Happenings in our lives....

Translation News: 

Today we finished 1 Corinthians 15!! Right on track for this week - praise the Lord for allowing us to complete this goal.

For the month of September, the goal is to finish up to and including 2 Corinthians 4.

One of our sisters in Lapoc said about the Word of God this week, "My spirit felt really sad today as we just had my uncle's funeral yesterday, but the Word of God has strengthened me." 

Please pray for Ann-Ann as she keeps our office running in Lapoc.

Medical News:

Over the years we've had numerous trips to Doctor's offices for things like Jubab's sinusitis and ears, Deb's many ops for endometriosis, but other things we have tended to let slide.

So finally after years of snuffling because of not being able to breathe through his nose, Paul is having an operation that will hopefully improve his breathing.

Deb has put up with some unusual aches and pains since 2008 and recently decided to get some serious work done on it so a lot of physio ahead of her and a lot of healing needed on her right shoulder and neck area. 

Our God is faithful and good and He is beside us through all the trials this life will hold.

Philippine Trip:

We have a trip booked for the Philippines coming up in March! We look forward very much to the ministry that the Lord has prepared for us to do in that time and for His will to be accomplished!

One of the things we will be looking to the Lord for wisdom for along with the elders, is the direction that our ministry will take when we move back to the Philippines after the translation of the New Testament is completed.

This will involve discussion about what the elders feel are the needs in all the areas where we are working and new areas where they are looking to take the Gospel into.

Weddings:

There have been two weddings this past week of young people from Lapoc and Tumpagon. These are young people who have grown up as believers in the Lord Jesus, who have waited for the Lord's direction and have married partners who also love the Lord.

One of these weddings was today and this picture is hot off of Face Book. (Yes!!!! We can stay in instant touch with many of our dear ones over in the Cauyunan, Tumpagon and Lapoc areas through Face Book.)

Speaking of weddings, it was our 31st wedding anniversary this month and we look back with great thankfulness on the gift God gave us of each other and the joy it has been to serve Him together for all the years of our marriage.

Dad:

Deb's Dad just had a blood transfusion last weekend as he is very anaemic at present which is affecting his breathing. Please pray for his blood count to come up and for his breathing to be eased. 

Our Kids:

Jen our daughter is nearly 35 which is hard to believe. Jubab (little brother) turns 17 in less than 2 weeks. They don't get to see each other often as they are separated by an ocean, but there is a bond of love between them that is so sweet.

Jen and Udi in Cauyunan with our four grandkids are serving the church, part of the leadership team and the way they are growing and keeping strong in the Lord is a great joy to us.

Jubab, our sweetest son, is in the midst of many changes in his life. He turns 17 in less than 2 weeks, goes for his driver's licence around the same time, has his last exams for Grade 11 next week, is becoming more and more his own man (independent of Dad and Ma - to our consternation but joy), loves his friends and his youth group, loves basketball, is entertaining lots of plans and thoughts about possible roads his life can take after high school.....and  he is experiencing the joy of youth talked about in Ecclesiastes 11:9.

Fantastic Letter From Migpait School!

This year we have really ramped up the number of school that we are teaching the kids scripture in. We are now teaching in 9 schools to well over 4,000 kids and youth. This week we received a letter from the principal and head people at the Migpait school thanking us for teaching their kids from God's Word. 

It is such a tremendous encouragement to receive a letter like this and we really wanted to share it.

Baby Skyler!

Our translation team has some beautiful news:

Ryan and Sarah became proud parents of this gorgeous baby boy two days ago on Saturday, Aug 15th! His name is Skyler Troy and they are thrilled along with both sets of their parents, the whole missionary team in Lapoc and ourselves.

Grandma, (Elsa, who is Ryan's Mum) had the joy of coming over to stay with them this month and delivering her little grandson! This made me miss her even more as Elsa and I have delivered lots of babies together.

  

Bugs arrived today to see his new grandson and will stay a couple of days but Elsa will stay a bit longer to help Sarah get on her feet. Ryan is working full time with us on the translation of the Tala-Andig NT and has grown to be an invaluable part of the team in the past 9 months since they arrived in Lapoc last November, 2014.

Please pray for Ryan and Sarah as they adjust to being new parents and as their days and nights take on the new delightful dimension that their Skyler

will bring to them in his unique and individual way.  

  

For the three of us, it is a very special thrill to see Ryan with his own baby boy. We have been second parents to Ryan for his whole life and to Jubab, Ryan is not just Ryan, but Yoyo.....who looked after him when he was four years old and who has always been a great role model. Sky is going to carry on the tradition between his Dad and Jubab and he's also going to call Jubab "Yoyo" (a decision that Ryan and Jubab made tonight by skype.)

Empowering The Youth!

Does it thrill your heart to see young people on fire for the Lord?  If so then here are some young people to thrill your hearts!! Together with some of the leading women in the church and the missionary team, these young people from the Ricodo church are enthusiastic scripture teachers in their local school.

It has a cost. Sometimes their peers may mock them and say things like, “Oh so you think you are some sort of teacher now?” But they are willing to endure persecution because they love Jesus and want others to know Him. This takes courage and also a desire to ‘live strange’, realizing they are only pilgrims passing through this world.

