Jason and Angie Bechtel Bringing Hope to Unreached People Groups I am finished. Done. Caput. (at least for a little while). Here an update from the Lauje New Testament translator, Barrie Williamson:
Good news! We are so pleased to be able to say that just this past week Jason Bechtel completed the layout work for the Lauje New Testament. What a great accomplishment that is! He has done a terrific job and the finished product looks beautiful. Please give God thanks with us. That done, Cherri and I are now in the process of proof reading the whole thing one last time. It is amazing what we can still find to correct. We are doing 20 pages at a time and the new Testament is 1196 pages in length. We are currently at page 60. Cherri has the best eye for this, but she can only manage a few hours per day before feeling the effects in her eyes so it will be some time before it is complete. We have spoken to our printer in Jakarta and he is ready to order the “Bible paper” for us so plans are shaping up and moving ahead.
Not so good news. There have been a couple of setbacks in Laujeland. I heard this morning that there are many people sick with malaria …, including Rindumali, who I talk with via radio. Last Monday he mentioned that the new [outreach] is stalled. Apparently there is opposition to teaching there as they believe it will bring some kind of sickness upon their children and cause them to die. The whole story wasn’t clear to anyone in our neck of the woods but, from what we understand, a couple of guys from another area had gone to visit but were not well received and were blamed for the death of a dog. It looks like it will take some time to build trust and strong relationships that will eventually lead to better understanding.
Thanks for your prayers for the Lauje people of Indonesia!
Two weekends ago, I once again had the privilege of taking our church ladies group to “the big house” in Kitchener for our own little ladies retreat. It was great fun, as usual, but it was extra special for me because two of my very good friends from our time in training at NTMC were able to join us. One of the girls is on staff at our sister school in Missouri. She was able to come as our guest speaker and did a great job of getting us into the Word and opening up to each other. The second friend attended our church when she was in the training so I snuck her in! 
It was a bittersweet time as I had a fun time with her, but I’m going to miss her as her and her family head off to the Philippines this month! Her whole family actually came down for the weekend, so Jason and the girls were with the rest of her family.
