asia

Airborne with Airborne

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Our recent ministry trip to the Asia Pacific region was a great success. And we did not experience any missed flights or delays like we did going to Mexico in November.

Now, our travel companions as we were locked inside a metal tube hurtling through the stratosphere… that’s another story. It is flu season–and it’s a bad one this year. Need we say more? People were coughing and sneezing all around us once we were airborne… so we were chewing Airborne tablets like crazy.

We felt like we were traveling with the germ character in this Moderately Confused comic.

But God graciously kept us healthy, both going and coming.

We went to a country with over 200 Unreached People Groups (UPGs)–whole languages totaling over 160 million people who have never heard of Christ. Getting the gospel to them in their Heart Languages is what we’re all about.

And that means missionaries who can communicate clearly in those languages.

But it’s not easy to help someone learn an unknown, unwritten language on their own. For nearly two weeks straight, Bill met with about twenty consultants/coaches/teachers who help missionaries learn two languages and cultures. First they help them learn the language and culture of the country, and then the languages and cultures of those UPGs. Much of the discussion with Bill centered around ways to help those missionaries learn the deep aspects of culture: worldview, values, concepts of God/gods, etc., in order to clearly contrast that with God’s truth.

With God’s help, Bill was able to help the team there enhance their strategies. And at the same time, they all had great ideas that he was able to bring home for his big project: updating that DIY Language/Culture learning program for the mission worldwide.

The harvest is ripe and we need (well-trained) laborers to go out into the world to reap. They need to be able to communicate clearly.

We were home less than a week before Bill had three other trips scheduled between February and May. Pray with us for health and energy and wisdom as we help to train missionaries and those who help them.

We thank God for you and your part in reaching the unreached!

 

Also posted here.

Oh, 9,000, Give or Take…

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More numbers…

This time the number is the approximate number of miles from San Diego to our destination in the Asia Pacific region. 9,000 miles–that’s a long trip.

We leave tomorrow afternoon, Friday January 5th. We should reach our destination country after 9,000 miles and (Lord willing) 28 hours of flying, terminal hopping, and carry-on dragging. We’ll spend one night in the capital city, then take a 90-minute flight to another town.

Bill will be training language consultants/coaches in 3 different workshops. If our missionaries don’t learn the language and culture well, they cannot communicate clearly or reach Unreached People groups! So it all comes down to helping them reach fluency. A very high degree of fluency.

We’re very grateful for the opportunity to continue to be a part of seeing the gospel get to the Unreached.

Please Pray

We’ll update you from over there. For now, please pray for safe travel, good connections, and that we will be healthy, rested and alert when we arrive.

Thank you for partnering with us!

What Are We Doing Lately? Lots…

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THE  PALAWANOS  NEED  MORE  TEACHING…

   …WE’RE  HELPING  WITH  THAT

WE’RE STILL INVOLVED WITH THE PALAWANOS

  • Ongoing ministry after 33 years of ministering to the Palawanos and translating the New Testament for them
  • Recently put the Southwestern Palawano New Testament (written and audio) into an Android app
  • Annual trips to Palawan for Bible teaching seminars to supplement our partners’ teaching
  • Working with our missionaries who are mentoring the youth: Bible study materials and online discipling
  • Helping missionaries learn Central Palawano and put our New Testament into that related language

 

 THE  WORLD  NEEDS  MORE  MISSIONARIES…

   …WE’RE  TRAINING  THEM

WE’RE TRAINING A RADICAL NEW GENERATION OF MISSIONARIES

  • Teaching language learning and Bible translation at Radius across the border – come along sometime!
  • These are young people who want to go to all the hard places to reach the Unreached
  • Serving as a language learning consultant for them as they get out on the field

 

MISSIONARIES  NEED  LANGUAGE  FLUENCY…

   …WE’RE  HELPING  THEM

WE’RE HELPING MISSIONARY LANGUAGE LEARNERS—AND THOSE WHO HELP THEM

  • Developing the DIY language learning materials all our missionaries around the world will use to be able to communicate the Gospel clearly and to disciple the Unreached
  • Teaching and leading language coach workshops in the USA, Thailand, Latin America, and more to come…
  • Doing online language coaching via Skype

 

NON-WESTERN  MISSIONARIES  NEED  TRAINING,  TOO…

   …WE’RE  PROVIDING  CULTURE-SPECIFIC  TRAINING

WE’RE WORKING TO DEVELOP THE TRAINING FOR NON-WESTERN MISSIONARIES WORLDWIDE

  • SE Asians including Filipinos, Chinese and Indians, etc., want to reach the Unreached
  • Two recent trips to Asia Pacific to help local believers reaching other tribes
  • An upcoming trip to South Asia to help our missionaries to begin training local Christians as missionaries

 

THE  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  IS  REACHING  THE  UNREACHED…

   …WE’RE  TRAINING  THEM

WE’RE HELPING CHURCHES REACH UNREACHED PEOPLES… RIGHT IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

  • Training language learners so an immigrant Unreached People Group can be reached in their heart language

 

WE  NEED  HELP  TO  KEEP  GOING…

   …OUR  PARTNERSHIP  TEAM  IS  STANDING  WITH  US

WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!

  • One upcoming ministry event is our November trip to Thailand and South Asia to train missionary language learners and consultants
  • International and in-country tickets needed for Donna (Bill’s tickets already covered)
  • Conference expenses already provided—praise the Lord with us!

Give us the Tools!

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e1 Group (crop)

Sharing a Passion for Equipping Missionaries

“Give us the Tools…

…and We Will Finish the Job!”

 

Sir Winston Churchill spoke those inspiring words in 1941 when England was under severe attack and needed help to survive, and to win the war. He boldly told the world that his country was ready and willing to fight.

They just needed the tools.

That is much like the situation we find around the world today. Missionaries from Asia, Latin America and Africa are ready and willing to join in the battle, to endure hardship and to labor to see every people group reached with the Gospel.

They are asking for the tools they need.

Training Forum in Manila

The Forum on Missionary Training in Manila was a huge success. 65 attendees came from 16 different countries to talk about training missionaries in many different contexts throughout Asia, Africa and Europe. NTM brought them all together to meet one another, to learn from one another, and to encourage and help one another. We were there to listen to them and see how they felt we might be of assistance to them.

We were blessed to learn more about the training programs that are already in place. At the same time, we were challenged by the tremendous needs and the many opportunities that remain.

There are large areas in Central Asia where help is needed in setting up training programs for missionaries. Existing programs are asking for Bill to teach modules or to help them further develop their course materials.

Our next several updates will feature different connections we made at the forum.

First up… THE PHILIPPINES

Bill & Joseph (crop)

Bill with longtime friend and coworker Joseph Lee

After 33 years in the Philippines, for us, attending the Forum in Manila was like going home. We enjoyed fellowshipping with many of our Filipino missionary coworkers and talking about their training program.

They have invited Bill to teach some courses on translation and language learning at their School of Missions. We’ll be working with them to figure out the best timing for this. Bill will also want one or more Filipinos to work alongside him that he can train to take over teaching those courses.

We want to give them the tools and see God use them to finish the job!