Missionary Blogs The latest Christian mission news from around the world
Meeting house extension
We thought we’d share with you some of the good things that are going on in the village while we have been working on Old Testament translation.
2 Timothy 2:2 “…the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.“
Innovation in the jungle! WIFI via a tin can!
In this fast-paced world we live in today, two weeks without internet was quite the adjustment! Our only way of communicating with “the outside world” was via our 2-way radio. How thankful we are that our line of communication with our Heavenly Father is never “offline!”
Lance and I arrived in the village two weeks ago. Rats and bats had taken up residence in our house during the time we were away (at least there were no snakes this time)…so it took a few days to get things cleaned up and for us to feel settled in. Lance has finished checking through 1 and 2 Samuel and continues checking in other books he’d been translating while in the US this past year. He’s thankful for his two language assistants who help to make sure the meaning is clear, while they endeavor to stay true to the text. We so appreciate your prayers for this huge task of translating the Old Testament into the Higaunon language.
God had different plans than the ones we had made for our daughter and her family! There was much disappointment that they were not able to visit the village. The weather was not good on the only days they had available to fly. They returned to their city in East Asia only hours after we flew back to the village. They are back into full time language study.
We so enjoyed the time we had with our daughter and family, as well as their coworkers, during a conference they attended. Lance and I took care of the little ones while their parents were in meetings. There was plenty of time for us with our three grandchildren and we made lots of fun memories. After being together for more than 2 weeks, we really missed them when we parted. We’re so thankful we had that time together.
Please continue to pray for wisdom for us in the work God has for us to do. Our hope is to get Genesis and Exodus through a final check so it can be printed and distributed to the people. Imagine getting these books in your language for the first time! We take our copies of the Scriptures very much for granted, don’t we?!
Once again we want to express our deepest thanks for your partnership in this ministry to the Higaunon people.
Secure in Christ’s love,
Lance & Laura
We had a great time with our daughter and her precious family.
I get a lot of email, really a lot of email! So much, that I’m often dreading the deluge that will greet me when I sit down each morning. And that may be the subject of another post, but today an email with a persistent subject caught my attention.
In my line of “work,” “proof reading” is very important. We’ve caught some potential faux pas just in the nick of time before they made their way to 40,000 plus magazine subscribers and as I wince, we’ve let a few typos get away from us as well.
The actual process of good proof reading is tedious and well, rather boring. But the concept of proof reading that this particular email was referring to had the highest stakes attached to it.
It was proof reading an almost complete and printed Bible, a Siawi Bible in fact.
And what stuck out was, that as I opened the list of corrections that the proof reader had compiled, the word processing program I used labeled almost every word as wrong. That was due to the words all being in Siawi, the language spoken by a people group in Papua New Guinea, who are months away from having God’s life giving Word in their own language! Thank God there are people who have given their lives to be able to proof read this language.
It’s important, very important, that we get these words right! The stakes are high and with still over 2200 languages waiting for God’s Word to come to them, we can’t afford “Typos” in this book!
Pray for missionary translators working around the clock around the world! And pray specifically for the Siawi translation as my team puts the finishing touches on this book!
Want to see more about this Bible? Here’s a short video.
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Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.“ What a wonderful message! This month has been quite busy. The first week, Lance continued translating the book of Leviticus. The second week, we both attended a workshop to learn how to talk with the media during a crisis, which our leadership team in the Philippines asked us to attend. It was very challenging, but also very enjoyable! The third week started with our helping good friends get to and from the funeral for their father-in-law/dad in Greenville, SC. Now Lance is back to work on translation as well as our least favorite task – PACKING! Please pray as we leave for the Philippines on the 30th of this month. We have been blessed to live in the church missionary house while in the US. With the prospect that a new pastor might need to use the house, we are packing away our belongings. Please pray for us, as we get ready to leave. One of the things we are excited about and hope to accomplish over the next 4 months is getting Genesis and Exodus ready for final checking, so it can be officially published for the Higaunon church. We just received word that the satellite company that we use in the village for email is “down” with problems. This leaves our co-workers without internet communication. The company has ordered a part from outside the country that will be expensive for them, as it has to get through customs. Please pray! We are very thankful for your partnership with us in prayer and financially. Secure in Christ’s love, |
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Lance & Laura PS – we have been made aware of a need that our daughter has for their ministry. Write us if you’re interested in helping. |
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Merry Christmas!
The birth of the Savior so long ago is why we celebrate, not only during this season, but the whole year long! The first thing the angel said that night was, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10.) What a wonderful message of hope for a world in crisis!
Crops flattened by the storm
Tragedy:
You have heard by now that a super-typhoon (Bopha) made a direct hit on Mindanao. With today’s news reporting the death toll at “902 with hundreds still missing,” we are grateful that there was no loss of life in our valley.
