unreached people groups

Urgent Prayer Request

Posted by

UPDATE ON HOW TO GIVE

Hi,
Some of you have mentioned having trouble with donating to Lini’s medical expenses.

Apparently the scheme I described creates issues with IRS rules. I apologize. The mission is not allowed to have a designation “for Lini,” since she is neither a member of the mission or an official “project” of Ethnos360.

The way around this, if you received an error message or an email is to simple give the gift to our account without mentioning Lini. You can tell us that you gave, or we can figure that out by simply noting non-regular gifts credited to our account during these few days.

I’m sorry for the hassle. We appreciate your generosity. We’re working with Lini to figure out the best hospital option and will keep you posted.

-Bill and Donna

 

UPDATE ON YOUR GENEROUS RESPONSE

Wow… we were blown away by the rapid and generous response of God’s people! With the gifts already sent or promised, we now have plenty for Lini’s expenses and a buffer for unexpected extras! So unless you have already send a gift or promised a gift to us today, you don’t need to give unless you just feel led to do so.

We’ll let you know the total amount once it’s final. We will use the funds to cover Lini’s expenses, then to cover any extra expenses that are part of this medical emergency. Then if there are leftover funds, We will let you know. We will set them aside for a future medical emergency to be used in the spirit in which they were given. But if you would like to redisignate your gift or be reimbursed, you can let us know at that time.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We can let Lini know that God’s people rallied and met her need in a matter of a few hours. We will tell her that so many have assured us of their prayers as well. With joy we can tell her about the loving generous people of God that are part of our ministry team!

We’ll post a regular ministry update soon. But first we need to get this urgent request out today because of a medical emergency for our friend Lini. She needs your prayers!

Lini and Elisa – friends from the start

Lini

We’ve talked about Lini a lot over the years. She was Elisa’s best friend in the tribe from the very first day they met when Lini was 3 and a half and Elisa was only 4.

When Lini grew up, she was a faithful believer and became one of our main translation helpers. She worked with Donna on the recording-for-accuracy process. And because of her intelligence and skill, she was the helper Bill always scheduled for our final consultant comprehension checks.

Working on the translation at the end was difficult for her as a young mother of three. She would have to leave her family in the village and travel to town for a week at a time with her youngest child. He would get bit by gnats in our yard and have allergic reactions to the bites. But in spite of all this, she told Bill:

“Uncle Bill, this is hard, but I’m going to keep working on translation with you until we’re done because it’s so important to get God’s Word into the hands of all the other Palawanos!”

Lini worked tirelessly with Donna on the translation
Lini after the Final Comprehension Check

Appendicitis!

We’ve recently learned that Lini has appendicitis. So far her appendix has not ruptured, and we’re thankful for that. The doctors initially prescribed powerful antibiotics, which were quite expensive. We sent Lini a few hundred dollars to cover the costs, but the medication did not solve the problem. She is still weak and in a lot of pain.

So now the doctors have told Lini that her only option is surgery. This is complicated and risky in a provincial hospital on Palawan. It is also much more than her family can afford. She was told the cost will be 90,000 pesos. That is only US$2,000, which is not much by American standards for medical expenses, but for her family it’s an impossible amount. And it’s more than we can fully cover. The total will likely exceed this amount, because unlike our system here, Philippine hospitals require the family to go out and buy all the patient’s supplies like IVs, medication and syringes, etc., out of pocket.

Please Pray

So first and foremost we’re asking everyone to please pray for Lini. Pray for her health as she is currently in a lot of pain. Pray for her appendix not to burst and for a successful surgery with no complications or infections, etc. Pray for her husband Lito and their daughters during this difficult time. Pray that the faith she and her family have would be a testimony to the doctors and hospital staff, pointing them to Jesus.

If you would like to help with her medical expenses, Lini and her family would be very grateful. You can SEND ANY GIFTS THROUGH OUR ACCOUNT. Just click on that link, and make sure to make a note “for Lini” where it says to “add instructions, designations or notes.” Our office will forward 100% of your gifts to us and we will send the money directly to Lini’s husband Lito.

Thank you for your partnership in our ministry. It means the world to us, and to the Palawanos. The Palawano church is growing because you have stood with us through the years.

God Works Long Distance

Posted by

Africa (w/out the Trip)

If you’ve been following our recent saga, you know we weren’t able to actually go to Africa as planned. So we can’t call this an Africa Ministry Trip. But Bill was still able to do the ministry part.

He pre-recorded his main introductory two-hour session last Sunday, once his cough was a little better. That way the Africa workshop attendees could watch it first thing Monday morning their time. (To do it live over the internet, Bill would have been teaching it at 1 a.m. San Diego time!)

Throughout the rest of the week, Bill was able to teach several sessions live (see picture below), and to answer their questions which he was getting by email. One of Bill’s teammates covered for him and did another session since Bill’s voice was still tentative all week.

