Bill and Donna

Kidney Stones

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While out in town we discovered that Bill had a stone in each kidney!
Praise God we learned this while we were in a place where we could
get medical attention. Our pilot is sick right now and unable to fly
so if the stone had caused an obstruction and we were in the tribe,
it would have been a real difficult emergency.

The stone on the right side was larger, so a procedure was done Dec 5
to break it into bits. That seems to have gone well.

Pending the full recovery from that, we will plan a second procedure
for the stone on the left side in the next month or so.

Meanwhile, Bill is working on drafting Luke, and Donna is continuing
her work on Palawano language and other projects while we are unable
to return home to the tribe.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,

-Bill and Donna

Translation Check Complete!

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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