They are not super youth, they do ‘normal’ things when they get together like play games, have bible studies, eat snacks and they have crushes, but they have youth leaders who are pretty passionate about developing them into young people who know where they fit into the body of Christ and who teach them to use their spiritual gifts for the benefit of others.

Two years ago in Ricodo, the youth group was a struggling and straggly bunch. Through vision, perseverance and lots of training and encouragement, the missionary team in Ricodo have seen the Lord raise up this team of young people who are excited about serving, who are confident to teach because they realize that it is the Holy Spirit who empowers them, and who want to make their lives available to the Lord’s plan for them.

A couple of these young people have graduated from colleges and have degrees but instead of applying for jobs out in the city, they are instead finding greater joy in sharing the good news about Jesus with their friends and with others.

Other news we’ve heard in the past few weeks about empowering others comes from Tumpagon and Cauyunan (approx. 6-7 hours hike from Ricodo) where the older women in the churches are training about 12 of the younger women in ministry.

This team of women leave their babies and toddlers with grandparents or their husbands, set aside their piles of dirty laundry, their farm work and their other responsibilities and about twice a month they are walking 3 or 4 hours to the outlaying churches to visit other women who are lonely, who are in need, who are sick, who need to be taught how to love their families and how to love Jesus.

The young ladies on this team are excited about this opportunity to serve Jesus with the older women and this is growing the churches stronger in unity, in love and in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

One of the young ladies in ministry has written her testimony and we are working on translating it for you, as we have found her testimony very challenging and inspiring. We hope to be able to share it with you before too many days.

The Lord is SUFFICIENT!

Trust that you have been finding the Lord “Sufficient” to meet you at your point of need this month of July.

First up – The Lord enabled us to reach our translation goal in July and we finished up to and including 1 Corinthians 12. Praise Him!!!

This month of August our goal is to complete up to and including 1 Corinthians 15. A couple of these chapters are very long. It is getting exciting as we see 1 Corinthians nearing completion. Please continue to pray for us as the Lord brings us to mind as each week is a real challenge and sometimes it is a struggle to reach our goal each week. 

 

 Prayer Points:

• Pray for our internet signal in Lapoc.
• Pray for health of our translation team in Lapoc as some days they have not been able to work with us and this really overloads the rest of the week.
• Also for our health and strength.

Translating has and is a hugely good experience for us as God is teaching us so so much for which we really praise Him.

 

Yesterday we had to go to Brisbane as Deb’s uncle died so we attended the funeral. Her aunt is also in hospital after having some heart attacks. Deb’s Dad is also fighting cancer. We would really appreciate prayer for Deb’s family as we go through these trials/challenges.

Our 32 year old neighbour also died this last month which saddened us greatly – it seems though that she trusted our Lord Jesus just a week before she died so we think we will see her again in glory. Two days before she died and after Deb had witnessed to her in depth, her husband found her reaching out her arms. He thought she needed water so he asked her if she wanted water. She replied – “I am reaching for Jesus”. God refreshed us greatly to know this.

 

We have daily contact with all of the mission stations in the Philippines and it is really encouraging to see what God is doing in the work there. Each month more outreaches are started in new villages and last month the Lapoc ladies began to teach in 2 more primary schools. The Ricodo team is teaching in the large school there in Ricodo and the Cauyunan/Tumpagon leaders are exploring teaching in the schools there.

 

We are planning another trip over in March of next year.

God Answers Our Prayers

Thanks so much for praying over the past month for the translation and also for the work in the Philippines. Deb and I are very excited about the translation and this month of June we have really seen the Lord help us and have achieved our goal and completed up to and including 1 Corinthians 9. Huge excitement for us about this. Next month we are hoping to complete to the end of 1 Corinthians 12. We are only going to do 3 chapters this month as we are having some family time over the school holidays. Please continue to pray for the translation this month - we need wisdom from our Lord.

This is Ryan, Nanah and Aiza - the main translation team in our home in Lapoc - they work with us via skype each day.

Regarding the soldiers fighting the rebels in the mountains around the village of Anlagan which was a prayer point last month, the fighting has ceased now, the rebels are gone and all of our brothers and sisters in the Lord have been able to return home and none were harmed - thanks again for praying!

In the Cauyunan area Jo-jo (Jubab's brother) and some of the other Bible teachers are teaching in some new outreaches which is really, really exciting. They are teaching in Mainit, Pahina and Lukluk every Friday which are in an area that for many years has been resistant to the Gospel. Also Jojo is teaching 19 unbelievers in his home in Tumpagon each Wednesday. Please pray for these outreaches that many will be saved.

Health wise we are all well. A few weeks ago though, Jubab had malaria which he has now recovered from. It was a bit of a tough time for a while. His school is going well and we are seeing the Lord undertake for him.

Deb's Dad's (Bob) cancerous growths have got quite a bit bigger and he is now on morphine 2-3 times a day. This is really hard for our family and we ask for prayer as we go through the rest of this year. We are hoping to get up to Brisbane to see Deb's Mum and Dad every couple of weeks or more. Please pray that Dad will enjoy the Lord as he goes through this trial and God will give him grace.