Bill teaching via the Internet

A total of 58 missionaries attended the workshop. These included both Africans and foreigners. Most are on teams working to reach Unreached People Groups, and some of them are also consultants (or “coaches”), who are experienced missionaries who help others learn language and culture in order to succeed in their ministries. Bill and his team were teaching some helpful ways to learn culture and worldview to an even deeper level.

We’re not sure why God chose to change our plans at the last minute. It would have been so nice to be there in person interacting with everyone all throughout the week. But we’re grateful for technology, and the fact that Bill was still able to teach those sessions from a distance. We received some gracious and encouraging positive feedback about the workshop.

And we are so thankful for you and your prayers! Bill’s sickness lingered on, but was never very severe except for fever the ninth and final day.

Please Continue to Pray

Please pray for Bill and his team and they finish the development of the CLA (Culture & Language Acquisition) training materials and the mobile app to go with them and prepare for the global launch of these tools.

Lord willing, there will be more trips to Africa–and elsewhere–throughout the coming year as part of that launch, to get these tools into the hands of missionaries and those who train and coach them.

Pray, too, as they prepare and record training videos using these materials to train missionaries around the globe to communicate the Gospel clearly and effectively.

Need a quick update of what we’ve been up to? Click here to get up-to-date.

If you’re interested in partnering with us in this ministry, click here for more information.

—–

Africa map photo by James Wiseman on Unsplash, text added

When God Has Different Plans

Posted by

Thanks to all who prayed. We believe God heard your prayers and answered in an unexpected way.

Sick!

We were packed and ready. Our Uber to the airport was booked for 3:30 a.m.

But Bill had a cough and other chest cold symptoms all through the night. It was worse in the morning.

Then it was 3 a.m. and down to the wire.

We realized that not only would no one want to sit next to “that guy with the cough and sniffles,” but the airlines would never let us on board unless we lied. We could not truthfully say, “Nope, no COVID symptoms for the last few days.”

Changes

So we cancelled the Uber.

We cancelled the airline tickets, and wrote some quick emails to Africa.

It was so hard to push those buttons and cancel! There would be no going back after that. No way to change our minds. But it was the right thing to do, even if we didn’t understand God’s will. So we prayed and clicked those two icons.

“…you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.”

Ecc 11:5b NLT

We’re thankful that so far, Bill isn’t critically ill, although he fells pretty yucky and the flight-cancelling symptoms remain. He slept all day. We’ve booked tests for tomorrow to determine if he has COVID or just a cold. We’ll keep you posted.

Keep on Praying

So please continue to pray. Pray for a quick return to health. Pray for us as this is disappointing, and we hate to let people down. Pray for wisdom for the workshop organizers in Africa as to how to adjust to Bill’s last-minute cancellation.

Thanks for standing with us.

Good to be Negative

Posted by

Here’s a very quick update (you’ll see why it’s quick in a minute.)

We’re taking off on a ministry trip to AFRICA tomorrow! This is the first international trip we’ve taken since mid-2019 (Thanks to COVID). It’s Donna’s first trip AT ALL in about 2 years, and her first trip to Africa!

We’re thankful to the Lord for this ministry opportunity and for his provision of our tickets, a house (and cat) sitter, and so much more.

By the way, “negative” here refers to the negative COVID test results which the airlines required.

We’re EXCITED

Bill will be presenting to a group of about 50 African and expat missionary language and culture consultants. Bill will be updating them on some of the content of the CLA (Culture & Language Learning) program his team has been working on, and they will discuss with him how to best “Africanize” it. They want to continue to better help all their missionaries to learn culture and thereby to be effective communicators of the Gospel.

We’re TIRED

Packing and preparing for travel can be exhausting, but hey… we’re good at it! But this time it’s different. The hardest part is actually meeting all the COVID travel requirements for two airlines and three countries! We can’t believe the number of forms to fill out, copy, scan, upload (and sometimes re-upload, and re-re-upload) this trip involves. It’s taken HOURS. But we’re done and packing (the easy part)! We’ll be MORE tired when we get there (jet lag after 25 hours of travel), while teaching with jet lag, and then with a quick turn-around, a long trip and jet lag when we get home! (did I mention jet lag…?)

Please PRAY

We’ll update you when we get back! In the meantime, please pray for:

  • health during and after the trip
  • safe travel and smooth connections
  • clear-headedness (minimal jet lag)
  • a successful and fruitful workshop

Thank you for partnering with us in reaching the unreached.

Talk is not Cheap

Posted by

Talking is Important.

Missionaries need to talk… fluently! They have an important message to communicate. And it takes years of hard work to gain that fluency.

That’s why Bill and his team are developing the updated Engage culture/language acquisition (CLA) how-to materials, and the Stages CLA app. We want to make the task easier by providing tools for missionary language learners and those who help them.

COVID Hasn’t Stopped the Talking

Recently Bill attended an online conference for those from many mission agencies who train or coach missionaries in the area of language and culture acquisition. ICLL (the International Congress on Language Learning) is usually held face-to-face. But COVID-19 didn’t prevent everyone from coming together virtually to learn from one another!