The main concern with them isn’t so much about the damage to people’s houses; it is about the loss of their crops. The food supplies they depend on have been badly damaged. Please pray that they would “Fear not” but trust their Heavenly Father to care for them. (Some have asked what they can do. Let us know if you want to help.)
Merry Christmas:
Since we are here in the USA, we decided to give ourselves a Christmas gift: We are flying out to spend an early Christmas with Robert, Ean and some of Laura’s family. Please pray for safety, good weather for those travel days especially and a great time with loved ones.
Our wish for you is a Blessed Christmas with CHRIST as the focus! Thank you so much for praying for us as Lance works on Old Testament translation for the Higaunon.
Secure in Jesus,
Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!
The third Thursday of November is marked as Thanksgiving on the American calendar. What are you thankful for? A couple of verses from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians are a tremendous encouragement to us:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins”
Then Titus 2:13 “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ“
We are thankful for HOPE! The advertising slogan “Got Milk?” has been around awhile and I thought, why not “Got Hope?” With the American Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, what better thing to be thankful for than the HOPE that we have in Christ? May God encourage your heart with the message of HOPE in this seemingly hopeless world.
Please pray for us as we travel for the holiday. We are looking forward to being with Robert in Oklahoma and some of Laura’s family in Texas. We will be gone for about 10 days.
It is exciting to think of the Higaunon getting more of God’s Word in their language. Thank you for praying for Lance as he translates Old Testament books. He has finished 2 Samuel and is working on a couple of other smaller books.
Finally, we are thankful for YOU for your part in this ministry.
Secure in Christ’s love,
Lance & Laura
We were invited to participate in a Missions Conference of a local church that is very proactive in ministry. Mike taught a practical class on identifying and partnering with ministries using the “things God has put in your hands.” The church planting movements in Paraguay are often perceived as “unattainable” due to having foreign origins and it’s financial backing. That is why it’s necessary for the Paraguayan cross-cultural mission’s movement to take on a sustainable form and strategy.
It was a highlight for us during the Missions Conference to watch coworkers who are Bible Translators among the Sanapana people, sharing about their ministry and interact with the members of this church! They were a tremendous blessing to the church and to us as they talked about the challenges they face in the task of making God’s Word accurate in the Sanapana language and yet understandable. We were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task and their commitment to see it through.
What a blessing it is to realize that GOD IS FAITHFUL! 1 Corinthians 1:9 says “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are indeed privileged to be called into the fellowship of His Son. The ONE who spoke the universe into existence loves us and calls us His children. WOW!! AMAZING!! It’s hard to believe that we have been back for three weeks already! Our trip seems like a dream. We’re glad for the time God gave us and all He accomplished in and through us. Lance’s Haiti trip is coming up and after that, he will once again be working full time on Old Testament translation. We are already starting to plan for next year’s trip for more translation checking.
Haiti
Lance has been preparing for his trip to Haiti since being back. Please pray for him and the team leaving this Saturday.
Please pray for the following.
For the Lost in Haiti
· That God will bring people who need to hear the Good News
· Open our eyes to the lost souls
· Provide opportunities to share
Unity of the Team
· Team will be of one mind, united in prayer
· Sensitive to the needs of others
· Obedient
For Spiritual Protection
· Equip with the full armor of God
· Protect from temptation
· Know God’s presence
Wisdom
· Discerning about what to say
· Wise in decisions
· Understanding of God’s call
Cultural Adjustments
· Quickly adapt to differences
· Able to eat
· Personal health
Personal
· Protection for family at home
· Traveling mercies
Once again, thank you for praying!
We are just days away from leaving the village. We have thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship with everyone; our co-workers, Ron & Michelle as we met daily for prayer, and with the Higaunon believers as we visited with them. Lance has finished the initial checking of all he planned on doing as well as gotten a good start into 1 Samuel.
Tata was one of our first language helpers.
To borrow a phrase from Paul’s letter to the Colossians: To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are scattered around the world: Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing to experience God’s grace and peace day by day and know He is in control of all that is going on around us, no matter where we are in this messed up world. What a privilege to serve Him wherever we are.
Our neighbor, Wiki, with one of his many grandchildren.
Thank you so much for praying for us. We have had a great time reconnecting with the believers here and we praise the Lord for allowing us to accomplish our goals! Lance finished all that he had prepared to do and is now working on the book of 1 Samuel. It has been a lot of fun watching the translation assistants’ reaction as they hear a lot of this for the first time in their language.
We have a lot to praise God for and to ask prayer for. Here are some items on our list:
We praise the Lord for each of you who pray and give towards this ministry. What a privilege it is to be co-laborers together in that which has eternal value; the lives of PEOPLE!
Secure in Christ’s love,
Lance & Laura
Have you heard the account of the birth of the Higaunon church, or maybe you want to hear it again? For those who are interested, click here to listen to a podcast of us telling the story of the Higaunon people’s journey from Fear to Faith.