Over 280 people attended the conference. The attendees from our mission alone represented 8 different nationalities, and they minister in 22 countries. Many of them are training missionaries to reach even more countries where Unreached People Groups are waiting to hear the Gospel.

In a virtual break-out discussion room, Bill was also able to tell several other mission agencies about Engage and Stages, and there was a tremendous amount of interest.

Bill has been Talking (a lot)

In the weeks since ICLL, Bill has interacted with so many people as part of his consultant ministry.

We’d like to tell you about some of those conversations.

Bill has been communicating…

…with a German ministering in South America who helps missionary language learners.

…with an Australian who wants to keep her mission informed about the upcoming release of Engage and Stages.

…with a Brazilian who asked Bill for help and resources so his team can train their Brazilian missionaries to use Engage and Stages to reach the unreached tribes of Brazil.

…with our friends in South Asia, talking about how to help them use the Stages app as they train local workers to reach the unreached there.

…with the American computer programmers who are adding exciting new features to Stages even as you read this update.

…with some Americans in Papua New Guinea who are testing out an early release of the Stages app in order to give our team vital feedback.

…with a South African who is overseeing the training of African missionaries who come from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. He wants to be kept updated and to have Bill’s team provide help so those African missionaries can use Engage and Stages to reach the unreached peoples in Africa.

…with a Canadian in Ontario, and some Americans in Missouri. We’re planning to provide a week of training for them as they prepare to launch teaching Engage and Stages in their respective missionary training programs next semester.

This coming week, Bill will host two online video conferences to debrief our 40+ ICLL attendees to discuss how to apply what they learned in the online sessions.

We’re excited to have a part in providing help and tools for missionaries, for those who train them, and for the language coaches who enable them to succeed.

Jesus Told Us to Talk

All this is to enable more missionaries to…

…talk. To communicate clearly.

To “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.”

Talk isn’t cheap. It can mean a lot of hard work. But when the Gospel is what you want to talk about, it’s worth every effort.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Heart-Languages-Slogan-heart.png

The Gospel Goes Viral

Posted by

Busier Than Ever

October finds us grateful to be well and safe during the pandemic. We pray you are, too!

COVID-19 has changed many things in our lives recently, but it has not stopped our ministry of reaching the Unreached. In fact, ministry-wise, we are busier than ever.

Here’s a quick update on what is the same for us, what’s different, and what’s better and more exciting that we could have imagined…

The Same

  • HOME. We continue to work from home, connecting online.
  • MAKING MISSIONARIES MORE EFFECTIVE. Bill continues to work with his team developing materials and a mobile app to help missionaries gain fluency faster in order to speed up the spread of the Gospel.

Different

  • NO TRAVEL. No surprise there! We’ve had none of our usual trips to Asia or our training centers to train missionaries and consultants.
  • VIDEO CONFERENCES. 2020 is the year of Zoom, Teams, Skype, and all the other online meeting apps for everyone, and we’re no exception. Bill spends a lot of his time connecting online with his team and with missionaries and consultants in many different countries who need his help.
  • SLOWER INTERNET. Even here in the US, our internet gets bogged down a bit lately because of all the homeschooling, video conferences, and students home from college playing online games!

Better and More Exciting

  • MORE PROGRESS FASTER. Meeting online has proven to be very effective. A two-hour meeting can be followed by a few days of processing and implementation, followed immediately by another meeting. This has actually worked better than less frequent, week-long all-day face to face meetings.
  • MORE AVAILABILITY. Progress has also picked up pace because many of Bill’s teammates, who are scattered all around the globe, actually have more time to give to the CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition) project. Some of their other ministries are on hold due to COVID-19, giving them more time to devote to working with Bill on CLA materials and the CLA app.

But the most exciting thing is SOMETHING TOTALLY NEW:

Bill and his team will have a part in training Gospel workers from all over Asia. This is a huge, new and totally unexpected opportunity in addition to those we’ve already been training! Church planters from many closed and difficult countries (shhhh… we can’t name them here) want to be better trained to reach the Unreached People Groups right there in their own countries. Many of them are in countries where it is dangerous to share the Gospel, or even to be a Christian, and where no training is available for them.

We’re excited because many of these workers need to learn another language. So they will use the culture and language acquisition (CLA) materials Bill and his team have been developing. And they will also be able to use the mobile app that goes with the CLA materials. Some will use a common language for ministry, but they will still need training in cross-cultural communication. Bill and his team will develop modules to help with training all these workers in this difficult-to-reach countries.

The prayer is that over time, this training will spread to other continents, as well. Having so many more trainees in so many different countries will greatly expand the impact of the CLA materials and the app, making the hours spent in development all the more worth the effort!

Not only this, but we’re finding missionaries from other agencies who are very interested in having their people use the CLA materials and the app.

Going Viral

So the Gospel is truly going viral… and will be spread even faster, in part because of the coronavirus! God is taking what looked like delays and frustrations and turning them into opportunities for the Gospel.

If you would like to more about the exciting new training opportunities we mentioned, let us know. We would love to fill you in! We just can’t post details online or in email communication.